The Energon Pub

[shajaki]

As for Metroflex being re-issued, simple marketing strategy

yes! I understand that there are probably a select few still out there that haven't got Metroplex yet, so why would they wanna buy this reissue at FULL PRICE!!! when they can simply buy him CHEAPER with one of the previous releases( SDCC)

so...some marketing strategy...eh?

Can you post a link of where you can buy the previous issue for cheaper?

Yes. Please share this magical source of cheap Metro's. Cause last time I checked, ANY version was almost double retail

Most people probably see this reissue as a godsend.

[jasonhage]

Anyone know if Takara has a different version of Quake or is it the same as Hasbro's.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Anyone know if Takara has a different version of Quake or is it the same as Hasbro's.

TakaraTomy is not going to release Quake from what we can tell. TakaraTomy usually does not release simple headswaps, that would include Breakaway and Krok.

[Stuartmaximus]

OK.....as far as looking in all the standard places(Kapow, BBTS, Ebay, Amazon etc) Metroplex seems to be dearer! buuttt....maybe sales pages/threads within forums/websites/social media..ect...has him cheaper! who knows?

[Desslok2201]

OK.....as far as looking in all the standard places(Kapow, BBTS, Ebay, Amazon etc) Metroplex seems to be dearer! buuttt....maybe sales pages/threads within forums/websites/social media..ect...has him cheaper! who knows?

The price on him has been climbing for the past 8-10 months, and so much so that it's a generally known thing. Good luck in your search, but I'm glad that everyone who actually wants to find him reasonably has a second chance.
By the way, if there's anyone out there that would like the US issue, I am willing to trade for one of the reissues. You can even keep the extra gun, I just want that chrome!

[nycPrime]

I picked up a MIB Metroplex last year for $100 off the forums. The catch was the seller kept all the guns. I found that price acceptable, especially seeing ebay prices. Even after picking up a 3p Sixgun, it was much cheaper than this reissue, so I'm still good.

[ExciKaiser]

And aside from Devastator (which hasbro asked takara to lower the parts count for), none of these have different tooling. So I dont know what gives with the sudden shift.

My best guess : internet sales and export.

While we're not talking about billions of sales, the international market for collectors who wants a different version from Hasbro's is probably significant enough to justify this.

While they officially do not sell outside Japan, I think they can measure quite effectively the % of production shipping outside Japan. And probably want to maintain this by providing figures different enough from Habro's mass-retail.

[Qwan]

Well for Metroplex at least (I'm not 100% certain on the others but I think the same applies), Takara did a poll to see which older LG figures fans wanted a reissue of, and these were the ones that got the most votes. So yes in fact, apparently people didn't buy those the first time round and wanted another go, hence the reissues.

Metroplex had nothing to do with that poll.

Heh, right you are. Looking back at the original article, I must have seen Fort Max and misremembered him as the other giant city-bot when I was writing that. Ironic how the one figure I was certain about also happened to be the one that I was totally wrong on.

Anyways, I'm semi-interested in a re-release of LG Metroplex. I stupidly passed up on Gen Metroplex multiple times when he was around (even on sale for near-50% off! ) so it'd be nice to have another shot at a relatively 'reasonable' price, especially with what I'd consider to be the somewhat nicer Takara deco. On the other hand since I have Fort Max now, I'm suffering from a reverse of what others had when Max was originally announced; the molds for the two are pretty similar and I already have one version now, so it's much harder to justify such a large price-tag for the same base mold. Bottom line is that this reissue seems like quite a clever idea to me; I just don't know if I'll go for it personally, thanks to the other huge lump of Autobot plastic staring at me across the room.

[nycPrime]

Anyways, I'm semi-interested in a re-release of LG Metroplex. I stupidly passed up on Gen Metroplex multiple times when he was around (even on sale for near-50% off! ) so it'd be nice to have another shot at a relatively 'reasonable' price, especially with what I'd consider to be the somewhat nicer Takara deco. On the other hand since I have Fort Max now, I'm suffering from a reverse of what others had when Max was originally announced; the molds for the two are pretty similar and I already have one version now, so it's much harder to justify such a large price-tag for the same base mold. Bottom line is that this reissue seems like quite a clever idea to me; I just don't know if I'll go for it personally, thanks to the other huge lump of Autobot plastic staring at me across the room.

You hit it right on the nail there. While I personally don't mind having multiple figures that share a mold (as long as I want the actual characters), it definitely factors in at this price point. I would've been interested in this if the price was a little lower, but will have to pass as well.

[Stuartmaximus]

:-D
Still Hoping for an EX Overlord and Black Shadow
Although forgets Black Shadow perhaps

Aye...I'm still hoping for a Black Shadow

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

I would say a Legends release of Sky Shadow as Black Shadow is about as likely as a Legends release of Breakaway as Lightfoot.

They weren't gonna remove the Headmaster gimmick on Overlord. Period. We're well past the point of speculating that Takara would do that for any of the non-Headmaster toys.

....

Honestly, both Hasbro and Takara are giving us not one but two brand new releases of OVERLORD of all characters, and so many just wanna complain about the Headmaster gimmick? Would y'all have rather we never got a new Overlord, let alone TWO optional versions, at all? Honestly, we are a spoiled fandom.

Like, seriously, you'd think people would have realized Takara Overlord would stay a Headmaster after Takara made Legends Godbomber - you know, the mold unique to there lineup - a Headmaster.

They need to fix that damn ramp on Metro. I still don't know what they were thinking.

What were they thinking? Not of the city mode until late in the design process. That's the feeling Generations Metroplex gives me, is that he was designed mainly for his hulking robot mode with the city mode being something of an afterthought.

[Kurona]

Metroplex's lanky proportions, his being just -barely- taller than Fort Max and that fact being advertised to hell and back all over his box suggest to me that that was the absolute priority and they went out of their way to do that without caring what was sacrificed. Biggest Transformer Ever first, actual quality citybot second.

[Sabrblade]

Metroplex's lanky proportions, his being just -barely- taller than Fort Max and that fact being advertised to hell and back all over his box suggest to me that that was the absolute priority and they went out of their way to do that without caring what was sacrificed. Biggest Transformer Ever first, actual quality citybot second.

And yet, that title ended up being completely reclaimed by Fort Max just in no less than 3 years.

[Hellscream9999]

Metroplex's lanky proportions, his being just -barely- taller than Fort Max and that fact being advertised to hell and back all over his box suggest to me that that was the absolute priority and they went out of their way to do that without caring what was sacrificed. Biggest Transformer Ever first, actual quality citybot second.

And yet, that titled ended up being completely reclaimed by Fort Max just in no less than 3 years.

Well... it is fort max, the og biggest tf evar just wanted what was his.

As for metroplex, I like the little crane they added in his vehicle mode, and the vehicle mode too, for that matter, it just felt like it gave the alt mode a nice sense of scale, and hearkened back to when playsets were full of hidden little gadgets

[Qwan]

Metroplex's lanky proportions, his being just -barely- taller than Fort Max and that fact being advertised to hell and back all over his box suggest to me that that was the absolute priority and they went out of their way to do that without caring what was sacrificed. Biggest Transformer Ever first, actual quality citybot second.

And yet, that titled ended up being completely reclaimed by Fort Max just in no less than 3 years.

I guess it doesn't really matter to them, since they'd already sold the Biggest Transformer Ever three years ago by that point. TR Max reclaiming the title just meant they could sell the Biggest Transformer Ever again, hooray!

Regardless, I think the general consensus is that Gen Metro is better than TR Max, am I right in that reading of popular opinion? As unconvincing as Metroplex's city/base mode was, at least he did more than fall over and knock his head off. And while this is clearly wishful thinking (I'm not gonna use the banner, it's way too intrusive ) it'd be amazing if this reissue saw some retooled Titan Master pegs so the thoroughly-more-convincing base could be utilised by some better-scaled robits. The best of both worlds, surely...

[Kurona]

I thought Fort Max was considered better as a toy than Metroplex; with disappointment in the latter only coming from mold re-use and not being very representative of the character. As a toy he seems to have a lot more going for him.

[TF-fan kev777]

I thought Fort Max was considered better as a toy than Metroplex; with disappointment in the latter only coming from mold re-use and not being very representative of the character. As a toy he seems to have a lot more going for him.

I have both, and when viewed just against each other, Metroplex is the better one. Where Fort Max has Metroplex is with the interaction with the rest of the Titan's Return line. For me, it is enough for me to like Fort Max better overall while Metroplex is still the better one when viewed one on one.

Of course they both lose out to Trypticon.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

I don't own either, but I like Fort Max better aesthetically in all modes, and his base mode looks more convincing, more functional, and better laid out to me (though it could stand to have the descent ramps of the original toy's arm garages).

As for Metroplex and Titan Master functionality, one could drill teeny holes in strategic locations and glue bits of suitable-diameter wire, toothpick, or sprue in them (This is kind of a joke but not quite because I would actually do this)

If we want to talk Metroplex and modifications, why not Combiner Wars ports where the original toy had sockets for attaching combiner limbs? Or maybe a Sixgun (or Sixgun-Slammer hybrid) with an excuse-altmode (So he can be sold separately) and corresponding tabs for them to help the city mode? (Might be reaching on that one).

[shajaki]

Regardless, I think the general consensus is that Gen Metro is better than TR Max, am I right in that reading of popular opinion? As unconvincing as Metroplex's city/base mode was, at least he did more than fall over and knock his head off. And while this is clearly wishful thinking (I'm not gonna use the banner, it's way too intrusive ) it'd be amazing if this reissue saw some retooled Titan Master pegs so the thoroughly-more-convincing base could be utilised by some better-scaled robits. The best of both worlds, surely...

Max is the better one. His city mode isn't great either, but I've seen some fan mode'ing that looked pretty great. Cerebros also adds a ton to this figure as well. The only thing he lacks that Metro has, is packaged-in weapons.

[Evil Eye]

I must be honest, I don't particularly fancy either. Both are weirdly proportioned, lacking in articulation (the feet limit most poses and the hands, compared to the likes of Unicron's manipulators, are inexcusable) and have highly questionable alternate modes, and Fortress Maximus in particular actually looks worse than his G1 figure, from 30 YEARS AGO. Yes he has knees (though at that size without ankle articulation it's fairly meaningless) but he's far too gangly, under-armed and his alternate modes suuuuuuck. Granted his space cruiser mode always looked awful but the G1 city mode was a masterwork of chunky armoured goodness. His new city mode is absolutely pitiful.

[Sabrblade]

His new city mode is absolutely pitiful.

Which is why I for one am glad Takara wisely chose not to present that mode as a "city".

[Rysquad]

Wanted to get Hasbro Octone but Takara Octone with the Starscream headmaster/Titan Master looks too good to miss out on.

[Emerje]

You can only add so much to his height before it makes things look weird/ugly. The fact is, you just can't get the Masterforce size relationship with a Leader-class Overlord and a Leader-class Ginrai. In Masterforce (whose fiction, aside from making the Pretenders' robot modes big and their shells small, followed the toy sizes more or less) Ginrai was essentially a Leader-class figure... and Overlord was essentially a Supreme-class figure (like most G1 Citybots).

So if you want that size relationship, what you need is a Supreme-class Overlord.

Not really. If we pretend that the Legends bodies are scaled the same way as their original Masterforce bodies then the upper limit should be God Ginrai since he and Overlord are supposed to be the same size in fiction.




I pulled out my Legends God Ginrai and stuck him next to TR Sky Shadow with the alternate foot transformation and the difference in height is around an inch so any third party spacer would only need to be an inch thick or so. And since this mold already has rather long legs the longer torso wouldn't look out of place in the slightest.

Emerje

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Mm.. From what I've seen (31 episodes in) they're not always quite the same height, and the animators kinda cheated with God Ginrai's size. It's a bit jarring since Overlord is definitely taller and bulkier than Super Ginrai in the show, as per the toys.

On a phyiscal, practical level I still think it would end up looking stretched if you extended the torso or extended the thighs, because you're only adding height and not bulk. The only way I think you could pull off stretching is if you had spacers designed to bulk up the Gigatank halves.

[Emerje]

Considering how thin God Ginrai's limbs are and how bulky Overlord's arms and torso are even compared to Sky Shadow, and how the legs are already overly long, especially when the feet are extended.


Yeah, adding a little length to his torso won't effect his proportions in the slightest.

Emerje