The Energon Pub

News Credits: 8 · Tue Oct 07, 2014 8:41 pm

Delta Magnus wrote: I always thought Groove being a motorcycle was just plain daft, but I can kind of see him as a "transformer-scaled" bike- as in, other Autobots ride on him.

haha, never thought about it like that before

News Credits: 402 · Updated Oct 21, 2022

News Credits: 12 · Sat Oct 25, 2014 8:16 pm

And as usual TFC knocks it out of the park.

These guys look great. Loving that big solid chunk of a combined mode, he really does put the Defence in Defensor. Still a shame about the combiner kibble, but...

Wait a minute...Streetwise was advertised as a leg, and yet he's an arm here...could this mean...

SCRAMBLE CITY?

Sun Oct 26, 2014 3:11 am

Looks like I saved money by waiting to see the full product. Too hit and miss for my liking. Steetwise looks like a good figure on his own and First Aid looks good too so far. Groove and Hotspot are a miss for my tastes and Blades without paint makes no impression at all. As for Defensor, he's more of a monstrosity then UT's Ordin.

News Credits: 33 · Sun Oct 26, 2014 9:49 am

5/5 I don't like and i think the combiner looks terrible .

News Credits: 33 · Sun Oct 26, 2014 4:50 pm

Jesus christ... :SICK:

Looks like Defensor's been defending with his face :lol:

News Credits: 12 · Sun Oct 26, 2014 4:55 pm

That's...not a great headsculpt. I imagine it might look a lot better in person though. TFC are usually pretty good with headsculpts so I'd be surprised if it turned out that bad. Also it's possible this is some kind of swappable faceplate or something. His face looks less silly on the prototype. In anycase, we'll wait and see.

Really he needs a mouthplate though. Ah well, I'm sure we'll get a slew of replacement heads and extra parts for him like every 3P combiner ever.

News Credits: 1 · Mon Oct 27, 2014 9:48 am

Well, I like First Aid's blocky self, but Blades is REALLY weak IMO.
The combined mode is pretty good though.

Overall, I must admit, my least favorite TFC combiner to date.
But then, Defensor is probably my least favorite combiner, so I'm not surprised.

I'm probably in for this if I can get a deal on all 5 bots at some point.

News Credits: 293 · Mon Oct 27, 2014 9:54 am

Autobot Genocide wrote:Jesus christ... Looks like Defensor's been defending with his face

News Credits: 461 · Tue Oct 28, 2014 8:41 am

New pics

News Credits: 4 · Tue Oct 28, 2014 8:58 am

That pacifier nipple thing looks really annoying on Blades's front helicopter and on the robot back.

Tue Oct 28, 2014 10:32 am

And TFC looses the battle again. Bring on that maketoys guardia giftset !

Tue Oct 28, 2014 10:38 am

I think it's really cool that they're now moving onto actually making scramble city combiners now, but damn Prometheus looks a tad bit too wide. The fat copter's not doing it for me either.

News Credits: 293 · Tue Oct 28, 2014 11:05 am

not a whole lot of color on those limbs. white bike, white car, white ambulance... although first aids van panels flap away to show some redness. but looking at that, does it even have to do that for transformation or is it actually to break up all the white.

and we await a white and red helecopter. blandtron is bland.

News Credits: 1 · Tue Oct 28, 2014 11:15 am

Tsutsukakushi wrote:That pacifier nipple thing looks really annoying on Blades's front helicopter and on the robot back.

It is a radar common to the Black Hawk helicopter upon which this design is based.

Tue Oct 28, 2014 11:38 am

shajaki wrote:not a whole lot of color on those limbs. white bike, white car, white ambulance... although first aids van panels flap away to show some redness. but looking at that, does it even have to do that for transformation or is it actually to break up all the white.

and we await a white and red helecopter. blandtron is bland.

Looks like the panel would foul the elbow joint if left in place, which is disappointing as you lose pretty much all impression of First Aid's alt mode looking at Defensor from the front.

Edit: Also while an impressive weapon it's essentially useless in the hand of First Aid.

News Credits: 12 · Tue Oct 28, 2014 11:49 am

Honestly, slightly derpy headsculpt aside, I like him. He looks a lot more solid and chunky and, well, "Defensive" than the MakeToys version. He does look a bit wide, but it suits the character in this case, as a giant, solid wall of invincibility. It reminds me of the Studio OX model, which is a good thing.

The individual robots are pretty good too. Hot Spot is my favourite, with that RID Prime look he has and the wonderful fire engine mode. Groove is fantastic, and in my opinion a shining example of reinvention done right. Streetwise is, well, he's kinda generic but not bad by any stretch. First Aid is probably one of the weaker figures but is far from bad- the box-van ambulance is pretty cool. I actually really like Blades- his helicopter mode is good and his robot mode is intimidating and bulky, which fits his personality of a berserker who somehow managed to get on the rescue team pretty well.

My only complaints would be the combined mode face and the shade of blue on Hot Spot- I would have preferred a paler powder blue like on the vintage toy. That aside he's looking good.

Guardia looks great as well though. He looks wonderfully detailed and very well engineered. But Groove in leg mode just looks...I dunno, messy. The rest of him is intricate and detailed, but still looks good. Groove looks like a cluster of assorted toy parts glued together.

In any case, I don't even think it comes down to which company "wins" because at the end of the day, the real winners are the fandom.

Tue Oct 28, 2014 12:14 pm

Yeah, the only thing off for me is that face. Other than that I'm in all the way.

News Credits: 33 · Fri Oct 31, 2014 4:46 am

My first thought was a Sumo wrestler :lol:

News Credits: 12 · Fri Oct 31, 2014 6:47 am

I see what you mean, he is rather chunky. :lol:

I think it rather suits the character myself (especially if you look at his vintage toy). Defensor always was one of the chunkier combiners, even in the cartoon IIRC (although he barely appears, and only seems to appear in the really, really bad episodes like Carnage in C-Minor and B.O.T.) so, I dunno, it actually works.

Also, he may be the first 3P combiner with Scramble City capabilities. I'm thinking he'd look a bit better with Streetwise and Groove as arms and First Aid and Blades as legs. I know it's not his main configuration, but as mentioned before he barely has any appearances in the cartoon anyway. Also his Studio OX model had a different combination, so there's that.

Of course if either TFC or MakeToys released their Defensor in Guard City/Protect Gaia (was PG an actual combiner or am I getting mixed up?) colours I'd happily own both, as they both look amazing.

News Credits: 123 · Fri Oct 31, 2014 8:38 am

Delta Magnus wrote:Also, he may be the first 3P combiner with Scramble City capabilities.

Nope, Fansproject got there first:

I actually like this configuration on him better, since the shins aren't just the cars pegged in. It looks like there was at least a small amount of transformation involved.

News Credits: 12 · Fri Oct 31, 2014 10:24 am

Huh, I stand corrected! :lol:

I really must get Intimidator, he looks superb.

I do love Scramble City. I hope whoever does the Seacons manages to work in their Scramble City/Targetmaster ability so you can swap around Piranacon's limbs and weapons.

News Credits: 293 · Fri Oct 31, 2014 12:01 pm

megatronus wrote:I actually like this configuration on him better, since the shins aren't just the cars pegged in. It looks like there was at least a small amount of transformation involved.

daammn. that looks worlds better. i actually really dislike the dragstrip arm on mine. if only i wasnt so hellbent on cartoon accuracy #-o