The Energon Pub

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:Sold out at BBTS now, too. If anyone wants it, better get an order in at Entertainment Earth before it's too late.

He's still available at TFSource.

o.supreme wrote:Speaking of which....as someone who owned the original from 1987-2007, is there any distinguishing characteristics between a loose OG and a loose Encore Fort Max? ( never seen an Encore in person).

The Encore has painted/tampographed eyes where the original had unpainted eyes that required stickers (which the Encore did also include as an option).

Also, the legs on Spike were put on backward. I'm not sure how that affects the figure turning into the head of Cerebros.

Only the upper legs, so the difference is negligible.

I wonder if getting the molds running again is an indication they might do Brave Maximus for Legacy, maybe as a selects? May as well while they've got them out of storage, right? RID 2000 2001 (be consistent, Hasbro!) is the centerpiece of the Transformers Hall of Fame at Pulsecon, wouldn't surprise me if Brave Max was announced there. Sure hope so because I'm at the point where I'm seriously considering buying the TR Fort Max reissue and making one myself.

Emerje

I remember buying a TR Fortmax for me and one for Will (that he repaid me later) at Toys R Us on clearance at 100$CAN plus taxes. Total, 115$CAN each. Will wasn't sure if he was worth "that much money" buy it wasn't long for me that I felt he wasn't worth it at all.

Just barely a year later, I sold it at my local geek store for around 140$CAN of store credit. No regrets.

And now, TR Fortmax get a surprise run and even at 300$CAN / 200$US, it sell like hot cakes.
Back in the day, it was 100$ cheaper at full price yet they had a hard time selling the damn thing until they had to put it on clearance.
What happened?

-Kanrabat- wrote:I remember buying a TR Fortmax for me and one for Will (that he repaid me later) at Toys R Us on clearance at 100$CAN plus taxes. Total, 115$CAN each. Will wasn't sure if he was worth "that much money" buy it wasn't long for me that I felt he wasn't worth it at all.

Just barely a year later, I sold it at my local geek store for around 140$CAN of store credit. No regrets.

And now, TR Fortmax get a surprise run and even at 300$CAN / 200$US, it sell like hot cakes.
Back in the day, it was 100$ cheaper at full price yet they had a hard time selling the damn thing until they had to put it on clearance.
What happened?

Scorponok happened. He came out and suddenly everyone needed a Fort Max to go with him. Same thing happened to Grand Maximus. Less than 2000 exist because there was such little interest in Japan, aftermarket prices tanked despite the rarity, a bunch of us got him on clearance from BBTS for $170 (down from $300). Then Black Zarak was released and suddenly they're selling on eBay (sold auctions) for between $500 to $700 or more. And good luck with the DNA upgrade kit, those are being listed (though don't seem to be selling) for as much as the figure or more (glad I got one when BBTS restocked them).

Emerje

Guess it's also about time to reissue Trypticon fairly soon too, since it's been a while.

this is such an odd reissue.

I do really hope it is a sign of an RiD2001 Fort Max use of the mold, that would be cool, even if it would require me to move my RiD2001 collection.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:this is such an odd reissue.

Emerje wrote:Scorponok happened. He came out and suddenly everyone needed a Fort Max to go with him.

Sabrblade wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:this is such an odd reissue.

Emerje wrote:Scorponok happened. He came out and suddenly everyone needed a Fort Max to go with him.

Still, Scorponok happened in 2020, Fort Max came out in 2016, and this release will come out in 2023 to 2024. Scorponok was almost closer to Fort Max's OG release compared to his reissue. Still makes it feel odd timing wise, especially since Fort Max is by far the weakest Titan released

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:this is such an odd reissue.

Emerje wrote:Scorponok happened. He came out and suddenly everyone needed a Fort Max to go with him.

Still, Scorponok happened in 2020, Fort Max came out in 2016, and this release will come out in 2023 to 2024. Scorponok was almost closer to Fort Max's OG release compared to his reissue. Still makes it feel odd timing wise, especially since Fort Max is by far the weakest Titan released

It takes time for things like that to make sense. First the aftermarket prices have to become unreasonably high and then it takes time for things like this to go back into production, especially a parts heavy Titan.

Emerje

I finally got the Siege Alphastrike Thunderforce set recently. The goal was to have all the Sideswipes and now I do. But what made me stupidly skip on the set way back then (and made me pay double now) was that I didn't want to pay for that repaint, Slamdance. It had no place in my collection.
But now that I have the KO G1 to go with my Walmart G1 Blaster and the Dr Wu 3P to go with my Kingdom Blaster, I found a place for Siege Slamdance.

To go with my Titan Return Blaster!

Even if that Slamdance components can't turn into cassettes, it just make sense that they go with him. The scale and overall style works perfectly.

Now, I think I'll get the Reprolabels for my TR Blaster at very long last.

Is that a complete G1 Skullgrin I'm seeing?

Rodimus Prime wrote:Is that a complete G1 Skullgrin I'm seeing?

Yup.

I also have Submarauder and Bomburst.


This picture is from before I got the Siege set.

Not pictured, I have many more but the prized ones are Bludgeon and Thunderwing Like all of my pretenders, they were all 80$CAN and 100% complete... paid in trade-ins. The trade-ins being old Generations and pre-SS Movie figures. No, really!

I'm very, very jealous. Especially over Bludgeon and Thunderwing.

Titans Return-related question:

Since we just got Commander Magnus in SS86, is a commander class Overlord a reasonable expectation in the near future, since the TR figure is 7 years old?

Rodimus Prime wrote:I'm very, very jealous. Especially over Bludgeon and Thunderwing.

Titans Return-related question:

Since we just got Commander Magnus in SS86, is a commander class Overlord a reasonable expectation in the near future, since the TR figure is 7 years old?

I hope so.

CC Overlord would be awesome. But Overlord is in that odd middle spot. There are several more popular characters that will probably get CC updates before Overlord, also some more obscure ones may get one for the first time. With only 2 CC per year....it may be a while

I'm guessing, especially for the 40th anniversary of the brand, in 2024 a SS86 CC Optimus Prime is all but inevitable.

Maybe in 2028 for Masterforce's 40th

I'd say it's more of a very possible option than a probable expectation.

Since this thread keeps coming back, I finally got a Sentinel Prime, and I got him to help form this legacy of primes lineup. I really hope we get a Zeta Prime from WFC, would help with this lineup. We also need a Nominus somehow.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Since this thread keeps coming back, I finally got a Sentinel Prime, and I got him to help form this legacy of primes lineup. I really hope we get a Zeta Prime from WFC, would help with this lineup. We also need a Nominus somehow.

DAMN YOU, Y U DO DIS TO ME?

Now I want a TR Sentinel Prime to go with my Nova Prime. And the fact that there was so many everywhere like plague for so long, but now there is none, is teasing me to no end.
...
And there's one at my local geek store, used and complete for the original retail price of 30$CAN! That's now ironically way cheaper than a modern deluxe.

Emerje wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:this is such an odd reissue.

Emerje wrote:Scorponok happened. He came out and suddenly everyone needed a Fort Max to go with him.

Still, Scorponok happened in 2020, Fort Max came out in 2016, and this release will come out in 2023 to 2024. Scorponok was almost closer to Fort Max's OG release compared to his reissue. Still makes it feel odd timing wise, especially since Fort Max is by far the weakest Titan released

It takes time for things like that to make sense. First the aftermarket prices have to become unreasonably high and then it takes time for things like this to go back into production, especially a parts heavy Titan.

Emerje

Mind you, before Scorponok happened there was a huge glut of the original release of Fort Max on the aftermarket. So a lot of people probably got their Fort Max then, part of what drove the prices where they are now.

It feels like there's perhaps more of a demand for a Metroplex to go with people's Trypticon (who came out 3 years before Scorponok), especially with SIEGE and Kingdom having provided an official Six Gun and Slammer. Or failing that, a Grand Max reissue to go with Black Zarak. LGEX Grand Max was never as accessible as Fort Max, and while there used to be a fair number of listings from people who'd got bored of him... Black Zarak cut down on that severely.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Since this thread keeps coming back, I finally got a Sentinel Prime, and I got him to help form this legacy of primes lineup. I really hope we get a Zeta Prime from WFC, would help with this lineup. We also need a Nominus somehow.

DAMN YOU, Y U DO DIS TO ME?

Now I want a TR Sentinel Prime to go with my Nova Prime. And the fact that there was so many everywhere like plague for so long, but now there is none, is teasing me to no end.
...
And there's one at my local geek store, used and complete for the original retail price of 30$CAN! That's now ironically way cheaper than a modern deluxe.

Turns out the Sentinel Prime at my local geek store was just a glitch in the matrix.

And of course, the only ones available on eBay are now ludicrously expensive.

So if I have to pay, might as well be stupid and get the SDCC version.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

Emerje wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:this is such an odd reissue.

Emerje wrote:Scorponok happened. He came out and suddenly everyone needed a Fort Max to go with him.

Still, Scorponok happened in 2020, Fort Max came out in 2016, and this release will come out in 2023 to 2024. Scorponok was almost closer to Fort Max's OG release compared to his reissue. Still makes it feel odd timing wise, especially since Fort Max is by far the weakest Titan released

It takes time for things like that to make sense. First the aftermarket prices have to become unreasonably high and then it takes time for things like this to go back into production, especially a parts heavy Titan.

Emerje

Mind you, before Scorponok happened there was a huge glut of the original release of Fort Max on the aftermarket. So a lot of people probably got their Fort Max then, part of what drove the prices where they are now.

It feels like there's perhaps more of a demand for a Metroplex to go with people's Trypticon (who came out 3 years before Scorponok), especially with SIEGE and Kingdom having provided an official Six Gun and Slammer. Or failing that, a Grand Max reissue to go with Black Zarak. LGEX Grand Max was never as accessible as Fort Max, and while there used to be a fair number of listings from people who'd got bored of him... Black Zarak cut down on that severely.

Mind you, Metroplex and Trypticon were under Warden who wasn't really known for doing things like that, he'd have been more likely to do another, more different repaint and then probably make it an exclusive. The current team is more willing to put things back into production if it looks like the demand is there to make it worth it. But at this point they're more likely to make a new one than reissue a 10 year old figure, even the Japanese reissue was 5 years ago now.

I mentioned it earlier in this particular conversation, Grand Max was a miserable experience for Takara Tomy, they produced less than 2000 world wide and they still went on clearance at BBTS where a not of us snapped them up. Now they're going for big bucks even in Japan thanks to Black Zarak, but I think Takara Tomy might be afraid of it not selling well again, it would really depend on how many Black Zaraks they sold and if they could get Hasbro onboard. I don't know if Hasbro would do it themselves, we never did get a proper Grand Max Cog as easy as that would have been to do.

I don't know if it's a hot take or not, but I think Generations Fort Max is better than Metroplex. That's not to say it's a great figure or anything, but it looks more like the character its supposed to be and better proportioned than Metroplex is. If they never do a new Max body, I'd be fine with that, but Metroplex needs a redo.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:I don't know if it's a hot take or not, but I think Generations Fort Max is better than Metroplex. That's not to say it's a great figure or anything, but it looks more like the character its supposed to be and better proportioned than Metroplex is. If they never do a new Max body, I'd be fine with that, but Metroplex needs a redo.

Emerje

Hmmm... I'd say they're both mixed bags.
Fort Max is definitely better cosmetically, since he's not a Prime-aesthetic concept that Warden shoehorned into being G1 Metroplex.

But play-wise, Fort Max is a bit feature-poor compared to Metroplex - and Metroplex has the better (and more G1-shaped) city mode. Fort Max's city mode suffers big-time due to him retaining Metroplex's lower legs (boy would it be nice to see a 3P kit to fix that, would've been much more useful than the one they made for ER Scorponok; maybe this reissue will prompt that being done finally).

Fort Max's worst fault could be fixed by further retooling (like, say, if they did Brave Max). But Metroplex would indeed need a redo or heavy re-shell to better resemble G1.

However, a T30 reissue would be more readily done and would at least be passable for a lot of people, so... *shrug*

All of that said, part of me considers this less questionable than another Titan release.

At the current price point for Titans I'd prefer a redo of Metroplex, well I'd want a new one regardless because I don't much care for the previous version, especially at $200 I'd juts pass anyway. With the improvements made to the line since that one came out warrants a new version IMO

That being said I probably shouldn't have a say because in all honesty I don't really have the space to put another Titan which would cause me great conflict on whether to buy it or not. As much as I might want one what good is it to have if you cannot properly display it?

On the subject of Titans Return and reissues, what they really need to reissue are some of the deluxes.
Especially frigging Misfire, because the resellers are greedy worthless good-for-nothing oxygen-wasting s***stains on the face of the earth who demand obscene money for him.
A $17 mass-retail deluxe is NOT worth $200 on the aftermarket. End of story. *twitch*

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:On the subject of Titans Return and reissues, what they really need to reissue are some of the deluxes.
Especially frigging Misfire, because the resellers are greedy worthless good-for-nothing oxygen-wasting s***stains on the face of the earth who demand obscene money for him.
A $17 mass-retail deluxe is NOT worth $200 on the aftermarket. End of story. *twitch*

I agree, maybe Hasbro can release the Takara versions with the Targetmasters.