The Energon Pub

News Credits: 1 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:22 am

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Well, in the case of Starscream, it would pretty much defeat his disguise in Earth mode. Other pilots would start noticing this particularly fast Raptor and report it to the research department. Before you know it, ol' Screamer would be dissected into a gazillion parts for retro-engineering.

I suppose that is true, but they could've at least used some of that speed when battling the Autobots. ;;)

News Credits: 1 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:39 am

shonenfan4 wrote:
SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Well, in the case of Starscream, it would pretty much defeat his disguise in Earth mode. Other pilots would start noticing this particularly fast Raptor and report it to the research department. Before you know it, ol' Screamer would be dissected into a gazillion parts for retro-engineering.

I suppose that is true, but they could've at least used some of that speed when battling the Autobots.

Good point, there.

My only theory is that after scanning and adopting an Earth mode, he now propels himself using replicated Earth technology. Since as a military aircraft he would be subjected to maintenance, he'd have to replicate the engines and weapons of his FA-22 Raptor disguise in order to fool the air base crew. Thus, he has to forgo his Cybertronian energon thrusters in favor of jet engines to maximize authenticity.

Sheesh, what am I? Micheal Bay's PR manager? :lol:

News Credits: 1 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:42 am

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:
shonenfan4 wrote:
SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Well, in the case of Starscream, it would pretty much defeat his disguise in Earth mode. Other pilots would start noticing this particularly fast Raptor and report it to the research department. Before you know it, ol' Screamer would be dissected into a gazillion parts for retro-engineering.

I suppose that is true, but they could've at least used some of that speed when battling the Autobots.

Good point, there.

My only theory is that after scanning and adopting an Earth mode, he now propels himself using replicated Earth technology. Since as a military aircraft he would be subjected to maintenance, he'd have to replicate the engines and weapons of his FA-22 Raptor disguise in order to fool the air base crew. Thus, he has to forgo his Cybertronian energon thrusters in favor of jet engines to maximize authenticity.

Sheesh, what am I? Micheal Bay's PR manager?

You know, that would explain why Megatron, who is the only that retained his Cyberonian form, is able to fly through space at an incredible speed.

News Credits: 1 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 2:56 am

Convotron wrote:
SKYWARPED_128 wrote:
Convotron wrote:Hehe, it's truly sarcasm.

Sheesh, I knew something was wrong when you mentioned the name Micheal Bay and "well-choreographed" in the same sentence

Hehe, well, the sad thing is that I wouldn't put it past Bay to make a featurette about such a topic.

On the other hand, from my limited exposure to him(I don't read/watch interviews much) through his Transformers commentary, I have the impression that he has a solid grasp on the technical aspects of his action heavy style of directing. I also really appreciate his knowledge about the technicalities of portraying reflections on reflective surfaces. So as much as I enjoy ribbing him, I do admit that his strong points of his work comes from a seemingly knowledgeable background in some of the technical aspects of filming.

I do admit some of the man's films were quite enjoyable, with The Rock (the movie, not the Samoan wrestler/actor

) being one of my favorites, in no small part thanks to Sean Connery's good acting.

I just get the feeling he's too self-conscious about making a "silly toy movie", as he put it. It's like he deliberately put those joke characters in there to say, "I'm not taking this silly movie seriously and neither should you!"

Yes, Micheal, we know you're a big boy, and that you're too old for silly toys and cartoon movies :lol:

shonenfan4 wrote:You know, that would explain why Megatron, who is the only that retained his Cyberonian form, is able to fly through space at an incredible speed.

Now that you mentioned it, yeah. You think Bay figured all this into the movie all along? Nah! :lol:

Tue Sep 08, 2009 9:49 am

shonenfan4 wrote:
SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Well, in the case of Starscream, it would pretty much defeat his disguise in Earth mode. Other pilots would start noticing this particularly fast Raptor and report it to the research department. Before you know it, ol' Screamer would be dissected into a gazillion parts for retro-engineering.

I suppose that is true, but they could've at least used some of that speed when battling the Autobots.

There's another option as to why, and that's the difference in how air behaves once you hit a certain Mach speed - somewhere around Mach 3 to Mach 4, I do believe. Basically, you go from flying through the air, to trying to deal with superfluid complexities. Travelling through space at a significant fraction of the speed of light? No problem with constant accelleration. Travelling at Ultrasonic speeds within an athmosphere? Tricky, and really best done only for straight line travel - and not circumnavigation, but actual straight line.

News Credits: 1 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:06 am

Valandar wrote:
shonenfan4 wrote:
SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Well, in the case of Starscream, it would pretty much defeat his disguise in Earth mode. Other pilots would start noticing this particularly fast Raptor and report it to the research department. Before you know it, ol' Screamer would be dissected into a gazillion parts for retro-engineering.

I suppose that is true, but they could've at least used some of that speed when battling the Autobots.

There's another option as to why, and that's the difference in how air behaves once you hit a certain Mach speed - somewhere around Mach 3 to Mach 4, I do believe. Basically, you go from flying through the air, to trying to deal with superfluid complexities. Travelling through space at a significant fraction of the speed of light? No problem with constant accelleration. Travelling at Ultrasonic speeds within an athmosphere? Tricky, and really best done only for straight line travel - and not circumnavigation, but actual straight line.

That's some pretty complicating science / physics stuff. :shock:

News Credits: 2 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:53 am

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:I just get the feeling he's too self-conscious about making a "silly toy movie", as he put it. It's like he deliberately put those joke characters in there to say, "I'm not taking this silly movie seriously and neither should you!"

Yes, Micheal, we know you're a big boy, and that you're too old for silly toys and cartoon movies

Yeah, when I watched the BTS and listened to the commentary on Transformers, Bay pretty much admitted to having no intention of doing a "stupid toy" movie when Spielberg first offered him the project. I think that the lure of the money combined with Spielberg's attachment and a decent script for the first movie helped push Bay to commit to directing.

For RotF, I really got the impression that most of the action and humour was done in an aggressive "see, I'm not a geek" sort of manner. Ironically, it fails at any attempt to make it seem any more grown up because juvenile humour is worse than "playing with toys" in my opinion. It's like when guys get freaked out by any perceived accusation of effeminateness and loudly profess their macho-ness by exclaiming that they love boobs, beer, and shooting things.

shonenfan4 wrote:
Valandar wrote:
shonenfan4 wrote:
SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Well, in the case of Starscream, it would pretty much defeat his disguise in Earth mode. Other pilots would start noticing this particularly fast Raptor and report it to the research department. Before you know it, ol' Screamer would be dissected into a gazillion parts for retro-engineering.

I suppose that is true, but they could've at least used some of that speed when battling the Autobots.

There's another option as to why, and that's the difference in how air behaves once you hit a certain Mach speed - somewhere around Mach 3 to Mach 4, I do believe. Basically, you go from flying through the air, to trying to deal with superfluid complexities. Travelling through space at a significant fraction of the speed of light? No problem with constant accelleration. Travelling at Ultrasonic speeds within an athmosphere? Tricky, and really best done only for straight line travel - and not circumnavigation, but actual straight line.

That's some pretty complicating science / physics stuff.

It's something that a lot of people know on a common sense level but not necessarily on a conscious level. The concept of wind resistance is fairly well known by most people these days but that goes out the window when people think of "super advanced technology" in the context of sci fi. Also, traveling at high speeds usually brings along the problem of maneuvering, like Valandar said. Go in a straight line, no problem. Try to turn and maintain control while possessing extreme momentum, not so simple.

Tue Sep 08, 2009 3:56 pm

shonenfan4 wrote:
Valandar wrote:So it ends up something like this?

What is that from?

klarinettmeister wrote:To be on topic... I bought leader Megatron at the end of last week. 97 US$. And that´s after my 10% discount.
I haven´t opened him up yet. But I actually think he looks cool. Much better than my MISB 2007 Megatron.

Because all leaders are sold out from the main store house I was afraid to wait. Hopefully we´ll get new shipments of leaders soon. And hopefully Jetfire!

You spent $97 for Leader Megatron? Where is this?

Sweden. I paid 109 US$ each for 2 leader Optimus when I didn´t have any discount. People actually pays that for them. They are still on order... And I´ve had a few people asking for leader Optimus.

Tue Sep 08, 2009 4:29 pm

Whoops, wrong thread.

News Credits: 9 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 4:41 pm

Jetfire Prime wrote:How come the leader class megatron in robot mode looks just like the movie, but the tank mode is not movie accurate? and how come the tank mode on the voyager is movie accurate, but the robot mode isnt?(sort of)

What are you talking about? The voyager is more accurate in BOTH modes. So far all opinions I've seen here have agreed with this so why is no-one saying this now?

News Credits: 1 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 7:27 pm

klarinettmeister wrote:
shonenfan4 wrote:
Valandar wrote:So it ends up something like this?

What is that from?

klarinettmeister wrote:To be on topic... I bought leader Megatron at the end of last week. 97 US$. And that´s after my 10% discount.
I haven´t opened him up yet. But I actually think he looks cool. Much better than my MISB 2007 Megatron.

Because all leaders are sold out from the main store house I was afraid to wait. Hopefully we´ll get new shipments of leaders soon. And hopefully Jetfire!

You spent $97 for Leader Megatron? Where is this?

Sweden. I paid 109 US$ each for 2 leader Optimus when I didn´t have any discount. People actually pays that for them. They are still on order... And I´ve had a few people asking for leader Optimus.

Man, I can never imagine paying that for leader class. Makes me glad that I'm a collector living in the states. B-)

News Credits: 1 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 7:34 pm

Convotron wrote:Ironically, it fails at any attempt to make it seem any more grown up because juvenile humour is worse than "playing with toys" in my opinion. It's like when guys get freaked out by any perceived accusation of effeminateness and loudly profess their macho-ness by exclaiming that they love boobs, beer, and shooting things.

I totally agree on this one. We've all been through that phase in school and maybe even college, but Bay seems to still carry around his insecurities at his age, which I guess is probably around forty something.

Convotron wrote: shonenfan4 wrote:

Valandar wrote:

shonenfan4 wrote:

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:Well, in the case of Starscream, it would pretty much defeat his disguise in Earth mode. Other pilots would start noticing this particularly fast Raptor and report it to the research department. Before you know it, ol' Screamer would be dissected into a gazillion parts for retro-engineering.

I suppose that is true, but they could've at least used some of that speed when battling the Autobots.

There's another option as to why, and that's the difference in how air behaves once you hit a certain Mach speed - somewhere around Mach 3 to Mach 4, I do believe. Basically, you go from flying through the air, to trying to deal with superfluid complexities. Travelling through space at a significant fraction of the speed of light? No problem with constant accelleration. Travelling at Ultrasonic speeds within an athmosphere? Tricky, and really best done only for straight line travel - and not circumnavigation, but actual straight line.

That's some pretty complicating science / physics stuff.

It's something that a lot of people know on a common sense level but not necessarily on a conscious level. The concept of wind resistance is fairly well known by most people these days but that goes out the window when people think of "super advanced technology" in the context of sci fi. Also, traveling at high speeds usually brings along the problem of maneuvering, like Valandar said. Go in a straight line, no problem. Try to turn and maintain control while possessing extreme momentum, not so simple.

True. Kind of like a subconscious instinct. When driving, we all know to slow down when making turns like it's second nature. But ask me to explain it and all I can offer is a blank stare.

News Credits: 2 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 8:00 pm

SKYWARPED_128 wrote:True. Kind of like a subconscious instinct. When driving, we all know to slow down when making turns like it's second nature. But ask me to explain it and all I can offer is a blank stare.

Exactly!

Tue Sep 08, 2009 9:07 pm

shonenfan4 wrote:
Valandar wrote:So it ends up something like this?

What is that from?

Actually, an issue of 3D World Mag. They did an article on how to rig and animate a Movie style Transformer, specifically using Lightwave as the program of choice, and included the LW working files on the cover CD. This irritated me, however - I use 3DS Max, not Lightwave, and could only roar my fanboy rage at the heavens.

News Credits: 1 · Tue Sep 08, 2009 11:02 pm

Valandar wrote:
shonenfan4 wrote:
Valandar wrote:So it ends up something like this?

What is that from?

Actually, an issue of 3D World Mag. They did an article on how to rig and animate a Movie style Transformer, specifically using Lightwave as the program of choice, and included the LW working files on the cover CD. This irritated me, however - I use 3DS Max, not Lightwave, and could only roar my fanboy rage at the heavens.

Ah I see

The head sculpt of that picture kinda looks like 2007 Movie Megatron to me.

Wed Sep 09, 2009 12:02 am

klarinettmeister wrote:To be on topic... I bought leader Megatron at the end of last week. 97 US$. And that´s after my 10% discount.
I haven´t opened him up yet. But I actually think he looks cool. Much better than my MISB 2007 Megatron.

Because all leaders are sold out from the main store house I was afraid to wait. Hopefully we´ll get new shipments of leaders soon. And hopefully Jetfire!

Holy crap. There are ROTF Leader Megatrons all over my city, for the standard $44.99 price.

News Credits: 2 · Wed Sep 09, 2009 1:48 am

I've been looking at my Leader Megatron and it wouldn't be
that hard to whip up an "option kit" that gave him the wing/lets
that the voyager has. You would put the rear set of wings on his
backpack and the front pair on swing bars on his outer thighs...
Hrmmm.... I sense a Transtopia thread being typed in the near
future...
:mrgreen:

News Credits: 4 · Wed Sep 09, 2009 1:55 am

magnusalpha wrote:
klarinettmeister wrote:To be on topic... I bought leader Megatron at the end of last week. 97 US$. And that´s after my 10% discount.
I haven´t opened him up yet. But I actually think he looks cool. Much better than my MISB 2007 Megatron.

Because all leaders are sold out from the main store house I was afraid to wait. Hopefully we´ll get new shipments of leaders soon. And hopefully Jetfire!

Holy crap. There are ROTF Leader Megatrons all over my city, for the standard $44.99 price.

im guessing klarinettmeister paid canadian prices? not U.S....

Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:25 am

tom brokaw wrote:
magnusalpha wrote:
klarinettmeister wrote:To be on topic... I bought leader Megatron at the end of last week. 97 US$. And that´s after my 10% discount.
I haven´t opened him up yet. But I actually think he looks cool. Much better than my MISB 2007 Megatron.

Because all leaders are sold out from the main store house I was afraid to wait. Hopefully we´ll get new shipments of leaders soon. And hopefully Jetfire!

Holy crap. There are ROTF Leader Megatrons all over my city, for the standard $44.99 price.

im guessing klarinettmeister paid canadian prices? not U.S....

He said he paid in US dollars.

News Credits: 1 · Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:27 am

magnusalpha wrote:
klarinettmeister wrote:To be on topic... I bought leader Megatron at the end of last week. 97 US$. And that´s after my 10% discount.
I haven´t opened him up yet. But I actually think he looks cool. Much better than my MISB 2007 Megatron.

Because all leaders are sold out from the main store house I was afraid to wait. Hopefully we´ll get new shipments of leaders soon. And hopefully Jetfire!

Holy crap. There are ROTF Leader Megatrons all over my city, for the standard $44.99 price.

He lives in Sweden.

Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:19 am

shonenfan4 wrote:
magnusalpha wrote:
klarinettmeister wrote:To be on topic... I bought leader Megatron at the end of last week. 97 US$. And that´s after my 10% discount.
I haven´t opened him up yet. But I actually think he looks cool. Much better than my MISB 2007 Megatron.

Because all leaders are sold out from the main store house I was afraid to wait. Hopefully we´ll get new shipments of leaders soon. And hopefully Jetfire!

Holy crap. There are ROTF Leader Megatrons all over my city, for the standard $44.99 price.

He lives in Sweden.

Ha. Well it'd be nice if he actually said that, instead of just saying he paid $97 US dollars.

News Credits: 1 · Wed Sep 09, 2009 11:38 am

magnusalpha wrote:Ha. Well it'd be nice if he actually said that, instead of just saying he paid $97 US dollars.

He did, in the post.

klarinettmeister wrote:Sweden. I paid 109 US$ each for 2 leader Optimus when I didn´t have any discount. People actually pays that for them. They are still on order... And I´ve had a few people asking for leader Optimus.

Wed Sep 09, 2009 11:48 am

shonenfan4 wrote:
magnusalpha wrote:Ha. Well it'd be nice if he actually said that, instead of just saying he paid $97 US dollars.

He did, in the post.

klarinettmeister wrote:Sweden. I paid 109 US$ each for 2 leader Optimus when I didn´t have any discount. People actually pays that for them. They are still on order... And I´ve had a few people asking for leader Optimus.

Uh, in the post I'm referring to, there was no mention of Sweden

klarinettmeister wrote:To be on topic... I bought leader Megatron at the end of last week. 97 US$. And that´s after my 10% discount.
I haven´t opened him up yet. But I actually think he looks cool. Much better than my MISB 2007 Megatron.

Because all leaders are sold out from the main store house I was afraid to wait. Hopefully we´ll get new shipments of leaders soon. And hopefully Jetfire!

However, I didn't see the post much later, that actually explained he lived in Sweden. All I'm saying is, in his original post, he just said "I paid $97 US!" without saying "oh yeah, I live in Sweden."

If I say "I paid $150 for ROTF Ratchet." and I leave out that I live in some other country, and that's why I paid so much, then someone is going to reply and say "uh. That's $22.99 down the street."

Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:25 pm

Sweden is definitely not a good country to collect Transformers.

Today I was at another store in Lund, Sweden. I found ROTF leader Megatron, priced 849 SEK (about 120 US $). Jetfire was sold out, but the store manager would call me if they got a new shipment with Jetfire.
Under Megatron I saw Devastator for the first time. He was priced 1595 SEK (220 US$). They had 2 of them.

All the voyagers were priced 499 SEK (70 US$)

(And yes, I live in Sweden) :wink:

Thu Sep 10, 2009 5:34 pm

klarinettmeister wrote:Sweden is definitely not a good country to collect Transformers.

Today I was at another store in Lund, Sweden. I found ROTF leader Megatron, priced 849 SEK (about 120 US $). Jetfire was sold out, but the store manager would call me if they got a new shipment with Jetfire.
Under Megatron I saw Devastator for the first time. He was priced 1595 SEK (220 US$). They had 2 of them.

All the voyagers were priced 499 SEK (70 US$)

(And yes, I live in Sweden)

Yikes. I knew it cost significantly more to buy TFs in other countries, but that's a lot more than I expected.