The Energon Pub

[fenrir72]

For a mold that was widely vilified for the recycled parts (around 30%), add a different color and a weeeeeeeeeeeeee armor and suddenly its a must have? Now if that shell was more anime accurate Jan Coogo style,,,,,,,,,,,

[Seibertron]

Yah, that "shell" needs to be cartoon or toy accurate like the rest of them. The one they showed was neither.

[william-james88]

i wonder how many pre-orders are being cancelled now since the shell goal wasnt hit.

TakaraTomy Mall doesn't cancel preorders, so any canceled preorders on places like BBTS won't affect the figure's production.

So basically we are not really preordering ourselves but BBTS and other places are and they just resell them to us right?

I think we have it all wrong. The price BBTS is selling it at is not enough of a markup for them buying it from TTMall, shipping it and then reselling it. If it were the case, the markup would look more like th markup for last years Legends 2 pack with Dogfight which was triple the actual price in japan.
Like most Takara products, they are getting it through another channel. I have no clue how it works, I am just saying I am pretty sure how it doesnt work.

And this proves what I was saying to Sebertron and Megatronus, our orders, unless done through TTMall directly, have 0 impact. This was entirely dependent on the Japanese market.

[Seibertron]

I 100% disagree. I'm assuming that the US online retailers have a very large impact on those numbers and that they are placing an order with a middle man of some sort that does indeed purchase directly from Takara Tomy mall, and our pre-orders do have a definite impact. If I were a major US online Transformers retailer like BBTS or TFsource, I just can't imagine that they can't directly impact something like this. It wouldn't make sense this far down the road at this point. Your post makes it sound like those retailers don't have connections in Japan, which I'm about 100% certain they do have.

104W

[joevill]

That's too bad. I actually did my pre-order with BBTS last week after reading about the goals.

[chuckdawg1999]

By the way, Great Shot is a TTM exclusive too?

He is, yes.

Ah, no wonder I couldn't find it on Amazon Japan.

[william-james88]

I 100% disagree. I'm assuming that the US online retailers have a very large impact on those numbers and that they are placing an order with a middle man of some sort that does indeed purchase directly from Takara Tomy mall, and our pre-orders do have a definite impact. If I were a major US online Transformers retailer like BBTS or TFsource, I just can't imagine that they can't directly impact something like this. It wouldn't make sense this far down the road at this point. Your post makes it sound like those retailers don't have connections in Japan, which I'm about 100% certain they do have.

104W

I didnt say they didnt have connections in Japan, I just said they dont buy directly from TTMall. The mark up is too low for that. For most products they get it wholesale through a japanese middleman who can buy directly from Takara like Diamond can buy from Hasbro and then ship to smaller shops. Then when its a TTMall exclusive, they often buy through Hasbro Asia (same with those tokyo toy show exclusives). There have been many instances where TTmall had a limited amount of figures, like UW Defensor for instance, but everyone who wanted one in the world was able to get him with BBTS and TFSource still taking lots of preorders while TTMall was sold out in no time. Defensor at TTmall was 135$ US while he is 149$ at TFSource. That wouldnt even cover shipping and duty. So thats precedent for BBTS and other international retailers getting a TTMall exclusive without buying directly from TTMall.

And this is the same with this set. Scotty P explains it also at the begining of the recent NYCC Podcast with TTMall not caring about international audiences and international orders being purchased from other wholesalers rather than TTMall. It would explain why there werent enough preorders at TTMall to reach the limit when odds are there will be far more than 2000 on the market when all is said and done. If not that would mean that all preorders combined from every seller in the world was less than 3000. Could be, I am just looking at all that we know and scratching my head.

[Burn]

I FINALLY got around to opening my box from HLJ yesterday (and thus, FINALLY got around to posting about it today).

It did indeed contain Gnaw, Hot Rod and Kup (or whatever the **** they're called in Japan).

Gnaw - Definitely prefer the colours of this guy over the TR one. He was, and still is, a fun little mold.

Hot Rod - I wasn't a big fan of the TR version, partially because I detest Hot Rod, and his future self, but also because it was just ... bland. I find the colours of the Legends one though to be MUCH better. Still not a big fan of the mold but he looks better.

Kup - From the first pictures of him I was never impressed. The alt mode looks like a piece of ****. The robot mode is slightly better, but ... eh, nothing fabulous.
That opinion hasn't changed. I really REALLY don't like the alt mode, the robot mode is okay, but nothing that is going to win him figure of the year award.
What I do like though? I like his transformation. In particular the legs, I really enjoyed how they formed.

The Targetmasters are nothing to get excited over either.

So yeah, yay for Gnaw!

[ExciKaiser]

Why did you purchased them if you were not convinced from the pictures ?
Real question, I remember in the "rediscovering joy of collecting", that purchasing the latest toys just for following the general movement was a cause of your boredom.

[Insurgent]

I finally decided to open hot rod. I really like him. Could have done without tge transparent chest but it's actually works well in person. And I love firebolt. The sculpt is much nicer than recoil. All in aall, glad i decided to keep him.

[Burn]

Why did you purchased them if you were not convinced from the pictures ?

But I was. I preferred the colours of all three over the Hasbro versions.

I only got Kup because everyone harped on about how great he was. And while the robot mode is okay, the alt mode is still a piece of ****. Good thing I don't display in alt mode.

[TF-fan kev777]

What I do like though? I like his transformation. In particular the legs, I really enjoyed how they formed.

I'm still amazed how a whole bunch of panels come together to form a really solid leg. He's my 3rd favorite deluxe mold from the line, right behind Triggerhapy and the TopTwist twins.

[Burn]

I'm still amazed how a whole bunch of panels come together to form a really solid leg.

Exactly! It's really well done. For me though, the rest of the figure is a let down. It does have potential though, if they were to hide all the panels in the "tray", as well as the hands, maybe using a canopy (thus making it a different character).

[william-james88]

I'm still amazed how a whole bunch of panels come together to form a really solid leg.

Exactly! It's really well done. For me though, the rest of the figure is a let down. It does have potential though, if they were to hide all the panels in the "tray", as well as the hands, maybe using a canopy (thus making it a different character).

For what it counts, the Hasbro version makes the alt mode look better on the sides since it has different shoulders made to fit with the alt mode.

[Qwan]

the TopTwist twins

Heeeyyy, cool to see my dumb nickname for the two of them gaining a bit of traction!

While I'd put Triggerhappy a little further down the list myself as compared to yours (not by much, but he doesn't gel for me quiite as well as he does for others) I do agree that the Kup mold is one of the cleverer designs to come out of this line. The legs are genius for sure, but the torso transformation is no slouch either. My only real complaints with the LG version's vehicle mode are the funny gaps behind the cab where the hands can be seen, and the hands themselves - two connected issues which are significantly less noticeable on the Hasbro version thanks to the shoulder design.

Even with those issues though, I still think he's the best Kup we've ever gotten, in both robot and vehicle mode. Gen Sergeant Kup had an awesome vehicle mode but except for the colors nothing about it ever said Kup to me; PRiD Kup, despite also taking plenty of liberties with the vehicle, ended up with the worst truck bed I've ever seen (and it should've been totally avoidable too!); and so on. This guy has a bit of trouble here and there, but all things considered the vehicle looks cool, looks good and looks Kup. And what more could I ask for?

[fenrir72]

What's wrong with the overall Kup design anyway? Not just the Titans Return but the original 1986?

Hotrod, Springer,Blurr,Arcee,Kup, Wheelie were the product of their time. Hb wanted to shift to a futuristic out of this world look and Floro Dery answered the call.

Kup is amazing. Awesome design! Just because a vocal minority sez so doesn't mean it has to be true 'cause if they suck so much, how come Takara/Hasbro keeps on "re imagining" them?

[Qwan]

if they suck so much, how come Takara/Hasbro keeps on "re imagining" them?

Money, dear boy. Whether they're good or not (and I like them all okay personally, but actually defining the quality of the characters/designs is wayyy too nebulous to really do), they're still nostalgic, and hence all the re-imaginings have a better chance of selling than totally new characters - at least, in the corporate line of thought.

Besides, I don't think anyone was really bashing on Kup's overall design. At worst, there was recognition that in order to accommodate the actual physical properties of a transforming toy, the figure's design had to make a few compromises that people (myself included) weren't entirely happy with.

[ExciKaiser]

Besides, I don't think anyone was really bashing on Kup's overall design.

No, on my part, I bashed only the head. Which in my opinion not improved with the Takara version.

That's why I finally got Orion in order to enjoy this mold.

[fenrir72]

Besides, I don't think anyone was really bashing on Kup's overall design.

No, on my part, I bashed only the head. Which in my opinion not improved with the Takara version.

That's why I finally got Orion in order to enjoy this mold.

Best Orion will be PotP "Optimus"/Orion Pax! And the Takara version will be a home run! Now if only an Ariel/Elita 1 is also released (not the Starscream mold version though too early to tell how good or bad she will be)

[Cyberpath]

[Sabrblade]

delete post

[william-james88]

Fellow Seibertronian Cyberpath sent us some scans of the newly released Japanese Transformers Generations book which feature some lovely detailed sketches of the finished models for the recent leaders Overlord and Sixshot. While this book is for Japanese audiences, the artwork for Overlord seems to be specific to the Hasbro release since only one Titan Master is shown as becoming a face and the technical drawing indicates the possibility of filling out his chest holes with Titan Masters. The image of Skyshadow in no way confirms that Takara has plans for him and is there to show how that design compares with the Overlord design. Of course, the Takara version of Overlord mostly remains the same from the Hasbro version, mold-wise, so these drawings cover the bulk of the design for both releases.

These technical drawings appear to be very close to the final products indicating that these are very near to the last phase of product design, right before the next phase involving the physical construction of the mold. These drawings show us how much Takara is involved with the design process of all Transformers toys, regardless of which company they will be released under.

The scans were found on 北马伊斯力's Weibo page.

[Alpha Dominus]

Awesome line work! With the exception of the fists,it almost looks like they design the character model without toy engineering in mind. Would love to see a Transformers sketchbook someday-character bible or toy design.

[Sabrblade]

There's also one for Trypticon too:

[Seibertron]

Twitter user Shin @ transformer Four Mania (@singgg4) posted a quick tweet regarding the upcoming Transformers Legends LG-EX God Ginrai set. In his tweet, Shin wrote that he received a notification that the set would be delayed by one week. According to the information he posted, it looks like the set will come out on December 2nd, 2017 instead of its previous release date. The Transformers Legends LG-EX God Ginrai set includes Super Ginrai, God Bomber and additional Headmasters for Minerva and Cab. Super Ginrai and God Bomber merge together to form God Ginrai.



This set is still available for pre-order from several of Seibertron.com's advertisers including TheChosenPrime, TFsource and BigBadToyStore. If you're in Japan, you can order this set from Takara Tomy Mall for ￥17,280 (~$155 USD). Pictures from previous news stories can be viewed below.

Are you excited about LG-EX God Ginrai? Share your thoughts about this set on our forum!