The Energon Pub

[Larsgoes2hell]

found this guy at a weird toy store. along with some old energon and universe that was legit. but this transformation was def weird.

[Scaleface]

I've seen it before. It's a knockoff of one of the newer robots in Takara's Brave series. So it's close to a Transformer, but not quite. Looks very much inspired by RiD Landfill doesn't it?

[Larsgoes2hell]

I've seen it before. It's a knockoff of one of the newer robots in Takara's Brave series. So it's close to a Transformer, but not quite. Looks very much inspired by RiD Landfill doesn't it?

yeah. and for some reason it came with a soccer ball(first pic)???weird.

[waaaaghlord]

The latest on ebay - Knockoff giant titanium Orange Thundercracker!

http://cgi.ebay.com/TITANIUM-BIG-VER-TH ... dZViewItem



Giant Classic Astrotrain.

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-CLASSIC-BIG-VE ... dZViewItem

Cool as. I'll be on the look out for seven of the Cybertronian seekers to repaint and given that Classics Astrotrain still hasn't seen a UK release I think I'd actually prefer to grab a larger sized one that more fits his 'transport' role.

[DorkimusPrime]

OK, so Big Lots in Pekin, IL had some gestalt KO's. I always remembered them being a little larger than this, and I'll get confirmation when I can get my G1 stuff from my parents. For reference, they're a tiny bit shorter (less than an inch) than Leader Optimus Prime. I got a Superion, a Devastator, and a Defensor. All three of them are made out of (understandably) cheap plastic. It's very hard and dry-feeling, almost like it's snap like a cracker if it was worked too hard.

I never had Devastator for real, but this guy was a huge pain in the ass to put together...Mix Master and Scrapper plug into this weird black plastic insert thing that's shaped like an inverted Y, then Long Haul's bed plugs onto the top of that with the cab turned 90 degrees so that the bottom part of this U-shaped clip with Devastator's head will plug into the top. Inside that U, you stretch out Hook and bend him around sideways, and then Bonecrusher and Scavenger form the arms. I really like the way that just about every other Gestalt team works with their uniformly-shaped heads plugging onto the feet and into the arm sockets much better. Also, when I was transforming them all to robots, Hook's arm came off the socket, but it was easy enough to fix with a tiny Philips-head screwdriver.

Yes, I know Superion's legs are rotated 180*, but the reason for that is that he leans way forward if you put them so the wings and such are in the back. Really oddly weighted, and I dont' remember the original G1 having that issue. He came with a weapon of some sort but I htink I dropped it between the cushions of the couch and now I can't find it. The armor that goes on Silverbolt has a single peg that should hold it in place (like the G1 IIRC), but the peg is larger than teh hole and thus doesn't quite stay on all the time. He's kinda fragile. Actually, in general, Silverbolt seems pretty fragile, as the leg bots' heads get stuck and I actually pulled one of his feet off in an attempt to get the bot's head out of it. It snapped back in.

By far, the best-constructed gestalt of the three is Defensor. With the exception of First Aid's lower legs, the plastic is plenty thick to offset the cheap feeling. This gestalt, I think, might actually be G1-sized, as I distinctly remember Hot Spot in my tiny little brain being about the size that he is in this thing. I did have a problem getting Hot Spot's head to stay down and Defensor's head to not flip backwards, but it's a very stiff joint and I think that'll fix itself with play.

The only thing that I feel is missing from all of this is that hardly any of the little bots have weapons. Devastator is the exception, as each little truck had something mounted on it to use as a weapon (two drills and some little yellow weapons that today would not pass the 2" rule). Defensor only came with the armor for Hot Spot, the hands and feet, and an Optimus Prime-looking gun. Superion came with the armor, hands and feet, head, and I think a weapon that disappeared. None of the limb bots have any weapons at all.

All of them looked pretty good in the packaging, but the only one that was really adequately constructed was Defensor. Devastator isn't terrible, but wiht all the add-on parts, he's fragile and limbs will fall off. Superion gets an F- because of Silverbolt, but the four limbs aren't terrible. If anybody knows of a GOOD KO Superion, I'd like to buy one, if only to give as a gift. My sister's son is six now, and to the point that he could easily transofrm any of those bots and probably combine Superion and Defensor wihtout any help, though Devastator could be Devastating.

So this post is worthless without pics, right? Well, I made a small webpage for it and it is located right here.

[waaaaghlord]

Yes, I know Superion's legs are rotated 180*, but the reason for that is that he leans way forward if you put them so the wings and such are in the back.

Try folding Silverbolt's legs so that his thighs are directly beneath his hands rather than straight down from his body as they are in his single robot mode. This should help to spread the weight distribution and add some stability, plus it's the way he's designed to go together.

Devestator has always needed all of that gestalt kibble to go together. I have a KO version that had some issues staying together. In the end since he was too fragile to transform much, is essentially just a placeholder until I get a proper one and was going to be displayed in combined mode anyway I just got out the superglue and glued him together.

[ionacus]

some of the local big lots are resetting their toy section with a whole isle for KO TF. i got a look at the paper with the design on it. it showed alot of old KOs we have seen before.(micromasters, beast wars insecticons and combiners) but one was a giant animal that i could not identify. so watch your big lots. new KOs are on the way.

[Scaleface]

Big lots are doing resets this weekend.

[ionacus]

Big lots are doing resets this weekend.

some are yes. when we find out what that mystery one is, we should be seeing some possible new KO soon.

[DorkimusPrime]

Try folding Silverbolt's legs so that his thighs are directly beneath his hands rather than straight down from his body as they are in his single robot mode. This should help to spread the weight distribution and add some stability, plus it's the way he's designed to go together.

I think they're already as wide as they go...you mean so that if you flip his feet down, they're backwards, right?

[wide angle]

yeah, i got all those ko's and only defensor was good. actually, the fire truck (which was the wrong color) broke really fast, and i eventually bought a new hot spot of the original G1. the heads were and are a bit tight fit for combination, but otherwise it's now perfect...if only i could find out where my sons lost the fists!!

i have been really wanting a ko combaticon, or to piece together computron from the 2 ko's that use pieces.

big lots up here has some really lame, non ko generic trasformers, they look mostly like power rangers rejects.

[Scaleface]

Giant (8 inch) Armada Perceptor

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-BIKE-ROBOT-BIG ... dZViewItem



8 inch Sky Garry

http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-SKYGARRY-SMALL ... dZViewItem

[D-340]

Big lots are doing resets this weekend.

some are yes. when we find out what that mystery one is, we should be seeing some possible new KO soon.

Hopefully the one by me is. I going through KO withdrawl.

[LicoriceSnoCone]

My contribution isn't a toy but a vhs I found at a buy, sell, trade store for a staggering 98 cents. It's called Robo Formers (yes two words) This particular episode is entitled Star Warrior: Silent Warrior the back reads as follows

"Earth's most modern battleship, the Sea Force, is helpless against the well planned attack of the modern-time Hitler, The Feuhrer. Can een the Robo Formers stand in the way of the might of the Feuhrer's armada of giant robots and mega weapons? The finale will have you on the edge of your seat as World War III lurks in the wings."

It's a poorly drawn, poorly dubbed anime with horrible audio. It consists of "the good guys" killing off the emotionally unstable "bad guys" I'll get a scan when I get the chance....

[brokendan]

heyyyy i have that cartoon haha. ive had tht since i was in like... the 2nd grade (92..ish)actually. i think they only made like 8 of em.

[Transtopias Rodimus Prime]

I would really like to have a copy of those!

Or maybe not. I just googled them and looked them up on Ebay. They look real bad and got even worse reviews. Do these Robo Formers transform?

[brokendan]

wellllll there were three mechs and they would combine with eachother and had like... 3 different things they could transform into when they would combine. heh i need to pop it in and watch it for a recap... i havent watched it in close to 10 years.

[Nemesis Sturmvogel]

Oversized Classics Astrotrain and Titanium War Within Thundercracker/Starscream

[Transtopias Rodimus Prime]

Here's a new one I found on Ebay.

[Transtopias Rodimus Prime]

Get a load of this from Ebay.

[LicoriceSnoCone]

I would really like to have a copy of those!

Or maybe not. I just googled them and looked them up on Ebay. They look real bad and got even worse reviews. Do these Robo Formers transform?

They're really horrible (from what I've seen someone taped over half of my copy) incompetent characters, horrendous audio, bad storyline. great to mock...but they do have great Kamikaze sezuire enducing death scenes

The mechs don't individually transform but merge together to make one giant bot
Here's a list of all the eps listed on my vhs

Starfire
Star of Fear
Star birds
Star battle
Star beams
Star attack
Star defense
Anyone detect a pattern here??

[brokendan]

*whispers: STAR

[Powersa]

Biglots now have KO devastator 6-in-1 set for $6. Also for $6 is a KO Superion set. There is also some KO insecticons for $1.50 each. I don't see a set for KO Menasor though (I'd like one).

[waaaaghlord]

Just ordered the oversized Astrotrain and 3 oversized seekers (2 will be in the same colours, but I'll have to do some repaints to get the full seven anyway). That was all of those moulds that the seller had up at the moment but if the quality is up to scratch on the seekers I'll definitely be back for more. Will post a review when they get here.

Does anyone know if plastics used for KOs will generally accept dye without too many problems? I'm thinking that Astrotrain may well get a dark gray anime style treatment and would idealy like to use dye rather than paint.

[Scaleface]

Looks like he has purple, orange, yellow and red variants of the WW Seeker mold now. You might want to email him and has if you can get him in 3 colors!