The Energon Pub

News Credits: 4 · Fri Jun 09, 2023 5:57 pm

Welp, I guess this figure is...dead on arrival. :lol:

News Credits: 12 · Fri Jun 09, 2023 6:24 pm

An interchangeable head would've been nice
Or some orange lightpiping for the eyes and mouth
Chest looks like he has a wardrobe malfunction. Nip slip prowl

MyFigureCollection.net collection · Fri Jun 09, 2023 7:32 pm

I like to think Hasbro will do proper dead repaints later, either in Selects or through Amazon since they probably wouldn't sell well on store shelves where they depend on kids.

Emerje

News Credits: 1646 · Fri Jun 09, 2023 7:42 pm

Yeah, i think i will need to get that one. This is hysterical!

News Credits: 241 · Fri Jun 09, 2023 7:50 pm

Emerje wrote:I like to think Hasbro will do proper dead repaints later, either in Selects or through Amazon since they probably wouldn't sell well on store shelves where they depend on kids.

Emerje

... or given the sensitivity regarding certain RL events...

News Credits: 10 · Fri Jun 09, 2023 8:01 pm

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Yeah, i think i will need to get that one. This is hysterical!

Yeah, I never said I wasn't getting it, even if I'm not exactly thrilled with it.

News Credits: 1646 · Fri Jun 09, 2023 8:05 pm

sol magnus wrote:
D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Yeah, i think i will need to get that one. This is hysterical!

Yeah, I never said I wasn't getting it, even if I'm not exactly thrilled with it.

I almost feel like I am going to end up with a dead armada of bots, which is still funny to me.

News Credits: 1 · Fri Jun 09, 2023 8:24 pm

I may get it. Although I kinda want a dead Starscream more since there would be more to it.

Come to think of it, I have the Sparkless dudes and dead Prime. I wonder how much undead Prime Cliffjumper is going for nowadays...

News Credits: 462 · Fri Jun 09, 2023 9:09 pm

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I wonder how much undead Prime Cliffjumper is going for nowadays...

That might depend on which undead Prime Cliffjumper you mean, since there's three of him.

Transformers Comic-Con Exclusives Rust In Peace Cliffjumper Gallery

News Credits: 1 · Fri Jun 09, 2023 9:54 pm

*looks them up*

Eh, too pricy for an impulse buy.

Fri Jun 09, 2023 10:51 pm

I barely have the space for their actual "live" undamaged versions so I definitely do not have the space to allocate to "dead/damaged" versions as well. I even struggle to justify buying alt repaints like Silverstreak, Road Rage etc.

News Credits: 9 · Sat Jun 10, 2023 1:40 pm

The one aspect of this Prowl that I appreciate are the toon accurate colors.
And at the same time, it's also one of the flaws of this figure (more on that later).
Overall I think this was a bad decision, and a at best, a missed opportunity.

This critique has nothing to do with any love for this character...
I've never made a top 5 favorite Autobots list, but Prowl wouldn't even make my top 15-20.
For me, I've never been a fan of a themed figure where the theme is so limiting.
At least with Coronation Starscream, he could be displayed (or played with) without the coronation gear.
Even though I'd say it's fair to view this Prowl's alt mode as pointless, either way, imo it just doesn't look good.
Where the toon accurate deco falls flat for me is when considering the white areas could've and probably should've been a light-medium gray. The upper legs that are gray should've been closer to a charcoal gray.
As it is and looks to be finalized, as Razorbeast suggested, an interchangable head would've helped this figure, along with orange light-piping, or at least orange paint for the eyes and mouth.
I'm not saying any of these modifications would've swayed me, but the figure we're getting hasn't done enough with the theme imo.
If you're going to go with a limiting theme like this one, then it should've been taken further.

This would've been much better as a Selects release.
Even though Buzzworthy is an exclusive line, it's not the most difficult thing to get ahold of items from Target. I know not everyone lives in the U.S., or within a 30 minute drive of a Target store. I also say this as someone who has yet to find Origins Jazz.
But going back to the "limited" aspect of this theme, it's more limited than the SG figures.
I'm not even going into how bad I think it is that we're getting another Ironhide, but when I said this was a missed opportunity, this should have been Prowl in a screen accurate deco just like they did for Cliffjumper. Even though I got the previous Amazon 2 pack, I still would've bought a screen-accurate SS86 version.
And I say this even if it would've come with Ironhide... I just would've sold him.
In fact, this may have been a chance to get "ER" Hound's release secured.
Or even better still, make the 2 pack Sunstreaker and Hound, and give Prowl a solo release.
So that's also where this release bothers me-- there were better options, even if Hastak was set on a 2 pack release.

The "dead/dying" theme is a really good idea for the R.E.D. line.
It's still exclusive, the molded detail could've been increased, an alternate head and blast effects could've been included, and there's no lame, un-related alt mode to worry about.

Even if this would've been done well, I would've skipped it.
For me, this really is a worse idea than Coronation Starscream.

News Credits: 1646 · Sun Jun 11, 2023 2:35 pm

Speaking of Coronation Starscream, I went to 3 Targets and 2 Walmarts yesterday.

All of them had no fewer than 4 Starscreams shelfwarming.

It's annoying that they will not move.

News Credits: 20 · Sun Jun 11, 2023 2:55 pm

The battle damage molding looks good, and the blast effect port is a nice touch, but man... that deco is bland. Both modes feel like they're lacking a lot of detail compared to the ER version, despite the addition of paint in a few places. The helmet chevrons only being painted from the front looks super cheap. The baby blue windows are my biggest issue, they simultaneously manage to look garish and be too light-colored to contrast the rest of his color scheme. Combined with the light gray plastic, it's makes for a bland figure. A bot who's main colors are white and black really needs some element to help the deco pop, and this Prowl just doesn't have it. If they do a non-dead release of this later on, I really hope they at least darken the window color.

News Credits: 20 · Sun Jun 11, 2023 3:11 pm

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Speaking of Coronation Starscream, I went to 3 Targets and 2 Walmarts yesterday.

All of them had no fewer than 4 Starscreams shelfwarming.

It's annoying that they will not move.

It's the same deal in all my local Targets and Walmarts, I think it's been at least a few months since one has sold (at least from what I can tell). It's almost like Siege Shockwave all over again, my local Targets had 8 of them each for almost a full year, and not a single one moved that whole time, until they all just disappeared one day.

The strangest part is they never go on clearance, even if the rest of the TF section is on sale.

News Credits: 9 · Sun Jun 11, 2023 3:35 pm

I agree on the window/headlight color…
But it’s not that the color is too light.
The issue is that it’s too saturated.
Just slightly toned-down (mixed with a light gray), and it would be fine.
I would say this is too bland considering the theme/desired look.
And again, having the eyes and mouth orange would’ve helped quite a bit pull off the look from the scene.

MyFigureCollection.net collection · Sun Jun 11, 2023 5:53 pm

I think Prowl's colors look fine in bot mode, between all the front facing blue and gray with some red along with the black and white he's fairly colorful. Car mode is a bit off, they messed up the b/w ratio.

Even in bot mode his doors are consistently mostly black like his car mode. Also not sure why they chose to do his door badge like that, it should be a blue shield with a gold star, why'd they stick a little blue Autobot symbol in there instead? Could someone have trademarked that?

Emerje

News Credits: 9 · Sun Jun 11, 2023 6:38 pm

I would agree that his colors look decent in bot mode.
And with showing those animation stills, I think the issue I'm having with that blue is that it leans towards a tint of blue with just a tiny bit of green in it. I mean, it's close to what I'd be happy with, but again, it's over-saturated.
They could have increased the amount of black used as well.

I just wish this would've been a regular, SS86 version like the newest Ironhide...
Prowl should've had a solo release (giving those who missed the Amazon 2 pack a shot at a good "ER" version), and this 2 pack should've been Sunstreaker and Hound, which although short, would've been a little nod to the scene when those two and Prime arrive to Autobot city before OP's battle with Megatron.
I'm seriously smh at this "dead bots" release.

News Credits: 462 · Sun Jun 11, 2023 7:25 pm

Well, here is Prowl's full animation model for better comparison:

News Credits: 9 · Mon Jun 12, 2023 5:59 pm

After seeing Prowl I would’ve never expected much from the Ironhide that’s included…
None of these images change my opinion on how bad this idea is…
Sorry about the image quality… They’re screenshots from Instagram.

News Credits: 12 · Mon Jun 12, 2023 6:05 pm

Does Prowl have a different head in that last pic? Hard to tell

Anyways... yeah this 2 pack kinda sucks haha F to the non-orange eyes/mouth and the chest mess

News Credits: 10 · Mon Jun 12, 2023 6:15 pm

I'm still going to get it. For one thing, BLAST EFFECTS!

News Credits: 226 · Mon Jun 12, 2023 6:15 pm

I think the weirdest thing about them is the packaging. They're posing for battle but ... you know ... are supposed to be dead.

I get they need to market the poseability, but it would have been funnier to see them marketed as laying on the ground.