The Energon Pub

[Whifflefire]

I finally got the time to open the Animated Lockdown I got at Botcon. My Animated collection is pretty small, as at the time I was more interested in the Universe and Movie lines. I also just got unlucky quality-wise with many of the ones I did get, as did my brother. But there were still a few figures from this line that I would have liked to have experienced. I had always heard great things about Lockdown, and now that I finally have him in-hand, I can confidently agree that this figure is awesome!

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The mass redistribution is, of course, quite spectacular to witness in person. He's so tall! The transformation is also surprisingly simple with really only a few steps, but each step is significant in how it changes the placement of each part. It's really a contrast to modern figures which tend to use different parts to make up each mode.

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The other great part about finally having Lockdown is that I can fulfil one of those great cross-compatibility features and give my Ratchet the EMP! While is will always astound me that Animated forewent the universal 5mm ports, it does make the few instances of toys being able to share features stand out more.

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Between Lockdown, Blackarachnia, and Legacy Prowl, I've been feeling a good bit of nostalgia for Animated! I hope they continue to do more new versions of these characters so I don't have to hunt as hard to build up the cast, but there are still a few vintage figures I may try to look for in the future.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

The Animated Autotroopers got some reinforcements

[Sabrblade]

Seeing as how this is basically the main thread for the Animated toyline (if we had one before, I can't find it), I'll post this news here.

Canceled designs for heretofore-unknown-about toys for a Deluxe Cybertronian Bumblebee and an Activators Rodimus have been found all these years later!

Transformers Animated scholar Keyan Carlile (who's been making all the big Animated Season 4 documentaries) has received their CAD drawings and posted them to Twitter.

ACTUAL new discovery: At the time Transformers Animated was cancelled, a Deluxe Cybertronian Mode Bumblebee and Activator Rodimus were in active development. I was just gifted their CAD drawings. They never reached the model phase.

Deluxe class Cybertronian Bumblebee



Activators Rodimus

[D-Maximal_Primal]

it is so very cool that we continue to see new stuff so many years later, and I appreciate that Cybertronian Bee was something in the design phase!

[DeathReviews]

TFA got the axe WAY too soon and was far too under-appreciated. It's a shame that quality, mold-breaking efforts like TFA always seem to play second fiddle to mediocre, cookie-cutter stuff. It'd be nice to see this show return, though I'm sure Hasbro would again sneer and pretend there's 'no market' for it..

[-Kanrabat-]

That Cyber Bee look either like a gorilla or a quarterback.

[Sabrblade]

That Cyber Bee look either like a gorilla or a quarterback.

But think of the remold potential!

[-Kanrabat-]

That Cyber Bee look either like a gorilla or a quarterback.

But think of the remold potential!

We have a whole football team here!
Maybe even two.

[cloudballoon]

TFA got the axe WAY too soon and was far too under-appreciated. It's a shame that quality, mold-breaking efforts like TFA always seem to play second fiddle to mediocre, cookie-cutter stuff. It'd be nice to see this show return, though I'm sure Hasbro would again sneer and pretend there's 'no market' for it..

But Hasbro was at least willing to put down R&D for 3 seasons. I think they've put in honest effort. So IMO that's less Hasbro's fault and more the initial fans reaction to the stylized look that might've got Hasbro spooked.

Another factor might be that Hasbro thought they can just ride the Bayverse train and ignore other major media efforts for the brand?

[Sabrblade]

That Cyber Bee look either like a gorilla or a quarterback.

But think of the remold potential!

We have a whole football team here!
Maybe even two.

And they all turn into Space Jalopies.

[Burn]

That Cyber Bee look either like a gorilla or a quarterback.

But think of the remold potential!

We have a whole football team here!
Maybe even two.

And they all turn into Space Jalopies.

Put some wings on them and you've got TFA Prime Steve's!

[Bumblevivisector]

Sadly another TF show that started to really hit it's stride after ditching Earth.

And season 4 would have taken Animated back to Earth.

Not the point being made. Ditching Earth gives way to Transformers becoming a lot more creative. Often leading to more imaginative world building for the series too. Animated really benefitted from veering away from human-based enemies/scenerios and embracing it's own unique lore.

Agreed. The series finale felt like the show was finally shifting into high gear and taking off, so of course it ended. Reminds me of how the U.S. Marvel book got so good under Furman and Wildman that it could've burst the boundaries of its dead toyline and just kept going like ROM and Micronauts before it...but no, axed. If we could somehow get one long-dead TF cartoon another new season, I'd vote for Animated, no question.

And while that will never happen, we could, in theory, get the occasional new toy based on the hundreds of designs the late Mr. Wyatt drew up...which is why Legacy Animated Prowl with G1-ified face hurt so bad, and is ironically that last toy from the line I'd ever consider buying.

[Sabrblade]

Keyan Carlile has made full retrospective videos looking at every single toy and piece of merchandise of Animated Prowl and Optimus Prime, beginning with their original toys from 2008 all the way up to their newest toys in the Legacy line, which he compares to those originals to see how they stack up to each other.

The merchandise he covers also ranges from the common to the obscure, even covering some items that few have ever heard of before.





He plans to eventually make the same kind of video for the new Bumblebee toy.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I am loving the Legacy animated guys so much, they are really making for some nice shelf additions. Prime is still an absolute standout

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Got a couple new animated bots!

[Rodimus Prime]

That voyager Megatron was my very 1st TFA figure, got it as a Christmas present. Still have him to this day, even if he's a bit awkward. Of course I had to get deluxe Prime to go with him.

[Sabrblade]

I did the mod to mine that allows the fusion cannon to sit flush against the arm.

[Rodimus Prime]

I did the mod to mine that allows the fusion cannon to sit flush against the arm.

Does it involve disassembly of the arm?

[Sabrblade]

I did the mod to mine that allows the fusion cannon to sit flush against the arm.

Does it involve disassembly of the arm?

Nope. Just hacking off a small chunk of the plastic.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I did the mod to mine that allows the fusion cannon to sit flush against the arm.

Does it involve disassembly of the arm?

Nope. Just hacking off a small chunk of the plastic.

Care to share?

[Rodimus Prime]

I did the mod to mine that allows the fusion cannon to sit flush against the arm.

Does it involve disassembly of the arm?

Nope. Just hacking off a small chunk of the plastic.

Care to share?

Yeah, don't be shy. Share with the group.

[Sabrblade]

I did the mod to mine that allows the fusion cannon to sit flush against the arm.

Does it involve disassembly of the arm?

Nope. Just hacking off a small chunk of the plastic.

Care to share?

Yeah, don't be shy. Share with the group.

Looking around for it, I believe this is the tutorial I used for it (it was originally posted back in 2008).

Though, contrary to the instructions given, I didn't use a dremel or any power tools. Just a small blade sharp enough to cut and hack away at the plastic.

Other mods from the time that I did were the one that allows Bumblebee's stingers to fold into his arms all the way, the one that allows Grimlock's upper arms to slide deeper into his shoulders, the one that allows Lockdown's hands to properly fold out from his arms all the way forward (though, I didn't not do this mod for Blazing Lockdown since it was pretty tough and time-consuming the first time with normal Lockdown, even if the results were still worth it), and I think that's all the Animated-related mods I did back then.

There was another mod for Prowl that allowed his knees to bend back even farther, but I couldn't get that one done right since it required too much precision to do to some very tiny, very specific parts of his thighs, and the extra bend in the knees really wasn't as much of a difference-maker as the other mods I did were, so I just left Prowl's already-sufficient knee articulation unmodified.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Shadows of the future overlooking the past

[Rodimus Prime]

That Animated voyager Megatron makes a very good hoverboard for some other figure, voyager or deluxe.

[Sabrblade]

Remember how several Animated toys from the end of the toyline were canceled? One of those was Wingblade Optimus Prime. While TakaraTomy ended up releasing their own version with the Voyager class Optimus mold, Hasbro's was originally going to use the Deluxe class mold, with the wing pack meant to be compatible with both figures. However, when Takara released theirs, the wing pack was only compatible with the Voyager mold with no possible way to attach it to the Deluxe mold.

Well, Twitter user @thederrierfair has posted in-hand photos of the unreleased Hasbro version of Wingblade Optimus Prime, complete with comparison photos with both the non-winged Deluxe class Optimus mold and with Takara's Voyager-only wing pack:

https://twitter.com/thederrierefair/status/2046601294048002488

https://twitter.com/thederrierefair/status/2046602910327259255