The Energon Pub

[Robogeek1973]

Hisashi Yuki, Takara Unite Warriors head designer (aren't puns fun), has posted the new cominer head exclusive to Takara's version of Computron. He states in his post that they used the cartoon design as a basis and he wanted to showcase it in a post in case this significant change was missed in yesterday's reveal.

Yup, that looks fantastic!


It's gonna be a long wait for this guy.

[kurthy]

Mind you we haven't seen anything regarding individuals and how they actually look painted up in full detail by themselves and how they transform and look, but I think Hasbro won with Strafe using the Air Raid mold. I love that mold and think it works better for Strafe. Now Nosecone may go to takara due to the better mold and retooling, but it depends on the arms and how obvious they are. Hasbro chose the superior mold for Lightspeed in terms of engineering but takara chose the better looking option. So yep, tossup

Well, G1 Lightspeed and CW Breakdown/Wheeljack both had rather long torsos, so... which fits better?

I was more thinking in terms of mold design and how good the actual mold is. The breakdown mold to me is the weakest car mold we got, even if there were some good looking figures that did come from it

I'm thinking that after I get TT Computron, I can put Breakdown, G2 Breakdown, Wheeljack, and Lightspeed on the first Motormaster and have a worse combiner than a PCC.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Mind you we haven't seen anything regarding individuals and how they actually look painted up in full detail by themselves and how they transform and look, but I think Hasbro won with Strafe using the Air Raid mold. I love that mold and think it works better for Strafe. Now Nosecone may go to takara due to the better mold and retooling, but it depends on the arms and how obvious they are. Hasbro chose the superior mold for Lightspeed in terms of engineering but takara chose the better looking option. So yep, tossup

Well, G1 Lightspeed and CW Breakdown/Wheeljack both had rather long torsos, so... which fits better?

I was more thinking in terms of mold design and how good the actual mold is. The breakdown mold to me is the weakest car mold we got, even if there were some good looking figures that did come from it

I'm thinking that after I get TT Computron, I can put Breakdown, G2 Breakdown, Wheeljack, and Lightspeed on the first Motormaster and have a worse combiner than a PCC.

Naw, no way. those molds are still better than those Power core combiners.

[Burn]

Naw, no way. those molds are still better than those Power core combiners.

Dissing PCC's? ooooo your boss ain't gonna like that!

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Naw, no way. those molds are still better than those Power core combiners.

Dissing PCC's? ooooo your boss ain't gonna like that!

Oh now come on, every mold in CW, no matter how repetitive, is better than those PCC's. There were some good ones, but even the good couldn't touch these guys

[kurthy]

Naw, no way. those molds are still better than those Power core combiners.

Dissing PCC's? ooooo your boss ain't gonna like that!

Oh now come on, every mold in CW, no matter how repetitive, is better than those PCC's. There were some good ones, but even the good couldn't touch these guys

4 Breakdown molds plus wave 2 CW Motormaster? Might have quite a few problems in the standing up and posability plus I'm really not a fan of Breakdown as an arm.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Naw, no way. those molds are still better than those Power core combiners.

Dissing PCC's? ooooo your boss ain't gonna like that!

Oh now come on, every mold in CW, no matter how repetitive, is better than those PCC's. There were some good ones, but even the good couldn't touch these guys

4 Breakdown molds plus wave 2 CW Motormaster? Might have quite a few problems in the standing up and posability plus I'm really not a fan of Breakdown as an arm.

Funny thing is this: I am using Wheeljack and Breakdown as arms, and they are able to, thanks to the hips, actually rest in a good looking position, the best of the arms if I must say, a more neutral position. I like them as arms

[fenrir72]

Hisashi really knows how to give a good head.

[kurthy]

Naw, no way. those molds are still better than those Power core combiners.

Dissing PCC's? ooooo your boss ain't gonna like that!

Oh now come on, every mold in CW, no matter how repetitive, is better than those PCC's. There were some good ones, but even the good couldn't touch these guys

4 Breakdown molds plus wave 2 CW Motormaster? Might have quite a few problems in the standing up and posability plus I'm really not a fan of Breakdown as an arm.

Funny thing is this: I am using Wheeljack and Breakdown as arms, and they are able to, thanks to the hips, actually rest in a good looking position, the best of the arms if I must say, a more neutral position. I like them as arms

Yeah, I don't like Deadend, Breakdown or Offroad as arms, but I think that has more to do with me only using them with the truck and firetruck torsos. I haven't put them on the plane torso much and I still don't have Sky Lynx. They don't have enough clearance at the peg. I'm kind of sad I'm only going to have three copies of the Dragstrip mold, criminally underused (although I hate the sword). I think I'm going to have four of every mold except that one when it's all said and done unless Liokaiser is going to use it. And I just realized I forgot Sunstreaker, so I have 4 copies of the Breakdown mold now to make that.

[Mr_Autobot411]

so basically hasbro is giving us the crappy superion head, while takara gets a whole new remolded head etc

so basically if u get the hasbro version it sucks, but u want the takara fork out ur left nut to get him. guess im passing

Is your left nut only 35$? Thats the price difference between the two, and its only because one is imported. They cost the same price at their corresponding local retail (about 100$ US).

Also Hasbro gives you 2 more toys plus those hands and feet everyone wanted. Hasbro isnt cheapenign us out, just offering us something different.

the united version in canadian dollars plus importing etc will be big dollars. devy went for 300. hasbro will be more here too

[King Kuuga]

Yeah, I don't like Deadend, Breakdown or Offroad as arms, but I think that has more to do with me only using them with the truck and firetruck torsos. I haven't put them on the plane torso much and I still don't have Sky Lynx. They don't have enough clearance at the peg. I'm kind of sad I'm only going to have three copies of the Dragstrip mold, criminally underused (although I hate the sword). I think I'm going to have four of every mold except that one when it's all said and done unless Liokaiser is going to use it. And I just realized I forgot Sunstreaker, so I have 4 copies of the Breakdown mold now to make that.

Motorprime in particular has exceptionally small shoulder clearance. Silverclonushot has much better clearance and is a better torso overall than the two others, I feel. I don't have Sky Lynx yet.

How do you have three of the Dragstrip mold? Did you double dip on one of the combiners?

[kurthy]

Yeah, I don't like Deadend, Breakdown or Offroad as arms, but I think that has more to do with me only using them with the truck and firetruck torsos. I haven't put them on the plane torso much and I still don't have Sky Lynx. They don't have enough clearance at the peg. I'm kind of sad I'm only going to have three copies of the Dragstrip mold, criminally underused (although I hate the sword). I think I'm going to have four of every mold except that one when it's all said and done unless Liokaiser is going to use it. And I just realized I forgot Sunstreaker, so I have 4 copies of the Breakdown mold now to make that.

Motorprime in particular has exceptionally small shoulder clearance. Silverclonushot has much better clearance and is a better torso overall than the two others, I feel. I don't have Sky Lynx yet.

How do you have three of the Dragstrip mold? Did you double dip on one of the combiners?

Dragstrip, Mirage, and G2 Dragstrip.

[william-james88]

Yeah, the 2 are very different and offer very different options. One really can't be considered best considering there are very few similarities and they try to fulfill 2 very different things

I am pretty sure one will be more definite. But while I am pretty certain as to which one it is, I will wait till we have all the individual images to hammer in my point

[ZeroWolf]

Yeah, the 2 are very different and offer very different options. One really can't be considered best considering there are very few similarities and they try to fulfill 2 very different things

I am pretty sure one will be more definite. But while I am pretty certain as to which one it is, I will wait till we have all the individual images to hammer in my point

Surely that all depends on what you're after, if it's g1 accuracy then of course one will be better but if you don't care about g1 accuracy at all (like yours truly, unless it's something really stupid like having a sky lynx repaint sit in for deathsarus) then it doesn't really work that way and the other one most likely works out the best, considering the extras.

I'd still rather hear about what takara are doing about leokaiser

[william-james88]

Yeah, the 2 are very different and offer very different options. One really can't be considered best considering there are very few similarities and they try to fulfill 2 very different things

I am pretty sure one will be more definite. But while I am pretty certain as to which one it is, I will wait till we have all the individual images to hammer in my point

Surely that all depends on what you're after, if it's g1 accuracy then of course one will be better but if you don't care about g1 accuracy at all (like yours truly, unless it's something really stupid like having a sky lynx repaint sit in for deathsarus) then it doesn't really work that way and the other one most likely works out the best, considering the extras.

I'd still rather hear about what takara are doing about leokaiser

I wasnt thinking about it in terms of G1 accuracy, but more in terms of having these characters be their own unique toys. If the idea of Combiner Wars is to mix and match, the fun of trying new combinations is amplified by how diverse the toys are. And beyond that, you'd like your combiner to look different than the other combiners and thus its cooler the more distinct he looks from the rest.

Or more simply, to me a character's most defining feature is the face. The body can be different, but if the face is the exact same, it either becomes the same character disguised as someone else, or another character wearing the mask of someone else. My end goal is to have a bunch of combiners looking distinct from one another and them not sharing the same face is vital.

So the world thankfully presents me 2 options. One (Hasbro) which is a combiner made of deritive components that look really similar to toys I already have (5/7) and another which is only has one component (lightspeed) which isn't a heavy remold.

Also, most people dont know yet, though it was written several pages back and confirmed by others, but Hasbro's lightspeed retains (and highlights) the lightbar at the top of the streetwise mold. Also, supposedly none of them have new facesculpts in the Hasbro version but people seem tohave made peace with that as well.

As I said before, it will look more aparant once we see the inidividual molds but I am certain that the way Strafe is handled in both versions will be a nice basis and alegory on which to evaluate the combiner as a whole. I predict a lot of fans willbe dissapointed by the Hasbro version.

Also, I am a man of my word and I wrote this back in October:

The drill part would need better molding to make Nosecone though. The one the club is doing wouldn't be fully satisfactory considering the drill is small.

He needs a nice meaty drill to widen all those crevices and enter with pride! How's he gonna excavate any cave to satisfaction with the tiny thing the club gave him?

And Takara fulfilled that. I would be hypocrytic not to encourage their hard work and dedication.

Oh wow, I wrote a lot about this before:

So yeah, not a fan of how Hasbro is handling Bruticus and I am much less a fan of Computron.
I said this a while back when people were clamoring for one (when scattershot was revealed) that I wished we didnt get it. I saw it coming. We had that Ramhorn revealed and it was a straight up repaint of brawl, still nothing wrong since its of a character we wouldnt get otherwise and a figure most fans wont get anyways. I was fine with it being like that. But when I saw that itty bitty drill accesory I was getting scared. Is this really what Hasbro would do for Nosecone? Because that is extremely lazy. The Drill isnt even part o the figure!! So yeah, seeing what scattershot looked like and what nosecone could look like, I didnt want a computron, not like this. But people clamoured for it. And they got it ... yay.

And you know what, thanks to Takara, I wont be getting that Computron, but another one with a nice meaty drill

[mblase75]

My head cannon

(Sorry, had to be done.)

[ZeroWolf]

Yeah, the 2 are very different and offer very different options. One really can't be considered best considering there are very few similarities and they try to fulfill 2 very different things

I am pretty sure one will be more definite. But while I am pretty certain as to which one it is, I will wait till we have all the individual images to hammer in my point

Surely that all depends on what you're after, if it's g1 accuracy then of course one will be better but if you don't care about g1 accuracy at all (like yours truly, unless it's something really stupid like having a sky lynx repaint sit in for deathsarus) then it doesn't really work that way and the other one most likely works out the best, considering the extras.

I'd still rather hear about what takara are doing about leokaiser

I wasnt thinking about it in terms of G1 accuracy, but more in terms of having these characters be their own unique toys. If the idea of Combiner Wars is to mix and match, the fun of trying new combinations is amplified by how diverse the toys are. And beyond that, you'd like your combiner to look different than the other combiners and thus its cooler the more distinct he looks from the rest.

Or more simply, to me a character's most defining feature is the face. The body can be different, but if the face is the exact same, it either becomes the same character disguised as someone else, or another character wearing the mask of someone else. My end goal is to have a bunch of combiners looking distinct from one another and them not sharing the same face is vital.

So the world thankfully presents me 2 options. One (Hasbro) which is a combiner made of deritive components that look really similar to toys I already have (5/7) and another which is only has one component (lightspeed) which isn't a heavy remold.

Also, most people dont know yet, though it was written several pages back and confirmed by others, but Hasbro's lightspeed retains (and highlights) the lightbar at the top of the streetwise mold. Also, supposedly none of them have new facesculpts in the Hasbro version but people seem tohave made peace with that as well.

As I said before, it will look more aparant once we see the inidividual molds but I am certain that the way Strafe is handled in both versions will be a nice basis and alegory on which to evaluate the combiner as a whole. I predict a lot of fans willbe dissapointed by the Hasbro version.

Also, I am a man of my word and I wrote this back in October:

The drill part would need better molding to make Nosecone though. The one the club is doing wouldn't be fully satisfactory considering the drill is small.

He needs a nice meaty drill to widen all those crevices and enter with pride! How's he gonna excavate any cave to satisfaction with the tiny thing the club gave him?

And Takara fulfilled that. I would be hypocrytic not to encourage their hard work and dedication.

Oh wow, I wrote a lot about this before:

So yeah, not a fan of how Hasbro is handling Bruticus and I am much less a fan of Computron.
I said this a while back when people were clamoring for one (when scattershot was revealed) that I wished we didnt get it. I saw it coming. We had that Ramhorn revealed and it was a straight up repaint of brawl, still nothing wrong since its of a character we wouldnt get otherwise and a figure most fans wont get anyways. I was fine with it being like that. But when I saw that itty bitty drill accesory I was getting scared. Is this really what Hasbro would do for Nosecone? Because that is extremely lazy. The Drill isnt even part o the figure!! So yeah, seeing what scattershot looked like and what nosecone could look like, I didnt want a computron, not like this. But people clamoured for it. And they got it ... yay.

And you know what, thanks to Takara, I wont be getting that Computron, but another one with a nice meaty drill

It would be so easy to read innuendos into that last part of yours but thank you for explaining your thought processes but it does illustrate that everyone has different ways of measuring satisfaction from the figures. You say that hasbro's computron doesn't have the remoulding on it to help make it distinctive from its brethren (and little sister victorion) but that's a non issue for me. It's hard for me to describe my thought processes with these as when I look at these I feel the excitement I did as a child when I constantly flipped through the early nineties European g1 tf catalogue I had and dreamed of owning everything. I can look past sloppy repaints (to an extent, if the actual paint work is sloppy then ill be annoyed) as I love playing with them, messing around with them when I have a few spare moments. I create my own fiction for my collection to explain everything and why my only combiner is made up out of three aerialbots and two protectorbots. I'm doing badly to explain myself aren't I.

In the end I would have the same fun value with both computrons, but hasbro would win out as I've got more chance getting that at retail (0.000001% isn't zero) than takara's and I love getting my tfs in the wild.

Though if takara made it so the drill for nosecone was detachable then I would pray that someone made a custom that looked a little something like this.

[william-james88]

In the end I would have the same fun value with both computrons, but hasbro would win out as I've got more chance getting that at retail (0.000001% isn't zero) than takara's and I love getting my tfs in the wild.

I get that. Finding something in the wild is priceles to some and nothing can beat that.

[Insurgent]

I know Nosecone is a retool of Rook, but I just noticed Nosecone has full length tank treads as well! Dang, I'm not a massive fan of the Technobots (not that I hate them, they were just always a bit low on my list of favs) but yeah, I'm kinda gonna have to get that Takara Computron. It's just too awesome to pass up on.

[Nemesis Maximo]

My head cannon

(Sorry, had to be done.)

Grammar - it makes sure people don't run away from you in terror!

[Sowndwave76]

I'm really excited about the Takara Computron. Wasn't going to pass on this one like the other Autobot combiners, and that new head makes it even sweeter.

But now I don't know if I should keep the PE head/chest set I've preordered...
I'm considering keeping it, getting the Hasbro Scattershot, and adding the set to that.
Although, may not be worth the $50+ to get both...

[Nemesis Maximo]

I'm really excited about the Takara Computron. Wasn't going to pass on this one like the other Autobot combiners, and that new head makes it even sweeter.

But now I don't know if I should keep the PE head/chest set I've preordered...
I'm considering keeping it, getting the Hasbro Scattershot, and adding the set to that.
Although, may not be worth the $50+ to get both...

I'm hoping PE will make a separate set for the UW version. But worst case: if you keep the PE set, you'll be getting a head with tilting capabilities.

Assuming the UW version only has swivel like Superion did.

[Sowndwave76]

I'm really excited about the Takara Computron. Wasn't going to pass on this one like the other Autobot combiners, and that new head makes it even sweeter.

But now I don't know if I should keep the PE head/chest set I've preordered...
I'm considering keeping it, getting the Hasbro Scattershot, and adding the set to that.
Although, may not be worth the $50+ to get both...

I'm hoping PE will make a separate set for the UW version. But worst case: if you keep the PE set, you'll be getting a head with tilting capabilities.

Assuming the UW version only has swivel like Superion did.

Also wouldn't mind having the gun that comes with that set...
But that's not worth $35...
I plan on keeping Computron combined, so having the head/chest on the Hasbro version sitting off somewhere uncombined doesn't really make sense...

[Sowndwave76]

Dang... After looking over pictures again, I like the chest piece of the PE add-on... It gives some bulk in the chest area towards the shoulders. Without it, those areas are just flat (yes, insert jokes, haha).
But I LOVE the new head sculpt, which I'm sure can't be put on the PE chest piece...
Hmm.

[Nemesis Maximo]

Dang... After looking over pictures again, I like the chest piece of the PE add-on... It gives some bulk in the chest area towards the shoulders. Without it, those areas are just flat (yes, insert jokes, haha).
But I LOVE the new head sculpt, which I'm sure can't be put on the PE chest piece...
Hmm.

If you look up a review of the Superion set, I shows that all it is is a chest piece, and the head goes on the existing neck. So if it uses the same engineering as Superion, you should be able to just put the chest piece on and leave the Takara heD on if you like.