The Energon Pub

[Amelie]

Now we wait for Takara's move in this never ending battle for our wallets.

[Wolfman Jake]

I'm now very confused as to which head is getting used. Unless those renders were done and straight after they were allowed to use the new head for afterburner.

I think the head we see on display is the right one and the one in the 3d model is what they had going at the begining. Well thats good, that definitely takes away a negative point from hasbro's. Still, the guns UW Afterburner have are so much more amazing!

Darn, this makes it harder for me to turn Hasbro's Afterbreaker into a new character from G1 Afterburner. I can still justify it on the basis of the different color scheme Hasbro's version sports, especially because of all of that black that was actually white on the G1 character.

Even better, just flip the backpack around. They end up looking very different when one has one wheel in the air. I would recomend doing that with the takara one since that means that the hasbro one would have all that green that distracts away from the headsculpt being the same.

Yeah, leaving the wheel facing up in the back is the G1 look anyway, and makes a nice differentiation from Groove's silhouette. I'll leave the windshield facing up for Afterbreaker (aka, Reheat in my own head canon).

[Rainmaker]

I wonder if I could combine Hasbro Technobots with Takara Technobots?

[Amelie]

I wonder if I could combine Hasbro Technobots with Takara Technobots?

Yes, if you had both sets that'd be easy.

[Rainmaker]

I wonder if I could combine Hasbro Technobots with Takara Technobots?

Yes, if you had both sets that'd be easy.

I wish I could just buy my favourite technobots from each company.

[RiddlerJ]

Aragh, I don't know which Computron to get. Hasbro's is cheaper, better hands and feet and Scrounge, but Takara has the rest of the members looking so much better. Scattershot has even more parts remolded, Afterburner has new guns. Lightspeed matches better and doesn't use a mold I have 4 of already, and Strafe and Nosecone just blow the Hasbro ones out of the water.

Even worse, if I got both sets, there's not enough differences that I could pretend one batch was just a bunch of new Technobots (maybe Hasbro's Lightspeed)

[Wolfman Jake]

Even worse, if I got both sets, there's not enough differences that I could pretend one batch was just a bunch of new Technobots (maybe Hasbro's Lightspeed)

That's my plan. I think the differences are great enough, especially with the different mold uses and head sculpts (with the exception of Afterbreaker). Even the color schemes are fairly different. If I change my mind, though, I can always give the Hasbro Technobots to my nephew. He loves the Combiner Wars stuff and won't have any kind of bias on how these characters "should" look. Of course, I'll keep Scrounge for myself either way, lol.

[trence5]

We've got some groovy comparison shots of Transformers Combiner Wars Deluxe Groove vs. Takara's Unite Warriors Groove. As of yet there has been no official announcement of a North American release, but we keep getting more and more hints though. The full gallery can be viewed here or by clicking any of the images below. When you get done perusing the gallery; hit the jump below and tell us what you think in the Energon Pub.

The differences between Hasbro's and Takara's Groove are minor, but are as follows:

•Hasbro's Groove has silver screws vs. Takara Tomy's black screws

•Hasbro's copyright stamp is tampoed on the bottom backside of his feet

•Hasbro's knee joint pin has a large flat head vs. Takara's normal pin

•Hasbro's "date" stamp is different on the inside of his right leg (60461), which is similar to the stamp on the package (60541)

Remember to keep your browsers pointed to Seibertron.com for the latest in Transformer news, the largest Transformers galleries found on the web and the liveliest Transformers discussion this side of a space bridge.

pretty much look identical to me.

[fenrir72]

Calling the seibertron News Crew!


Concerning the Hb images of Computron. Those fist and foot parts, they aren't collapsible/transformable like the previous Combiners right?

[ZeroWolf]

Calling the seibertron News Crew!


Concerning the Hb images of Computron. Those fist and foot parts, they aren't collapsible/transformable like the previous Combiners right?

Yeah, they're like the old g1 combiner bits...just better.

[Rainmaker]

Who's this Liokasier?

[Insurgent]

Who's this Liokasier?

A combiner team from Transformers: Victory, the third and final full series of Takara's G1. His team is known as the Breast Force because their chestplates detach and transform into guns/animal partners. And he's originally a 6 team combiner who's only kibble was the combined mode's helmet, everything else was integrated. Never been reissued and highly sought after by collectors. He can easily fetch in excess of £600 for the boxset. Higher if MISB. He was also never relased outside Japan, though really questionable recolours were released as the 'Rescue Force', but without the chestplates or combiner helmet.

[Rainmaker]

Who's this Liokasier?

A combiner team from Transformers: Victory, the third and final full series of Takara's G1. His team is known as the Breast Force because their chestplates detach and transform into guns/animal partners. And he's originally a 6 team combiner who's only kibble was the combined mode's helmet, everything else was integrated. Never been reissued and highly sought after by collectors. He can easily fetch in excess of £600 for the boxset. Higher if MISB. He was also never relased outside Japan, though really questionable recolours were released as the 'Rescue Force', but without the chestplates or combiner helmet.

These guys don't have breasts, do they?

[Insurgent]

No, that's just their name. They look like normal male robots. They just have an extra chestplate that detatches and transforms into a gun/animal. Each character has an animal themed helmet and their chestplate transforms into the corrosponding animal.


For example, Hellbat has a bat-esque head, and hsi chestplate transforms into a bat. Leozack has a lion themed helmet and his chestplate transforms into a lion. But in true Japanese style, they do tend to shout "BREAST ATTACK!!!" when they attack with their chestplates.

[Kurona]

My gosh Afterbreaker just looks absolutely beautiful. And I'm really starting to like the look of the Windshield over his head.

[Sabrblade]

Who's this Liokasier?

A combiner team from Transformers: Victory, the third and final full series of Takara's G1. His team is known as the Breast Force because their chestplates detach and transform into guns/animal partners. And he's originally a 6 team combiner who's only kibble was the combined mode's helmet, everything else was integrated. Never been reissued and highly sought after by collectors. He can easily fetch in excess of £600 for the boxset. Higher if MISB. He was also never relased outside Japan, though really questionable recolours were released as the 'Rescue Force', but without the chestplates or combiner helmet.

These guys don't have breasts, do they?

Just so it's clear, the new CW version of Liokaiser does not appear to have the breastplate gimmick for his individual components that the 1989 toys had.

Also, in the fiction, Liokaiser was one of the coolest G1 combiners of them all for how the guy was used in the Victory cartoon. Whereas most combiner teams in the G1 cartoon made their entire debut within a single episode, transforming into all modes (altmodes, robots mode, and combiner mode) within either their debut episode or the very next episode, Liokaiser's combined mode was given a lot of build up over time, as the show did not give us his entire team all at once, but instead introduced a few of them spread throughout the show, with us first seeing just Leozack, then later we got Drillhorn, Jallguar, and Killbison. After a while we then got Hellbat, and then much later the final member Guyhawk (there was also an extra member named Deathcobra, but he was only in one episode and never had a toy, having been made up for the cartoon). By the time Guyhawk finally showed up, the series was around its halfway point, and then one episode after Guyhawk's debut came the long-awaited appearance of the combined Liokaiser himself, in which he was darn impressive, going up against Autobot Supreme Commander Star Saber and completely mopping the floor with him. It took the timely arrival of Star Saber's predecessor, the former Supreme Commander God Ginrai, to intervene and help Star Saber ward off Liokaiser, but it was no easy feat. God Ginrai likewise couldn't beat Liokaiser alone, and Star Saber was already so badly injured, but the two commanders combined their strength together to force Liokaiser back into his components. However, when Breastforce gave a tactical retreat, Star Saber and God Ginrai were too injured to go after them. And if that wasn't impressive enough, Liokaiser consistently remained a credible and powerful threat in nearly all of his remaining appearances in the show, proving himself to be one of the most dangerous and competent of all Decepticon combiners ever.

[Agamemnon]

Awesome synopsis, Sabrblade! And this has me thinking...a cool stand alone figure for Botcon would have been a Deathcobra repaint of Alpha Bravo...

[fenrir72]

Calling the seibertron News Crew!


Concerning the Hb images of Computron. Those fist and foot parts, they aren't collapsible/transformable like the previous Combiners right?

Yeah, they're like the old g1 combiner bits...just better.

Now they are useless but proportional kibbles. The way they were meant to be. Thanks.

[ZeroWolf]

Calling the seibertron News Crew!


Concerning the Hb images of Computron. Those fist and foot parts, they aren't collapsible/transformable like the previous Combiners right?

Yeah, they're like the old g1 combiner bits...just better.

Now they are useless but proportional kibbles. The way they were meant to be. Thanks.

No problem I do.

I would love a deathcobra redeco but I think it would better to use takara's vortex as the base though, not ab

[DedicatedGhostArt]

Also what I like about the Hasbro Computron is that I don’t need Perfect Effect feet since he already has ankle articulation. Much better use of money to get the Hasbro one. Computron might be the only full official combiner I'll get out of Combiner Wars. (And I am not including Devastator. However, I'll have to wait a while before getting the big green guy.)

[King Kuuga]

These guys don't have breasts, do they?

I'd like to point out that, biologically speaking, men do have breasts, and the Breastforce are accurately named. The awkwardness of their name comes from Japanese naming team not quite grasping the colloquial implications of a borrowed English word. Probably got as far as "what do you call the upper torso in English? Breast? Cool, they'll be the breastforce and have breastmaster partners and yell out breast attack" and nobody was around to tell them why this wasn't a good idea.

[xyl360]

I'm not sure if anyone has pointed this out yet, but owning the individual release of Scattershot from Combiner Wars might just be worth it for those picky about their Computron thighs. As you can see from the following images, Hasbro's individual release of Scattershot differs quite a bit with regards to the colors on key parts of the toy (including the thighs for Computron in combined mode) from the upcoming boxed set release as well as from Takara's upcoming Unite Warriors release:

Hasbro's individual CW release:

Hasbro's boxed set release (notice the outside bottom area below the wings which forms the front of the thighs for Computron):

And finally, Takara's upcoming UW release:


Hasbro's boxed set release will be white with a blue square just above the knee, Takara's will be all white and Hasbro's previously released individual CW version will be all red.

All of the animation stills I've been able to get my hands on (including going back and re-watching episodes featuring the Technobots/Computron) indicate that in the show his thighs were pretty much all white (like Takara's), however some may find it more visually appealing to have a more consistent red color for the legs/thighs given that red and maroon/brown are pretty much Computron's primary colors (with highlights of white/orange/yellow here and there). Of course it would be a simple matter to paint them a different color for anyone who desired to, but I just thought I'd point this out since I hadn't seen mention of it anywhere yet and found it quite interesting. I might just buy the Hasbro individual release to merge with my Takara UW Computron if I end up not liking the white thighs, especially if I decide to go with the Perfect Effect chest/head upgrade for the set (though I'm sure I could just swap out those thigh parts if I really wanted only those so I could keep the rest of the Takara Scattershot in place).

Anyway, so it appears that so far we have at least 3 options for Scattershot/Computron's torso (not including 3rd party stuff).

[Sowndwave76]

I'm not sure if anyone has pointed this out yet, but owning the individual release of Scattershot from Combiner Wars might just be worth it for those picky about their Computron thighs. As you can see from the following images, Hasbro's individual release of Scattershot differs quite a bit with regards to the colors on key parts of the toy (including the thighs for Computron in combined mode) from the upcoming boxed set release as well as from Takara's upcoming Unite Warriors release:

Hasbro's individual CW release:

Hasbro's boxed set release (notice the outside bottom area below the wings which forms the front of the thighs for Computron):

And finally, Takara's upcoming UW release:


Hasbro's boxed set release will be white with a blue square just above the knee, Takara's will be all white and Hasbro's previously released individual CW version will be all red.

All of the animation stills I've been able to get my hands on (including going back and re-watching episodes featuring the Technobots/Computron) indicate that in the show his thighs were pretty much all white (like Takara's), however some may find it more visually appealing to have a more consistent red color for the legs/thighs given that red and maroon/brown are pretty much Computron's primary colors (with highlights of white/orange/yellow here and there). Of course it would be a simple matter to paint them a different color for anyone who desired to, but I just thought I'd point this out since I hadn't seen mention of it anywhere yet and found it quite interesting. I might just buy the Hasbro individual release to merge with my Takara UW Computron if I end up not liking the white thighs, especially if I decide to go with the Perfect Effect chest/head upgrade for the set (though I'm sure I could just swap out those thigh parts if I really wanted only those so I could keep the rest of the Takara Scattershot in place).

Anyway, so it appears that so far we have at least 3 options for Scattershot/Computron's torso (not including 3rd party stuff).

Nice find!

I thought the difference in colors of these new Hasbro images of Scattershot were strangely different to the one I picked up in the store...
Which imo, make knocks the Hasbro in-set version down a notch--
too many colors going on with that torso; especially the dark pink that's also part of the head, and the color of the gun.

[william-james88]

And finally, Takara's upcoming UW release:

By making us look to that area, I just spotted something I didnt see before. The new guns for the takara version act as exhaust ports/boosters in vehicle mode.

[Sabrblade]

they'll be the breastforce and have breastmaster partners

This is a misconception as the partners were alternately called "Breast Animals" or "Breastars".

The Breastforce was one of the few (if any) G1 subgroups who had smaller partner figures that weren't called "(something)masters", making them stand out as a bit more unique.