The Energon Pub

[Kurona]

I'm honestly surprised Hasbro redecoed Leobreaker into Leo Prime before Japan got the chance. Takara always seems to have a massive hard-on for Lio Convoy and Star Saber... which is why I could see them turning Alpha Trion into him.
But hey, at least it'd be something different instead of just the same toy with a little extra paint.

But that means japanese fans wont get a release of Alpha Trion and will be stuck importing.

That's true; but on the other hand, it means everywhere else in the world won't get... whatever theoretical character Takara would repaint this mold into. So it balances out in the worst kind of way.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I'm honestly surprised Hasbro redecoed Leobreaker into Leo Prime before Japan got the chance. Takara always seems to have a massive hard-on for Lio Convoy and Star Saber... which is why I could see them turning Alpha Trion into him.
But hey, at least it'd be something different instead of just the same toy with a little extra paint.

Bu that means japanese fans wont get a release of Alpha Trion and will be stuck importing.

Should a Alpha Trion into Lio Convioy come to pass, I wonder what they'll do with the Headmaster. Also, with the upcoming Voyager Optimus Prime possibly being considered a "double" release (two Convoy-like toys in a single year), they could switch out Sovereign with the Prime Titan Master, whatever he's called.

[Randomhero]

I'm honestly surprised Hasbro redecoed Leobreaker into Leo Prime before Japan got the chance. Takara always seems to have a massive hard-on for Lio Convoy and Star Saber... which is why I could see them turning Alpha Trion into him.
But hey, at least it'd be something different instead of just the same toy with a little extra paint.

But that means japanese fans wont get a release of Alpha Trion and will be stuck importing.

That's true; but on the other hand, it means everywhere else in the world won't get... whatever theoretical character Takara would repaint this mold into. So it balances out in the worst kind of way.

Well they had to wait 2 1/2 years for Skids. There's no plans for a Jhiaxus, Crosscut, or the leader Class seeker mold. Takara tries to stay faithful as much as they can with little deviations but not much. Looks at the redecos that we've seen leaked photos of. I'd wager they won't be getting that Getaway retool of Chromedome.

We never even got that Nightbird or Blackarachnia retool yet we got slipstream as a botcon exclusive and god knows what Hasbro had to deal with to get CW Groove because they said up until March they didn't know if they'd make a deluxe version.

[william-james88]

Well they had to wait 2 1/2 years for Skids. There's no plans for a Jhiaxus, Crosscut, or the leader Class seeker mold. Takara tries to stay faithful as much as they can with little deviations but not much. Looks at the redecos that we've seen leaked photos of. I'd wager they won't be getting that Getaway retool of Chromedome.

Jut so you know, Getaway is just a redeco with a new head, there are no retooled parts. You know what, maybe we just figured it out. Takara follows the Hasbro schedule pretty closely for the deluxes but they dont like doing straight up redecos when they already released the mold previously (at least recently). So it could be that Brainstorm will replace Getaway from the third wave of deluxes.

[Sabrblade]

Given what the current fiction for the Legends line has done with Alpha Trion, I could see Takara releasing the TR Voyager Alpha Trion mold as Alpha Trin (Trion's Japanese name) in the Legends line with justification for his new lion/spaceship/robot Triple Changer body.

Another Lio Prime would be dull though. They did that last time Hasbro released a lion TF.

And that body and head looked nothing like Leo Prime. So yeah Japan is weird.

That toy's bio justified its appearance differing from Lio Convoy's original look.

And later on, the TCC capitalized on what that toy's bio said and expanded upon it even further in their own fiction.

[Sabrblade]

Whoa, wait a sec! Highbrow's new head looks to be colored almost more Rebirth-accurate than Headmasters-accurate. That is really bizarre!

[Randomhero]

Hey Will, I just wanted to let you know I just found the entire Hasbro first wave of deluxes and legends. They're all pretty solid. I had to fight the urge not to buy all of the scourges they had to build a sweeps army. In due time. All are really great, I think Blur has the best mold but a little drab in deco sadly still great and Wheelie is gorgeous. Glad I got that GDO Wheelie years ago because he has his slingshot.

Sadly heads are going to depend on mileage. Scourge is pretty bobbly, it's the connector ports, not the heads themselves.

[Zeedust]

Weirdwolf doesn't inspire me, but that Apeface mold looks great.

The fact that Takara didn't give Apeface cartoon-colours suggests to me that perhaps they are working on proper toys for the Horrorcons (like with Groove and Blast Off.

It suggests to me that the wanted Apeface's colors to match Weirdwolf's.

[Sabrblade]

Weirdwolf doesn't inspire me, but that Apeface mold looks great.

The fact that Takara didn't give Apeface cartoon-colours suggests to me that perhaps they are working on proper toys for the Horrorcons (like with Groove and Blast Off.

It suggests to me that the wanted Apeface's colors to match Weirdwolf's.

Apeface's monkey/jet/gun vehicle accessory, that is, since Apeface himself doesn't come with Weirdwolf.

[Randomhero]

Weirdwolf doesn't inspire me, but that Apeface mold looks great.

The fact that Takara didn't give Apeface cartoon-colours suggests to me that perhaps they are working on proper toys for the Horrorcons (like with Groove and Blast Off.

It suggests to me that the wanted Apeface's colors to match Weirdwolf's.

I agree. I don't believe Takara will be doing what they did with CW and start hashing it their own molds. I think they wanted to put a vehicle/beast with weirdwolf like they've done with the other headmasters they're putting out and that was hadn't been used yet.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Weirdwolf doesn't inspire me, but that Apeface mold looks great.

The fact that Takara didn't give Apeface cartoon-colours suggests to me that perhaps they are working on proper toys for the Horrorcons (like with Groove and Blast Off.

It suggests to me that the wanted Apeface's colors to match Weirdwolf's.

I agree. I don't believe Takara will be doing what they did with CW and start hashing it their own molds. I think they wanted to put a vehicle/beast with weirdwolf like they've done with the other headmasters they're putting out and that was hadn't been used yet.

That would also explain why they reused the Crashbash vehicle for Wipe (again, Japanese name of Mindwipe). Also, only the original Headmasters in the anime seem to be eligible for extras, not the likes of Scourge and Blurr.

By the by, the Apeface vehicle matching Weirdwolf has a rather unfortunate consequence, as pointed out by Sabrblade:



Read this at your own risk

[Zeedust]

Weirdwolf doesn't inspire me, but that Apeface mold looks great.

The fact that Takara didn't give Apeface cartoon-colours suggests to me that perhaps they are working on proper toys for the Horrorcons (like with Groove and Blast Off.

It suggests to me that the wanted Apeface's colors to match Weirdwolf's.

Apeface's monkey/jet/gun vehicle accessory, that is, since Apeface himself doesn't come with Weirdwolf.

The guy I was replying to referred to it as Apeface, so I went with that. Talking about these things would be so much easier if the "accessory" components had their own names, something along the line of "TERRI-BULL with Blastcharge vehicle" or "CLOBBER with T-Wrecks beast" or something.

[Randomhero]

I just don't see them going out their way. The gestalt were a completely different thing. They were teams that combined and Takara wanted to be as faithful as possible. I don't see them making new bodies for apeface or Snapdragon. They're not doing it for nightbeat, goShooter or any others. More than likely the apeface head will be included with a legends figure like they've been doing just to get the mold used if they want to. I don't see them releasing brawn or grimlock because...again Takara is weird about that stuff.

[fenrir72]

That's not what I said at all but if you want to take this route than the override/groove comparison isn't indicative of anything regarding the legends line since override was released under TAV and deluxe groove was released under unite warriors. Takara has already released characters twice under the legends line like rat trap and rhinox but they use them as exclusives. So they very well could just use the brain storm tooling but as an exclusive instead.

Your right and I can totally see that and I agree. But that still means everyone is back where we started off since Brainstorm is not part of Hasbro's standard schedule and so far Takara is following that schedule quite closely. An exclusve makes sense, but what is the most any of you would pay for a deluxe Brainstorm from Takara? Because Rattrap and co were 40$ back when the exchange was in our favor.

Not wanting to start a flame war/beating a very dead horse issue a few pages back but I noticed one factor, a very significant one at that you mentioned. The foreign exchange rate. Even way way back, not counting inflation, purchasing power, the price of gasoline, the f/x exchange rate is one of those very messy components in the free market that really affects how much a consumer items cost since "ancient times".

So I'm gonna be very picky this time and just order the Takara versions this time (beats going to a TRU and find them sold out or not sold at all)

[fenrir72]

Weirdwolf doesn't inspire me, but that Apeface mold looks great.

The fact that Takara didn't give Apeface cartoon-colours suggests to me that perhaps they are working on proper toys for the Horrorcons (like with Groove and Blast Off.

It suggests to me that the wanted Apeface's colors to match Weirdwolf's.

I agree. I don't believe Takara will be doing what they did with CW and start hashing it their own molds. I think they wanted to put a vehicle/beast with weirdwolf like they've done with the other headmasters they're putting out and that was hadn't been used yet.

That would also explain why they reused the Crashbash vehicle for Wipe (again, Japanese name of Mindwipe). Also, only the original Headmasters in the anime seem to be eligible for extras, not the likes of Scourge and Blurr.

By the by, the Apeface vehicle matching Weirdwolf has a rather unfortunate consequence, as pointed out by Sabrblade:



Read this at your own risk

Kinda slow on the pick up but what's the BOT episode relevant to the not Apeface mini vehicle?

[Sabrblade]

Kinda slow on the pick up but what's the BOT episode relevant to the not Apeface mini vehicle?

The color layout of the Apeface vehicle in Weirdwolf's color scheme ends up giving it a rather particular resemblance to B.O.T.:

[fenrir72]

Kinda slow on the pick up but what's the BOT episode relevant to the not Apeface mini vehicle?

The color layout of the Apeface vehicle in Weirdwolf's color scheme ends up giving it a rather particular resemblance to B.O.T.:

Homage to BOT? Plausible.

[Cyberpath]

LG35 - Super Ginrai(November,2016, 8,500 JPY)

LG36 - Soundwave (November,2016, 8,000 JPY)

LG37 - Jaguar (Ravage) & Bullhorn (November,2016, 1,800 JPY)

LG38 - Condor (Laserbeak) & Apeface (November,2016, 1,800 JPY)

LG39 - Brainstorm (November,2016, 4,000 JPY)

LG40 - Astrotrain (November,2016, 5,000 JPY)

Source: https://www.facebook.com/loopaza/

[Cyberpath]

So much for hope of proper Apeface & Snapdragon figures. Apeface's head (エイプフェイス) will be included with Laserbeak. These guys still haven't been done since 1987. Oh well.

[william-james88]

Great, now I just look stupid.

[fenrir72]

LG35 - Super Ginrai(November,2016, 8,500 JPY)

LG36 - Soundwave (November,2016, 8,000 JPY)

LG37 - Jaguar (Ravage) & Bullhorn (November,2016, 1,800 JPY)

LG38 - Condor (Laserbeak) & Apeface (November,2016, 1,800 JPY)

LG39 - Brainstorm (November,2016, 4,000 JPY)

LG40 - Astrotrain (November,2016, 5,000 JPY)

Source: https://www.facebook.com/loopaza/

Oh my aching wallet!

[King Kuuga]

Great, now I just look stupid.

Oh ye of little faith.

[Kurona]

I need Ginrai right now. His base mode looks so funked up

Is it just me, or does the silhouette of Astrotrain look... different somehow? There's something about it that doesn't quite match up with the Hasbro version but I can't pin it down... I think, at least

[william-james88]

Fellow Seibertronian Cyberpath has found some awesome new listings on Loopaza's Facebook Page for the following upcoming Takara Legends figures:

LG35 - Super Ginrai(November,2016, 8,500 JPY)

LG36 - Soundwave (November,2016, 8,000 JPY)

LG37 - Jaguar (Ravage) & Bullhorn (November,2016, 1,800 JPY)

LG38 - Condor (Laserbeak) & Apeface (November,2016, 1,800 JPY)

LG39 - Brainstorm (November,2016, 4,000 JPY)

LG40 - Astrotrain (November,2016, 5,000 JPY)[/quote]

Here is a picture of these listings with silhouettes:

The biggest takeaway from these is that Takara will be releasing Brainstorm as a standard wide release, unlike the Hasbro counterpart which is a Walgreens exclusive. However, the toy will be coming with a target master/titan master vehicle, adding to its price. Also, Takara seems to be skipping Sentinel Prime and going straight to Astrotrain, which is understandable since Sentinel Prime offers no difference in tooling.

[Randomhero]

Yup. Figured they'd skip Sentinel. Funny we we're just discussing this yesterday and there's the news. I had complete faith they'd do Soundwave. Retool or not it's Soundwave. They're not passing that up and next year they'll have Soundblaster