The Energon Pub

News Credits: 101 · Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:12 am

I know this thread will be short lived, but here goes anyway:

What is the most used Transformers mold ever? Counting every repaints or retools. Even reissues will count.

What are the numbers?

I could guess the G1 seeker mold but I don't really know the details.

News Credits: 60 · Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:43 am

Why?

News Credits: 241 · Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:46 am

I could give you an answer, but it'd take some time tallying up the numbers. In any case, Seeker molds are a strong contender in any toy line.

News Credits: 22 · Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:03 am

I would say, off the top of my head, probably the Generations seeker mold (not the same as G1) and G1 Optimus's mold are the top 2. The newer seeker mold includes all kinds of variations from the classic trio to repaints such as Acid Storm, Sunstreaker, and some of the G2 Botcon guys. Prime, on the other hand, has been repainted into Magnus, Nemesis Prime, G2, Pepsi, and other specials. Also, lately, the Classics Rodimus mold has been used for everything from Rodimus himself to TFCC Sideburn and others.

News Credits: 4 · Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:52 am

the Combaticons must be up there too

News Credits: 5 · Sat Apr 14, 2012 12:07 pm

I was actually thinking of this yesterday because of the upcoming Artfire. In the Classics/U2.0/etc. series, the Starscream mold has been used at least 20 times, Rodimus at least 10, Sunstreaker/Sideswipe 9, Prowl has 8 off the top of my head, and Inferno will be up to a surprising 7 matching Bumblebee's 7.

But the mold with the most total uses is probably G1 Bumblebee.

News Credits: 241 · Sat Apr 14, 2012 12:14 pm

zodconvoy wrote:But the mold with the most total uses is probably G1 Bumblebee.

Cliffjumper and Bumper are not retools of Bumblebee. They merely share the same engineering and transformation like BT Smokescreen and BT Meister or even G2 Smokescreen and Energon Starscream.
And let's not count the South American varaties, please. :lol:

News Credits: 36 · Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:33 pm

The G1 Optimus has to be up there, surely?

Sat Apr 14, 2012 1:58 pm

Many of the real bigger ones have been mentioned. The original cheetor mold has seen a fair share of use

-Cheetor
-Tigatron
-Fox kids Cheetor
-10th Anniversary Cheetor
-Shadow Panther
-Telemocha Cheetor
-telemocha Tigatron

You may also count the US Vs Japanese release of tigatron, as the US is off-white, while the japanese release was more pure white. Usually getting at least 6 uses is something for a seeker mold.

News Credits: 2 · Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:32 pm

Would KO's apply? :VEHI:

Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:39 pm

my guess is the classics sunstreaker. i mean have seen how many times that thing has been used?

News Credits: 241 · Sat Apr 14, 2012 3:10 pm

Doubledealer93 wrote:my guess is the classics sunstreaker. i mean have seen how many times that thing has been used?

Not as many times as Starscream

Thankfully for you guys, I just remembered I have a list of every single Mini-Con team plus their repaints. This is counting US and Japanese releases as two separate entities, but I didn't count straight repackagings (I should have):

Unicron Trilogy
Land Military Team: 7
Air Defense Team: 7 (original molds) + 4 (Energon Saber retools) = 11
Street Action Team: 5
Race Team: 8
Destruction Team: 9
Space Team: 5, plus 2 unreleased decos
Street Speed Team: 5, plus 2 unreleased decos + 3 (Cybertron retools) = 8
Adventure Team: 6, plus 1 unreleased deco
Sea Team: 6
Emergency Team: 8 (original molds) + 1 (Hellflame retools) = 9
Air Military Team: 8 (original molds) + 1 (Caliber retools) = 9
Perceptor Team: 5
Recon Team: 7
Giant Planet Team: 5 (one release had a member missing)

The Classics Mini-Cons are not gang-molded, so they'll be listed separately:

Classics
Knockdown: 4
Terrorsaur: 5
Swoop: 4

Strongarm: 6
Divebomb: 5
Firebot: 3

Wideload: 5
Sledge: 5
Broadside: 4

Thunderwing: 5
Steel Wind: 4
Nightscream: 5

Dirt Rocket: 3
Oil Slick: 3
Grindor: 2

Dreadwing: 4
Snarl: 5
Overbite: 4

And for the sake of completion:
Nightstick: 7

And I just noticed the winner in the use department, from an unexpected corner: G1 Buzzsaw/Laserbeak. Counting every single release US and Japanese, that mold has been used no less than 19 times. G1 Rumble/Frenzy runs a close second with 14 uses.

Sun Apr 22, 2012 2:47 am

Not as bad as most others, but Classics Cyclonus and his Targetmaster Nightstick would be up there?

1st release (original beige & grey)
1st release (mass production)
Henkei
Battle In Space? (2 pack with Rodimus)
Showdown on Cybertron? (Asia exclusive 3 pack)
Reveal the Shield
eHobby clear version
Vector Oracle exclusive Minicon
Stepper's Targetmaster
Artfire's Targetmaster

News Credits: 241 · Sun Apr 22, 2012 4:47 am

breakdown99 wrote:Not as bad as most others, but Classics Cyclonus and his Targetmaster Nightstick would be up there?

1st release (original beige & grey)
1st release (mass production)
Henkei
Battle In Space? (2 pack with Rodimus)
Showdown on Cybertron? (Asia exclusive 3 pack)
Reveal the Shield
eHobby clear version
Vector Oracle exclusive Minicon
Stepper's Targetmaster
Artfire's Targetmaster

Not quite. You are right about Nightstick being gang molded with Cyclonus, but the total list for Cyclonus himself however is:

Universe 2008
Henkei
Shattered Glass Cyclonus
Gentei Strafe
Challenge of Cybertron
Battle in Space
United Decepticon set

The beige version was just a pre-production sample that was corrected before release. Nightstick adds Stepper, Vector Oracle and Artfire to that list.

Speaking of lists, thanks for pointing me to the releases I overlooked. Need to update my list. :oops:

Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:43 am

The beige version was just a pre-production sample that was corrected before release. Nightstick adds Stepper, Vector Oracle and Artfire to that list.

Speaking of lists, thanks for pointing me to the releases I overlooked. Need to update my list. :oops:

[/quote]
That's OK JelZe, happy to help. One question, I've recently purchased a beige Cyclonus MOSC off eBay. Certain websites like TFWiki claim this figure was never released, yet I've even seen reviews of him on YouTube. Does this mean it was released in limited numbers? Was it even meant to be released before they corrected the colour? Hoping you can help me.

News Credits: 241 · Mon Apr 23, 2012 9:49 am

breakdown99 wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:The beige version was just a pre-production sample that was corrected before release. Nightstick adds Stepper, Vector Oracle and Artfire to that list.

Speaking of lists, thanks for pointing me to the releases I overlooked. Need to update my list.

That's OK JelZe, happy to help. One question, I've recently purchased a beige Cyclonus MOSC off eBay. Certain websites like TFWiki claim this figure was never released, yet I've even seen reviews of him on YouTube. Does this mean it was released in limited numbers? Was it even meant to be released before they corrected the colour? Hoping you can help me.

Three words: stolen factory sample. Happens occasionally, that's how Youtube reviewers get their specimens :lol:

News Credits: 5 · Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:18 am

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
zodconvoy wrote:But the mold with the most total uses is probably G1 Bumblebee.

Cliffjumper and Bumper are not retools of Bumblebee. They merely share the same engineering and transformation like BT Smokescreen and BT Meister or even G2 Smokescreen and Energon Starscream.
And let's not count the South American varaties, please.

No, I meant most units produced by a mold. Like the Mego Hulk toy was the most produced Mego doll by a million units. I think there are more G1 Bumblebees in the world then any other Transformer.

Mon Apr 23, 2012 5:51 pm

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
zodconvoy wrote:But the mold with the most total uses is probably G1 Bumblebee.

Cliffjumper and Bumper are not retools of Bumblebee. They merely share the same engineering and transformation like BT Smokescreen and BT Meister or even G2 Smokescreen and Energon Starscream.
And let's not count the South American varaties, please.

Even if CJ isn't a retool of BB there were still yellow BB's, red BB's, rubsign BB's, I dunno if you want to include packaging variations but if so there are those to consider, then there was g2 gold BB, and after that many rereleases, keychain remold, cartoon face remold, etc. He may not win, but the original BB is definitely up there in number of uses.

News Credits: 241 · Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:52 am

Optimum Supreme wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
zodconvoy wrote:But the mold with the most total uses is probably G1 Bumblebee.

Cliffjumper and Bumper are not retools of Bumblebee. They merely share the same engineering and transformation like BT Smokescreen and BT Meister or even G2 Smokescreen and Energon Starscream.
And let's not count the South American varaties, please.

Even if CJ isn't a retool of BB there were still yellow BB's, red BB's, rubsign BB's, I dunno if you want to include packaging variations but if so there are those to consider, then there was g2 gold BB, and after that many rereleases, keychain remold, cartoon face remold, etc. He may not win, but the original BB is definitely up there in number of uses.

Especially considering he was the only one that shipped in all 3 years of Mini-Bots. Let's count:

Original Mold
1.) 1984 yellow
2.) 1984 red

3.) 1985 11 Bumble
4.) 1985 rubsign yellow
5.) 1985 rubsign red

6.) 1986 rubsign yellow re-release
7.) 1986 C-56 Bumble

8.) 1993 Generation 2 Bumblebee

Keychain retool
9.) 2001 Keychain

10.) BotCon 2002 Glyph

11.) 2003 Japan Keychain.
12.) 2003 Black Chase Keychain

13.) 2007 Heroes of Cybertron Keychain

Reissue retool
14.) 2004 TFC Bumble
15.) 2004 e-Hobby Bug Bite

16.) 2008 Encore Bumblebee

Nope, Laserbeak is still in the lead thanks to his repaints, while Rumble/Frenzy got kicked down to 3rd place.

Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:46 am

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
breakdown99 wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:The beige version was just a pre-production sample that was corrected before release. Nightstick adds Stepper, Vector Oracle and Artfire to that list.

Speaking of lists, thanks for pointing me to the releases I overlooked. Need to update my list.

That's OK JelZe, happy to help. One question, I've recently purchased a beige Cyclonus MOSC off eBay. Certain websites like TFWiki claim this figure was never released, yet I've even seen reviews of him on YouTube. Does this mean it was released in limited numbers? Was it even meant to be released before they corrected the colour? Hoping you can help me.

Three words: stolen factory sample. Happens occasionally, that's how Youtube reviewers get their specimens

Thanks JelZe! Stolen factory sample Cyclonus' officially my new favourite TF! BooYah!

News Credits: 10 · Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:34 am

breakdown99 wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
breakdown99 wrote:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:The beige version was just a pre-production sample that was corrected before release. Nightstick adds Stepper, Vector Oracle and Artfire to that list.

Speaking of lists, thanks for pointing me to the releases I overlooked. Need to update my list.

That's OK JelZe, happy to help. One question, I've recently purchased a beige Cyclonus MOSC off eBay. Certain websites like TFWiki claim this figure was never released, yet I've even seen reviews of him on YouTube. Does this mean it was released in limited numbers? Was it even meant to be released before they corrected the colour? Hoping you can help me.

Three words: stolen factory sample. Happens occasionally, that's how Youtube reviewers get their specimens

Thanks JelZe! Stolen factory sample Cyclonus' officially my new favourite TF! BooYah!

I own a factory sample TFA Blitzwing. Parts are all unpainted. :lol:

Well, back in 2007/8 stolen Tfs were all the rage, they were everywhere for dirt cheap, 3-6 months pre-release... towards the end of 2008 however, they dissapeared, now no one imports stolen toys. :-(

Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:56 am

I own a factory sample TFA Blitzwing. Parts are all unpainted. :lol:

Well, back in 2007/8 stolen Tfs were all the rage, they were everywhere for dirt cheap, 3-6 months pre-release... towards the end of 2008 however, they dissapeared, now no one imports stolen toys. :-(