The Energon Pub

[Sabrblade]

What idiot Hasbro executive thinks the children (to whom this toy line survives) will give a **** about obscure combiner characters? Not to mention the fact that parents are not going to shell out $90 each for these. Yeah, the adult fans will buy them, but they are a VERY small percentage of sales. And at $16 a pop, this line is finished.

With Hasbro's crap quality these days, I will be surprised that if they can even stand up straight.

Ahem. When you have first seen the Constructicons, Aerialbots, Combaticons, etc., were you like "WHOA!" or super excited. If you had, then I'm pretty sure kids will also love the Combiners too.

Don't believe me? Next year go to Toys"R"Us a week before Christmas.

Yeah, it's not the fact that these toys are of the G1 combiner characters that appeal to kids. It's the fact that it's five guys who combine into one big dude. And that they can all mix and match limbs with each other. The gimmick may be old, but it's timeless. Kids like combining robots. The fact that these toys represent the G1 characters is the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.

[shajaki]

What idiot Hasbro executive thinks the children (to whom this toy line survives) will give a **** about obscure combiner characters? Not to mention the fact that parents are not going to shell out $90 each for these. Yeah, the adult fans will buy them, but they are a VERY small percentage of sales. And at $16 a pop, this line is finished.

With Hasbro's crap quality these days, I will be surprised that if they can even stand up straight.

jeezus christ monkey balls. do you ever have anything positive to say? why are you even a part of this fandom?

[GuyIncognito]

If you're not excited about these new combiners, you have no soul.

It's what we've been asking for: combiners with Voyager torsos and (interchangeable!) Deluxe limbs, all of which have alt and bot modes of their own. And the individual figures look good enough to own even if they DIDN'T combine.

[GuyIncognito]

blah blah blah

jeezus christ monkey balls. do you ever have anything positive to say? why are you even a part of this fandom?

I second that.

[megatronus]

blah blah blah

jeezus christ monkey balls. do you ever have anything positive to say? why are you even a part of this fandom?

I second that.

Third-ed.

[Cyber Bishop]

blah blah blah

jeezus christ monkey balls. do you ever have anything positive to say? why are you even a part of this fandom?

I second that.

Thirded...

[megatronus]

If you're not excited about these new combiners, you have no soul.

It's what we've been asking for: combiners with Voyager torsos and (interchangeable!) Deluxe limbs, all of which have alt and bot modes of their own. And the individual figures look good enough to own even if they DIDN'T combine.

I know, right? When we saw the combined modes (Superion, at least), I thought to myself: wow! That looks great. Too bad the robot modes are going to suffer.

But the bot' modes look good. Real good. So good, in fact, that I think it's the combined mode that suffers for the great robot modes!

[wolverinetodd]

Does no one "proof-read" anything for these conventions? They have Dragstrip shown instead of Air Raid as one of the SIX Aerialbots to form Superion. Of course they could've avoided this problem if Wave 1 was ALL AERIALBOTS instead of just 3 being Aerialbots and one being a Stunticon while Wave 2 is 3 Stunticons and 1 Aerialbot. Does Hasbro always have to make things so complicated?

And judging from the Legends collection, the transforming weapon gimmick has been dropped. I bet the price doesn't though.

[wolverinetodd]

What idiot Hasbro executive thinks the children (to whom this toy line survives) will give a **** about obscure combiner characters? Not to mention the fact that parents are not going to shell out $90 each for these. Yeah, the adult fans will buy them, but they are a VERY small percentage of sales. And at $16 a pop, this line is finished.

With Hasbro's crap quality these days, I will be surprised that if they can even stand up straight.

Ahem. When you have first seen the Constructicons, Aerialbots, Combaticons, etc., were you like "WHOA!" or super excited. If you had, then I'm pretty sure kids will also love the Combiners too.

Don't believe me? Next year go to Toys"R"Us a week before Christmas.

Yeah, it's not the fact that these toys are of the G1 combiner characters that appeal to kids. It's the fact that it's five guys who combine into one big dude. And that they can all mix and match limbs with each other. The gimmick may be old, but it's timeless. Kids like combining robots. The fact that these toys represent the G1 characters is the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.

But we as kids 30 years ago had a cartoon to relate the Transformer Combiner toys to in the stores which only enhanced our excitement when we finally saw one of the figures in our local toy store. If this new Transformer animated series coming in 2015 has these combiners featured in the show and if the show isn't just limited to one obscure channel (I'm speaking of you, The Hub), then these combiners should do well with today's kids.

[Sabrblade]

What idiot Hasbro executive thinks the children (to whom this toy line survives) will give a **** about obscure combiner characters? Not to mention the fact that parents are not going to shell out $90 each for these. Yeah, the adult fans will buy them, but they are a VERY small percentage of sales. And at $16 a pop, this line is finished.

With Hasbro's crap quality these days, I will be surprised that if they can even stand up straight.

Ahem. When you have first seen the Constructicons, Aerialbots, Combaticons, etc., were you like "WHOA!" or super excited. If you had, then I'm pretty sure kids will also love the Combiners too.

Don't believe me? Next year go to Toys"R"Us a week before Christmas.

Yeah, it's not the fact that these toys are of the G1 combiner characters that appeal to kids. It's the fact that it's five guys who combine into one big dude. And that they can all mix and match limbs with each other. The gimmick may be old, but it's timeless. Kids like combining robots. The fact that these toys represent the G1 characters is the icing on the cake, not the cake itself.

But we as kids 30 years ago had a cartoon to relate the Transformer Combiner toys to in the stores which only enhanced our excitement when we finally saw one of the figures in our local toy store. If this new Transformer animated series coming in 2015 has these combiners featured in the show and if the show isn't just limited to one obscure channel (I'm speaking of you, The Hub), then these combiners should do well with today's kids.

If fiction is needed to enhance the appeal of these toys, then a cartoon is not needed when each Deluxe figure comes packed with a comic book promoting these very combiner toys.

After all, the G1 cartoon wasn't the only medium that advertised the G1 toys. There was also the G1 comics done by Marvel. And in places like the United Kingdom, in which the cartoon had little to no television exposure, the Marvel comic was the #1 fictional medium for the G1 toyline to be promoted in story form.

[GuyIncognito]

I never watched the cartoon or read the comics as a kid, and I still don't. The toys themselves hold enough appeal for me.

[shajaki]

i would like to make one point on the whole slingshot/wildrider debacle. while i do understand the financial strategy behind vary'ing up the alt modes of some of the combiner limbs, their missing the greatest feature of a scramble city combiner! who says child X's superion cant have a breakdown for an arm or dead end for a leg?

when i was a kid i never had one complete combiner team. but i did have enough limbs and torsos to make two (actually scrambled) combiners to fight eachother, and still had a blast!

so really, they could have done them all properly. but i digress. i still like them.

[Sabrblade]

'Nuff said.

[shajaki]

ha! well done.

[Gallifreyan Autobot]

I just realized if one were to by two things of the menasor parts one were to emulate that one g1 episode with some of the Autobots pretending to be the stunticons until the real ones break loose

[william-james88]

That Menasor is great! And I don't get the talks of the 3rd party Intimidator being worth it still when we have this at a price I am assuming to be much lower.
But it's not even the price, there are 2 other big reasons I preffer this Menasor over "Intimidator".
1. I like how there are no remolds/redecos in this Menasor (can't say the same about the areal bots, at least 2 seem to use the same mold)
2. Most importantly, this is a true combiner. The legs in Intimidator dont look like they are made up of 2 cars. Instead the cars just look like decoration over a robot leg. In Hasbro's combiner, the cars truly turn into Menasor's legs. And that means the world to me as a fan of combiners.

[Noideaforaname]

If you're not excited about these new combiners, you have no soul.

That is why I have no fear!

And the individual figures look good enough to own even if they DIDN'T combine.

If at the cost of all having the same general look. All the kibble ends up in similar places, seems like they all share the same transformation (or near enough), all their chests are dominated by the connector pegs...

[JetOptimus23]

Oh my GOD those things look good enough to eat...and I hate that I'm not going to comic con, and these thing's aftermarket prices will be insane. Oh well, Gotta wait for the retail release I guess

[Va'al]

Another video from the official Transformers Facebook page, and we take an official look at the SDCC 2014 exclusive Dinobots set, as unboxed by Hasbro themselves. What do you think, is the G1 redeco on Age of Extinction figures worth the money? Share your thoughts below!

Take a look inside the Transformers Dinobots Action Figure Set, available now at the Hasbro Toy Shop booth at San Diego Comic-Con and after the show in limited quantities on HasbroToyShop.com

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=683258961744301&permPage=1

[JetOptimus23]

You know, I didn't really like the AOE dinobot figures, and I'm thinking thats because of their colors. They were all so weird and not very movie accurate. But those...are some fine looking toys.

[Evil Eye]

You know, looking at the combiners, I really wish they'd integrated the hands.

The detachable hands are far, far too big- they look a bit weird. Considering the limb-bots have "block-feet" they could have easily fitted much less disproportionate hands in that could just slide/flip out of the bottom of the foot without compromising the individual robots. Odd, as it probably would have reduced engineering costs too...

The feet probably couldn't have been integrated, although I think smaller "drone" vehicles, maybe buggies or something for the Stunticons and UAVs for Superion, should form the feet (a bit like Movie Devastator has the extra little construction vehicles/equipment to form parts of his body, like the tiny front-end loader forming his hand). Not very Geewun, but really, who cares?

As for Offroad replacing Wildrider and Alpha Bravo replacing Slingshot, Alpha Bravo is basically Slingshot with a different altmode and a mouthplate anyway. And looking at Wildrider, Offroad seems to be him but transforming into a jeep rather than a car. Hardly worth getting upset over.

[1984forever]

Sunstreaker from the Breakdown mold in late fall 2015... Nostradamus told me.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Funny you mentioned the non-integrated hands. I believe that the choice to have the hand/feet (they're the same piece) separate is a good one, as it simplifies the design of te figures quite a bit to vehicle -> robot -> (bending) block (Guess what? Fan-acclaimed 3P companies do the very same thing!). You've seen how the FoC limbs were a hit and miss, especially with the shape of the hands due to the necessity of integrating them.

Only problem now is where would the handfeet go when not in use?

[Evil Eye]

Funny you mentioned the non-integrated hands. I believe that the choice to have the hand/feet (they're the same piece) separate is a good one, as it simplifies the design of te figures quite a bit to vehicle -> robot -> (bending) block (Guess what? Fan-acclaimed 3P companies do the very same thing!). You've seen how the FoC limbs were a hit and miss, especially with the shape of the hands due to the necessity of integrating them.

Only problem now is where would the handfeet go when not in use?

Aye, although I think that the FOC Bruticus could have been a lot better if it weren't for those pesky budget restrictions, integrated hands or not (they could have made Vortex's karate chop hand articulated).

I'm just worried the hand will have nowhere to go in the separate modes.

[Va'al]

Thanks to site owner Seibertron, we have a miscellaneous update to the SDCC 2014 galleries, with a look around at what Hasbro is putting on display at the event, ranging from Marvel, My Little Pony, Jem and the Holograms, and of course, Transformers - Kre-O, Combiner Wars and RID! Click on any image below for the full galleries.