The Energon Pub

Usually when it comes to TFs, i buy whichever ones I like.. But seeing as I'm a nub who didn't go to Botcon, and I like Animated and Robot Heroes, the Movie line-up doesn't alway get my attention.. So I guess I need some help figuring which figs I should get.

Movie G1 Jazz: Yay or Nay?

Final Battle Jazz: I've been looking for a Movie Jazz cause the first one I got had it's Autobot insignia get rubbed off. Is the "new weapon" worth it?

Thundercracker: Yay or Nay?

Camshaft/Swindle: I've heard it is crap. Is it actually that bad?

Payload: Same thing as Camshaft/Swindle. Is it really that bad?

Evac: I already have Blackout, and I was pretty disappointed. Is Evac worth a 2nd try at that helicopter mode?

Leader Brawl: Any good? I already have the Deluxe.. and yah, not any good.


Thanks for the help.

Only one I can comment on is Swindle. Don't. Really not very good. His vehicle mode doesn't fit together well, he's not a good-looking robot, there are a lot of better figures to buy.

I like him. But I'm weird.

IMO...I'd say go for G1 deco Jazz. Maybe get TC if you want, and that's a big if. As for the rest you mentioned, totally passable.

Out of that list, all I got is Swindle. He's not too outstanding, and neither he nor Camshaft have that nice of a color scheme. His robot mode is articulated pretty well, and he's fun to bang around, but he doesn't scream "AWESOME" like some guys do. His car is boring, and it's kind of hard to line up the back of the car. I'd mildly recommend him.

Blurrz wrote:Usually when it comes to TFs, i buy whichever ones I like.. But seeing as I'm a nub who didn't go to Botcon, and I like Animated and Robot Heroes, the Movie line-up doesn't alway get my attention.. So I guess I need some help figuring which figs I should get.

Movie G1 Jazz: Yay or Nay?

Final Battle Jazz: I've been looking for a Movie Jazz cause the first one I got had it's Autobot insignia get rubbed off. Is the "new weapon" worth it?

I'd get Final Battle, the figure sucks, the alt is alright, but man the gun makes it.

Blurrz wrote:Thundercracker: Yay or Nay?

Nay till clearance, even with the new head. However after clearance, I look forward to building an army of assault jets. This mold doesn't make for a great figure, however I can see it being an awesome drone.

Blurrz wrote:Camshaft/Swindle: I've heard it is crap. Is it actually that bad?

Alot of people don't like this figure, but I have to say, outside of the head being sunk into it's body, it's a nice figure, with a good built in weapon, and an intresting transformation.

Blurrz wrote:Payload: Same thing as Camshaft/Swindle. Is it really that bad?

He looks cool at first site, but he doesn't hold together at all, get some glue when you buy him(you'll see why(, but even after fixing that, I can't get past the 6inch plunger sticking out of his back, I say pass.

Blurrz wrote:Evac: I already have Blackout, and I was pretty disappointed. Is Evac worth a 2nd try at that helicopter mode?

Ask yourself, would a new head, color pattern, and dingy instead of Scorponok make you like it more?

I don't care that the dingy does turn to a gun, it wasn't enough to get my $20 twice!

Blurrz wrote:Leader Brawl: Any good? I already have the Deluxe.. and yah, not any good.

I have him, lots of switches and springs that add to the transformation, however they aren't exactly set right which can cause him to spastickly break up out of alt mode. Alot of the attachments tend to keep falling off too.

With no shortage of Dessert Brawl around, wait for clearance!!!

Blurrz wrote:Thanks for the help.

Thats Right, You Should Thank Me...

...With Sandwiches!!!

G1 Jazz- Great paint scheme, it looks really good on this mold. the fig itself misses the mark by a bit bec. it' snot really movie accurate at all. Still worth getting tho, IMO, as a nice homage to G1.

Final Battle Jazz- the weapon is nice, but you have to mod it to make it look anything like the movie piece. Nice to have another Jazz so you can separate him into 2 pieces and display him "dead".

Thundercracker- if you like the mold, he's great. Good colors and a realy creepy evil head.

Camshaft/Swindle- uuuhhh, yeah, pretty crappy, but he's got some nice molded details, and makes good cannon fodder if nothing else. There are a couple mods that improve him slightly, you might want to do a search for those.

Payload- cursed by the horrible Plunger O' Doom coming out of his back, he's actually a very neat fig with lots of nice molded details and good articulation. Like the Swindle mold, you can mod him to drastically improve his coolness- for example, I simply removed the plunger mechanism, which gave me a great little Deluxe.

Evac- if you were disappointed in Blackout, don't get Evac- they're really the same deal. I ahppen to like them both, FWIW.

Leader Brawl- simply put, one of the best movie figs, period. Awesome details throughout, kick-ass alt mode, very good articulation in robot mode, and cool and fitting sound effects.

HTH, enjoy!

G1 Jazz is pretty nice. I'd go for him. Although so far the allspark power Jazz is my favorite, but I haven't seen the premium yet.


Avoid Payload at all costs. As I said before in another thread, he knows he's garbage and falls apart for easy disposal.

As for the rest, it really just depends on how much you like them. As far as I'm concerned none of them are bad, but none are must haves either.

Leader Brawl is one of my favourites, and I've picked up every character from the movie. Definitely worth it.

I'm stuck with Final Battle Jazz, and I'm really wanting to find a premium, or even just the original deluxe somewhere, because the robot mode sucks monkey balls. I want one I can happily display as a robot, not a mangled piece of crap. Battle Damage FTL!

Get G1 Jazz for the nostalgia value, and he looks nice with your classics collection. Thundercracker was a pass for me, not a big fan of this mold. Passed on Swindle, but picked up Camshaft, he's okay at best. Payload is junk, the plunger sicking out of his back ruins his bot mode, and his head constantly pops off. Leader Brawl is great and a nice upgrade from the deluxe version.

Get G1 Jazz or maybe the snazzy premium Jazz but the truth is it's a dud of a deluxe - very poorly designed.

Get Camshaft, his colour scheme is nice in person and other than the head he's a decent deluxe, I like him - (skip Swindle due to his dull Red/Grey scheme)

I see no point in buying Thundercracker if there is no Skywarp to complete the trio, I have the G1 Movie Starscream and he's good but not great. I wonder if a Skywarp repaint will come out in the TF2 toyline or be a Botcon exclusive in '09?

Deep Desert Brawl looks abit better than the standard version, a pretty good TF - actually I think he's underated by alot of people.

Pass on Payload.

Movie G1 Jazz: Yay

Final Battle Jazz: Get movie G1 Jazz instead

Thundercracker: Yay. Its a nice repaint

Camshaft/Swindle: I skipped on this on so I can't say for sure

Payload: the alt mode is nice but you may cringe at its bot mode. I learned to live with it though

Evac: Yes, its another great repaint

Leader Brawl: I skipped on this one too.

Yay Movie G1-Style Jazz
Nay Final Battle Jazz (Unless you just gotta have that gun)
Yay Thundercracker
Nay Swindle (Never owned Camshaft)
Nay Payload
Never owned Evac
Yay Leader Brawl (but be prepaired for even more limited articulation than Deluxe Brawl.)

G1 Jazz and Thundercracker are the best of the whole bunch in my opinion.

Jazz - Get one Premium and one G1 style for your classics.

F.B. Jazz - Pass.

Thundercracker - Okay figure, but do you want to clutter your movie line with non-movie Transformers? Sometimes less is more.

Evac - Same as above. Go for Premium Blackout or stick with what you got.

Camshaft/Swindle - More non-movie crap. Yes, they are in the video game but do you really need that?

Payload - Non-movie. Pass. Also falls apart and is skewered by the "plunger weapon"

Leader Brawl - Hell ya! Awesome figure, movie character. I actualy wish he was smaller so he was more to scale with the other figures. Even so, the choice is too bg or too small. I opt for too big. get the movie color one too.


These are what you should have: Premium Prime, Premium Megatron (both), 74 Bee, Concept Camaro Bee, Premium Bee, Premium Barricade, Premium Starscream, Premium Ratchet, Scorponok (either deluxe or Legends), Premium Ironhide, Leader Brawl. Maybe deluxe Bonecrusher, but they really should have made him a Voyager or Leader class. Try to get the battle scene human figures and an Allspark cube.

Non-movie figs to consider: Longarm battle scene, Dropkick, Arcee, Stockade.

Jazz - I'm a big fan of the G1-style repaints, and Jazz is no exception. The best movie Jazz figure by far.

Final Battle Jazz - Well, the gun's okay, I suppose, and it's good that the battle damage is moulded rather than just being painted on.

Thundercracker - Well the Starscream mould is not one of my favourites. The best ones to get are the Premium and the G1-style. For me, the blue on this fig is a bit too dull. Thundercracker should be a bright, Royal blue, not a dull, pastel greyish-blue.

Evac - I prefer Evac to Blackout. He's very colouful, and he's probably the only figure whose apperance is enhanced by that 'Allspark Power' electric blue - it goes very well with the white, orange and black.

Payload - Well, if you can look past the horrible plunger, then this dude is a great figure. The big saving grace is the transformation, which is really unique and fun. But there are a few pieces that tend to pop off, so be sure to invest in some superglue.

Camshaft / Swindle - I actually like this mould as well. He looks simple enough in the photos, but again - the transformation is surprisingly cool. I fully concur with the posters above who say that Camshaft has the best colour scheme of the two.

Leader Brawl - I must be one of the few people in the universe who prefer the deluxe! The dude is a pain to pose, because he feet are just too darn small! And the amount of kibble that stacks onto his calves is just silly. And the main tank barrel doesn't fold up hehind his back like in the movie - it juts out from his side like a lame parody of Armada Megatron.

The best figs in the line are the Voyager Ironhide mould, the Leader Prime and the Deluxe 09 Bumblebee. Once you have these you can't go far wrong. And if you can find the white Arcee and the Gold 77 Bumblebee, then those are fantastic-looking if you have the cash.

Yar, yar I already have the good movie TF figures... I think I have 16 in total, and they're great. I got Leader Prime, Bumblebee, Jazz, Blue Ironhide, Best Buy Ratchet, Best Buy Megatron, Arcee, Elita-1, Stockade, Deluxe Brawl, Skorponok, Bonecrusher, Longarm, Starscream, Blackout, and Wreckage

Thanks for the opinions everyone, I think i'll pick up Swindle/Camshaft and maybe Leader Brawl.

Also I forgot to ask:

Leader Megatron: I have the BB exclusive of the Voyager version. The only reason I would want it is because Megs is the "tallest" of all Transformers

Barricade: Yay or Nay?

Dreadwing/Overcast: Is it any good?

I have Dreadwing. The jet's not bad, but it's got heavy kibble on the underside. The robot mode is not that nice. He's got puny legs and really big arms. Not bad, not great. Again, mildly recommended.

Deluxe Baricade is a good figure, he has a very G1 vibe to me anyway. Dreadwing/Overcast pass on, the alt mode is decent enough but the bot mode has no hands and tiny legs. Leader Megs, good bot mode, but the alt mode is lacking. His head is pretty clearly visible and there is a lot of leg kibble under the wings. On mine the legs don't want to stay locked in place either in alt mode, so they kind of hang down. Still though worth in for the bot mode, and now the premium is out, whick looks really nice. I would love to have all the premiums that are coming out, because they do look nicer than the originals, I just can't justify rebuying the movie line. It kind of makes me mad really, why weren't they just premium to begin with? Besides to make more money of course.

G1 Jazz- Nay
FB Jazz- yay he's worth it the gun rocks too.
Payload- Nay
Evac- Depends if you really want another blackout mold go for it he's got the same probs
Thundercracker- Nay Deep space Screamer is the best of the molds
Brawl- Yay get him now!

starfish wrote: Leader Brawl... the main tank barrel doesn't fold up hehind his back like in the movie - it juts out from his side like a lame parody of Armada Megatron.

When in Bot mode I just pull the barrel off and have him hold it like a club, it looks cool and makes the figure more balanced.