The Energon Pub

Caelus wrote:I haven't opened Swoop yet - I'm strongly considering waiting until I've collected all the Dinobots to open them. Does that sound insane?

Nope, not at all. However with wave 2 likely being quite a bit off, you can do what I did during CW. When I got a new figure, I would open them and play with them right away as a standalone bot. But I would hold off on the combined mode until I had the full team. For example, I didn't use any of the wave 1 arielbots (or Dragstrip) as limbs or torsos until I had Air Raid (and the rest of the stunticons). This even works for bots that are in the same wave. I found the protectobot limbs a month and a half before Hotspot, so I did the same thing there. It kind of prolongs the "discovery" period of a new toy.

Of course, with PotP looking like there will be only 2 set team combiners, and a bunch of extra torsos and limbs for mix and match play, I may have to adjust my methods somewhat.

Hell, who am I kidding, TR took me away from combiners for a while, I'm checking out all the extra limbs right away and making some cool combinations as soon as I can. (But I may hold off on the dinobots and terrorcons as limbs until I have the whole teams.)

Well I'm definitely glad the collector cards are not part of my collecting craze or this would drive me insane. Although I do kind of wish that Hasbro would have just stuck with the collector cards for deluxes in CW rather than having pack-in comics. I know in every territory outside the US they had the cards. Fortunately I'm not crazy enough to try to hunt down all the ones I did not get on eBay...at least not yet .

o.supreme wrote:Well I'm definitely glad the collector cards are not part of my collecting craze or this would drive me insane. Although I do kind of wish that Hasbro would have just stuck with the collector cards for deluxes in CW rather than having pack-in comics. I know in every territory outside the US they had the cards. Fortunately I'm not crazy enough to try to hunt down all the ones I did not get on eBay...at least not yet .

I'm actually the opposite. I indifferent to the cards, but I loved that they had the pack in comics for CW and Thrilling 30. CW pulled me back into collecting and if it wasn't for the comics, I would have never gotten interested in IDW's current G1 continuity.

I only have so much disposable income for TF's, so that all goes toward the toys, comics are out. I would love if they started including the comics again, just to get another taste. The tfwiki summaries are great, but no replacement for reading through the comics.

But in any case, I'm buying the toys for the toys, not the cards or the comics that might come with them.

Intuitively I would have thought that each wave would either (1) have variant cards corresponding to the Prime Masters that should be on the shelf at roughly the same time, or (2) have three variant cards for each figure (4 figures x 3 variants = 12 Primes). However, both those theories are firmly dead already.

We only have one Prime (Micronus) unaccounted for in the first wave, and we've seen up to five variations on the cards.

(1) Prima ----------------- Swoop
(2) Vector Prime ---------- Swoop
(3) Alpha Trion ----------- Dreadwind
(4) Solus Prime ----------- Slug
(5) Micronus Prime -------- ...
(6) Alchemist Prime ------- Dreadwind, Jazz
(7) Nexus Prime ----------- Dreadwind
(8) Onyx Prime ------------ Dreadwind
(9) Amalgamous Prime ------ Dreadwind, Jazz, Slug, Swoop
(10) Quintus Prime -------- Slug
(11) Liege Maximo --------- Jazz
(12) Megatronus Prime ----- Slug
(13) The Thirteenth Prime - [Probably None]

Or if you prefer:

Wave 1 Deluxe

Dreadwind - Alchemist, Alpha Trion, Amalgamous, Nexus, Onyx
Jazz ------ Alchemist, Amalgamous, Liege Maximo
Swoop ----- Amalgamous, Prima, Vector
Slug ------ Amalgamous, Quintus, Megatronus, Solus

Caelus wrote:Intuitively I would have thought that each wave would either (1) have variant cards corresponding to the Prime Masters that should be on the shelf at roughly the same time, or (2) have three variant cards for each figure (4 figures x 3 variants = 12 Primes). However, both those theories are firmly dead already.

We only have one Prime (Micronus) unaccounted for in the first wave, and we've seen up to five variations on the cards.

(1) Prima ----------------- Swoop
(2) Vector Prime ---------- Swoop
(3) Alpha Trion ----------- Dreadwind
(4) Solus Prime ----------- Slug
(5) Micronus Prime -------- ...
(6) Alchemist Prime ------- Dreadwind, Jazz
(7) Nexus Prime ----------- Dreadwind
(8) Onyx Prime ------------ Dreadwind
(9) Amalgamous Prime ------ Dreadwind, Jazz, Slug, Swoop
(10) Quintus Prime -------- Slug
(11) Liege Maximo --------- Jazz
(12) Megatronus Prime ----- Slug
(13) The Thirteenth Prime - [Probably None]

Or if you prefer:

Wave 1 Deluxe

Dreadwind - Alchemist, Alpha Trion, Amalgamous, Nexus, Onyx
Jazz ------ Alchemist, Amalgamous, Liege Maximo
Swoop ----- Amalgamous, Prima, Vector
Slug ------ Amalgamous, Quintus, Megatronus, Solus

Where did we see the Alpha Trion one for Dreadwind?

Alpha Trion/Dreadwind is the one I pulled. I think my camera's probably too blurry to get an intelligible pic though. I'll try.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Caelus wrote:Intuitively I would have thought that each wave would either (1) have variant cards corresponding to the Prime Masters that should be on the shelf at roughly the same time, or (2) have three variant cards for each figure (4 figures x 3 variants = 12 Primes). However, both those theories are firmly dead already.

We only have one Prime (Micronus) unaccounted for in the first wave, and we've seen up to five variations on the cards.

(1) Prima ----------------- Swoop
(2) Vector Prime ---------- Swoop
(3) Alpha Trion ----------- Dreadwind
(4) Solus Prime ----------- Slug
(5) Micronus Prime -------- ...
(6) Alchemist Prime ------- Dreadwind, Jazz
(7) Nexus Prime ----------- Dreadwind
(8) Onyx Prime ------------ Dreadwind
(9) Amalgamous Prime ------ Dreadwind, Jazz, Slug, Swoop
(10) Quintus Prime -------- Slug
(11) Liege Maximo --------- Jazz
(12) Megatronus Prime ----- Slug
(13) The Thirteenth Prime - [Probably None]

Or if you prefer:

Wave 1 Deluxe

Dreadwind - Alchemist, Alpha Trion, Amalgamous, Nexus, Onyx
Jazz ------ Alchemist, Amalgamous, Liege Maximo
Swoop ----- Amalgamous, Prima, Vector
Slug ------ Amalgamous, Quintus, Megatronus, Solus

Where did we see the Alpha Trion one for Dreadwind?

I also got Alpha Trion Dreadwind.

Thanks, logged

As for Micronus, stock photos showed him as one of Jazz' associated Primes.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I'm a little skeptical about there being 12 different cards for every single figure in the line.

So far it's looking like there is.

Omegatron. wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I'm a little skeptical about there being 12 different cards for every single figure in the line.

So far it's looking like there is.

Someone give the writers of their bios a raise... and a week off.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Omegatron. wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I'm a little skeptical about there being 12 different cards for every single figure in the line.

So far it's looking like there is.

Someone give the writers of their bios a raise... and a week off.

Lol - I'll do their job if they're having problems keeping up.

It's writing, what 288, 360 discrete sentences? That's like a fun Saturday afternoon project.

-------------------------

Just because I have to be a smart@$$:

(1) Prima Rung ----------- Channels the noble leadership of the first Prime, to inspire his clients to improve themselves!
(2) Vector Rung ---------- Dilates time so he can devote more attention to his patients.
(3) Alpha Trion Rung ----- Adds his name to the Covenant of Primus, so it won't be forgotten!
(4) Solus Rung ----------- Expands his ship collection by building REAL ships.
(5) Micronus Rung -------- Proves that nobody is too small to do big things.
(6) Alchemist Rung ------- Looks into the true nature of things, to understand his friends at the most fundamental level!
(7) Nexus Rung ----------- Connects with his clients, to build trust!
(8) Onyx Rung ------------ Helps patients tame their bestial ids!
(9) Amalgamous Rung ------ Changes therapy techniques rapidly, to adapt to his patients' individual needs!
(10) Quintus Rung -------- Heals traumatized minds.
(11) Liege Maximo Rung --- Uses confederates and bogus pipelines to see through research participants' socially desirable responding.
(12) Megatronus Rung ----- Taps into the tormented past of The Fallen, to understand even the worst Cybertron has to offer.

o.supreme wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:among 10 other TR Deluxes (a mix of wave 3 anf 4 figures...)

Could you elaborate on that bit? I think what you are seeing is the revision wave rather than 2 seperate waves.

Maybe...It was assortments of Krok, Quake, Hot Rod, and Twinferno... and one lonely, lonely Jazz

Yup, revision. I should make a news post for those wondering why they keep seeing Krok and Quake but not the others.

THEY'RE IN OREGON!Call ahead, reference the DPCI 087-06-5863, and Target should have them in the back!

Omegatron. wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I'm a little skeptical about there being 12 different cards for every single figure in the line.

So far it's looking like there is.

Okay this is really, really cool.

I actually quite like that some are less useful than others because it sort of make sense from some fluff perspective that some of these powers combine better than others depending on the nature of the being carrying the Prime Master while others synergize much better.

Edit: You know what make me a little sad about the 'Prime War' trilogy? This subline trilogy of Generations may arguably very well be, in a way, the most ridiculously 'anime' Transformers has gotten in the last decade, ever since the Michael Bay films brought the franchise focus much more on the American/Hasbro end rather than Japanese/Takara end. We got combiners, headmasters, powermasters...arguably all gimmicks which are more closely associated with the japanese side of mechas when you really think about it and this was made all the more clear as the Prime War ended up focusing on late G1 characters by the time Titans Return rolled around, characters often more associated with Japanese Transformers more than US Transformers due to the american TV show having ended by the point they were on shelves. It has plug and play mechanics, a ton of gimmick interactions and macguffins up the wazoos!

Honestly, had the Prime War trilogy been made in the earlier 2000, it would have seemed like the perfect kind of line to turn into an American-Japanese coproduction filled with equal part awesome and equal part stupid, over the top super robot anime bull **** with what some of us who recall the Transformers wiki would recall as BURNING JUSTICE! Those are silly things, which frankly I used to hate when younger but as I got old and more chill came to accept as often maligned part of the franchise but nonetheless having its place in it.

What I'm saying is: in a way, this whole line seem like, had it been made in a different time period and environment, would have basically been like the Unicron trilogy. And sure, there are the Machinima series but its just really nothing like that. I also think its not very good.

Latebrus-K wrote:Has anyone tried putting Ptero in Swoop's chest armor? Not sure if it would be awesome or just disturbing.

I tried, but my photo skills aren't the best. Swoops chest armor kinda sucks on its own no matter what Titan/Prime/Head master you put in there mainly because his dino head makes the armor stick way out.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Thanks, logged

As for Micronus, stock photos showed him as one of Jazz' associated Primes.

For your log, I ended up with Megatronus Jazz, Megatronus Slug, Megatronus Swoop and Nexus Dreadwind.

Thanks to Taiwan-based YouTube reviewer Kevin Liu, who took time to upload some more video reviews (in Chinese) for Transformers Power of the Primes deluxe class Dinobots Slug and Swoop, we also have some sneaky previews at a number of things.

First of all, shown off for comparison is wave-mate but Voyager cousin Dinobot leader Grimlock, in his new guise as combiner torso too, along with robot and space Tyrannosaurus Rex (debatable). While there is no actual review of the figure yet, we do get to look at the toy in both its modes in the two clips available from Kevin - which also means we get an initial look at combined form Volcanicus! But that's not all: the final part, also in the two reviews, is an in-package shot of Legend class Slash, the new female Dinobot member. Take a look at the screenshots provided below, and keep your optics tuned for reviews of both Voyager and Legend dinos sure to be appearing soon.

In all the excitement over the deluxes, did anyone happen to ask if Target had any of the Pretender/Prime Masters, Voyagers or PotP Leaders? :p

None of the Target stores I went to had the figures on the shelf, thanks to all the TLK and wave revisions.

I've loved TR, but to me PotP seems like a step down. Grimlock looks awful in Dino mode! The other two dinobots look decent, but I really wish they had some chrome on them.

The "brand wide" gimmick seems to really be hurting the Power of the Primes figures. All of the deluxes look off so far.

Jazz looks OK in robot mode, but alt mode looks very weird for Jazz. His mouth isn't really molded either which just looks weird up close. If his head looked like the artwork on the box, I'd be very happy.

Swoop's wings bug me a lot in robot mode mode for some reason. I like the idea of the "gold" paint on the inside of the translucent plastic, but the color that was used looks blah and doesn't look very gold to me. Would chrome paint have been a possibility? As is the case with all of the deluxe Dinobots, his body isn't wide enough or something, which I've also complained about with some of the Aerialbots and Vortex (off the top of my head).

Slug looks fairly good in robot mode, though not as bulky as I would have preferred. His triceratops mode's fringe has a weird slant or looks off.

Dreadwind and Blackwing both suffer from the too-thin or not-wide-enough bodies of the aforementioned Combiner Wars figures. I would have really liked to have seen them as Voyagers.

I was hoping that once I had them in hand, I'd feel differently, but I don't. I've wanted a really nice set of modern day Dinobots for so long that this set is just a disappointment, with Grimlock being the biggest deal breaker of the five of them. He has so many things wrong with the way he looks and the lack of his sword and gun is just a real bummer. I'm not keen on any of the other upcoming Deluxes or Voyagers either.

Rodimus Prime looks like he could be a fun toy, but it also has some issues (most notably Hot Rod's legs for shoulders just can't be unseen. Optimus is close but his colors are way off ... but the issue with the truck's cab being a jumbled mess leaves me feeling disappointed.

The Deluxes and Voyagers, with the exception of the Abominus figures (who really need Hun-Gurrr's gun for Abominus) suffer from being Combiners. While I'm not a big fan of characters who weren't combiners in G1 becoming Combiners now, what irks me more is that many of these toys suffer because they're trying to do too much because they're Combiners. I just want cool toys. Titans Return was really cool for the most part, but some of those figures suffered as well because of the "brand wide" gimmick such as Galvatron (who had a terrible head) and Soundwave (whose head looks goofy). I get the "brand wide" gimmick from a marketing and sales perspective, but as a fan I don't care for it when I see figures suffer because of it.

Just to clarify, there were a lot of great exceptions with brand-wide gimmicks as well. Perceptor, Windblade, Octane, Twin Twist and Topspin all come to mind as fantastic figures that looked great in both modes and added the "Headmaster" gimmick to characters that shouldn't have that feature. Those figures looked so good that I didn't mind them also being a Headmaster.

Just wanted to vent a little after seeing more disappointing pics of Grimlock and after feeling disappointed by the wave 1 deluxes after getting them in hand today. Normally I'm all cheerleader-like doing the "rah rah rah" bit for anything and everything Transformers yet I can't get over this "disappointed" feeling about the entirety of what has been revealed for Power of the Primes so far.

Hellscream9999 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:while I cant speak for the hot rods, what cobotron is seeing is definitely the revision wave. I will make a news post about it since I see a lot of confusion. Its actually new (not that anyone wanted it)
https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... ion/39261/

Aww man, I'd kill for that wave to freshen things up near me, no, I put some stock out a month ago and it was the legit wave 1('17) figures: hotrod, doublecross, triggerhappy and breakaway. I was so pissed since we had just finished moving that wave from our store which had been there since December of last year

Maybe it wasnt. How many hot rods were in the case, 2 or 3? Because there is a revision set that looks the same as wave 3 but changes the amount of characters in it so that there is no short packed figure.

So maybe yes, you do have a revision wave in stock.

https://www.entertainmentearth.com/prod ... =HSB7762C1

So my local Target didn't have any Power of the Primes toys. What did you lucky folks do to get them to find them? Just give them the UPC? Describe them? Ask if they got any case shipments in? I MUST KNOW YOUR SECRETS.

Rysquad wrote:San Diego folks -

Looks like Target in Santee put a case in it's system. I checked the Target DCPI number for PotP Deluxe (087-06-5863) on Brickseek this morning and saw that they had them in stock. Of course, they weren't out on the floor but politely asked if they could check the back, which showed 6 figures. The Target Team Member brought out an opened case - looked like someone asked before I did. Picked up Dreadwind but left Swoop (2), Slag (2) and Jazz (1) in the box.

It's all thanks to Rysquad, Bronzewolf!

I followed his steps -- like I mentioned earlier, you may want to call ahead to confirm, as Target will most likely not have them on the floor, thanks to TR & TLK.

I hear ya on the Dinobots, Seibertron! Grimmy is not doing it for me either, and I'm not honestly planning on picking them all up -- except for Slash. MOAR FEMME BOTS, plz.

Same thing with Jazz -- his G1 incarnation remains my fave.

I'll most likely buy all the Pretender/PMs, though. And Rodimus Unicronus.

despite some of the figures shortcomings im just glad we get all the dinobots as they should be and they are pretty damn close to the originals and giving the fact that they also combine should be a dream come true i think most everyone who liked the original dinobots wish they combined and now we have that
sure this new combiner may not look as we hoped but it will do, its close enough

bodrock wrote:

Rysquad wrote:San Diego folks -

Looks like Target in Santee put a case in it's system. I checked the Target DCPI number for PotP Deluxe (087-06-5863) on Brickseek this morning and saw that they had them in stock. Of course, they weren't out on the floor but politely asked if they could check the back, which showed 6 figures. The Target Team Member brought out an opened case - looked like someone asked before I did. Picked up Dreadwind but left Swoop (2), Slag (2) and Jazz (1) in the box.

It's all thanks to Rysquad, Bronzewolf!

I followed his steps -- like I mentioned earlier, you may want to call ahead to confirm, as Target will most likely not have them on the floor, thanks to TR & TLK.

I hear ya on the Dinobots, Seibertron! Grimmy is not doing it for me either, and I'm not honestly planning on picking them all up -- except for Slash. MOAR FEMME BOTS, plz.

Same thing with Jazz -- his G1 incarnation remains my fave.

I'll most likely buy all the Pretender/PMs, though. And Rodimus Unicronus.

I gave the DPCI code to a Target associate and they were really nice and got the box out for me. He opened it and then, essentially just left me to look through it for the figures I wanted. Got one of each. From what another associate said, they're likely not going to be put on shelves until next week sometime, probably Black Friday, as she said they were all located in an area that was specifically for Black Friday stock- but that they could sell them, as there was no street date on them.