The Energon Pub

Hmm i noticed something... examine his legs... u see it? the black engine block that was from the hood of the car? okay. look at the hood of the car mode.. look blue! legs are very much orange. from this observation i think the final product may be subject to minor changes.

Good choice of a basically one-shot obscure character to fit in with the 'in the past' Elite Guard.
Bad choice of decoration. The color pattern in itself isn't bad, but the choice of brightnesses is horrible.
I notice they took out the minicon plug spot, too. Heh. No loss there, that Jolt remold was crap. I still don't get how they were able to make a decent minicon WORSE. But that's another story.

Eh. I'll toss him in a box or something. I'm really only keeping my membership to read the storylines and get a decent price of Classics Punch/Counterpunch anyways...

That's the new free membership figure? THAT'S how they follow up to a five-year-set combiner figure? With a repaint of an incredibly crappy toy that's painted in the colors of a life-raft?

I'm sorry...but that's pathetic! If that's the best they can do for an exclusive, I'm not renewing.

Come to think of it, many of their past exclusives were pretty crappy too. xD

FracturedKoi wrote:That's the new free membership figure? THAT'S how they follow up to a five-year-set combiner figure? With a repaint of an incredibly crappy toy that's painted in the colors of a life-raft?

I'm sorry...but that's pathetic! If that's the best they can do for an exclusive, I'm not renewing.

Come to think of it, many of their past exclusives were pretty crappy too. xD

So...what's your great idea for an exclusive figure?

Personally I think it's Nice. I Mean it's superior to the last translucent combiner. Neat paint scheme (kinda G2ish) I dig it.

Well, I don't hate it, but I wouldn't go out of my way to pick it up. It would be an impulse buy in a store, but that's about it.

I am already planning on signing up for the club next year in preparation for Botcon, but I wouldn't sign up just for this figure.

Meet me in the Club next year!

Cool! I don't mind the colors, and I'll give the club credit for doing something balls-y here. Not a bad idea! And, since I skipped the Universe Hot Shot mold altogether the first time around, I'll gladly take this "free" figure with my membership!

I really like this. I may be in the minority, but I like the Hot Shot mold from Classics...much better than the Armada version it's based on. And I don't think the colors are as "neon" as some people are thinking. It looks like it may have to do with the background and lighting. I'm betting the colors are closer too the ones used on the Nightbeat figure. Along those lines, they sure have a hard-on for Hot Shot molds don't they?

First-Aid wrote:I really like this. I may be in the minority, but I like the Hot Shot mold from Classics...much better than the Armada version it's based on. And I don't think the colors are as "neon" as some people are thinking. It looks like it may have to do with the background and lighting. I'm betting the colors are closer too the ones used on the Nightbeat figure. Along those lines, they sure have a hard-on for Hot Shot molds don't they?

Maybe it's just a hard-on for ItsWalky

I like it! I'm relieved that this is not going to be another Energon translucent repaint.

joevill wrote:I like it! I'm relieved that this is not going to be another Energon translucent repaint.

Me too, although I felt U2.0 Hot Shot could have been done a lot better than it was. Maybe they could at least use the Henkei version...

I personally feel that, based on the images of G1 Dion I've seen on Teletraan I, this is exactly how I feel Dion should turn out if he was given an Earth alt-mode.

I'm just wondering if they'll include Jolt in some form or another. I would be okay if they didn't because I thought less of how Jolt turned out than Hot Shot, but I'm not too big a fan of breaking up what was meant to be a set (like they did with Armada deluxe-class Prime and Demolisher in Cybertron).

Counterpunch wrote:

FracturedKoi wrote:That's the new free membership figure? THAT'S how they follow up to a five-year-set combiner figure? With a repaint of an incredibly crappy toy that's painted in the colors of a life-raft?

I'm sorry...but that's pathetic! If that's the best they can do for an exclusive, I'm not renewing.

Come to think of it, many of their past exclusives were pretty crappy too. xD

So...what's your great idea for an exclusive figure?

A life size Fortress Maxmius! =D Ok, you'll have to forgive my harsness this morning. I'm stuck on first shift at a swing shift job and I'm not a morning person...so I was grumpy to begin with xD

I wouldn't mind another combiner as the free figure, honestly. I'd kinda like to see a retooled RiD Landfill. Or maybe some G1 reissues as exclusives...that haven't been reissued before, like the supposed lost or destroyed molds like Mirage or Wheeljack.

Honestly, I'm just not fond of the Universe Hotshot mold. It's just...meh to me xD Again, sorry for being harsh.

I am probably very lonely here, but I like it.

I still can't groove to this idea.

I hope that once we get images of the final product I'll feel better about this as the mock-up clearly isn't complete as the paint aps on the different mods aren't matching up.

I can still repurpose him as Alley-Viper Hot Shot, but the hues will need to be a bit darker for both the Orange and blue than the mock up shows or it won't match with the 25th mold.

Surprisingly enough I actually kind of like it. My only complaint is the lack of a new head scuplt.

Editor wrote:I still can't groove to this idea.

I hope that once we get images of the final product I'll feel better about this as the mock-up clearly isn't complete as the paint aps on the different mods aren't matching up.

I can still repurpose him as Alley-Viper Hot Shot, but the hues will need to be a bit darker for both the Orange and blue than the mock up shows or it won't match with the 25th mold.

That is the best thing I've heard so far. Alley Vipers rock so hard.

Nemesis Rodimus wrote:I am probably very lonely here, but I like it.

I'm with ya. I'll be happy to add him to my Classics collection.

I'll be getting him, but I might be calling him Windbreaker.

Am I the only one that sees the similarities?

That mold is crap. Like they say, "you can't polish a turd".

Prime Riblet wrote:That mold is crap. Like they say, "you can't polish a turd".

Actually Mythbusters busted that. Sure they couldn't do it with a human turd (don't know if they tried actually) but they did find some animal left-behinds that polish nicely

Ok I'm done here.

Mkall wrote:

Prime Riblet wrote:That mold is crap. Like they say, "you can't polish a turd".

Actually Mythbusters busted that. Sure they couldn't do it with a human turd (don't know if they tried actually) but they did find some animal left-behinds that polish nicely

Ok I'm done here.

But, even if you do polish a turd...it's still just a turd and always will be a turd xD

I think Dion is a great character choice. Mold choice is so-so. I probably wouldn't buy him in a store, at least not at first. Maybe down the road, when I didn't have anything else in mind to buy. Although, I can almost hear Counterpunch now, "It's Dion! You need Dion! War Dawn, man, War Dawn!" and then I'd probably buy it.

But as a FREE figure, I'm actually looking forward to this guy.

Really, when you think about it, you didn't really expect the Club to give us a figure for which we'd normally mob the stores for free? Free stuff's never as awesome as expensive stuff. But that's why we're getting Punch/Counterpunch. Dion's just a little freebie bonus for all the cash we'll be shelling out for memberships and P/CPs.

I'm not entirely certain of all the hate for this figure in general.

It's an interesting mold, with an interesting transformation. Sure, the shoulders are limiting, but there are several well documented work-arounds if it really bothers you.

This is a classic reinterpretation of a character and a clever one at that. Don't like that story? repurpose the thing as G2 Windbreaker. You make your own science-fiction fantasy.

As to the color scheme? Well, it's not neon. I hate to reference the TFWiki page on 'Neon' but, here goes:

Unlike the real world, where the word means "fluorescent", neon is a term used by many in the Transformers online fandom to describe any color on a Transformers product that an individual merely finds ugly. This broad usage means practically any color imaginable can be marginalized as a hated "neon" color. Colors that have been categorized as neon include the following:

White
Yellow (unless it is on a Bug)
Red (unless it is on a truck)
Blue
Green (unless it is on a construction vehicle)
Purple (see above. Or a dinosaur.)
Orange (unless it is on a predatory animal)
Black

Counterpunch wrote:I'm not entirely certain of all the hate for this figure in general.

It's an interesting mold, with an interesting transformation. Sure, the shoulders are limiting, but there are several well documented work-arounds if it really bothers you.

It seems to be generally regarded as the worst of Universe/Classsics, alongside Galvatron. I only have experience of the Henkei version, but I still think it's one of the weakest figures of the line. Given the massive amount of complaining about the figure (even Walky gave it a very six-of-one-half-a-dozen-of-the-other review), I guess it just seems a bit of a kick in the teeth that this mold was picked, no matter how little choice the Club may have had.

I'm not a club member, but I can imagine members, especailly members from overseas feeling like they're not being listened to. Especially since members are "stuck" with this figure, unlike the others that they may or may not choose to sell.

This is a classic reinterpretation of a character and a clever one at that. Don't like that story? repurpose the thing as G2 Windbreaker. You make your own science-fiction fantasy.

Or even make him an original character. Agreed.

As to the color scheme? Well, it's not neon. I hate to reference the TFWiki page on 'Neon' but, here goes:

Maybe not neon, but the colours do look ugly, from these photos at least. And I'm not saying that as someone who insists on realistic colours, or who hates interesting colour schemes. Hell, I love Zap (who I think became Windbreaker, am I right?) but this just grates.