The Energon Pub

It appears the Protoform version of Starscream from the upcoming movie has a DIFFERENT head sculpt than ours! at least according to this photo from FanToFan... LESS BUGGY!!




Here is the US version. The paint scheme seems the same, maybe a less copper hue. I am getting a few of these so I'll be able to do some comparisons once they arrive!

i like that other one a helluva lot more

decepticonjon wrote:i like that other one a helluva lot more

QFT!

If you look at the back of your package for him it has this face also.(at least mine did) When they first revealed this fig they show this head not the one on the fig now. I like the other head better. Dont know if they will use the different head, but if they do I will buy the Jap one.

Yup.. The Japanese one's paintjob looks much nicer too.

agreed I like the Japanese one much better both the face and the paint job. Makes you wonder how many other differences we will see from US to Japan for the movie figures.

Well ever since Armada and the G1 Reissues began surfacing in 2002 or 2003, a lot of the characters have been quite different from Us to Japan.

As far as I can tell, the US versions of RID and Japan versions of Car Robots are only different slightly. Such as Mach Alert having kanji on the sides of the car, while the US RID Prowl did not.

Black Convoy has different symbols on his shoulders than the US Scourge figure. So this really started happening in RID, but even more so in Armada, Energon, and Cybertron. I assume they do this to just keep a difference between the two figures. I believe Hasbro comes up with all the paint jobs, regardless of where the figures are sold (don't quote me but didn't we hear that from Hasbro at a botcon?)

I figured each figure would be quite different as well for the movie, HOWEVER, there is one thing that makes me raise an eyebrow about this: They named Convoy OPTIMUS PRIME!! So there is a new kind of standardization between the toylines. This might have a lot to do with the movie-tie in. They keep it consistent. So will the paintjobs be at this level of consistency?? Only time will tell. I have preordered a few japanese versions just to check it out!!!

Someone was saying the JP version of bumblebee will have clear windows while the US version has painted ones. It'll be a long summer but hopefully we'll know the answers to all these questions by Fall!

osiricon wrote:If you look at the back of your package for him it has this face also.(at least mine did) When they first revealed this fig they show this head not the one on the fig now. I like the other head better. Dont know if they will use the different head, but if they do I will buy the Jap one.

Yeah, it's just the prototype head for the protoform which is also used on the back of the actual packaging.

http://www.seibertron.com/toys/fullsize ... 1&image=13

diablien wrote:Well ever since Armada and the G1 Reissues began surfacing in 2002 or 2003, a lot of the characters have been quite different from Us to Japan.

As far as I can tell, the US versions of RID and Japan versions of Car Robots are only different slightly. Such as Mach Alert having kanji on the sides of the car, while the US RID Prowl did not.

RID Prowl did have the Kanji surprisingly enough.

http://www.seibertron.com/toys/fullsize ... =1&image=1



Is there a version of the white Prowl that doesn't? The supercharged version says "Police" on it, but I think that's the same for the Takara version.

diablien wrote:Black Convoy has different symbols on his shoulders than the US Scourge figure. So this really started happening in RID, but even more so in Armada, Energon, and Cybertron. I assume they do this to just keep a difference between the two figures. I believe Hasbro comes up with all the paint jobs, regardless of where the figures are sold (don't quote me but didn't we hear that from Hasbro at a botcon?)

That sounds familiar also but I think that was in reference to the paint color apps for Vector Prime which had drastically different color schemes in the US and Japan. Hasbro claimed that their factory was one shade too light and that Takara's was supposedly one shade too dark.

I think Hasbro ultimately did the right thing with RiD. To this day, I still think it is ridiculous that Takara just didn't make the vehicle mode Destrons "Decepticons" in Car Robots instead of Renegades with an upside-down G2 Autobot symbol. I understand the reasoning behind it but I still think it was ridiculous. I was very pleased that Hasbro brought back the Decepticons for the first time in 6 years. As you guys will see from the upcoming Baldigus galleries, you'll see that every one of the Baldigus/Ruination team members have different paint schemes. I originally thought it was just the Brawl mode, but it turns out all of them have variations.

diablien wrote:I figured each figure would be quite different as well for the movie, HOWEVER, there is one thing that makes me raise an eyebrow about this: They named Convoy OPTIMUS PRIME!! So there is a new kind of standardization between the toylines. This might have a lot to do with the movie-tie in. They keep it consistent. So will the paintjobs be at this level of consistency?? Only time will tell. I have preordered a few japanese versions just to check it out!!!

Do we have official word that they're calling him Optimus Prime instead of Convoy? It doesn't make much sense to me to start calling him Optimus Prime instead of Convoy but calling the Transformers Cybertrons and Destrons instead of Autobots and Decepticons. I think the smartest thing that Takara could do would be to put an end to using these different terms. Hate to say it, but it's Hasbro's mythology. It would be great to have a world wide unity for this hobby.

diablien wrote:Someone was saying the JP version of bumblebee will have clear windows while the US version has painted ones. It'll be a long summer but hopefully we'll know the answers to all these questions by Fall!

I'm all over any of the movie figures that have major changes like this. I was extremely disappointed that the windows are painted on the vehicles. It looks silly to me. I imagine that is somehow a decision that came out of the deals Hasbro made with the auto manufacturers. It seems like this would be something that is favored by the auto-manufacturers if they can't figure out a way to give the insides of the car's alt mode a realistic look like the Alternators. If they can't do that, then they have to cover up the windows. There's a business decision there ... I'm sure Hasbro is well aware that the vehicles look like crap with the windows painted.

I figured each figure would be quite different as well for the movie, HOWEVER, there is one thing that makes me raise an eyebrow about this: They named Convoy OPTIMUS PRIME!! So there is a new kind of standardization between the toylines. This might have a lot to do with the movie-tie in. They keep it consistent. So will the paintjobs be at this level of consistency?? Only time will tell. I have preordered a few japanese versions just to check it out!!!

i was just about to say that! maybe, like you said, to be consistent, they're going to call him Optimus Prime instead of Convoy...[/quote]

I seem to recall a report or two from a Japanese toy fair where they indeed called it movie Optimus Prime. I should try to find the source but meh.


DAMNIT! You guys are right, that is even the exact same PHOTO from the back of hte box, only the colors look different. Damn stock photography. The prototype head is much better. I should've taken a closer look this afternoon.

Does anyone else think it sort of resembles the Thundercracker movie toy's head?

I just want these movie figures!!!! AHH!!

I hope that head sculpt is on the final Japanese version of Protoform Star scream, it looks 3 hundred times better then the one on the US market..

oh and yes I supposed I was incorrect about the kanji on RID Prowl.

Maybe it was Fire Convoy??? I know for sure that the voice on Fire Convoy is different than the voice on RID Optimus. My Fire Convoy is in japanese.

That head is pretty damn cool. I guess I'll hold off on getting the Hasbro version til we know for sure if the Japanese one is actually going to have the better head. Yeah.

Takara's stuff is always a million times better than Hasbros

I prefer the protoform's robot mode to the other version's robot mode, to be honest.

I must admit, Takara's movie bayformer looks the best so far

Takara: Picking up Hasbro's slack since 1984.

Leonardo wrote:Takara: Picking up Hasbro's slack since 1984.

agreed

are the hasbro versions of optimus and starscream worth buying

not sure, I saw another news blurb that said leader class takara optimus was to have diecast...

The heady looks like the Guyver. but hey, I would rather cheer for the Guyver than Waspinator!

Damn you Takara and your superior products!

Oh Takara...I can't stay mad at you...

big improvement on screamer