The Energon Pub

Got these two the other day. They're fantastic!
I'm returning them



Jazz is awesome in both modes. Posable, detailed, fun but not complicated to transform, and excites me for what they could achieve with an MPM.

Lockdown, almost gets the same praise. His design is of one of those kibble'less Movieformers, so his added bulk and kibble makes him feel a little inaccurate. However, he's miles ahead of the AOE mold, and has some incredible sculpted details in bot mode. He looks fantastic. Transformation is a bit of a pain though. Fitting his hood to his shoulders isn't easy.

So why am I returning both? Jazz, for the life of me, I cannot get one side of the car mode to panel together flush. It's incredibly frustrating and I want one that actually firs together. Lockdown does the same sort of thing (not quite as bad) but then, broke while I was working on these pics! The bullet thingies on his shoulders, one of them snapped off while transforming him. To be fair, after examining it I could quite simply glue it back into place without hurting anything on the figure, but since his car mode doesn't fit together I'm also going for a new one like with Jazz.

It's really unfortunate. These are both amazing figures, but I got two lemons. I am absolutely getting a new pair and hoping for better results. These two are the most impressive to date, and Jazz might be my favorite SS so far! Still recommended!

I'm pretty sure SS Jazz is a BoS figure. Lockdown looks like a linebacker

Wow, those SS look fan-flippin-tastic!

I will warn you about Jazz: His tabbing together in alt mode seems to be a universal issue. I have heard of a lot of Jazz's that will not tab fully together in alt mode

Well dang, I’m sorry about the figures Shaj!! I still haven’t picked up any SS, and Thundercracker doesn’t count.

Sucks to hear Jazz's tabbing is universal. Meh, I'll try one more and stick with it. Still a great looking bot!

Well look who finally showed up

So. He is freakin heavy, surprisingly easy to transform, and just looks amazing. In case I didn't post it here or if y'all forgot, I wanted this guy to be G1 S1 Hauler...







When I was a kid, I only ever saw Season 1 and the movie. So my only exposure to an orange crane bot, was the one time only "Hauler". I had G1 Grapple, but I honestly thought he was that guy

In my mind, there's Hauler, and Grapple. They're both orange, and I don't mind having this guy on the same display as MP Grapple

That is one big hood behind his head!

NICE!
Glad you like him.
I have been fiddling with mine a ton since he showed up. Something very gratifying about him and his heft.
It's cool that he and MP Grapple are different enough that you can retcon your cool childhood misconception with them.

They did him in a kind of Constructacon green. Was that supposed to be Hauler? OR Erector, or something?

Thanks for the shots with the toy head. Looks ccol. I still need to try that out, but my gut tells me, contrary to my toy accy drum beating, I like the orange head better.

Cobotron wrote:They did him in a kind of Constructacon green. Was that supposed to be Hauler? OR Erector, or something?

Yeah. In 2003, Takara officially recognized Hauler with an e-Hobby exclusive, in green.

Hauler Tech Spec wrote:Back on Cybertron, Hauler (aka Road Hauler and Load Hauler) was a Constructicon involved in the building of the Crystal City. When his teammates were reprogrammed as Decepticons, Hauler turned to the Autobots, joining their ranks. This choice would eventually put him on board the Ark for its doomed voyage that ended on Earth. When he awoke with the rest of the crew in 1984, he resumed his primary function: the discovery and procurement of energy sources. This task sends him far and wide across the planet, and his tendency towards capricious self-expression often results in him coming back with different colors and parts.

His crane mode can lift 60 tons, and in robot mode, he can launch his hands from their wrist-sockets. The hands can fly through the air under his remote-control guidance, allowing him to perform tasks normally beyond his reach.

I love the explanation of why he can shoot his hands.

As if "Rocket Punch" isn't a good enough reason.

Cobotron wrote:Thanks for the shots with the toy head. Looks ccol. I still need to try that out, but my gut tells me, contrary to my toy accy drum beating, I like the orange head better.

I love the toy head, but its a pain to install. When you unscrew the back, it falls apart into 5 pieces! /it's actually kind of difficult to reassemble and get into place.

shajaki wrote:

Cobotron wrote:Thanks for the shots with the toy head. Looks ccol. I still need to try that out, but my gut tells me, contrary to my toy accy drum beating, I like the orange head better.

I love the toy head, but its a pain to install. When you unscrew the back, it falls apart into 5 pieces! /it's actually kind of difficult to reassemble and get into place.

Hmmmmm? I wondered. So tell me this. Is one of those 5 pieces his face? If so that means I might be able to achieve my day dream of painting his damned grey face SILVER!

Cobotron wrote:

shajaki wrote:

Cobotron wrote:Thanks for the shots with the toy head. Looks ccol. I still need to try that out, but my gut tells me, contrary to my toy accy drum beating, I like the orange head better.

I love the toy head, but its a pain to install. When you unscrew the back, it falls apart into 5 pieces! /it's actually kind of difficult to reassemble and get into place.

Hmmmmm? I wondered. So tell me this. Is one of those 5 pieces his face? If so that means I might be able to achieve my day dream of painting his damned grey face SILVER!

Sorry, but naw

front, back, right ear, left ear, eyeballs

DANG!

YO! YO! Almost forgot.
Is that MMC's new Cliff? I have been eye balling him ever since Cram hipped me to him.
How is he?

Cobotron wrote:DANG!

YO! YO! Almost forgot.
Is that MMC's new Cliff? I have been eye balling him ever since Cram hipped me to him.
How is he?

Nope! It's kind of a re-shell KO. Ace's Tumbler. I bought him because he (and his partner) were on deep clearance

They're ok

Cobotron wrote::lol: I love the explanation of why he can shoot his hands.

As if "Rocket Punch" isn't a good enough reason.

Seriously, ROCKET PUNCH needs no explanation!

Rocket punch is always cool... ALWAYS!

*yawn*

Slow week. Nothing new, but waiting on stuffs. You know what's on my mind? Collecting G1, and when I'll get to it.

Seeing the recent hauls of Kanrabat, I'm crazy jealous. I have a plan for G1, but it's "when I get there I get there". But there is a steady onslaught of new stuff, not to mention my MP completion focus, it's starting to feel like it's never going to happen. And the issue is, they ain't gettin any cheaper. Just kinda feel like I'm missing the mark y'know?

shajaki wrote:*yawn*

Slow week. Nothing new, but waiting on stuffs. You know what's on my mind? Collecting G1, and when I'll get to it.

Seeing the recent hauls of Kanrabat, I'm crazy jealous. I have a plan for G1, but it's "when I get there I get there". But there is a steady onslaught of new stuff, not to mention my MP completion focus, it's starting to feel like it's never going to happen. And the issue is, they ain't gettin any cheaper. Just kinda feel like I'm missing the mark y'know?

I feel ya with the going back to collect. I keep wanting to go back and hunt down more Pretenders and some other Beast Wars guys, or at least get a Monstructor, but it's been a good release of new figures.

I intend for that to change come the new trilogy of stuff. I plan to be far pickier, and I don't need more versions of guys I have unless the version I have is combined or not overly good, which is rare. I love the Cybertronian designs, but for me, I intend to hopefully go back more, since I desire to be pickier.

I'm not sure if you're in that kind of boat Shaj, but maybe it can be your boat too. Take a step back, see if what's next is something you want or can go ham on, and if it isn't maybe use that to hunt down those old guys.

shajaki wrote:*yawn*

Slow week. Nothing new, but waiting on stuffs. You know what's on my mind? Collecting G1, and when I'll get to it.

Seeing the recent hauls of Kanrabat, I'm crazy jealous. I have a plan for G1, but it's "when I get there I get there". But there is a steady onslaught of new stuff, not to mention my MP completion focus, it's starting to feel like it's never going to happen. And the issue is, they ain't gettin any cheaper. Just kinda feel like I'm missing the mark y'know?

On the other hand, G1 finished its run long ago, so there's no constant influx of new figures aside from the occasional E-Hobby redeco. And there's the counterfeit reissues, which are generally less expensive as complete G1 figures go. Really the most painful stuff would be stuff from after the point where the cartoons diverged that didn't get a US export (especially Grand Max, Black Zarak, Overlord, and most of the stuff from Zone and Return of Convoy), if you're even going for that.

In 2015, I prioritized G1 stuff over current figures and I've come to half-regret it because of the prices of Combiner Wars limb robots and Combiner Wars Optimus Prime usually go for on eBay. So I don't blame you for prioritizing the new stuff.

From what I've seen over my years of collecting, G1 figure prices haven't been rising so much as rollercoaster-ing, so there's hope for them going back down. I haven't seen that with CW stuff.

Well D, I don't think I can do the picky choosy thing. I'm either all in, or not at all. Thankfully (but also sadly) POTP doesn't have a Takara counterpart, so I'm saving a bit of coin this time around.

Hey Z! Thanks for the input
I'm right there with you man. You know what got me collecting new lines, both Hasbro and Takara? Henkei and Classics. I bought very few of them when they were fresh on the shelves, and then when I became properly interested they were nowhere to be found and crazy expensive. When I was actively hunting down my Henkei's the average price of each figure was like 80 bucks! I said to myself, never again.

I think I have a decision though. I'm going to cherry pick some G1 pieces, namely ones I had as a kid. Perhaps starting with Dreadwind....

I say that’s the right move, start with ones you had as a kid. Luckily, I have most of the ones I had save maybe 10? BUT, they are in ill-repair. Not all but some of the 84-85 bots. I was mentioning to carytheone and Cobotron how it would be amazing if I had the G1, the MP, and maybe a less expensive version (CHUG/Bayverse) of a lot of bots just to play around with. That’s a never going to happen train of though though.

So. These came in.