The Energon Pub

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:That is way too light, geez.

The lighting in those black background pics is too intense. It's making even the original Earthrise version look brighter than it really is. The black canopy of the Earthrise figure looks gold brown in that lighting.

Normally I don't care for 'toon accuracy, but I think I'm getting won over with the replacement of transparent plastic with opaque. That alone already feels like a good change...
I do understand why people love it, don't get me wrong, but I personally love opaque plastics instead.

Nice figure but I hate the fists crearly evident under the vehicle in the alt mode: there's plenty of room under that hood, how couldn.'t They find a way to hide hands and forearms?

Word of warning. Someone on Facebook has posted pics of fan customs of Siege Hound, SS86 Jazz, and the Earthrise versions of Wheeljack, Sunstreaker, and Trailbreaker standing on a SS86 background. If you see these pics or see someone sharing them thinking they're pics of the Selects 5-pack, know that they are nothing more than fan customs with Autobot symbol stickers and not the pics of the 5-pack at all.

JTPrime17 just posted more updates on previously-known listings, meaning we now know the contents of the 3-pack as well:
TRA GEN SELECTS DLX 3 PACK TREDS, PATHFINDER, & SMALLFOOT
Product Number: F9650

Sad my prediction of the eHobby/SG Insecticons was off, but I'm actually more excited about this than I would have been about Insecticlones (and it was still eHobby-based, so I guess I was half-right?).

Nemesis Primal wrote:JTPrime17 just posted more updates on previously-known listings, meaning we now know the contents of the 3-pack as well:
TRA GEN SELECTS DLX 3 PACK TREDS, PATHFINDER, & SMALLFOOT
Product Number: F9650

Sad my prediction of the eHobby/SG Insecticons was off, but I'm actually more excited about this than I would have been about Insecticlones (and it was still eHobby-based, so I guess I was half-right?).

Does this complete our set of 6 Gobots now?

Barricade.it wrote:Nice figure but I hate the fists crearly evident under the vehicle in the alt mode: there's plenty of room under that hood, how couldn.'t They find a way to hide hands and forearms?

They probably could have, but it would have required 'more engineering' which they weren't willing to do at that price point. This is an issue with this mold that goes all the way back to Earthrise Hoist.

I’m also cautiously going with the notion that the black background is throwing the colours off a bit in the photos… he actually doesn’t look bad solo, and indeed much closer to that N64 colour that was mentioned, so hopefully that’s a more accurate in hand representation.

I still personally prefer the original, just because it reminds me of the original G1 toy, but will be picking up this pack all the same… my main gripe with this fella as it stands are the wheel colours.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Nemesis Primal wrote:JTPrime17 just posted more updates on previously-known listings, meaning we now know the contents of the 3-pack as well:
TRA GEN SELECTS DLX 3 PACK TREDS, PATHFINDER, & SMALLFOOT
Product Number: F9650

Sad my prediction of the eHobby/SG Insecticons was off, but I'm actually more excited about this than I would have been about Insecticlones (and it was still eHobby-based, so I guess I was half-right?).

Does this complete our set of 6 Gobots now?

Nope, just need Bad Boy now and he will likely have to wait for a new Powerglide, which is inevitable at this point.

So it was the left one LOL

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:The pack should be cheaper IMO, especially if they're going to inflict the smegging Happy Meal toy windows on the figures.

Ugh, I guess the only good thing about this pack is that the people who for some reason like their Transformers to look like cheap Happy Meal toys might unload their good Trailbreakers and Sunstreakers.

No. It's not about the windows, although I dom't mind that. The good thing about this set is the durability of the toys being increased over the original versions due to the hard plastic.

1a. The original versions were already hard plastic. Inflicting them with Happy Meal toy windows won't magically make it be any harder.

1b. Softer plastic is often actually more durable, because it's less brittle.
2. AFAIC literally the only good thing about this set - and even then, it's a case of "every cloud has a silver lining" - is that people who get it selling off their Earthrise versions of Sunstreaker and Trailbreaker might mean this still gives people a shot at getting those for a reasonable price.

sol magnus wrote:And because Hound was always going to have the 'happy meal toy' windows, if you were going to get him you were going to get that.

1. Hound has exactly ONE window, his windshield. 2. Your proof of this is...? Especially considering Detritus has a clear windshield? 3. Even if Hound was stuck with that, why should the rest of the pack be rendered inferior on his account?

You wrote a lot. I read everything, but I'm highlighting our discourse because I'd get lost otherwise.

1a. Didja Get dead Ironhide and Prowl? They are substantially more dense. And while Ironhide may not have had any serious durability issues I'm sure you are well aware of the clear plastic parts on the Datsun molds having been reported to break.

1b. I'm not disagreeing, but that was a beside the point topic for me.

1. Yet, going back to the plastic used on the Prowl mold (and Irohide, just not as toward the point), Hound very likely will have that same density increase as the others, or not. Honestly, I wasn't arguing about the quality in his case - just that as a Studio Series 86 release he was going to have the same treatment as the other BBB SS86 releases, namely Kup and Cliffjumper. Detritus is irrelevant here.

Found a photo of the 5-pack Wheeljack…
I like it. I was in either way, but I like it.

Sowndwave76 wrote:Found a photo of the 5-pack Wheeljack…
I like it. I was in either way, but I like it.

Looks exactly like I pictured.

Sowndwave76 wrote:Found a photo of the 5-pack Wheeljack…
I like it. I was in either way, but I like it.

Is it just me or is anyone else wondering how far the aftermarket prices on the Masterpieces will drop?

I still don't get why Hasbro thought it was a good idea to square off the bottom of Wheeljack's windshield in robot mode like that, when it would have been very easy for them to have left it rounded off even when removing the rest of it from vehicle mode to make it smaller in robot mode. Now, the opaque plastic for the windshield just makes that squared off bottom all the more noticeable.

By "rounded off", I mean looking like this:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:Found a photo of the 5-pack Wheeljack…
I like it. I was in either way, but I like it.

Is it just me or is anyone else wondering how far the aftermarket prices on the Masterpieces will drop?

I wish the ER Seeker mold was much cleaner... I'm glad I have all 6 of those voyagers, and I told myself when it arrived that Starscream was going to be my last MP... But I've always loved the look of Skywarp, and if the price was lower I'd possibly bite on the MP. I've been very tempted by the DS version even though it's a larger mold than Takara's.
Unfortunately, it seems like the ER mold will be the best mainline option for quite a while. So MP Skywarp is one where I don't think the prices will go down much at all. But for a few of these Autobots, who knows. It may be more a matter of time, where down the road sellers realize there aren't as many interested buyers, and eventually are more reasonable with their asking prices when it becomes clear that's the only option if they're really wanting to get any money for them.


Hastak probably should've curved the windshield on this Wheeljack mold (meaning, even back when the ER version was released).
It would've been just a little bit more molding to cut a curved line that ended the windshield and met a white portion of plastic for the lower torso. Whether or not they wanted to make that white portion angle down to a point, a rounded-off windshield still would've looked better than the larger, squared-off one they've stuck with.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:Found a photo of the 5-pack Wheeljack…
I like it. I was in either way, but I like it.

Is it just me or is anyone else wondering how far the aftermarket prices on the Masterpieces will drop?

I don't see how. If we are talking about Wheeljack, that MP is still the best WJ out there. Plus MP is a different scale entirely and they have licensed alt modes.

Prime vs Prime posted a review of deluxe Studio Series ROTB Wheeljack and inside it, we get a glimpse of a new never before seen Wheeljack toy. It's the Earthrise mold, but in a toon accurate deco with an opaque window. This is most probably from the upcoming 5 pack in the gen selects line which also features Hound, Trailbreaker (who we've also seen), Sunstreaker and Jazz. They should all have opaque windows and toon accurate decos.

Also, this will be the way we finally get a release of the earth mode Hound mold in Hound colours. For those unaware, it is being released in a 5 pack after the original plans for an individual release were cancelled by Target due to their poor logistics when handling previous Buzzworthy Bumblebee releases.

Below is the image of Wheeljack along with the review it comes from.

Wow, that Wheeljack looks really ... not good. The blue completely overwhelms the figure.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Wow, that Wheeljack looks really ... not good. The blue completely overwhelms the figure.

Yet another reason the windshield shouldn't have been squared off on the bottom.

Sabrblade wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Wow, that Wheeljack looks really ... not good. The blue completely overwhelms the figure.

Yet another reason the windshield shouldn't have been squared off on the bottom.

Doesn't it being squared off give it less blue? With at least the remaining semi circle of blue removed from the sea of blue?

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Wow, that Wheeljack looks really ... not good. The blue completely overwhelms the figure.

Yet another reason the windshield shouldn't have been squared off on the bottom.

Doesn't it being squared off give it less blue? With at least the remaining semi circle of blue removed from the sea of blue?

No it gives it more. Rounding it off would have cut off some of the blue area.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Wow, that Wheeljack looks really ... not good. The blue completely overwhelms the figure.

Yet another reason the windshield shouldn't have been squared off on the bottom.

Doesn't it being squared off give it less blue? With at least the remaining semi circle of blue removed from the sea of blue?

No it gives it more. Rounding it off would have cut off some of the blue area.

Indeed. Here is a crude illustration of what I mean. On the left is the official robot mode cutting of the windshield, on the right is how I wish it was cut:

Sabrblade wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Wow, that Wheeljack looks really ... not good. The blue completely overwhelms the figure.

Yet another reason the windshield shouldn't have been squared off on the bottom.

It's not hard to figure out, if they left it rounded it would sit far below his waist and interfere with the swivel. This is more of a compromise since it allows full articulation and it pulls the bottom of the windshield up nearly as high as it is in the cartoon even if it means changing the shape.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Wow, that Wheeljack looks really ... not good. The blue completely overwhelms the figure.

Yet another reason the windshield shouldn't have been squared off on the bottom.

It's not hard to figure out, if they left it rounded it would sit far below his waist and interfere with the swivel. This is more of a compromise since it allows full articulation and it pulls the bottom of the windshield up nearly as high as it is in the cartoon even if it means changing the shape.

Emerje

See my illustration above that shows what I mean. It needed to not only be rounded, but also smaller, which would place it above the waist rather than down in front of it.