The Energon Pub

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Great work as always! I will never not love that combination

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

Great work as always! I will never not love that combination

Thank you! The DNA kit really elevates the set, I feel like I finally have that cancelled Unite for the Universe Jetpower Prime I saw on TFWiki all those years ago xD

[autobutt1]

The fully green guy looks like he's wearing bedtime jammies

[-Kanrabat-]

The algorithm gods led me to a random video review of the SS leader AoE Optimus.



Of course, the reviewer does not show the transformation. Why would he?

[cohnelburn93]

The staff storage on the back is a cool feature, definitely adds more display options. How does the transformation compare to the original deluxe? Is it more complex or smoother?
paper io

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

Found a spare ROTF Soundwave recently and decided to try painting it in ROTF video game colors! The weapon is a mashup of the one he has in game with his DOTM blasters:

[Sabrblade]

Reminds me of these ROTF redecos:


Transformers Revenge of the Fallen Infiltration Soundwave Gallery

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

Reminds me of these ROTF redecos:

Yeah! At one point I had some red details on it that kinda evoked that Gathering at the Nemesis one, but I ended up removing them since they weren't game accurate.

[Sowndwave76]

Since SS86 basically ended with the release of Galvatron, I'm going to ask this question here.

Does anyone have any word on when the new SS TTM Megatron is going to be revealed? If his release could be in July, shouldn't we be getting something soon, as in any day now?

[Emerje]

Since SS86 basically ended with the release of Galvatron, I'm going to ask this question here.

Does anyone have any word on when the new SS TTM Megatron is going to be revealed? If his release could be in July, shouldn't we be getting something soon, as in any day now?

Probably a Transformers Tuesday stream in April to stay ahead of the leaks.

Emerje

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

Went to a Meijer a little ways out yesterday and found Studio Series Que! The 86 Jazz reissue and AOTP Red Alert were also there.

Spent just a little time with Que before starting my paint work, and I really like him! Hard to believe I finally have a Que in my collection only about 14 years later xD

[Sowndwave76]

Since SS86 basically ended with the release of Galvatron, I'm going to ask this question here.

Does anyone have any word on when the new SS TTM Megatron is going to be revealed? If his release could be in July, shouldn't we be getting something soon, as in any day now?

Probably a Transformers Tuesday stream in April to stay ahead of the leaks.

Emerje

I get it, he’s a much lesser character, but we’ve known about Vortex & others that are 3rd & 4th quarter since what, the beginning of the year?

[Nemesis Primal]

Since SS86 basically ended with the release of Galvatron, I'm going to ask this question here.

Does anyone have any word on when the new SS TTM Megatron is going to be revealed? If his release could be in July, shouldn't we be getting something soon, as in any day now?

Probably a Transformers Tuesday stream in April to stay ahead of the leaks.

Emerje

I get it, he’s a much lesser character, but we’ve known about Vortex & others that are 3rd & 4th quarter since what, the beginning of the year?

Vortex, Alchemist Prime, and Crasher from AotP Wave 2 + Onyx Prime from Wave 3 were revealed less than 3 weeks ago, and Onyx isn't even up for preorder yet. Considering they usually alternate between the lines, the Studio Series wave containing Megatron will presumably be the next big reveal.

[Emerje]

Since SS86 basically ended with the release of Galvatron, I'm going to ask this question here.

Does anyone have any word on when the new SS TTM Megatron is going to be revealed? If his release could be in July, shouldn't we be getting something soon, as in any day now?

Probably a Transformers Tuesday stream in April to stay ahead of the leaks.

Emerje

I get it, he’s a much lesser character, but we’ve known about Vortex & others that are 3rd & 4th quarter since what, the beginning of the year?

Vortex, Alchemist Prime, and Crasher from AotP Wave 2 + Onyx Prime from Wave 3 were revealed less than 3 weeks ago, and Onyx isn't even up for preorder yet. Considering they usually alternate between the lines, the Studio Series wave containing Megatron will presumably be the next big reveal.

Am I forgetting an update? Isn't Onyx wave 2 and there's no leaders for wave 3?

Emerje

[Nemesis Primal]

Am I forgetting an update? Isn't Onyx wave 2 and there's no leaders for wave 3?

Emerje

Onyx is Leader Wave 2, but the Leader waves don't correspond with the greater wave schedule, so he's functionally Wave 3, per the schedule graphic Hasbro showed in the initial AotP reveal. I believe that later release date is the reason why he isn't up for preorder yet.

I could have sworn they made an equivalent graphic for Studio Series too, but I can't find the damn thing now.

[Emerje]

Am I forgetting an update? Isn't Onyx wave 2 and there's no leaders for wave 3?

Emerje

Onyx is Leader Wave 2, but the Leader waves don't correspond with the greater wave schedule, so he's functionally Wave 3, per the schedule graphic Hasbro showed in the initial AotP reveal. I believe that later release date is the reason why he isn't up for preorder yet.

Image of Transformers Age of the Primes Legacy of the Thirteen Primes Official Reveal (90).jpg

I could have sworn they made an equivalent graphic for Studio Series too, but I can't find the damn thing now.

Ah, OK, I figured it was something like that, but I thought Onyx would be a summer release, like mid August or something. Weird to have G2 Grimlock and Megatronus carry the line for 2/3 of the year.

Emerje

[Sowndwave76]

Since SS86 basically ended with the release of Galvatron, I'm going to ask this question here.

Does anyone have any word on when the new SS TTM Megatron is going to be revealed? If his release could be in July, shouldn't we be getting something soon, as in any day now?

Probably a Transformers Tuesday stream in April to stay ahead of the leaks.

Emerje

I get it, he’s a much lesser character, but we’ve known about Vortex & others that are 3rd & 4th quarter since what, the beginning of the year?

Vortex, Alchemist Prime, and Crasher from AotP Wave 2 + Onyx Prime from Wave 3 were revealed less than 3 weeks ago, and Onyx isn't even up for preorder yet. Considering they usually alternate between the lines, the Studio Series wave containing Megatron will presumably be the next big reveal.

If those first three are wave 2, then why is the release date for all of them October? That’s the start of the 4th quarter.
Being revealed early March means that’s basically 7 months early.

Either way, the point is that even if Megatron isn’t due until July, that’s only 3-4 months away. With the popularity of this character, along with how overdue a new mold is, revealing him 5 months early isn’t exactly some crazy idea.

[Nemesis Primal]

If those first three are wave 2, then why is the release date for all of them October? That’s the start of the 4th quarter.
Being revealed early March means that’s basically 7 months early.

Because Hasbro's preorder dates are almost always an incredibly conservative estimate that Hasbro themselves contradicts and/or set for well after when the figures actually show up at retail. As a current example, AotP Wave 1 has been hitting retail over the course of this month, the graphic the marketing guy showed in the AotP initial reveal said April, and yet Pulse says preorders for the majority of that wave won't ship until May. I know there's multiple figures that I cancelled a preorder on because I found the figure at retail before my preorder even shipped, and I've also received many an email saying a TF preorder suddenly got it's release date moved up and I got the figure "early" (translation: when the designers or leakers said it would be out in the first place). Those dates are merely a guarantee of the latest they should ship it, not when it's intended to release globally.

Also, considering the contents of at least the Studio Series waves got all shuffled around between the leaks and the official reveals, and the TF team in the streams have been saying they're trying to pivot to a new release schedule by next year, I'm willing to bet there's some additional funkiness going on behind the scenes with release dates that could also be contributing to this. The preorder for SS TFOne Elita still says she won't be out until November, and they showed her at Pulsecon last year!

Either way, the point is that even if Megatron isn’t due until July, that’s only 3-4 months away. With the popularity of this character, along with how overdue a new mold is, revealing him 5 months early isn’t exactly some crazy idea.

Two things:
1. Considering they love saving big reveals for big events like SDCC (see SS86 Magnus and Optimus), wanting to save a new figure of the main villain of the franchise rather than reveal him instantly actually tracks with normal Hasbro behavior.
2. While I still can't find that schedule that I swear exists, I did remind myself that the designers said back at the Devastator reveal that Scavenger and Mixmaster are supposed to come out in September, and they are supposed to be the same wave as Megs, which does technically buy them time to reveal that wave later than you would prefer.

[TF-fan kev777]

Keep in mind that 2025 is already going to be a bit of an anomaly for Studio Series Leader class in general. So far, all previous years through 2023 there were only 3 leader figures per year usually in just 2 wave assortments (with a possible repack wave). 2024 had 4 leader figures not including repacks, and 2025 already has 3 new figures and 2 repacks scheduled before even getting to Megatron.

For whatever reason, Studio Series always had fewer leader figures per year then the main G1 line from Combiner Wars through Legacy, while being closer in numbers on deluxe and voyager classes. Even after adding SS86 and then the GE sublines, this has still held true until recently. Also since Age of the Primes is technically starting in April or Q2, trying to track Studio Series release schedules against Age of Primes for leader class will just not give you much of anything useful.

[Overcracker]

Well, this just arrived.

The box is so unnecessarily large for the size of prime. so much empty space in there.

Prime

[Emerje]

I feel like Leaders are going back to how they were in 2018. Back then we had AOE Grimlock and '07 Blackout coincide with Deluxe and Voyager wave 1, but Leader wave 2 (DotM Megatron and RotF Jetfire) coincided with Deluxe and Voyager wave 5 at the beginning of 2019, it was a long wait! Leader wave 3 (DotM OP with trailer) hit about the time of Deluxe and Voyager wave 6, and then another long (but not as long) wait for Leader wave 4 in 2020.

So yeah, we've seen this before. 2019 and 2020 had three Deluxe and Voyagers waves and two Leader waves like we're seeing now. Things went a little crazy during the pandemic, this feels like a reset.

Well, this just arrived.

The box is so unnecessarily large for the size of prime. so much empty space in there.

IMG_0015.jpg

Yeah, that's what happens when the same box needs to be used for the 86 Grimlock reissue.

Emerje

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

Got AOE Prime in this last week, and he is spectacular! Best Studio Series figure we’ve had in years, easy S tier. He 100% feels like a leader class in-hand, everything feels very solid and the articulation is really nice. You can pull off most poses from the films (even his sword pose when he speaks to the Dinobots!), and the accessories are properly scaled which is nice. The paint is even really solid by Hasbro standards, they picked out way more of the flames than previous mainline AOE/TLK Primes and the gray looks nice.

Very excited to get the Nemesis version next year now!

[Sowndwave76]

Nice surprise that my two copies of Scrapper are showing up on Monday, and five other figures start rollin’ in starting on the 3rd…. April is going to be the most expensive month for TF I’ve had in a long minute.

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

Finished painting up Que! Had a blast, the sculpted detail is really nice (especially on the torso).

[-Kanrabat-]

The car look "greasy" (It's always hard to have a clean look with a paintbrush) but the bot is pure perfection. The base figure indeed BEG to be painted.