The Energon Pub

[Carnivius_Prime]

Nice, have you had much time to handle him yet carni?

So 30 Fox is just ROTF megs then?

Been pretty busy this evening with stuffs such as having to set up a youtube for my drama group to upload stuff to and haven't had time to sit down properly with Megatron to transform him. Will do after dinner. He's certainly fun to play with in robot mode.

For some reason I had him posed like a guest on a chat show while I sorted out the youtube stuffs.

[ZeroWolf]

Who would have the guts to get that close to him to do an interview?

[o.supreme]

Who would have the guts to get that close to him to do an interview?

[Carnivius_Prime]

Who would have the guts to get that close to him to do an interview?

This be true. Hm, did Carly get a figure? I can't recall any of the Human Alliance bots coming with one of her. Suppose a repaint of one of the Mikaelas would be be best option there...

[william-james88]

Josh Duhamel got ridiculously close to Megs inTLK . He has a human alliance figure.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Finally motivated by scale issues and price for bang.

So here is a nice group shot of figures I have from all 5 movies and the SS line, chosen at random that are currently displayed in robot mode, all lined up to show the robot mode scaling. And it shows that SS Ratchet is still too small compared to DotM Ironhide, a figure cursed by being in the cheapest movie line in terms of individual figures (right around FoC toys too, when we got tiny toys for the size classes).

I'm also still frustrated by how small Bee is, and by extent the soon to come out Jazz. Look at how he is a whole head shorter than AOE Bee!

[Sabrblade]

Who would have the guts to get that close to him to do an interview?

Everyone who approaches him to talk to him at Universal Studios.

[-Kanrabat-]

The pics above clearly show that 2007 Ratchet is stupidly LARGE. Damn, he's almost a leader by today's standards.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

The pics above clearly show that 2007 Ratchet is stupidly LARGE. Damn, he's almost a leader by today's standards.

And simultaneously showing that the perfect sized Ratchet is around halfway between him and the shrimpy SS guy

[Carnivius_Prime]

Studio is it's OWN scale. It's a movie line where all the figures are intentionally designed to try and be in scale with each other as best as can be allowed given budget and other reasons. Previous movie lines did not have this focus. Characters were simply placed into whichever class their a toy could be made for and the toy was made best to fit that particular budget class and that's why you got multiple size versions of the same character in the same line, (for example in Dark of the Moon there is Ironhide in Deluxe, Voyager AND Leader class all at the same time). If previous movie figures fit into Studio scale it is by chance, not by design (especially since the size classes have all actually changed physical sizes and costs in the past 11 years since the first movie line). In this scale Optimus Prime and Megatron are NOT Leader class. They are Voyager so that photo having the Leader class figures is way off anyways.

[ZeroWolf]

The pics above clearly show that 2007 Ratchet is stupidly LARGE. Damn, he's almost a leader by today's standards.

And simultaneously showing that the perfect sized Ratchet is around halfway between him and the shrimpy SS guy

Perfect size compared to what though? Or are you suggesting that ratchet should have been a voyager in the ss line to scale with his live mates?

[Va'al]

Thanks to a number of listings over on online retailer Amazon, and specifically its Japanese branch, we have the utterly unchanged, identical stock images of the completely the same figures in the second wave of Transformers Studio Series released by Takara Tomy with a sticker on the box: Deluxes Jazz and Lockdown, and Voyagers Megatron and Brawl.

You can take a look at the machine translated bio and info below, along with the images, and await the release date of July 21st (current prices are around 6-9500 Yen/85 USD for the Voyagers and 5-7500 Yen / 70 USD, if these are something you're interested in

Transformers Studio Series 09 Autobot Jazz

A series in which popular characters of successive movies appear in completely new modeling! This product is a product that thoroughly reproduced the "Autobot Jazz" that transformed into Pontiac · Solstis, which appeared in the first film of the movie, with a new mold. Autobot 's officer. Although it is a small body, in the battle it is top class among Autobots warriors. Even though it has a cheerful personality, his confidence from his colleagues is thick as he is calmly deposited. It transforms into Pontiac Solstice.

Contents of set:

Autobot Jazz (1)
Weapons (1)
Instruction Manual (1)

Transformers Studio Series 10 Lockdown

Series that popular characters of successive movies appear in completely new modeling! This product is a new mold with "Lockdown" which transforms into Lamborghini · Aventador LP-700-4 coupe, which appeared in the 4th film of the movie It is a commodity thoroughly reproduced. I will never let the prey that I aimed at earning money of the universe escape. I am good at sniper from a long distance. Lamborghini · Aventador LP-700-4 transform into coupe.

Contents of set:

Lockdown (1)
Weapon A (1)
Weapon B (1)
Instruction Manual (1)

Transformers Studio Series 11 Megatron

A series in which popular characters of successive movies appear in completely new modeling!
This product is a product that thoroughly reproduced "Megatron" which transforms into an alien tank, which appeared in the second movie of the movie with a new mold.

Contents of set:

Megatron (1)
Instruction Manual (1)

Transformers Studio Series 12 Brawl

A series in which popular characters of successive movies appear in completely new modeling!
This product is a product that thoroughly reproduced the M1 Abrams tank "blow" in a movie first work with a new mold. Decepticon 's soldier wears a large amount of weapons throughout the body and chases autobot warriors with overwhelming firepower. It transforms into M1 Abrams tank.　　

Contents of set:

Brawl (1)
Weapon A (1)
Weapon B (1)
Instruction Manual (1)

[Carnivius_Prime]

You know... I like not needing to worry about Takara versions being any better than Hasbro's cos i used to have to choose between cheaper Hasbro ones or more expensive (including shipping) Takara versions. Now I don't have to spend time making that decision and just buy Hasbro's and add any lil extra paint myself knowing there is no better factory version available to make me envious or broke.

[-Kanrabat-]

Brawl is more scrawny looking as a voyager than the THICC leader. I may pick him up on sale. Lockdown seem pretty fine too, despite the obligatory arm panels and backpack. Maybe on sale too. Jazz and Megs are day one sure buy, no matter the price.

[Carnivius_Prime]

Brawl is more scrawny looking as a voyager than the THICC leader. I may pick him up on sale. Lockdown seem pretty fine too, despite the obligatory arm panels and backpack. Maybe on sale too. Jazz and Megs are day one sure buy, no matter the price.

Lockdown has an insane amount of detail especially for a Deluxe figure. And despite not being as tall as Prime he's certainly bulky enough and well proportioned enough that he looks like he can take him on. Wish my photo skills could do justice to the figures but here's a slightly blurry shot anyways.


Also thanks muchly to Munkky for the spare Ratchet & Bee backdrop cards. They just arrived a few minutes ago and were better packaged than some of the actual full on boxed Transformers I've ordered in past year or so Giving one of those to DotM Barricade (that I'm using at least until the possiblity of an actual Studio figure is made) and haven't decided which figure to use on the other. Will need some voyager backdrops at some point too cos I want one for my custom RotF Bludgeon.

[Sabrblade]

Didn't realize before now how Brawl's turret just hangs off his back like a really long third peg-leg.

[Carnivius_Prime]

So there is probably a Barricade coming as part of the Bee movie (since I just saw a bit about Jess Harnell confirming he's voicing Barricade in the film). Possibly 80's cop car? Could be cool.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

The pics above clearly show that 2007 Ratchet is stupidly LARGE. Damn, he's almost a leader by today's standards.

And simultaneously showing that the perfect sized Ratchet is around halfway between him and the shrimpy SS guy

Perfect size compared to what though? Or are you suggesting that ratchet should have been a voyager in the ss line to scale with his live mates?

Looking at the figures included that came from AoE and TLK, and even many of the DotM figures, all scale well with each other, even if the DotM felt a bit chinsier. The Studio series line could EASILY have kept that scale and thus made the new modern versions of movie 1, 2, and 3 characters in scale with the new post DotM guys.

So by extent, you could have had every character from movies 4 and 5 line up with the new toys from 1, 2, and 3, thus making a perfect shelf across the whole movie board. And we have the proper robot mode scale for pretty much everyone save Slug and Strafe (and even Strafe is debatable), so it would not have been that much of a stretch. It could have been perfect!

Studio is it's OWN scale. It's a movie line where all the figures are intentionally designed to try and be in scale with each other as best as can be allowed given budget and other reasons. Previous movie lines did not have this focus. Characters were simply placed into whichever class their a toy could be made for and the toy was made best to fit that particular budget class and that's why you got multiple size versions of the same character in the same line, (for example in Dark of the Moon there is Ironhide in Deluxe, Voyager AND Leader class all at the same time). If previous movie figures fit into Studio scale it is by chance, not by design (especially since the size classes have all actually changed physical sizes and costs in the past 11 years since the first movie line). In this scale Optimus Prime and Megatron are NOT Leader class. They are Voyager so that photo having the Leader class figures is way off anyways.

The only voyager Primes I own are the Evasion and TLK ones, and I did not grab the TLK one since I had a TLK voyager in there already.

But see my above comments, AOE and TLK were all in scale with one another save pretty much Slug and the non-movie dinobots, this was a perfect chance to continue that scale, but instead they fudged it all up and went smaller for many of these guys.

As a movie lover, it's a hard pill to swallow spending $22 on Jazz or Bee, and Ratchet should have been a voyager. The fact that he keeps getting deluxe toys infuriates me to no end.

[ZeroWolf]

I can see your argument but i liken this to what takara did with the masterpiece line when they released mp 10 as a start in a new more accurate scale (or as close as possible to what they consider a scale, given its inconsistencies). This fulfills a couple of goals 1) create a new consistent scale 2) create a new consistent scale that is designed with minimising costs and maximising profits since we have to pay for licencing on some of these.

After having voyager rachet and deluxe rachet, I found the deluxe more fun, and with the rotf version, I loved the interaction it had with the Lockdown toy (mirroring the interaction between the Animated versions of their toys)

Reminds me...I need to grab both animated Lockdowns at some point.

[Carnivius_Prime]

As a movie lover, it's a hard pill to swallow spending $22 on Jazz or Bee, and Ratchet should have been a voyager. The fact that he keeps getting deluxe toys infuriates me to no end.

I'm looking at voyager Prime and Megatron from the Last Knight on my shelf and there's no way Ratchet should be anywhere near as big as either of them. To scale with them as a voyager he'd have to be a very tiny Voyager and then be even more overpriced as a Voyager toy than you apparently consider actual Studio Bee and Jazz to be. Especially when standing next to someone like Studio Starscream who is a voyager but clearly meant to be far larger than Ratchet and so is. And Megatron is meant to be taller than Starscream which the Studio figures do right too. So if Ratchet was a voyager, then Starscream and Megatron (and Optimus and Brawl) would be pushed into being Leaders to be far taller than Ratchet which would up their costs greatly too, and then push Blackout and Grimlock into being Supremes which hugely inflate their costs to the point they'd probably not be profitable at all that size with only the richer collectors being able to afford them at all (not me) and stores less likely to want to devote shelf space to them.

Personally I think they've got it mostly right with this series. I don't know all the decisions they had to make with size in relation to how certain characters are designed factoring costs of parts and paint and such as an overall line.
So yeah gonna have to agree to disagree on this. I really like the overall scale they've done for this line. Moreso than previous ones and I'm enjoying collecting these as a complete line more than any other TF line in my 30+ years as a TF fan.

Reminds me...I need to grab both animated Lockdowns at some point.

I literally just sold one a couple weeks ago. I had a junker one and found another junker one at charity shop and mixed the pieces together. I don't like the figure myself much. Fun car mode but not keen on the robot design (in either Animated or RotF versions). It was the third/fourth one I'd come across in past couple years in just my local charity shop for some reason. If I'd known you were looking for one I might have been able to help. Sorry

ok now i must try sleep. after i wipe the blood of these keyboard. been having nosebleeds all day. No idea why. Goodnight.

[-Kanrabat-]

Brawl is more scrawny looking as a voyager than the THICC leader. I may pick him up on sale. Lockdown seem pretty fine too, despite the obligatory arm panels and backpack. Maybe on sale too. Jazz and Megs are day one sure buy, no matter the price.

Lockdown has an insane amount of detail especially for a Deluxe figure. And despite not being as tall as Prime he's certainly bulky enough and well proportioned enough that he looks like he can take him on. Wish my photo skills could do justice to the figures but here's a slightly blurry shot anyways.

Damn. Okay, I changed my mind. Even though I have Peru-Kill, that deluxe Lockdown is a thing of beauty. Making the original AoE version completely GARBAGE in comparison. I'm so getting this!

[ZeroWolf]

As a movie lover, it's a hard pill to swallow spending $22 on Jazz or Bee, and Ratchet should have been a voyager. The fact that he keeps getting deluxe toys infuriates me to no end.

I'm looking at voyager Prime and Megatron from the Last Knight on my shelf and there's no way Ratchet should be anywhere near as big as either of them. To scale with them as a voyager he'd have to be a very tiny Voyager and then be even more overpriced as a Voyager toy than you apparently consider actual Studio Bee and Jazz to be. Especially when standing next to someone like Studio Starscream who is a voyager but clearly meant to be far larger than Ratchet and so is. And Megatron is meant to be taller than Starscream which the Studio figures do right too. So if Ratchet was a voyager, then Starscream and Megatron (and Optimus and Brawl) would be pushed into being Leaders to be far taller than Ratchet which would up their costs greatly too, and then push Blackout and Grimlock into being Supremes which hugely inflate their costs to the point they'd probably not be profitable at all that size with only the richer collectors being able to afford them at all (not me) and stores less likely to want to devote shelf space to them.

Personally I think they've got it mostly right with this series. I don't know all the decisions they had to make with size in relation to how certain characters are designed factoring costs of parts and paint and such as an overall line.
So yeah gonna have to agree to disagree on this. I really like the overall scale they've done for this line. Moreso than previous ones and I'm enjoying collecting these as a complete line more than any other TF line in my 30+ years as a TF fan.

Reminds me...I need to grab both animated Lockdowns at some point.

I literally just sold one a couple weeks ago. I had a junker one and found another junker one at charity shop and mixed the pieces together. I don't like the figure myself much. Fun car mode but not keen on the robot design (in either Animated or RotF versions). It was the third/fourth one I'd come across in past couple years in just my local charity shop for some reason. If I'd known you were looking for one I might have been able to help. Sorry

ok now i must try sleep. after i wipe the blood of these keyboard. been having nosebleeds all day. No idea why. Goodnight.

Don't worry about it mate My budget for toy buying anyway has just been dramatically slashed by future plans

[-Kanrabat-]

People consider the HFTD deluxe Ironhide to be a great toy. So why not just oversizing it by a few millimeters and release it as SS deluxe Ironhide?
It would scale perfectly with Ratchet, Optimus, the Dreads, and the others.

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

People consider the HFTD deluxe Ironhide to be a great toy. So why not just oversizing it by a few millimeters and release it as SS deluxe Ironhide?
It would scale perfectly with Ratchet, Optimus, the Dreads, and the others.

Yeah, I broke out my deluxe Ironhide to compare with my SS figures and was really surprised that he wasn’t that far off from being in scale. I think it’s a pretty good figure, but if they upscale it they’d have to do it like SS Starscream and fix a few things, like having his chest actually tab into place and some better upper arms.

[Counterpunch]

I feel like I'm jumping into a convo with random thoughts here...

But I have enjoyed this line a lot so far. It's one of those things where I really hope it continues enough to provide a decently large cast. If it stops after a wave or two, I don't want to end up with a bunch of out of place, out of scale figures on their own lame shelf.

There's a lot of potential here and I hope it isn't wasted is basically what I'm getting at.

I'm also really hoping for an improved Prime mold. His colors just aren't right and the whole back configuration bothers me the more I look at it.