The Energon Pub

[Optimum Supreme]

Predaking should have significant height over Devastator if done right. It'd be expensive as [poop] but Razorclaw as a leader, the rest as voyagers (or bring back ultra and make them that). Not mini voyagers like most of the constructicons, either, (honestly they're somwhere between deluxes and voyagers except Long Haul)

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Predaking should have significant height over Devastator if done right. It'd be expensive as [poop] but Razorclaw as a leader, the rest as voyagers (or bring back ultra and make them that). Not mini voyagers like most of the constructicons, either, (honestly they're somwhere between deluxes and voyagers except Long Haul)

No. Just no. One Titan-size combiner was bad enough, and Devastator was the only one even semi-justified. You want that kind of size difference between Devastator and Predaking so desperately, just shut up and go buy the G1 toys.

Predaking's main rival was always Sky Lynx. For that reason alone, a Combiner Wars Predaking should be the same size as the regular CW combiners so that he's of the proper size to be fighting with combinations that use CW Sky Lynx as a torso. This would also make him a good size to be battling with the original Sky Lynx.

[Kurona]

I don't think the one-torso-four-limb combiners should ever go Titan class. The likes of Devastator and Monstructor are justified (not that I think there'll be the slightest possibility of Titan Monstructor. Would be awesome though) is because they have their own unique combination system that would not work with the standard CW pegs. Otherwise you end up with CW Liokaiser, who is cool but is very inaccurate to the original.

I'd just see making Predaking in Titan as a waste not just because of scale, but because you miss out on having the CW peg system for the mixing and matching that made that toyline so fun. I wanna give Bruticus some Divebomb wings and I want to have Predaking wearing some jet legs! It's fun dudes

Also, Razorclaw would have redeco potential as a Lio Convoy who becomes a Combiner torso. That alone justifies the idea.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Getting back to toys that already exist, I've had Motormaster for a few days now and am enjoying him a good bit. Haven't had a chance to try him as a torso yet because I don't own any CW limbs yet. But I'm liking the mold overall, and I definitely want Combiner Wars Optimus Prime now for the sake of having a decent Voyager G1 Optimus (as opposed to the miserable failure that is the Classics Optimus Prime mold) or failing that another Motormaster to kitbash into Optimus (either way would involve kitbashing because I'd want to mod Optimus to work more like the G1 toy transformation-wise, complete with seats in the cab)

[william-james88]

I would much prefer Predaking to be a voyager and four deluxes. So much more playability that way.

This is how I imagine my Predaking

I turn dreams...



into reality!

Will reshoot this when I have Defensor on hand.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Update on my thoughts on Motormaster now that I at least have two CW limb figures to go with him:
I have noticed the issue with the shoulder sockets (Motormaster's forearms becoming untabbed from his own shoulders), though this can be mitigated by where you hold him. It's just a pity he wasn't designed so that the truck side panels could be flipped and tabbed into the torso to help lock the forearms in place in torso mode.
I have also noticed another issue: the stupid slanting design of Motormaster's feet (which I'm sure was done to better support "dynamic" standing poses) gets in the way if you do his torso mode according to the instructions; whoever you have attached as legs will grind against them when you bend him at the knee. So instead, you should have the tire side of his legs face forward in torso mode. This will give much better clearance, to the point that you can even connect the leg robots undercarriage-forward and still be able to bend him at the knee a bit.

I can also say that the Drag Strip mold would be better if it was closer to the original toy's design in a couple of ways. The first and most crucial is this: the shoulders being at the same position in car mode as they are in robot mode and tucked in via sliding, instead of swinging down to tuck in. That swinging down makes his arms stick down too far past the waist to be tucked into their car-mode position in arm mode. So instead you have to settle for folding the fists in and bending the arms over where his head goes and it just looks really sloppy. The other way is his front end could have done with being hinged as it was on the original toy, so you could have his robot mode be oriented the same way (with the cockpit as the chest) and in combination with the arm thing you could use it as a pauldron in arm mode like with the original toy.

As for the Dead End mold.. This one could have done with the peg being mounted so that it stuck out more when folded out for arm mode (or the Combiner Wars connector plugs in general could have gone with being longer..) because as-is it has major clearance issues when connected that way. Lovely!
Edit: So I double-checked the instructions, and they say to pull out the arms and tilt them outward for arm mode... which kinda leaves them flapping loose, so I stand by my statement.

...You know, forget asking for a Combiner Wars Predaking of any kind. Predaking should be at the bottom of the priority list. I think we should be more focused on asking for Stunticon do-overs.

Please tell me the Aerialbots (should I ever have the budget to get them or the luck to find them at thrift) are better about clearance

[TF-fan kev777]

Getting back to toys that already exist, I've had Motormaster for a few days now and am enjoying him a good bit. Haven't had a chance to try him as a torso yet because I don't own any CW limbs yet. But I'm liking the mold overall, and I definitely want Combiner Wars Optimus Prime now for the sake of having a decent Voyager G1 Optimus (as opposed to the miserable failure that is the Classics Optimus Prime mold) or failing that another Motormaster to kitbash into Optimus (either way would involve kitbashing because I'd want to mod Optimus to work more like the G1 toy transformation-wise, complete with seats in the cab)

Good luck finding a red CW Optimus Prime. He was only released in the first wave and then got a slight retool into the white Battle Core OP. I believe he is the most expensive to find on eBay of the CW voyagers, aside from possibly Sky Lynx.

As for your kit-bashing plans, that would have to be one hell of a kitbash. The front of the cab portion of the truck mode becomes his shoulders with the real windows facing backward in robot mode and the fake chest windows front and center.

[nycPrime]

Forgive my ignorance but why is the red optimus so highly sought after?

[Overcracker]

Forgive my ignorance but why is the red optimus so highly sought after?

I'm guessing because he's Prime, and he only saw a wave 1 release in Red and Blue. The White one on the other hand was quite easy to come by.

With those prices, I'm tempted to sell mine.

[william-james88]

Forgive my ignorance but why is the red optimus so highly sought after?

Because he's a nice G1 looking Prime that has the ability to combine.

Many parents bought it (over motormaster) and since it was never rereleased, he slowly became rarer (especially since he was sold out at stores) and then once that became known, fans wanted him for his "rarer" nature and the rest is just momentum

[Insurgent]

Also, a 3rd party kit came out to turn him into a full on IDW pre Combiner Wars Optimus. So collectors are after him for that reason too.

[Kurona]

Also, a 3rd party kit came out to turn him into a full on IDW pre Combiner Wars Optimus. So collectors are after him for that reason too.

Two IDW conversion kits, even! Insane that two separate companies caught onto the same idea and made him the same size.

Optimus in IDW still has his pre-CW design btw - the CW crossover didn't change any of that. It's especially more noticeable in the fact Ironhide still has his WfC body and Sunstreaker still has his Universe body. Only the Combaticons, Stunticons and Constructicons got changed it seems.

[nycPrime]

Very interesting. Glad I have one then.

[Insurgent]

Also, a 3rd party kit came out to turn him into a full on IDW pre Combiner Wars Optimus. So collectors are after him for that reason too.

Two IDW conversion kits, even! Insane that two separate companies caught onto the same idea and made him the same size.

Optimus in IDW still has his pre-CW design btw - the CW crossover didn't change any of that. It's especially more noticeable in the fact Ironhide still has his WfC body and Sunstreaker still has his Universe body. Only the Combaticons, Stunticons and Constructicons got changed it seems.

Is he? Huh. I knew he wasn't in a combiner wars body, but I thought he had changed a bit, gone a bit more G1. Lost the shoulder panels and whatnot, making himself a bit more clean. Guess it was just the artist change. Or my faulty memory.



I'll go with my memory.

[Kurona]

Also, a 3rd party kit came out to turn him into a full on IDW pre Combiner Wars Optimus. So collectors are after him for that reason too.

Two IDW conversion kits, even! Insane that two separate companies caught onto the same idea and made him the same size.

Optimus in IDW still has his pre-CW design btw - the CW crossover didn't change any of that. It's especially more noticeable in the fact Ironhide still has his WfC body and Sunstreaker still has his Universe body. Only the Combaticons, Stunticons and Constructicons got changed it seems.

Is he? Huh. I knew he wasn't in a combiner wars body, but I thought he had changed a bit, gone a bit more G1. Lost the shoulder panels and whatnot, making himself a bit more clean. Guess it was just the artist change. Or my faulty memory.



I'll go with my memory.

I think it's down more to different artists. It's much more noticeable with Victorion and the Torchbearers; sometimes they take being toy-based to Galaxy Force extremes, sometimes they have a slightly stylised design, and sometimes they just flat out go weird like in Revolution. But it happens with almost all the characters; little details vary by the artist.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

There was one artist who shifted things to a bizarre hybrid of G1 and TFP aesthetics for a while.. And that style wound up actually influencing some of Hasbro's toys (most notably Thrilling 30 Springer).

EDIT: Got Silverbolt in today. His undercarriage is even worse than the original toy's thanks to the insistence on integrated combiner kibble, and his torso mode is upside-down compared to the original (going to see if I can kitbash him to change all that plus give him the base mode and get rid of the stupid mouthplate from the cartoon character model that only exists because the artists were evidently working from photos of the Aerialbots, should be an interesting challenge). On the plus side, those 5mm ports in the arms mean that the G2-themed redeco is perfectly capable of mounting the real G2 Silverbolt's launchers.

[TF-fan kev777]

Got Silverbolt in today. His undercarriage is even worse than the original toy's thanks to the insistence on integrated combiner kibble, and his torso mode is upside-down compared to the original (going to see if I can kitbash him to change all that plus give him the base mode and get rid of the stupid mouthplate from the cartoon character model that only exists because the artists were evidently working from photos of the Aerialbots, should be an interesting challenge). On the plus side, those 5mm ports in the arms mean that the G2-themed redeco is perfectly capable of mounting the real G2 Silverbolt's launchers.

Careful on any mods you make to the combiner head. There is a known flaw in the mold that eventually leads to breakage on the neck plate for the Superion head. I believe this was only present on the version released in wave 1 (and the G2 box set) and may have been corrected in the re-release from the later waves. (FYI - The issue may also apply to Cyclonus and Shattorshot as well).

[william-james88]

Got Silverbolt in today. His undercarriage is even worse than the original toy's thanks to the insistence on integrated combiner kibble,

tell me about it!

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... oys/38374/

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Got Silverbolt in today. His undercarriage is even worse than the original toy's thanks to the insistence on integrated combiner kibble, and his torso mode is upside-down compared to the original (going to see if I can kitbash him to change all that plus give him the base mode and get rid of the stupid mouthplate from the cartoon character model that only exists because the artists were evidently working from photos of the Aerialbots, should be an interesting challenge). On the plus side, those 5mm ports in the arms mean that the G2-themed redeco is perfectly capable of mounting the real G2 Silverbolt's launchers.

Careful on any mods you make to the combiner head. There is a known flaw in the mold that eventually leads to breakage on the neck plate for the Superion head. I believe this was only present on the version released in wave 1 (and the G2 box set) and may have been corrected in the re-release from the later waves. (FYI - The issue may also apply to Cyclonus and Shattorshot as well).

That would be a complete non-issue if he was fully G1-ified, because on the G1 toy the combiner head is a helmet that slips over the regular head. And of course I would dismantle and separate the combiner head to do the mouthplate removal anyway.

Got Silverbolt in today. His undercarriage is even worse than the original toy's thanks to the insistence on integrated combiner kibble,

tell me about it!

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... oys/38374/

I already did: viewtopic.php?t=109314&p=1886754#p1886754

[william-james88]

Got Silverbolt in today. His undercarriage is even worse than the original toy's thanks to the insistence on integrated combiner kibble,

tell me about it!

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... oys/38374/

I already did: viewtopic.php?t=109314&p=1886754#p1886754

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Getting back to toys that already exist, I've had Motormaster for a few days now and am enjoying him a good bit. Haven't had a chance to try him as a torso yet because I don't own any CW limbs yet. But I'm liking the mold overall, and I definitely want Combiner Wars Optimus Prime now for the sake of having a decent Voyager G1 Optimus (as opposed to the miserable failure that is the Classics Optimus Prime mold) or failing that another Motormaster to kitbash into Optimus (either way would involve kitbashing because I'd want to mod Optimus to work more like the G1 toy transformation-wise, complete with seats in the cab)

Good luck finding a red CW Optimus Prime. He was only released in the first wave and then got a slight retool into the white Battle Core OP. I believe he is the most expensive to find on eBay of the CW voyagers, aside from possibly Sky Lynx.

As for your kit-bashing plans, that would have to be one hell of a kitbash. The front of the cab portion of the truck mode becomes his shoulders with the real windows facing backward in robot mode and the fake chest windows front and center.

Well, the idea would be to cut off most of the backpack and build up the chest windows in its place, and turn the arms into the back of the cab. They would have to be re-hinged for the smokestacks to end up in the right place. The combiner waist thing would ideally be re-mounted on to his new back and turned into a matrix holder that could tuck into his chest in robot mode.

[Overcracker]

Getting back to toys that already exist, I've had Motormaster for a few days now and am enjoying him a good bit. Haven't had a chance to try him as a torso yet because I don't own any CW limbs yet. But I'm liking the mold overall, and I definitely want Combiner Wars Optimus Prime now for the sake of having a decent Voyager G1 Optimus (as opposed to the miserable failure that is the Classics Optimus Prime mold) or failing that another Motormaster to kitbash into Optimus (either way would involve kitbashing because I'd want to mod Optimus to work more like the G1 toy transformation-wise, complete with seats in the cab)

Wait, I'm confused. How is classics prime a failure exactly? He's considered one of the top classics molds.






Or are you referring to the Deluxe Classics Prime.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

No, I'm referring to the Voyager one. I consider him a failure because despite being a Voyager, he's only a head taller than than the 1984 toy - an insufficient boost in comparison to the CHUG Autobot cars. At the same time, he's too big and too modernized in his altmode to fit in with the G1 toys (unlike the Classics Seeker mold).

[Kurona]

No, I'm referring to the Voyager one. I consider him a failure because despite being a Voyager, he's only a head taller than than the 1984 toy - an insufficient boost in comparison to the CHUG Autobot cars. At the same time, he's too big and too modernized in his altmode to fit in with the G1 toys (unlike the Classics Seeker mold).

I don't think it's a failure when that's not what the toy set out to do. It simply set out to be a modern update to the character, and aside from a few flaws - egregious door kibble, could do with a tad more articulation - it done it very well. It's an excellent figure and I see it in the same light as something like G2 Laser Prime; a new badass body the Autobot Leader went into when **** gets serious, yo.

I would like a Voyager Optimus that is basically the G1 design as it is one of the most iconic in the franchise's history, but there's nothing wrong with the Classics Voyager. I think it's important to judge something by its own merits rather than it not being what one personally wanted. I want a MTMTE-accurate Rodimus and Chromedome, but that doesn't mean the Titans Return deluxes are bad toys in the slightest, nor that "they don't have the MTMTE designs" is a valid criticism.

[Overcracker]

No, I'm referring to the Voyager one. I consider him a failure because despite being a Voyager, he's only a head taller than than the 1984 toy - an insufficient boost in comparison to the CHUG Autobot cars. At the same time, he's too big and too modernized in his altmode to fit in with the G1 toys (unlike the Classics Seeker mold).

I don't think it's a failure when that's not what the toy set out to do. It simply set out to be a modern update to the character, and aside from a few flaws - egregious door kibble, could do with a tad more articulation - it done it very well. It's an excellent figure and I see it in the same light as something like G2 Laser Prime; a new badass body the Autobot Leader went into when **** gets serious, yo.

I would like a Voyager Optimus that is basically the G1 design as it is one of the most iconic in the franchise's history, but there's nothing wrong with the Classics Voyager. I think it's important to judge something by its own merits rather than it not being what one personally wanted. I want a MTMTE-accurate Rodimus and Chromedome, but that doesn't mean the Titans Return deluxes are bad toys in the slightest, nor that "they don't have the MTMTE designs" is a valid criticism.

I agree. The toy set out to update the G1 Prime design and at that it succeeds pretty well. It did not set out to fit in with G1 nor was it ever suggested it was going to be larger than G1. I don't believe its size in relation to a G1 toy should be a factor to consider about it really.

It's a very good toy, that does some very interesting things and as a Prime it succeeds. So much so, its been re-released ad-nauseum and people still want to go out and buy it every time its re-released.

To me that speaks volumes about its success as a figure and as an update despite whatever other issues it may have.

You may not like it, and it may not fit in with what you expected of it, but a failure it is not.