The Energon Pub

william-james88 wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:And, just my opinion, but I hate the proportions on WFC and Alternity. And Classics is a great Bumblebee toy, but I don't want Cliff to be identical to Bee. Which really just leaves one option. Now I like GDO, although fitting it together in car mode is a pain, but I'd have preferred a bit more choice.
I don't think there's even a legends scale one with it's own head.

I agree with all of that (with the exception of the CGO being a pain to transform) whch is why my list ended up looking this way. It does make us see just how much this character lacks in toys and yet it shows us taht he does indeed have several toys to his name (just not molds).

And no, there is no legends clased Clffjumper with his own head

This makes me wonder, which other character should I make a top list for? I have Sideswipe, Frenzy/Rumble, Bumblebee, Soundwave and Hot Rod/Rodimus in the pipeline but no one else.

"Top deluxe movie Bees" ... I don't really like BB, but he's has so many releases. Which take the top? I think this sort of list should be separate form a regular BB list; maybe the top one of these could factor in. It'd also be interesting since he transforms into the same basic thing, but has so MANY different toys.

I think Battle Blade Bumblebee would make the #1 spot. He captures the look well while successfully having integrated weapons.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:And, just my opinion, but I hate the proportions on WFC and Alternity. And Classics is a great Bumblebee toy, but I don't want Cliff to be identical to Bee. Which really just leaves one option. Now I like GDO, although fitting it together in car mode is a pain, but I'd have preferred a bit more choice.
I don't think there's even a legends scale one with it's own head.

I agree with all of that (with the exception of the CGO being a pain to transform) whch is why my list ended up looking this way. It does make us see just how much this character lacks in toys and yet it shows us taht he does indeed have several toys to his name (just not molds).

And no, there is no legends clased Clffjumper with his own head

This makes me wonder, which other character should I make a top list for? I have Sideswipe, Frenzy/Rumble, Bumblebee, Soundwave and Hot Rod/Rodimus in the pipeline but no one else.

"Top deluxe movie Bees" ... I don't really like BB, but he's has so many releases. Which take the top? I think this sort of list should be separate form a regular BB list; maybe the top one of these could factor in. It'd also be interesting since he transforms into the same basic thing, but has so MANY different toys.

Yes, there would indeed be 2 bb lists, one for movies and one fir everything else.

william-james88 wrote:This makes me wonder, which other character should I make a top list for? I have Sideswipe, Frenzy/Rumble, Bumblebee, Soundwave and Hot Rod/Rodimus in the pipeline but no one else.

I'm interested in Soundwave and Frumbles, but more as a shopping list.

I mean top 5 best toys of character X could be anyone. Seems too easy. I'd think characters with limited toys like CliffyJ here is more interesting. I don't know why but Springer was the first to come to my mind, but really which would be number two?

Do you have anything in the works (or have done) anything for broader classifications like; triple changer, city bot, headmaster, dinobot and so on? The point is sparking conversation, so coming at it from broader terms, leaves more for interpretation.

I've been enjoying this top 5, normally I read yours and move on as I don't feel like I have much to add.

Top 5 non-truck, non-animal Optimus Primes? That limits it to some pretty niche, but still nice, moulds.

Do we have enough for a top 5 Arcees yet? I mean there's the movie, Classics, Titans Return, Animated, RotF, Energon, Botcon ... seems like a legit enough list. Although I guess it might just be a list of Arcees overall.

Maybe a ranking of the decos of the various Unicrons? "who wore it best?" There's five now, right? Armada, Energon, G1 Japan, G1 US, and ol' green coming up (with the lucky draw maybe not counting since you can't see it in person).

In a similar vein, "top 5 Classic Seeker recolours". That mould has seen a LOT of recolours, but which ranks as the best if you just had to go with five based solely on colours?

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Do we have enough for a top 5 Arcees yet? I mean there's the movie, Classics, Titans Return, Animated, RotF, Energon, Botcon ... seems like a legit enough list. Although I guess it might just be a list of Arcees overall.
In a similar vein, "top 5 Classic Seeker recolours". That mould has seen a LOT of recolours, but which ranks as the best if you just had to go with five based solely on colours?

Those are both very interesting choices. Someone else would have to handle the seeker redeco list though since i am not a completionist and I feel a lot of the better decos are editions I do not own.

carytheone wrote:I mean top 5 best toys of character X could be anyone. Seems too easy. I'd think characters with limited toys like CliffyJ here is more interesting. I don't know why but Springer was the first to come to my mind, but really which would be number two?

Do you have anything in the works (or have done) anything for broader classifications like; triple changer, city bot, headmaster, dinobot and so on? The point is sparking conversation, so coming at it from broader terms, leaves more for interpretation.

I've been enjoying this top 5, normally I read yours and move on as I don't feel like I have much to add.

Thanks, this has indeed been fun (and by no means does it have to stop).
I did do a few of the ones you mentioned already:

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... oys/40486/

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... oys/37461/

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... oys/40864/

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Well, Classics was an experimental line that Hasbro didn't estimate would be a huge seller at the time, so there were limits to what Hasbro was willing to invest and put out. Of course, when it proceeded to blow them away by largely selling like hotcakes they merrily jumped in with both feet from the 2008 Universe line onward.

Eh, Ramjet got an extensive retool from Starscream with new wings, new cockpit, and new head. If they really wanted to give Cliffjumper his own head in the same wave they could easily have done it, they just didn't want to.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Well, Classics was an experimental line that Hasbro didn't estimate would be a huge seller at the time, so there were limits to what Hasbro was willing to invest and put out. Of course, when it proceeded to blow them away by largely selling like hotcakes they merrily jumped in with both feet from the 2008 Universe line onward.

Eh, Ramjet got an extensive retool from Starscream with new wings, new cockpit, and new head. If they really wanted to give Cliffjumper his own head in the same wave they could easily have done it, they just didn't want to.

Emerje

Well, that's what I meant: They didn't want to at the time. Frankly I'm half-surprised they were willing to give Ramjet the extra parts. Was Aaron Archer still in charge at the time?

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

Emerje wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Well, Classics was an experimental line that Hasbro didn't estimate would be a huge seller at the time, so there were limits to what Hasbro was willing to invest and put out. Of course, when it proceeded to blow them away by largely selling like hotcakes they merrily jumped in with both feet from the 2008 Universe line onward.

Eh, Ramjet got an extensive retool from Starscream with new wings, new cockpit, and new head. If they really wanted to give Cliffjumper his own head in the same wave they could easily have done it, they just didn't want to.

Emerje

Well, that's what I meant: They didn't want to at the time. Frankly I'm half-surprised they were willing to give Ramjet the extra parts. Was Aaron Archer still in charge at the time?

I believe so, but I think I remember reading somewhere that there was only room in the budget for one retool, and it was either Cliffjumper, or Ramjet, not both. In a sense, I can see why they did it because Ramjet would have been more worth it, whereas giving Cliffjumper a new head would have been a bit of wasted potential.

I also think Archer liked Ramjet better.

If that was the case then just imagine how BotCon 2007 would have changed if they decided to go with Cliffjumper and stuck Thundercracker in Ramjet's spot? The box set would have potentially been Bug Bite and Dreadwind with three other repaints since the Conehead sculpt wouldn't exist and the three primary Seekers would have already been released.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:If that was the case then just imagine how BotCon 2007 would have changed if they decided to go with Cliffjumper and stuck Thundercracker in Ramjet's spot? The box set would have potentially been Bug Bite and Dreadwind with three other repaints since the Conehead sculpt wouldn't exist and the three primary Seekers would have already been released.

Emerje

We would have had Tap-Out

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Emerje wrote:If that was the case then just imagine how BotCon 2007 would have changed if they decided to go with Cliffjumper and stuck Thundercracker in Ramjet's spot? The box set would have potentially been Bug Bite and Dreadwind with three other repaints since the Conehead sculpt wouldn't exist and the three primary Seekers would have already been released.

Emerje

We would have had Tap-Out

In a Decepticon box set? That would certainly be a "Dealbreaker". But I'm sure Tap-Out would have been an attendee exclusive.

Emerje

Ultra Markus wrote:Maybe they should move on and make it some other car type

Its not Masterpiece Cliffjumper if its not the Porsche - its some other hybrid line like Alternity, Alternators or Studio Series...

Its a good list, but it also highlights what a dire situation Cliffjumper is in. Thanks to a similar transformation to Bumblebee over 3 decades ago, he's now lumped eternally into the "repaint" category in the same way as Soundwave and Blaster or Ratchet and Ironhide.

Emerje wrote:If that was the case then just imagine how BotCon 2007 would have changed if they decided to go with Cliffjumper and stuck Thundercracker in Ramjet's spot? The box set would have potentially been Bug Bite and Dreadwind with three other repaints since the Conehead sculpt wouldn't exist and the three primary Seekers would have already been released.

Emerje

You know, if Hasbro hadn't made Classics Ramjet and instead had just done Thundercracker at retail, then it's probable that the BotCon 2007 set may not have even been a Classics-themed set at all, since the point of that set was to finished off the incomplete Seeker trio members that Hasbro wasn't going to do at the time. But, if Thundercracker had been done by Hasbro with none of the Coneheads made at all, then there'd be no incomplete trios for Fun Pub to complete, so 2007 may have been a whole different set entirely.

Which also means that Fun Pub's Classics fiction might not have come about, and that the toys of Bug Bite and Alpha Trion might not have been made, which further means that the Fun Pub fiction for TransTech, Shattered Glass, GoBots, and others might have played out very differently in their earlier years since those were about the formation of Nexus Prime, with Breakaway no longer hailing from the Classics universe but from whatever universe the 2007 toys' theme might have been instead.

Yikes, we could be talking about a seriously different beast from the Fun Pub-contributed multiverse that we actually did get. All because of BotCon 2007 being Classics themed, all thanks to Hasbro going with Ramjet over Thundercracker in the Classics line.

Here's another list that should have occurred to me sooner:
Top 5 movie / movie-inspired Barricades. I don't think that one's been done yet.

We have: original, HA, MP, DotM, Studio, Prime, and AoE. And a ton of simple and Legends toys that likely don't make the cut at all.

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:If that was the case then just imagine how BotCon 2007 would have changed if they decided to go with Cliffjumper and stuck Thundercracker in Ramjet's spot? The box set would have potentially been Bug Bite and Dreadwind with three other repaints since the Conehead sculpt wouldn't exist and the three primary Seekers would have already been released.

Emerje

You know, if Hasbro hadn't made Classics Ramjet and instead had just done Thundercracker at retail, then it's probable that the BotCon 2007 set may not have even been a Classics-themed set at all, since the point of that set was to finished off the incomplete Seeker trio members that Hasbro wasn't going to do at the time. But, if Thundercracker had been done by Hasbro with none of the Coneheads made at all, then there'd be no incomplete trios for Fun Pub to complete, so 2007 may have been a whole different set entirely.

Which also means that Fun Pub's Classics fiction might not have come about, and that the toys of Bug Bite and Alpha Trion might not have been made, which further means that the Fun Pub fiction for TransTech, Shattered Glass, GoBots, and others might have played out very differently in their earlier years since those were about the formation of Nexus Prime, with Breakaway no longer hailing from the Classics universe but from whatever universe the 2007 toys' theme might have been instead.

Yikes, we could be talking about a seriously different beast from the Fun Pub-contributed multiverse that we actually did get. All because of BotCon 2007 being Classics themed, all thanks to Hasbro going with Ramjet over Thundercracker in the Classics line.

I wondered how deep that rabbit hole would go, thanks for detailing that.

Emerje

Nice list Willy J!

For what it's worth I still kinda want 07 Cliffjumper, he looks pretty nice in those colours and I love the weapon. Plus he'd go very nicely with my Battle Blade Bumblebee. GDO/Prime FE Cliffjumper also looks excellent.

Whilst he loses a few points for really needing a new head I will say Classics Cliffjumper is a wonderful looking toy. I definitely want some version of that mold at some point. How big is he next to modern Deluxes incidentally?