The Energon Pub

[Wolfman Jake]

Targetmaster Hot Rod(imus) looks amazing. The colors are fantastic! I was a little "meh" at first about the transluscent plastic "distressed" yellow flame pattern, but it's kinda cool and is growing on me. I love his brand new Targetmaster buddy Firebolt too. Takara pretty much fixed up all that was problematic with the Hasbro release, which itself was pretty damned awesome.

Kup is a huge WTF, though. I love the retooling. His face looks fantastic. He's got his own brand new Targetmaster buddy Recoil too, but that color scheme is ridiculous. Why, Takara? WHY? For now, Hasbro Generations Autobots Warriors Sergeant Kup will remain my definitive "Classics" Kup. (I may still get this version if only for the new Targetmaster. Damnit!)

I will be getting at least three of Takara's Sharkticons. This will mostly be for the Sweep Headmasters. I've got three Hasbro versions of Titans Return Scourge acting as my Sweeps in my collection already (Takara's Legends Scourge is "Classics" Scourge proper). These new head sculpts will help differentiate them even more from Scourge himself. Having some additional Sharkitcons will be great. I love army building those little guys. The Hasbro versions are fantastic already. A few with a "premium" paint job will add a little diversity to their horde.

[Deadput]

I will buy that Kup but not for Kup he will become...G1-vised movie Armorhide!

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Armorhide_(Movie)




It's perfect!!!

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Wrong colors Takara. Right mold choices. Thanks for the Targetmasters.

The colors are closer to the ones used in some scenes of Five Faces of Darkness, and The Rebirth. Still a bit off, maybe a similar care to Galvatron's purple: so hard to properly nail it.

[DMSL]

I am glad i bought the Hasbro versions.

The Targetmasters are cool, but both Hot Rod and Kup don't look like their G1 versions at all. Kup is the wrong colour and the face looks off. Hot Rod is a mess, big gap under the windshield where the engine is, no silver paint on the hubcaps or exhausts and that chest flame looks terrible. Is that a sticker? Jeez.

I was expecting so much more from Takara, hopefully the final products will be better.

[Wolfman Jake]

Wrong colors Takara. Right mold choices. Thanks for the Targetmasters.

The colors are closer to the ones used in some scenes of Five Faces of Darkness, and The Rebirth. Still a bit off, maybe a similar care to Galvatron's purple: so hard to properly nail it.

I can still see the teal/light blue in those pics. They're not grayscale. The paint used for those animation cells is just very desaturated. This is just bizarre, because Takara has never made THIS kind of mistake before with coloring. At least with Galvatron, they're consistently off with the light lavender. This grayscale Kup didn't have to be at all!

[Seibertron]

Wrong colors Takara. Right mold choices. Thanks for the Targetmasters.

The colors are closer to the ones used in some scenes of Five Faces of Darkness, and The Rebirth. Still a bit off, maybe a similar care to Galvatron's purple: so hard to properly nail it.

I can still see the teal/light blue in those pics. They're not grayscale. The paint used for those animation cells is just very desaturated. This is just bizarre, because Takara has never made THIS kind of mistake before with coloring. At least with Galvatron, they're consistently off with the light lavender. This grayscale Kup didn't have to be at all!

Yah, I agree. Those scenes look dark or desaturated to begin with. You guys all know that's not the right colors for Kup regardless. His animation from the '86 movie and the Headmasters cartoon should be enough of a precedent. Digging up oddball scenes where his colors are off, desaturdated, or whatever, doesn't justify having a mainline toy have those incorrect colors as well.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Wrong colors Takara. Right mold choices. Thanks for the Targetmasters.

The colors are closer to the ones used in some scenes of Five Faces of Darkness, and The Rebirth. Still a bit off, maybe a similar care to Galvatron's purple: so hard to properly nail it.

I can still see the teal/light blue in those pics. They're not grayscale. The paint used for those animation cells is just very desaturated. This is just bizarre, because Takara has never made THIS kind of mistake before with coloring. At least with Galvatron, they're consistently off with the light lavender. This grayscale Kup didn't have to be at all!

Yah, I agree. Those scenes look dark or desaturated to begin with. You guys all know that's not the right colors for Kup regardless. His animation from the '86 movie and the Headmasters cartoon should be enough of a precedent. Digging up oddball scenes where his colors are off, desaturdated, or whatever, doesn't justify having a mainline toy have those incorrect colors as well.

Still makes the release stand out from all the others, which may be part of the reason of why they did that. Whether or not in a good way is all a matter of taste and opinion.

[Gauntlet101010]

Damn, Kup was so close. I passed on Hasbro's resting assured that takara's would be better, These colours don't work at all.

Hot Rod ... I mean I get what they're going for. Cartoon accuracy. But having the hood like that doesn't look that great.

Gnaw looks fantastic, though.

Well ... I'm still getting all of these. Because I collect Hot Rods, and I just want Kup ... just to have.

[fenrir72]

New faces new paint apps? Takara FTW! Gonna be an expensive take again, Gonna army build if possible the Sharktikon plus a differing mustache for the Sweeps? ?

[fenrir72]

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail ... 2&page=top

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail ... 1&page=top

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail ... 3&page=top

Typical 3 per household limit, I got 3 Sharkticons making a total of 5 (2 Hb versions)

[Autobot Roadburn]

I am glad i bought the Hasbro versions.

The Targetmasters are cool, but both Hot Rod and Kup don't look like their G1 versions at all. Kup is the wrong colour and the face looks off. Hot Rod is a mess, big gap under the windshield where the engine is, no silver paint on the hubcaps or exhausts and that chest flame looks terrible. Is that a sticker? Jeez.

I was expecting so much more from Takara, hopefully the final products will be better.

Wait, but Hot Rod does have silver paint on his hubcaps and exhaust pipes. I understand and agree with your other points, but the paint is definitely there.

[SW's SilverHammer]

Just gonna say it TT's Grey Kup looks better than any animation accurate kup would.

[Kurona]

I kinda just want animation accurate because that would be IDW-revolutionaries-best-bros-with-Action-Man Kup accurate =(

[Deadput]

Darn Kup is sold out at Ages 3 and up will preorders be back in stock at all or do I have to go with Big Bad Toy store?

[Emerje]

Hot Rod is a mess, big gap under the windshield where the engine is, no silver paint on the hubcaps or exhausts and that chest flame looks terrible. Is that a sticker? Jeez.

I'll give you the gap under the windshield, but what do you mean by "no silver paint on the hubcaps or exhausts"? They've clearly been painted silver. The flame is actually translucent like the headlights, which I'm not fond of, especially the weird crackle effect, but some people here seem to like it.

And for those that can't see the difference between Kup at his darkest on the cartoon and the figure which is very much a gray figure, I put this together:

Kup.jpg

Emerje

[fenrir72]

Sharkticon's deco looks great. Not loving the Dali mustache on the Sweep.

I'm impressed that they created Targetmasters for Hot Rod and Kup. Wish they'd remove the Headmaster gimmick for the eventual Decepticon jets, but that's not going to happen.

There's gonna be some Headmasters Seekers?

Btw, on Cha's colors, I have a sinking feeling it just might be the camera shot that's causing the confusion.

There is is phenomena when the color on a camera/screen is slightly different from the real stuff.
Case in point G1 Ultra Magnus. In the catalogs and screen, he comes out as dark blue ish yet the real item he is royal bluish kinda green unlike the MP UM which is just as blue as the images.

I might be wrong as I am just positing a theory.

[fenrir72]

Hot Rod is a mess, big gap under the windshield where the engine is, no silver paint on the hubcaps or exhausts and that chest flame looks terrible. Is that a sticker? Jeez.

I'll give you the gap under the windshield, but what do you mean by "no silver paint on the hubcaps or exhausts"? They've clearly been painted silver. The flame is actually translucent like the headlights, which I'm not fond of, especially the weird crackle effect, but some people here seem to like it.

And for those that can't see the difference between Kup at his darkest on the cartoon and the figure which is very much a gray figure, I put this together:

Kup.jpg

Emerje

Lack of sleep perhaps?

[fenrir72]

Darn Kup is sold out at Ages 3 and up will preorders be back in stock at all or do I have to go with Big Bad Toy store?

You domestic based? Or do you cater to JP online shops?

Here:

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail ... 2&page=top

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail ... 1&page=top

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail ... 3&page=top

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Sharkticon's deco looks great. Not loving the Dali mustache on the Sweep.

I'm impressed that they created Targetmasters for Hot Rod and Kup. Wish they'd remove the Headmaster gimmick for the eventual Decepticon jets, but that's not going to happen.

There's gonna be some Headmasters Seekers?

You know he meant Triggerhappy & co, right?

Btw, on Cha's colors, I have a sinking feeling it just might be the camera shot that's causing the confusion.

There is is phenomena when the color on a camera/screen is slightly different from the real stuff.
Case in point G1 Ultra Magnus. In the catalogs and screen, he comes out as dark blue ish yet the real item he is royal bluish kinda green unlike the MP UM which is just as blue as the images.

I might be wrong as I am just positing a theory.

It's happened before with other figures. Funnily enough, United Sergeant Kup that came with clear blue Hot Rodimus and Scrap Yard looked blue in his stock photos, but that was a photography mishap.

[Emerje]

Btw, on Cha's colors, I have a sinking feeling it just might be the camera shot that's causing the confusion.

I doubt it. If it were a case of the blue not being picked up accurately then the blue in his chest glass and eyes would also be effected and not be so vibrant. Plus Takara Tomy's professional photographers would have to be using a garbage camera to be that far off.

Emerje

[Wolfman Jake]

It'll be interesting to see what kind of storyline (*cough* excuse *cough*) they come up for the Transformers Legends manga to explain away Kup's weird color scheme. You know they will.

I'm a bit surprised/disappointed that Takara did miss one key detail on Hot Rod. His hands are supposed to be gray, not orange. I realize it's a gang molding problem, but usually Takara doesn't shy away from painting over odd plastic colors to get the desired look or effect. While we're on the subject of Takara Legends Hot Rod, I have some ideas for a "fix" for people who aren't digging in the transparent yellow plastic used for his flame detail on the hood. You could paint the underside of the hood yellow, which would increase the opaqueness, helping it blend with the rest of the figure, while also hiding the inner torso transformation kibble. If you don't want to do paint, I bet some yellow paper or something similar could work as well. Think of the inserts some of the recent masterpiece figures have come with for their transparent parts (tape deck, windshield, etc.), like Soundwave, Ironhide, and Ratchet.

[chuckdawg1999]

Is it too late for Takara to tweak the colors on Kup and Roddy?

[Wolfman Jake]

Is it too late for Takara to tweak the colors on Kup and Roddy?

I hope not. These releases are still five months out or so. It's conceivable that a change could be made at this stage. I get wanting such for Kup, but what is your particular issue with Legends Hot Rod as is right now?

[Wolfman Jake]

TFSource has preorders up!

Transformers Legends LG-44 Sharkticon with Sweep
Transformers Legends LG-45 Targetmaster Hot Rod with Firebolt
Transformers Legends LG-46 Targetmaster Kup with Recoil

[william-james88]

Wrong colors Takara. Right mold choices. Thanks for the Targetmasters.

The colors are closer to the ones used in some scenes of Five Faces of Darkness, and The Rebirth. Still a bit off, maybe a similar care to Galvatron's purple: so hard to properly nail it.

Come on Jelze, lets not be devil's advocate for the sake of it, we all know Kup isn't grey. He's teal. Always has been. And Takara knows it too, this isnt the first Kup toy they ever released. (Granted the other one wasnt terribly show acurate either, but it wasnt grey)

I mean come on, lets all look up "Transformers Kup cartoon" and see what comes up:



Takara coudnt do a google search?!

I mean for ****'s sake, he's right here next to an actual grey TF in this pic of the headmasters, they are obviously different colours



Any goodwill by changing the tooling is just lost and makes no sense. What character model did they use for that tooling, did they not notice the damn colour ?

If this is seriously what they are sticking to for show accuracy we are all super **** for that eventual MP.

That gives Hasbro the edge now in terms of a better homage. Its a better homage to the toy than the takara one is to the show.



Hold onto your Hasbro Kups guys, he might have just become way more desireble to a whole slew of TF collectors in Japan.

Darn Kup is sold out at Ages 3 and up will preorders be back in stock at all or do I have to go with Big Bad Toy store?

Why not get them from here, its at least $15 CDN cheaper once you include shipping.

http://www.amiami.com/top/detail/detail ... 3&page=top

And they are all available at amazon.jp but the price isnt that great.