The Energon Pub

[Hellscream9999]

About the only things I don't like about the looks of these guys are how Bonecrusher and Long Haul are now less colorful and less detailed than their Hasbro versions since a lot of the silver paint and other colors on them have been removed and replaced with more of the green color. I know it's show-accurate, but it makes them look less exciting and more solidly a single (unflattering) color than these:
And just for fun, here's some comparisons with the others who look about as good as or better than their Hasbro versions:

That was my first thought, that they are - once again - going with the 'lazy show accurate' color scheme, these could have been something beautiful, but now they're just really cool.

Although, if you look closely at Takara Long Haul, you'll see a black square painted behind Long Haul's head. What purpose does this seemingly random paint app serve? To homage the black base that original toy's head was attached to, and which included in the cartoon model set behind his head:

While a quaint inclusion, I would've much preferred other, more important - and much needed - apps

[Evil Eye]

Meh. They still look hollow as hell. The improvements are definitely nice but they can't make up for the fact that the molds just plain and simple suck.

Aaaaaaaaaaand you can do better? Just asking, you own the Hb version to be able to make a really unbiased opinion or is it based on just analyzing the images?

I watched Bobby Skullface's review of the Hasbro version, and quite frankly that was enough to put me off buying any version of these figures. Especially considering that far better alternatives exist- and ironically enough, far more readily available in this country.

Well 'better' is extremely subjective here. Dunno what you look for in a figure, if it's solidity, yeah, there are a ton of immobile, overpriced, 3p lumps out there

Let's analyse this.

>Immboile:
Hercules is somewhat difficult to pose by modern standards, it's true, but he isn't actually missing any key pieces of articulation (such as, say, elbows) in any mode. And Giant is highly poseable, and incredibly stable. Personally from an aesthetic standpoint I prefer Hercules, but they're both good figure sets. They're also far, far less hollow and flimsy than CW Devastator. Obviously I can't comment on the as-yet unreleased Generation Toy and ToyWorld versions but they both look to be shaping up well. Plus, CW Devastator is hardly super poseable- sure he has a lot of joints, but he falls apart at the drop of a hat.

>Overpriced:
You get what you pay for. Giant and Hercules are well-engineered, solid, decent looking combiners. CW Devastator is poorly engineered, flimsy and hollow, misproportioned and barely a combiner given how many compromises were made to the individual robots.

>Lumps:
Funny, because if there's one word I'd use to describe CW Devastator, it's lumpy.

[X3ROhour]

Frak, frak, frakity, frak!

I just got the friggin Hasbros version!
The articulation iso friggin awesome on the Takara bot.
Y!?
I hate that carp!

FRAK!

[Hellscream9999]

Frak, frak, frakity, frak!

I just got the friggin Hasbros version!
The articulation iso friggin awesome on the Takara bot.
Y!?
I hate that carp!

FRAK!

Well we've known about them since botcon weekend...

[Sabrblade]

And as a reminder, here's all the known changes made to Takara Devastator compared to Hasbro's retail version:

• More show-accurate deco for both Devastator and the Constructicons
• A brand new headsculpt that contains a retractable visor to switch between both head designs
• Brand new gun weapons for each individual figure, all of which can store on Devastator's back
• Re-engineered arms for Scrapper to give him elbows
• Re-engineered arms for Long Haul to give him proper elbows
• Re-engineered arms for Hook to give him better (and double-jointed) elbows
• Re-engineered arms for Mixmaster to give him better (and double-jointed) elbows
• Re-engineered legs for Scavenger to give him better knees
• Re-engineered legs for Bonecrusher to give him better knees

[Hellscream9999]

Meh. They still look hollow as hell. The improvements are definitely nice but they can't make up for the fact that the molds just plain and simple suck.

Aaaaaaaaaaand you can do better? Just asking, you own the Hb version to be able to make a really unbiased opinion or is it based on just analyzing the images?

I watched Bobby Skullface's review of the Hasbro version, and quite frankly that was enough to put me off buying any version of these figures. Especially considering that far better alternatives exist- and ironically enough, far more readily available in this country.

Well 'better' is extremely subjective here. Dunno what you look for in a figure, if it's solidity, yeah, there are a ton of immobile, overpriced, 3p lumps out there

Let's analyse this.

>Immboile:
Hercules is somewhat difficult to pose by modern standards, it's true, but he isn't actually missing any key pieces of articulation (such as, say, elbows) in any mode. And Giant is highly poseable, and incredibly stable. Personally from an aesthetic standpoint I prefer Hercules, but they're both good figure sets. They're also far, far less hollow and flimsy than CW Devastator. Obviously I can't comment on the as-yet unreleased Generation Toy and ToyWorld versions but they both look to be shaping up well. Plus, CW Devastator is hardly super poseable- sure he has a lot of joints, but he falls apart at the drop of a hat.

>Overpriced:
You get what you pay for. Giant and Hercules are well-engineered, solid, decent looking combiners. CW Devastator is poorly engineered, flimsy and hollow, misproportioned and barely a combiner given how many compromises were made to the individual robots.

>Lumps:
Funny, because if there's one word I'd use to describe CW Devastator, it's lumpy.

I agree that herc is probably my favorite interpretation of devs, the forearms sold it for me. Personally, I haven't heard of anyone's gen devs 'falling apart at the drop of a hat'. And like it or not, the point of the figure was to be as G1 accurate as possible - what I presume 3p companies have been trying, and failing, to do - the gen devs succeeds here is spades as far as I can tell; it may not have been what you or I wanted, but it is what they set out to do and delivered.

As for being lumpy, that could describe most of the g1 characters/figures, so it's hardly surprising or an argument

[Evil Eye]

Meh. They still look hollow as hell. The improvements are definitely nice but they can't make up for the fact that the molds just plain and simple suck.

Aaaaaaaaaaand you can do better? Just asking, you own the Hb version to be able to make a really unbiased opinion or is it based on just analyzing the images?

I watched Bobby Skullface's review of the Hasbro version, and quite frankly that was enough to put me off buying any version of these figures. Especially considering that far better alternatives exist- and ironically enough, far more readily available in this country.

Well 'better' is extremely subjective here. Dunno what you look for in a figure, if it's solidity, yeah, there are a ton of immobile, overpriced, 3p lumps out there

Let's analyse this.

>Immboile:
Hercules is somewhat difficult to pose by modern standards, it's true, but he isn't actually missing any key pieces of articulation (such as, say, elbows) in any mode. And Giant is highly poseable, and incredibly stable. Personally from an aesthetic standpoint I prefer Hercules, but they're both good figure sets. They're also far, far less hollow and flimsy than CW Devastator. Obviously I can't comment on the as-yet unreleased Generation Toy and ToyWorld versions but they both look to be shaping up well. Plus, CW Devastator is hardly super poseable- sure he has a lot of joints, but he falls apart at the drop of a hat.

>Overpriced:
You get what you pay for. Giant and Hercules are well-engineered, solid, decent looking combiners. CW Devastator is poorly engineered, flimsy and hollow, misproportioned and barely a combiner given how many compromises were made to the individual robots.

>Lumps:
Funny, because if there's one word I'd use to describe CW Devastator, it's lumpy.

Personally, I haven't heard of anyone's gen devs 'falling apart at the drop of a hat'.

Watch Skullface's review. The leg connections in combined mode are utterly feeble.

And like it or not, the point of the figure was to be as G1 accurate as possible - what I presume 3p companies have been trying, and failing, to do - the gen devs succeeds here is spades as far as I can tell; it may not have been what you or I wanted, but it is what they set out to do and delivered.

GEEWUN accuracy shouldn't come above making a toy actually good. And in any case, they failed at that too, what with Long Haul looking blatantly terrible and Mixmaster looking absolutely nothing like his G1 self whatsoever.

As for being lumpy, that could describe most of the g1 characters/figures, so it's hardly surprising or an argument

Hey, you were the one who mentioned "lumpiness" as a problem to begin with.

[munkimus prime]

I'm still getting Takara's version but I'm still not sure what Scrapper's elbows will do for Devastator's stability. It is still awesome that they all got extra articulation and individual weapons though.

[Hellscream9999]

Personally, I haven't heard of anyone's gen devs 'falling apart at the drop of a hat'.

Watch Skullface's review. The leg connections in combined mode are utterly feeble.

And like it or not, the point of the figure was to be as G1 accurate as possible - what I presume 3p companies have been trying, and failing, to do - the gen devs succeeds here is spades as far as I can tell; it may not have been what you or I wanted, but it is what they set out to do and delivered.

GEEWUN accuracy shouldn't come above making a toy actually good. And in any case, they failed at that too, what with Long Haul looking blatantly terrible and Mixmaster looking absolutely nothing like his G1 self whatsoever.

As for being lumpy, that could describe most of the g1 characters/figures, so it's hardly surprising or an argument

Hey, you were the one who mentioned "lumpiness" as a problem to begin with.

Well, I said they wanted to make as G1 a devs as possible, which they did, while modernizing the alt. mode's. I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying I like it or even think they look good, but they had a budget and an objective, and delivered quite well - outside of woeful paint apps of course.

One persons' figure with qc issues does not a flawed figure make

That'd be like if I assumed every leader magnus was garbage after the problems I had with the 2 I got; I know full well, it was just a bad batch, and that the magnus figure is quite nice otherwise

Personally, I would've preferred war within devs, as I had much more of a connection to him than any other, but whatever - already knew that was never gonna happen

[Hellscream9999]

I'm still getting Takara's version but I'm still not sure what Scrapper's elbows will do for Devastator's stability. It is still awesome that they all got extra articulation and individual weapons though.

They'll be fine, just rotate them to another direction so the elbows point inwards or towards each side, it's seriously no big deal

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Despite the design flaws, this is still a very good Devastator. Yes, he may be hollow, but the light weight individual bots helps the combined mode in my opinion so that it is not overly heavy, and considering kids get this stuff, that makes sense. Also, 3rd party stuff is still a very unfair comparison to anything except for masterpiece. Herc and others are $500-600 and this once is a quarter the price, yet still just as good. and the review by skull guy had him come apart, but Emgo and Optibotimus had very solid connections, so 1 reviewer should not be used in an argument as they all have different ways and there are several cases of mileage may vary.

[Hellscream9999]

Despite the design flaws, this is still a very good Devastator. Yes, he may be hollow, but the light weight individual bots helps the combined mode in my opinion so that it is not overly heavy, and considering kids get this stuff, that makes sense. Also, 3rd party stuff is still a very unfair comparison to anything except for masterpiece. Herc and others are $500-600 and this once is a quarter the price, yet still just as good. and the review by skull guy had him come apart, but Emgo and Optibotimus had very solid connections, so 1 reviewer should not be used in an argument as they all have different ways and there are several cases of mileage may vary.

Yup, just look at me and magnus...

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Despite the design flaws, this is still a very good Devastator. Yes, he may be hollow, but the light weight individual bots helps the combined mode in my opinion so that it is not overly heavy, and considering kids get this stuff, that makes sense. Also, 3rd party stuff is still a very unfair comparison to anything except for masterpiece. Herc and others are $500-600 and this once is a quarter the price, yet still just as good. and the review by skull guy had him come apart, but Emgo and Optibotimus had very solid connections, so 1 reviewer should not be used in an argument as they all have different ways and there are several cases of mileage may vary.

Yup, just look at me and magnus...

Exactly. My Magnus has been amazing and no issues. Baltmatrix and Optibotimus really had no complaints, and Emgo loved it except for the fact that his came with a misassembly and a missing missile. Same with my Clash Sideswipe: the shoulders work, whereas most dont. All mileage may vary.

[Deathsaurus1]

[Cyberpath]

Although, if you look closely at Takara Long Haul, you'll see a black square painted behind Long Haul's head. What purpose does this seemingly random paint app serve? To homage the black base that original toy's head was attached to, and which included in the cartoon model set behind his head:


[...]

Another fun fact about Longhaul's cartoon model -- they drew his alt-mode with the toy-head flipped up.



Edit: and I see with the toy-fists, also.

[william-james88]

That was my first thought, that they are - once again - going with the 'lazy show accurate' color scheme, these could have been something beautiful, but now they're just really cool.

And as a reminder, here's all the known changes made to Takara Devastator compared to Hasbro's retail version:

• More show-accurate deco for both Devastator and the Constructicons
• A brand new headsculpt that contains a retractable visor to switch between both head designs
• Brand new gun weapons for each individual figure, all of which can store on Devastator's back
• Re-engineered arms for Scrapper to give him elbows
• Re-engineered arms for Long Haul to give him proper elbows
• Re-engineered arms for Hook to give him better (and double-jointed) elbows
• Re-engineered arms for Mixmaster to give him better (and double-jointed) elbows
• Re-engineered legs for Scavenger to give him better knees
• Re-engineered legs for Bonecrusher to give him better knees

None of this sounds lazy to me. Also, you dont see it in the individual figures, but the hands are different colours, unlike Hasbro and they even coloured the missile pods. Pretty much everything they could colour to be like the G1 show was colored. There is no laziness here anywhere. And knowing that this costs the same as Hasbro at their respective retail outlets, we should instead all be wondering why Hasbro's cost so much when it has so much less.

If you look closely at Takara Long Haul, you'll see a black square painted behind Long Haul's head. What purpose does this seemingly random paint app serve? To homage the black base that original toy's head was attached to, and which included in the cartoon model set behind his head.

Thanks for pointing that out, I love their attention to detail.

Frak, frak, frakity, frak!

I just got the friggin Hasbros version!
The articulation iso friggin awesome on the Takara bot.
Y!?
I hate that carp!

FRAK!

Did you know he would be more articulated when you bought Hasbro's version?

GEEWUN accuracy shouldn't come above making a toy actually good. And in any case, they failed at that too, what with Long Haul looking blatantly terrible and Mixmaster looking absolutely nothing like his G1 self whatsoever.

That depends, its sometimes requires far more effort to make something G1 accurate. Not saying this is such case (and not saying it isnt), I just want to point out that G1 accuracy can be important and is something people care about. If someone desires the most G1 accurate Devastator this year, then I dont see a better option, and plus they dont have to break the bank. And some people dont want to go 3p simply because they would rather have an official product. Sure,if they want a better transforming toy, then maybe 3p is the better option, but then again if someone wants a better transforming toy and has the money, then just get a Macross, I mean if the discussion is about just getting a better transforming toy, then just buy that, screw the fact that it doesnt like like devastator

I'm still getting Takara's version but I'm still not sure what Scrapper's elbows will do for Devastator's stability. It is still awesome that they all got extra articulation and individual weapons though.

Scrapper's lack of articulation has NOTHING to do with stability for the Hasbro version. That was a myth created by the fans. The plan all along was for them to have the takara articulation but it was removed to cheapen the cost. Thats been confirmed by everyone involved.

[Hellscream9999]

That was my first thought, that they are - once again - going with the 'lazy show accurate' color scheme, these could have been something beautiful, but now they're just really cool.

And as a reminder, here's all the known changes made to Takara Devastator compared to Hasbro's retail version:

• More show-accurate deco for both Devastator and the Constructicons
• A brand new headsculpt that contains a retractable visor to switch between both head designs
• Brand new gun weapons for each individual figure, all of which can store on Devastator's back
• Re-engineered arms for Scrapper to give him elbows
• Re-engineered arms for Long Haul to give him proper elbows
• Re-engineered arms for Hook to give him better (and double-jointed) elbows
• Re-engineered arms for Mixmaster to give him better (and double-jointed) elbows
• Re-engineered legs for Scavenger to give him better knees
• Re-engineered legs for Bonecrusher to give him better knees

None of this sounds lazy to me. Also, you dont see it in the individual figures, but the hands are different colours, unlike Hasbro and they even coloured the missile pods. Pretty much everything they could colour to be like the G1 show was colored. There is no laziness here anywhere. And knowing that this costs the same as Hasbro at their respective retail outlets, we should instead all be wondering why Hasbro's cost so much when it has so much less.

Hey man, I get it, I just said the color scheme is lazy though - which it is, technically, it could have had way more/better paint apps, and we all know it; that it is 'show accurate' is an excuse, as I'm sure no one would have foregone it, if it had additional paint apps.

The only answer that I can think of for the hasbro release is they wanted to drive up their profits, unless the packaging cost more, or if they had to offset the cost of it possibly taking multiple shipments to deliver them since they are quite large

[Cyberpath]

The different deco wasn't done out of laziness it was done because Takara generally references the cartoon. There is certainly attention to detail in the TakaraTomy version. Like making Bonecrusher's treads purple on the inside and green on the outside so he'd be cartoon-accurate both in robot-mode and as Devastator's limb.

It's also not Takara that's missing silver paint on the vehicles' rims and some cab windows.

Also, here's what I think a more level comparison image:

(click to enlarge)

[kirbenvost]

Argh. I couldn't handle Hasbro's lack of articulation, but their paint apps are better. Oh well, mine will stay in combined mode anyway, amd Takara's looks better to my eyes.

[dragons]

Good looking figures its combined mode I'm after

[Sabrblade]

As I said, it's only Long Haul and Bonecrusher who look lacking in colors (as they were in the cartoon, but it's much more pronounced here). Scrapper, Mixmaster, Gren, Scavenger all look fine in either version's decos. In fact, I'd say Takara's Gren looks way better than Hasbro's Hook since it uses more silver to break up that sea of purple and black on the Hasbro deco.

[william-james88]

Hey man, I get it, I just said the color scheme is lazy though - which it is, technically, it could have had way more/better paint apps, and we all know it; that it is 'show accurate' is an excuse, as I'm sure no one would have foregone it, if it had additional paint apps.

The only answer that I can think of for the hasbro release is they wanted to drive up their profits, unless the packaging cost more, or if they had to offset the cost of it possibly taking multiple shipments to deliver them since they are quite large

I totally get your point too. But I think laziness is not the right word to use and is really not true. I understand how it may seem lazy to you, but I feel that if Takara wanted to put more paint apps, they could have. But they didnt and there is a reason for it and it is not laziness. If laziness was the case, we would have seen that carried through elsewhere on the figure which is not the case. In the end, I truly believe that there is nothing lazy about Takara's release, including the reason behind the amount of paint.

[Emerje]

Meh. They still look hollow as hell. The improvements are definitely nice but they can't make up for the fact that the molds just plain and simple suck.

Aaaaaaaaaaand you can do better? Just asking, you own the Hb version to be able to make a really unbiased opinion or is it based on just analyzing the images?

I watched Bobby Skullface's review of the Hasbro version, and quite frankly that was enough to put me off buying any version of these figures. Especially considering that far better alternatives exist- and ironically enough, far more readily available in this country.

Even if there was a rampant problem with the Hasbro version falling apart (which there isn't), there's no reason to believe Takara Tomy wouldn't fix that along with everything else they've improved. Have a little faith.

Emerje

[Hellscream9999]

Hey man, I get it, I just said the color scheme is lazy though - which it is, technically, it could have had way more/better paint apps, and we all know it; that it is 'show accurate' is an excuse, as I'm sure no one would have foregone it, if it had additional paint apps.

The only answer that I can think of for the hasbro release is they wanted to drive up their profits, unless the packaging cost more, or if they had to offset the cost of it possibly taking multiple shipments to deliver them since they are quite large

I totally get your point too. But I think laziness is not the right word to use and is really not true. I understand how it may seem lazy to you, but I feel that if Takara wanted to put more paint apps, they could have. But they didnt and there is a reason for it and it is not laziness. If laziness was the case, we would have seen that carried through elsewhere on the figure which is not the case. In the end, I truly believe that there is nothing lazy about Takara's release, including the reason behind the amount of paint.

Alright, how about (purposely[?]) lackluster? I don't need tons of paint, but maybe pick out some vents in black and ladders in silver, maybe some hazard stripes or something, just enough to break up the absolute ocean of green... I can understand the desire to be 'show accurate' but that's not to say that there cannot be some middle ground where it isn't so plain.

The biggest problem I have with it is the same as UW defensor. It has all these molded details, and they go unnoticed because they aren't painted, because the reference material was a rushed and sloppy mess.

But to be fair, going for show accuracy would inevitably leave every figure as plain and boring as their unpainted defensor - and while that's okay to some, using it as a crutch to defend lackluster deco's is still wrong in my opinion, I dunno, I'm having trouble putting my frustration into words

[alexison]

Meh. They still look hollow as hell. The improvements are definitely nice but they can't make up for the fact that the molds just plain and simple suck.

Aaaaaaaaaaand you can do better? Just asking, you own the Hb version to be able to make a really unbiased opinion or is it based on just analyzing the images?

I watched Bobby Skullface's review of the Hasbro version, and quite frankly that was enough to put me off buying any version of these figures. Especially considering that far better alternatives exist- and ironically enough, far more readily available in this country.

Even if there was a rampant problem with the Hasbro version falling apart (which there isn't), there's no reason to believe Takara Tomy wouldn't fix that along with everything else they've improved. Have a little faith.

Emerje

Yeah, I don't understand that point either Delta. I let my 19 month old son play with Devastator & he never falls apart. The head pops up, sometimes the crane gets pulled off, & the gun always falls out of his hand but my son has never been able to detach a limb.