The Energon Pub

william-james88 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:There are several people like that. Some are still going for the whole line. But some are widdling their lists down, and specific characters to check off are becoming fewer and far between. One SS Leader Dinobot per year definitely takes patience. But it took 2 years to complete RotF Devastator, and I'm all in on MPG Raiden, so yeah, it's going to be a long haul for many of us.

Late 2020 SS86 Grimlock
Late 2021 SS86 Slag
*Assuming Late 2022 SS86 Sludge

*if"Hasbro makes Swoop a large Voyager we could conceivably get the last two Dinobots in 2023... only time will tell. By then Voyagers will probably cost almost $40 USD...the same as what a Leader cost during CW/TR...

If having Swoop be a leader means I need to wait an extra year, then so be it. I'm in no rush for mediocrity. I don't see how a voyager could work without some sacrifices few of us would stand for.

I agree… Although if he’s just slightly shorter than the rest, I could be okay with that.
But regular voyager height will be a ginormous letdown.
Before, I caved to others saying, “Look at character model charts”.
But at this point I don’t care about that; when I stand OP next the Grimlock & think, “Would it look weird if Swoop was only this tall?”.
Absolutely. It will really look like some crazy mistake.

Here’s why I have hope he’ll be leader class:
Even if he’s slightly shorter than the others, he could still be substantially larger than regular voyagers.
He shouldn’t require intricate engineering, even if they do a good job of articulation with his wings.
Just because he’s taller than a normal voyager doesn’t mean he has to be super bulky. Even with large wings & missiles… He shouldn’t use more plastic than the others.
Then stop & think that Hastak would sell this guy for $55+ per figure instead of $35+.
Imo making him a voyager seems like a loss for everyone.

What I’m hoping for in terms of the release:
Swoop is leader class for SS86 in early 2023.
Snarl is in the mainline mid to late 2023.

william-james88 wrote:If having Swoop be a leader means I need to wait an extra year, then so be it. I'm in no rush for mediocrity.

This makes perfect sense. I really had no strong opinion one way or the other, I was just reiterating what I had heard from others. It seems just as many people feel as you do WJ, and that is cool. I've been watching a LOT of videos online. Long time Star Wars, Marvel Legends, TF fans etc... are more and more in it for the long waiting game, maybe only getting a couple of figures per year that are on their personal *want lists*, as opposed to whole waves or lines.

That isn't to say that some people wont be all in on Legacy, or SS but I've just been preparing myself to be more focused on my spending and to go perhaps many months between purchases. It seems others are as well.

o.supreme wrote:

william-james88 wrote:If having Swoop be a leader means I need to wait an extra year, then so be it. I'm in no rush for mediocrity.

I hear that. I'll wait for quality work. Though, I can see a voyager Swoop being tolerable, because of the wingspan factor. Wingfinger was a Deluxe with almost no heft to him - a skinny little stringbean. But somehow, it looks bigger simply because the wings spread out so wide. If half of each of Swoop's wings wind up being just 3 inches, then each outspread wing would be six inches - making the wingspan at least a foot wide, not including any of the body parts between the wings. That would be a lot of shelf space, even for a voyager. Visually, that would make Swoop appear larger than Grimlock or Slag. Kind of like how Batman flares his cape to make himself seem more impressive than he actually is....

I hope we see more Legacy reveals. Like a Stunticon or two.

Overcracker wrote: We got a single nod to R.I.D for its 20th, and we know we are getting an Armada Starscream in Voyager size class.

Thinking about it,Scourge being a black truck in Rise of the Beasts counts as nod too,right?

william-james88 wrote:
Also further proof that this won't be about the ROTB toyline as there are no Decepticons in that toyline. They may give us a first look at things though, like concept art, could be fun.

To be fair,they kind set themselves up for movie related news expectations.The film is called Rise of the Beasts and the first words in the facebook post is "RISE UP!"

william-james88 wrote:That's just an unlucky coincidence. Rise Up is the Decepticon version of Roll Out

Was it ever used outside of TFA?

I really hope we see Soundwave and confirm once and for all what mold and package we're getting.

DeathReviews wrote:
I hear that. I'll wait for quality work. Though, I can see a voyager Swoop being tolerable, because of the wingspan factor. Wingfinger was a Deluxe with almost no heft to him - a skinny little stringbean. But somehow, it looks bigger simply because the wings spread out so wide. If half of each of Swoop's wings wind up being just 3 inches, then each outspread wing would be six inches - making the wingspan at least a foot wide, not including any of the body parts between the wings. That would be a lot of shelf space, even for a voyager. Visually, that would make Swoop appear larger than Grimlock or Slag. Kind of like how Batman flares his cape to make himself seem more impressive than he actually is....

I see your point about wingspan possibly adding the overall appearance of bulk of a figure.
However, another reason I don't think Swoop should be a voyager is because if he's almost the exact height of say OP, then just to keep his proportions somewhat decent he'd have to be really pretty thin.
And while he may in fact have thinner limbs than the other 4, imo it never stood out that much.
Swoop never looked substantially smaller than the others in bot mode.
Being smaller both in height and overall bulk is going to look borderline horrible.
People who don't even care would notice and point it out.
Of course, being leader class means the dino mode is going to be too big in relation to the others' dino modes...
But between the two, the trend seems to be more focus on the bot mode than alt mode.

I do have a small fear that Hastak is going to bump him up to "leader class" by throwing-in a couple blast effects and a clear stand of some sort for his dino mode, while the figure itself is regular voyager scale.

AcademyofDrX wrote:I really hope we see Soundwave and confirm once and for all what mold and package we're getting.

Same. Very curious about this!!

Wow, what a disappointing wet fart of a Fan First Friday that was. Of course, we all should have known better. They were never going to reveal something new, just catch up and officially reveal everything PvP already has shown us, aside from Sludge.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:Wow, what a disappointing wet fart of a Fan First Friday that was. Of course, we all should have known better. They were never going to reveal something new, just catch up and officially reveal everything PvP already has shown us, aside from Sludge.

I think that's kind of part of the problem, though. The expectation is poor because some guy gets through sometimes...less than upstanding means...stuff the company wants to reveal when it's time to reveal it.

I didn't have a whole lot of anticipation, but I'm not upset either because I know what's up. It's pointless blaming Hasbro for not revealing stuff fast enough, because they will never be fast enough.

I really do wonder why this problem is almost exclusive to transformers? I have gotten much more into Marvel, Star Wars, and Ghostbusters lately, have a much heavier hand on the pulse of their toylines and such, and while those may get rumored character lists, they do not get even partial reveals until they do their reveals sessions such as FFF. It doesn't make sense why TFs are the only ones to have that happen, especially since TFs tend to be harder to sneak out I would think given the weird proportions.

As for the reveals, Sludge renewed my interest in the 86 dinobots. Slug was really lame and I was doubting them, but Sludge looked very nice and a far improvement over Slug. (pretty bad when Cyberverse dominates the SS86 toy in terms of everything). ironhide and Arcee looked really good and I am excited for them. Junkyard actually looked less impressive in stock photos? But I think I will still end up trying him out. Spike is crap and i will pass.

The rest we have already seen. Bummer that the 3 beasts are walmart exclusives, not looking forward to hoping I can get them from the limited pulse stock. But those 3 do look good. I am going to wait to see Scorponok and Knock Out in hand to decide. They look good, but RED Arcee is legitimately one of the worst toys I own and the reissue Primal was terrible quality too. I want to be excited, but both have a precedent that sucks a good bit.

Shame too that so many of these were spoiled for us, yet preorders won't be live for another month OR the figures have been on the shelves for a month or 2 already.

And while i like the idea of moving mostly away from clear plastic, the SS86 Buzzworthy guys are how not to do it, I really do not like the animation cell shaded blue windows, they look TERRIBLE. Poor Cliffjumper, i love his original toy, and this one is such a downgrade.

Has this been the first officially revealed set of Buzzworthy Bee figures? I recall the very first wave just showed up in stores without any sort of reveal. I can't remember if there was even a half-assed facebook/instagram post on the second batch with origins bee or the worlds collide set.

The only one I'm really 'hyped' for is leader Sludge. But alas, this one's not available on Pulse yet. And the way things have normally gone - by the time I get the alert, the pre orders will be sold out.

In any case, looking forward to that one. Glad to see they didn't toss in another unwanted 'mini' figure....

Nothing I need or want, although that RED Knock Out figure reminds me of the Red Lantern character Razer.

DeathReviews wrote:The only one I'm really 'hyped' for is leader Sludge. But alas, this one's not available on Pulse yet. And the way things have normally gone - by the time I get the alert, the pre orders will be sold out.

In any case, looking forward to that one. Glad to see they didn't toss in another unwanted 'mini' figure....

You may be right about the preorder, but he'll show up in stores. I'm sure you'll get one if you want it.

sol magnus wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:The only one I'm really 'hyped' for is leader Sludge. But alas, this one's not available on Pulse yet. And the way things have normally gone - by the time I get the alert, the pre orders will be sold out.

In any case, looking forward to that one. Glad to see they didn't toss in another unwanted 'mini' figure....

You may be right about the preorder, but he'll show up in stores. I'm sure you'll get one if you want it.

I have seen every leader from SS in stores, I'm confident Sludge will be readily available.

Funny thing is, I think the leader that was most scarce was Overload, and the one I have seen the most is either Slug or Scavenger. The Leaders are usually pretty easy to find eventually, Plus the way SS works with a 2 both wave to start the year and then either a single new leader or in the case of 2018 only those 2 leaders has ensured a good healthy supply

sol magnus wrote:

TF-fan kev777 wrote:Wow, what a disappointing wet fart of a Fan First Friday that was. Of course, we all should have known better. They were never going to reveal something new, just catch up and officially reveal everything PvP already has shown us, aside from Sludge.

I think that's kind of part of the problem, though. The expectation is poor because some guy gets through sometimes...less than upstanding means...stuff the company wants to reveal when it's time to reveal it.

I didn't have a whole lot of anticipation, but I'm not upset either because I know what's up. It's pointless blaming Hasbro for not revealing stuff fast enough, because they will never be fast enough.

It might be hard to keep up with leakers, but I think it's fair to criticize Hasbro when half of their reveals have already been found in stores.