The Energon Pub

[D-Maximal_Primal]

https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Generations-Combiner-Computron-Collection/dp/B011MIX0CI/ref=sr_1_19?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1478694503&sr=1-19&keywords=transformers

computron is playing the drop game

$8 overnight. Bring it on Computron

It says on Amazon that the current price drops are a limited time offer. Another 16 hours as of now. Not sure if it will drop any more during this offer, and I'm guessing it'll go back up after.

I really hope not.

Besides, if it does go back up I'd expect something around Black Friday or Cyber Monday to cause another drop

As you may remember, Amazon had 2 listings for Victorion, which was very odd. One held steady at $72 while the other fluctuated wildly. The $72 listing is down to $70ish, but the other listing is unavailable. I'd say the stock that was allocated to the lower price ($58 last I checked) is sold out, but it's all the same stock, so not sure what's going on. Bottom line, Victorion's price is back up to $70.

Computron is still $64 and doesn't seem to be dropping. Looks like you'll have to decide to jump on it at that price within the next 12 hours, or roll the dice and hope it drops by more at a future date.

I'm gonna roll the dice. I'm willing to wait another month or so

[Crosscheck]

My replacement Victorion came today. I kept the Pyra Magna from the first set and all the rest from the new set.

What are the tabs/holes on the helicopter twin forearms for? There are also tabs/holes at the base of the helicopter twin swords. Do we know what any of these are for?

Pyra Magna's Axe has a peg and a hole on the Axe blade as well. Any ideas?

[D-Maximal_Primal]

My replacement Victorion came today. I kept the Pyra Magna from the first set and all the rest from the new set.

What are the tabs/holes on the helicopter twin forearms for? There are also tabs/holes at the base of the helicopter twin swords. Do we know what any of these are for?

Pyra Magna's Axe has a peg and a hole on the Axe blade as well. Any ideas?

I can tell you that the tabs on the Twins' arms are so that when you make the copters legs the blades sticking out either side don't clash because you can rotate the arms and tab them in in a different position.

[Emerje]

SO I've heard that Amazon's new model of buisness, is they no longer purchase the merchandise from the seller. They simply warehouse it and distribute it for a fee. So in the case of Vicky's two listings, the inventory could have very well been Hasbro's, and maybe TRU's, or someone like that. This also means that Hasbro would be making tons-o-profit. They no longer sell it at 100% markup from manufacturing cost at wholesale. They sell it at 300% markup, minus Amazon's fees. If this is the case, they can sell it discounted at say 65% and still make a greater profit than selling it wholesale.

That's only the case for items that say "fulfillment by Amazon". Items sold by Amazon say "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com". Both this time and last time as well as Computron's current price drop have all been sold by Amazon.com, as is the regular stock that doesn't decrease. I'm guessing this is some sort of strategy of theirs where they can give deep discounts without depleting stock entirely right away.

As far as I know Hasbro doesn't sell on Amazon. They've said in the past when people have asked them to unload hard to find (like GDO) and canceled figures on Amazon that they can't compete against retailers that way and they have to be careful about pricing on HTS. This is why we never see HTS exclusives outside of convention exclusives.

Emerje

[Crosscheck]

My replacement Victorion came today. I kept the Pyra Magna from the first set and all the rest from the new set.

What are the tabs/holes on the helicopter twin forearms for? There are also tabs/holes at the base of the helicopter twin swords. Do we know what any of these are for?

Pyra Magna's Axe has a peg and a hole on the Axe blade as well. Any ideas?

I can tell you that the tabs on the Twins' arms are so that when you make the copters legs the blades sticking out either side don't clash because you can rotate the arms and tab them in in a different position.

Ah. That makes sense.I am going to scour the figures for the other tabs for the holes on the swords and axe.

[Kurona]

So the other myriad problems he has aside, I've found yet another problem with the Liokaiser giftset.

Drillhorn and Ironbison.
Not about the fact they use a crap mold and not about Ironbison being family-friendly. But rather that they have a very aggravating inconsistency.

Drillhorn has a large section of white on his legs and at the rear of his vehicle mode.



This is very clearly in reference to the white section his original toy had on his legs and vehicle mode rear.



That I get, it makes sense. My problem?

Ironbison has the exact same white section on his legs and vehicle mode rear in his original toy, but it's not replicated in the Platinum set.





Just... what? And the worst part of this is that it gives Liokaiser's legs this horrible assymetry where only one of his legs has this random block of white, which wasn't a problem on the original toy because the bottom of both legs were that white section!





Aaaaargh!

I wouldn't mind so much about the innaccuracy - because god knows this set isn't good at being accurate beyond the new headsculpts - but again, the terrible asymmetry really knocks this guy's appearance whether you're taking him as a new version of Liokaiser or whether you're just picking him up as a cool-looking 'con combiner. It especially hurts when otherwise, fittingly of the Platinum title, the paint apps on the set are beautiful - most especially the jets' colour schemes. Aaaaagh. This goddamn set.

[RAR]

I think I like him with high knee joints provided by Deathsaurus (Dezarus) and the shins on sideways it's a better homage to the original toy then.

You can get a pretty decent bird mode out of the Sky Lynx Mould so that helps a bit too.

If it wasn't for the quality control issues in the combiner knee joints I'd simply say forget about it and buy the TFC one instead.

[Kurona]

I think I like him with high knee joints provided by Deathsaurus (Dezarus) and the shins on sideways it's a better homage to the original toy then.

You can get a pretty decent bird mode out of the Sky Lynx Mould so that helps a bit too.

If it wasn't for the quality control issues in the combiner knee joints I'd simply say forget about it and buy the TFC one instead.

I mean, it's not exactly as if there's an easy choice between them. The TFC one has an extremely hefty price barrier.

Talking of third parties though, I wonder how long it is until an upgrade or a Leozack/Jallguar torso is made by them for this dude

[o.supreme]

Talking of third parties though, I wonder how long it is until an upgrade or a Leozack/Jallguar torso is made by them for this dude

Making weapons and accessories is one thing, but creating new actual characters to integrate with actual Hasbro/TT product is something I don't think has ever been attempted before. I know 3rd party product walks a pretty tight line as it is, not sure how actual integration with copyrighted product would work, or would be allowed.

[Kurona]

Talking of third parties though, I wonder how long it is until an upgrade or a Leozack/Jallguar torso is made by them for this dude

Making weapons and accessories is one thing, but creating new actual characters to integrate with actual Hasbro/TT product is something I don't think has ever been attempted before. I know 3rd party product walks a pretty tight line as it is, not sure how actual integration with copyrighted product would work, or would be allowed.

Legal stuff wouldn't stop it, otherwise third parties would have gone out of business years ago. They're based in China and such where Hasbro's lawyers can't reach 'em.

Figures that integrate with other figures has sort of been done before. There was a third party Motormaster that was going to be part of a full original third party Stunticon team - I think he was called Lone Wolf - but when he was released, he came with add-on ports that turned his connection pegs into CW connection pegs so you could use the CW deluxe stunticons with him instead of the yet-to-come-out stunticons by that third party. Was pretty cool.

[o.supreme]

Figures that integrate with other figures has sort of been done before. There was a third party Motormaster that was going to be part of a full original third party Stunticon team - I think he was called Lone Wolf - but when he was released, he came with add-on ports that turned his connection pegs into CW connection pegs so you could use the CW deluxe stunticons with him instead of the yet-to-come-out stunticons by that third party. Was pretty cool.

Really? I'd like to see pics, sounds cool. Also, this might not be the place to ask...but are there any decent KO's that work with existing CW/UW line?

[Kurona]

Figures that integrate with other figures has sort of been done before. There was a third party Motormaster that was going to be part of a full original third party Stunticon team - I think he was called Lone Wolf - but when he was released, he came with add-on ports that turned his connection pegs into CW connection pegs so you could use the CW deluxe stunticons with him instead of the yet-to-come-out stunticons by that third party. Was pretty cool.

Really? I'd like to see pics, sounds cool. Also, this might not be the place to ask...but are there any decent KO's that work with existing CW/UW line?

Here he is combined with the CW stunticons.



Just google "lone wolf motormaster" and you'll find more

And it's not a bad place to ask considering it directly deals with CW.

[Cobotron]

some stuff about some white parts

Lio left the house with only one sock!

[TF-fan kev777]

My replacement Victorion came today. I kept the Pyra Magna from the first set and all the rest from the new set.

What are the tabs/holes on the helicopter twin forearms for? There are also tabs/holes at the base of the helicopter twin swords. Do we know what any of these are for?

Pyra Magna's Axe has a peg and a hole on the Axe blade as well. Any ideas?

I can tell you that the tabs on the Twins' arms are so that when you make the copters legs the blades sticking out either side don't clash because you can rotate the arms and tab them in in a different position.

Ah. That makes sense.I am going to scour the figures for the other tabs for the holes on the swords and axe.

The tabs on the swords and the hole in the axe is for assembling all the weapons into the big sword.

[Bumblebee21]

Any fixes for sound wave

[Kurona]

Any fixes for sound wave

There's no Soundwave in Combiner Wars.

[Bumblebee21]

Any fixes for sound wave

There's no Soundwave in Combiner Wars.

god dang it. i meant sky lynx
ive had soundwave on my my mind and i typed s and went soundwave

SKY LYNX.
im such a scrub

[Kurona]

Any fixes for sound wave

There's no Soundwave in Combiner Wars.

god dang it. i meant sky lynx
ive had soundwave on my my mind and i typed s and went soundwave

SKY LYNX.
im such a scrub

How do you mean fixes? What's wrong with it?

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Any fixes for sound wave

There's no Soundwave in Combiner Wars.

god dang it. i meant sky lynx
ive had soundwave on my my mind and i typed s and went soundwave

SKY LYNX.
im such a scrub

How do you mean fixes? What's wrong with it?

I think he means the loose hips and shoulder joints

[Bumblebee21]

Any fixes for sound wave

There's no Soundwave in Combiner Wars.

god dang it. i meant sky lynx
ive had soundwave on my my mind and i typed s and went soundwave

SKY LYNX.
im such a scrub

How do you mean fixes? What's wrong with it?

I think he means the loose hips and shoulder joints

yes
you got it right

[RAR]

Take him to pieces and varnish the interior of the joints and also put a tiny buffer under the ratchet clips too.

Don't go crazy though otherwise you might immobilise the joints.

[Crosscheck]

Take him to pieces and varnish the interior of the joints and also put a tiny buffer under the ratchet clips too.

Don't go crazy though otherwise you might immobilise the joints.

I put pieces of plastic underneath the ratchets (the little rectangular piece) to increase the friction between the joints.

[Kurona]

So now that Combiner Wars is over, what would you guys say is your favourite limb mold of the lot? Not your favourite limb figure, but rather just base mold; since CW re-used them so much I think this is one of the few times we can ask this. Of course significant differences count like those between Rook and Swindle/Hound. Maybe Air Raid and Skydive too.

Personally, of the molds I have - Helicopter, Firefly, Dead End, Breakdown, Offroad, First Aid, Rook, Swindle, Brawl - I've come to like the helicopter mold the most. A lot of people hated this one because it got used so much (even though really the Dead End one got used a lot more), but I fell in love with it. Wonderful looking bot mode, a great alt mode, and unlike a lot of others - for instance the cars, which is why the Dead End mold isn't quite on the same level for me - it looks fantastic and elegant in both arm and leg mold. It feels like it was made for both rather than looking good in one mode and very awkward and slapped together in the other. The same applies to all five Aerialbots tbh and I think that's why Superion was such a winner for a lot of people. But yeah, Alpha Bravo; the little helicopter who couldn't for a ton of peeps? He and his mold-mates are the winners of the Combiner Wars in my book.

Guess we could also ask the same question of the Voyager molds though it's not quite as prominent as the Deluxe mold re-uses since most uses of each Voyager mold (barring TFCC Bludgeon and the boxsets which we can't really count, right?) had a LOT more remolding done to them than just a new head. People complain about the Silverbolt mold being used three times in the same (main) line, but each of those three re-uses had so much difference done to them. ... excusing, aheh, Betatron's little head problem...

The molds I have are Hot Spot, Onslaught and Sky Lynx. Of the four - I have Pyra Magna too but that's basically the same as Hot Spot aside from bot mode and combined head - I find it really difficult to choose a winner. They're all incredible in their own unique ways; I find it especially entertaining how the torso transformations for Hot Spot and Onslaught are both really intelligent and are an update to their original transformations in their G1 toys... and yet somehow share the same mold! You can argue all you want about too many mold uses this and this needed a new mold that, but when CW done a major retool? They went to town on that major retool. Hot Spot to Onslaught is an extremely well done retool in my honest opinion, even if the robot modes are a bit too similar.

[Bumblebee21]

for deluxes its the groove mold all the way. i love all his modes. the fact that he comes with 3 weapons is even more amazing. the vehicle mode is epic. i love the motorcycle and the way it looks.the arm mode is okay, cool but meh. the leg mode is even better.it works well with the DE mold.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

If we're going limb base molds, I'm still saying the Hound/Swindle mold. It made a very solid leg that really didn't have a ginormous protrusion and no obvious sort of kibbly pieces. It also made a very strong looking arm that makes any bot using it bulk right up. Plus, it had a great robot mode and a good vehicle mode, visible hands aside. The helicopter mold was up there as well, but the thing that disappointed me with the jets-and hence let them down for me-were one mode a piece. the Air Raid and Skydive jets had those ugly visible arms in leg mode that could not be disguised in any way, and Firefly's tailfin just got in the way too much as an arm. Plus, I found that mold kinda boring. Dragstrip mold worked good for both as well, though that one is a 4th for me behind the First Aid mold. Made the best leg and a very solid arm. Breakdown didn't really work too well for either, and the Brawl mold did work out well for both, seeing as how both arm and leg were very good. Just the rest of it let it down. Deadend was done way too much to appreciate, plus the car front kibble is a bit annoying, and offroad was just a bit too shapely as a let, with the bed being a bit too skinny looking alongside the giant kneepad. I do not have Groove so I can't rate him (don't have Afterburner either), but his leg mode is about the same as Air Raids.

LSS: in order of best for me: Hound, Alpha Bravo, First Aid

As for torsos: Hot Spot is the best torso. His is the one that makes the most sense and looks the best in every mode. The Silverbolt mode and the Sky Lynx molds are awesome in combined and robot modes, but the alt modes let them down. And we will not discuss how ugly and unsteady the Motormaster mold is. And of the 2, Hot Spot to me looked more convincing, was more fun to Transform, and was the better detailed one