The Energon Pub

I have Blackwing and Dreadwind, and I'm considering getting them again, to go with PoTP Starscream. In my headcanon they would be Darkwind and Dreadwing. I really wish we would have gotten deluxe versions of Skywarp and Thundercracker out of the deluxe ghost Starscream mold to combine with PoTP Starscream.

You mean the Skydive mold with Starscream's head slapped on?

IMO having smaller Seeker limbs with him would look off... Does that make sense?

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:You mean the Skydive mold with Starscream's head slapped on?

Yeah. The head makes the difference. Didn't the 3 seekers have identical heads?

IMO having smaller Seeker limbs with him would look off... Does that make sense?

Yeah, but it's better than nothing. We could always just pretend the Enigma made Starscream bigger, since he was the commander.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

blackeyedprime wrote:Might sell my skylynx and his friends and put that towards earthrise skylynx.

How are the joints on yours? I've read that Hasbro Sky Lynx is... quite loose in places, maybe rushed new-mold symptoms like Brawl.

In robot mode: all but one of his blue feet are a bit flappy (the other rear foot might be able to have its screw tightened so it is as good as his other rear foot).
The blue wings are as loose as can be but I think that will be the same on all sky lynxs.
His neck can hold any pose though I wouldn't say its tight.
The mouth is the tightest joint it has.
Leg swivels all tight, rear right leg not tight but not loose.
Leg bends all tight.
Upper leg rotations on the body, front two are ratcheted and tight, rear legs it's the right rear leg again that's not feeling as secure as it feel too easy to move tho it's not loose.

I'll check how it effects his combined mode later today.

Rodimus Prime wrote:I have Blackwing and Dreadwind, and I'm considering getting them again, to go with PoTP Starscream. In my headcanon they would be Darkwind and Dreadwing. I really wish we would have gotten deluxe versions of Skywarp and Thundercracker out of the deluxe ghost Starscream mold to combine with PoTP Starscream.

I agree with the sentiment. Why bother going partway?

I really thought we'd have gotten a new Sweep mould as a limb to go with Cyclonus / Galvatronus too, but we never did. I don't like that mould at all as Cyclonus, but having Sweep[ limbs would have gone a long way.

Combined mode skyreign joints seem fine. It's impossible to find the correct feet/hands for the members tho and that's through looking at what the rest of my combiners have on them (I can only have so many black hand/feet when most of the others are diff colors so I'm not sure how it is possible for them to be so wrong).
One thing it does better than earthrise skylynx is the giant autobot symbol tampos on the wings, doubting earthrise can get bigger stickers due to raised details

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I really thought we'd have gotten a new Sweep mould as a limb to go with Cyclonus / Galvatronus too, but we never did. I don't like that mould at all as Cyclonus, but having Sweep[ limbs would have gone a long way.

Yeah it would have been a popular troop builder for sure. Most people who got Cyclonus would have bought at least 2, maybe even 4 of them for limbs. I know I would have. And if Scourge hadn't been planned to be in Titans Return, it might have happened. I do know there's a fanmode out there for the Generations Scourge to become a limb. I'm not sure if it applies to TR Scourge.

Saw a fan mode video of jetfire combined with the aerial bots, looked like a floppy mess and dome fan modes are best left alone but might have been cool if potp Starscream could use the leader seekers as a backpack/thrusters.

blackeyedprime wrote:Saw a fan mode video of jetfire combined with the aerial bots, looked like a floppy mess and dome fan modes are best left alone but might have been cool if potp Starscream could use the leader seekers as a backpack/thrusters.

He probably can't. But CW Leader Starscream's weapons would be perfect for arming a combo that used PotP Screamer as the torso

blackeyedprime wrote:Combined mode skyreign joints seem fine. It's impossible to find the correct feet/hands for the members tho and that's through looking at what the rest of my combiners have on them (I can only have so many black hand/feet when most of the others are diff colors so I'm not sure how it is possible for them to be so wrong).
One thing it does better than earthrise skylynx is the giant autobot symbol tampos on the wings, doubting earthrise can get bigger stickers due to raised details

Aside from Rook vs. Swindle/Hound, figures that share parts or are retools share the same model HFG part as well. Did you check the galleries for assistance?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

blackeyedprime wrote:Combined mode skyreign joints seem fine. It's impossible to find the correct feet/hands for the members tho and that's through looking at what the rest of my combiners have on them (I can only have so many black hand/feet when most of the others are diff colors so I'm not sure how it is possible for them to be so wrong).
One thing it does better than earthrise skylynx is the giant autobot symbol tampos on the wings, doubting earthrise can get bigger stickers due to raised details

Aside from Rook vs. Swindle/Hound, figures that share parts or are retools share the same model HFG part as well. Did you check the galleries for assistance?

Yeagh as well as online pics, found every hand/foot except wheeljacks. I've still got a few boxes to go through of bits. My next headache is a 200X castle grayskull (of 3) I'm digging out for a friend and I have 2x left round rampart halves and 4x right round rampart halves. Accessories hate me :p and he can just have two right ones seeing as I'm covered in cobwebs and disturbed a spider.

I remain adamant that Rook was the best mold/figure we got out of Combiner wars, that was such a splendid figure, and it was very creative too!

I also believe the best torso was Cyclonus, that was a great mold with rich colors and paint work, he is splendid as well

Well, my replacement Motormaster came in the other day. Yeah .... UW Motormaster is far better. My UW MM isn't broken yet, but I'd rather not even chance it.

He looks alright as Menasaur, but doesn't look all that great with the 3rd party trailer that's also grey. Ah, well. Them's the breaks, I guess. I think I'll like him more after I apply Reprolabels. His vehicle mode needs 'em.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Well, my replacement Motormaster came in the other day. Yeah .... UW Motormaster is far better. My UW MM isn't broken yet, but I'd rather not even chance it.

What is the concern on your UW MM? Is there something specific on yours, or was there something about the mold I wasn't aware of?

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Well, my replacement Motormaster came in the other day. Yeah .... UW Motormaster is far better. My UW MM isn't broken yet, but I'd rather not even chance it.

What is the concern on your UW MM? Is there something specific on yours, or was there something about the mold I wasn't aware of?

If you got the Unite Warriors version, be very careful. His midsection has the swirly gray plastic form of GPS. You will break him if you mess with him too much or in not a gentle way

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Well, my replacement Motormaster came in the other day. Yeah .... UW Motormaster is far better. My UW MM isn't broken yet, but I'd rather not even chance it.

What is the concern on your UW MM? Is there something specific on yours, or was there something about the mold I wasn't aware of?

If you got the Unite Warriors version, be very careful. His midsection has the swirly gray plastic form of GPS. You will break him if you mess with him too much or in not a gentle way

Ah, specific to the UM MM version than and not the overall mold. I went Hasbro with MM, so I should be good. sorry to hear that for those of you with UM.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Well, my replacement Motormaster came in the other day. Yeah .... UW Motormaster is far better. My UW MM isn't broken yet, but I'd rather not even chance it.

What is the concern on your UW MM? Is there something specific on yours, or was there something about the mold I wasn't aware of?

If you got the Unite Warriors version, be very careful. His midsection has the swirly gray plastic form of GPS. You will break him if you mess with him too much or in not a gentle way

Ah, specific to the UM MM version than and not the overall mold. I went Hasbro with MM, so I should be good. sorry to hear that for those of you with UM.

Yep, specific to the UW one sadly

I like the Hasbro version's colors better anyhow. The dark metallic gray is correct for him in both robot and torso mode. It's not strictly accurate for cab mode compared to the original, true, but you have to balance that with the fact that on the original Motormaster... the cab only formed the feet. This one is just a cab, since the toy was designed as an Optimus Prime figure first (and a torso second, IMO; it sure feels that way).

Wait, Motormaster was designed to be another Convoy figure for the Diaclone line? That would have been interesting to see

ZeroWolf wrote:Wait, Motormaster was designed to be another Convoy figure for the Diaclone line? That would have been interesting to see

How'd you get that out of my post? Or were you responding to something else?

All I said was that the CW Motormaster/Optimus Prime mold was obviously designed as Optimus Prime first and Motormaster second (because most of the bits are Optimus, plus it's just a cab rather than a cab and trailer where the cab forms only the feet). And that frankly, it feels like the combiner torso functionality was also a secondary design consideration.

That being said, the original Motormaster toy was designed as Diaclone toy, and probably would have been colored a lot like Battle Convoy had it been released as one (although perhaps with a blue cab rather than red; hard to say).

Yeah I misread what you put there's a lot going on here to be fair and the stress is getting to me.

I often thought I was alone in thinking that CW prime/mm was designed as prime first. Others kept insisting that Motormaster was the original and prime was done after.

I have to admit, there's a lot more sculpted "Prime" details than MM's. But I always thought that the overall proportions and torso mode were more suited for a hulking villain than a Prime.

ZeroWolf wrote:Yeah I misread what you put there's a lot going on here to be fair and the stress is getting to me.

I often thought I was alone in thinking that CW prime/mm was designed as prime first. Others kept insisting that Motormaster was the original and prime was done after.

Yeeeah, I don't really by that line of thinking. Too many of the parts are Optimus-based, he's a standalone cab, etc.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I have to admit, there's a lot more sculpted "Prime" details than MM's. But I always thought that the overall proportions and torso mode were more suited for a hulking villain than a Prime.

The proportions are basically a somewhat more buff version of Optimus' baseline G1 design, a rendition in line with the Armada and Cybertron Optimus designs' regular robot modes.

The torso mode, now, that part does seem to have been designed a bit more with Menasor in mind since it has attachment pegs for Blackjack as a stand-in for Motormaster's roller car. However... this is diminished by the fact that the torso mode is a barely-functional mess that feels like an afterthought, as though the robot was designed without forming a torso in mind (It's telling that the most comparable torso is mode is Grimlock's, although I find that one more functionally executed). Some of the most notable flaws:
* The arms don't tab into their torso configuration very securely, especially on Motormaster, and the orientation of the connections means swinging attached limbs around is very likely to pull things loose.
* The initial versions had questionable hip ratchet positioning.
* The original releases of both Optimus and Motormaster also have a flaw with the shape of the robot mode feet; certain limb molds, most notably the Dead End one, will snag on those feet when the combination is bent at the knee if connected with Optimus/MM's legs facing the proper way; you have to turn the legs tires-forward to alleviate the problem.

Oh, the torso is a mess. There's no argument there. I have the PE upgrade parts to make it work better, but now the legs are almost stationary. I don't think it was an actual afterthought, but it's like they spent more time on the alt and robot mode and much less on the combined part. Or maybe it worked alright in their 3d program, but didn't in real life.

I just don't think the proportions have Prime in mind even if the sculpted details in robot mode are more Prime than MM. Like you said, Prime is the one that transforms into the cab, not MM. But they were working on Superion as well, so they definitely had to have MM in mind when making it. I think we'll just have to agree to disagree here, but when I look at CW Prime it looks more like an off model version. Everything looks off by a bit. But as Motormaster it looks right. The overlong arms. The over large upper torso. As Motormaster it's great (in robot mode anyway), but as Prime it seems very off, proportionally, in all modes. By now they know how to make a heroiclly proportioned OP in robot mode.

It doesn't seem off to me, but then I'm accustomed to the likes of Cybertron Optimus Prime, who I think was a heavy influence on the figure (the arms have a similar transformation, and it's also notable that Optimus has a sculpted lightbar either side of his head). Also, looking at both their cartoon models and their toys... having particularly long arms is decidedly more of an Optimus Prime thing.
And again, so many of the parts come from Optimus' design, not Motormaster's...


Cybertron Optimus for reference.

They were working on Superion at the same time, yes, but in Superion's case they directly designed Silverbolt as a reworking of the original toy's basic design; same goes with the Hot Spot/Onslaught mold and the PotP Hun-Gurrr mold, and - Hun-Gurrr's somewhat weak ratchets notwithstanding - it shows. The Optimus/MM mold seems to have been designed around Optimus Prime's vehicle and robot modes first and foremost, and Menasor suffers as a result.