The Energon Pub

Hellscream9999 wrote:You're definitely not alone, that figure is garbage, I'd take any rid over it any day - lack of paint apps and all - seriously (except for steel jaw) they're all so damn satisfying, especially scorponok, man is he great

Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. For a big expensive toy, he just isnt as satisfying. Instead, I get as much satisfaction from the warrior class which is a fraction of the price. Also when something is as complex but in a smaller scale, it feels more complex. Like how Battle Pack RID grimlock feels more impressive than the warrior version even though they have the same transformation.

And if you like Scorponok, then you will really like Thunderhoof These toys are so fun.

Hmm...let's see.

Dotm deluxe roadbuster. Paint so thick it gets under your fingernails while transforming him.

Ok, the big one:

Transformers Prime's treatment of the character Breakdown.

Going into spoilers here, so be warned

So, if you watched Prime, you know Breakdown got suddenly killed off, right? Now, they did this because the voice actor left (I think? Feel free to correct me here) and he was replaced by Dreadwing.

Why do I say replaced?

Because Breakdown had an arc. And this arc was he had had history with The Wreckers, and a past with Bulkhead particularly. They couldn't explore this to it's completion in the show however.

So then Dreadwing is introduced, and he has a past with The Wreckers, and kind of ends up going by way of the honorable warrior, like I'd assume Breakdown WOULD have gone had they kept him around. And not only that, but Dreadwing is just a recolored Skyquake, so he was an easy character to make, kind of lending evidence to this argument.

I know Dreadwing and Breakdown shared screen time, (right before Breakdown's death in fact) but if they knew the VA was leaving, it stands to reason that Dreadwing was introduced to replace him and continue his story in a sense.

I like both Breakdown, and Dreadwing, and have no issues with either really. But it's still annoying to think about.

I could be wrong about AAALLLL of this however...But it's my own personal theory, making me my own bane of existence

Also they both have awesome toys

CW Breakdown and every version of the mold.

As much as I wanted it, RotF Leader class Optimus Prime is the bane of my existence with how difficult and painful it is to transform him. Bayformers Optimus Prime is delightfully violent in my world, but the toy is just a bunch of ouch due to trying to nail all the tabs down. I've never been able to complete the transformation process because nothing would stay tabbed and kept popping out when I've tried. Needless to say I keep him, in bot mode on my shelf. It is the bane of my existence though.

Probably the "One step" or kiddie figures, why? Because I was gifted a bunch of them by someone who didn't realize they were the "safe for kids" type toys and were just looking at the prices and now I have a bunch of them shoved in my closet to be gifted to the next kid who likes transformers this christmas.

Also for me when it comes to the shows I really don't like the current RID show personally, it's mostly because I was spoiled due to how high quality the "Prime" show that it came after was, they bumped down everything from the character design, animation and writing quality! Yet it's supposed to be in the same "universe" as prime.I don't "Hate" the show though, it just feels like such a massive downgrade. Plus one of the executives that works on that show has written a few too many scripts for Teen Titans GO! Mehh.

Theshruggles wrote: now I have a bunch of them shoved in my closet to be gifted to the next kid who likes transformers this christmas.

I think thats a nice problem to have, you will make some kids quite happy

I was thinking and I dont know if I wrote it before (maybe I did) but the current bane of my existence is how the first thing people talk about when they see a new mold is who it could be retooled or repainted into. Like, come on, is this really the world we live in?! We cant expect other characters to get new molds and we cant expect molds to be unique? There are still tons out there that were never reused for other characters, like most of the AOE line and Thrilling 30 line. It only happened with Combiner Wars and now everyone accepts it as a normal thing and I wish it wasnt the case.

I think even worse is when we see a new toy adn the first thing I read is "looks like a remold of so and so" when there is just one part that kind of resembles another. Once again its as if some people justa ssume that everything must be a retool of something else. WHY!?

william-james88 wrote:

Theshruggles wrote: now I have a bunch of them shoved in my closet to be gifted to the next kid who likes transformers this christmas.

I think thats a nice problem to have, you will make some kids quite happy

I think even worse is when we see a new toy adn the first thing I read is "looks like a remold of so and so" when there is just one part that kind of resembles another. Once again its as if some people justa ssume that everything must be a retool of something else. WHY!?

Hah I guess it is! And yea I understand what you mean, especially when it comes to the "main" transformers like Optimus, I hear people complain that they're tired of the same design type. As in if they want a complete overhaul of the design. I personally just don't get that.

Saved every piece of pocket money fora year, laybyed all the Ariel bots apart from Silverbolt, asked for silverbolt for my bday, worked my ass off and got every Ariel bot, Got Silverbolt for Birthday, Opened silver bolt, combine........ broke him. Parents banned me from Transformers toys. Childhood ended.

DeadRatchet wrote:Saved every piece of pocket money fora year, laybyed all the Ariel bots apart from Silverbolt, asked for silverbolt for my bday, worked my ass off and got every Ariel bot, Got Silverbolt for Birthday, Opened silver bolt, combine........ broke him. Parents banned me from Transformers toys. Childhood ended.

We're talking G1/G2 Silverbolt here, right? Either way, OUCH!

G1 with the proper color schemes, Never could decide if i liked Firefight or Skydive more.

I did think it a bit strange that so many people seemed dead set on trying to prove that Triggerhappy was a remould of something.

I suspect they are making minor changes to shapes and engineering they have already developed to save time.

Cyberverse/legion class figures. Some of them are ok I guess but most of them lack detail it's like a happy meal toy.

Transformers toys that don't transform. Rescuebots has a ton of these things that don't do anything. Lame-o.

Boring figures. There are so many of these that need more paint and details. I don't mind some of them as someone who likes to customize but for the people who don't it causes shelf warm city.

It's not exclusive to transformers but, when I go to look for a figure online that costs say 14$ and all I can find is scalpers that jack up the price. It makes me even madder that toywiz uses the walmart site to scalp. I find it deceptive because someone who may buy me a Christmas gift not knowing what things cost is the most likely victim to overpay a significant amount.

This isnt the worst but it becomes wuite a pain:

Collecting second hand Cybertron toys.

The thing is each come with a key that is specific to them. There are just a few key designs, but each one comes with a code in the back that was for some unlockable online thing. That makes it so that a "generic" key now becomes unique for each toy. However, through the decade since these toys existed, many have been bought and sold on the secondary market and the label of the keys isnt always checked. So there are many out there with the right key design but the wrong code on the back. So when I buy online from fans (here or on other toy boards), they send it to me with the wrong key, and they dont have the right one since they never had it (they probably bought it from someone who hadnt checked if it was the right one). and if its the wrong key, then technically your toy isnt complete since even if it comes with all the accessories, it doesnt come with its ultra specific accessory. You could buy them online individually or from an expert seller but those are added costs you wouldnt need to encure if you were collecting other lines (like Armada or animated, where the accesories are more easily identifiable).

But its not as big an issue as other things, this is more of a major annoyance since its a dice roll whenever I buy from someone online and they say its complete. I just have to be more specific.

What did piss me off though was when a seller at a convention had a bunch of Cybertron toys displayed at e-bay type prices, without the keys. I asked him if he had them and he did, to which I asked him how he knew they would be the right ones for each toy. And he asnwered "Does it matter?". If deluxes were like $5 a pop, I can manage, but he was selling them about $15 each so yeah, it matters. The toy isnt complete without the correct key so I wouldnt expect to pay the price of a complete toy. What sucks now is that with that kind of attitude, people that bought from him probably got the wrong key and the problem just keeps happening.

I can agree to that.

As a side note, of the 2 Cybertron styled toys i have, neither have a key

I may be wrong (as it's been a while since I played with them) but any key should unlock the gimmick. The only figure specific thing about them was, as you said, the online stuff.

Burn wrote:I may be wrong (as it's been a while since I played with them) but any key should unlock the gimmick. The only figure specific thing about them was, as you said, the online stuff.

They do and thats fine. What sucks is I can never say mine is complete without having the exact key. People online will say its complete assuming the key they have is the one it came with initially, which has not been the case many times.

william-james88 wrote:

Burn wrote:I may be wrong (as it's been a while since I played with them) but any key should unlock the gimmick. The only figure specific thing about them was, as you said, the online stuff.

They do and thats fine. What sucks is I can never say mine is complete without having the exact key. People online will say its complete assuming the key they have is the one it came with initially, which has not been the case many times.

Gotcha. To put it simply, you're being fussy, and I completely understand that (and I definitely don't mean it in an insulting way). I was fortunate enough to collect them as they were coming out. Chasing any specific figures that I might be able to offload to you?

Burn wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Burn wrote:I may be wrong (as it's been a while since I played with them) but any key should unlock the gimmick. The only figure specific thing about them was, as you said, the online stuff.

They do and thats fine. What sucks is I can never say mine is complete without having the exact key. People online will say its complete assuming the key they have is the one it came with initially, which has not been the case many times.

Gotcha. To put it simply, you're being fussy, and I completely understand that (and I definitely don't mean it in an insulting way). I was fortunate enough to collect them as they were coming out. Chasing any specific figures that I might be able to offload to you?

You ask me now?! I just finished getting all the ones I wanted. I dont have all the accessories or correct keys of course (hence my rant) but I have now experienced every mold I wanted.

And yeah fussy, but only fussy when I pay the price ofr a complete figure. $5 for a deluxe, I dont care, but for $15, that better be the right key. Also it means that I wont be able to sell it for the same amount I bought it at since I will have to declare that the key I have is not the right one, making it incomplete and thus making it worth less in the collector's market Even if I dont sell my toys, I like knowing that the money I spent is all still there in my house but has turned into toys When I realize I have the wrong key, that means my collection is now worth a bit less.

william-james88 wrote:You ask me now?! I just finished getting all the ones I wanted. I dont have all the accessories or correct keys of course (hence my rant) but I have now experienced every mold I wanted.

I've only just started dipping my toes into trading! More so with overseas folks!
It came about because I want to trim down my collection. There's certain lines that I don't really care for (movie) or I feel less connected to and won't miss certain figures if I were to get rid of them (A/E/C)

I like knowing that the money I spent is all still there in my house but has turned into toys When I realize I have the wrong key, that means my collection is now worth a bit less.

I can appreciate that. It's why I will NEVER have a KO figure displayed in my collection. If someone were to come and look at my collection and tell me a certain figure was a KO it sure as hell wouldn't be to my knowledge!

Which makes me think of a bane for myself ... the second hand Pretender market. Those buggers are few and far between and the ones I can find that I still need aren't exactly cheap.

Burn wrote:I can appreciate that. It's why I will NEVER have a KO figure displayed in my collection. If someone were to come and look at my collection and tell me a certain figure was a KO it sure as hell wouldn't be to my knowledge!

Thats a great point. I do see buying a KO figure as money down the drain. There are so many out there, you would never get your money back for it and its technically worth nothing since it isnt even the real toy. Its not to say I dont buy KOs (I do, rarely, and its usually for a peculiar reason, like wanting to experience G1 Liokaiser for cheap, or wanting an oversized version of Lockdown to go against AOE Prime) but I totally agree that I will never ever see that money again.

Your rant about planet keys made me check my only Cybertron toy I have left

Poor lil Lugnutz DOES have his proper planet key though!

Edit* I technically have four cybertron toys, I own the Starscream mold in Dirge, but that was from the movie line I believe? Same with Clocker and Hardtop.

BeastProwl wrote:
Edit* I technically have four cybertron toys, I own the Starscream mold in Dirge, but that was from the movie line I believe? Same with Clocker and Hardtop.

Just so you know, that Dirge was for the Universe line.

Glad you have the right key

Beeping Bumblebee in the Bayverse and Prime.

Ultra Magnus not being in more stories.

No (third-party) trailers for Combiner Wars Voyager Optimus Prime and Motormaster.