The Energon Pub

Primal seems to be a step up from previous R.E.D. entries, though we can't know for sure until we have him in hand. Is he a bit unnecessary when Kingdom Primal is so good? Yeah. But he's still a nice indicator of how good a R.E.D. toy can look. I'm also sold on that Megatron and, as others have said, will be keeping him in a simple static pose for maximum nostalgia.

I'm familiar enough with the RED series by now to know that they way they're posed in those pictures is the limit of their poseability. All the RED figures to date have had very encumbered joints with soft, weak plastic that you can't manipulate properly without cracking and tearing.

I expected the RED figures to be MORE poseable without any transformation engineering to get in the way, but I've been sadly disappointed with all of them to date. I doubt I'll be getting either of these. The 'reformatting' Megatron looks interesting, but they couldn't even bother putting the reformatting lines all across the affected limbs, they're only on the front. Boo!

Megs will depend on how fast they can reveal Galvatron and if there is a reformatting version.

Kingdoms Primal bot mode was fairly decent unlike Kingdoms Cheetor so it's not really something I'd be after.

Anyone else notice that the inside of his arm is scanned on the back of the package but not in the actual photos?

At least this one has Primal's hips correctly colored red instead of blue

Reformatting Megatron belongs to Hallmark's Christmas ornament line.

DeathReviews wrote:The 'reformatting' Megatron looks interesting, but they couldn't even bother putting the reformatting lines all across the affected limbs, they're only on the front. Boo!

It's not only on the front, but it looks like it's only on two of the four sides: front and right/outside, not back and left/inside. I'm sure that does have cost implications, but it may also be an aesthetic choice. It does make certain poses look pretty silly.

I re-watched the scene today, and the effect wipes from left to right, so it would be more accurate to be reversed. There are two different designs, an x-ray/circuitry style, and rounded depth lines, neither of which resemble the grid pattern on the figure. That said, this is a simple look that scans, so I can dig it.

Honestly, this feels like something you'd have to pay a customizer to do, so even if it's not spot-on, it works for me. If I want to go crazy, maybe I'll get a standard RED Megatron and coat it in chrome and throw it under a green light to be the pre-reformatted Megatron.

Even if it's ultimately a swing and a miss, I'm glad it's a swing that Hasbro is taking. A lot of toy companies are out there doing weird redecoes like this and I'm glad we see it with TFs, especially in the non-transforming line. Like, I didn't get the Amazon dead Prime because who needs the alt mode? He's dead, he's never turning into a truck again!

Reformating Megatron should've been part of a set with Thundercracker and Skywarp, I just don't see a point to it otherwise or doing anything else besides standing there.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Reformating Megatron should've been part of a set with Thundercracker and Skywarp, I just don't see a point to it otherwise or doing anything else besides standing there.

A set like this would’ve been awesome.
In general, this is the type of deco that would’ve been best suited for a statue.
“Reformatting Megatron” holding an energon cube? Pshhhh

Now, I’m still not against getting this one…
I could see putting him on a raised display stand to create the “floating” appearance & have him in a relatively static (& straight-facing) pose.

Sowndwave76 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Reformating Megatron should've been part of a set with Thundercracker and Skywarp, I just don't see a point to it otherwise or doing anything else besides standing there.

A set like this would’ve been awesome.
In general, this is the type of deco that would’ve been best suited for a statue.
“Reformatting Megatron” holding an energon cube? Pshhhh

Now, I’m still not against getting this one…
I could see putting him on a raised display stand to create the “floating” appearance & have him in a relatively static (& straight-facing) pose.

I'm passing on it because I still have nightmares over regular RED Megatron

I think the RED line is a missed chance for creating more accurate figures. They cost more or less the same than their converting couterparts, yet They look quite similiar and the poseability is similar too. I hoped there were some more accessoires too (like changing face for Megatron, for exaple) btu also by this point of view there's a delusion.

I'd buy them if They were cheaper, but at that price gey're pointless, except - maybe - for some collecting maniacs.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I'm passing on it because I still have nightmares over regular RED Megatron

Understandable. I've pretty much written this line off...
I will say of those I would've been interested in, Megatron still looks the best... The likeness is so good; the ideal mental image I have of this character and this figure are incredibly aligned.
I've never seen a converting figure have a better head/face sculpt then this.
Maybe MP-36's is better?? If so, not by much at all.
R.E.D.'s proportions are also on point. I've seen official animation where imo, his noggin is too large.
That's actually something I've noticed with illustrations of multiple characters.
Another huge plus for me is the fact that it's really reppin' the OG. May sound weird but I love seeing that gun barrel behind his right shoulder... Not to mention, no tank mode kibble of any kind, no greebling, no 5mm ports, fewer seams, no metal screws or pins, and no hollow bits anywhere.
That's not to say every joint is perfection (or that articulation shouldn't be better), however, out of all the offerings to date, imo this is about as close to perfect as you can get with a non-transforming, yet still articulated figure of this character. In fact, I don't have any recollection of seeing any sculpted, static statues of Megatron that match his likeness so well.

Now, wonky, warped, bent parts straight out of the box... Yeah, that sucks. But I've seen with my own eyes that this isn't a problem across the board with every figure.
For me, considering what this character is, can (and can't) do, and what's been done well, I don't see softer plastic being an issue.
Exactly like how I don't care if a transforming figure's head or waist can't turn 360, legs can't do the splits, shoulders can't be rotated to where the arms are facing straight backwards, etc.

Out of boredom as I wait for preorders to start showing up, I'm even more tempted by this figure.
Especially having a couple unopened Necca stands waiting to be used. There's still part of me that really wants to have this guy on a stand in a hovering/floating pose behind my desk at work.

Megatron's reformatting is going in the wrong direction. It goes left to right on screen, starting with the fusion cannon.

LOL, R.E.D.

Sowndwave76 wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I'm passing on it because I still have nightmares over regular RED Megatron

Understandable. I've pretty much written this line off...
I will say of those I would've been interested in, Megatron still looks the best... The likeness is so good; the ideal mental image I have of this character and this figure are incredibly aligned.
I've never seen a converting figure have a better head/face sculpt then this.
Maybe MP-36's is better?? If so, not by much at all.
R.E.D.'s proportions are also on point. I've seen official animation where imo, his noggin is too large.
That's actually something I've noticed with illustrations of multiple characters.
Another huge plus for me is the fact that it's really reppin' the OG. May sound weird but I love seeing that gun barrel behind his right shoulder... Not to mention, no tank mode kibble of any kind, no greebling, no 5mm ports, fewer seams, no metal screws or pins, and no hollow bits anywhere.
That's not to say every joint is perfection (or that articulation shouldn't be better), however, out of all the offerings to date, imo this is about as close to perfect as you can get with a non-transforming, yet still articulated figure of this character. In fact, I don't have any recollection of seeing any sculpted, static statues of Megatron that match his likeness so well.

Now, wonky, warped, bent parts straight out of the box... Yeah, that sucks. But I've seen with my own eyes that this isn't a problem across the board with every figure.
For me, considering what this character is, can (and can't) do, and what's been done well, I don't see softer plastic being an issue.
Exactly like how I don't care if a transforming figure's head or waist can't turn 360, legs can't do the splits, shoulders can't be rotated to where the arms are facing straight backwards, etc.

Out of boredom as I wait for preorders to start showing up, I'm even more tempted by this figure.
Especially having a couple unopened Necca stands waiting to be used. There's still part of me that really wants to have this guy on a stand in a hovering/floating pose behind my desk at work.

I think when I reviewed Megatron I said it was the best, but is being the best of the worst really good? I was thinking about getting a Starscream that was on eBay but I could clearly see the blast effects bent in packaging and lost all interest.

See, Megatron is a cool concept, that is an acceptable use of RED.

Primal is so redundant and unnecessary with the Kingdom toy on the shelves, that is a terrible use of RED

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:I'm okay with the look of Megatron, but if he's reformatting, how is he doing anything else??

This is an action figure that will only ever look good in a static pose. For me personally, that's perfect, it's just for display purposes as part of a Unicron scene. I think this is kind of the ideal use case for R.E.D., because the rest of the time a converting figure is better.

It's a dream for stop motion animation projects.

sol magnus wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:I'm okay with the look of Megatron, but if he's reformatting, how is he doing anything else??

This is an action figure that will only ever look good in a static pose. For me personally, that's perfect, it's just for display purposes as part of a Unicron scene. I think this is kind of the ideal use case for R.E.D., because the rest of the time a converting figure is better.

It's a dream for stop motion animation projects.

But the reformatting megs only works for 1 stop motion frame.

william-james88 wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:I'm okay with the look of Megatron, but if he's reformatting, how is he doing anything else??

This is an action figure that will only ever look good in a static pose. For me personally, that's perfect, it's just for display purposes as part of a Unicron scene. I think this is kind of the ideal use case for R.E.D., because the rest of the time a converting figure is better.

It's a dream for stop motion animation projects.

But the reformatting megs only works for 1 stop motion frame.

Better than no frames.

This also really has me questioning why this type of deco would ever be used for a transforming figure.
I know it was just rumor, but if something like this is used with the Galvatron mold, then it wouldn’t really be “reformatting”.
And if it happens, & it’s either black or purple with just cross contour lines (the end stage of the reformatting), that’s going to be very difficult to pull off. Not to mention the cannon mode may look awful.

Sowndwave76 wrote:This also really has me questioning why this type of deco would ever be used for a transforming figure.
I know it was just rumor, but if something like this is used with the Galvatron mold, then it wouldn’t really be “reformatting”.
And if it happens, & it’s either black or purple with just cross contour lines (the end stage of the reformatting), that’s going to be very difficult to pull off. Not to mention the cannon mode may look awful.

Cannon modes already look awful, Hasbro cant do much worse with their transforming galvatrons but I've got minimal interest in any Kingdom Galv. However Megatron RED has improved over the SCF



Sadly never got that chase figure (not sure if it was available on the heroes of cybertron carded scf line) but I think RED has improved on it -which might not mean much when its compared to a minimally posable SCF but SCF Galvatrons still leaps and bounds over the transforming Galvatrons for capturing his look (plus he has an excuse to not be a tripple changer)*

*If there had been a worlds smallest Galvatron then no excuse, no excuse at all XD though I'm now going down a deeper hole and trying to imagine the G1 toys baby arms on a tiny figure

william-james88 wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:I'm okay with the look of Megatron, but if he's reformatting, how is he doing anything else??

This is an action figure that will only ever look good in a static pose. For me personally, that's perfect, it's just for display purposes as part of a Unicron scene. I think this is kind of the ideal use case for R.E.D., because the rest of the time a converting figure is better.

It's a dream for stop motion animation projects.

But the reformatting megs only works for 1 stop motion frame.

1 inaccurate frame. Still can't get over how this toy has one job and still manages to do it wrong.

While we had a good laugh with the reveal of the RED Optimus Primal toy which looks exactly like his Kingdom toy but doesn't transform and at the Reformatting Megatron that has his reformatting grid going the wrong way, there are still fans who expressed interest. And that's great since it shows that Hasbro's offerings, no matter one's personal taste, have an audience. Well, for those who want to make sure they get these toys, Walmart has the preorders up. These links were posted by Hasbro themselves on their Facebook page. The items are due to ship out December 1st. Hasbro also posted the image which you can see below.

Preorder for Primal: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Transformers ... TEKt4fxitk
Preorder for Megatron: https://www.walmart.com/ip/Transformers ... 1zKXfGAhlk

I hadn't noticed until Scotty said it but it is pretty funny that hasbro got it wrong in terms of how the reformatting is done. It's left to right, not right to left like this toy.

It's left to right, not right to left like this toy.

Bruh, just turn the figure round.
But yeah, they messed up. Though if its not released yet, they can revise the figure...

Even though I have KD Primal, I'd be all over RED Primal if they had the same quality as Marvel Legends, GI Joe Classified, or Star Wars Black. Wave 1 was not manufactured with the same material as their other 6" lines. I didn't touch Wave 2. These are pure action figures unhindered by kibble or limited articulation to accommodate transformations. I'm looking at you, waist swivel-less Seeker mold.