The Energon Pub

wich one's do you like?

Honestly? None, really. Voyager Prime ain't bad, but not a patch on so many other Primes. Concept Camaro 'Bee is one of the most over-rated TFs I've ever encountered. Just not a very good line. Not entirely Hasbro's fault, as they were limited by the Movie style, but I can't wait for this junk to be off the shelves and replaced with Animated and Universe stuff I'll actually want.

I pretty much like 'em all. Barricade was my first, and really blew me away. The addition of the Frenzy figure and the coolness of the alt mode made me forget about so many of my misgivings about the movie.

Classic Camaro Bumblebee and Voyager Ratchet are 2 other favourites.

Well, I'm liking the movie line. Here are my favourites (and least favourites) of all the classes:

Legend:

Best: Blackout isn't the most movie-accurate toy of the range, but his transformation is kinda fun.

Worst: Pick any one of Starscream (those arms are horrid), Jazz (front grille on his roof) or Megatron (just woeful).

Real Gear:

Best: Either of the two digital camera bots. For the price, it's a nice transformation.

Worst: Either of the two video camera bots. I hate their arms.

Deluxe:

Best: Concept Camaro 08 is obviously wonderful (definitely not overrated), but the G1 Jazz repaint is my personal favourite.

Worst: I thought Scorponok was bad... but then I bought Dreadwing, who's even worse. Man, that dude's so out of proportion it's unreal!

FAB:

Best: A hard one, because I really love this line. I'd say either Frenzy or Ratchet. FAB Megatron should get an honourable mention just because he's the only Megatron toy in the entire movie line that doesn't completely suck.

Worst: Starscream - the only mis-step of the otherwise excellent FAB series.

Voyager:

Best: Premium Ratchet. This is a great mould, even better in the metallic green. If all the premium repaints are as good as this, we're in for a treat!

Worst: Megatron. The ice is rubbish. The transformation is hideously simple. I don't like that the feet don't stay open.

Leader:

Best: Nightwatch Prime (UK/Japan version). An excellent colour scheme for an excellent mould. The best toy in the line, bar none.

Worst: Megatron.

In my opinion they were all great toys, but if I had to chose a favorite it would be Swindle, this figure felt more solid than the rest of the figures.

By the way Sledge, I thought that you didn’t like the movie and didn’t go into threads discussing it?

Swindle's another favourite of mine. One of the more underrated toys in the line IMO. Downside was the lenshead and the cheap feel of the plastic. However I do like clever transformations. Carbots are done to death, but Swindle surprised me.

Nekoman wrote:By the way Sledge, I thought that you didn’t like the movie and didn’t go into threads discussing it?

I thought we were discussing the toys here?

Sledge wrote:

Nekoman wrote:By the way Sledge, I thought that you didn’t like the movie and didn’t go into threads discussing it?

I thought we were discussing the toys here?

Yes we are, if we weren’t I wouldn’t have mentioned Swindle in my post. According to your post here you don’t post in threads about the 07’ movie just to say “this sucks” .

Sledge wrote:Here's a thought for you: if you don't like Animated, STAY OUT OF THREADS DISCUSSING IT. It's a technique that works. I don't like Beast Wars, Beast Machines or the 2007 Movie. So I don't go into every thread relating to those things just to say "this sucks."

I like all of them. There are only 2 I've even somewhat regretted buying: Dlx Protoform Prime (he's a great fig, but just has no good place in my collection), and Dlx Arcee (another excellent fig, great alt mode, but way out of scale w/ the rest of my TFs). I've even bought some that I said I would not, and have grown to like, e.g. Voy Megatron.

The rest are great, even tho they all have their weaknesses. I've remedied some of their problems thru mods. I'm happy to have nearly all the movie figs, exc. for a few of the FABs, the Cyber Slammers, and some of the very newest Allspark figs, if you count those among Movie issues.

the o8 bumblebee. the transformation is simple (to do) but looks complicated when you look at the result.
And he looks just awesome.

I like the legends line.
People seem to love Landmine.

Nekoman wrote:

Sledge wrote:

Nekoman wrote:By the way Sledge, I thought that you didn’t like the movie and didn’t go into threads discussing it?

I thought we were discussing the toys here?

Yes we are, if we weren’t I wouldn’t have mentioned Swindle in my post. According to your post here you don’t post in threads about the 07’ movie just to say “this sucks” .

Sledge wrote:Here's a thought for you: if you don't like Animated, STAY OUT OF THREADS DISCUSSING IT. It's a technique that works. I don't like Beast Wars, Beast Machines or the 2007 Movie. So I don't go into every thread relating to those things just to say "this sucks."

Ok, I'll try this once more for the hard of thinking: I don't post in threads about the Bayformers film just to say "this sucked." As this thread is about the toys, it is not covered by that statement. 'Kay?

Oh, and you'll notice I didn't say I never go into threads on Bayformers. I said I don't go into every Bayformers thread. Surprising you didn't notice that. given you not only read it before, but were clearly so bothered by it you remembered exactly where to find it in the event you thought you might get one over on my by quoting it. Am I getting to you, Doris?

Eh, maybe I was being a bit of jerk bringing that back up, sorry.

All right, let's try bring back some civility, shall we?

As for the movie line, I've really enjoyed the line overall, though I must admit I would like to see it come to an end soon. There's only so many times you can repaint or enhance a figure, make subtle changes to the packaging, and charge another $20 before it wears thin.

My Top 5 in the whole line are:

1. Leader Prime: Incredibly well put together and detailed, Hasbro obviously put forth some of their best effort for this slice of awesomeness(excuse the schoolboy term). The only negative I can find? His size and girth don't allow for many poses, but he's worth the $40.

2. Voyager Ironhide: If there's 1 figure out of this line that I recommend just for how bad a$$ it will look sitting on your desk at work, it would be Ironhide. The alt mode looks realistic, but it's stunning to realize that compact truck will turn into one sleek, mean-looking robot. Downside: A few extra color accents in the original Voyager would have helped and his transformation can be a beast at first, but it pretty easy once you get the hang of it.

3. Concept Camaro BB: Definitely the 1 figure every collector of the movie line should have. A real engineering gem. Even if every other Auto Morph in the movie line was lousy, BB's would make the gimmick worth it since I think it's that impressive.

4. Leader Brawl: Arms dangling to form the sides in tank mode keep this monolith from near perfection, but super imposing, the best Decepticon of the whole movie bunch. Brawl also has the best array of sound effects in the Leader Class and to say he has an a nice array of weapons at his disposal would be understating it a great deal.

5. Tie: Deluxe Bonecrusher/Voyager Ratchet: Bonecrusher's unique appearance either appeals to you for its alien nature or reviles you for its ugliness. I think he's well-designed in both robot and alt mode, though he could use more color in later form. His "pinchers" are a nice touch. Ratchet is a bit blockier than most of the line, but he's a lot of fun, one of the easier transformations and I love his alt mode, particularly the green version for some reason.

Fast Action Battlers are pretty underappreciated, though geared to a younger audience. Frenzy's transformation is cool, but his robot mode is bizarre. Blackout actually is better than his Voyager counterpart in several ways. The Ramjet repaint has a nice paint job and is a nice, easy transformation, but too many liberties were taken in plane mode.

I don't have any of the Real Gears, so cannot comment on those.

The non-movie figures are a mixed bag. I played around with Landmine last night and he's quite good, up there with Wreckage and Dropkick as the best non-movie figures. Wreckage's alt mode is kind of dull, but his robot mode is excellent. I don't like Dropkick as much as I originally did, but his transformation is a fascinating one; his low rider pick-up mode doesn't appeal to me.

Payload is absolutely lousy; don't waste your money. Swindle and Dreadwing and their repaints seem like a waste of money.

Disappointments? Megatron seems to have been stuck with underwhelming figures, though I've come to like my Voyager Megatron, but all the negatives you've read about him are true; it's just a matter of finding positives and focusing on those.

Starscream's robot mode is something I'm stil not sure I like. The alt mode is fantastic, though. I prefer Thundercracker, personally.

I've decided Voyager Blackout is one of the worse in the line. The robot mode is ridiculously undersized and the "backpack" hanging off of him just shows how lazy the designers became. Still, I think being able to connect Scoponok to the bottom of Blackout is very cool, a nice touch. Looking at him in person, I think Evac improves on Blackout quite a bit, but not enough to make it a must buy.

Ultimate Bumbleebee isn't as bad as you often may read, but don't spend the money for him unless you won't regret paying $80 for more of an electronic novelty piece than Transformer.

All in all, the movie line as been a pleasant surprise to me. The complex transformations and unique aesthetics make up for any shortcomings.

09 BB he's the best of the movie line! He's not over rated at all.