The Energon Pub

News Credits: 1 · by **Gauntlet101010** » Wed Nov 23, 2022 5:47 pm

I thought US gun laws were centered around realistic toy guns. Siege is good enough for me. Maybe if they do many a real gun mode Shocky I'll change my mind.

Gun Megatron ... I know it's blasphemy, but:

Seems to be getting hard to find, though. And of course it doesn't really count.

News Credits: 2 · by **Hero Alpha** » Wed Nov 23, 2022 7:48 pm

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I thought US gun laws were centered around realistic toy guns. Siege is good enough for me. Maybe if they do many a real gun mode Shocky I'll change my mind.

Gun Megatron ... I know it's blasphemy, but:

Seems to be getting hard to find, though. And of course it doesn't really count.

I dont think we will be getting a Walther pistol Megatron in Generations ever again. Unless ridiculous laws or what have u change. I have just adjusted and accepted the tank and actually prefer it now. But that Hegemon is really showing it's age. When it came out it was good, now it just doesn't fit in with todays standard of Generations figures.

News Credits: 1 · by **Gauntlet101010** » Wed Nov 23, 2022 10:17 pm

Think so? I know it lacks a proper waist swivel or ankle tilts, but I think it fits in better now than it ever has.

News Credits: 56 · by **o.supreme** » Wed Nov 23, 2022 11:29 pm

SS86 Shockwave would probably just be a cleaned up version of Siege ( as a Voyager, minus the extra bits that Hasbro added to make it leader, think Coronation Starscream but in reverse).

As for SS86 Megatron, I just put that down in the thread " Toys you want but Hasbro can never make" Unless it was a Haslab marketed directly at Adult collectors, or something. I personally think the idea of a less expensive Haslab isn't terrible.

I bet if it was a premium Voyager class with paint apps and some add-ons, they could probably set the price at $75 USD ( roughly double Voyager Price), and 20K backers needed to fund, and it would probably work.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Wed Nov 23, 2022 11:38 pm

o.supreme wrote:As for SS86 Megatron, I just put that down in the thread " Toys you want but Hasbro can never make" Unless it was a Haslab marketed directly at Adult collectors, or something. I personally think the idea of a less expensive Haslab isn't terrible.

While the HasLab Transformers toys are marketed toward adult collectors, they are still designed and engineered under the same toy safety laws as the mass retail toys. This is why Unicron's planet mode equator had bendy spikes made of soft rubber plastic instead of sharp pointy spikes made of hard rigid plastic.

News Credits: 1350 · by **ZeroWolf** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 5:28 am

Sabrblade wrote:
o.supreme wrote:As for SS86 Megatron, I just put that down in the thread " Toys you want but Hasbro can never make" Unless it was a Haslab marketed directly at Adult collectors, or something. I personally think the idea of a less expensive Haslab isn't terrible.
While the HasLab Transformers toys are marketed toward adult collectors, they are still designed in engineered under the same toy safety laws as the mass retail toys. This is why Unicron's planet mode equator had bendy spikes made of soft rubber plastic instead of sharp pointy spikes made of hard rigid plastic.

Yeah, we're extremely unlikely to ever get a gun megs again in Generations, and I say, good riddance. I much prefer megs to be a tank.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 6:51 am

As we've said before in this thread, if the scale is right(?), RED Shockwave and Megatron are the closest you will ever get to them being in this line.

RE: Buzzsaw - Is his omission from The Movie why he hasn't received a new figure since >checks the wiki< Combiner Wars in 2016? Although there is supposed to be a non-transforming one coming with Soundblaster, next year. Which seems really lame.

Surely he should be a no-brainer companion piece to Laserbeak? Akin to Rumble/Frenzy?

This little tidbit is interesting though:

TFWiki wrote:Buzzsaw's scant appearances in the original animated series come as a result of a note in the production bible that says he should only "be used occasionally". This, presumably, is due to the fact that his toy was only available packaged with Soundwave, and hence did not need to be advertised via the show. Poor little guy didn't even get an individual bio in there. (No wonder he took it out on everybody.)

News Credits: 17 · by **AcademyofDrX** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 11:56 am

Sabrblade wrote:
o.supreme wrote:As for SS86 Megatron, I just put that down in the thread " Toys you want but Hasbro can never make" Unless it was a Haslab marketed directly at Adult collectors, or something. I personally think the idea of a less expensive Haslab isn't terrible.
While the HasLab Transformers toys are marketed toward adult collectors, they are still designed and engineered under the same toy safety laws as the mass retail toys. This is why Unicron's planet mode equator had bendy spikes made of soft rubber plastic instead of sharp pointy spikes made of hard rigid plastic.

Yeah, "adult collectors" isn't a meaningful distinction from a legal perspective, some areas like New York have laws that replica guns must have bright colors to clearly differentiate them from the real thing. Beyond the legal challenges, I would bet that Hasbro has zero interest in a realistic gun Megatron purely for brand safety considerations. Gun Megatron toys are a thing of the past, with good reason.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 12:08 pm

AcademyofDrX wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
o.supreme wrote:As for SS86 Megatron, I just put that down in the thread " Toys you want but Hasbro can never make" Unless it was a Haslab marketed directly at Adult collectors, or something. I personally think the idea of a less expensive Haslab isn't terrible.
While the HasLab Transformers toys are marketed toward adult collectors, they are still designed and engineered under the same toy safety laws as the mass retail toys. This is why Unicron's planet mode equator had bendy spikes made of soft rubber plastic instead of sharp pointy spikes made of hard rigid plastic.

Yeah, "adult collectors" isn't a meaningful distinction from a legal perspective, some areas like New York have laws that replica guns must have bright colors to clearly differentiate them from the real thing. Beyond the legal challenges, I would bet that Hasbro has zero interest in a realistic gun Megatron purely for brand safety considerations. Gun Megatron toys are a thing of the past, with good reason.

At this point, MP-36 Megatron is everyone's best bet for an official gun Megatron, even if he's more old-school Leader class height instead of Voyager height.

News Credits: 22 · by **Rodimus Prime** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 1:38 pm

o.supreme wrote:SS86 Shockwave would probably just be a cleaned up version of Siege (as a Voyager, minus the extra bits that Hasbro added to make it leader, think Coronation Starscream but in reverse)

As much as I detest the Siege "leader" Shockwave, I don't think that would work. Without the extra parts, his alt mode doesn't really work. The base figure would need to be altered, and at that point they might as well make a new mold. It just annoys me because I like the base figure (and display him without the extra garbage) I just wish he was a bit taller and bulkier. The extras don't really help accomplish that in a visually pleasing way.

News Credits: 48 · by **Nemesis Primal** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 2:21 pm

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:RE: Buzzsaw - Is his omission from The Movie why he hasn't received a new figure since >checks the wiki< Combiner Wars in 2016? Although there is supposed to be a non-transforming one coming with Soundblaster, next year. Which seems really lame.

Surely he should be a no-brainer companion piece to Laserbeak? Akin to Rumble/Frenzy?

Don't Ravage and Laserbeak's current molds share sprues due to how the initial Micromaster sets were made? They can't make a Laserbeak repaint without a corresponding Ravage and there's currently no Ravage-type cassette that shares the right colors with Buzzsaw.

News Credits: 241 · by **Jelze Bunnycat** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 5:22 pm

Nemesis Primal wrote:
AllNewSuperRobot wrote:RE: Buzzsaw - Is his omission from The Movie why he hasn't received a new figure since >checks the wiki< Combiner Wars in 2016? Although there is supposed to be a non-transforming one coming with Soundblaster, next year. Which seems really lame.

Surely he should be a no-brainer companion piece to Laserbeak? Akin to Rumble/Frenzy?
Don't Ravage and Laserbeak's current molds share sprues due to how the initial Micromaster sets were made? They can't make a Laserbeak repaint without a corresponding Ravage and there's currently no Ravage-type cassette that shares the right colors with Buzzsaw.

All Micromaster sets in Earthrise were gangmolded, yes. Substituting another would mean half of another set would have to be sacrificed, and Hasbro isn't that keen on that. TakaraTomy, maybe.

News Credits: 1 · by **Gauntlet101010** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 9:23 pm

They could just have made a new character out of it. It's not a great excuse.

News Credits: 241 · by **Jelze Bunnycat** » Thu Nov 24, 2022 11:54 pm

Gauntlet101010 wrote:They could just have made a new character out of it. It's not a great excuse.

And I just realised I was overthinking things yet again in my previous post. I hate my mind... :BANG_HEAD:

New characters are a hit and miss, but when they're made without a pre-existing base just for the sake of being filler...

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Fri Nov 25, 2022 12:01 am

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:
Gauntlet101010 wrote:They could just have made a new character out of it. It's not a great excuse.

And I just realised I was overthinking things yet again in my previous post. I hate my mind...

New characters are a hit and miss, but when they're made without a pre-existing base just for the sake of being filler...

A Buzzsaw-gangmolded Ravage redeco would still be mostly black, right? They could just make it be Nightstalker or Blackcat (with all of the latter's green painted onto the figure) and just say that the Autobot cassette was captured and taken hostage, like how Autobot Battle Masters came with Netflix Megatron. Name it "Captive Nightstalker" or "Captive Blackcat".

News Credits: 48 · by **Nemesis Primal** » Fri Nov 25, 2022 12:57 am

Sabrblade wrote:
Jelze Bunnycat wrote:
Gauntlet101010 wrote:They could just have made a new character out of it. It's not a great excuse.

And I just realised I was overthinking things yet again in my previous post. I hate my mind...

New characters are a hit and miss, but when they're made without a pre-existing base just for the sake of being filler...
A Buzzsaw-gangmolded Ravage redeco would still be mostly black, right? They could just make it be Nightstalker or Blackcat (with all of the latter's green painted onto the figure) and just say that the Autobot cassette was captured and taken hostage, like how Autobot Battle Masters came with Netflix Megatron. Name it "Captive Nightstalker" or "Captive Blackcat".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but:
-A Buzzsaw-gangmolded Ravage would literally just be Ravage again, not even just mostly black, as the only part on the Laserbeak mold that doesn't share a base plastic color with Ravage is the red main body and everything else that isn't shared is paint
-Unless they released through some sort of venue that gave the set a higher paint budget like the SG cassettes seem to have, using all of the paint allotted to them to make a molded-black Blackcat green would cause an inaccurate Buzzsaw since he'd have no paint for his wings or thruster (and I can't see that going over well after how long people have been waiting on Buzzsaw specifically)
-Nightstalker hasn't been a straight Ravage body-double since his first appearance, he's a black Steeljaw in all his comic appearances since and has gotten 2 figures as such

At this point, Buzzsaw's best chance may be to just wait and hope that Rumble Frenzy sells well so he can also get a new dedicated Core Class mold.

News Credits: 456 · by **Sabrblade** » Fri Nov 25, 2022 1:02 am

Nemesis Primal wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
Jelze Bunnycat wrote:
Gauntlet101010 wrote:They could just have made a new character out of it. It's not a great excuse.

And I just realised I was overthinking things yet again in my previous post. I hate my mind...

New characters are a hit and miss, but when they're made without a pre-existing base just for the sake of being filler...
A Buzzsaw-gangmolded Ravage redeco would still be mostly black, right? They could just make it be Nightstalker or Blackcat (with all of the latter's green painted onto the figure) and just say that the Autobot cassette was captured and taken hostage, like how Autobot Battle Masters came with Netflix Megatron. Name it "Captive Nightstalker" or "Captive Blackcat".
Correct me if I'm wrong, but:
-A Buzzsaw-gangmolded Ravage would literally just be Ravage again, not even just mostly black, as the only part on the Laserbeak mold that doesn't share a base plastic color with Ravage is the red main body and everything else that isn't shared is paint
-Unless they released through some sort of venue that gave the set a higher paint budget like the SG cassettes seem to have, using all of the paint allotted to them to make a molded-black Blackcat green would cause an inaccurate Buzzsaw since he'd have no paint for his wings or thruster (and I can't see that going over well after how long people have been waiting on Buzzsaw specifically)
-Nightstalker hasn't been a straight Ravage body-double since his first appearance, he's a black Steeljaw in all his comic appearances since and has gotten 2 figures as such

At this point, Buzzsaw's best chance may be to just wait and hope that Rumble Frenzy sells well so he can also get a new dedicated Core Class mold.

Then let's just make it a 2-pack with "Buzzsaw & 'Stealth Ravage'" or something. Make it a Ravage with a slightly different deco, like a "camouflaged in the shadows" kind of deco.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Fri Nov 25, 2022 1:25 am

It’s bizarre that in a line with 19 variations on Starscream. The Datsuns, the Lambors etc That Yellow Laserbeak has such hoops to jump through to be made.

News Credits: 100 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Fri Nov 25, 2022 6:06 am

Sabrblade wrote:
Jelze Bunnycat wrote:
Gauntlet101010 wrote:They could just have made a new character out of it. It's not a great excuse.

And I just realised I was overthinking things yet again in my previous post. I hate my mind...

New characters are a hit and miss, but when they're made without a pre-existing base just for the sake of being filler...
A Buzzsaw-gangmolded Ravage redeco would still be mostly black, right? They could just make it be Nightstalker or Blackcat (with all of the latter's green painted onto the figure) and just say that the Autobot cassette was captured and taken hostage, like how Autobot Battle Masters came with Netflix Megatron. Name it "Captive Nightstalker" or "Captive Blackcat".

They may be gang-molded, but all of them were still different colors.

So why not make Stelljaw along Buzzsaw? That would be a VS pack and Blaster will finally have one more cassette minion.

News Credits: 6 · by **AllNewSuperRobot** » Fri Nov 25, 2022 8:53 am

As I've said elsewhere, they really need to do more with the Cassettes. If they raised their profile* we wouldn't have successive Soundwave/Blasters with the same 4-6 minions all the time.

As we all know, the entire Cassette range need a new altmode.

*I think they would all fit quite well in Earthspark. Not just the familiar faces.

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Sat Nov 26, 2022 10:09 am

Sabrblade wrote:
Nemesis Primal wrote:
Sabrblade wrote:
Jelze Bunnycat wrote:
Gauntlet101010 wrote:They could just have made a new character out of it. It's not a great excuse.

And I just realised I was overthinking things yet again in my previous post. I hate my mind...

New characters are a hit and miss, but when they're made without a pre-existing base just for the sake of being filler...
A Buzzsaw-gangmolded Ravage redeco would still be mostly black, right? They could just make it be Nightstalker or Blackcat (with all of the latter's green painted onto the figure) and just say that the Autobot cassette was captured and taken hostage, like how Autobot Battle Masters came with Netflix Megatron. Name it "Captive Nightstalker" or "Captive Blackcat".
Correct me if I'm wrong, but:
-A Buzzsaw-gangmolded Ravage would literally just be Ravage again, not even just mostly black, as the only part on the Laserbeak mold that doesn't share a base plastic color with Ravage is the red main body and everything else that isn't shared is paint
-Unless they released through some sort of venue that gave the set a higher paint budget like the SG cassettes seem to have, using all of the paint allotted to them to make a molded-black Blackcat green would cause an inaccurate Buzzsaw since he'd have no paint for his wings or thruster (and I can't see that going over well after how long people have been waiting on Buzzsaw specifically)
-Nightstalker hasn't been a straight Ravage body-double since his first appearance, he's a black Steeljaw in all his comic appearances since and has gotten 2 figures as such

At this point, Buzzsaw's best chance may be to just wait and hope that Rumble Frenzy sells well so he can also get a new dedicated Core Class mold.
Then let's just make it a 2-pack with "Buzzsaw & 'Stealth Ravage'" or something. Make it a Ravage with a slightly different deco, like a "camouflaged in the shadows" kind of deco.

I think we're overthinking what Hasbro can and can't do with that mold. Clearly they can break it up, but this is also probably part of why the set cost so much since they had to run 4 colored sprues between the 2 figures instead of 2. They could definitely run just Buzzsaw if they wanted to and it wouldn't affect the price since it's two sprues regardless of if they use all or half of it though it's certainly less efficient.

Emerje

News Credits: 48 · by **Nemesis Primal** » Sat Nov 26, 2022 2:17 pm

Emerje wrote:

I think we're overthinking what Hasbro can and can't do with that mold. Clearly they can break it up, but this is also probably part of why the set cost so much since they had to run 4 colored sprues between the 2 figures instead of 2.

...as an owner of that set, I just picked up Laserbeak again and I'm like 97% certain that all the red on him is paint, it's too glossy to be plain plastic, which would mean the SG set could still have the exact plastic mold breakdown as the retail set (which seems to be within the paint budget for SG, looking at both how much paint other SG figures like Flamewar got and how little paint Soundwave himself has by comparison).

Emerje wrote:They could definitely run just Buzzsaw if they wanted to and it wouldn't affect the price since it's two sprues regardless of if they use all or half of it though it's certainly less efficient.

Emerje

Sadly, it seems like Hasbro is unwilling to eat the cost of that inefficiency, otherwise I feel like we'd have that Buzzsaw by now.

News Credits: 9 · by **Sowndwave76** » Sat Nov 26, 2022 9:26 pm

I won't be at all surprised if we get a SS86 Soundwave in '24.
Even though it seems backwards with these cassetticon releases, I just have this gut feeling.
I know all of the cassettes are compatible with Siege version, but the NF exclusive was not easy to get, and I could see Hastak doing slight retooling, and possibly taking the NF mold and smoothing it out like they've done with SS86 Ironhide. Removing the landing gear and giving him forearm panels.
Hastak has to know this would sell, and with these Core releases, there's not even really any pressure to pack-in any cassette figure. In fact, they could also ditch the foldable rifle and people would still buy a new version at Voyager price.

Assuming this SS86 Soundwave isn't a completely new mold, it would help justify making more cassettes.