The Energon Pub

[Wolfman Jake]

Still looks too gray to me. Looks very similar to me for the most part except for different lighting or saturation. Where's the blue or bluish gray?

Huh. The difference is night and day to me. Granted, the teal is dark and the pale blue/green is very pale, but I can see it. I can kind of make myself see them as "gray" almost, but I have to concentrate. For the original photos, I can't make them look anything but gray no matter how hard I try.

Color really is a very subjective experience. Who knew Kup's colors were so hard to really nail down? Let's just hope this doesn't become a whole blue vs. white dress thing.

[Emerje]

For those who were worried about the gray color scheme, it appears as though bad lighting was the reason for the grayish feel, as these new images show Kup in a daker teal sort of color, more closely matching his cartoon self.

Those have clearly been photoshopped (by Takara Tomy using new photos), just look at those strangely colored shadows. Would prefer it was a bit more blue, but still, it's a good faith gesture and admittance that they really screwed up the first time around.

Emerje

[Seibertron]

Color really is a very subjective experience.

It's not. There's a character who's been around for 31 years. Until this version of him, he's more or less been the same color palette (bluish-green, greenish-blue, or comic book 4 colors only blue). Then there's this figure that is homaging some obscure color scheme from an episode who's entire color palette is too dark (i.e. Ultra Magnus is a very dark red, Spike Witwicky's skin color is way off, etc. It's not just Kup who was too dark of a color in that episode).

Who knew Kup's colors were so hard to really nail down?

They're not. Google Images can be Takara's friend too.











I think what's frustrating to me about this is that instead of them just doing it right, they're doing this one-off oddball color scheme, everyone argues about it online, blah blah blah, and then they later release a convention or online exclusive "anime" accurate or "G1 toy" accurate color scheme, everyone will say "wow, they really did listen to fans" when, in fact, it was just them doing a "well, it's a close enough color scheme, but not entirely what fans want, so we'll do the less desirable one first so that fans buy it, and then come out with the more desired color scheme later so that we can double dip on sales.

This pattern is frustrating and seeing fans argue ad-nauseum is also frustrating. I don't mind seeing a less desirable character get the new mold treatment first (i.e. Sky Shadow over Overlord) but seeing a less popular or inaccurate color scheme first makes me feel like we keep getting taken for a ride.

[fenrir72]

The new images looks a tad greener. We'll have ta wait for the official official final copy for the public in hand version then.

Concerning Ryan's comments, maybe the guy at Takara in charge of color setting sees colors differently? And like, too bad he gets the final say like what happened to MP Shockwave or how the various JP Galvatron versions had different shades of purple.

Or could the color choice have an economic element and the local supplier has raised the price on green gray teal?

[Seibertron]

Just an FYI ... I had my wife look at the pics, and she said the ones on the right of Kup (the new pics) definitely had a green tint, and the ones on the left definitely looked gray. So this could be a color blindness thing. While not what I wanted to hear her say, it makes me feel a little bit better about it. I definitely see the "green" in the pics on the right, but it looks like a very grayish green to me which she confirmed that it did look like a greenish gray (but I think to her the green looks more prominent). I showed her what Kup is supposed to look like from Google images, and she said he definitely doesn't look like that. So take all of that for what you will.

[Wolfman Jake]

It really doesn't look that far off to me. All of these screen caps are from "The Transformers: The Movie." Maybe that's what Takara is specifically going for?

Seibertron, would you have your wife look at these comparisons? She might agree they look a lot closer than the comparisons you gave her earlier, which, in my opinion, are all over the map in terms of hue and saturation.

[Carnivius_Prime]

Eh I was quite into the grey look but this looks nice too. I definitely prefer it over the really bright teal of previous toys.

[Deadput]

Ughhh.

This is great the only reason I was ever going to get it was because it was grey so it could become a different character on my shelf and I can't paint to save my life.

I really hope there is a grey version either later or it gets released with this one.

[Seibertron]

Those tftm movie screen caps most recently posted for comparison are very dark. That's not how the movie looks. Maybe I have the brightness turned up more or something. I'll pop in my copies tomorrow to verify or put my foot in my mouth.

[Burn]

You know, I was never really on-board with TR Hot Rod, but I got him anyway. And TR Kup? ugh, nope, didn't like.

But then TakaraTomy come along and do this and make both Hot Rod, Kup AND Gnaw (who was already a great little figure) more appealing.

I should just bite the bullet and order them.

[Wolfman Jake]

You know, I was never really on-board with TR Hot Rod, but I got him anyway. And TR Kup? ugh, nope, didn't like.

But then TakaraTomy come along and do this and make both Hot Rod, Kup AND Gnaw (who was already a great little figure) more appealing.

I should just bite the bullet and order them.

I would do it now, before everyone else buys them up. Remember, Hot Rod and Kup come with "exclusive" Targetmaster partners too. I was going to buy Legends Kup when we all thought he was gonna be gray, just to get Recoil.

[Qwan]

Whew, glad to see I made the right choice slapping that pre-order on Kup when I did. I mean he's not out of stock yet I guess, but still it makes me feel good to have accurately "predicted the trend" or whatever. I'm much happier with his colors - whether they're perfect or not, they make him look like Kup! Honestly, that's good enough for me and this will absolutely be my Classics etc. Kup once I get him in September or so.

Still not decided on Hot Rod though; I'm gonna have to see a few more angles (or maybe something in motion?) - especially a better look at that chest - before I make a judgement on him.

[Carnivius_Prime]

Those tftm movie screen caps most recently posted for comparison are very dark. That's not how the movie looks. Maybe I have the brightness turned up more or something. I'll pop in my copies tomorrow to verify or put my foot in my mouth.

Just checked both a digital copy of the movie I got and the DVD from some years ago on both my PS4 and my PC and they both look that 'dark'. Could be I just have my screen settings that way on both the TV and monitor cos that's how I like it but if they showed everything else I watch/play on them too dark I should have noticed by now. Could be just that the movie is supposed to be a bit darker in colour due to the more complex shading or story tone compared to the more upbeat TV series. Either way I definitely prefer a darker Kup to overly bright previous toy Kup so I'm sticking with the pre-order for now. Takara really turned this mold from a toy I didn't really care for at all to one I actually want.

[jungletron]

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[Burn]

You know, I was never really on-board with TR Hot Rod, but I got him anyway. And TR Kup? ugh, nope, didn't like.

But then TakaraTomy come along and do this and make both Hot Rod, Kup AND Gnaw (who was already a great little figure) more appealing.

I should just bite the bullet and order them.

I would do it now, before everyone else buys them up. Remember, Hot Rod and Kup come with "exclusive" Targetmaster partners too. I was going to buy Legends Kup when we all thought he was gonna be gray, just to get Recoil.

Yeah, fine, done.

[kirbenvost]

Well, dangit. It was such an easy no, but with the color change and having just watched the '86 movie again yesterday, I better put a preorder in.

[Deadput]

Even with the color change from grey to teal I'm still going to get him and Hot Rod becuase the changes to the mold such as new arms or chest is enough to justify the purchuses.

What I'm personally going to do is

Kup: Instead of going with Armorhide Takara Kup is going to be "retired" Kup with the Hasbro version being him during his time with the Wreckers in my collections universe.

Hot Rod: Since the chest doesn't fold making it bulkier and the colors seem to match I'm going to make Takara Hot Rod into a trailer-less Rodimus Prime by giving him the Hasbro Box set Rodimus Titan master with Hasbro Hot Rod being well... Hot Rod.

[Kurona]

It's still a rather minor change; and essentially it's just gone from outright-inaccurate to very-debatable-does-this-match-that-one-time-in-the-movie-or-not, but it's still miles better.

[SureShot18]

Well it does look pretty spot on to the screenshots Wolfman Jake posted, so that's a good thing. I don't think it's for me though. I guess I'm a crazy person that likes Kup to be very teal like the old Generations toy. No amount of paint could make that terrible headsculpt look better though.

[Sigma Magnus]

Colors looked great before, but now they're just right. Headsculpt is a bit odd. Overall, I'm pretty sure this'll be our definitive G1-style Kup for awhile...and I'm still getting the Hasbro version.

[Evil Eye]

Whilst I did like the grey, this is definitely better for cartoon accuracy and still looks pretty classy. A win for everyone IMO.

[SW's SilverHammer]

Well, cancelled my preorder. Thanks or making kup look like a piece of **** again TT.

[Evil Eye]

Well, cancelled my preorder. Thanks or making kup look like a piece of **** again TT.

Well, it IS Sh*tpiece!

[william-james88]

This pattern is frustrating and seeing fans argue ad-nauseum is also frustrating.

I really hate the part about fans arguing for the sake of it too. What I dislike is how the fact that takara has photoshopped this colour change is proof that they arent always right about the source material, nor as loyal as people think they are. They make mistakes too and here is a prime example I will keep using whenever someone says Takara is always right. I love Takara but I do not follow them blindly and what frustrated me was how some fans online (less here) were in this deep denial that Takara had the wrong colours and instead was referncing something that actually happened and that it was so great of them to be so show accurate. Plus, it scared the **** out of me thinking of what the MP would look like if this was what takara thought the show accurate colours to be.

The fact that Takara admits to their mistake definitely calms me down. I personally still think its not the best colour for Kup, but its at least debatable. And this is just test shots anyway. The fact that they can change the colour almost overnight in photoshop tells me that its not too late to get it even better.

Anyways, all that aside, I can give one definite proof that Kups colours were not the concensus on the character by asking anyone to recall if there were fans who objected to the colours used on generations Kup. I cant remember any, we just accepted the colour as being a decent take on what we remembered and wanted. So if there was no big argument there and there is one now, I think thats proof enough that Takara had messed up. I would still love to have this mold be closer to those generations colours. Cant believe his colours were already well done once and that its later that we get it wrong.

[Carnivius_Prime]

I would still love to have this mold be closer to those generations colours. Cant believe his colours were already well done once and that its later that we get it wrong.

Can't please everyone. I'm fine with it as it is now even if the pics have been photoshopped. I don't like the Generations colours (or the Generations figure). If the colour does get brightened I may cancel my pre-order.