The Energon Pub

[fenrir72]

So in essence I should expect crap quality because?....

Deceiving myself? No, that would be following you're logic. I'll go and just buy Takara.

And where did I quote you?

I'm saying you should not expect god tier quality from a toy company.


Takara is not any better then Hasbro believe it or not.



And you did not quote me I'm talking about your line in my quote about the difference between man and crying boys.

You guys mentioned something about quality. I'm not too sure what category this falls, but despite my being 99.99999% satisfied with UW Devastar I do wish TT would(?) use a plastic type similar to the ones Bandai uses in their SOC. Don't know exactly how to describe it or if on an atomic level they are the same as I don't have a spectrographic analyzer doohickey but the lime green of Devs looks a bit.........different from the ones used in Encore and the feel when compared to SoCs. I might be wrong but compare the plasric to that used with G1 Jetfire blah blah blah........you get what I mean guys.

[DedicatedGhostArt]

Please mirageandjazz1197 think of the little kids!


(jk)

Wait was there something wrong with what I said?

Nvm I have a dirty mind. I should be less immature.

[bvzxa]

While I am completely happy to see everyone liking Combiner Wars, objectively speaking this is not Hasbro's best line in terms of quality and value for your buck. For the same prices (counting inflation), the RID 2001 line gave us some insane engineering, heavy use of clear plastic, lots of paint, rubber wheels and projectiles. There was also the animated line which gave us amazing designs and very unique transformations. Then there was the Cybertron/Galaxy Force line which is probably the peak for style and simplicity for toys, making the toys perfect for both collectors and kids. Simple without it sacrificing anything, and loads of details (plus projectiles, clear plastic, nice paint jobs, big heavy toys, sounds and electronics ect).

There are lots more lines like this and the year 2010 was just insane. I cant believe that 6 years ago you could get HFTD Leader Starscream for the same price people are getting Leader Megatron or Ultra Magnus today, it feels like another era. Hell, forget Magnus, he cost the same as CW Leader Starscream. I think I am going to start a fit, call the men in the white coats!

While CW is a super fun line with an excellent combiner port system, there is less value when looking at the diversity in designs and materials, plus the lack of added value for the leader class toys. Doesnt mean its a bad line at all, it is leagues better than FOC. But I would not call this the golden age either. It was discussed more in depth here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=105951&p=1747589&hilit=golden+age#p1747479

In short, think about it guys, Classics Prime is a better voyager Prime figure than CW Prime and that toy came out 10 years ago.

You are speaking of RID, that was all Takara designs from one year before with Car Robots or "Transformers 2000" as it was unofficially dubbed on the internet because Car Robots would show up with Carrots in searches.

The RID versions of X-Brawn, Prowl , and Sideburn differ from their Takara counterparts. With X-Brawn he lacked tailights and headlights in car mode. The paints were ok but not quite as clean as the Takara versions. I was pissed. Fire Convoy and RID Prime are the same except the reds are darker on Fire Convoy, but they filled in the hole on the matirx for RID Prime.

CW is a repaint fest of the same 10 molds for the deluxes, and the same 4 voyager molds also share the same. Takara has made the line a bit more enjoyable with all the proper characters and added paint apps.

[Sabrblade]

The RID versions of X-Brawn, Prowl , and Sideburn differ from their Takara counterparts. With X-Brawn he lacked tailights and headlights in car mode.

That was to avoid paying licensing fees to Mercedes. Note that Takara released CR Wild Ride without a license from Mercedes either, but Hasbro figured they they've have to license the figure's altmode to get it released unless they made the changes to it that they did.

Though, it was Side Burn that got Hasbro in trouble with Dodge that forced all future Hasbro releases of the mold (starting with the Supercharge Mode redeco) to sport the Dodge logo.

[bvzxa]

The RID versions of X-Brawn, Prowl , and Sideburn differ from their Takara counterparts. With X-Brawn he lacked tailights and headlights in car mode.

That was to avoid paying licensing fees to Mercedes. Note that Takara released CR Wild Ride with a license from Mercedes either, but Hasbro figured they they've have to license the figure's altmode to get it released unless they made the changes to it that they did.

Though, it was Side Burn that got Hasbro in trouble with Dodge that forced all future Hasbro releases of the mold (starting with the Supercharge Mode redeco) to sport the Dodge logo.

Yeah...I remember. I wasn't happy though, Wlidrider was my favorite from Car Robots.

[william-james88]

The RID versions of X-Brawn, Prowl , and Sideburn differ from their Takara counterparts. With X-Brawn he lacked tailights and headlights in car mode.

That was to avoid paying licensing fees to Mercedes. Note that Takara released CR Wild Ride with a license from Mercedes either, but Hasbro figured they they've have to license the figure's altmode to get it released unless they made the changes to it that they did.

Though, it was Side Burn that got Hasbro in trouble with Dodge that forced all future Hasbro releases of the mold (starting with the Supercharge Mode redeco) to sport the Dodge logo.

Wow I didn't know that, that's awesome. And Burn, we are talking about differences between takara and Hasbro, which is legit in a takara thread

[Burn]

And Burn, we are talking about differences between takara and Hasbro, which is legit in a takara thread

No, it's not. That could be discussed in its own thread. This is a thread to discuss Unite Warriors, NOT quality differences between Hasbro and Takara, and most certainly NOT RID.

Come on guys, respect the thread.

[Sabrblade]

The RID versions of X-Brawn, Prowl , and Sideburn differ from their Takara counterparts. With X-Brawn he lacked tailights and headlights in car mode.

That was to avoid paying licensing fees to Mercedes. Note that Takara released CR Wild Ride with a license from Mercedes either, but Hasbro figured they they've have to license the figure's altmode to get it released unless they made the changes to it that they did.

Though, it was Side Burn that got Hasbro in trouble with Dodge that forced all future Hasbro releases of the mold (starting with the Supercharge Mode redeco) to sport the Dodge logo.

Wow I didn't know that, that's awesome. And Burn, we are talking about differences between takara and Hasbro, which is legit in a takara thread

There's a typo in my post, though. I meant to say that Takara released Wild Ride without a license, like Hasbro did.

[Deadput]

No, it's not. That could be discussed in its own thread. This is a thread to discuss Unite Warriors, NOT quality differences between Hasbro and Takara, and most certainly NOT RID.

Come on guys, respect the thread.

Burn is right were letting our opinions get the better of us.



In the end they are toys so lets not clutter this thread and break rules.


Be an Optimist Prime not a Negatron.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Be an Optimist Prime not a Negatron.

This is sig worthy

[Deadput]

Be an Optimist Prime not a Negatron.

This is sig worthy

It's not my quote admittedly I found it on google and it's stuck with me since.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Be an Optimist Prime not a Negatron.

This is sig worthy

It's not my quote admittedly I found it on google and it's stuck with me since.

Well I'm still keeping it

[TF-fan kev777]

So in the end, Takara and Hasbro is the same price, you just have to add the shipping, but that depends on where you are in the world, which varies from fan to fan.

Another positive for Hasbro is that you can buy the figures individually which is great for those who cannot drop the money at one time on a set. I guess the argument could be made for saving the money but many people like me are horrible at saving so I just buy when I can.

One other item to consider that pushes things in Hasbro's favor, at least in the US, are discounts. Using Devastator as an example, lets assume both versions are about $150. Add taxes for Hasbro and shipping for TT. At ToysRUs, you can regularly get 15% off by using their credit card, and many times get 20% off. Plus, join their rewards program and you get $5 back for every $125 you spend. So TT remains at $150 plus shipping. But Hasbro, through TRU if you can score %20 off, now you are at $130 plus tax (discounts drop the taxable amount). I'm in Illinois with some of the highest sales taxes around at 8.75%, but I'll use %10 to make the math easier. That is $143 total and why I have the Hasbro version. Plus I have another $5 off my next purchase. I've done this enough that I actually used one ($5 off next purchase) when buying the big guy and bought him in another state with 6% tax on a business trip, so I actually paid a little over $135.

I believe Target gives you 10% for using their card, so you can save there as well, and sometimes they have other discounts on their cartwheel app (that's how I got many of the leader class figures).

If you are a deal chaser like me, then Hasbro is cheaper, but may require a bit of research on the deals, timing and luck (finding them in stock).

[Blastback]

Blastoff's not perfect by any means, but the head sculpt alone makes him a no brainer for me. Not like I was expecting Masterpiece quality. I like that they went with the toy eyes vs the cartoon ones.

[william-james88]

Blastoff's not perfect by any means, but the head sculpt alone makes him a no brainer for me. Not like I was expecting Masterpiece quality. I like that they went with the toy eyes vs the cartoon ones.

Makes sense, these are generations figures afterall, not MP figures. And like you I think that within the constraint of that price point, they did a phenominal job.

Oh man, I am just so excited for this Blastoff and Bruticus in General.

Sorry about earlier Burn, but look we are now back on track

[william-james88]

PS: I just did my calculations and while it is obviously more advantageous for anyone outside the states to buy directly from japan instead of getting it from TF Source, any US collectors wont reap much from the difference of importing themselves this time. They would save at most 10$US, so not that much.

That depends on what else you have in your Private Warehouse or what have you. The savings could be quite a bit more than $10 if you distribute shipping over multiple items, no?

Sorry for only getting back to you now. And I actualyl dont think there is a way to save more than 10$, even with your private warehouse and here is why: shipping from japan gets far more expensive when shipping a larger box. The whole deal with SAL is that you can take up a small amount of space that's left over. The bigger the box, the smaller there is a difference between SAL and EMS. And EMS aint that cheap. Plus at that point, if we are counting those savings, we'd als need to compare the savings of a POL at BBTS and how much that saves you on shipping and the benefits of each kind of cancel out.

From my experience, it is far better to ship these UW sets seperate. They have this nice size that still works for SAL and they have boxes designed for exactly that box type, so you never lose on paying for box dimesions of unuse space (which you would if you added something else to your order). Let me know if I am clear or not


Oh and here is some proof and estimates if anyone is curous about shipping from japan:

Shipping 6 deluxe sized boxes in one order was: Y1,990

Shipping Encore Skylynx, Powerlynx Wingsabre, Animated ratchet, Encore Trailbeaker and Q Prowl was: Y6,150

I should have just shipped Skylynx independently from the rest, it wold have come out cheaper.

[marcgutierrez373]

Idunno...yall being negative about this mold by I'm just happy to have a sweet blast off.. And fairly cartoon accurate. Ordinary I can't wait for blast off to post so I can order him and groove... Hell Takara, make a new onslaught and techno it's, I'll buy em

[Stuartmaximus]

here....do you think Takara will give us a Shockwave repaint as Air Raid? the same way they did with the FOC figure!

now YES granted we've already got a CW Air Raid Arielbot! so it's a stretch asking them to give us the same character TWICE!

but it was just an idea.

[steals_your_goats]

here....do you think Takara will give us a Shockwave repaint as Air Raid? the same way they did with the FOC figure!

now YES granted we've already got a CW Air Raid Arielbot! so it's a stretch asking them to give us the same character TWICE!

but it was just an idea.

Didn't Hasbro release the air raid version? But no, no I do not think they will do that

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I really hope they wouldn't do that, and I doubt they would anyway

[william-james88]

here....do you think Takara will give us a Shockwave repaint as Air Raid? the same way they did with the FOC figure!

now YES granted we've already got a CW Air Raid Arielbot! so it's a stretch asking them to give us the same character TWICE!

but it was just an idea.

Didn't Hasbro release the air raid version? But no, no I do not think they will do that

Yes, Hasbro released it. It was different for takara, shockwave was even in another totally different line (arms micron).

And I am pretty confident in saying that it wont happen, especially since we already have a Shockwave toy meant to interact with CW.

[Stuartmaximus]

here....do you think Takara will give us a Shockwave repaint as Air Raid? the same way they did with the FOC figure!

now YES granted we've already got a CW Air Raid Arielbot! so it's a stretch asking them to give us the same character TWICE!

but it was just an idea.

Didn't Hasbro release the air raid version? But no, no I do not think they will do that

Yes, Hasbro released it. It was different for takara, shockwave was even in another totally different line (arms micron).

And I am pretty confident in saying that it wont happen, especially since we already have a Shockwave toy meant to interact with CW.

aye, clearly they're not gonna give us two figures of the same character in the same line

although.....was wondering if they might've repainted him for the Titans Return line? that's always a possibility

[ZeroWolf]

That's doubtful they would do that, especially with that mold. While I won't rule out cw moulds in tr I just can't see it. Although what does this have to do with the uw line?

[william-james88]

aye, clearly they're not gonna give us two figures of the same character in the same line

although.....was wondering if they might've repainted him for the Titans Return line? that's always a possibility

Not really, they did do that, with Thundercracker and Skywarp for instance. But the idea here is that they wouldnt give us 2 different versions of the same character using 2 different molds that both interact in combiner wars. Those thundercrackers dont officially interact with anyone.

[Stuartmaximus]

oh....btw....with this new Blast Off mold....i can definitely see a repaint on the horizon, as Movor! as well as Bruticus as Ruination