The Energon Pub

[Stuartmaximus]

at least they got rid of those hideous purple lights on Onslaught

[william-james88]

Thanks for those WJ.

DAMN do I ever like TT's Onslaught.

Me too! I especially love how the vehicle mode doesnt suffer in any way from the differently coloured bruticus chest. His blue head is perfect too. I already have the Universe Onslaught for an update with the black head and all that, and TT said they wont be doing MP combiners, so this is a perfect way to have this toon accurate rendition of onslaught.

I also love the jeep front on Swindle. And while I dont like how more obvious his exposed hands look in jeep mode, they look good in robot mode.

I have no feelings on Brawl. I almost preffer Hasbro simply because I like the uniform chest look even though it isnt toon accurate (but then again, neither is what Takara did with the top of his head).

I think the colours work well with Blastoff's robot mode.

But who I love most is Vortex. The blue is ok and he looks awesome with the 4 rotors folded in the back. If I chose to go the takara route for this guy too, then I would end up with only Blades and Vortex as versions of this nice mold and thats perfect!

Oh one thing though, Takara is tricky in their photography in 2 places.

1. Blastoff's chest is far more protruding than that image alludes to.
2. The outer parts of Onslaughts legs are silver but the image only shows the inner legs, which are blue. It might look a bit odd in the end.

Also, here are reprolabels if anyone cares to give a takara spin on their Hasbro Bruticus. One thing though, they dont do as good a job as Takara in hiding the hotspot lightbars.

http://toyhax.com/for-classics/1899-lab ... ticus.html

[o.supreme]

Sorry if this question seems obvious. But it appears the chest piece from UW is from Blastoffs wing. What did they use to make the chest piece for Hasbro's? Or was it just an extra piece like the foot/hand pieces?

[DedicatedGhostArt]

Sorry if this question seems obvious. But it appears the chest piece from UW is from Blastoffs wing. What did they use to make the chest piece for Hasbro's? Or was it just an extra piece like the foot/hand pieces?

The chest piece is integrated into Onslaught's transformation. It's actually a piece that makes up part of his vehicle, so no it is not part of Blast-off.

[ZeroWolf]

A lot of this comes from personal opinion and what you want for your collection, and if I'm truly honest with myself, I want both. They are bot excellent for their own reasons and both have different flaws, scrambling them together would create the best bruticus. But I day this as someone who doesn't care if it's toon accurate or toy accurate, hence why I embraced alpha bravo, rook and offroad. I think hasbro should be applauded for that approach, while takara have played to their market strengths and there's a far bigger collectors marker in Japan so this makes sense for takara to aim at with these releases. So, takara should also be applauded for their savvy skills.

End of the day, we all get the toys we want (well as long as we can afford them but thats another issue altogether)

[Gunmetal]

Hmmm... I think it's fair to point out that those comparison images you guys posted use stock photos for UW, but in-hand images for CW. I'm not convinced that the Takara paint will look as quite as bold in comparison when we have in-hand images of them as well.

Whatever the case, and I know this is just me, but I think Reprolabels actually has the best deco this time around...

[william-james88]

Hmmm... I think it's fair to point out that those comparison images you guys posted use stock photos for UW, but in-hand images for CW. I'm not convinced that the Takara paint will look as quite as bold in comparison when we have in-hand images of them as well.

Whatever the case, and I know this is just me, but I think Reprolabels actually has the best deco this time around...

I would have agreed but then I looked at the reprolabels Vortex again and it just doesnt work for me.

[Nemesis Maximo]

After all these comparison photos, I still,really only love Takara's Vortex. The rest arent different enough to me, and in the case of Blastoff, I was really on board with the idea of him being a jet. I may just end up doing a custom someday. But if anyone ever wants to sell me their Takara Vortex, lemme know!

[Gunmetal]

Hmmm... I think it's fair to point out that those comparison images you guys posted use stock photos for UW, but in-hand images for CW. I'm not convinced that the Takara paint will look as quite as bold in comparison when we have in-hand images of them as well.

Whatever the case, and I know this is just me, but I think Reprolabels actually has the best deco this time around...

I would have agreed but then I looked at the reprolabels Vortex again and it just doesnt work for me.

And I can't disagree if that's how you see it.

With or without labels, Vortex's Hasbro deco is definitely one you either love or hate.

[Hellscream9999]

Hmmm... I think it's fair to point out that those comparison images you guys posted use stock photos for UW, but in-hand images for CW. I'm not convinced that the Takara paint will look as quite as bold in comparison when we have in-hand images of them as well.

Whatever the case, and I know this is just me, but I think Reprolabels actually has the best deco this time around...

I would have agreed but then I looked at the reprolabels Vortex again and it just doesnt work for me.

And I can't disagree if that's how you see it.

With or without labels, Vortex's Hasbro deco is definitely one you either love or hate.

I like the yellow missiles, they add a nice touch in every mode except arm mode, I guess they look nice from any angle except directly from the side

[Nemesis Maximo]

Hmmm... I think it's fair to point out that those comparison images you guys posted use stock photos for UW, but in-hand images for CW. I'm not convinced that the Takara paint will look as quite as bold in comparison when we have in-hand images of them as well.

Whatever the case, and I know this is just me, but I think Reprolabels actually has the best deco this time around...

I would have agreed but then I looked at the reprolabels Vortex again and it just doesnt work for me.

And I can't disagree if that's how you see it.

With or without labels, Vortex's Hasbro deco is definitely one you either love or hate.

I like the yellow

I HATE YOU.

[Hellscream9999]

Hmmm... I think it's fair to point out that those comparison images you guys posted use stock photos for UW, but in-hand images for CW. I'm not convinced that the Takara paint will look as quite as bold in comparison when we have in-hand images of them as well.

Whatever the case, and I know this is just me, but I think Reprolabels actually has the best deco this time around...

I would have agreed but then I looked at the reprolabels Vortex again and it just doesnt work for me.

And I can't disagree if that's how you see it.

With or without labels, Vortex's Hasbro deco is definitely one you either love or hate.

I like the yellow

I HATE YOU.

That's nice, I hate G1

[DedicatedGhostArt]

Hmmm... I think it's fair to point out that those comparison images you guys posted use stock photos for UW, but in-hand images for CW. I'm not convinced that the Takara paint will look as quite as bold in comparison when we have in-hand images of them as well.

Whatever the case, and I know this is just me, but I think Reprolabels actually has the best deco this time around...

I would have agreed but then I looked at the reprolabels Vortex again and it just doesnt work for me.

And I can't disagree if that's how you see it.

With or without labels, Vortex's Hasbro deco is definitely one you either love or hate.

I like the yellow

I HATE YOU.

Rich golden yellow is pretty.

[Nemesis Destron]

Here are all the comparisons!

Another round goes to Takara.

uw07_vs_cwB.jpg

Zing!!!!

[Mindmaster]

I like them, but I'm perfectly happy with what I got with the Hasbro release. Something about Blast Off just doesn't sit right with me, no sir.

Oh, and that reminds me; I should put a lick of silver paint on Swindle's face. That'll certainly help him out!

[Burn]

HLJ (finally) have their pre-order up.

http://hlj.com/product/tkt86205

[william-james88]

HLJ (finally) have their pre-order up.

http://hlj.com/product/tkt86205

And so does Nippon Yassan

https://www.nippon-yasan.com/figures/15 ... ticus.html

Even cheaper than Anime Export!

[King Kuuga]

I just don't dig the Takara one this time. I think Superion is the only one I've liked overall better than Hasbro's, and then I still got all the Hasbro aerialbots (well, minus Quickslinger). The colors aren't doing it for me, the evocation of vehicle parts that aren't actually there, the weird colors on Blast Off, Vortex's deco...... honestly Hasbro gets this one from me. Get some good hands and feet, some 3P cannons, and a different head on Blast Off and it works.

[xMXUx]

Just pre-ordered him and turns out that it'll be about 20 bucks less including shipping!

wow thats awesome, give us the details! Where did you order, and 20$ less than what? And where are you situated?

I ordered from Anime Express. And he'll be 20$ less tha the Hasbro countrepart.
I live in Switzerland, so getting anything from retail isn't really an option since there is almost no stock ever...
And I still haven't seen anything past wave 1 of CW.

So I'm stuck with importing either way. And the cheapest option for Hasbro products I've found is Kapow Toys.
But because of shipping costs and exchange rates, a full Hasbro combiner costs me about 150$ while the Takara one should only cost 120-130$.

[o.supreme]

HLJ (finally) have their pre-order up.

http://hlj.com/product/tkt86205

And so does Nippon Yassan

https://www.nippon-yasan.com/figures/15 ... ticus.html

Even cheaper than Anime Export!

Just tried this, after shipping however, it comes to about the same price as any other place foreign or domestic

[fenrir72]

I just don't dig the Takara one this time. I think Superion is the only one I've liked overall better than Hasbro's, and then I still got all the Hasbro aerialbots (well, minus Quickslinger). The colors aren't doing it for me, the evocation of vehicle parts that aren't actually there, the weird colors on Blast Off, Vortex's deco...... honestly Hasbro gets this one from me. Get some good hands and feet, some 3P cannons, and a different head on Blast Off and it works.

Personal tastes preference. Normal for each and everyone of us.

[william-james88]

HLJ (finally) have their pre-order up.

http://hlj.com/product/tkt86205

And so does Nippon Yassan

https://www.nippon-yasan.com/figures/15 ... ticus.html

Even cheaper than Anime Export!

Just tried this, after shipping however, it comes to about the same price as any other place foreign or domestic

Not if you ship by registered boat! Which other places dont offer for this toy.

[william-james88]

Here is a full comparions with alt modes and both using stock images brought to you by Splendic on the TFW forums

[Hellscream9999]

It's funny 'cuz cw brawl isn't actually green

[Sabrblade]

If Blast Off, Swindle, and Vorter were to have their decos altered a bit to resemble either of these digibashes, that might fix any issues there are with their official decos: