The Energon Pub

This is to no one exactly, but it seems like I’m hearing that “fans are everything” motion of thought again.

I, as a fan, wanted this. No, I have been hoping for this since Devastator was released in Classics. Know why? Because these toys were a bitch to find when they came out and I could not afford to pay more than a hundred dollars for one gestalt on eBay.

And to anyone who thinks Hasbro does not listen to the fans: Explain why they revived Classics? Explain why they keep making all these little nods to G1?

The poor company really doesn’t get enough credit for some things…

So if they make the Energon repaints, they may lose money yes. However, not NEARLY as much as if they invested manhours to design entirely new figures to merge with already existing figures that aren't designed for merging. The City Commander set is cool...I splurged on it...but it also is aimed at a VERY VERY specific target audience. The target audience is further narrowed down to those who actually bought that ultra Magnus figure. If it is a new figure (or what the target 5-10y/o audience THINKS is a new figure) they will pester their parents to buy it...especially if the ENTIRE SET is only $30 as I expect it to be. It's a better value for the parent and a smaller potential loss and lower risk for Hasbro.

dr_n00b wrote:why yes, sledge, once a year taking notes at a convention, that's almost as good as year long follow up of fans' wishes online and test groups of fans and not only children of 5-10. Sitting at a convention and saying "unfortunately there are no current plans for a product, but it is good to hear your opinion on the matter!" counts, especially when they release a random repaint the following day.

Notice the word "random". no one is bitching about fiction planted repaints like the seekers. HELL, I'll do a special order for the Ironhide\Ratchet classics Takara repaint.
it's these damn rehashed products (swindle as a chopper, unrelated Energon clear weapons, no remolding of anything) that annoy me.
Especially when it lowers the chances of a proper Bruticus, in the face of a new and spectacular Onslaught mold.

God, you really like to bash new guys on the board regardless of logic and common sense... your ego must be THIS BIG, eh. Try being nicer instead of beating your fellows to the discussion to a bloody pulp with your ideas. they might actually listen to you instead of disregarding your comments.

Doctor Noob makes sense. Makes a lot of sense. Couldn't put it any better.

Nekoman wrote:
And to anyone who thinks Hasbro does not listen to the fans: Explain why they revived Classics? Explain why they keep making all these little nods to G1?

Not to pop anyone's cherries here. But i read somewhere that Classics, as well as the current Universe lines, are meant to be "fillers". In between major blockbuster lines. Sort of stepping stones to hop across to the next blockbuster chapter.

Not that i'm complaining. I love the Classics/Universe line. Well, almost all of it. (Now that we have this Energon repaint. Again.)

Auto Bot wrote:At least some are.

Anyway, none of the posts i make here is aimed solely at you.

But sometimes, it's nice to make some people taste a dose of their own concoction.

Mmm... tasty.

Martini?

I know English isn't your first language and I try and cut you some slack, but that made no sense whatsoever. I don't know if you want to try it again, or just be quiet. Don't much care, to be honest.

dr_n00b: I really have a problem with people who think that their ideas are somehow immune to criticism because they haven't been on a forum for long. There have been several posts explaining the logic behind this set, not to mention all the people saying they'll buy it. Your response is basically to throw your rattle out of the pram and bleat about how "Hasbro don't listen to the fans." Sorry, but it's not true, and why the hell should we? They're in the business of selling toys to children. Count yourself lucky they listen to us at all.

Unsolicited advice. Just try to read it again. And again. Or ask your English teacher about it.

Springer: "Believe it or not, this is the fun part."

If you can't be bothered to post in such a way that people can understand you, why are you posting? I'm guessing you have some sort of problem with me, but I really don't know what it is. So here's my stock response: if you want to point out what I've said wrong, do so in the thread. If you think I've posted something that is out of line according to forum rules, report it. Otherwise, stop bothereing me.

On topic: I shall be buying this. Not sure how much of the Energon gestalts were released in the UK. Just wish they'd repainted one of the Aerielbots for Blast Off.

Auto Bot & Sledge:
That's enough guys. Your points have been made, so let's chill out before this goes any further and get back on topic.

I'm going to have to agree with Nekoman and Sledge here,

Any rerelease of the Energon combiners is good. I'm still missing 2 figures from the original sets, And I will gladly buy a gift set that has all 5 parts included.

If you don't like the repaints, just don't buy them. (You will just leave more sets for me!)

Firebird wrote:I'm going to have to agree with Nekoman and Sledge here,

Any rerelease of the Energon combiners is good. I'm still missing 2 figures from the original sets, And I will gladly buy a gift set that has all 5 parts included.

If you don't like the repaints, just don't buy them. (You will just leave more sets for me!)

Well said...I'll buy you a drink.

First-Aid wrote:

Firebird wrote:I'm going to have to agree with Nekoman and Sledge here,

Any rerelease of the Energon combiners is good. I'm still missing 2 figures from the original sets, And I will gladly buy a gift set that has all 5 parts included.

If you don't like the repaints, just don't buy them. (You will just leave more sets for me!)

Well said...I'll buy you a drink.

Thanks, I was a bit thirsty

I really wish Hasbro had just done a run of G1 Bruticus in it's original colours and slapped a 25th Anniversary label on it.

This 25th line is a joke so far

BlackMagnus wrote:Auto Bot & Sledge:
That's enough guys. Your points have been made, so let's chill out before this goes any further and get back on topic.

Yup. I hear you. So i'm not gonna bother pointing it out anymore. So as to give peace a chance. Anyway, people can go back to read about it. It's laid out in plain sight. And get a good chuckle too.

So... I do recognize that there were 2 camps here. One side happy about the release, and another side not happy about it. It's been my point all along. As against some opinions here, that it's something like "overwhelmingly" good, or that "only" good response is allowed (Or else, me Grimlock will bash your newbees brains! ).

Probably, there's more who want that figure than those who don't want it as it is. Or the other way around. But nobody can say for sure how many positive against negative responses were actually there.

Which led me to conclude that it's not a sure-shot winner. (My point from the beginning.)

Like the UM Armour experience, people go gaga grabbing every last piece they can find. I, for one, am not too impressed. But i still find the design creative, and i surely recognize the "overwhelmingly" positive response to it.

Taking off from this, i'd like to think there can be a possibility that if Hasbro dish out a "real" Classics/Universe Bruticus, nevermind the added R&D cost, it will be sold out before you even blink! Despite the economic pinch.

Considering many fans are on the edge, waiting for exactly this kind of miracle to happen.

Hasbro should make a Classic (new molds) Swindle, Vortex, Blastoff and Brawl and figure out a way to combine them with Ultra Onslaught. That would be freaking cool.

DMSL wrote:Hasbro should make a Classic (new molds) Swindle, Vortex, Blastoff and Brawl and figure out a way to combine them with Ultra Onslaught. That would be freaking cool.

I think it would be really cool if the hasbro folks would have a "lecture" on the entire process of making our fave toys. I know it would be cool to do new molds that combine with the Ultras. i agree. I just don't think it would be cost effective. So, if they were to have a forum explaining the entire process- from start to finish- as well as throwing in some basic numbers for costs it may well help us to understand what their thought processes are when it comes to making these decisions.

Or...am I the only one that would like to see that?

I'd like to see it, but I really don't think it would make a difference. The information is pretty much all out there, and it gets posted time and time again. Some people just don't want to believe that Hasbro make sound economic decisions because it would stop them from believing that they're so important and Hasbro are trying to piss them off.

Sledge wrote:I'd like to see it, but I really don't think it would make a difference. The information is pretty much all out there, and it gets posted time and time again. Some people just don't want to believe that Hasbro make sound economic decisions because it would stop them from believing that they're so important and Hasbro are trying to piss them off.

Agreed. Still think the numbers would be interesting to know...or at least a ballpark number comparing the cost of designing an all new mold to doing a repaint.

First-Aid wrote:I think it would be really cool if the hasbro folks would have a "lecture" on the entire process of making our fave toys. I know it would be cool to do new molds that combine with the Ultras. i agree. I just don't think it would be cost effective. So, if they were to have a forum explaining the entire process- from start to finish- as well as throwing in some basic numbers for costs it may well help us to understand what their thought processes are when it comes to making these decisions.

Or...am I the only one that would like to see that?

I would totally be down for an actual, in depth article on it.

I was always a big fan of the combiners, but I gotta' say, these newer ones look terrible.

Granted, the G1 ones were plagued by teensy heads, block bodies and limited movement, but these newer guys do NOT compliment the advances in molding that have come with all the other Transformers of recent years.

Just on the fact alone that their hands are just cannon barrels... or their twiggy bodies. I see character art for the combiners and am like, "WOOOOOOOAH!", but then you see the actual toy and it's nearly indistinguishable.

Hastak, it's high time to scuplt some much better designs. You CAN do it, because we've seen it done with so many other old figures.

I still think they should have used the Energon Bonecrusher mold for Swindle (painted up in Combat Engineer colors) and the Energon Air-Raid mold for Blastoff. Although the jet fighter mold makes for a crappy limb - be it leg or arm - compared to the tank gepard mold, so then you'd be trading one shortcoming for another.

Mostly though I find that transparent red to be a turn off. The constituent molds are worth the money, especially the tanks, but that transparent red is just too much. Reminds me of the Energon Omnicons and their fantastic jello weapons.

But I'm happy with the non-combining Combaticon collection I have in mind. I've got Classics ultra-class Onslaught and Movie leader-class Brawl, and animated Swindle will be coming soon; all of them great representations of their characters. I just need to bide my time for decent figures or repaints of Vortex (though movie Blackout or Incinerator would make fine proxies) and Blastoff.

Shame they didn't mold those energon parts in solid black. Worked well for the Scout class figures used in the Movie line.

Swindle shouldn't be a chopper, swindle shouldn't be a chopper, Swindle shouldn't be a chopper..

Has anyone stopped to think what Swindle wants?

Seriously, I think he's be a major proponent of being able to run away faster

And I gotta voice my intent to buy this set...I'm loving how Hasbro is taking the time to repaint these molds in G1 colors. I just hope they do so well with Superion.

They should just put the energon combiners on the shelf and wait until they have money to do a proper combaticon and protectobot set that we at least we could have two new combiners unstead of a crappy half ass figure. Because I know I would be willing to wait until after the 2nd movie toys run there course to get a couple of brand new combiner teams that show off what can be done with today tech.

shortround wrote:They should just put the energon combiners on the shelf and wait until they have money to do a proper combaticon and protectobot set that we at least we could have two new combiners unstead of a crappy half ass figure. Because I know I would be willing to wait until after the 2nd movie toys run there course to get a couple of brand new combiner teams that show off what can be done with today tech.

I'm sorry, what?

He doesn't want to buy it, therefore Hasbro shouldn't release it. I refer you to my earlier comments about people assuming that they represent every Transformers fan, and that Hasbro make these decisions specifically to annoy them.

Sledge wrote:He doesn't want to buy it, therefore Hasbro shouldn't release it. I refer you to my earlier comments about people assuming that they represent every Transformers fan, and that Hasbro make these decisions specifically to annoy them.

Aren't adult fans like, less than 10% of the Transformers purchasing demographic? I'm glad they throw us as many bones as they do. I loves my Universe Onslaught and though I'm disappointed that they didn't at least stick combiner sockets on it "just in case" it's still a great figure. It's harder to complain about this Bruticus when I think about that.

Swindle should still be a tank instead of a chopper though