The Energon Pub

[Evil Eye]

Yeah the naming on several Armada characters was a bit nonsensical its almost like Hasbro said "hey we have this name, slap it on this guy". Plus the fact that the English recordings of both Armada & Energon got character names wrong quite often makes it hard to watch.

I still cant believe they called that blue and white Energon race car Prowl insstead of the obvious Mirage. And Takara called him red alert, wth?!

Shut chour mouf! He isn't just any racing car, he's a POLICE racing car! How else are they going to make sure nobody cheats in the race?

I dunno. All that unpainted detail (ESPECIALLY the lightbar) really annoys me on Smokescreen.

Wold you have preferred they paint the light bar?

Honestly, yeah. Didn't even have to be painted as a light bar- they could have painted it the same colour as the windows. I dunno, unpainted detail (especially really prominent detail like that) really gets my goat. I blame Bobby Skullface for this.

I dont know man, the lightbar being made prominant on Lightsteed makes it worse:

Yeah, I see your point. Though to be fair, CW Lightspeed is just a disgrace full stop (not helped by how much better UW Lightspeed looks). Had his lightbar not been red like the rest of him though it might have added some much-needed colour breakup. Suppose it was green like Afterburner's windshield- it probably wouldn't have looked QUITE as awful.

[Sabrblade]

Yeah the naming on several Armada characters was a bit nonsensical its almost like Hasbro said "hey we have this name, slap it on this guy". Plus the fact that the English recordings of both Armada & Energon got character names wrong quite often makes it hard to watch.

I still cant believe they called that blue and white Energon race car Prowl insstead of the obvious Mirage. And Takara called him red alert, wth?!

But it was a police race car!

[o.supreme]

The names for the English versions worked pretty well IMO. I certainly prefer Smokescreen over Grap and Demolisher over Ironhide (if the Japanese version had been called Armourhide though that would have been a different story). Some of the Japanese names I prefer though, notably Sandstorm as Cyclonus and the various Micron names.

Micron Legend is patently superior to Armada though, at least from the 3 episodes I've watched so far. Better voicework, better music, even better animation. The intro song is pretty generic though.

I haven't seen Micron Legend but I've seen clips, enough to know it is superior to Armada in pretty much every way But basically:

Smokescreen- was not a fast sportscar
Blurr - did not talk fast, in fact he was just a slow version of Zechs from Gundam Wing
Scavenger -was an...Autobot... Sure he was a con at first, but then switched?...
Wheeljack - Don't even get me started on that
Cyclonus -ugh...

and the list goes on and on

[Sabrblade]

Wheeljack - Don't even get me started on that

He should have been the one named "Side Swipe" instead of the dork who got that name.

[Evil Eye]

The names for the English versions worked pretty well IMO. I certainly prefer Smokescreen over Grap and Demolisher over Ironhide (if the Japanese version had been called Armourhide though that would have been a different story). Some of the Japanese names I prefer though, notably Sandstorm as Cyclonus and the various Micron names.

Micron Legend is patently superior to Armada though, at least from the 3 episodes I've watched so far. Better voicework, better music, even better animation. The intro song is pretty generic though.

I haven't seen Micron Legend but I've seen clips, enough to know it is superior to Armada in pretty much every way But basically:

Smokescreen- was not a fast sportscar
Blurr - did not talk fast, in fact he was just a slow version of Zechs from Gundam Wing
Scavenger -was an...Autobot... Sure he was a con at first, but then switched?...
Wheeljack - Don't even get me started on that
Cyclonus -ugh...

and the list goes on and on

Your entire argument seems to revolve around the names not being applied to G1-alikes in a decidedly non-G1 series...

[o.supreme]

Animated, and Prime were not G1, and they pretty much kept the names with matching IP. Characters like Demolishor, Hotshot etc... that had no previous characters, or character that had not been truly developed were fine. RiD/CR was not G1, yet *most* of its characters were originally named, and those that weren't yes I was just as critical of if they did not match (Build Team Grimlock for example)

I did applaud Armada for using Tidal Wave rather than Micron Legend *Shockwave* (as that would have been 12 kinds of confusing), but I think Hasbro didn't have the rights to the name at the time, so it was probably out of necessity rather than a conscious decision.

But yeah...back to Combiner Wars... although the molds did get a ton of usage, it looks like the fan community at large could see the potential for much more.

[Sabrblade]

I did applaud Armada for using Tidal Wave rather than Micron Legend *Shockwave* (as that would have been 12 kinds of confusing),

But yeah...back to combiner Wars... although the molds did get a ton of usage, it looks like the fan community at large could see the potential for much more.

Ironic, considering how so many decried the multiple mold use.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I think the whole name debate is best left for a different thread

Back to Sky Lynx at Ross...

Honestly, pretty surprising, since CW has barely ended, I expected him to pop up in discount stores at least around the Christmas season. O well, one more thing to look should I be able to look at one.

[o.supreme]

You have no idea how much time I spent explaining to my son why Tidal Wave looked so much cooler, BIGGER, and ominous in the build up to his actual appearance.

Ironic, considering how so many decried the multiple mold use.

True

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Ironic, considering how so many decried the multiple mold use.

True

Some decried it, while others praised the amount of pretooling done on some. Unfortunately, pretooling as per definition ("pre-planned retool") is a double-edged sword, as the amount of retooling done in the beginning can not be repeated mid-way. Scattershot and Strafe are the limits of mid-line retooling, but still more impressive than the standard headswap

[william-james88]

Ironic, considering how so many decried the multiple mold use.

True

Some decried it, while others praised the amount of pretooling done on some. Unfortunately, pretooling as per definition ("pre-planned retool") is a double-edged sword, as the amount of retooling done in the beginning can not be repeated mid-way. Scattershot and Strafe are the limits of mid-line retooling, but still more impressive than the standard headswap

Just making sure, the fact that most of these were confirmed to be pretools (rather than retools) means that they cant come up on a top 5 retool list right? Not that many would qualify, but still I thought I should ask.

[Hellscream9999]

I dunno. All that unpainted detail (ESPECIALLY the lightbar) really annoys me on Smokescreen.

Wold you have preferred they paint the light bar?

Honestly, yeah. Didn't even have to be painted as a light bar- they could have painted it the same colour as the windows. I dunno, unpainted detail (especially really prominent detail like that) really gets my goat. I blame Bobby Skullface for this.

I would've preferred they make the wave 4 limbs: Cannonball, Barricade, Exhaust, and someone out of the swindle mold. Then the molds would make sense, and we'd have limbs for Galvatronus; sky lynx could stay, we have more than enough spare autobot limbs for him to use

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Ironic, considering how so many decried the multiple mold use.

True

Some decried it, while others praised the amount of pretooling done on some. Unfortunately, pretooling as per definition ("pre-planned retool") is a double-edged sword, as the amount of retooling done in the beginning can not be repeated mid-way. Scattershot and Strafe are the limits of mid-line retooling, but still more impressive than the standard headswap

Just making sure, the fact that most of these were confirmed to be pretools (rather than retools) means that they cant come up on a top 5 retool list right? Not that many would qualify, but still I thought I should ask.

For Combiner Wars molds, it's a bit... iffy. These figures are most certainly true retools:

- The Victorion bots
- The Technobots

Not too sure if I should count Trailbreaker, however the retooled arms and him being a "third head" make him a good candidate.

The rest were all planned ahead, so along with the likes of Gen. Sandstorm/Springer, go ahead and make that Top 5 pretool list... To end this tangent, think it would be a good idea to exclude headswaps? They've reached the area of straight redecos when it comes to the wow-factor IMO.

[Kurona]

The CW mold re-usage situation is a very strange one. Most fans on here would much prefer them to have not been re-used at much; yet many of the same fans would also put out digibashes and wish lists of re-uses of the molds they would want. I count myself among those - while I understand why the molds were re-used so much, it can a bit tiresome; yet I really want a Bluestreak and a Sideswipe.

[Hellscream9999]

The CW mold re-usage situation is a very strange one. Most fans on here would much prefer them to have not been re-used at much; yet many of the same fans would also put out digibashes and wish lists of re-uses of the molds they would want. I count myself among those - while I understand why the molds were re-used so much, it can a bit tiresome; yet I really want a Bluestreak and a Sideswipe.

Don't get me wrong, they were over-used, but, if they were to do it, that they do cool re-tools, not more generic one's we've had, like smokescreen

[william-james88]

The rest were all planned ahead, so along with the likes of Gen. Sandstorm/Springer, go ahead and make that Top 5 pretool list... To end this tangent, think it would be a good idea to exclude headswaps? They've reached the area of straight redecos when it comes to the wow-factor IMO.

I dont think Sandstorm/ Springer is the same. The individual retail figures for CW were all designed concurrently. The idea was to make combiners all at once.

But with Springer/Sandstorm, Sandstorm's existence is clearly because they wanted to make a Springer and thus is more of a retool. By that I mean, we can tell who was thought up first since Springer is clearly referncing something specifi (the Nick Roche design) while Sandstorm is far more of a neo G1 whatever version of the character.

And I wouldnt count a new head as a retool. Its just a redeco with a new head. That will be for another list

[william-james88]

The CW mold re-usage situation is a very strange one. Most fans on here would much prefer them to have not been re-used at much; yet many of the same fans would also put out digibashes and wish lists of re-uses of the molds they would want. I count myself among those - while I understand why the molds were re-used so much, it can a bit tiresome; yet I really want a Bluestreak and a Sideswipe.

Thats the "hypocrisy" of the "fandom" in a nutshell. A new mold comes out ad everyone says it should be turned into this character. Then Hasbro does it and all you hear are complaints taht there's too much redecos. So they stay on shelves, not bought. But some are exclusives only available at botcon and suddenly fans are willing to pay two to three times retail to get them.

However, the reality is that these are not the same fans all responding at the same time. Those that wanted the redecos dont complain once they get them, they just enjoy their toys. Instead its those who ddint want redecos to have their turn and write posts. So it seems really dumb when just looking at the reactions, but once you realize the fandom is far more idiosynctratic than a mindless mass it makes more sense.

[o.supreme]

Another Autobot Combiner:

Jetfire (Silverbolt remold). -Bluestreak, Sideswipe, Jazz and (*insert 1985 Autobot car here*) -Thus all the 1984 Autobot standard size cars would be represented between the CW & UW lines.

[william-james88]

Another Autobot Combiner:

Jetfire (Silverbolt remold). -Bluestreak, Sideswipe, Jazz and (*insert 1985 Autobot car here*) -Thus all the 1984 Autobot standard size cars would be represented between the CW & UW lines.

Enough of these molds!

[o.supreme]

I know I know, . But you have to hand it to Hasbro/TT whoever... there must have been a lot of forethought given to get so much use out of so little product, and then we as fans just keep coming up with more.

Inferno (Hotspot recolor) Hoist, Red Alert, Skids, and Tracks.

Yay! its fun!

[Jelze Bunnycat]

O, O, I got another:

Rescue Force (Any Jet) + Rescue Force 1 (Brawl or Rook) + Rescue Force 2 (Offroad) + Rescue Force 3 (Nosecone, either version) + Sky Lynx redeco = a proper Big Rescue Force!

[Decepticon Stryker]

O, O, I got another:

Rescue Force (Any Jet) + Rescue Force 1 (Brawl or Rook) + Rescue Force 2 (Offroad) + Rescue Force 3 (Nosecone, either version) + Sky Lynx redeco = a proper Big Rescue Force!

Will it still have the claw hands?

[Sabrblade]

O, O, I got another:

Rescue Force (Any Jet) + Rescue Force 1 (Brawl or Rook) + Rescue Force 2 (Offroad) + Rescue Force 3 (Nosecone, either version) + Sky Lynx redeco = a proper Big Rescue Force!

Rescue Force 2 should be the Swindle mold.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

O, O, I got another:

Rescue Force (Any Jet) + Rescue Force 1 (Brawl or Rook) + Rescue Force 2 (Offroad) + Rescue Force 3 (Nosecone, either version) + Sky Lynx redeco = a proper Big Rescue Force!

Rescue Force 2 should be the Swindle mold.

Even better! With the Hound head

[william-james88]