The Energon Pub

Website · by **RK_Striker_JK_5** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 7:15 am

I really do hope we see preorders for the remaining three soon. Not so much for the combined mode but for the Throttlebots.

News Credits: 12 · by **Evil Eye** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 2:05 pm

OK, I'm going to say it right now.

They did not need to bother with separate foot pieces. The folded over car front ends would be perfectly serviceable feet. Sure you might need to add a little bit of extra engineering to give them ankle tilts, but would it be that hard?

From what I've seen, they look very fun individual robots but the combined form is kinda eh. The separate foot pieces are really lazy and totally unnecessary.

Still, they do look like fun robots. I just don't dig the combining thing.

News Credits: 1 · by **rpetras** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 2:47 pm

The nice thing about combiners; you can choose not to combine them if you like them as individuals.

And, yes, they are fun little bots!

News Credits: 12 · by **Evil Eye** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 2:49 pm

Yeah, they do look a lot of fun as they are. Looks like they aren't compromising individual playability for the combining gimmick, which is good. Only seen a review for Grind Rod and he looks like a fun little figure. I'd like to see him redecoed into Brawn colours actually.

Website · by **RK_Striker_JK_5** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 3:03 pm

Oh, yeah. I am definitely not buying him for the combining gimmick.

That's why I'm kinda torn on if they make a Goldbug or not if I'll get it. I've got a Classics Bumblebee with an upgrade kit for that and right now he does fine as-is.

by **hpfabe** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 3:05 pm

I have the first three, and have to say that they are all very solid, well made, well designed, and actually fun/playable.
These are things missing from a lot of other 3rd parties.

News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 4:45 pm

hpfabe wrote:I have the first three, and have to say that they are all very solid, well made, well designed, and actually fun/playable.
These are things missing from a lot of other 3rd parties.

agreed.

grind rod is so great that id honestly buy it for that inflated price i posted earlier. but thats just me.

News Credits: 409 · by **Stormrider** » Thu Sep 18, 2014 5:05 pm

shajaki wrote:
hpfabe wrote:I have the first three, and have to say that they are all very solid, well made, well designed, and actually fun/playable.
These are things missing from a lot of other 3rd parties.
agreed.

grind rod is so great that id honestly buy it for that inflated price i posted earlier. but thats just me.

Grindrod is one of my favorite figures - 3rd Party and Official. Like you said, well me and fun.

News Credits: 402 · by **Mkall** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 11:50 am

And boom goes the dynamite:

News Credits: 402 · by **Mkall** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 11:54 am

Holy ****, this is pretty much the most excited I've been in months. These guys look amazing and the combiner is pretty good too, although I doubt I'll bother displaying it in this mode.

Preorders can be found here: http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/sear ... %20gestalt

Website · by **RK_Striker_JK_5** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:05 pm

Oh I hate and love you at the same time, Mkall.

News Credits: 118 · by **megatronus** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:05 pm

They look great as a team.

by **JRFitzpatrick7** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:07 pm

Mkall wrote:These guys look amazing and the combiner is pretty good too, although I doubt I'll bother displaying it in this mode.

I agree! Got them all preordered! I feel conflicted about the additional combiner parts. On the one hand, I wish they weren't necessary and that the gestalt could be formed without them. On the other hand, since do not plan to keep them in gestalt mode, I am glad that sacrifices weren't made to the individual bot/alt modes.

To compare:

News Credits: 402 · by **Mkall** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:29 pm

RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Oh I hate and love you at the same time, Mkall.

You sound like an ex girlfriend of mine. Your name isn't Kimberly by chance is it?

Website · by **RK_Striker_JK_5** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:32 pm

Mkall wrote:
RK_Striker_JK_5 wrote:Oh I hate and love you at the same time, Mkall.

You sound like an ex girlfriend of mine. Your name isn't Kimberly by chance is it?

*Begins to respond, then checks license* No. :lol:

News Credits: 1 · by **rpetras** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 12:48 pm

OK, glad these are finally coming out, it has been too long.

But I'm torn, the others went on pretty deep clearance, and I'm tempted to wait for them to drop in price. I have no need to have them in hand right away.

Also, it looks like Goldbug is 100% unnecessary (except for the combiner pieces you would need). He's just a backpack!
That's cool for those happy with an existing Goldbug, but really strange as a design choice.
I thought he would be/contain the head of the combiner, not carry his Trapper Keeper and lunch box.

by **NOS** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 1:35 pm

Looks fantastic! :DANCE:

You know, as much as I would like to wait and see if these guys go on clearance to save myself a buck or two . . . I don't mind supporting ToyWorld when they put out something like this. Also, I really like how Wideload turned out and am glad they went with a Hummer rather than a dump truck. That vehicle choice never really made sense to me as a "Throttlebot".

As for Throttler as a whole . . . wow.

Just seems like an overall improvement on the original Throttlebots and I, for one, am impressed. Well played, ToyWorld. Well played. :APPLAUSE:

News Credits: 12 · by **Evil Eye** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 2:50 pm

I LOVE Goldbug. I'm seriously digging the Mini Cooper mode they gave him, and the gold is really nice too.

The only thing I don't like is the amount of combiner kibble and the fact it does bugger all outside of the combined mode. Are the feet even necessary? The leg bots look like they can form perfectly decent feet from their car fronts without the extra kibble. Having the hands as kibble? I can understand it. The crotch plate? Annoying but OK. The head and shoulders? that's pretty lame- this isn't the 80s anymore, toy technology has marched on. The goddamn KNEES!? Inexcusable.

The individual robots are great though, and the gestalt mode does look nice at the very least.

by **Rated X** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 3:08 pm

Its funny I just mentioned these years the other day and here they are. They look good, but it kind of sucks rollbar is G1 cartoon accurate and the others have been infected with the neo virus. I dont see why they didnt just make goldbug into one of those new girly VW bugs ? Anyways, I preordered them to get the set over with. I dont think these will be going on clearance. I think reason aurora and chase went on clearance was because of speculation that the project was cancelled. Now with all the figures being available it will be a hot seller. And im kind of excited about Throttler. He looks like a cool combiner. I dont see how you guys who are willing to embrace Windblade but wont give Throttler a chance on their shelf.

News Credits: 12 · by **Evil Eye** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 3:18 pm

Oh he LOOKS cool. It's just that the amount of combiner kibble with NOWHERE TO GO AT ALL outside of gestalt mode is totally inexcusable on a modern 3P combiner. I know you don't care about parts integration and just chuck the parts in a box, but not all of us have such low standards. It's a shame as the individual 'bots are great and the combined mode looks good too, but the fact that practically a third of the combined mode is kibble is pretty crap. Even the old as hell FP Bruticus upgrade kit made all the parts do something.

I really want to see a third party create a Liokaiser, because then they'd effectively be forced to integrate the parts (as the classic Liokaiser's only piece of combiner kibble was the helmet- the hands and feet were part of the robots).

News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 4:54 pm

..............

.....

its beautiful. everything about it. could care less about parts-forming.
gold bug is probably my favourite. if grind rod werent more elusive than bigfoot, i would double up on each figure so's i could have the separate bots displayed and that phenomenally nonsensical combiner.

guess i gotta go (finally) buy the red guy now!

by **Robogeek1973** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 5:20 pm

Goldbug is freaking perfect, but it's a damn shame he costs so much as that means I'll never pick him up.

Ah well.

by **Rated X** » Fri Feb 06, 2015 11:06 pm

Delta Magnus wrote:Oh he LOOKS cool. It's just that the amount of combiner kibble with NOWHERE TO GO AT ALL outside of gestalt mode is totally inexcusable on a modern 3P combiner. I know you don't care about parts integration and just chuck the parts in a box, but not all of us have such low standards. It's a shame as the individual 'bots are great and the combined mode looks good too, but the fact that practically a third of the combined mode is kibble is pretty crap. Even the old as hell FP Bruticus upgrade kit made all the parts do something.

I really want to see a third party create a Liokaiser, because then they'd effectively be forced to integrate the parts (as the classic Liokaiser's only piece of combiner kibble was the helmet- the hands and feet were part of the robots).

"Low standards" ? I think you should rephrase that to "different standards". I grew up with G1 combiners that had no parts integration. Theres a possibility hasbro never came up with the idea because nobody cared about it. Somewhere down the line in the 3rd party world, somebody thought parts integration was cool and created their own standard. But that never made it "the" standard. Not everybody likes kibble bots with combiner parts fastened all over their bodies. Parts integration actually sacrafices the overall look of combiner parts in some cases by making them either undersized or oversized so they can "integrate".

by **NOS** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 1:54 am

So, without derailing the topic -too- much I would just like to post this short youtube vid of gestalt teams combining to point out one small tidbit . . .

Combiner kibble wasn't -always- placed on the figures off camera. In many transformations the kibble itself made an appearance to lock into place on a character. Point being, it wasn't fully integrated on the characters in the shows either.

Now, this isn't to say that combiner kibble is or isn't okay, but if ones reasoning behind hating combiner kibble is due to the idea that all parts of all forms should essentially be a part of the core bot/con itself then I hope this offers a little more closure.

That being said, I personally feel combiner kibble improves the core figures and the combiner all together as it allows more leeway to improve those figures rather than having to cram -everything- into a few small spaces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqbKzc0KEYE

by **guarayakha** » Sat Feb 07, 2015 3:44 am

Yeah, I don't mind the combiner kibbles at all. All it means is that I can get any one of these guys separately without going "OMG this is a combiner now I have to buy the whole set!". Goldbug looks great, though I think he'd look alot better with extra racing stripes!