The Energon Pub

Rodimus Prime wrote:I was forced to cancel my Amazon order for Slag last week, right before he was due to ship out, and lo and behold I saw him at Wal-Mart tonight along with 2 Grindors. After having him in hand, I got the same impression as I did with Wreck-gar. Seems too simple and looks kinda cheap. So I'm a bit relieved I canceled on him. If I spot him for significantly cheaper than $50, I'll probably pick him up, but as it is, he's a pass as well. Should have been a voyager anyway.

But now I'm actually very interested in Grindor, he looks really good in hand.

Slag don't feel cheap at all in hand... if you conveniently ignore the "wings" and horns that pop off at the slightest touch.

Grindor feel way better and even if the arms could lock a bit more solidly on his torso, that toy is pretty damn epic and look perfect beside SS Devastator. Plus if you have SS Soundwave, he can finally have Ravage.

Rodimus Prime wrote:I was forced to cancel my Amazon order for Slag last week, right before he was due to ship out, and lo and behold I saw him at Wal-Mart tonight along with 2 Grindors. After having him in hand, I got the same impression as I did with Wreck-gar. Seems too simple and looks kinda cheap. So I'm a bit relieved I canceled on him. If I spot him for significantly cheaper than $50, I'll probably pick him up, but as it is, he's a pass as well. Should have been a voyager anyway.

But now I'm actually very interested in Grindor, he looks really good in hand.

I partially agree with you about Slag. He is big and all but has the engineering and transformation of a simple deluxe. He is easily the worst SS leader so far in my imo. But I am still happy to have him in my collection. I highly reccomend Grindor, but that is for a different thread

Rodimus Prime wrote:I was forced to cancel my Amazon order for Slag last week, right before he was due to ship out, and lo and behold I saw him at Wal-Mart tonight along with 2 Grindors. After having him in hand, I got the same impression as I did with Wreck-gar. Seems too simple and looks kinda cheap. So I'm a bit relieved I canceled on him. If I spot him for significantly cheaper than $50, I'll probably pick him up, but as it is, he's a pass as well. Should have been a voyager anyway.

But now I'm actually very interested in Grindor, he looks really good in hand.

Good God, man. I just don't get it. I love my Slag, and I don't even have the popping off of random parts everyone else is complaining about. Maybe it's just the way I pose him. One thing I vehemently disagree with is there's no way he could be a Voyager at that [correct] scale. The other stuff is personal taste, which I don't understand but have no issue with. I just. Don't. Get it.


Anyway, here's the other guy you think is 'simple and cheap' - riding himself 86' style!

sol magnus wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I was forced to cancel my Amazon order for Slag last week, right before he was due to ship out, and lo and behold I saw him at Wal-Mart tonight along with 2 Grindors. After having him in hand, I got the same impression as I did with Wreck-gar. Seems too simple and looks kinda cheap. So I'm a bit relieved I canceled on him. If I spot him for significantly cheaper than $50, I'll probably pick him up, but as it is, he's a pass as well. Should have been a voyager anyway.

But now I'm actually very interested in Grindor, he looks really good in hand.

Good God, man. I just don't get it. I love my Slag, and I don't even have the popping off of random parts everyone else is complaining about. Maybe it's just the way I pose him. One thing I vehemently disagree with is there's no way he could be a Voyager at that [correct] scale. The other stuff is personal taste, which I don't understand but have no issue with. I just. Don't. Get it.


Anyway, here's the other guy you think is 'simple and cheap' - riding himself 86' style!

IMG_7980.jpg

I don't think the transformation is bad, either. It's not overly complex like many of the smaller SS86 bots, but it doesn't need to be. He looks right in both modes.

I don't get hung up on scale, but I absolutely think that Leader is the right class. Since the dino mode is compressed, it would be undersized at any other class. I also intend to keep my PotP versions, so there's a better contrast this way than if he was just a Voyager.

I'm surprised how divisive the SS86 line is in general. They're not perfect, but they're very good for what they're doing.

So I managed to find Gnaw Saturday. I was originally just thinking about getting one because I was fine with my PotP Legends Gnaws (3x regular and 1 from the pit of Judgement). But, man, I really like this mold and may think about getting 1 or 2 more. The transformation is much more fun that the PotP version, and I love the bot mode, especially that belly. Gnaw totally has a dad-bod, and I can certainly relate.

first time i've seen a comment wanting the SS dinobots smaller when imho they should be biggger. WFC Ultra madnus was too small to begin with and even then they are too small next to him. I thought about getting rid of my potp dinos but they seem a good fit next to CW devy. Scale and size is always going to be weird for transformers but having lots of variety helps.

blackeyedprime wrote:first time i've seen a comment wanting the SS dinobots smaller

If you're referring to me, I only said that about Slag. Grimlock is good as a leader, and Snarl should be as well. I would love it if Sludge was Commander class, but in SS that doesn't exist, do he'll have to be leader, but be a bit taller than Grimlock. And Swoop should also be a voyager, but IIRC it was stated he actually will be. My opinion only, of course, nobody should get all hot and bothered over it.

Rodimus Prime wrote:

blackeyedprime wrote:first time i've seen a comment wanting the SS dinobots smaller

If you're referring to me, I only said that about Slag. Grimlock is good as a leader, and Snarl should be as well. I would love it if Sludge was Commander class, but in SS that doesn't exist, do he'll have to be leader, but be a bit taller than Grimlock. And Swoop should also be a voyager, but IIRC it was stated he actually will be. My opinion only, of course, nobody should get all hot and bothered over it.

You don't owe a rando like me anything, but if you don't mind my asking, why do you want them spread across so many different classes?

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

blackeyedprime wrote:first time i've seen a comment wanting the SS dinobots smaller

If you're referring to me, I only said that about Slag. Grimlock is good as a leader, and Snarl should be as well. I would love it if Sludge was Commander class, but in SS that doesn't exist, do he'll have to be leader, but be a bit taller than Grimlock. And Swoop should also be a voyager, but IIRC it was stated he actually will be. My opinion only, of course, nobody should get all hot and bothered over it.

You don't owe a rando like me anything, but if you don't mind my asking, why do you want them spread across so many different classes?

So that the scales matches, obviously.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

blackeyedprime wrote:first time i've seen a comment wanting the SS dinobots smaller

If you're referring to me, I only said that about Slag. Grimlock is good as a leader, and Snarl should be as well. I would love it if Sludge was Commander class, but in SS that doesn't exist, do he'll have to be leader, but be a bit taller than Grimlock. And Swoop should also be a voyager, but IIRC it was stated he actually will be. My opinion only, of course, nobody should get all hot and bothered over it.

You don't owe a rando like me anything, but if you don't mind my asking, why do you want them spread across so many different classes?

So that the scales matches, obviously.

They match now.

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

blackeyedprime wrote:first time i've seen a comment wanting the SS dinobots smaller

If you're referring to me, I only said that about Slag. Grimlock is good as a leader, and Snarl should be as well. I would love it if Sludge was Commander class, but in SS that doesn't exist, do he'll have to be leader, but be a bit taller than Grimlock. And Swoop should also be a voyager, but IIRC it was stated he actually will be. My opinion only, of course, nobody should get all hot and bothered over it.

You don't owe a rando like me anything, but if you don't mind my asking, why do you want them spread across so many different classes?

I suppose my perspective is a bit different than most. I have no attachment to the G1 cartoon or toys whatsoever (except Megatron and Soundwave), and only a mild one for the animated movie. For me, G1 source material is pretty much the Marvel comics. I try to fill my collection to represent the characters as they were in the comics, and that is usually different than the cartoon, which is why most of my collection is cobbled together from different lines.

To actually answer your question, I never subscribed to the Dinobots all being the same size. I also take their alt modes into consideration, even though that's 2ndary. But I always envisioned them to be in the scale I listed above.

sol magnus wrote:They match now.

Of course. But there's just two. I don't know about a "commander" Sludge, but if they leave out the "bonus minifig", it could still be a leader but he'll be allowed to be larger.

As for Swoop, a large voyager like Studio Series Megatron could do the trick. But if he's still too big to be a voyager, Swoop could be a small leader with more accessories. Like, maybe TWO "mififigs"

Rodimus Prime wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

blackeyedprime wrote:first time i've seen a comment wanting the SS dinobots smaller

If you're referring to me, I only said that about Slag. Grimlock is good as a leader, and Snarl should be as well. I would love it if Sludge was Commander class, but in SS that doesn't exist, do he'll have to be leader, but be a bit taller than Grimlock. And Swoop should also be a voyager, but IIRC it was stated he actually will be. My opinion only, of course, nobody should get all hot and bothered over it.

You don't owe a rando like me anything, but if you don't mind my asking, why do you want them spread across so many different classes?

I suppose my perspective is a bit different than most. I have no attachment to the G1 cartoon whatsoever, and only a mild one for the animated movie. For me, G1 source material is pretty much the Marvel comics. I try to fill my collection to represent the characters as they were in the comics, and that is usually different than the cartoon, which is why most of my collection is cobbled together from different lines.

To actually answer your question, I never subscribed to the Dinobots all being the same size. I also take their alt modes into consideration, even though that's 2ndary. But I always envisioned them to be in the scale I listed above.

That's fair, though personally I would probably use PotP versions over SS86 for comics likeness, in part since Slag often had the toy coloration. I aim for the cartoon first, but I do collect a handful of alternate decoes to match the comics, like the Selects Galvatron.

AcademyofDrX wrote:That's fair, though personally I would probably use PotP versions over SS86 for comics likeness, in part since Slag often had the toy coloration. I aim for the cartoon first, but I do collect a handful of alternate decoes to match the comics, like the Selects Galvatron.

I agree, and have collected the PoTP Dinobots (with red Swoop) for this reason. If only Sludge and Snarl had been voyagers along with Grimlock, it would have been perfect. But of course, VoLcAnIcUs.

But back to SS86, is a release in the WFC line automatically exclude a character also being represented in the SS86 line?

-Kanrabat- wrote:

sol magnus wrote:They match now.

Of course. But there's just two. I don't know about a "commander" Sludge, but if they leave out the "bonus minifig", it could still be a leader but he'll be allowed to be larger.

As for Swoop, a large voyager like Studio Series Megatron could do the trick. But if he's still too big to be a voyager, Swoop could be a small leader with more accessories. Like, maybe TWO "mififigs"

I was just watching War of the Dinobots and Sludge was slightly shorter than Grimlock (as was Slag) in a couple of scenes. I don't think any of them have to be *signficantly* shorter or taller than any of the others. If Swoop is a voyager, he's likely going to be shorter, but even he usually shows up as the same size as the others. Since we're really talking about the movie specifically, the key scene would be when Prime orders them to "destroy Devastator."

Swoop is taller than Sludge. lol

To be fair, the scales are all over the place in G1.
Still, by looking at Google images after 1 second, most if not all pictures show the G1 Dinobots being the EXACT SAME SIZE in bot mode.

So on second thought, I honestly don't see why all the Dinobots shouldn't be anything else than leader class.
Because all over the WFC line (and by extension, SS86) the scale is based on the robot mode only. The vehicles and altmodes do their best and that's it.

Beside, the only scale that is truly NEVER followed in G1 are the vehicles.
(The whole Decepticon Army, including a fully combined Devastator inside Astrotrain anyone?)

Rodimus Prime wrote:But back to SS86, is a release in the WFC line automatically exclude a character also being represented in the SS86 line?

No, SS86 Arcee is rumored to be a premium paint job on ER/Kingdom Arcee. She will get to be the least favored mold for the deluxe scale for 3 straight years!!!

I promise I'm not digging anything up... I was a part of the "what class should Swoop be?" conversation before... I still say he should be leader class; between wanting large wings for dino mode, and not wanting him to look really out of place with the others in bot mode... Sure, he could be a little shorter than the rest. But if he's only as tall as Siege/ER OP, I really think I'm going to be decently disappointed... No matter how good the head sculpt, appearances of both modes, accessories, etc...
Unless they make him a huge voyager because the engineering/transformation really is super simple, even having seen the character scale diagrams, I still want him to about match the others in terms of height.
And when I think about how limiting it could be just to make him fit inside of a voyager-sized box, I'm really hoping for leader class.

Sowndwave76 wrote:I promise I'm not digging anything up... I was a part of the "what class should Swoop be?" conversation before... I still say he should be leader class; between wanting large wings for dino mode, and not wanting him to look really out of place with the others in bot mode... Sure, he could be a little shorter than the rest. But if he's only as tall as Siege/ER OP, I really think I'm going to be decently disappointed... No matter how good the head sculpt, appearances of both modes, accessories, etc...
Unless they make him a huge voyager because the engineering/transformation really is super simple, even having seen the character scale diagrams, I still want him to about match the others in terms of height.
And when I think about how limiting it could be just to make him fit inside of a voyager-sized box, I'm really hoping for leader class.

Height and class are only indirectly related these days, I could certainly see a tall Voyager Swoop still being about the same height as everyone else. I like relative height in my figures but I don't obsess about it and it makes collecting way more fun. That's not really helpful ... I guess I'd say that even if it turns out disappointing, there's no use getting worked up in advance.

I'm also not expecting a very elaborate transformation, as there's just not that much to work with in his alt-mode, he's like a brownie with wings.

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:I promise I'm not digging anything up... I was a part of the "what class should Swoop be?" conversation before... I still say he should be leader class; between wanting large wings for dino mode, and not wanting him to look really out of place with the others in bot mode... Sure, he could be a little shorter than the rest. But if he's only as tall as Siege/ER OP, I really think I'm going to be decently disappointed... No matter how good the head sculpt, appearances of both modes, accessories, etc...
Unless they make him a huge voyager because the engineering/transformation really is super simple, even having seen the character scale diagrams, I still want him to about match the others in terms of height.
And when I think about how limiting it could be just to make him fit inside of a voyager-sized box, I'm really hoping for leader class.

Height and class are only indirectly related these days, I could certainly see a tall Voyager Swoop still being about the same height as everyone else. I like relative height in my figures but I don't obsess about it and it makes collecting way more fun. That's not really helpful ... I guess I'd say that even if it turns out disappointing, there's no use getting worked up in advance.

I'm also not expecting a very elaborate transformation, as there's just not that much to work with in his alt-mode, he's like a brownie with wings.

This, Swoop isn't likely to need a complex Transformation, ergo less parts will be needed compared to other smaller characters released around the higher price points (like the forthcoming Blitzwing which will need more parts to do his triple changing convincingly)
So yes, a Voyager Swoop could still stand pretty close to Grimlock.

ZeroWolf wrote:This, Swoop isn't likely to need a complex Transformation, ergo less parts will be needed compared to other smaller characters released around the higher price points (like the forthcoming Blitzwing which will need more parts to do his triple changing convincingly)
So yes, a Voyager Swoop could still stand pretty close to Grimlock.

None of the Dinobots need complex transformations, yet Slug is ridiculously more complex than you would expect just looking at him. They can just as easily make him smaller and more complex as they could bigger and less complex, it's hard to really predict what Hasbro would do. We've already seen Swoop's Mandela effect where people remember him being much smaller than the other Dinobots when he was rarely actually shown that way and we've seen Hasbro play with that fan perception before. Personally I'm not overly optimistic about Voyager Swoop being the same size as the rest of the Dinobots, that's expecting a lot from a modern Voyager.

Emerje

A voyager Swoop bug as a leader in bit mode would have no choice but to have a donut chest and completely hollow legs and arms à la Cyberverse.
No one wants that.

As a G1 kid I know that in Sunbow toon and Marvel comic all the Dinobots are the same size in bot mode. However as someone who loves almost all Transformer shows/comics, I selfishly would want the SS86/Legacy Dinobots a bit different. The IDW Dinobots were awesome and a bit more the way I imagine or pretend they been all along size wise. So I would like Grimlock as he is with Slag and Snarl slightly shorter/smaller(maybe by a head), Swoop very slightly smaller than them at leader with maybe including all 4 swords or something(so he is smaller), and then Sludge 2 or 3 heads taller/larger than Grimlock. Prolly bumped up to commander class or no minifigs/accessories leader class. Or something like that, but its not going to happen as Slag is already same size as Grimlock. Which leads me to believe will be sticking to the Sunbow size chart of all the same height.

All good points and insight... I tend to lean towards the cartoon as the main point of reference, because even with it's mistakes, there weren't mistakes every time, especially with the same group of characters like the Dinobots.
If Grimlock and Slag were already substantially different in bulk and height, I'd be in favor of them all being different. As it stands with the current two, I would not want Sludge to be CC. In theory it probably would be amazing... But anchored to what we currently have, I'd prefer them all be roughly the same in size.

I do have hope that if Swoop is a voyager, he goes beyond what people would expect in terms of size and height for that class and is maybe a head shorter than Grimlock.
Here's one thought I've had which almost has me thinking he'll be leader class--

Hastak will get $50+ per rather than $30-$32-ish per...
He could be still be a little shorter than the rest, not include anything except a gun and removal missiles, and we'd all buy him anyway. I'd expect blast effects, swords, or something... But hell, I'd prefer pretty much any option instead of a worthless add-in figure.

My Slag arrived this afternoon... Having two of these guys now has even upped my anticipation even more for the rest.
I'm looking forward to the new Stunticons, Insecticons (assuming we get all 3), and Blitz...
But I think these Dinobots have me most excited.
Road Rage showed up today as well, and I really almost couldn't have cared less.

Man I hope we get another Dinobot in the first half of this next year!!

I was surprised to receive a package from Entertainment Earth today. I wasn't entirely sure what it was, and I was surprised when I did open it because I wasn't expecting these to come for another month or two, but..... it was the SS wave 14 Voyager case, which includes 2 Sweeps and a Wreck-Gar. AKA the perfect case. So now my movie certifications are more or less complete with a Scourge flanked by two Sweeps. Can't wait for another Junkion or two. Now I need to see about buying an Earthrise Quintesson...