The Energon Pub

I see a lot of you understand where I'm coming from. See, I'm not complaining about the Predicons. I like most of them. That's the way they're supposed to look. That's all good. My complaint is, why do the Autobots and Decepticons "all of a sudden" have to take on a different form with jaggity beast junk just because they are fighting some new faction? I mean what's the sense? Shockwave looks great except the yellow jaggity crap. Why does he (or the others) have to grow some new "out of place" parts just because the Predicons are now involved? I just think the bots and cons would be their same old selves whether fighting each other or a new faction. Seriously, they didn't all grow new body parts when they fought Unicron. Why should they now?

PrymeStriker wrote:

RAcast wrote:the Stunticons have a good excuse.

And the Prime Predacon's don't have a good excuse? The Prime Predacons are a species. A prehistoric race to Cybertron. The minor yet notable differences between Skystalker and Ripclaw can be compared to the different features of a chameleon versus a gecko. The only reason they have individuality, or even transform for all we know, is because Shockwave cloned them all billions of years later. They have to be similar by their function within the fiction.

But they don't all have to have the same un-inventive transformation.

Again. Look aback at the Beast Wars toyline.
Did every single quadrupedal altmode have the EXACT SAME transformation to robot mode? Yes, a lot of them shared the limbs-become-limbs scheme because it simply makes sense, it gives you the same articulation in both modes. BUT, everything else tends to be different on some level.

HoosierDaddy wrote:I see a lot of you understand where I'm coming from. See, I'm not complaining about the Predicons. I like most of them. That's the way they're supposed to look. That's all good. My complaint is, why do the Autobots and Decepticons "all of a sudden" have to take on a different form with jaggity beast junk just because they are fighting some new faction? I mean what's the sense? Shockwave looks great except the yellow jaggity crap. Why does he (or the others) have to grow some new "out of place" parts just because the Predicons are now involved? I just think the bots and cons would be their same old selves whether fighting each other or a new faction. Seriously, they didn't all grow new body parts when they fought Unicron. Why should they now?

According to the toy bios, the Autobots ran across a cashe of weapons/upgrade-y stuff. Predictably, they were followed by the Cons, who also picked up some upgrades.

RAcast wrote:But they don't all have to have the same un-inventive transformation.

They kind of do, if it means still looking like the same species in both modes.

HoosierDaddy wrote:...the Predicons. I like most of them. That's the way they're supposed to look.

This. The Predacons are supposed to be the way they are. They're all supposed to have the same transformation, the same beast mode, and similar robot modes because they're all supposed to be the same.

My complaint is, why do the Autobots and Decepticons "all of a sudden" have to take on a different form with jaggity beast junk just because they are fighting some new faction?

For one, the Predacons are massive sons of bitches that will frag you up. Of course you wouldn't fight someone like that while your naked, right? Go get some clothes and a couple of M-14's and you'll be good. That's the logic here. The Autobots are armoring up to fight Megatron's new threat.

Albeit, I don't expect a lot of the upgrades to happen in the show other than Optimus and Ratchet.

Shockwave looks great except the yellow jaggity crap.

That's where Hasbro gets clever, my boy. For you see, Smokescreen and Shockwave were created in Beast Hunters, and their not beasts. So, by default, they need "armor." But sneaky Hasbro gave us the option to remove them and have clean figures! Aren't they brilliant?

Also, all of the yellow "jaggity crap" is just rubbery plastic. Only the things on his chest and shoulders are armor.

Only figure that appeals to me is Shockwave but with FOC and Quakewave recently added to my ranks I'm not sure I need another.

Aww c'mon, lets all just agree to disagree...ehh to hell with it! I don't care for the show past or upcoming and the line so far is dissapointing with these deluxe figures (most)that have molded on add-on parts. It's clear that we will have plenty of peg-warmers from this line IMO.

So far my only intrests are Bulkhead, Smokescreen, Shockwave, and despite the majority's dismay Starscream. But as usual I must maintain discipline and wait for Takara and their spin on this line. I do find Voyager OP ammusing with his head bolted on so...to me he's head N shoulders OP.

Not all that interested, personally. I've never been big on beast TFs unless they're very robotic a la G1. And so far most of the BH guys are just on the wrong side of organic. I will be picking up Voyager Prime, Deluxe Smokescreen and Voyager Shockwave, though, because they're pretty sweet. I might get the big Predaking if he turns out well, but that's a big maybe.

Given that my interest in the figures started and ended with the opening cast of the first season, I can quite clearly state that Beast Hunters is almost a 100% miss for me, save maybe Shockwave, who will most likely be on my Classics shelf. I don't much care for beast formers, and the fact that most of the Predacons are all basically stand up Transformations doesn't help, and whoever excuses that with "but that what makes them what they are" needs to can it. It doesn't change the fact they're all the same, and moreso it's just a poor mans excuse to not do something different, no more, no less.

As always, I'm far more interested in the upcoming generations releases... which is annoying, since after the past year of abject failures I thought it was a good time to quite the hobby... damn toy fair reveals

Shadowstream wrote:and whoever excuses that with "but that what makes them what they are" needs to can it. It doesn't change the fact they're all the same,

When did anyone make statement that being the same species changes the fact that they're generally the same? It was said that they are the same because their the same prehistoric species.

HoosierDaddy wrote:I'm just wondering if people are really diggin' this or not.

Lovin' it.

HoosierDaddy wrote:I hate how the figures have all this jagged pieces just stuck to them. I just saw that seibertron posted up protos of the new Shockwave. All i could think of is how cool he looks except he has all that jaggity yellow junk hanging off him.

The remolds of older figures and some of the new ones such as Bulkhead and Starscream, I'll give you. However, new molds such as Ripclaw (I can't even begin to tell you how nice she is.) Smokescreen and Shockwave do not suffer. The "armor" is rubbery and completely removable. You don't even need them to have a complete figure. I don't understand why so many people seem to be missing the fact that these pieces are not permanent and allow them to sway their decision to buy. I just don't get it. At all. The figures underneath the gimmick pieces are VERY nice. Very.

As for the spikes on his head, which people seem to be confused by as well... That's how his head is designed in the show.... *smh*

HoosierDaddy wrote:I feel the same about the other figures I've seen in the line. If it's a new figure of some beast and it's warranted to have jaggity parts then, hey, fine I'm cool with that but why does every bot have to have that going on? I don't know, I'm just disappointed with it.

But they don't all have it going on. An accessory that's removable and doesn't enhance or hinder the figure in any way shouldn't be the deciding factor to sway one away from buying these.

Passing up molds such as Predaking, Smokescreen, Ripclaw (her especially), is just ridiculous. These are great figures.

PrymeStriker wrote:

Shadowstream wrote:and whoever excuses that with "but that what makes them what they are" needs to can it. It doesn't change the fact they're all the same,

When did anyone make statement that being the same species changes the fact that they're generally the same? It was said that they are the same because their the same prehistoric species.

and that stops sharp shot, hardshell, and kickback from being different from the rest of their species, how?

Autobot032 wrote:Passing up molds such as [...] Ripclaw (her especially), is just ridiculous. These are great figures.

See, the thing with me is I love the mold, but I hate the colors. I was spoiled with [what appeared to be] silver or grey on her box during the Soundwave packaging error, and when we saw green instead, I wanted to vomit. If they give us a Ser-Ket repaint somewhere down the road, the mold will be mine.

Shadowstream wrote:and that stops sharp shot, hardshell, and kickback from being different from the rest of their species, how?

Meanwhile in the Prime cartoon, Hardshell is the same as any other Insecticon. The only difference is he has battle scars.

PrymeStriker wrote:

Shadowstream wrote:and that stops sharp shot, hardshell, and kickback from being different from the rest of their species, how?

Meanwhile in the Prime cartoon, Hardshell is the same as any other Insecticon. The only difference is he has battle scars.

And that is even more inexcusable than the Preds, but that doesn't make them THAT much better... besides, I was clearly referring to the FOC versions of the Insecticons, which(asside from sharing the same color scheme) all had different body types AND transformations.

Shadowstream wrote:And that is even more inexcusable than the Preds, but that doesn't make them THAT much better...

Right, but you seem to be missing the point. I know the Preds aren't perfect. They have little variety and that won't change right now. But I'm saying that there is some variety and there's a reason they look the same.

besides, I was clearly referring to the FOC versions of the Insecticons,

And clearly I'm referring to the Prime versions of the Predacons...considering there's no FOC Predacons. Two different aesthetics, same continuity.

all had different body types AND transformations.

I'm not sure how we know they have different transformations. We only have one FOC Insecticon toy.

Going by how they transform in the games, yes... granted it probably wouldn't look quite the same in plastic form, but if they did it right then I think they still would(knowing hasbro though, I wouldn't put it past them to try to rehash the Kickback mold to pinch pennies).

At the end I just think what really gets my gall about the preds' designs is that while visually, yes they are all very distinct to a certain degree, and it's not necessarily lazy on hasbro's part, it just seems like a lot of wasted effort to make them all a bunch of different dragons, when they're all functionally the same.

PrymeStriker wrote:

Shockwave looks great except the yellow jaggity crap.

That's where Hasbro gets clever, my boy. For you see, Smokescreen and Shockwave were created in Beast Hunters, and their not beasts. So, by default, they need "armor." But sneaky Hasbro gave us the option to remove them and have clean figures! Aren't they brilliant?

Also, all of the yellow "jaggity crap" is just rubbery plastic. Only the things on his chest and shoulders are armor.

I (my own opinion here) wish Shockwaves cannon arm were a bit smaller. DOTM Shockwave had the same overgrown cannon. I'm trying not to live in the G1 era shadows here but it seems a little over done. It could be half of that and still be pretty cool.

dirk2243 wrote:I (my own opinion here) wish Shockwaves cannon arm were a bit smaller. DOTM Shockwave had the same overgrown cannon. I'm trying not to live in the G1 era shadows here but it seems a little over done. It could be half of that and still be pretty cool.

To be fair the cannon appears to collapse a bit

On topic, I'm skipping most of this line until I see them on screen, that may be a deciding factor for me. Until then put me in the Smokecreen/Shockwave/Predacon boat with the rest of you.