The Energon Pub

[Blurrz]

I'm still debating on getting Hasbro Skullcruncher or Takara Skull. I already have Takara Weirdwolf and Wipe so I should just complete the set but man they look eerily similar.

[Wolfman Jake]

I'm still debating on getting Hasbro Skullcruncher or Takara Skull. I already have Takara Weirdwolf and Wipe so I should just complete the set but man they look eerily similar.

Get Takara's Skullcruncher. Their Headmaster face is much more media accurate. The Hasbro version has more toy accurate black optics, though they are rendered strangely as big bulging square eyes instead of a visor.

[chuckdawg1999]

Anybody else hoping Takara releases a gift set of the Insecticons with matching paint and weapons? I'd be happy if they just included three reflectors.

I'm definitely hoping for that. Maybe we could get a retool of Shrapnel and Bombshell to include transparent yellow cockpits to match Kickback as well?

I was thinking about that but realized it would require a lot of new tooling, I think Shrapnel's chest is part of the transformation for example. I don't think they ever released reflector so this would be a chance for them.

[Cyberpath]

I'm still debating on getting Hasbro Skullcruncher or Takara Skull. I already have Takara Weirdwolf and Wipe so I should just complete the set but man they look eerily similar.

Get Takara's Skullcruncher. Their Headmaster face is much more media accurate. The Hasbro version has more toy accurate black optics, though they are rendered strangely as big bulging square eyes instead of a visor.

Also, the beast's head has a red tongue and silver teeth.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Skull's Yummy Gummy Tongue

[Wolfman Jake]

I'm still debating on getting Hasbro Skullcruncher or Takara Skull. I already have Takara Weirdwolf and Wipe so I should just complete the set but man they look eerily similar.

Get Takara's Skullcruncher. Their Headmaster face is much more media accurate. The Hasbro version has more toy accurate black optics, though they are rendered strangely as big bulging square eyes instead of a visor.

Also, the beast's head has a red tongue and silver teeth.

I forgot about that detail. I love when Takara goes the extra mile for things like that. They gave Legends Weirdwolf the same premium deco for his maw and teeth. The extra paint work on the rhino mouth for Legends-EX Rhinox, by the way, is also superb!

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I'm still debating on getting Hasbro Skullcruncher or Takara Skull. I already have Takara Weirdwolf and Wipe so I should just complete the set but man they look eerily similar.

Get Takara's Skullcruncher. Their Headmaster face is much more media accurate. The Hasbro version has more toy accurate black optics, though they are rendered strangely as big bulging square eyes instead of a visor.

Also, the beast's head has a red tongue and silver teeth.

I forgot about that detail. I love when Takara goes the extra mile for things like that. They gave Legends Weirdwolf the same premium deco for his maw and teeth. The extra paint work on the rhino mouth for Legends-EX Rhinox, by the way, is also superb!

It's not they did anything special with more paint for Skull: they simply removed the silver apps from the tongue as it's the same plastic as the cover. Krok has proven that.

[Blurrz]

Thank you all for reaffirming my expensive tastes

[Cyberpath]

I'm still debating on getting Hasbro Skullcruncher or Takara Skull. I already have Takara Weirdwolf and Wipe so I should just complete the set but man they look eerily similar.

Get Takara's Skullcruncher. Their Headmaster face is much more media accurate. The Hasbro version has more toy accurate black optics, though they are rendered strangely as big bulging square eyes instead of a visor.

Also, the beast's head has a red tongue and silver teeth.

I forgot about that detail. I love when Takara goes the extra mile for things like that. They gave Legends Weirdwolf the same premium deco for his maw and teeth. The extra paint work on the rhino mouth for Legends-EX Rhinox, by the way, is also superb!

It's not they did anything special with more paint for Skull: they simply removed the silver apps from the tongue as it's the same plastic as the cover. Krok has proven that.

What do you mean?

Takara: red piece with painted silver teeth.

Hasbro: white piece and unpainted:

Thank you all for reaffirming my expensive tastes

[fenrir72]

I'm still debating on getting Hasbro Skullcruncher or Takara Skull. I already have Takara Weirdwolf and Wipe so I should just complete the set but man they look eerily similar.

Get the Takara if you are after anime accuracy.

[Sabrblade]

So, uh, hey guys. Remember waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back on Page 80 when we got our first look (though, by now the pics are broken) at the packaging of the 2015 Legends LGEX Black Convoy (the Deluxe class RtS Optimus Prime redeco) and I pointed out the box's referring to Black Convoy's faction in English as "Predacon" instead of "Decepticon"?

No?

Well, it led to this very mild back-and-forth between me and JelZe, in which I tried to make a case for Takara having gone with "Decepticon" for Black Convoy's box than over making more sense than their going with "Predacon" would, but I conceded to JelZe's point about "Predacon" working fine since A) Black Convoy's original Car Robots toy still bore the "Destronger" faction name and B)"Destronger" was changed to "Predacon" in the English Robots in Disguise dub.

So, if I conceded back then, why am I digging this up again? Well, I recently learned something more about this that I didn't know before. JelZe's point about Black Convoy's original toy being labeled a Destronger has even more weight to this matter than I previously thought.

Basically, all of the bad guy toys in the original Car Robots line were Destrongers, including the Combatrons. But more importantly, what I learned recently is that the Destrongers, even back in 2000, were Beast Era Predacons! Not just by use of the symbol (as that could be, and has been, interpreted as just a mere reuse of the symbol), but there is actual Car Robots material from back then, the year 2000, that specifically states that the Destrongers belong to the very same faction that all of the Beast Era (non-Unicronian) bad guy toys belonged to: The Destrons.

Though the word "Destron" was originally just the Japanese name for "Decepticon", it was also used as the Japanese name for the Beast Era "Predacon" faction. And back in the year 2000, the word "Destron" was completely synonymous with "Predacon" when paired with the symbol. And that very symbol was also applied to the Destrongers.

The aforementioned material that links the Destrongers to the Destrons is none other than the Japanese bio of the Car Robots Gigatron toy:

Gigatron D-001
Destronger Dark God of Destruction
A god of destruction who rules the Destrongers, the elite forces of the cosmic devils the Destrons. As a top Destron soldier, he has participated in numerous battles over the years. Under those severe conditions, he gained the technology for his six step transformations.
10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

There you have it. The Destrongers were Destrons all along, never their own unique faction (as the English Robots in Disguise dub would have us believe). Just a single platoon with a fancy name and which belonged to the greater-known faction of the time.

Were you aware of this, JelZe? It enhances your original point more than ever.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I was lightly aware of that, but given that bios hardly ever make it verbatim into the greater fiction I didn't really give it that much thought.

[Sabrblade]

I was lightly aware of that, but given that bios hardly ever make it verbatim into the greater fiction I didn't really give it that much thought.

I see that as more true for Hasbro's bios than for Takara's.

[Evil Eye]

All his talk of RID/CR and the Predacons/Destrongers reminds me that I really REALLY need a replacement RID Megatron. Or an RID Galvatron for that matter, that white colourscheme is pretty menacing.

It's almost a shame how perfect that toy is, we'll likely never get a better version of the character short of an MP-styled collector's grade version (be it official or 3P).

God I would kill for an MP Gigatron. I don't care if it's Takara or Fanstoys or Maketoys or whoever, I need one. The only things you'd have to really engineer differently would be:
>Put head on a balljoint
>Give knees and elbows double joints (I know the toy sort of has double-jointed knees but the second joint is mounted too low to look good when used for articulation)
>Enable the wing assembly to twist around so it bends "naturally" for dragon mode
>Replace the torso gearing for the grab gimmick with a waist and chest joint (which would allow the hand mode to grab anyway, just not on a gear system)
>Give him articulated fingers
>Give him a proper joint in the middle of the tail/cockpit/thumb

I know it sounds like a lot, but in the grand scheme of things compared to a lot of MPs, his transformation would be pretty simple and very reminiscent of the old toy. Sure it would have to be more complex in places to facilitate those changes, but by virtue of him being a robot demon that basically did yoga to reach most of his alt modes rather than a robot that has to turn into a convincing representation of a very specific thing, it wouldn't be that challenging to do (at least, by transformation engineering standards).

[Emerje]

Was this it for Wonderfest? If so that's incredibly disappointing. Takara hasn't shown a thing for the legends series besides the headmasters set for months. I really thought they were just saving stuff for this convention.

The whole Transformers booth was not that big, admittedly, and they focused a lot on Godbomber, the TLK stuff, and then general showcases from the MP line and Prime 1 Studio. Maybe Legends is reaching towards its end, to make space for the movie year? Maybe a hiatus? I dunno, I'm just saying words.

Just wanted to point out that Takara Tomy has only been attending Wonder Festival for the past couple years so they don't have much of a presence there. Their big focus is on Tokyo Toy Show in June, if they have any plans for Legends this year they'll reveal them there. Don't forget, they haven't announced any plans for Adventures either. For now the big focus is on The Last Knight and MPs.

Emerje

[Va'al]

Was this it for Wonderfest? If so that's incredibly disappointing. Takara hasn't shown a thing for the legends series besides the headmasters set for months. I really thought they were just saving stuff for this convention.

The whole Transformers booth was not that big, admittedly, and they focused a lot on Godbomber, the TLK stuff, and then general showcases from the MP line and Prime 1 Studio. Maybe Legends is reaching towards its end, to make space for the movie year? Maybe a hiatus? I dunno, I'm just saying words.

Just wanted to point out that Takara Tomy has only been attending Wonder Festival for the past couple years so they don't have much of a presence there. Their big focus is on Tokyo Toy Show in June, if they have any plans for Legends this year they'll reveal them there. Don't forget, they haven't announced any plans for Adventures either. For now the big focus is on The Last Knight and MPs.

Emerje

A very good point indeed. Thanks!

[Cyberpath]

New web-comic from Takara:

[Sabrblade]

Looks to be leading up to the new Leo Prime figure. Those are the Legends World-native versions of Lio Convoy and his son Lio Junior. Though, in this universe, Lio Junior is simply named "Junior", and he refers to his dad as "Lio Tou-chan" ("Tou-chan" being a more affectionate version of "Tou-san", which means "Father", "Dad", etc.; essentially "Lio Daddy").

[Cobotron]

Got notification from Amiami for Lio Daddy, so he has been released.

[Wolfman Jake]

Looks to be leading up to the new Leo Prime figure. Those are the Legends World-native versions of Lio Convoy and his son Lio Junior. Though, in this universe, Lio Junior is simply named "Junior", and he refers to his dad as "Lio Tou-chan" ("Tou-chan" being a more affectionate version of "Tou-san", which means "Father", "Dad", etc.; essentially "Lio Daddy").

Can you give us a synopsis of the comic strip? It looks pretty funny, from Lio's exaggerated expressions.

[Sabrblade]

Looks to be leading up to the new Leo Prime figure. Those are the Legends World-native versions of Lio Convoy and his son Lio Junior. Though, in this universe, Lio Junior is simply named "Junior", and he refers to his dad as "Lio Tou-chan" ("Tou-chan" being a more affectionate version of "Tou-san", which means "Father", "Dad", etc.; essentially "Lio Daddy").

Can you give us a synopsis of the comic strip? It looks pretty funny, from Lio's exaggerated expressions.

I may know some Japanese, but not enough to fully summarize what all's going on in that comic, I afraid.

From what little I can tell, my best guess is that it kinda looks like Lio Convoy and Junior are talking about the idea of the former turning into a Transformer, a prospect that excites and intrigues Lio Convoy, who then tries to make it happen. But when it does happen in that one panel, everyone is scared by him, so he feels sad afterwards and Junior tries to comfort him.

That's just my guess based on the imagery and Katakana used, though.

[Wolfman Jake]

The Takara Transformers Legends EX Headmaster set is now available at Big Bad Toy Store for $34.99. Yes, it is available to ship NOW! This is not a preorder!

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Looks to be leading up to the new Leo Prime figure. Those are the Legends World-native versions of Lio Convoy and his son Lio Junior. Though, in this universe, Lio Junior is simply named "Junior", and he refers to his dad as "Lio Tou-chan" ("Tou-chan" being a more affectionate version of "Tou-san", which means "Father", "Dad", etc.; essentially "Lio Daddy").

Can you give us a synopsis of the comic strip? It looks pretty funny, from Lio's exaggerated expressions.

I may know some Japanese, but not enough to fully summarize what all's going on in that comic, I afraid.

From what little I can tell, my best guess is that it kinda looks like Lio Convoy and Junior are talking about the idea of the former turning into a Transformer, a prospect that excites and intrigues Lio Convoy, who then tries to make it happen. But when it does happen in that one panel, everyone is scared by him, so he feels sad afterwards and Junior tries to comfort him.

That's just my guess based on the imagery and Katakana used, though.

I did some haphazard translating of the first yonkoma, as it's one with less kanji to look up (not to mention some don't even pop up in online dictionaries). I do know some, but not enough to fully understand it.

It seems like Junior wants a Transformer toy, but Lio think they're too expensive. A couple of "Transforming" funny faces to entertain him... and Junior still asks about a toy.

Not sure what's the deal with the second yonkoma, all I see is Lio taking Junior's lunch money (between 5,000 and 10,000 Yen) to "transform" it. Don't know about the second panel, but it left him distraught, with Junior telling he won't stop him from doing it again and to make obento, or lunch boxes instead, I guess to save up money.

From what I can tell Lio... has problems. The living arrangements don't look up to standard, and him holding a bottle of wine may show he has a drinking problem (not referring to Apache!). He does care for Junior, doing what he can with the limits.

[Sabrblade]

From what I can tell Lio... has problems. The living arrangements don't look up to standard, and him holding a bottle of wine may show he has a drinking problem (not referring to Apache!).

*sigh* The early fandom's misconceptions make me weary sometimes.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

From what I can tell Lio... has problems. The living arrangements don't look up to standard, and him holding a bottle of wine may show he has a drinking problem (not referring to Apache!).

*sigh* The early fandom's misconceptions make me weary sometimes.

Yeah, hence the "not referring to Apache". In before, you know? Can't wait for the proper translations to see how far off I actually am.