The Energon Pub

FYI the weaponizer figures are deluxe-ish in height compared to Generations, but on the small side. Here's a Cyberverse deluxe for comparison too since I already had Arcee out.

Beast Combiners Arcee and Silverfang is the only ROTB toy I've bought so far (a week ago, Target holiday sale), and I was as pleasantly surprised as the reviewer. Making the armor-bots animals makes it feel like more of a powerup than the unfolding Spark Armor vehicles of Cyberverse, for starters. And her bike mode feels like it's going to be a mess of robo-yoga-ed parts until you click that last tab in and...it's suddenly a solid alt mode!

I'll probably buy every Arcee in this movie line, partly because each one seems to have a different transformation despite all apparently being the same design. And while some may see the hands hanging off the back of and pseudo-kibble chest on top of Weaponizer Arcee's cycle mode as deal breakers that ruin the motorcycle aesthetic, I see exactly what I was considering customizing them into all along: female Junkions! Here's hoping they all clearance in enough quantity to army-build, but I'll probably buy one of each at full price.

But since an out-of-place chest on the newly revealed Arcee did come up, I have to note something about BC ROTB Arcee that might not have come through in the video: This has got to be the most stacked official Arcee toy we've ever gotten. I can't even think of a 3P Arcee with a bust that huge relative to the rest of her body. And considering the color scheme follows the example of her Earthspark design in making her pelvis and thighs the same medium-dark shade of pink to avoid the panty-line effect of her traditional G1 design, presumably to desexualize her a tad from the waist down, giving her a rack that doubles the radius of her torso in 3 out of 4 directions from her midriff adds up to an...interesting design choice.

Certainly not complaining though. HasTak, find ways to reuse ALL of these Arcee molds, preferably in rusty orange and brown so I won't have to repaint them as much.

Hope y'all are ready for a big-ass post.

I ended up finding all of the RotB toys minus the wave 1 single pack deluxes this week, and it was such a joy to see the toy aisles all movie-fied and ready to go (see below).





I myself ended up picking up all 3 Battlemasters, both of the battlemaster/larger figure packs, the voyagers, the Buzzworthy 3 pack, and the Primal mask. I passed on the beast combiner things because I am not really a fan of how unbalanced these ones look, and the price, and I passed on the flex changers for the price too.




Here is a group shot with all of the RotB toys I have so far, including the SS figures



So, let's roll on some thoughts:

Let's start with the individual battlemasters. I think all 3 are great fun. Cheetor makes a nice sword that goes quite well with the mainline deluxe. Rhinox is my favorite, i love his minigun mode. I may need to get more of him, and i am glad that the 2-pack Wheeljack includes another one of him, i have no problems getting that set. Skullcruncher is also pretty awesome, I like how spiky a gun he forms. All 3 are wings, well done there!

The battlemaster 2 packs are also pretty fun. Prime/Chainclaw is a fun set, I like that we have a chainsaw battlemaster at last, and the Prime is a pretty decent toy too. Surprisingly posable for the kids line. The set is a joy, I do love it. the Primal/Arrowstripe set is also pretty neat, a crossbow was a nice weapon choice, and Primal is good and chunky. I think that all Primal needed was head articulation, and this set would probably have been a big winner for me out of all of the toys.

The Primal mask was a bit of an impulse purchase, as the first store i visited only had the masks, and I was uncertain with my area if stuff would be stocked soon. I really like it. It's actually comfy to wear, and the fact that it transforms without anything really being compromised or getting in the way is fun. It's fun! I like it!

The deluxe 3 pack is next, and it is a decent pack. For one thing, $55 for 3 deluxes, essentially $18 per deluxe, is nice, and they are mostly good. Wheeljack for me is pretty nice, I like how posable he is, and he ends up with almost no kibble. Plus he looks good with the Rhinox battlemaster. cheetor is also pretty tight, I like the robot mode a lot, and the Cheetah mode was obviously compromised some for colors and the gut gun, but it's still nice, and I think both wheeljack and Cheetor could be full priced deluxes by themselves. nightbird is the one weak spot, she feels really light and flimsy compared to all the other figures I have bought. She isn't bad, but she feels the weakest of the group, and for now she gets Skullcruncher.

Finally, the voyagers. I got really lucky with these, found 1 of each on the very top of the walmart shelves. they were $34, which kind of hurts after the deluxes, and to be honest, I am not sure either is worth that cost. These feel more like ~$28 voyagers. Prime is good, but he just feels small and compromised in the paint a little more than I'd like for the price. Primal feels chonkier and bigger, but the simple transformation should have allowed for some more paint, and he sorely needs it. He has so much detail, but a lot of it is lost. also, he needed green eyes. These voyagers aren't bad, i enjoy them! they just feel like they needed to be cheaper.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Cute, but, for the whole second half of the video, your masked face is completely blocked, Mike Wazowski style, by the in-video link to another video.

Sabrblade wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Cute, but, for the whole second half of the video, your masked face is completely blocked, Mike Wazowski style, by the in-video link to another video.

I'm getting rid of it! Nothing ruins my work!

Once again, lots of Transformers Rise of the Beasts news to get to. We have new images of Scourge and Scorponok toys. For Scourge we have the Titan Changer which we had never seen before and the Beast Combiner set which we now see in better detail. That set comes with a Scorponok toy that becomes armor. And speaking of Scorponok we have an image of the exclusive Weaponizer set. It came out in Japan and on the packaging we have our first look at the CG render of Scorponok. It is in beast mode and according to test screenings Scorponok is a drone like army, as is Freezer.

In other ROTB news, we have some in hand images of deluxe class Mirage.

Enjoy and let us know what you think about all this.

Mirage looks ok. Car mode is very good, can't say I'm excited about the bot mode.

Scorponok is a Target exclusive in the US, right?

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Scorponok is a Target exclusive in the US, right?

yes

I know Titan-Changers tend towards that lanky look, but Scourge raises the bar. I'd say he's modded himself to try out for the 'Con basketball team, but he might be a bigger boon to their cricket team...by turning into the bat.

BC Scourgepinok on the other hand makes me glad I do most of my TF shopping at Target anyway. Coolest Beast Combiner I've seen to date.

-Kanrabat- wrote:Mirage looks very, very basic. It's good and bad at the same time.

TC Scourge looks like a frame from the Distorted Cat meme video.

GIMME ALL THE SCORPIONS! Those looks bad-ass, including that tiny rusty Scourge. Too bad it's a Target exclusive because my local TrU doesn't have a good track record in carrying those.

I don't know if the combiner one is exclusive. Just sure about the weaponizer one.

I have a feeling that, if anything, with the big movie push, that Scorponok is going to be over produced and very easy to find.

Emerje

The Scorponok art looks fantastic, and it's also hilarious that he transforms the same way the 07 Scorponok deluxe did.

Mirage looks decent, I am so glad they went with the head from the trailers over that original head, the mouth area doesn't look that good on him. But i am excited for him since he is the only one of the main 5 Autobots i still need.

Looks like we have another connection between Optimus Prime and a white lion coming up in the Transformers Rise of the Beasts line. Below you will see our first look at another upcoming and yet to be revealed toy within the Beast Combiner class which has an animal robot which turns into armor to combine with a deluxe sized bot. This comes just days after we saw the Scourge toy within this class which is also yet to be revealed. The image was posted by Snowman117, an Australian TF fan who found it in a Myer catalog promoting a toy sale sent to their email. The animal here, Lionblade, has the exact same transformation as Snarlsaber, who came with Bumblebee. All these armors are compatible within the same Beast Combiner class.

I love these Beast Combiner figures and would love to get the whole cast in this style. It takes the fun idea that were the the armor figures in Cyberverse and makes them even better. I will love to add them all to the collection. Plus more Lio Convoy call backs are never a bad thing.

OK, that Optimus Prime is my favorite combiner yet. These are interchangeable right? I want to pair the lion with Primal so badly. Maybe they'll do a repaint of the lion in red, yellow or black later on.

Emerje

I do believe that Prime has elbows! All the other figures had limited joints.

Most of these RotB figures seem targeted at the younger tykes, rather than older collectors. I suppose that's where a lot of the money is. But as with Earthspark, I just don't see much (if anything) in the movie line that motivates me to buy. Ah well.

Guess I'll have to wait for the push on these kiddie figures to ebb out before stores replenish the Legacy line and other figures for those of us looking for something a little less childish. That probably means another 6-8 months with unsold Coronation Starscreams and Studio Series 86 Blurr/Kup figures gathering dust on the pegs.

Finally found the Speed Series rereleases! I already have Bee so I planned on getting both Prime and Barricade, but at $9 a piece I ended up just getting Prime. It’s pretty cool! It’s actually Evasion Mode Optimus Prime from Age of Extinction in robot mode (which is why I was interested in it), I’m looking forward to painting it up! The sculpted detail is really nice for a figure of this size.

EvasionModeBumblebee wrote:Finally found the Speed Series rereleases! I already have Bee so I planned on getting both Prime and Barricade, but at $9 a piece I ended up just getting Prime. It’s pretty cool! It’s actually Evasion Mode Optimus Prime from Age of Extinction in robot mode (which is why I was interested in it), I’m looking forward to painting it up! The sculpted detail is really nice for a figure of this size.

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What kind of candy is that in the background?