The Energon Pub

[Cobotron]

I don't think the toy line is adhering strictly to the fiction.

Certainly not. Apparently they are creating a new fiction.
http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/sdcc-2015-coverage-transformers-combiner-wars-animated-series-via-machinima-coming-soon/33445/

[Sowndwave76]

Awwwww..... no Computron Guess I'll have to hope that Takara does one.

I'm not giving up on him, because I think there are enough current molds that could be re-tooled enough to make it happen...

What I'm not at all confident about now is Abominus...
Pretty difficult to figure out how to make those molds work for other characters, even with re-tooling.

I really think Predaking could be the next Titan combiner... It does make a lot of sense.
He was a larger than normal combiner, and at Titan class, like the Constructicons,
Hasbro doesn't have to worry about each mold needing to be used for other figures.

Also, I think sooner than later, Hasbro will realize that we don't need another set of Autobot car characters... And for that matter, I don't think we'll need another set of Stunticons or Combaticons...
So with character slots opening up, maybe Dinobots will be released as voyagers, and combiners can be more beastly.

[shajaki]

Just because Hasbro have said no beast combiners, doesn't mean they were referring to the likes of Predaking, Monstrucator and Abominus.

They could have meant no Beast combiners, as in Beast Wars ... I'm just gonna stick my head in the sand over that.

Then again, I look at Scattorshot and all I can see is Hasbro are now officially over combiners. I'm guessing he was the last one designed after a week of 12+ hours designing and they were just over it.

Considering they heavily retooled Cyclonus from Silverbolt, Scattorshot just looks lazy.

I'll second this. If its a finished prototype then its the saddest thing in the whole up till now

[Hellscream9999]

Awwwww..... no Computron Guess I'll have to hope that Takara does one.

I'm not giving up on him, because I think there are enough current molds that could be re-tooled enough to make it happen...

What I'm not at all confident about now is Abominus...
Pretty difficult to figure out how to make those molds work for other characters, even with re-tooling.

I really think Predaking could be the next Titan combiner... It does make a lot of sense.
He was a larger than normal combiner, and at Titan class, like the Constructicons,
Hasbro doesn't have to worry about each mold needing to be used for other figures.

Also, I think sooner than later, Hasbro will realize that we don't need another set of Autobot car characters... And for that matter, I don't think we'll need another set of Stunticons or Combaticons...
So with character slots opening up, maybe Dinobots will be released as voyagers, and combiners can be more beastly.

We're not getting beast combiners, confirmed by hasbro, sorry.

[Gearslide]

Awwwww..... no Computron Guess I'll have to hope that Takara does one.

I'm not giving up on him, because I think there are enough current molds that could be re-tooled enough to make it happen...

What I'm not at all confident about now is Abominus...
Pretty difficult to figure out how to make those molds work for other characters, even with re-tooling.

I really think Predaking could be the next Titan combiner... It does make a lot of sense.
He was a larger than normal combiner, and at Titan class, like the Constructicons,
Hasbro doesn't have to worry about each mold needing to be used for other figures.

Also, I think sooner than later, Hasbro will realize that we don't need another set of Autobot car characters... And for that matter, I don't think we'll need another set of Stunticons or Combaticons...
So with character slots opening up, maybe Dinobots will be released as voyagers, and combiners can be more beastly.

What's suspicious is that we know 8 of the 16 deluxe figures for 2016 (not including sets like Victorion, who don't seem to be counted in the standard release quantities), and of the 8, only 1 (Brawl) is a new mold, 3 (Blast Off, Vortex, and Smokescreen) are redecos, and the other 4 are retools (Swindle, Wheeljack, Hound, and Trailbreaker).

We had 8 new molds in 2015, and 8 redecos/retools. That's plenty to work with, considering you could easily retool the Technobots from existing molds. And you could get away with 3 new Deluxe molds for Abominus, with Blot being an elaborate retool of Rippersnapper, much like Air Raid was a retool of Skydive.

[RodimusRex]

Maybe the new sculpts are already being worked on for the post-CW line and they're using the redecos to give themselves lead time.

For that matter, what they said was that there were two more waves of Combiner Wars.

Do we know if maybe they're doing non-CW, non-movie Generations figures? Those wouldn't count towards that limit. Maybe while CW is getting repaint happy, the new sculpts will be IDW Generations comic packs or a mix of IDW and CW video game characters like a retooled Bumblebee and a new G1 Sideswipe and Wheeljack, along with Decepticon army builders.

[Gearslide]

Maybe the new sculpts are already being worked on for the post-CW line and they're using the redecos to give themselves lead time.

For that matter, what they said was that there were two more waves of Combiner Wars.

Do we know if maybe they're doing non-CW, non-movie Generations figures? Those wouldn't count towards that limit. Maybe while CW is getting repaint happy, the new sculpts will be IDW Generations comic packs or a mix of IDW and CW video game characters like a retooled Bumblebee and a new G1 Sideswipe and Wheeljack, along with Decepticon army builders.

Could also be stuff leading into Titan Wars.

[Hellscream9999]

Awwwww..... no Computron Guess I'll have to hope that Takara does one.

I'm not giving up on him, because I think there are enough current molds that could be re-tooled enough to make it happen...

What I'm not at all confident about now is Abominus...
Pretty difficult to figure out how to make those molds work for other characters, even with re-tooling.

I really think Predaking could be the next Titan combiner... It does make a lot of sense.
He was a larger than normal combiner, and at Titan class, like the Constructicons,
Hasbro doesn't have to worry about each mold needing to be used for other figures.

Also, I think sooner than later, Hasbro will realize that we don't need another set of Autobot car characters... And for that matter, I don't think we'll need another set of Stunticons or Combaticons...
So with character slots opening up, maybe Dinobots will be released as voyagers, and combiners can be more beastly.

What's suspicious is that we know 8 of the 16 deluxe figures for 2016 (not including sets like Victorion, who don't seem to be counted in the standard release quantities), and of the 8, only 1 (Brawl) is a new mold, 3 (Blast Off, Vortex, and Smokescreen) are redecos, and the other 4 are retools (Swindle, Wheeljack, Hound, and Trailbreaker).

We had 8 new molds in 2015, and 8 redecos/retools. That's plenty to work with, considering you could easily retool the Technobots from existing molds. And you could get away with 3 new Deluxe molds for Abominus, with Blot being an elaborate retool of Rippersnapper, much like Air Raid was a retool of Skydive.

Stop it, hasbro said we're not getting beast combiners, just stop saying we could get beast combiners

[Cobotron]

Just thinking out loud.

[peaces]

the next line is titan wars

[Wolfman Jake]

:-?

Just thinking out loud.

Way ahead of you, Cobo: http://www.seibertron.com/energonpub/fan-built-combiner-victorion-discussion-thread-t102938s1150.php#p1708081

[Wolfman Jake]

I've got a suggestion to explain why we've not seen a proper reveal of Computron yet, folks. Combiner Wars is still very much tied up with the ongoing IDW fiction, in which 3/5ths of the Technobots are currently dead. Only Scattorshot and Strafe remain at this point. Maybe Hasbro is holding back on a Technobots reveal so as not to spoil and upcoming plot point in the IDW comics involving the revival of Nosecone, Lightspeed, and Afterburner?

By that reasoning then at some point in time Cyclonus should become a combiner torso.

I don't think the toy line is adhering strictly to the fiction.

True, but Hasbro said up front that Cyclonus/Galvatronus was strictly a toy-only character and wouldn't appear in the IDW comics at all. (Weirdly enough, Victorion WILL be featured in the Combiner Hunters one-shot, but her alleged "rival" according to the toy bio doesn't exist in that continuity.) However, Hasbro has said nothing about more Technobots in the future. It's not unreasonable, given the little information we have, to assume the Technobots are not yet off the table. And if they are still coming, there must be some reason Hasbro has to hold back on their reveal, save for this Scattorshot "teaser."

[Cobotron]

Way ahead of you, Cobo

Must be pack mentality.

[Ironhidensh]

Wait, wait, wait, what is all this about a new Skylynx???

[RAcast]

Wait, wait, wait, what is all this about a new Skylynx???

Generations Combiner Wars Sky Lynx!


Now hold onto your pants, because...

HE'S A TORSO BOT.

Let that sink in...

Now meet Sky Reign.

[Sabrblade]

Wait, wait, wait, what is all this about a new Skylynx???

Where've you been? Voyager class Sky Lynx was shown back at BotCon.








Combined mode is named Sky Reign.

[Ironhidensh]

Mother of God.


That is awesome. As for where I've been, I got a little depressed with all the endless repaints and kinda stopped paying attention.

[Deadput]

What the hell is wrong with repaints in the first place?


That's what the Seekers are and thats just the first of many characters that are just repaints




Tailgate and Swerve were originally repaints yet everybody loves them and crap.





I could see the problem if they were lazy repaints of the same character and being the same guy such as all the movie Bumblebee repaints




but guess what?




These are not lazy and some of them are quite clever and make some damn sense.

[Sabrblade]

Mother of God.


That is awesome. As for where I've been, I got a little depressed with all the endless repaints and kinda stopped paying attention.

But Sky Lynx was shown way back on June 20th. All these other ones your referring to just showed up today.

[Bainreese]

What the hell is wrong with repaints in the first place?


.

Nothing as long as they don't go too far. There is a point where 'lets repaint this mold for a 6th time into this other character because ....well they are both 4 wheeled vehicles so it works' gets lame, unimaginative, and downright boring.

As with everything in life...moderation.

[Hellscream9999]

What the hell is wrong with repaints in the first place?


.

Nothing as long as they don't go too far. There is a point where 'lets repaint this mold for a 6th time into this other character because ....well they are both 4 wheeled vehicles so it works' gets lame, unimaginative, and downright boring.

As with everything in life...moderation.

Especially since it's almost only the cars, we haven't seen any reuses of the plane-bots, it's just a/b, the three cars, and rook. By the end of this line, I'm going to have so many copies of dead-end, it really has walked up to that line, maybe even tripped over it.

The only way to balance this is to put out a decepticon team with 2 brawls and 2 skydives

[RodimusRex]

I have a slight preference towards reshells except when characters are related. As somebody who collected lines like G.I.Joe as a kid, I would like to see bashing of shared shells as different characters, although I suspect that would be harder for TFs.

So, for instance, if Computron featured a mix of Silverbolt and Cyclonus tooling, I would have an easier time seeing it as a separate character. I think tooling/shell mixing would go a long way towards shelf diversity. That's a LOT of what G.I.Joe did/does. You have characters who, in Joe's case, are almost entirely recycled parts but they're all from different figures.

I think it's part of what made the combiner part repaints better in CW, that you might see a new combined mode that uses different combinations of parts. But I'd like that with individual figures. For example, a third leader class jet style that uses a blend of Jetfire, Seeker, and maybe a third influence. That'd actually be great for something like Jhiaxis.

Or a Hotspot Firetruck deco and rear end with Onslaught's guns and head in place of the ladder and Hot Spot's head would make a great Pyro. Because Pyro is a weaponized firetruck with no water cannon or ladder.

Meanwhile, do the opposite tooling of Onslaught with Hot Spot's ladder with a new head and you might have a passable RiD Smokescreen homage.

(CW Hot Spot and Onslaught share a tooling but they flip which way is forward in vehicle mode.)

[Sowndwave76]

Awwwww..... no Computron Guess I'll have to hope that Takara does one.

I'm not giving up on him, because I think there are enough current molds that could be re-tooled enough to make it happen...

What I'm not at all confident about now is Abominus...
Pretty difficult to figure out how to make those molds work for other characters, even with re-tooling.

I really think Predaking could be the next Titan combiner... It does make a lot of sense.
He was a larger than normal combiner, and at Titan class, like the Constructicons,
Hasbro doesn't have to worry about each mold needing to be used for other figures.

Also, I think sooner than later, Hasbro will realize that we don't need another set of Autobot car characters... And for that matter, I don't think we'll need another set of Stunticons or Combaticons...
So with character slots opening up, maybe Dinobots will be released as voyagers, and combiners can be more beastly.

What's suspicious is that we know 8 of the 16 deluxe figures for 2016 (not including sets like Victorion, who don't seem to be counted in the standard release quantities), and of the 8, only 1 (Brawl) is a new mold, 3 (Blast Off, Vortex, and Smokescreen) are redecos, and the other 4 are retools (Swindle, Wheeljack, Hound, and Trailbreaker).

We had 8 new molds in 2015, and 8 redecos/retools. That's plenty to work with, considering you could easily retool the Technobots from existing molds. And you could get away with 3 new Deluxe molds for Abominus, with Blot being an elaborate retool of Rippersnapper, much like Air Raid was a retool of Skydive.

Stop it, hasbro said we're not getting beast combiners, just stop saying we could get beast combiners

Hey, relax...
Telling people to stop spectulating about possibilities is a little silly, isn't it??
No one's trying to speak as if their thoughts are facts.
Discussing "what if's" shouldn't be offensive or irritating... Which is the vibe of your response.
My post earlier simply meant that in the future (even 2 years down the road), almost none of what's been released in CW will need to be released again.
So with open character slots, the focus could shift a bit from so many vehicle alt modes, to more animal/beast alt modes.
Honestly, that's not some crazy idea, & again shouldn't be bothersome.
& if combiner toys in general are in fact going away for a while, I could totally see Hasbro releasing an Abominus set whenever G1 stuff does come back; even if combiners aren't the focus of that new line & there's no reason to sell limbs separately.
New figures in 2017 (or later) that use the same combining system of what we're currently getting would actually be smart & help them justify making it.
A single combiner in a brand new, full line sounds kinda lame. But when those 5 figures can be used with the 4 combiners as well as the 4-5 additional torso figures released in CW, it makes a lot of sense.
In fact, a lot of people will probably be annoyed if combiners after CW used a different combining system & couldn't be scrambled with CW figures. Especially if the 1 voyager 4 deluxe classes were used to make-up the new release team.

I'm probably not going to get into a discussion about scale or repaints,
But I'm not going to try & tell others they can't have those conversations...
I'll just move on.

[Hellscream9999]

Awwwww..... no Computron Guess I'll have to hope that Takara does one.

I'm not giving up on him, because I think there are enough current molds that could be re-tooled enough to make it happen...

What I'm not at all confident about now is Abominus...
Pretty difficult to figure out how to make those molds work for other characters, even with re-tooling.

I really think Predaking could be the next Titan combiner... It does make a lot of sense.
He was a larger than normal combiner, and at Titan class, like the Constructicons,
Hasbro doesn't have to worry about each mold needing to be used for other figures.

Also, I think sooner than later, Hasbro will realize that we don't need another set of Autobot car characters... And for that matter, I don't think we'll need another set of Stunticons or Combaticons...
So with character slots opening up, maybe Dinobots will be released as voyagers, and combiners can be more beastly.

What's suspicious is that we know 8 of the 16 deluxe figures for 2016 (not including sets like Victorion, who don't seem to be counted in the standard release quantities), and of the 8, only 1 (Brawl) is a new mold, 3 (Blast Off, Vortex, and Smokescreen) are redecos, and the other 4 are retools (Swindle, Wheeljack, Hound, and Trailbreaker).

We had 8 new molds in 2015, and 8 redecos/retools. That's plenty to work with, considering you could easily retool the Technobots from existing molds. And you could get away with 3 new Deluxe molds for Abominus, with Blot being an elaborate retool of Rippersnapper, much like Air Raid was a retool of Skydive.

Stop it, hasbro said we're not getting beast combiners, just stop saying we could get beast combiners

Hey, relax...
Telling people to stop spectulating about possibilities is a little silly, isn't it??
No one's trying to speak as if their thoughts are facts.
Discussing "what if's" shouldn't be offensive or irritating... Which is the vibe of your response.
My post earlier simply meant that in the future (even 2 years down the road), almost none of what's been released in CW will need to be released again.
So with open character slots, the focus could shift a bit from so many vehicle alt modes, to more animal/beast alt modes.
Honestly, that's not some crazy idea, & again shouldn't be bothersome.
& if combiner toys in general are in fact going away for a while, I could totally see Hasbro releasing an Abominus set whenever G1 stuff does come back; even if combiners aren't the focus of that new line & there's no reason to sell limbs separately.
New figures in 2017 (or later) that use the same combining system of what we're currently getting would actually be smart & help them justify making it.
A single combiner in a brand new, full line sounds kinda lame. But when those 5 figures can be used with the 4 combiners as well as the 4-5 additional torso figures released in CW, it makes a lot of sense.
In fact, a lot of people will probably be annoyed if combiners after CW used a different combining system & couldn't be scrambled with CW figures. Especially if the 1 voyager 4 deluxe classes were used to make-up the new release team.

I'm probably not going to get into a discussion about scale or repaints,
But I'm not going to try & tell others they can't have those conversations...
I'll just move on.

Yeah, sorry, I was the one who wrote a long post about how easy it would be to modify the system into beast-formers, but it was posted that hasbro announced this, so it's kinda irratating that people keep posting that this or that could be happening, when it apparently isn't, so just trying to let people know who may not be reading every post, that this isn't happening right now or in the near future.

[Sowndwave76]

No worries...
Speculating & discussing possibilities is still okay though...
No matter what info Hasbro or anyone else puts out there.

I still remember talking w/ others about how we wished Hasbro would release all the seekers...
A few people seriously overracted & said "How stupid... Not ever gonna happen so stop talking about it......".
And looked what happen... & it really did seem unlikely to get Hasbro seekers after that 'ol Botcon.
Weird how things can change.