The Energon Pub

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

TFW user Lazerwave has gotten ahold of the highly anticipated Studio Series Que from Dark of the Moon! He got a bunch of pictures showing off the figure in both modes, his accessories, and comparisons with the Takara exclusive original DOTM deluxe and with the other Studio Series Autobots! I got permission from him to share those pictures here as well.

He also gave a few notes on the figure itself, which I’ve summarized here:

- He gave Que an 8/10 overall and recommended it for anyone looking to complete the DOTM cast or Wheeljack fans in general
- Articulation and detail are both improved over the original deluxe
- The lab coat flaps on the sides of robot mode are hinged, so they can articulate a little bit outwards
- For cons, he notes that the 5mm ports in the hands make it look like he’s holding cups, and that he felt the shoulder kibble was handled better on the original deluxe.

A few of my own notes:
- He does scale accurately for Studio Series! Que is 15 feet tall in the movie (about the same height as Dino and Sideswipe, and a little shorter than Bumblebee). We can see in the pics that this is true of the figures as well.
- We heard that the staff can store on his back, but I think this is our first time seeing it. The pistol can attach to the staff as well, so both can be stored there.




































Here’s our first look at Que with the other Studio Series DOTM Autobots!

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

We also got a series of pictures showing the transformation:

[D-Maximal_Primal]

The original Que is still such a fun toy, glad to see him again. And glad to see his toy looks pretty nice!

[Mudwire]

Glad that they're doing more rereleases and reissues, like with Trypticon. Still, I'd kill for a comics Grimlock reissue.

[TOO MUCH ENERGON!]

I missed out on Siege Astrotrain (spotted it a few times but never snagged it and ended up regretting it) so I'll be all over a SS86 repaint of the mold.

[NotFrankeSisto]

Any way we can get a reissue on Tigerhawk? I’m in Las Vegas, Nevada and I’ve only ever seen ONE in the wild. Target, Walmart, third-party mom-and-pop stores, you name it. NO ONE has been able to find that figure.

[william-james88]

Carnage Creations sent us a review of the upcoming Transformers One Studio Series Bumblebee deluxe toy. There has been a lot of discussion as to which toy one would keep in their collection between this new one and the Prime Changer we got in the movie line last year. While the Studio Series version has better articulation, many fans find the look of the Prime Changer to be more accurate. Let us know what you think.

[chuckdawg1999]

And here I thought the overly early reviews were done. I doubt we'll see this before August.

[-Kanrabat-]

Recently, I finally got the Core Bee Movie Starscream and he's a nifty little guy. It is a shame that we may never see the easy Skywarp and Thundercracker repaints of this mold.

[Cheetron]

Is it a new trend to barely paint the new studio series? I found leader aoe prime to be lacking paint. Now que.

[-Kanrabat-]

Is it a new trend to barely paint the new studio series? I found leader aoe prime to be lacking paint. Now que.

Oh it is far from new. But all that plain, gray plastics with full of intricate details that remains unpainted is sad to see.

[Sabrblade]

Is it a new trend to barely paint the new studio series? I found leader aoe prime to be lacking paint. Now que.

Oh it is far from new. But all that plain, gray plastics with full of intricate details that remains unpainted is sad to see.

I feel like it would be less noticeable if the gray plastic was instead a more striking vibrant shade. Like a more silvery gray similar to the gray that Takara used on their Legends releases of Broadcast and Super Ginrai compared to the more dull tan-ish gray Hasbro used for the Titans Return releases of Blaster and Powermaster Optimus Prime. While the gray used here isn't as tan-ish, it's still a very dull-looking drab shade that really emphasizes the unpainted-ness of the look.

[morganprime]

He looks like a Studio Series Happy Meal toy. What gives with SS not painting anything anymore?

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

Is it a new trend to barely paint the new studio series? I found leader aoe prime to be lacking paint. Now que.

No, I'd say Studio Series (and really every movie toyline) has always been a little lacking in the stock paint department. The movie bots are much more detailed than designs from other media (which is why I like them!), but there just isn't enough paint budget in a mass produced figure to cover all of that detail. Looking to past Studio Series figures, I think AOE Prime and Que are painted pretty well, especially when you compare them to figures like 07 Ratchet or ROTF Bumblebee. None of the prior Bayverse primes (except the PF) have any flames painted specifically for robot mode, while AOE Prime does.

To compare to past movie toylines, AOE Prime is actually painted much better than the previous take on the design, TLK voyager Prime. The alt mode flames are way more accurate and we actually have the flames painted on the robot mode chest this time!

I do think the plastic shades (particularly the grays) could be improved, though. Sam Smith talked a lot about plastic choices in his time on the team, and I think his absence is felt here when you compare these figures to ones he worked on (DOTM Bumblebee, ROTF Sideways, TLK Hot Rod)

[Rtron]

Just watched a recording of the Megacon panel, they're at least aware that people want Dispensor and the Shockwave from the 2007 game! Though Evan said that Dispensor would be a licensing nightmare, which is to be expected. He did talk a lot about doing stuff for anniversaries and such, so I don't know how much obscure bayverse we'll really get in main Studio Series.

[Emerje]

Just watched a recording of the Megacon panel, they're at least aware that people want Dispensor and the Shockwave from the 2007 game! Though Evan said that Dispensor would be a licensing nightmare, which is to be expected. He did talk a lot about doing stuff for anniversaries and such, so I don't know how much obscure bayverse we'll really get in main Studio Series.

Mention of 2007 game Shockwave was the biggest surprise of all for me. Can't believe they're finally acknowledging the long, long time interest in it.

Emerje

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

With Hatchet here and my DOTM Sideswipe updated, I got some DOTM highway chase shots!

[Rtron]

Neat!

[william-james88]

Scale is a big topic of discussion among Transformers fans and while no scale will please everyone, we at least want to know what to expect. So hopefully these images will help some fans. Below we can see our first two Consttucticons against our first two Aerialbots. While one of the Constructicons being a voyager might make you think they are all big deluxes, please remember that the Aerialbots are as tall as the Stuncticons. So everyone in the image is standard deluxe height. The images are from Notrab on Weibo. Please take note that they use heavy contrast in their photography to make the colours and details pop more than they would in hand.

[-Kanrabat-]

The bot scale works perfectly.
Of course, the vehicle scale would be impossible in any circumstance, but that's okay.

[Till-all-R1]

These guys really are looking superb, I honestly never thought I'd own them again since the 80's due to all other version not looking all that great to me. I get hyped for them every time I see a new image!

I'm just dreading their eta as everything on preorder has the same ship date meaning all billed at the same time. lol
I can't remember the last time I bought several bots that close together.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I got my Apelinq over the weekend. I appreciate the retooling they put into this, though I wish they were a bit more creative with the robot head, and that some more paint was used on the gray plastic on the heads. But he is nice.




And here he is with 2 other Apelinqs

[Sabrblade]

The robot head is supposed to belong to Optimus Primal, meaning you're supposed to switch the two heads around since Optimus's wasn't as screen-accurate as it could have been, so they made this head to give him a screen-accurate one while Apelinq gets the less accurate one that came with Optimus.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

The robot head is supposed to belong to Optimus Primal, meaning you're supposed to switch the two heads around since Optimus's wasn't as screen-accurate as it could have been, so they made this head to give him a screen-accurate one while Apelinq gets the less accurate one that came with Optimus.

Even so, not a fan

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

With both Optimus and Jetfire complete, I got the DNA Design upgrade kit painted up as well to finish Jetpower Optimus Prime!