The Energon Pub

You know what? I'd be totally down for a Generations subline after PotP which could consist only of new characters and designs. Unlikely to happen, sure, but I do think it could be an interesting angle for Hasbro: G1/Classics-style characters (meaning they can be fitted into new cartoons or comics) but with new ideas, designs or maybe some really old and barely-done gimmick getting expanded upon. Something to give the designers some free reign to try new stuff. It seems that this is what has slowly died off from the toyline in recent years because I recall the toylines form the first three live-action movies which had those non-movie characters with all sort of neat designs.

I know a lot of people don't consider the Japanese characters part of the original "G1" (original series), but to me they are, and always have been. Everything from 1984-1991 is original series, regardless of where in the world it was released. Star Saber seems almost like a slam dunk for a leader in PotP (although many thought the same for Voyager Headmaster Horrorcons as well in TR...) But seeing as Star Saber is one of my favorite Japanese characters, I'd certainly be up for it. Also showing promo material for SS & Deathsaurus in the Prime voting earlier this year may be forshadowing...who knows.

Between & , it seems no character is out of the realm of possibility, which is nice.

RodimusRex wrote:

Kurona wrote:I wanna get a Soundwave at some point. Leader class is perfect scaling for me, and I do have two of the Legends tablet thingies (Rewind and Buzzsaw -- the latter of whom I will still ardently defend) that I wanna try out with him

It's perfect scaling until you want to pose 20 characters in scenes on a 3 foot shelf. I sold Masterpiece Grimlock as soon as I saw pictures of Voyager PotP Grimlock.

Ah, but I'm not going for 20 -- I'm going for 4! Soundwave, Optimus, Thundercracker and Jetfire. The Earthbound Autobot squad

o.supreme wrote:I know a lot of people don't consider the Japanese characters part of the original "G1" (original series), but to me they are, and always have been. Everything from 1984-1991 is original series, regardless of where in the world it was released. Star Saber seems almost like a slam dunk for a leader in PotP (although many thought the same for Voyager Headmaster Horrorcons as well in TR...) But seeing as Star Saber is one of my favorite Japanese characters, I'd certainly be up for it. Also showing promo material for SS & Deathsaurus in the Prime voting earlier this year may be forshadowing...who knows.

Between & , it seems no character is out of the realm of possibility, which is nice.

We can only hope that Deathsaurus and Star Saber being in the poll was foreshadowing...

I would adore a Deathsaurus, but I doubt he'll be happening any time soon... it's so unique to have a Decepticon Leader that actually, y'know, cares about the lives of their troops. He'd be so cool to have

All right, so, I'm sure some people have thought that Hasbro and Takara surely must be 'running out of gimmicks' and resort to simply remaking '84-'85 Autobots. Now, to anyone who think this, allow me to prove you wrong with a simple idea I came up with in five minutes of looking at the Transformers wiki. Now I am no toy designer and marketing-guy so if this sound terrible by all means tell me. What this is? Well consider it a thought experiment on how its surprisingly easy to make a new subline concept while not having to resort to any non-G1 continuity, which would surely offend the Geewunners.

Looking at Euro-G1 I noticed an interesting pattern, one of several small gimmicks either shared by a single subgroup or shared by two characters, one for each faction. These are:
-Turbomasters
-Lighformers/Trakkon
-Axelerator/Skyscorcher
-Obliterators
Now what do these toys all have in common? Well, to some extent, a part of the toy's 'mass' transformers into a weapon of some kind, either hand-held or a battle platform of some type. I've also noticed most, if not all of these guys are relatively obscure safe for Pyro and Thunderclash. What if these gimmicks were all squished together into a better, more coherent gimmick? Again, keep in mind this is merely my thought experiment. Keep in mind I am not a toy designer either but let me extrapolate a 'play pattern' for this hypothetical line.
-All deluxe, voyagers and leader-class figures have some built-in weapon. For deluxe its merely a flip-out portion whereas perhaps the voyager or leader-class have a more substantial chunk of the figure becoming some battle-platform.
-The gun itself is actually merely pegged-in the figure on a 5mm port, meaning you can also use it in an hand-held form or swap out the weapons if you want to.
-Larger figures have extra 5mmm ports on their 'battle stations' to allow plug and play of various guns.
-Legends-class figures have a targetmaster mode, perhaps?
So, right off the bat, all the guys who are part of the subgroups mentioned above can fit in. Then they can also add in the targetmasters who didn't get new figures in Titans Return (such as the three Autobot targetmasters who weren't previous characters), plus the mandatory Optimus Prime and Megatron of the line.

So, all in all, this is just a fun little experiment to show that if they really wanted to there is still a lot they can do which accomplish the dual goal of 1) pandering to people who like certain character (Pyro and Thunder Clash), 2) update old toys and 3) Give people something to play with.

I've definitely thought about the idea of a backpack format with Legends scale "Macrocons" with Leader scale maybe being vehicles for Deluxes.

It would allow a scale shakeup. Soundwave and Blaster need to be big for Legends scale cassettes in their chest or they need very small partners.

But if Laserbeak becomes a jetpack or glider for Soundwave, Voyager or Deluxe work.

Meanwhile, if Leaders are vehicles for Deluxes, it likely means midsize vehicles or oversized cockpits. Cyclones or even Bumblebee make sense at Leader scale then. Or at a minimum a trailer-less Prime. Likely also that Leader scale wouldn't be earth vehicles then. This kind of thing even opens the possibility of a Titan Optimus.

It would also be interesting to see a TF v Joe line which situated Joe's between Legends and Deluxe. Because then small TFs get a lot of spotlight. Bumblebee becomes Leader or Voyager at minimum.

When they have farmed all but the most obscure they might want to use the old 2000's Sigma Six smaller scale Gi Joe size and make a bunch of Gi Joe Transformers. Perhaps with a complementary line of "Exo-suits" for the main Gi Joe Characters to use that don't have to Transform as such. (they'd be a bit like Exo-Squad toys).

And then the whole Transformers line could be military themed with Gi Joe alt modes. doing the best to match colour and concept to character.

It might be fun to speculate who would suit what (those who didn't have a mode already). Some of the more Outlandish 1990's Cobra Designs would make awesome Decepticon alt modes.

The Autobots could get a mix of sensible and nutty. You can even do things like re-create the old mission pack and have them turn into minicon like robots who can further accessorise the line. and also provide that aspect of robot-human interaction.

Heck I am surprised someone has not though that the Cobra Mission packs would be a good set of alt modes for the "Cassettes" already at their original Gi Joe size.

Heck the Helicopter pack is so obviously idea for a laserbeak toy.

I'd like that sort of idea as a break from the norm sometime.

It's easy to see Star Saber in PotP as a Leader class given the gimmick, but I think Dezarus would be better left to the series after that rather than trying force him into the evolution gimmick. His Breast Animals can be released as Legends the same way the cassettes were.

Emerje

Guys I think we need to reel this back in. Waaay off into the weeds considering this is the TR thread.

Kurona wrote:I would adore a Deathsaurus, but I doubt he'll be happening any time soon... it's so unique to have a Decepticon Leader that actually, y'know, cares about the lives of their troops. He'd be so cool to have

I guess that's the nice thing about having toys such as these. I come at these characters strictly form a Victory POV (or whatever animated series they happen to have originated in..) I forget some of these characters personalities have been drastically altered in IDW. I may not agree with what has been done, but at least if we do get a figure, we can each interpret them how we best remember them.

I'd love to see more of the cassettes, no doubt.

I wasn't crazy about the new Ravage, but Laserbeak has been fun.I'd like a new Ratbat.

So what does everybody think will finally make it into stores first, PotP wave 1, or the mythical walgreens clone set from TR? I'm betting on PotP.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:So what does everybody think will finally make it into stores first, PotP wave 1, or the mythical walgreens clone set from TR? I'm betting on PotP.

We might even get the legendary... Wave 6!

Kurona wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:So what does everybody think will finally make it into stores first, PotP wave 1, or the mythical walgreens clone set from TR? I'm betting on PotP.

We might even get the legendary... Wave 6!

Slugslinger? ...well that assortment just came in at BBTS...so hopefully he'll be popping up at mass retail soon. I don't think he will be especially difficult to find like some past tail-enders (I.E. CW Sky Lynx).

o.supreme wrote:

Kurona wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:So what does everybody think will finally make it into stores first, PotP wave 1, or the mythical walgreens clone set from TR? I'm betting on PotP.

We might even get the legendary... Wave 6!

Slugslinger? ...well that assortment just came in at BBTS...so hopefully he'll be popping up at mass retail soon. I don't think he will be especially difficult to find like some past tail-enders (I.E. CW Sky Lynx).

The crazy thing about Sky Lynx is that I bought him at a Marshall's (or TJ Maxx).

o.supreme wrote:

Kurona wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:So what does everybody think will finally make it into stores first, PotP wave 1, or the mythical walgreens clone set from TR? I'm betting on PotP.

We might even get the legendary... Wave 6!

Slugslinger? ...well that assortment just came in at BBTS...so hopefully he'll be popping up at mass retail soon. I don't think he will be especially difficult to find like some past tail-enders (I.E. CW Sky Lynx).

Never doubt the power of poor distribution, my friend. I'm still waiting for Ramhorn to pop up anywhere in my area. I think Slugslinger is going to be elusive for many.

If they keep the titan head socket thing going it could be interesting for a beast wars line (one titan master is character head another is the mutant head) or even a new beast machines (guessing the titan/prime masters would be called spark masters) unless there is a new gimmick after the prime wars series ends. With Kong vs godzilla penned in for 2020 and kaiju in pacific rim, we might see dezarus yet, along with a RID megatron at some point.

Rysquad wrote:The crazy thing about Sky Lynx is that I bought him at a Marshall's (or TJ Maxx).

Same here, but it was probably one of the most difficult finds since I recently got back into collecting. Market 6 stores definitely provided a treasure hunt for CW, doesn't appear to be the same case for TR though.

Finding the very rare Sky Lynx at TJ Maxx for the price of a Legends Figure was one of my more bizarre and happy experiences of that year. I immediately combined him with the Torchbearers; it was such a good time

Hoping I can get a similarly great find for Titans Return. Bring on Overlord!!

Kurona wrote:Finding the very rare Sky Lynx at TJ Maxx for the price of a Legends Figure was one of my more bizarre and happy experiences of that year. I immediately combined him with the Torchbearers; it was such a good time

Hoping I can get a similarly great find for Titans Return. Bring on Overlord!!

I was extremely lucky to have found Sky Lynx very early on into his limited mass retail release, thanks only to a kindly Target employee who knows I'm a Transformers fan and that I check the shelves weekly for new stuff. He saw Sky Lynx and put him aside for me, knowing that I'd probably be in later that afternoon on another Transformers hunt. He must have pulled Sky Lynx right out of the case for me too, because the figure wasn't even entered in the scanning system yet. I got him for $17.99 because the cashier could find a price tag for it on the shelf and their manager told them to just guess on the cost.

blackeyedprime wrote:If they keep the titan head socket thing going it could be interesting for a beast wars line (one titan master is character head another is the mutant head) or even a new beast machines (guessing the titan/prime masters would be called spark masters) unless there is a new gimmick after the prime wars series ends. With Kong vs godzilla penned in for 2020 and kaiju in pacific rim, we might see dezarus yet, along with a RID megatron at some point.

It's the Prime Wars Trilogy and Power of the Primes is the third installment. I'm expecting them to wipe the slate clean and start "new" again after this current line is over.

Kurona wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:So what does everybody think will finally make it into stores first, PotP wave 1, or the mythical walgreens clone set from TR? I'm betting on PotP.

We might even get the legendary... Wave 6!

Some of us are still waiting for the fabled waves 4 and 5 to show up. And yet I've already found wave 6 so that ship has probably already sailed at this point. 10 months straight of nothing but wave 3, that's just stupid.

Rysquad wrote:I'm expecting them to wipe the slate clean and start "new" again after this current line is over.

They've already stated that Titan Masters will be returning sometime after PotP. They said the gimmick is ready-made so it'll be easy to go back to. This is when we'll most likely see the smaller Headmasters (Nightbeat et al), Autobot Targetmasters, Headmaster Horrorcons, and Titan Scorponok. I'll be shocked if Fangry isn't a modified Grotusque.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Rysquad wrote:I'm expecting them to wipe the slate clean and start "new" again after this current line is over.

They've already stated that Titan Masters will be returning sometime after PotP. They said the gimmick is ready-made so it'll be easy to go back to. This is when we'll most likely see the smaller Headmasters (Nightbeat et al), Autobot Targetmasters, Headmaster Horrorcons, and Titan Scorponok. I'll be shocked if Fangry isn't a modified Grotusque.

Emerje

Thanks! I prefer Titans Masters over Combiner Wars so this is awesome news to me.