The Energon Pub

I think their altmodes look DAF! Especially considering their size. IF is a dangerous drug and if they all start getting KOs, we'll I'm going all in

It's a Seibertronian space-boat, obviously

Kurona wrote: Take that, tauntatron!

...
I think you commented in favor of that pic when I posted it long ago.

Kurona wrote:That said, is the figure any good? Just checked out the Nightbird version on Kapow - her look and character being right up my alley - and the price point is not something my wallet would hate me for.

SPACE BRIDGE back to this old post, and you can see all my other pics and thoughts. You gotta scroll a ways to get to Arcee. As I've said, all the alt modes are a little eeeeeh... OK? I like to put this positive spin on them, you have to rub a lot of imagination on them.
She is an absolutely wonderful action figure.

william-james88 wrote:Also, I clicked and this would easily go on one of my worst alt mode lists if it was an official toy.

You said the exact same thing when I posted pics of IF's Notsun Brothers. Get out your imagination, and start rubbing.

SureShot18 wrote:Also I need free shipping for my TFSource stack so I'm adding IF Arcee. You're partly to blame Cobs.

I'm sorry and you're welcome!

Cobotron wrote:Alright, let's talk some more Microman stuff!

I just got this sweet baby in. I had wanted this toy since it came out in 2000, but it was very hard to acquire back then, and expensive as hell. But thanks to bargain hunter supreme Willy J, and the lovely folks at Sonokong in Korea, I landed this badass battle wagon for some chump change (plus shipping).

Here we have Microman LED Powers, Micro Trailer with pilot Secret Breaster Edison.





As many know Takara re-purposed this toy for the Microman LED Powers toy line form it's original use as Transformers Action Masters Optimus Prime. So, double COOL!

I think Edison is my favorite LED Microman. I just really like his mantis helmet. This Secret Breaster deco is really nicely done. I like the colors they chose, and that matte black paint on his chest is a nice touch.

If you didn't notice, Eddie's pretty proud of his rig.

Is anybody old enough to know what I'm talking about when I say, BJ and the Bear?




Big Rig Battle Wagon mode



The trailer separates and transforms into Mobile Command Battle Station mode.



The cab transforms into this sweet Battle Ready Cloud Hopper.




This toy is such an awesome vehicle/play set. It pushes all my toy buttons. It's jam packed full of fun play features. The deco on this thing is a wet dream come true. You all know my weakness for translucent plastic, and if that weren't enough, the white plastic has that opalescent glitter sheen to it.

Billy and I, and I think Cary had a discussion a while back about how it's a neat idea that the Micro dudes commandeered little Timmy's Tonka truck and turned it into a fully functional gun laden road hog, but now that I have this in hand I realize, Edison built this thing out of the circuit boards and casing of Timmy's dad's old broken first gen Imac.

So much transparent plastic. Near an orgasm for me.

Can I ask how much you paid for it ?

ExciKaiser wrote:So much transparent plastic. Near an orgasm for me.

I read in your AMDriver thread that you liked translucent plastic. We should start a club.
I'm a fool for plastic rock candy!

ExciKaiser wrote:Can I ask how much you paid for it?

Yup! This much and from here. I couldn't believe the price. The Sonokong releases are exactly like the Takara. Materials, quality, everything. Their shipping is not cheap though. I'm sure it would be a tad insane to France, but........ Look at all that CANDY!

Cobotron wrote:Their shipping is not cheap though. I'm sure it would be a tad insane to France,

It is.

I'm accustomed to shipping prices, as only 1% of my collection has been found locally, everything else is from internet.

But this site is ridiculous. 63$ ! Even BBTS which are expensive would charge only quarter of that.

OUCH! That's almost twice the cost of the toy.

I can't remember what they charged me, but I remember I did not like it.
Unfortunately they are the only place I know of with an inventory of these Korean releases.
If anything, at least you know now there is a cheaper option out there than the Takara releases.

Hey Cobo, remember this set?



When I picked it up, you asked me to take a pic of the Ultra Magnus art since you didnt know which Cybertron toy it would be based on since its a Cybertron branded box with a Cybertron Prime for the Prime art. Well, I had forgotten to take a pic of the box art before recycling it but I finally found a pic of the magnus art.

Here it is:



So yeah, the artist went with RID Magnus, which was new art for this release. the artist had also done RID Prime art for the Prime side but Hasbro just put Cybertron prime instead.
I know this because that packaging artist told me so when I was eating foie gras next to him two days ago

I had to hit myself over the head with with RID Ultra Magnus to jog my memory about that conversation, but I do remember now. What's so weird about that is they even had an illustration of RID Prime and they chose to use Cybertron Prime instead. Makes no sense to me.

I'd love to see the actual piece of art they didn't use.

william-james88 wrote:I know this because that packaging artist told me so when I was eating foie gras next to him two days ago

Ok Fisherman Bill, if your gonna lay down a fact like that you better have a whale of tale. Spill it. What gives? Who is this guy? How did you meet him? What is his name? Is he your new best friend? How did he convince you to buy MP Megatron? And exactly how much fatty duck liver did you two eat?

Cobotron wrote:

william-james88 wrote:I know this because that packaging artist told me so when I was eating foie gras next to him two days ago

Ok Fisherman Bill, if your gonna lay down a fact like that you better have a whale of tale. Spill it. What gives? Who is this guy? How did you meet him? What is his name? Is he your new best friend? How did he convince you to buy MP Megatron? And exactly how much fatty duck liver did you two eat?

I absolutely love this right here. It's funny, witty, and can be taken entirely 100% serious

Cobotron wrote:I had to hit myself over the head with with RID Ultra Magnus to jog my memory about that conversation, but I do remember now. What's so weird about that is they even had an illustration of RID Prime and they chose to use Cybertron Prime instead. Makes no sense to me.

I'd love to see the actual piece of art they didn't use.

william-james88 wrote:I know this because that packaging artist told me so when I was eating foie gras next to him two days ago

Ok Fisherman Bill, if your gonna lay down a fact like that you better have a whale of tale. Spill it. What gives? Who is this guy? How did you meet him? What is his name? Is he your new best friend? How did he convince you to buy MP Megatron? And exactly how much fatty duck liver did you two eat?

You know, he wasn't the one who convinced me but the one who did was sitting with us too, also eating fatty goose liver.

It was me, the guy who recomended Megs, and the guy who did all the packaging artwork for Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Animated, CW, TR and Power of the Primes (which he was working on now AND COULDNT TELL ME WHAT IT WAS AAAAAAARRRGH). Alonf with the team who makes the Forged to Fight game. I went to Vancouver to report on it. I really did not know that the guy who did all the art for hasbro also worked on this game full time. his name is Marcello Matere and he even drew me Rhinox:



And yeah, he has been working freelance for hasbro since Armada. It was really fun talking to him an I will ask to see that prime he drew. He also said he still had some of that artwork for sale and I will ask for some prices (its not cheap usually though).

Me and other fan sites were there, like TFW and it was its founder who was sitting with us eating goose liver. It was actually goose liver on top of a steak on top of potatoes. It tasted great but we didnt realize we had to eat it WITH the steak. I rarely eat it, though I did eat liver as a pâté as a kid. In this occasion, ew were all paid a fancy dinner so I said why not (oh and there was caviar too).

I dont know if foie gras is illegal in the US due to anima cruelty. Tasted fine though. And yes, it was the head of TFW who told me of Megatron. he said it was easily the best figure he ever handled. the part that sold me was how matter of fact he said things. Like Ryan, he also takes pics and there is nothing he hates more than having to constantly retransform a toy he doesnt like to take pics of it in various forms. But with megatron, it wasnt a chore. He just followed the instructions and the conversion was pleasant. Thats all I really needed to hear. It speaks volumes to me. He pretty much said it was like one of those non transforming fully articulated figures and it just happened to also turn into a gun.

So yeah, come those Japan preorders, he is mine. especially since marcello doesnt know about the Japanese imporing and just bought him for $300 CDN at a local import shop. I will be telling him of the much cheaper importing option.

let me know if you have any more questions

TLDR: For journalistic purposes, I went to Vancouver to visit a game studio who wined and dined me to foie gras and caviar while I sat next to Hasbro's packaging artist who had drawn something just for me.

I dont know if it was better than the time I had dinner with Freddy Krueger and Bishop from Aliens, or when I just sat on a couch with Stan Lee as he was telling me of his dinner with Ronald Reagan, or the day my daughter was born.

Will = Winning at Life

bodrock wrote:Will = Winning at Life

Haha! I just got lucky following my passions. But I myself am not that cool, I just hang out with cool people (like you guys). One of my friends is even an actual rockstar who has familia ties with Bob Iger. But, as I said, they are the superstars, I just hang out with them... sometimes

Also, I dont know how some of those jetsetters do it. Goin from montreal to vancouver for just one day of activities is insane. You leave one day into a different time zone, then leave two days later to get back home. My internal clock was going nuts.

Awesome story WJ!!

If someone could find me that Omega Prime set in the Cybertron packaging I'd be a very happy camper. Those bots elude me at decent prices. I need Omega Prime in my life!!

Coming back home (from Asia) was always tough for readjustment, Will -- and that was after two weeks! I generally coped with sleeping pills, but even then...
I'm too old to be a jet-setter now, but perhaps passion goes a long way there!

Wow Billy, that is one whale of a tale! So FOIEGRASING AWESOME you got to make the trip as press coverage for the site, and nerd out on TFs with new friends and professionals. I wanna meet Matere. His art is awesome. I'd love to talk shop and glean some digi-painting tips from that guy. Is he Canadian?

Fish Captain Bill wrote:But I myself am not that cool.

Well, you are now!

Fish Captain Bill wrote:I just hang out with cool people (like you guys).

Very true!

Fish Captain Bill wrote:One of my friends is even an actual rockstar who has familia ties with Bob Iger.

WOW! You do know some interesting people.

Fish Captain Bill wrote:Also, I dont know how some of those jetsetters do it. Goin from montreal to vancouver for just one day of activities is insane. You leave one day into a different time zone, then leave two days later to get back home. My internal clock was going nuts.

I used to make a quarterly business trip to London. For one day, but it was so weird, because my body wouldn't even have time to adjust. It was like I never left my own time zone. Yet I often felt I had been hit by a train.

Fish Captain Bill wrote:I dont know if foie gras is illegal in the US due to animal cruelty.

It is.

Cobotron wrote:I'd love to talk shop and glean some digi-painting tips from that guy. Is he Canadian?

No he's Brazilian. He just moved to Canada six months ago so that he could offer his family a better future. We actually spoke more about his kids' schooling than TFs. I did learn that he found it pretty dumb that Hasbro requested new art for Cosmos with his alt mode. he didnt mind working fo course, but his inner fan didnt understand the point of having him and seaspray be in vehicle mode for their art.

Fish Captain Bill wrote:I dont know if foie gras is illegal in the US due to animal cruelty.

It is.

I know you dont like politics talk but lets just say I find it odd how so much time and effort in regulation is put on certain things and not others in your country. Like how one guy spent his life trying to get rid of the "u" in certain words like colour, flavour and armour. Oh well, no wonder the americans I was with had no clue what it was

This is making me all kinds of conflicted...

I'm just super confused. What exactly is going on there.

Is that the KO Iron Factory Magnus? He's OSed?!?! I thought he was the same as the OG.
So you have KO Galvatron, with KO OSed Legends Prime and Megatron, with whatever Magnus that is, and Legends Megatron and Wheelie thrown in the mix. Did I get that right?

K, did the pic come from a Ben's review? Got a link to the review?

Cobotron wrote:I'm just super confused. What exactly is going on there.

Is that the KO Iron Factory Magnus? He's OSed?!?! I thought he was the same as the OG.
So you have KO Galvatron, with KO OSed Legends Prime and Megatron, with whatever Magnus that is, and Legends Megatron and Wheelie thrown in the mix. Did I get that right?

K, did the pic come from a Ben's review? Got a link to the review?

You have everything exactly right!

Thanks K!

You know I'm kinda bummed. OS works for that Ultrlrl Magerlnups, because he's a big fella, and it helps create the illusion that a Has/Tak Legends Prime could fit in his chest. ('cause that's how it should be. although I DO like Freddie Mercury. ) The original IF Mags really scales better with Legions.

But... what I'm bummed about is, I was really thinking about that Galavatron, assuming he was true Legends size. Now I don't want him. I have a Deluxe Galv. I wanted a Legends.

Cobotron wrote:Thanks K!

You know I'm kinda bummed. OS works for that Ultrlrl Magerlnups, because he's a big fella, and it helps create the illusion that a Has/Tak Legends Prime could fit in his chest. ('cause that's how it should be. although I DO like Freddie Mercury. ) The original IF Mags really scales better with Legions.

But... what I'm bummed about is, I was really thinking about that Galavatron, assuming he was true Legends size. Now I don't want him. I have a Deluxe Galv. I wanted a Legends.

Same, that's my dilemma too

Thankfully Galvatron's not as hugely important to me as other characters - I DO have a lot of other Decepticon leaders to pick from - but it's a real shame he'd be a friggin' giant next to Megsy.

Where can we buy these KOs?

AliExpress.com
All day, all night!

Cobotron wrote:AliExpress.com
All day, all night!

Or if you're super lazy -RIGHT HERE! Searching Ali is a learned skill.

Free shipping to the states, not sure how you Canucks will fare. Be warned, Ali is a dangerous rabbit hole with a very slippery ledge. Good luck