The Energon Pub

News Credits: 56 · Mon Apr 19, 2021 9:42 am

Heh....I can remember a time seeing a MIB Grand Max for around $500, and thinking....there's no way anyone can afford that.. ....How times have changed. Of course I always wanted one, but when TT released the Legends version I knew that was my chance. At one point I was willing to pay almost $300 for it, but then BBTS had a blowout sale one glorious day about 2 years ago. I could not believe it.

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... bts/43664/

Now we are getting Black Zarak early in 2022. My want list of Modern Titans will be complete with the Exception of Metro Titan.

As far as Brand New Titans...All I really would wish for is MajinZarak. Of course I'd take a Nemesis if they made one, but the other two are the top priority for me.

News Credits: 6 · Mon Apr 19, 2021 5:18 pm

I don't see the need to drag this line out. The City Bots (and Takara redecos) and Omega Supreme. That's it for G1 characters of that size. The scale of these characters makes them equivalent to the mythological Titans within the context of Transformers. WFC Ark kind of gets a pass. As it is technically playing off of an alternate Omega Supreme concept.

A combiner team is not the same thing. For example, Devastator doesn't transform into six smaller versions of itself. The Gestalt is not the default bot.

Every line doesn't have to go on forever, needlessly.

News Credits: 22 · Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:42 pm

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:I don't see the need to drag this line out. The City Bots (and Takara redecos) and Omega Supreme. That's it for G1 characters of that size. The scale of these characters makes them equivalent to the mythological Titans within the context of Transformers. WFC Ark kind of gets a pass. As it is technically playing off of an alternate Omega Supreme concept.

By those guidelines we can still get the Last Autobot (whether a redeco of the Ark or a new mold, which I'm certain it won't be) and an official Metrotitan. Yet are both giant G1 characters. And personally, being a Marvel comic fan, I'd love to get a metallic silver decoed Ark, as he was in the comics. In them at least he has the correct number of thrusters. And since I brought up Marvel G1 giants, I would love a Titan Class version of ER Starscream (much like Cybertron/Galaxy Force did with the Supreme version of the voyager) to represent the Underbase-powered comic Screamer.

A combiner team is not the same thing. For example, Devastator doesn't transform into six smaller versions of itself. The Gestalt is not the default bot.

Wasn't it confirmed that the reason we got Devastator as a Titan was because originally he was supposed to be a MP but for some reason didn't get released that way? So they moved him over to the Titan line due to his size? Maybe I'm remembering wrong. As for the gestalt being the default bot, in Devy's case I think it is. Otherwise he would have been sold as 6 separate Constructicons like the regular-sized combiners. But he was sold as 1 character, thus that being the default. Just my opinion of course.

Every line doesn't have to go on forever, needlessly.

As long as there are people willing to purchase the items from the line, it's not needless.

News Credits: 56 · Tue Apr 20, 2021 9:56 am

I agree it cannot go on forever in that there are only so few characters that would fit the titan Concept. I also agree that Combiner's should NOT all be redone at that scale (The exceptions for Devastator and Predaking not withstanding. Also I'm hoping the MP Raiden is of the same scale but ONLY because it is an MP toy. If it were a standard Generation toy, I'd want it to be roughly the same size as the other CW/UW/PotP combiners). So yes, Titans will eventually come to an end. But depending on who you talk to, there are still 2-4 legit characters from the lore that could stand to have one. Then of course you get those who will start to want to "redo" the Titans. By then T30 Metroplex will be over a decade old. I'm honestly ok with it. Once in a generation is fine with me. But if Hasbro/TT believes there are enough people at that time that will fork out Titan-Class cash for an all new Metroplex, they might oblige. I hope not, but you never know with them.

News Credits: 42 · Tue Apr 20, 2021 10:15 am

On Devy, If I am remembering right, he was orignially an MP design by Takara. When CW came around and they needed to do Devy, their options were to start from the ground up, or down-scale the MP design until it fit the pricepoint.

So he basically existed in design before he was made into a Titan class release and they adjusted the design to fit the pricepoint for Hasbro. Then Takara added in some of the things Hasbro took out for their release.

News Credits: 6 · Tue Apr 20, 2021 10:16 am

Forgetting the obvious that HasTak will continue to fleece fans who throw money at them. I'm thinking of it in terms of a category/tier system. Imagine a pyramid visual of various lines, as the size of the figure increases, the line is smaller. For obvious reasons of practicality.

At the top, Two Planet Bots - Unicron and Primus. You could also add Atlas to that line, but that is it. No one is clamouring for an endless planet bot line. In spite of the "success" of HasLab Uni, Hasbro would definitely not give the go ahead to more.

Beneath the "gods", are the Titan Class. Purpose built city sized Super Robots. Starships could also fall under that. AKA The Playset line.

Then Gestalts, Commander Class (including the Six-changers) all the way down to the basic/cheapest mini figures. Who are the most plentiful.

Having the classification actually serve as a visual guide. Not just a generic price point rebranding for whatever big figure they want to throw it on. Thinking back to the pointless Supreme Class from BM, for example.

News Credits: 22 · Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:02 pm

Supreme class Cheetor and today's Titans are apples and oranges. The Titans were big in scale in their respective medias already.

News Credits: 6 · Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:09 pm

What I'm saying is give a specific purpose to a designation. Don't just lump a bunch of unrelated figures with unrelated gimmicks together by size with it.

Ultimate Class: Planet Bots
Titan Class: Transformer playsets (Cities and ships)
Ultra Class: Combiner Teams

With the smaller sizes having more versatility, given the character choice is greater.
Leader Class, Commander, Deluxe, Voyager etc, etc

News Credits: 56 · Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:48 pm

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:What I'm saying is give a specific purpose to a designation. Don't just lump a bunch of unrelated figures with unrelated gimmicks together by size with it.

Ultimate Class: Planet Bots
Titan Class: Transformer playsets (Cities and ships)
Ultra Class: Combiner Teams

With the smaller sizes having more versatility, given the character choice is greater.
Leader Class, Commander, Deluxe, Voyager etc, etc

I agree with this mostly. Hasbro is trying to challenge this however implying that the designations now are more about parts and the amount of plastic as opposed to the size of the characters themselves.

Case in point, In Siege & Most of ER we got Voyager sized bots with accessories, all called "Leader Class". Now we are getting in Kingdom Rodimus a Voyager sized bot with a TON of accessories, priced at CC.

Now to be fair, I'm not saying we aren't getting our money's worth. I understand that much. However I agree the designation for larger classes should be reserved for toys who's characters in fiction really are larger in size.

I then always fall back on the hypothetical 16 pack of Battlemasters, or 16 pack of Micromasters. It could be marketed as a "Commander Class" set, and rightly sold for $80 but IMHO that would be disingenuous to what was started with Jetfire and Skylynx.

But just to go back to your original post. Yes I don't think we need larger out-of-scale characters (Supreme BM Cheetor is a great example, that overly sized Nightscream was another), unless they were sold under a different line