The Energon Pub

by **Swindle01** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:30 am

Ok so my friend finally got his 25th Unicron today and all i can say is...wow...what an utter piece of crap. Yeah the new heads nice but this thing hasnt got a single thing over the Takara 2010 version.

For starters wtf is with all this baby blue coloring? also the grey/silver for the chest just seems WAY off but maybe thats just me.

The planet mode seems more baby blue colored than it should be and it just looks and feels like a KO when compared to his Takara 2010 version

Ive seen customs from years ago that WAY surpass the 25th unicron such as the attached pic.
Its just abit disapointing to see that this is Hasbros best attempt at trying to do a Cartoon accurate movie unicron. It feels wierd when you stand the 3 of them together because now Armada unicron looks like an unfinished prototype - 25th unicron looks like a KO of 2010 unicron and - 2010 Takara unicron looks the genuine thing

Its sad because i was really hoping to get a Unicron for my classics line but now it seems i can either mod my own armada unicron into the attached pic OR spend over £140+ for 2010 Takara unicron in the colors hes ment to be in

anyone else seen this toy in the flesh or whos got it themselves and feel disapointed. btw my friend got his off ebay and paid the retarded price instead of waiting for it to show up on amazon

News Credits: 12 · by **GuyIncognito** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:41 am

I think you're being a bit harsh. But I do agree about the blue. That color just doesn't belong on the Planet Eater, the Lord of Chaos.

News Credits: 7 · by **alldarker** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 8:53 am

Isn't the baby blue 'comic-accurate' (of course, the comic color was defined by the limited availability of colors in printing presses back in the day)?

I have to say, I don't have 25th Anniversary Unicron, and I do have Takara's 2010 Unicron, and I'm very happy with 2010 Unicron! Amazon Unicron just looks a lot cheaper, mostly due to the paint job. To be honest, I would buy him if he came to a European Amazon.xx store (.co.uk, .fr, .de), but I don't even know the chances of that happening.

News Credits: 5 · by **zodconvoy** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 9:26 am

The comic version was usually lilac so I think Hasbro thought they were doing us a favor making it blue instead. Between Hasbro and Takara they usually try to have on do toon accurate and the other do comic accurate. When Takara took toon, Hasbro got shafted.

News Credits: 1 · by **Marcdachamp** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 9:50 am

Well, now I'm even happier sticking with my Armada version.

by **SJ21** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 10:43 am

I am happy with the Armada Unicron.

by **FullMetalGeth** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 11:18 am

Happy with Armada Unicron.

News Credits: 241 · by **Jelze Bunnycat** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 12:10 pm

Happy with Armada Unicron, yet still want 25th Anniversary aka "Masterpiece" Unicron, and Energon Unicron for that matter.

And why does everyone think the pumpkin orange is show-accurate?

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:01 pm

Why's he blue? Because he was blue.

Also, take notice that his equator is colored yellow/gold/orange in these pics and on the Amazon Unicron, yet the Takara Unicron left it unpainted.

News Credits: 11 · by **Overcracker** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:23 pm

I really love this version. Specially the price. 59.99 vs at least 120 for any other version anywhere? Its a steal. The figure is still for all intents and purposes the same Armada Unicron. So everything about it is cool. Its just much more accurate to the comic book in paint scheme, which in my book is a plus.

News Credits: 10 · by **Lapse Of Reason** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:29 pm

I have all three (well, I did but sold Armada Unicron because it paled in comparison to the Takara).

The main thing Amazon has going for it over the Takara is the matching hand color. I might look into swapping the hands.

I prefer the orange color of the Takara. I also lucked out and don't have any paint flaws on the face of my Takara edition.

Given a chance to rank them, I'd go:

Takara A
Amazon A-
Armada B

Oh, and I would not say the blue on the Amazon is a baby blue. Not like a robin's egg or anything. It is more baby blue with a bit of gray mixed in.

News Credits: 1452 · by **Blurrz** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:31 pm

Pants? Yes, Kranix the Mini-con does wear the pants in this relationship, the only reason I'd even go for another version of the Unicron mold. =3

News Credits: 127 · by **Counterpunch** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 2:53 pm

Lapse Of Reason wrote:I have all three (well, I did but sold Armada Unicron because it paled in comparison to the Takara).

The main thing Amazon has going for it over the Takara is the matching hand color. I might look into swapping the hands.

I prefer the orange color of the Takara. I also lucked out and don't have any paint flaws on the face of my Takara edition.

Given a chance to rank them, I'd go:

Takara A
Amazon A-
Armada B

Oh, and I would not say the blue on the Amazon is a baby blue. Not like a robin's egg or anything. It is more baby blue with a bit of gray mixed in.

All this is very extremely true. >:oP

by **NTESHFT** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 4:07 pm

Sabrblade wrote:Why's he blue? Because he was blue.

Also, take notice that his equator is colored yellow/gold/orange in these pics and on the Amazon Unicron, yet the Takara Unicron left it unpainted.

Thank you! I was just about to start posting similar pics, but you beat me to it. The amazon version is movie-accurate, IMO.

I really doubt it's a "piece of crap". I'll just have to wait and see when mine comes in....

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 4:44 pm

headsortails wrote:Thank you! I was just about to start posting similar pics, but you beat me to it. The amazon version is movie-accurate, IMO.

I really doubt it's a "piece of crap". I'll just have to wait and see when mine comes in....

It is movie-accurate color-wise, but not layout-wise. I've elaborated more on this better here:

Sabrblade wrote:Having seen comparison images of both the Hasbro and Takara, I can see good things about both figures, as well as faults in each.

The Hasbro one has the more correct color choices, while the Takara one has the more correct color layout.

Though, the Takara one has slightly more correct use of its colors than the Hasbro one. Like, the Takara one has orange upper arms, more solidly-colored legs, orange stomach sides, a straight stripe of orange going down the center of the chest, and an overall more subtle color scheme with a correct shade of gray.

On the downside, the Takara one has a fully orange main torso (when it should have more gray in certain places), black knees, too many little silver details that are otherwise unnecessary, and a lack of paint going around the back of his head from cheek-to-cheek.

On the other hand, the pluses of the Hasbro one are its knees colored the same as its lower legs, a gray upper torso, a red Planet Mode maw, a painted Planet Mode equator, a correct shade of blue for Planet Mode, and overall more accurate shades of orange and blue.

But, it also has far too many little red and silver details that are really unnecessary, too shiny a silver, a jagged orange stripe going down his chest all zigzag-like, gray stomach sides, garish and gaudy orange and silver details are his legs, Red LED eyes when he should have green, and an overall disorienting color layout.

If only Hasbro and/or Takara had taken the positives of both versions, discarded/fixed as many negatives as they could, and attempted to give us something as closer as possible to this without further remolding or making a new figure, then this would have been an instant win.

The keyword in this is SUBLETY, as the G1 Unicron had a very subtle color scheme. He didn't look all that fancy, but he didn't HAVE to. His colors worked just fine without all these little bits of red and silver speckled all over his body. His basic colors of blue, orange, and gray work just fine for him on there on. We don't need all these little extra bits that take away form the show-accruacy of these two figure's color schemes!

News Credits: 241 · by **Jelze Bunnycat** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:18 pm

Sabrblade wrote:
headsortails wrote:Thank you! I was just about to start posting similar pics, but you beat me to it. The amazon version is movie-accurate, IMO.

I really doubt it's a "piece of crap". I'll just have to wait and see when mine comes in....
It is movie-accurate color-wise, but not layout-wise. I've elaborated more on this better here:
Sabrblade wrote:Having seen comparison images of both the Hasbro and Takara, I can see good things about both figures, as well as faults in each.

The Hasbro one has the more correct color choices, while the Takara one has the more correct color layout.

Though, the Takara one has slightly more correct use of its colors than the Hasbro one. Like, the Takara one has orange upper arms, more solidly-colored legs, orange stomach sides, a straight stripe of orange going down the center of the chest, and an overall more subtle color scheme with a correct shade of gray.

On the downside, the Takara one has a fully orange main torso (when it should have more gray in certain places), black knees, too many little silver details that are otherwise unnecessary, and a lack of paint going around the back of his head from cheek-to-cheek.

On the other hand, the pluses of the Hasbro one are its knees colored the same as its lower legs, a gray upper torso, a red Planet Mode maw, a painted Planet Mode equator, a correct shade of blue for Planet Mode, and overall more accurate shades of orange and blue.

But, it also has far too many little red and silver details that are really unnecessary, too shiny a silver, a jagged orange stripe going down his chest all zigzag-like, gray stomach sides, garish and gaudy orange and silver details are his legs, Red LED eyes when he should have green, and an overall disorienting color layout.

If only Hasbro and/or Takara had taken the positives of both versions, discarded/fixed as many negatives as they could, and attempted to give us something as closer as possible to this without further remolding or making a new figure, then this would have been an instant win.

The keyword in this is SUBLETY, as the G1 Unicron had a very subtle color scheme. He didn't look all that fancy, but he didn't HAVE to. His colors worked just fine without all these little bits of red and silver speckled all over his body. His basic colors of blue, orange, and gray work just fine for him on there on. We don't need all these little extra bits that take away form the show-accruacy of these two figure's color schemes!

As for the line on his chest being jagged, it does follow molded detail, asymmetric as it is. Despite his "flaws", Amazon still wins out in my book, not just because of price (tho it helps

)

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:24 pm

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:As for the line on his chest being jagged, it does follow molded detail, asymmetric as it is. Despite his "flaws", Amazon still wins out in my book, not just because of price (tho it helps )

Yes, but it still hurts the figure's attempt to be show-accurately colored. Takara Unicron managed to pull off the straight orange line fine, so Amazon Unicron should have been able to just as well.

News Credits: 241 · by **Jelze Bunnycat** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:29 pm

Sabrblade wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:As for the line on his chest being jagged, it does follow molded detail, asymmetric as it is. Despite his "flaws", Amazon still wins out in my book, not just because of price (tho it helps )
Yes, but it still hurts the figure's attempt to be show-accurately colored. Takara Unicron managed to pull off the straight orange line fine, so Amazon Unicron should have been able to just as well.

All I need is the colors themselves to be accurate, not how they're arranged. That said, Amazon Unicron has some eye-catching, albeit inaccurately placed, paint apps, which helps pleasing the eye a bit.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:48 pm

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:As for the line on his chest being jagged, it does follow molded detail, asymmetric as it is. Despite his "flaws", Amazon still wins out in my book, not just because of price (tho it helps )
Yes, but it still hurts the figure's attempt to be show-accurately colored. Takara Unicron managed to pull off the straight orange line fine, so Amazon Unicron should have been able to just as well.

All I need is the colors themselves to be accurate, not how they're arranged. That said, Amazon Unicron has some eye-catching, albeit inaccurately placed, paint apps, which helps pleasing the eye a bit.

IMO, I think the only shade of color that Amazon Unicron didn't get right and that the Takara Unicron did get right was the silver.

That and the paint of the leg planet kibble. That orange and white looks absolutely gaudy.

by **Astronopolis** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 5:54 pm

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:As for the line on his chest being jagged, it does follow molded detail, asymmetric as it is. Despite his "flaws", Amazon still wins out in my book, not just because of price (tho it helps )
Yes, but it still hurts the figure's attempt to be show-accurately colored. Takara Unicron managed to pull off the straight orange line fine, so Amazon Unicron should have been able to just as well.

All I need is the colors themselves to be accurate, not how they're arranged. That said, Amazon Unicron has some eye-catching, albeit inaccurately placed, paint apps, which helps pleasing the eye a bit.

i have to agree. the 2010 albeit having a more correct layout, is just not eye pleasing. the mold needs a bit more painted detail to really accent the mold itself. it wouldn't bother me if this was a deluxe or voyager, but in this case with it being so large, the Amazon scheme wins out for me.

News Credits: 3604 · by **Seibertron** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:23 pm

Sabrblade wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:As for the line on his chest being jagged, it does follow molded detail, asymmetric as it is. Despite his "flaws", Amazon still wins out in my book, not just because of price (tho it helps )
Yes, but it still hurts the figure's attempt to be show-accurately colored. Takara Unicron managed to pull off the straight orange line fine, so Amazon Unicron should have been able to just as well.

That's a matter of opinion. I think the orange stripe looks like a racing stripe going down his chest. I like that Hasbro made an effort to follow the molded details, which I said should have been done with the Takara version. Seems odd that people would prefer it the other way around.

Amazon version wins hands down in my book ... looking forward to getting it in my hands tomorrow.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:39 pm

Seibertron wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:As for the line on his chest being jagged, it does follow molded detail, asymmetric as it is. Despite his "flaws", Amazon still wins out in my book, not just because of price (tho it helps )
Yes, but it still hurts the figure's attempt to be show-accurately colored. Takara Unicron managed to pull off the straight orange line fine, so Amazon Unicron should have been able to just as well.

That's a matter of opinion. I think the orange stripe looks like a racing stripe going down his chest. I like that Hasbro made an effort to follow the molded details, which I said should have been done with the Takara version. Seems odd that people would prefer it the other way around.

Because that's how it's presented on G1 Unicron as seen below. A straight drop instead of a zigzag.

While I think we can all agree that it would have been preferred if Has/Tak had gone and completely remolded the chest doors to resemble the classic look, but as it is now, painting the chest going straight down is as close as they can get to the animation model without remolding.

News Credits: 3604 · by **Seibertron** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:46 pm

Sabrblade wrote:
Seibertron wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:As for the line on his chest being jagged, it does follow molded detail, asymmetric as it is. Despite his "flaws", Amazon still wins out in my book, not just because of price (tho it helps )
Yes, but it still hurts the figure's attempt to be show-accurately colored. Takara Unicron managed to pull off the straight orange line fine, so Amazon Unicron should have been able to just as well.

That's a matter of opinion. I think the orange stripe looks like a racing stripe going down his chest. I like that Hasbro made an effort to follow the molded details, which I said should have been done with the Takara version. Seems odd that people would prefer it the other way around.
Because that's how it's presented on G1 Unicron as seen below. A straight drop instead of a zigzag.

While I think we can all agree that it would have been preferred if Has/Tak had gone and completely remolded the chest doors to resemble the classic look, but as it is now, painting the chest going straight down is as close as they can get to the animation model without remolding.

Right, but the toy isn't molded that way so it just ends up looking like a racing stripe. Had they remolded the chest as well, I would've been all for this, but since they didn't going with the molded lines is the best option even if it makes it look a little zig zagged.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:54 pm

Seibertron wrote:Right, but the toy isn't molded that way so it just ends up looking like a racing stripe. Had they remolded the chest as well, I would've been all for this, but since they didn't going with the molded lines is the best option even if it makes it look a little zig zagged.

We just may have to agree to disagree (or pray that some third-party will create high quality replacement chest pieces based on the classic chest design to swap out with the existing ones

), since this appears to be based more on opinions and preferences than anything else. Since facts won't work in this kind of discussion, we're left to just respecting each other's views even if our tastes differ. I get what you're saying, and you seem to get my point too. So, we good?

News Credits: 1 · by **Cyberseven** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 7:00 pm

I have the Takara version, and my Hasbro version should be here tomorrow. The fact of the matter is as far as I can tell since I do not have the Hasbro one in hand yet, is that they are both excellent representations of Unicron. The Armada version is the only one that I find a questionable representation of Unicron. We can argue over paint aps and movie color accuracy, but if you can have only one, you are not going to miss out on the other. Let's also agree that for the price ($60.00 Amazon's price) the Hasbro version is a steal compared to what you pay for the same mold for the Takara version.