The Energon Pub

In the wake of the recent Magnaboss discussion...

What's the best combiner?

What do we think is important? Kibble of the individuals or the combined form? Are all the parts used? Are individual robots important?

Personally I think Landfill does a great job at this. He uses all the parts and on top of that, he can be customized to your own liking. Railracer always makes an impression, uses minimal robots and looks soooo good combined.

Bombs away!

Under rated G1 Defensor. Stable as a brick!

The best combiner ever should have components who all have their own robot modes.
It should be completely free of 'spare parts' which sit aside whenever the team is in individual robot or vehicle mode. Only weapons get a pass and even then, they should peg to or inside the alt modes.
It should also comprise at least three members, just two don't make a combiner.

That said, Scramble City combiners, Micromasters, Power Core Combiners, Energon Powerlinx partners and Supreme movie Devastator should be disqualified by default.

That leaves BW Tripredacus and Magnaboss, RID Landfill and Rail Racer, the three Energon Maximus guys, RotF Legends Devastator and the upcoming FOC Bruticus. And of course at least two 3rd party not-Devastators

Well, I have different standards for different eras. As I don't have that many yet, despite my total love for them, my choices in favourites are limited. Anyway:

Generation 1
- Defensor
- Bruticus (Encore)
- Piranacon

In this case Piranacon is a solid winner based on looks alone. All members share the same color scheme, so the combined form actually look cohesive. The fact the limbs can transform into guns doesn't hurt either.

Beast Wars
- BWII Mangaboss
- BWII Tripledacus

Draw, because each has a distinct style that works. Magnaboss may be fiddly to transform, plus the eagle can suffer from GPS (though he *is* fairly stable), on the flipside Tripledacus/Tripredacus has no hands. I think they balance eachother out with their good and bad points.

RiD
- Rail Racer
- Omega Prime (yes, he counts as a separate entity, so he qualifies)

I don't have any version of Landfill so I can't comment on him. That said, Rail Racer scores points for being stylish, down to earth and above all, has no obtrusive gimmicks. Omega Prime just looks big, but can barely pose due to his top-heavy body. Rail Racer is an easy winner here, but if I had Landfill to consider, things would have been different.

Unicron Trilogy
- Armada Perceptor
- Energon Perceptor
- Energon Superion Maximus

Hate to say it, with such contenders the Mini-Con combiner stands a decent chance. Superion Maximus loses points due to Storm Jet's body being unable to stay pegged in, plus the hands issue. On the bright side, he suffers the least from the "two of the same limb" problem, because all members are jets and not distinct vehicles.

@ Rushie

It doesn't make sense by your own standards.

Why disqualify the G1 combiners?

1.Constructicons have each of their own "super vehicle modes"
2.Stunticons have those plasma canons on their butts.
3.Protectobots have a similar feature
4.Micromaster combiners' kibble turns into a sort of mini jet
5.Landcross' has some balance issues but is like a 1000 and 1 combiner package
6.Combaticons' don't have kibbles(the Baldigus mold anyway)
7.All have individual robot modes aside from being a part.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Well, I have different standards for different eras. As I don't have that many yet, despite my total love for them, my choices in favourites are limited. Anyway:

Generation 1
- Defensor
- Bruticus (Encore)
- Piranacon

In this case Piranacon is a solid winner based on looks alone. All members share the same color scheme, so the combined form actually look cohesive. The fact the limbs can transform into guns doesn't hurt either.

Beast Wars
- BWII Mangaboss
- BWII Tripledacus

Draw, because each has a distinct style that works. Magnaboss may be fiddly to transform, plus the eagle can suffer from GPS (though he *is* fairly stable), on the flipside Tripledacus/Tripredacus has no hands. I think they balance eachother out with their good and bad points.

RiD
- Rail Racer
- Omega Prime (yes, he counts as a separate entity, so he qualifies)

I don't have any version of Landfill so I can't comment on him. That said, Rail Racer scores points for being stylish, down to earth and above all, has no obtrusive gimmicks. Omega Prime just looks big, but can barely pose due to his top-heavy body. Rail Racer is an easy winner here, but if I had Landfill to consider, things would have been different.

Unicron Trilogy
- Armada Perceptor
- Energon Perceptor
- Energon Superion Maximus

Hate to say it, with such contenders the Mini-Con combiner stands a decent chance. Superion Maximus loses points due to Storm Jet's body being unable to stay pegged in, plus the hands issue. On the bright side, he suffers the least from the "two of the same limb" problem, because all members are jets and not distinct vehicles.

Excuse the uberquote.

Is encore Bruticus different from G1? Is it based on Baldigus (weaponwise)?

Plus I'd say Omega Prime counts. He loses points on Magnus, though.

Yup, Encore Bruticus uses the RiD Ruination version of the mold, which includes the (canonised) combining weapons, filled in backpack guns and shorter rifle for Onslaught. However, Onslaught suffered the most from mold deterioration.

G1 Menasor and Masterforce God Ginrai are my favorites.

Cyberstrike wrote:G1 Menasor and Masterforce God Ginrai are my favorites.

Optimus combinations (and the likes thereof) are mostly very good. God Ginrai is almost universally loved by GEEWUNNERS and a personal favorite of mine. The combination of that guy is great and the amount of playvalue in that set is unrivalled.

However... Godbomber as a robot is... Derp.

Simply put...

fenrir72 wrote:@ Rushie

It doesn't make sense by your own standards.

Why disqualify the G1 combiners?

1.Constructicons have each of their own "super vehicle modes"
2.Stunticons have those plasma canons on their butts.
3.Protectobots have a similar feature
4.Micromaster combiners' kibble turns into a sort of mini jet
5.Landcross' has some balance issues but is like a 1000 and 1 combiner package
6.Combaticons' don't have kibbles(the Baldigus mold anyway)
7.All have individual robot modes aside from being a part.

Most combiner teams you mentioned have the ability to place their weapon on the vehicle mode. Okay fair enough, but what about the foot pieces, fists, combiner head and chestplate? That's the kibble you're left with and although some teams try to find a use for these pieces, like Devastator and Hot Spot, they never look convincing. It's still a crotch or a fist on top of a truck. Especially Micromaster Sixtrain / Rail Racer comes to mind, with those kibble pieces drug around or slapped on top of the trains.

The Micromaster Sixwing gun combined into a jet is kinda neat. But it seems more like a fluke that they stumbled upon, found neat and kept in.

Yes, you can peg all parts in, but I'd rather leave them off, because they actually detract from the alt mode.

It sounds like I'm needlessly harsh on these oldies, but the topic is about the best combiner. With so many parts lying around, the 80's gestalts are IMO not the best combiners. They're still very cool combiners of course, but design-wise integrated combiners like the RID ones are better.

Rushie wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:@ Rushie

It doesn't make sense by your own standards.

Why disqualify the G1 combiners?

1.Constructicons have each of their own "super vehicle modes"
2.Stunticons have those plasma canons on their butts.
3.Protectobots have a similar feature
4.Micromaster combiners' kibble turns into a sort of mini jet
5.Landcross' has some balance issues but is like a 1000 and 1 combiner package
6.Combaticons' don't have kibbles(the Baldigus mold anyway)
7.All have individual robot modes aside from being a part.

Most combiner teams you mentioned have the ability to place their weapon on the vehicle mode. Okay fair enough, but what about the foot pieces, fists, combiner head and chestplate? That's the kibble you're left with and although some teams try to find a use for these pieces, like Devastator and Hot Spot, they never look convincing. It's still a crotch or a fist on top of a truck. Especially Micromaster Sixtrain / Rail Racer comes to mind, with those kibble pieces drug around or slapped on top of the trains.

The Micromaster Sixwing gun combined into a jet is kinda neat. But it seems more like a fluke that they stumbled upon, found neat and kept in.

Yes, you can peg all parts in, but I'd rather leave them off, because they actually detract from the alt mode.

It sounds like I'm needlessly harsh on these oldies, but the topic is about the best combiner. With so many parts lying around, the 80's gestalts are IMO not the best combiners. They're still very cool combiners of course, but design-wise integrated combiners like the RID ones are better.

Irony, thy name is Puzzler

I don't own it, but Liokaiser comes to mind. It's just a great improvement on the previous types of combiners.

You know, FP's add ons for Energon Bruticus are great BECAUSE of extra parts. And, while the weapons might have been integrated well on paper for the Energon combiners, the end result left a lot to be desired. Hardly what I'd think of as "the best".

So, in regards to the early ones, I say: if it helps the overall look, extra robot bits shouldn't be held against them. It's a nice bonus when there's absolutely no extra parts needed to make a combiner, but the alternatives in TF land tend to be terrible. Most of the time you wind up with misshapen claw hands.

Define best combiner??
The G1 series all where very blocky and bulky and did have "kibble" but what where supposed to do with all the parts?

The best combiners to date are:
Fansproject Bruticus/collossus add on
TFC Hercules/Devastator

Both are the best combiners ever made in history and have super poseability once I get a good Job i will pledge to but TFC Hercules.

The newer series had weapons that merged but honestly made the figures look disturbing like scarecrow such as the Bruticus maximus figure.

King Poseidon!

I think you can guess who I'm going to pick but given the level of popularity, participation in the live action films, and support from 3rd party companies, I'm not alone.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Irony, thy name is Puzzler

Ha! True. Also outside of Transformers canon, you have these guys:



And I have a soft spot for the SHSSS combiners, although they don't quite fit the standard TF gestalt criteria:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gargunkle/3419410528/

Andrius wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Irony, thy name is Puzzler

And I have a soft spot for the SHSSS combiners, although they don't quite fit the standard TF gestalt criteria:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gargunkle/3419410528/

Thank you for reviving that bit of nostalgia in me.

Funny you should mention GaoGaiGar's ChouRyuJin (left) and GekiRyuJin (right). All Yuusha (Brave) series robots are pretty much self-contained, despite some of them having so many parts they're more like puzzlefomers. I should post pics of my Big Volfogg

But seriously, when I was a kid, the coolest combiner was Voltron, even if the lions didn't have "robot modes". Even vehicle Voltron was pretty cool as a toy, the way the vehicles could also combine into super vehicles not just the (BIG) robot.

As for actual Transformers, a lot of the ones I like have already been mentioned so instead I'd like to say that I thought the mix & match nature of the silver and gold powerlinx figures from the Energon line was pretty interesting. Sure, they were only made of two bots, but get a whole bunch together and the possibilities are endless.

How has Predaking not been mentioned yet? Seriously?

Okay, for the G1 era there's Predaking,Piranacon, and Monstructor. Armada had Superkibblemus Prime with Jetfire and Overload, Energon had Construction Maximus (Classics Devastator's coloration is better though), and ROTF Jetfire Optimus is still really good. While I'm looking forward to the upcoming FOC Bruticus, there is no way it will out do the Crossfire upgraded Universe Bruticus. I'm not saying Hasbro couldn't make one like that or on that level but there is no way in hell they could release it. I think that Bruticus and the in progress Maketoys Giant are the current best combiners available.

zodconvoy wrote:How has Predaking not been mentioned yet? Seriously?

Okay, for the G1 era there's Predaking,Piranacon, and Monstructor. Armada had Superkibblemus Prime with Jetfire and Overload, Energon had Construction Maximus (Classics Devastator's coloration is better though), and ROTF Jetfire Optimus is still really good. While I'm looking forward to the upcoming FOC Bruticus, there is no way it will out do the Crossfire upgraded Universe Bruticus. I'm not saying Hasbro couldn't make one like that or on that level but there is no way in hell they could release it. I think that Bruticus and the in progress Maketoys Giant are the current best combiners available.

Predaking may well be the most imposing combiner ever. He's got size, girth and firepower. He's certainly the most phallic.

RhA wrote:

zodconvoy wrote:How has Predaking not been mentioned yet? Seriously?

Okay, for the G1 era there's Predaking,Piranacon, and Monstructor. Armada had Superkibblemus Prime with Jetfire and Overload, Energon had Construction Maximus (Classics Devastator's coloration is better though), and ROTF Jetfire Optimus is still really good. While I'm looking forward to the upcoming FOC Bruticus, there is no way it will out do the Crossfire upgraded Universe Bruticus. I'm not saying Hasbro couldn't make one like that or on that level but there is no way in hell they could release it. I think that Bruticus and the in progress Maketoys Giant are the current best combiners available.

Predaking may well be the most imposing combiner ever. He's got size, girth and firepower. He's certainly the most phallic.

And after said name who else brings size, girth and firepower better than Overlord...

Nemesis Destron wrote:

RhA wrote:

zodconvoy wrote:How has Predaking not been mentioned yet? Seriously?

Okay, for the G1 era there's Predaking,Piranacon, and Monstructor. Armada had Superkibblemus Prime with Jetfire and Overload, Energon had Construction Maximus (Classics Devastator's coloration is better though), and ROTF Jetfire Optimus is still really good. While I'm looking forward to the upcoming FOC Bruticus, there is no way it will out do the Crossfire upgraded Universe Bruticus. I'm not saying Hasbro couldn't make one like that or on that level but there is no way in hell they could release it. I think that Bruticus and the in progress Maketoys Giant are the current best combiners available.

Predaking may well be the most imposing combiner ever. He's got size, girth and firepower. He's certainly the most phallic.

And after said name who else brings size, girth and firepower better than Overlord...

But Overlord's not a combiner. He's a Powermaster Duocon.