The Energon Pub

Kibble wrote:

kirbenvost wrote:http://etoysjapan.com. Got my BB for $50 shipped.

Still spendy, but a little better. Hafta keep them in mind...

I've never bought anything from Japan... do items get delivered just like USPS would do... does customs get involved?

I'd love to see a dozen new molds out of this line. I'd really love to see the Omnibots in here too. Sure we got Overdrive in BT and Camshaft in Alt, but I think they would lend well to the line. Especially Downshift.

Down_Shift wrote:I'd love to see a dozen new molds out of this line. I'd really love to see the Omnibots in here too. Sure we got Overdrive in BT and Camshaft in Alt, but I think they would lend well to the line. Especially Downshift.

Never heard of him.

Counterpunch wrote:

Down_Shift wrote:I'd love to see a dozen new molds out of this line. I'd really love to see the Omnibots in here too. Sure we got Overdrive in BT and Camshaft in Alt, but I think they would lend well to the line. Especially Downshift.

Never heard of him.

I think that's the guy from Energon and Cybertron that looks like Wheeljack or was that Clifjumper, Downjumper or was it Cliffshift?

Dead Metal wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

Down_Shift wrote:I'd love to see a dozen new molds out of this line. I'd really love to see the Omnibots in here too. Sure we got Overdrive in BT and Camshaft in Alt, but I think they would lend well to the line. Especially Downshift.

Never heard of him.

I think that's the guy from Energon and Cybertron that looks like Wheeljack or was that Clifjumper, Downjumper or was it Cliffshift?

(It was a joke.)

Counterpunch wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

Down_Shift wrote:I'd love to see a dozen new molds out of this line. I'd really love to see the Omnibots in here too. Sure we got Overdrive in BT and Camshaft in Alt, but I think they would lend well to the line. Especially Downshift.

Never heard of him.

I think that's the guy from Energon and Cybertron that looks like Wheeljack or was that Clifjumper, Downjumper or was it Cliffshift?

(It was a joke.)

I know and I decided to run with it and maybe make it a little bigger but accidentally killed it.

DavidT wrote:I've never bought anything from Japan... do items get delivered just like USPS would do... does customs get involved?

I've ordered from China, but I assume it would be the same deal. It goes through customs, but doesn't require anything on your end. You just wait and it eventually shows up as it would if you ordered from anywhere else...it just takes a little longer.

Dead Metal wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

Down_Shift wrote:I'd love to see a dozen new molds out of this line. I'd really love to see the Omnibots in here too. Sure we got Overdrive in BT and Camshaft in Alt, but I think they would lend well to the line. Especially Downshift.

Never heard of him.

I think that's the guy from Energon and Cybertron that looks like Wheeljack or was that Clifjumper, Downjumper or was it Cliffshift?

(It was a joke.)

I know and I decided to run with it and maybe make it a little bigger but accidentally killed it.

I hate you both.

I think this is a pretty good line from what I have seen, although the molds and characters coming out will be what "drives" it, no pun intended.

Sounds pretty novel, but how about a full line of Stunticons? Alternators dropped the ball pretty badly there.

DavidT wrote:

Kibble wrote:

kirbenvost wrote:http://etoysjapan.com. Got my BB for $50 shipped.

Still spendy, but a little better. Hafta keep them in mind...

I've never bought anything from Japan... do items get delivered just like USPS would do... does customs get involved?

Despite the name, I think they're based in Hong Kong. Yes it will go through customs like anything else, but I haven't ever been charged duties so far, which is not the case when I import from USA. I believe they have 4 different services through Hong Kong Post, so it would get delivered on your end by USPS.

Delicon wrote:I think this is a pretty good line from what I have seen, although the molds and characters coming out will be what "drives" it, no pun intended.

Sounds pretty novel, but how about a full line of Stunticons? Alternators dropped the ball pretty badly there.

Yeah, it'd be nice to see all the Stunticons together in one line since G1. Especially if they combined! ESPECIALLY if they actually looked like the Stunticons. Alternators Dead End, ROTF Dead End, Gentai Wildrider, Titanium Menasor, Legends Motormaster (or was it Menasor?) were all misguided and disappointing repaints or retools. ROTF Breakdown looks great though. Maybe he'll start a prescedent.

Well I'm guessing Takara agrees with most people here.



Starscream... Skywarp.... and possibly Thundercracker in the future.

Can I have sex with that car?

Blurrz wrote:Well I'm guessing Takara agrees with most people here.



Starscream... Skywarp.... and possibly Thundercracker in the future.

That looks like it would make a kickass Deaptcharge!

Blurrz wrote:Well I'm guessing Takara agrees with most people here.



Starscream... Skywarp.... and possibly Thundercracker in the future.

If that's a photo Takara has released as a teaser for the next Alternity figure's alt mode, then I hope it is used for the Seekers. I know the usual purists will be criticizing non-jet alt modes for Seekers but I think sports cars work just fine for the characters in the context of the Alternity line. Besides, Megatron's transition from a gun to a sports car is a more significant deviation of alt mode form.

I've always wanted to see the familiar Transformers characters we know and love in alt modes that are entirely different from their traditional alt modes. For example, I'd like to see Prime as a jet. Or how about Grimlock as an Apache helicopter? Or Megatron as a truck?! Basically swap the Autobots and Decepticons usual alt modes. So I can't wait to see how the Seekers look as cars.

I love that car but I'm annoyed that it's Starscream again. Sometimes it feels like the whole franchise is stuck in a time-loop: 1984 over and over again.

Diem wrote:I love that car but I'm annoyed that it's Starscream again. Sometimes it feels like the whole franchise is stuck in a time-loop: 1984 over and over again.

But, think of it this way. You, me, most of the vocal people on the boards are different kinds of collectors. We have Starscream, Prime, and Megatron in 32 flavors. We have so many of them that we look to the obscure side characters to get our fix, because, well we're burned out on the big names.

Other people don't ingest the hobby in the same way we do. They buy this or that, some here, a little elsewhere. They don't want an unfamiliar face. They don't want an Overdrive, Camshaft, or Downshift. They're going to buy one or two TF toys. They want Prime et al.

$0.02

Counterpunch wrote:

Diem wrote:I love that car but I'm annoyed that it's Starscream again. Sometimes it feels like the whole franchise is stuck in a time-loop: 1984 over and over again.

But, think of it this way. You, me, most of the vocal people on the boards are different kinds of collectors. We have Starscream, Prime, and Megatron in 32 flavors. We have so many of them that we look to the obscure side characters to get our fix, because, well we're burned out on the big names.

Other people don't ingest the hobby in the same way we do. They buy this or that, some here, a little elsewhere. They don't want an unfamiliar face. They don't want an Overdrive, Camshaft, or Downshift. They're going to buy one or two TF toys. They want Prime et al.

$0.02

Yeah, I know. I'm even annoying myself harping on about it.

Diem wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:

Diem wrote:I love that car but I'm annoyed that it's Starscream again. Sometimes it feels like the whole franchise is stuck in a time-loop: 1984 over and over again.

But, think of it this way. You, me, most of the vocal people on the boards are different kinds of collectors. We have Starscream, Prime, and Megatron in 32 flavors. We have so many of them that we look to the obscure side characters to get our fix, because, well we're burned out on the big names.

Other people don't ingest the hobby in the same way we do. They buy this or that, some here, a little elsewhere. They don't want an unfamiliar face. They don't want an Overdrive, Camshaft, or Downshift. They're going to buy one or two TF toys. They want Prime et al.

$0.02

Yeah, I know. I'm even annoying myself harping on about it.

He does raise a good point. Fans want a name that is familiar and has a lot of well known character. Starscream is busting with charisma and that helps a ton in the foreign market. Plus this is TTs way of putting figures into this line that 5 years ago they didn't want in BT because they couldn't find the right way to represent them. Megs, BB & CJ, the seekers all work in the new line because the fandom has changed and so has the collectors market. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if we see Skyfire or Soundwave show up in the line down the road.

Hur, and I'm the exact opposite, I WANT the same figures because that's exactly what I collect...homages.

That said, I'm only getting these seeker cars if they turn out really cool. I did pass on Megatron.

Down_Shift wrote:He does raise a good point.

That's what she said.

kirbenvost wrote:Hur, and I'm the exact opposite, I WANT the same figures because that's exactly what I collect...homages.

That said, I'm only getting these seeker cars if they turn out really cool. I did pass on Megatron.

I'm of a similar position where the use of characters in new designs appeal to me. A well done homage or re-imagining is something I always enjoy.

On the other hand, I also sometimes feel like Diem where it seems like everything goes back to G1. It would be nice for the franchise to really take a new direction and I'm not talking about something like TFA where we still saw reference to past character concepts like "Optimus Prime" and "Megatron" characters.

By going in a new direction with totally new characters, we could avoid the "trukk not munky" sort of scenario. If that effort fails then established character concepts are untouched and we could return to them.

Going back to Alternity, since the line is establishing a theme of using established characters, I have no problems with seeing characters like Starscream and other Seekers get representation in the line. They didn't make it into BT/Alternators so it's nice to see them get into Alternity. I'm eagerly awaiting the reveal of their bot modes because I want to see if they another deviation from the transformation designs of Alternity Convoy and Megatron as well as Bumblebee.

One problem I can see for the Alternity line is that if the alt modes used are strictly cars...things can get stale and for some, I can see they already seem bored with the line. Convoy and Megatron have three versions each, all of which are repaints. Bumble at least had a retooled head sculpt for the Cliff version. So far we have 8 figures released but only 3 unique sculpts(I don't count Cliff's head retooling to be enough to make it separate from the Bumble sculpt).

I'm a pick-and-choose "Neo G1" collector. So when I look at alternity ... cliffjumper sorta appeals to me.

I want G1, but I do wish they'd expand and make some of the interesting guys who aren't already cheaper. Looking at Counterpunch up there makes me think they could make a good Punch / Counterpunch mold. The price point is high enough for some clever engeneering. Or maybe some of the Stunticons. Or Blurr. A Jazz, at that size, might be nice. Why not Arcee? They could repaint her into Nightbird or something.

Their choices so far are nice, but ... just not nice enough.

I'd like to see the Alternity line continue until there's something interesting for me to buy. I guess that's selfish.

Blurrz wrote:Well I'm guessing Takara agrees with most people here.



Starscream... Skywarp.... and possibly Thundercracker in the future.

I don't usually quote a picture but you know who would suit this car? Tentakil.

I was just thinking how ugly the hood and bumper are and that they look a little aquatic.