The Energon Pub

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I am at the point in my collecting where exclusive status doesn't matter to me. If it's harder to get, I'll put in the effort, and if i don't get it, so be it. Hence, i really do not care.

It would have been clearer if you have specified that it was for you personally. The way you said it was devoid of any empathy towards everyone else who care about that issue.

And if you find me "annoying", deal with it.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Plus, as pointed out, Canada has had pulse premium since the beginning of September.

That was some HUGE news for Canadians. Yet either that wasn't reported as a Seibertron news, or the news went under my radar.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Till-all-R1 wrote:I wouldn't mind another 4-pk of Cassettes, be a good way to get solid versions as well as maybe a couple more variants. Such as dare I say niche characters like Flip Sides, Stripes or Sundor. lol
Maybe even Buzzsaw? Considering it's been fourteen years since the last release.
Likely not Steeljaw or Ramhorn if they're to be Core releases and based on new molds.

I also wouldn't mind some depth with Decepticon cassettes, Squawktalk and Enemy would be nice to have and offer something fresh. Beastbox would also be kind if neat and different but I don't see that happening as it's too unique of a mold.

I'd like this too, this is a nice idea

Realistically speaking, it would be a pricey 4 pack of Core figures with many accessories.
And of course, it WILL be a hard to get exclusive.
It's inevitable.

I don't like Exclusives anymore than the next person who doesn't, but considering just about everything I'm into seems to be just that anyway then honestly that aspect no longer matters. lol
I mean between Cosmos(Walmart), Crasher(Walamrt) CliffJumper(Target) just recently, not to mention past ones like ER Prowl & Iron Hide 2-pk(Amazon) as well as a few others. Plus the fact Hound is supposedly Exclusive? Then it really isn't anything out of the ordinary anymore, sadly.

And I'd even say that some items are kind of worth the extra effort put into acquiring them, as it makes them that much more special. Although I'm still not fond of what I went through for Cosmos!

If it means Exclusivity to get such a Cassette 4 pack I'm all for it even if I can't get it day one, because that's been my experience with most things anyway. The 'really cool" stuff should have a bit of a "chase" to them to make it more exciting. And yeah, I'll probably end up paying more than MSRP for it when all said and done. But not everything needs to be a Pulse Exclusive because I don't think anything should be locked behind that paywall. And they should seek out partners to carry said items outside the U.S.

Exclusivity, shegulzivity, the collector's real enemy is the good ol' bad distribution and the poor planning for some big stores.

Overstocking Wave One of anything, then never ordering the rest because W1 won't sell out is a classic.

¯\_(◔ ʖ̯◔)_/¯

Till-all-R1 wrote:Maybe even Buzzsaw? Considering it's been fourteen years since the last release.

The Universe reissue? There's been a bunch of Buzzsaws since then. Aside from other vintage mold uses we had the MP 10 years ago and in the main line we had a Buzzsaw in Combiner Wars in 2016 and the tiny one with Core Soundblaster in 2023. It IS strange that Hasbro hasn't repainted at least the Netflix Buzzsaw yet. Maybe they'll release a new one with the next Soundwave.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:It IS strange that Hasbro hasn't repainted at least the Netflix Buzzsaw yet.

It's likely because the Siege Laserbeak mold is gangmolded with the Ravage mold.

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:It IS strange that Hasbro hasn't repainted at least the Netflix Buzzsaw yet.

It's likely because the Siege Laserbeak mold is gangmolded with the Ravage mold.

They could have made that blue ravage to go with Buzzsaw and call it a day.

Also, CW Buzzsaw came twice. The regular yellow one, and a golden one from some Target Exclusive pack with Frenzy, the aforementioned blue Ravage, and a 1 step Movie Bee.

If they don't release Buzzsaw then the whole "new cassette" project was a waste of everyone's time.

TBH, I don't see the problem. Give him slightly different paint apps and call him a new character or give him paint apps that ape the cartoon deco more and call him "cartoon Ravage".

Maybe they're waiting for the Soundblaster release?

I'm not really a big Soundwave/Blaster & Cassettes fan, but I did go all in on them during TR because of the gimmick involved.

Still, I find it curious that there were 10 cassettes for Soundwave/Soundblaster, and 10 for Blaster/Twincast in the original series (I know the lore has expanded to include many more, but Im talking strictly during the original series from 1984-1990)

But the only ones most fans seem to care about are the ones released from 1984-1986 (6 For Soundwave, and 4 for Blaster), but of all the different iterations of Soundwave & Blaster over the years, none of them has successfully released ALL the cassette minions. So for completists its All been a "waste".

Im mean I hope for the sake of fans, they get a Generations Buzzsaw, that is a recolor of Siege Laserbeak (since Buzzsaw wasn't in TF:TM, and thus wont be included in SS86). Including Howlback would work if they were gang molded together.

If SS86 Blaster comes with a non-transparent Eject that's fine, not sure how they'll remedy the Rewind situation since Twincast wasn't part of TF:TM. Also if Steeljaw and Ramhorn are new molds on their own, released as SS86 Core that works.

Finally, as standard Generation releases I'd still like to see Slugfest, Overkill, BeastBox, Squalk Talk, Grand Slam & Raindance (as actual Cassettes, not the Duocon recolors we got a couple years ago).

Lastly, the 4 Autobot Dino Cassettes, as that would be a first for Hasbro Markets.

o.supreme wrote:But the only ones most fans seem to care about are the ones released from 1984-1986 (6 For Soundwave, and 4 for Blaster), but of all the different iterations of Soundwave & Blaster over the years, none of them has successfully released ALL the cassette minions. So for completists its All been a "waste".

Yes, yes it has been. I was VERY on the fence about jumping in on this set and have passed on all previous neo-G1 sets for just this reason. I'm so ... on the fence about it. Will it have been worth it? Or will I have one an MP or a 3P playing stand in? If I do I may as well just have the whole set as MPs and keep the size consistent.

The fact that they can't even get it together to get Buzzsaw done gets me. And we've already got two Lazerbeaks, Ravages, Frumbles, and (potentially) Rewinds. Geez.

Lastly, the 4 Autobot Dino Cassettes, as that would be a first for Hasbro Markets.

I'm pretty sure we got those now. The Retro Garage releases? And the other two were re-released later on. So long KOs.

We got Decepticon recolors of one set too.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:It IS strange that Hasbro hasn't repainted at least the Netflix Buzzsaw yet.

It's likely because the Siege Laserbeak mold is gangmolded with the Ravage mold.

They could have made that blue ravage to go with Buzzsaw and call it a day.

But wouldn't doing that also make Buzzsaw blue instead of black?

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:But the only ones most fans seem to care about are the ones released from 1984-1986 (6 For Soundwave, and 4 for Blaster), but of all the different iterations of Soundwave & Blaster over the years, none of them has successfully released ALL the cassette minions. So for completists its All been a "waste".

Yes, yes it has been. I was VERY on the fence about jumping in on this set and have passed on all previous neo-G1 sets for just this reason. I'm so ... on the fence about it. Will it have been worth it? Or will I have one an MP or a 3P playing stand in? If I do I may as well just have the whole set as MPs and keep the size consistent.

The fact that they can't even get it together to get Buzzsaw done gets me. And we've already got two Lazerbeaks, Ravages, Frumbles, and (potentially) Rewinds. Geez.

Lastly, the 4 Autobot Dino Cassettes, as that would be a first for Hasbro Markets.

I'm pretty sure we got those now. The Retro Garage releases? And the other two were re-released later on. So long KOs.

We got Decepticon recolors of one set too.

As a collector of complete sets, that would drive me insane. A friend of mine is a huge Seeker collector. Yet finds it frustrating that even the Masterpiece line stopped and started them again with a new mould. Before every named Seeker received a figure the first time.

Sabrblade wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:It IS strange that Hasbro hasn't repainted at least the Netflix Buzzsaw yet.

It's likely because the Siege Laserbeak mold is gangmolded with the Ravage mold.

They could have made that blue ravage to go with Buzzsaw and call it a day.

But wouldn't doing that also make Buzzsaw blue instead of black?

Gangmolded...
If it's truly how it works, "Blue Ravage" would have been black with some blue paint aps.

But that's clearly not how it works.

The Select 4 pack with the Soundwave leftovers and the DD minions, the Selects Spy Patrol, is proof. No one else in that set was bright orange appart that bat. All of these cassettes were of completely different colors at the base.
"Gangmolding" as pairs won't force the use of the same colors.



TlDr; Siege Buzzsaw with Blue Ravage is entirely possible. They could even make it a small Selects release right now if they want.

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:It IS strange that Hasbro hasn't repainted at least the Netflix Buzzsaw yet.

It's likely because the Siege Laserbeak mold is gangmolded with the Ravage mold.

There's always Blackcat (with some green and red paint). Guy should really have a transforming figure by now.



Maybe if we get a core Blaster they could pair him with a repaint of that.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:
Emerje

I really do forget how many visual design influences Cheetor had.

-Kanrabat- wrote:Exclusivity, shegulzivity, the collector's real enemy is the good ol' bad distribution and the poor planning for some big stores.

Overstocking Wave One of anything, then never ordering the rest because W1 won't sell out is a classic.

¯\_(◔ ʖ̯◔)_/¯

Well, that's more of a Hasbro "buy in" policy than it is a retailer issue. Retailer are required to buy in heavily on those initial orders often causing a problem with moving it in a decent amount of time, as well as which stores to send it all to sell out faster. Then along come glitches where one store gets way too many that cannot handle the glut and they sit. Thus affecting how the Company orders more despite a handful of other stores showing zero. One might think those stores can simply reorder but if their own warehouse is out then there's nothing to send, period. And the company won't reorder until stock dwindles across all stores because will inevitably happen is those same stores with overstock will get most of it once again due to preplanned shipment allotments.

So kind of an issue with both parties, but if it weren't for the first issue of over shipped initial product it wouldn't be a cascade effect.

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:It IS strange that Hasbro hasn't repainted at least the Netflix Buzzsaw yet.

It's likely because the Siege Laserbeak mold is gangmolded with the Ravage mold.

And? It's not like Ravage was the only "cat" in existence, though not exactly mainstream either. But it didn't seem to bother them with other odd repaints like the recent G2 stuff.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:It IS strange that Hasbro hasn't repainted at least the Netflix Buzzsaw yet.

It's likely because the Siege Laserbeak mold is gangmolded with the Ravage mold.

They could have made that blue ravage to go with Buzzsaw and call it a day.

But wouldn't doing that also make Buzzsaw blue instead of black?

Gangmolded...
If it's truly how it works, "Blue Ravage" would have been black with some blue paint aps.

But that's clearly not how it works.

The Select 4 pack with the Soundwave leftovers and the DD minions, the Selects Spy Patrol, is proof. No one else in that set was bright orange appart that bat. All of these cassettes were of completely different colors at the base.
"Gangmolding" as pairs won't force the use of the same colors.



TlDr; Siege Buzzsaw with Blue Ravage is entirely possible. They could even make it a small Selects release right now if they want.

As seen in that pic, it's the black plastic parts that Wingthing and Frenzy have in common, same with the gray plastic parts between Knok and Skar. Because the Ratbat and Rumble molds are gangmolded too. Hasbro didn't split that pair when they made that four-pack. Rather, they doubled that pair.

I think more cassette characters are likely once both the new Blaster and a new G1 Soundwave are released.
While there are plenty of collectors that would buy a lot of the more obscure ones, from the business side it makes sense to make even the better-known characters more enticing by having "new" versions of the main bots. Other than straight repaints I'm not sure how many of these different characters can share the same engineering, but it has to help at least a little bit that the alt mode for all share the same dimensions.

It's unlikely, but it would be very possible for Hastak to make a couple 2-packs of cassette bots...
Two of these would obviously fit in a deluxe-sized box, and asking $24.99 is only slightly more than the current $11.99 Core figure price.
Two of these 2-packs in a year would be plenty. And while this would bother some, taking one deluxe slot in the SS86 subline isn't a huge sacrifice.
The other could be released in the mainline.
Again, I know this isn't likely, and I'd be fine to see more Cassette bots as individual Core releases, but I'm sure Hastak has plenty of plans for lots of other characters to be added to the Core figure line-up.

Sowndwave76 wrote:It's unlikely, but it would be very possible for Hastak to make a couple 2-packs of cassette bots...
Two of these would obviously fit in a deluxe-sized box, and asking $24.99 is only slightly more than the current $11.99 Core figure price.
Two of these 2-packs in a year would be plenty. And while this would bother some, taking one deluxe slot in the SS86 subline isn't a huge sacrifice.

[/quote]
Frankly speaking, the Core line is nothing like Legends figures used to be for the price point. IMO
$12 for a Cassette that is basically an inclusion on a Voyager release, while not free it's definitely not a stand alone product. Not when you consider past releases in that scale such as Beachcomber, Insecticons etc. So I'm not eager for a ton of Cassette released as singles. I didn't mind Rumble because of the piledrivers but still felt it was over priced. And I will be okay with Steeljaw and Ramhorn if all new sculpt and it delivers, meaning much better than the previous mold like Rumble was.

However, due to their nature of being a cassette their body structure is going to be limited so I'm not expecting much improvement for the beast characters. Their slimline profile always affected stability and would fall over at the slightest breath, so if that can be fixed somehow great. Maybe the shoulder joints will be more complex with rotating hinges to allow a wider stance more than the past ones ever had. But maybe I'm expecting too much for such a small bot?

Sabrblade wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:It IS strange that Hasbro hasn't repainted at least the Netflix Buzzsaw yet.

It's likely because the Siege Laserbeak mold is gangmolded with the Ravage mold.

They could have made that blue ravage to go with Buzzsaw and call it a day.

But wouldn't doing that also make Buzzsaw blue instead of black?

Gangmolded...
If it's truly how it works, "Blue Ravage" would have been black with some blue paint aps.

But that's clearly not how it works.

The Select 4 pack with the Soundwave leftovers and the DD minions, the Selects Spy Patrol, is proof. No one else in that set was bright orange appart that bat. All of these cassettes were of completely different colors at the base.
"Gangmolding" as pairs won't force the use of the same colors.



TlDr; Siege Buzzsaw with Blue Ravage is entirely possible. They could even make it a small Selects release right now if they want.

As seen in that pic, it's the black plastic parts that Wingthing and Frenzy have in common, same with the gray plastic parts between Knok and Skar. Because the Ratbat and Rumble molds are gangmolded too. Hasbro didn't split that pair when they made that four-pack. Rather, they doubled that pair.

I never said the colors would be "pure."

The "Ravage" would have been blue and black and that would have been fine.
The same way Siege Rumble and Frenzy are mostly black. Especially compared to their SS86 counterparts.

Till-all-R1 wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:It's unlikely, but it would be very possible for Hastak to make a couple 2-packs of cassette bots...
Two of these would obviously fit in a deluxe-sized box, and asking $24.99 is only slightly more than the current $11.99 Core figure price.
Two of these 2-packs in a year would be plenty. And while this would bother some, taking one deluxe slot in the SS86 subline isn't a huge sacrifice.

$12 for a Cassette that is basically an inclusion on a Voyager release, while not free it's definitely not a stand alone product. Not when you consider past releases in that scale such as Beachcomber, Insecticons etc. So I'm not eager for a ton of Cassette released as singles. I didn't mind Rumble because of the piledrivers but still felt it was over priced. And I will be okay with Steeljaw and Ramhorn if all new sculpt and it delivers, meaning much better than the previous mold like Rumble was.

Totally agree that cassette figures are a stretch for even Core class. Imo, Rumble and Frenzy's pile drivers still don't make up the difference; those aren't not even articulated at all.
I don't necessarily want any of these to be exclusives, but if they made a couple of cassette 2-packs, Hastak could change the price point just like they did for the Buzzworthy multi-packs.
Even if Ravage is a slightly new mold, package him with Buzzsaw and Hastak is still going to be making money if that's sold for $19.99. And if they're exclusive to say Target, even new molds for Slugfest and Overkill would be reasonable at that price because it's a lowered production run. And as we've seen with Origins Wheeljack, even as an exclusive, these 2-packs could simply be in the mainline packaging.

Till-all-R1 wrote:However, due to their nature of being a cassette their body structure is going to be limited so I'm not expecting much improvement for the beast characters. Their slimline profile always affected stability and would fall over at the slightest breath, so if that can be fixed somehow great. Maybe the shoulder joints will be more complex with rotating hinges to allow a wider stance more than the past ones ever had. But maybe I'm expecting too much for such a small bot?

Again, I agree with the idea, however with how small these figures are, there is such a limitation with what can be done just because these are made with such a small amount of plastic. On top of having very little depth so that the tape mode has good proportions.

I wasn't going to be surprised if Hastak stopped with Eject, Rewind, Rumble, and Frenzy. But since Steeljaw is on the way, I'd like to think there's a chance a new Ravage will be made as well.

A nice belated Xmas gift to me! I didn't expect to find these 2 after only seeing the most recent peg-warmers on the Target shelves. But I went to a local Mini Target and boom, to my surprise!

Nemesis Destron wrote:

20240104_093856.jpg

A nice belated Xmas gift to me! I didn't expect to find these 2 after only seeing the most recent peg-warmers on the Target shelves. But I went to a local Mini Target and boom, to my surprise!

Noah has A LOT going on. That figure came to play.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Nemesis Destron wrote:

20240104_093856.jpg

A nice belated Xmas gift to me! I didn't expect to find these 2 after only seeing the most recent peg-warmers on the Target shelves. But I went to a local Mini Target and boom, to my surprise!

Noah has A LOT going on. That figure came to play.

Best SS core for sure

Out of curiosity, did anyone else order SS86 Ultra Magnus from Amazon after they were out of stock, but still accepting orders? Has anyone received any word from Amazon yet? Mine was ordered back on October 30 and still no word from them. I'm assuming it will get auto cancelled at some point, just curious if anyone else is stuck in limbo like me.

JTPrime17 just confirmed a previously-listed BB SS86 2-pack is Dead Ratchet and Brawn (although I think we all predicted as such).