The Energon Pub

thank you, this is super useful.

accutally it will be called classics 2.0 if I'm not mistaken and it slated for an october 08 release. were as the animted show is slated for an early spring 08 release to co-inside with t.v. show on cartoon network.

Do they restock sold out Cybertron toys on Bigbadtoystore.com?

You're forgetting 6 inch Titanium Primal Prime of which they showed a sample of at Botcon. That is, unless it has been confirmed to be cancelled. As far as I've heard he's still coming. Otherwise, nice job summing up the current status of the lines.

Overcracker wrote:O.K., This mostly applies to US. I have a Question though, for those that live in the U.K. and/or the European continent, how likely is it, that the stores there will get more cases of any of the aforementioned toy lines?

Pretty un. Like Red says, we tend to get screwed over a lot on distribution here. Since we've got the movie figs coming out now, I find it highly unlikely we're ever gonna see the rest of the Classics. I'm not sure what they've got in Argos or TRU at the moment here in Nottingham, but Woolies, John Lewis and the Entertainer have only movie stuff.

And Shortround, 'Classics 2.0' isn't the official name, it will be Universe. It was just referred to as Classics 2.0 before the Universe title was made official, and briefly after to explain the connection.

Cool although it might confuse alot of people when it first comes out being called universe since the orignal universe line died a slow and painfully death. But oh well I'm just happy were getting more classic figures whatever the name is.

I really hope the Universe banner also allows some Alternator repaints as well as classics version 2. I'd certainly buy a Rumble as Frenzy for starters. Back on topic though, Everything that's been shown or described for classics sounds and looks great to me.

ramrider wrote:Pretty un. Like Red says, we tend to get screwed over a lot on distribution here. Since we've got the movie figs coming out now, I find it highly unlikely we're ever gonna see the rest of the Classics. I'm not sure what they've got in Argos or TRU at the moment here in Nottingham, but Woolies, John Lewis and the Entertainer have only movie stuff.

And Shortround, 'Classics 2.0' isn't the official name, it will be Universe. It was just referred to as Classics 2.0 before the Universe title was made official, and briefly after to explain the connection.

I see.

And yes, the official name is "Universe". Gives them more freedom, to throw in repaints from other lines, that don't exactly adhere to the Classics style. Although I doubt Alternators will make the cut for this line, but one can still hop.

Am I the only one quite disgusted that Hasbro canned all 3 of it's collector-orientated lines in roughly the same time period? How can you defend this company as caring about the fans. It seems to me once they had the security of the movie, they didn't need the fans to fall back on for a few guaranteed sales.

I wonder what excuse the Hasblow defenders have for this.

Yeah, I'm pretty pissed about them dropping Classics. It wasn't the movie that got me back into Transformers, it was the Classics line. I still haven't bought a movie toy.

You're not the only one. I liked the Titanium Line and Classics and was sad to see them canceled. But I guess Hasbro wasn't selling enough of Alts and titaniums to keep them around. Classics will return. Under another name yes, but the basic concept will still hold. If the figures look anything like the concept drawings we've seen It will be an awesome line.

I Also think the ending of the lines had more to do, with reducing the competition with the Movie line, than anything else. They wanted the movie line to be the only option available to maximize the sales.

It really pisses me off when people say they're happy to see Titaniums being dropped.

They were only starting out, and they could have ended up with some pretty sweet Transformers. It was the only true, fully fledged collectors line.

It was our only chance to get Transtech designs made into reality. It was out only chance to get the awesome Bumblebee, Prime, Megatron and Shockwave designs from Hearts of Steel. It was our only chance to get a complete set of redone Season 3 Trios; Rodimus, Magnus, Kup, Galvatron, Scourge and Cyclonus, it was out only chance to get a new, posable, non-lego forming Powermaster Optimus to go with the Ultra magnus, it was out only chance to get new versions of Beast Machines designs like Optimus Primal that never got accurate versions to begin with. It might even have been our only chance to get a Dinobot figure that isn't total cack. It was also our only chance to get characters that were either comic only or only heavily featured in the comics; like Impactor or Bludgeon.

The possibilities for the 6" Titanium line were near endless, because it wasn't limited to what kids would want. It was our Marvel Legends.

We suffered a HUGE blow with the loss of Titaniums, and people don't even realise it. While Arcee no doubt gets shoe horned into the animated line as her toy(and to be honest, the sculpt could have been better), the future of the others really isn't certain. Poor Cosmos got dropped from Classics AND Titaniums. A lot of people want them just because they feel sorry for whoever designed him.

I'm not happy they are gone. they were just beginning to be good figures. but the distribution killed them. They were so difficult to find, that of course Hasbro got very low sales numbers. (They weren't there to be bought). But they also had some with flaws, like GI Joe Megatron. He'd fall apart if you looked at him hard.

Yet there were other figures that were really good Like WWI Thundercracker/Starscream and Rodimus Prime. I would have loved to have seen a Titanium Cyclonus. and that Prototype Titanium Shockwave was awesome. That's why i hope we'll see some of those unreleased designs in the new Universe Line.

The one thing I'd really be all over, are seeker repaints of the Cybertron Voyager Starscream mould for th Universe line. If they can't gives classics Seekers, give us WWI inspired Seekers.

Here are some links for those still trying to get figures from the lines mentioned in the first post:

Cybertron:
Hasbro Toy Shop still have about 19 different Cybertron toys in stock, including show characters like Backstop, Brakedown, Lugnutz, Clocker, Dark Crumplezone and Metroplex. They also have the character of Smokescreen which is everything short of being a "Classics" Smokescreen.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=319

Classics:
Cliffjumper, Mirage and Optimus Prime are all in stock on the Hasbro Toy Shop.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=438

Alternators:
Rollbar is still on the Hasbro toy shop.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=167

6 inch Titaniums:
RiD Optimus, Optimal Optimus and Scourge are on the Hasbro Toy Shop.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=524

Movie:
6 Deluxes still on Hasbro Toy Shop (the 2 protoforms, Jazz, Brawl, Wreckage Scorponok).
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=502
Plus Ratchet.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=502

There is a simple reason why Titianium wasnt gonna last (ignoring the distribution for a second). They were expensive figues. Yet unlike other expensive figure lines in the transformer world (alts/bt, MP/20th) the design quality on some of them was terrible. I mean look at Titianium Soundwave, he was a horrible design, G I Joe megs sounds to be little better, and even the good ones could have been much better with minor design changes.

I also think Titianiums would have been a lot more sustainable if it hadnt been a line ment to made out of metal. The use of diecast did nobody any favours at all, what is the point of making a tf feel heavier if it also makes the tf an absolute pig to pose and results in bits CONSTANTLY falling off?

Please dont get me wrong, dispite their many flaws, I like two of the three 6" tits I have (Magnus and Rodimus), but do I feel they were really worth the money I paid for them? No. No I dont really.

I'll probably buy a few more Titainiums ( becuase some of them are designs we will never see another version of) if I ever find em, but to me it was always a flawed line, and as a result was always not going to stand the test of time.

Scaleface wrote:Here are some links for those still trying to get figures from the lines mentioned in the first post:

Cybertron:
Hasbro Toy Shop still have about 19 different Cybertron toys in stock, including show characters like Backstop, Brakedown, Lugnutz, Clocker, Dark Crumplezone and Metroplex. They also have the character of Smokescreen which is everything short of being a "Classics" Smokescreen.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=319

Classics:
Cliffjumper, Mirage and Optimus Prime are all in stock on the Hasbro Toy Shop.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=438

Alternators:
Rollbar is still on the Hasbro toy shop.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=167

6 inch Titaniums:
RiD Optimus, Optimal Optimus and Scourge are on the Hasbro Toy Shop.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=524

Movie:
6 Deluxes still on Hasbro Toy Shop (the 2 protoforms, Jazz, Brawl, Wreckage Scorponok).
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=502
Plus Ratchet.
http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/ProductsBy ... 96&SBR=502

Good info scaleface. I'll edit my first post to include this for reference for those that are looking for them and so it can be found easier in the first page of the thread.

Ramrider wrote:

Overcracker wrote:O.K., This mostly applies to US. I have a Question though, for those that live in the U.K. and/or the European continent, how likely is it, that the stores there will get more cases of any of the aforementioned toy lines?

Pretty un. Like Red says, we tend to get screwed over a lot on distribution here. Since we've got the movie figs coming out now, I find it highly unlikely we're ever gonna see the rest of the Classics. I'm not sure what they've got in Argos or TRU at the moment here in Nottingham, but Woolies, John Lewis and the Entertainer have only movie stuff.

And Shortround, 'Classics 2.0' isn't the official name, it will be Universe. It was just referred to as Classics 2.0 before the Universe title was made official, and briefly after to explain the connection.

I can add something, 'cause he asked also about continental europe, which is again different from UK. Here in northern europe, I think we have a bit better situation than UK. (kind of...illogical, isn't it? I'm sure Transformers is more popular in UK...) I mean, we don't get reissues or any of the other special stuff, but usually more mainline stuff than UK folks, and sometimes earlier too. Cybertron was released here only few weeks after US release, which was quite surprising.

We used to get same stuff as UK some years ago, but recently Hasbro Nordic has became independent part of the international Hasbro (or whatever it is called), and they now do their own importing, instead of getting shipments from UK like it used to be.

What is same than in UK, there is no chance of getting new shipments of classics or cybertron. We usually get only one line at a time, so I'm not positive of my chances of even seeing classics 2.0 on local shelves, if it's out at the same time with animated, we will only get animated here

Additionally amazon.com still has Classic Jetfire and Astrotrain for their original prices and if you get both it's free shipping! Most of their other Classic toys are from third party vendors and the prices are hiked up, but if you simply must have something and are willing to pay for it, you can buy any Classic there.

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/B000IJPJJU ... d_i=507846

http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-81294-Tran ... 86-6862535

I also spy Classic Cliffjumper:

http://www.amazon.com/Hasbro-82866-Tran ... 308&sr=1-1

I've only ever seen Titanium Soundwave and Prime. WWI got bad review re:quality and Soundwave was a bit dodgy, design wise.

Sad that it's ended, as the Magnus looked fantastic and the Rodimus wasn't too bad either. WWI and other comic-book and cartoon designs? It was a line I wanted to see many many more of. A shame it was metal. Don't get me wrong, as a guy who thinks of Transformers and thinks of the first 2 years of G1, I liked the idea of die-cast being brought back, but not the apparent execution of it. The cheaper price-point and expanded possibilities that an all-plastic line would have given might have let the line live a bit longer.

Agreed. I only ever got Rodimus, but as I've said before, I'd rather have had, say, a Voyager-scale one in plastic than a little six-inch jobbie with heavy limbs.

And some of you say you're upset that Titaniums were dropped because they were the only chance to get things like the War Within and Hearts of Steel designs. Are you suggesting that the only way it could have been done is with these die-cast figures?
No, I think what you actually mean is that it's the only line that has produced these designs. Personally, I think they would have been better off producing a line (say, 'Legends', or something), featuring these alternate reality and historical design, but produced in plastic in a scale that works in line with the other ranges. Wouldn't you have preferred larger plastic figs that you could display/play with alongside your other lines? In my opinion, most of the 6" Titaniums would have been better served as Voyager figures.

I thought the new universe line or classic 2.0 or whatever there will call it was only going to be made up classics protypes we have seen and repaint of those classics and they were not going to expanded beyond that scope because they had learned that trying cram beast wars repaint, rid repaints, armada repaints into a single line didn't work well.

shortround wrote:I thought the new universe line or classic 2.0 or whatever there will call it was only going to be made up classics protypes we have seen and repaint of those classics and they were not going to expanded beyond that scope because they had learned that trying cram beast wars repaint, rid repaints, armada repaints into a single line didn't work well.

Well, I HOPE this is true, but weren't they also going to release the Seacon repaints under this banner? THAT repaint I wouldn't mind. As long as they keep pumping out the quality Classics-esque designs, I'm a happy camper...er, collector.

Classics 1.0 was also supposed to be original molds only, and what do we get, a repaint of 5 Energon figures in the shape of Classics Devastator.

Under the banner of Universe, we're bound to get some repaints. Its just inevitable. I just hope they are good repaints.

The only reason we got an energon repaint thrown in according to hasbro was because it was a filler line untill the movie toys. But know that it is full blown line I thought they were going to make it a true classics line with only classics molds with repaints of a few of these molds when warented.

I truly hope so.