The Energon Pub

Shut up and take my money.


Also, have I mentioned how awesome MP Cheetor is?

I saw that yesterday and it looked pretty dang cool. So that replaces the cab on the Tak PMOP (or what every it's called)? Normally the cab section on both the Tak and Has version are non detachable correct?

I kept hoping someone would have made one of these for the leader Ultra Magnus that Minibus could have rides in.

Well, it says this will work with TR and Takara versions, so I'd imagine a Magnus copy can't be too far away.

Jinri Prime is really nice - perhaps worth buying another It's lucky the original torso plate is just clipped on.

I think it's a small shame that they automatically assumed "A Collector" would want the Titanmaster functions disabled -I'd have like the option to keep that in place. But it might be possible to duplicate the mushroom peg system on the original toy and use that if you'd like (maybe?) otherwise I'd likely buy just another Optimus and keep one on and the original as-is. It looks like as the PC-15 set is designed to go on the old body - does that mean you don't get the head with the cab or they are selling them as a pair ?

I can see they have given themselves the wiggleroom to make another set - too with things like a trailer gap filler and replacement guns. (though i'm sure the original guns would wok just fine) it might be nice also to get some gap fillers for the forearms..maybe one of them can flip open with a com screen in them and the others could contain things like Rattrap style demolition packs.

I'm glad the gap fillers exist for the hips as those were some pretty big ol' gaps there. The soles of the feet would be nice to have filled in too for stability reasons.

An extra couple of ramps would be nice too.

It's a small shame there isn't like a silver sides premium PM Prime that would be one to keep and the standard one to upgrade.

[yes I know there is a Hasbro boxed set version of the Super Ginrai mould]

Perfect Effect FTW, srsly

And I'm definitely tempted by MP Cheetor....but I think I'll save for MMC Cyclonus.

Pretty sure I'm with you on this PE kit Ironhidensh. It's gonna make my Hasbro Powermaster Optimus feel like Powermaster Optimus

Can't wait till I have a chance to open this little guy up!

Masterpiece Tarn should arrive Wednesday or Thursday.

Ironhidensh wrote:

it u

Va'al wrote:

Ironhidensh wrote:

it u

Very well could be. Long lost spark brothers?

Oh snaps!! Grump in full effect!!

Look who arrived. Somebody in the collection must be on the list.

Ironhidensh wrote:Look who arrived. Somebody in the collection must be on the list.

i feel like its mp inferno
also need your thoughts on grapple

Ironhidensh wrote:Look who arrived. Somebody in the collection must be on the list.

Awwww yeah!!! I hope u have lotsa fun posing him!

I'm surprised to hear your praise of MP Cheetor. Nothing against him, I like him too, but he's got flaws whereas Primal had... well none

And as much as I'd want in on it, I'm skipping the PE PMOP upgrades. Right now there's 2 (or 3?) sets out when there should really only be one. It's just too costly to me. I've already got TR PMOP, 2 Takara Ginrai's, and 2 Godbombers on the way

shajaki wrote:I'm surprised to hear your praise of MP Cheetor. Nothing against him, I like him too, but he's got flaws whereas Primal had... well none

And as much as I'd want in on it, I'm skipping the PE PMOP upgrades. Right now there's 2 (or 3?) sets out when there should really only be one. It's just too costly to me. I've already got TR PMOP, 2 Takara Ginrai's, and 2 Godbombers on the way

why 2

Bumblebee21 wrote:

shajaki wrote:I'm surprised to hear your praise of MP Cheetor. Nothing against him, I like him too, but he's got flaws whereas Primal had... well none

And as much as I'd want in on it, I'm skipping the PE PMOP upgrades. Right now there's 2 (or 3?) sets out when there should really only be one. It's just too costly to me. I've already got TR PMOP, 2 Takara Ginrai's, and 2 Godbombers on the way

why 2

To display one combined, one not.

shajaki wrote:

Bumblebee21 wrote:

shajaki wrote:I'm surprised to hear your praise of MP Cheetor. Nothing against him, I like him too, but he's got flaws whereas Primal had... well none

And as much as I'd want in on it, I'm skipping the PE PMOP upgrades. Right now there's 2 (or 3?) sets out when there should really only be one. It's just too costly to me. I've already got TR PMOP, 2 Takara Ginrai's, and 2 Godbombers on the way

why 2

To display one combined, one not.

oh jeez thats over $200

i forget theres no jaw drop emoji

Bumblebee21 wrote:oh jeez thats over $200

i forget theres no jaw drop emoji

Oh my gentle Beebee. If only you could see the tally of my current BBTS Pile of Loot is

shajaki wrote:

Bumblebee21 wrote:oh jeez thats over $200

i forget theres no jaw drop emoji

Oh my gentle Beebee. If only you could see the tally of my current BBTS Pile of Loot is

oh god

i would hate to be your secretary

So, I was getting ready to adjust my display shelfs, and ended up gathering all of my newer stuff from the last couple of months. I've shared some if it, but not all of it, so I figured I'd do a nice big group shot.

Ironhidensh wrote:So, I was getting ready to adjust my display shelfs, and ended up gathering all of my newer stuff from the last couple of months. I've shared some if it, but not all of it, so I figured I'd do a nice big group shot.

so how do you like speed bump and lorry.
im probably gonna get xtbs version
i cant wait to get downbeat

Hot dang 'densh, that is a nice group of new bots!!

How's the Velocitron set treating you?

Bumblebee21 wrote:so how do you like speed bump and lorry.
im probably gonna get xtbs version
i cant wait to get downbeat

I absolutely love Bump and Lorry. Lorry is about as perfect as an MP Hoist could get, and Bump is the best all around figure. I think MMC Terragies looked a bit better, but Bump is far better quality. Downbeat is really great, but I'm not overly fond of his leg design. I'll be giving Coolsville a close look, but he would have to be really fantastic. Downbeats pros far outweigh his few cons.

itscramtastic wrote:Hot dang 'densh, that is a nice group of new bots!!

How's the Velocitron set treating you?

Honestly, I really only bought the set for the Laser Prime figure. I just love that nostalgic deco. I ended up really liking Nautica, despite her being a cheap repaint, so I thought I would be keeping her as well. The prices she is fetching on eBay has me wanting to sell her.

Quickswitch and Fastclash went to eBay. Fastclash sold in about 10 minutes, and Quickswitch has a bid for the price I want, but still plenty of time to grow. I might have kept 'Switch, but I found Sixshot the same day, so away he goes.

Speaking of Sixshot, I'm really amazed at how much I like this guy. His gimmick really limits his robot abilities, so he really just becomes a slightly updated version of his G1 self. I, however, never has him as a kid, and always wanted him, so that's all good with me. I'm having a lot of fun with him.

Ok but which grump is grump? Ratchet, Gears, Ultra Magnus and Huffer are all grumps.

Okay, so as promised, whether you want them or not, here are my thoughts on MP-36 Megatron, enjoy! Also, I will be comparing 36 very heavily to Maketoys Despotron, my current Masterpiece style Megatron. A word of transparency before we go further. Up until getting 36 in hand, I have not been a huge fan, and have in fact been a fairly vocal critic. That said, I still feel I can be pretty objective in this. While I might like other figures better, I can step back, and still see what is good in the figure at hand. Remember as well, liking one thing more, doesn’t make the other thing bad.

Also, I can admit when I’m wrong.

Mistake me not, 36 has his flaws, and we will talk about them, but I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t really starting to like this figure. He was a gift, so I’m stuck with him either way, but he is slowly winning me over. I still love Despotron, but 36 is no slouch. So, lets get to it, shall we?

Lets go over the two glaring issues that keep cropping up first: paint chips and breakage. As I said in an above post, the paint chipping is bad. Like, really bad. I am hereby listing it as the number one flaw on this toy. Out of the box, he had a nick on his leg, and a couple around the left shoulder inner workings. Just posing him in a couple of different poses, he acquired a couple more. Once I got around to transforming him, well, yeah. I’m no newb to transformers. I understand that some paint chipping will occur. Over time. After many transformations. This is happening, literally, out of the box. There is no way around it, if you buy this figure, and take him out of package, you will get paint chips. Anyone who says different is either straight up lying, or simply refusing to see it.

As for breakage, I’m going to drop all cases of that on user error. I’ve gone through the transformation several times now, and not one case of breakage. No, its not as sturdy as a mainline figure, but its no piece of glass either. Yes, many parts are small, but as long as you take it easy, you can avoid breaking parts. Speaking of the transformation itself, it is NOT as bad as has been made out. Sure, its involved, but I’ve already got it down. Use the instructions the first time, or at least watch one of the many youtube videos, and you will be fine. I didn’t even need to do that hip adjustment thing.

Now, on that note, I did have one issue that needed some “modification”. The part that his gun barrel folds down on had some raised ridges molded on. I assume it is too provide friction to help hold the barrel in place. These ridges stuck out too far and completely prevented the movement of the barrel. I had to take an knife and shave them down a bit.



Other than that, I have had zero issues with breakage, and I caught that before breakage occurred. His joints are all nice and tight, but not too tight. The ratchets feel just right. He can really hold some dynamic poses.

So, on to some fun stuff. Any review has to have some box pictures. Being a starndard Takara Masterpiece, the box is nothing that we haven’t seen before.



He looks good with other bots.





36 does one thing very well, one thing I don’t think any other version of Megatron has captured quite so well: his lower chest.



Sadly, this picture also shows one of his flaws, the infamous “robovagina”. The waist piece is functional, but just not pretty. That chest though, it is amazing, and one of my favorite parts of this figure.

As far as accessories go, 36 comes with many. This is one of the areas Despotron fails in, he came with only a couple of faces and the energy mace. The accessories have already been touched on many times by others, so I’ll just talk about my favorites: the optional faces. First pic are what comes with 36, second pic are what comes with Despotron.




Personally, Despotron offers the best facial expression with his laughing face, but the ones offered by Takara are great as well. I really love this gimmick. It’s a great and simple way to bring a little fun and variety to your collection display. I’m also a huge fan of the laser sword that 36 comes with. I must also mention that the energy mace on 36 not only comes with a standard chain, but a posable one as well. You can really create some dynamic battle scenes with that. I kinda wish I had taken some pics like that. Maybe next time.

Another thing that must be mentioned is the “mass shifting” this figure does. Obviously, I don’t mean it can shrink, but it does do an incredible job of taking a rather large robot and shrinking it to a not to far off from real life pistol. Seriously, Takara did an amazing job at compacting parts, and then expanding them out again. I made a lot of noise about how many panel lines 36 had, and how messy his back is, but once you’ve transformed him, you get it. It takes a lot of moving parts to do what they did. It still might be a little too much, but respect where respect is due.

The next few pictures will be side by side comparison of 36 and Despotron. I’ve chosen Despotron for the comparison, because obviously, I have him. I also had X-Transbots Apollyon, but sold him for Despotron. Apollyon was a great figure, but I feel 36 is a better toy. We will talk more after.










As you can see, while 36 is of a very similar size to Despotron, he transforms into a smaller gun. I find that impressive, but not necessary. 36 could do with a bit of a similar transformation. Despotron is challenging, but doesn’t take to terribly long. 36 is gonna take you a few minutes. Then again, it isn’t the way too simple transformation that severely hurt MP Shockwave and MP Inferno, so you take what you can. 36 does leave you feeling satisfied when you are done, so we will go on and count it as a win.

Despotron takes a more comic (specifically Dreamwave era) inspired look, while 36 really nails the cartoon look. This is a negative for me, but that is a matter of personal taste. Also, it could be worse. Inferno just looks silly in its cartoon accuracy, while 36 still looks badass. He looks like a Masterpiece.

In closing, while 36 is growing on me greatly, and may end up replacing Despotron (I’m not ready to let go yet, but its hard to justify having two MP style Megatrons), he has one nagging issue that simply cannot be let go of: the paint chipping. Some people maybe able to look past this, but folks, on a $200 toy, this is simply not acceptable. There is no excuse, and is a huge fail on the part of Takara. I won’t say don’t get this figure because of it, but buyer beware. Like I said earlier, if you take 36 out of the clamshell, you WILL have paint chips.

Something else on 36 that I really enjoy is his fusion cannon. The barrel is adjustable for cannon and scope modes. Its a small thing that really stands out as that extra little bit that we should expect from a Masterpiece toy. Very nifty.

This went on for a bit, sorry for that, but I hope some of you enjoy it. Let us end in true Ironhidensh tradition, with a dash pic.