The Energon Pub

chuckdawg1999 wrote:So Snarl gets a sword but the other guys don't? I know in the show/movie Snarl was the only one with a sword but still, fudge it a little so it doesn't stand out that much.

My God, did Hasbro actually pull a video down, did Optimus Prime turn the tide again? (Get it, the line from the movie? We're in the movie thread?)

I'm not so sure he does, the other dinobots in those images are rocking swords as well. Though I think grimlocks sword is the Masterpiece version.

ZeroWolf wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:So Snarl gets a sword but the other guys don't? I know in the show/movie Snarl was the only one with a sword but still, fudge it a little so it doesn't stand out that much.

My God, did Hasbro actually pull a video down, did Optimus Prime turn the tide again? (Get it, the line from the movie? We're in the movie thread?)

I'm not so sure he does, the other dinobots in those images are rocking swords as well. Though I think grimlocks sword is the Masterpiece version.

Let's not forget that it's a "sample". The accessories are far from confirmed.

Cyber Bishop wrote:Bought on sight but my question is how in the F does someone get something that has not officially been revealed by hasbro like this especially since this toy isn't slated until late in the year

I thought you knew already, he gets them from online asian sellers like this guy here:
https://shopee.ph/Hasbro-Transformers-L ... c5f63f73b5

Anyone with a forwarding service can get figures not yet announced by Hasbro yet.

Do people know who leader Scourge's casemate is?

william-james88 wrote:

Cyber Bishop wrote:Bought on sight but my question is how in the F does someone get something that has not officially been revealed by hasbro like this especially since this toy isn't slated until late in the year

I thought you knew already, he gets them from online asian sellers like this guy here:
https://shopee.ph/Hasbro-Transformers-L ... c5f63f73b5

Anyone with a forwarding service can get figures not yet announced by Hasbro yet.

Do people know who leader Scourge's casemate is?

Forgot about that place.

Well, regardless, those "leaks" will never stop. And if they want to pay a fortune for these... samples... to be the early bird reviewers, so be it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I saw some of these popping on eBay and the bids they get are insane. I remember way back then an "early" DotM voyager Megatron being sold for hundreds of dollars.

I kind of recall that Hasbro themselves invited some of these early leakers to one of their company gatherings. Knowing that some of these reviewers get their figures from, shall we say, 'dodgey' sources, but inviting them anyway? Well, it conveys the impression that Hasbro is in cahoots with them to generate 'buzz'. Or at the very least, they've opted not to oppose their activities. Which is a downer to less well-heeled fans and reviewers, who have to wait in line with everybody else...

DeathReviews wrote:

Well, regardless, those "leaks" will never stop. And if they want to pay a fortune for these... samples... to be the early bird reviewers, so be it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I saw some of these popping on eBay and the bids they get are insane. I remember way back then an "early" DotM voyager Megatron being sold for hundreds of dollars.

I kind of recall that Hasbro themselves invited some of these early leakers to one of their company gatherings. Knowing that some of these reviewers get their figures from, shall we say, 'dodgey' sources, but inviting them anyway? Well, it conveys the impression that Hasbro is in cahoots with them to generate 'buzz'. Or at the very least, they've opted not to oppose their activities. Which is a downer to less well-heeled fans and reviewers, who have to wait in line with everybody else...

Yeah, well, I watched the entire video. There was nothing technically going on with it. So...don't know what prompted the deletion, but that's what happened.

Oouu sword. Nice.

I do like Snarl, but I do think it's strange that Grimlock is looking smaller and smaller with every release. His head is smaller than the others and his torso isn't as wide. I thought maybe Slug's unusual shoulder width would be a one-off issue, but others just seem to have more bulk to them.



As for Snarl, my only issues is he doesn't look great from behind with so much red up the back of stego mode and he's more orange than yellow, doesn't really match the others. The sword does seem to be his, it's clearly gang molded with the yellow parts. I get that they can't easily put the metallic coating on the jointed legs like they did the tail and plates, but maybe they should have changed up the plastic to something better matching?

Emerje

DeathReviews wrote:

Well, regardless, those "leaks" will never stop. And if they want to pay a fortune for these... samples... to be the early bird reviewers, so be it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I saw some of these popping on eBay and the bids they get are insane. I remember way back then an "early" DotM voyager Megatron being sold for hundreds of dollars.

I kind of recall that Hasbro themselves invited some of these early leakers to one of their company gatherings. Knowing that some of these reviewers get their figures from, shall we say, 'dodgey' sources, but inviting them anyway? Well, it conveys the impression that Hasbro is in cahoots with them to generate 'buzz'. Or at the very least, they've opted not to oppose their activities. Which is a downer to less well-heeled fans and reviewers, who have to wait in line with everybody else...

Well, Hasbro won't mind the leakers and such because free publicity.
And if you want to be of of these early leakers, that's simple. Just monitor the eBay listings like a hawk and when you find one, WIN THE BID........ even if you have to pay 500$ for an incomplete/imperfect toy that you'll have for 20$ some months later.
....Or if you're sane, you do wait like everybody else.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Emerje wrote:I do like Snarl, but I do think it's strange that Grimlock is looking smaller and smaller with every release. His head is smaller than the others and his torso isn't as wide. I thought maybe Slug's unusual shoulder width would be a one-off issue, but others just seem to have more bulk to them.

I was going to bring this up earlier. I noticed out of all 4 Grimlock has the smallest upper torso, even though he should only be smaller than Sludge.

Also, I wonder if these Dinobots will be the closest we get to MP releases for the other 4. If so, I might start displaying them with my MP Grimlock, who's a bit larger than these leaders. He might be in better scale with all except Sludge.

Rodimus Prime wrote:Yeah, that tail... Didn't like it on the G1 figure (or the POTP) and I don't like it here. Otherwise, looks great. That group shot once again reinforces my view that Sludge should have been a Commander class or a tall leader. His dino mode is too small compared to the others and in robot mode he should be at least a head taller than Grimlock. My opinions only of course.

Exactly. This is why I still have a sweet spot for the recoloured AoE Dinobots. Grimlock and Sludge being voyager class, and the rest deluxe, works so well as a group in dino mode.

I'm ok with bot mode being the same height, but he looks like a baby brontosaurus in dino mode (and same goes for the G1 and PotP toys) I think I have too many dinobots...

MeGrimlock78 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:Yeah, that tail... Didn't like it on the G1 figure (or the POTP) and I don't like it here. Otherwise, looks great. That group shot once again reinforces my view that Sludge should have been a Commander class or a tall leader. His dino mode is too small compared to the others and in robot mode he should be at least a head taller than Grimlock. My opinions only of course.

Exactly. This is why I still have a sweet spot for the recoloured AoE Dinobots. Grimlock and Sludge being voyager class, and the rest deluxe, works so well as a group in dino mode.

Yes, I still need to get the set for that reason as well. And I wish they got Studio Series versions also, but?at this rate we'll probably see Grimlock updated before we see the others.

I'm ok with bot mode being the same height, but he looks like a baby brontosaurus in dino mode (and same goes for the G1 and PotP toys) I think I have too many dinobots...

No such thing as too many Dinobots.

And for some reason ever since I read the G1 comics back in the day I always thought of Sludge as the group's heavy-hitter, even though they're all heavy-hitters, really. Well except maybe Swoop. But as you said, the redecoed set nailed their scale to each other, now if only they were all 1 size larger...

In the end, I'm still happy we're getting all these guys at this size at all, instead of just Grimlock.

Rodimus Prime wrote:No such thing as too many Dinobots.

Tell that to my wife!

Still missing Pretender Grimlock, and very nearly pulled the trigger on some Iron Factory War Within Dynabots the other day, but can't quite bring myself to spend $40 each on Legends-Sized figures...

MeGrimlock78 wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:No such thing as too many Dinobots.

Tell that to my wife!

Still missing Pretender Grimlock, and very nearly pulled the trigger on some Iron Factory War Within Dynabots the other day, but can't quite bring myself to spend $40 each on Legends-Sized figures...

I'm looking for those. Where did you see them? Nevermind. I found them. I see why you blinked. LOL

sol magnus wrote:I'm looking for those. Where did you see them?

There are two listings on eBay right now. One for $490 + $130 shipping from China, and one for $850 + $70 shipping from Italy. Oh, that's Canadian $, btw.

When I said $40 per, that's my self-imposed limit, not what I saw them for.

MeGrimlock78 wrote:

sol magnus wrote:I'm looking for those. Where did you see them?

There are two listings on eBay right now. One for $490 + $130 shipping from China, and one for $850 + $70 shipping from Italy. Oh, that's Canadian $, btw.

When I said $40 per, that's my self-imposed limit, not what I saw them for.

Are you talking about those 3P toys specifically?
Because Pretender Grimlock was and still is one of the cheapest pretenders:

https://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_from=R4 ... &_osacat=0

-Kanrabat- wrote:

MeGrimlock78 wrote:

sol magnus wrote:I'm looking for those. Where did you see them?

There are two listings on eBay right now. One for $490 + $130 shipping from China, and one for $850 + $70 shipping from Italy. Oh, that's Canadian $, btw.

When I said $40 per, that's my self-imposed limit, not what I saw them for.

Are you talking about those 3P toys specifically?
Because Pretender Grimlock was and still is one of the cheapest pretenders:

https://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_from=R4 ... &_osacat=0

Yes, the Asura Knights. Personally, I need them for a stop motion project I've been working on. After seeing that pricing, I'm probably gonna do some re-writes.

So having seen photos of Snarl now, and looking over them multiple times, here are some thoughts:

I've edited my post because the few "negative" critiques I listed were so minor I don't feel they're even worth sharing them.

For me there is exponentially more good than bad with this guy.
That bot mode is really, really on point.
The overall proportions are much better than Slag's, better than Sludge's, and as good as Grimlock's.
Slag's hollow horns had me thinking Snarl's tail would be a hollow, waffly mess when split apart for bot mode. But those look incredibly good, and really give off the vibe those become wings (wings that don't give him flight but aid him when flying).
And being this is a toy, I'm good with the size of the dino plates.

In terms of the stego mode scaling with the others' dino modes, I'd say it's good.
I don't mean this aggressively, but people are going to have to deal a couple things with these Dinobots' alt modes:
Sludge is too small, and Swoop will be too big.
To scale these two accurately based on their dinosaur modes just wasn't realistic.
Imo, yes, Sludge's bronto mode should be bigger... But not Commander Class bigger.
That would've made him look so awkward with the others in both modes.
With Swoop, scaling his Pterodactyl mode correctly means his bot mode would've been a deluxe.

I cannot wait to get this Snarl, and these 4 have me feeling very confident that Swoop will be incredibly good as well.

My sentiments exactly.

I was worried Snarl's head would be too cartoon accurate, but they did a good job of detailing (still not a huge fan of Sludge's face), which makes me very confident Swoop will be as good as the others.

I also had slight fears they would phone it in with the last two, since a lot of us are already committed to buying all five, regardless of how good or bad they are.

MeGrimlock78 wrote:I also had slight fears they would phone it in with the last two, since a lot of us are already committed to buying all five, regardless of how good or bad they are.

I had a very similar thought...
Especially with Snarl; even though he's my favorite of the 5, I'm guessing he could be the least popular overall.

The good thing with Swoop is that in a lot of ways he's going to be difficult to screw-up.
For being a modern figure, especially leader class, his transformation sequence is about as simple as you can get.
He doesn't have any intricate, crazy design elements/aspects.
There aren't a ton of paint apps, and I think he'll actually use less gold metallic paint than the others.
The one "issue" I've thought about is a waist swivel... As seen in the animation, the dino beak should be long and extend down in front of bot mode pelvis.
I'm betting to use a waist swivel the beak will have to be untucked from the torso.
Which is probably the best, least sacrificing option.

I've also had a thought that the only aspect of Swoop that starts to qualify him for leader class cost is plastic use, so I could see Hastak adding in another pack-in figure.
Why not take Core Spike, scale it down just a little, and with almost no changes you'd have Daniel.
The only retooling would be to remove the shirt collar/neck from Spike, maybe make the head shape more rounded (child-like), and use a lighter brown for the hair.
Assuming they're not going to make a Core class Daniel, this would get him out there without a separate release or a brand-new design.
I mean, for being a human character he was in the movie quite a bit, and way more than Spike.

What I'd really like is Swoop to come packed with a blaster, sword, and swords for the first 3.
However, I get it, none of this is likely.
Knowing other than repaints these big 'ol Dinobot molds can't be used (or even retooled) for other characters, I understand Hastak wanting to get theirs for these figures.
So if Swoop is a $40 figure that costs $55, yeah, I'm going to be alright with that.

Sowndwave76 wrote:So if Swoop is a $40 figure that costs $55, yeah, I'm going to be alright with that.

With the caveat I'm forced to go to due to the disappointment that is Breakdown, where the Dinobots are concerned Hasbro hasn't let us down yet...but 'yet' is the key word.

sol magnus wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:So if Swoop is a $40 figure that costs $55, yeah, I'm going to be alright with that.

With the caveat I'm forced to go to due to the disappointment that is Breakdown, where the Dinobots are concerned Hasbro hasn't let us down yet...but 'yet' is the key word.

Maybe Swoop will come with a "minifig" of some sort. Plus he's sure to have a big wingspan with lots of joints so that may count.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:So if Swoop is a $40 figure that costs $55, yeah, I'm going to be alright with that.

With the caveat I'm forced to go to due to the disappointment that is Breakdown, where the Dinobots are concerned Hasbro hasn't let us down yet...but 'yet' is the key word.

Maybe Swoop will come with a "minifig" of some sort. Plus he's sure to have a big wingspan with lots of joints so that may count.

Yeah, it's the wing span I'm betting on with him being leader class. Given Swoops build, they could have technically done him at Voyager Class to make him the same height. However, once you throw the wings on there, you can see why he's in the same class.

Swoop should be as tall as the others with a good wingspan. That sounds like more than enough for leader priced toy, I would not want him cheapened. The rest of the swords can always be done in a weapons pack.

Haven't they all been Leaders so far anyway? Then I don't see why Swoop wouldn't be as well.
That said he could easily be a Voyager if the wings are foldable enough to fit inside said box.

I don't see it happening because Hasbro would rather make $55 than $35 it's plain economics and the Company needs or wants to increase profits by 50% overall.