The Energon Pub

News Credits: 1646 · Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:21 pm

Thanks to a heads up from Seibertronian Wireless_Phantom and Jelze Goldrabbit, we have news that video reviews are hitting for the upcoming Transformers Generations Selects voyager class Turtler. The video review we are sharing with you today is in Japanese, but it includes a lot of pertinent information that a lot of you will find interesting.

The review focuses in on Turtler's 3 different modes, his accessories, as well as some comparisons to the figure he was heavily retooled from: Power of the Primes Hun Gurr. We get some great looks at this figure and some good comparisons to to his original mold mate. Turtler is set to become the torso to King Poseidon, the long awaited update to the final scramble city styled combiner from G1.

Check out the review below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:28 pm

People bitched a lot about the over-use of the Silverbolt mold/engineering in CW and POTP but in all seriousness, this guy manage to look quite different in both individual molds. its only in combined mode that its more apparent but, then again, there aren't too many ways to make a scramble city-type combiner to begin with.

News Credits: 1646 · Mon Jan 27, 2020 8:33 pm

Sad news today for those who have pre-ordered the Transformers Generations Selects Turtler and Gulf, as well as MP-19 Smokescreen from Hasbro Pulse. It looks as though all 3 of these figures have been delayed by 2 months.

The news comes from Hasbro Pulse themselves, who have started to send out emails to those who pre-ordered these figures. The email was forwarded on to us from Seibertronian Ebonyleopard, who ordered all 3. It is possible other pre-orders have been delayed as well, but Ebonyleopard did not have those orders in.

As far as we know, the other 4 Seacons are still set to arrive next month, but that is subject to change as well. This delay follows the delay of Star Convoy last year by several months, as well as the delays that have impacted Masterpiece Hound from Pulse.

Let us know what you think of this news below, and let us know if any of you have received other pre-order delay emails as well.

News Credits: 42 · Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:37 pm

Hey D-Max, FYI - as far as Pulse says, Kraken and Lobclaw are next month, while Overbite and Tentakill are March with Gulf and Turtler as of right now on Pulse.

Got my email on the delay today as well. I can confirm it was a generic email as I did not order MP Smokescreen but all 3 were mentioned in the email.

News Credits: 3 · Mon Jan 27, 2020 9:55 pm

I ordered from Pulse and honestly the part of it that bugs me the most is that now the first set I get from them will be the one I was looking forward to the least.

News Credits: 13 · Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:01 pm

The text makes it pretty clear it's just those 3 for now. I did not order smokescreen, but it was still included in my list.

Screenshot_20200127-205752.png

News Credits: 131 · Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:03 pm

Well Turtler is easily the best iteration of the Silclongurrler mold...(yet?).

All those extra tricks and cool accessories are giving me a tinge of the ragrets over skipping this set. At least my wallet is still in one piece to absorb my tears.

News Credits: 241 · Mon Jan 27, 2020 10:35 pm

carytheone wrote:Well Turtler is easily the best iteration of the Silclongurrler mold...(yet?).

Just Hun-Gurrturtler. Silcloshot is separate when parts come into play.

Turtler is interesting in not only how few parts are kept (the arms, upper legs), but also how it reverses orientation in Beast and Torso Modes when compared to Hun-Gurrr. Only Tentakil comes as close to the parts bit with reusing only Moonracer's torso.

News Credits: 131 · Mon Jan 27, 2020 11:33 pm

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
carytheone wrote:Well Turtler is easily the best iteration of the Silclongurrler mold...(yet?).
Just Hun-Gurrturtler. Silcloshot is separate when parts come into play.

Yeah yeah, I was just poking a little fun at the hairsplitters. I forgot all about Scattershot being in this group. I count engineering/experience more than parts count; if the toy feels the same, it is the same. With that said, I don't hold it against any of them. I remember thinking when I got Hun-Gurr that it was the same toy as Silverbolt only done better.

Bots just laying down playing footsie

What I do hold against this design, is that I generally just don't like it. I don't much care for any of the bot modes, the alt modes are just meh, but the torso mode is absolutely fantastic. Easily the best of the bunch and if they were going reuse one over and over, this is that one!

Turtler seems to take what Hun-Gurr started and then do it all better with some cool new tricks and a gaggle of fun accessories.

News Credits: 4 · Mon Jan 27, 2020 11:35 pm

This also marks my 3rd delay. My pre-ordered Blackarachnia only arrived 2 weeks ago, which was also pushed back from their initial release date, which caused me to cancel my Hound pre-order, which was scheduled for release this month, but I couldn't afford to have Both of them to come out this month with Lio Convoy also scheduled to coming out next month.

So, no idea why this delay is happening.

News Credits: 65 · Tue Jan 28, 2020 12:23 am

Food for thought on the Generations Selects Micromaster listing from EB Games. EB Games is only in Canada now, right? So, the prices in the listings are likely Canadian dollars. You can see on the receipt that the prices for the other assortments (Deluxe, Voyager, Leader, etc.) are much higher than in USD. So, $20.00 CAN is probably just a small mark-up by a specialty distributor for an exclusive item, rather than an indicator of "twice" the product of a normal Micromaster set (e.g., two figures for $10.00 USD). I'm betting the set will ONLY consist of Blue Guy and Buzzsaw. No Howlback, Glit, Wingthing, or otherwise.

News Credits: 131 · Tue Jan 28, 2020 12:54 am

Wolfman Jake wrote:Food for thought on the Generations Selects Micromaster listing from EB Games. EB Games is only in Canada now, right? So, the prices in the listings are likely Canadian dollars. You can see on the receipt that the prices for the other assortments (Deluxe, Voyager, Leader, etc.) are much higher than in USD. So, $20.00 CAN is probably just a small mark-up by a specialty distributor for an exclusive item, rather than an indicator of "twice" the product of a normal Micromaster set (e.g., two figures for $10.00 USD). I'm betting the set will ONLY consist of Blue Guy and Buzzsaw. No Howlback, Glit, Wingthing, or otherwise.

You could be on to something, but the going rate for standard micromasters is $10-13 CAD. I just happen to be in Calgary this week and was at a local Walmart today. I will say prices on a few figures were a little sticker shocky (even after the conversion).

Anyway, for $7+ over retail, I'd still expect a little lagniappe in that Selects box.

Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:03 am

Is Turtler & Gulf totally delayed in Japan by Takara or is this just a Hasbro Pulse thing? Because I ordered both from Robotkingdom. Will they be released on time in Japan?

News Credits: 241 · Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:08 am

Aimless Misfire wrote:Is Turtler & Gulf totally delayed in Japan by Takara or is this just a Hasbro Pulse thing? Because I ordered both from Robotkingdom. Will they be released on time in Japan?

He's already out as the Japanese reviewers can attest. The delay is a Pulse-only thing, possibly having problems securing stock and/or making the special Hasbro sleeves for them.

That's right: Star Convoy has shown that those delivered via Pulse have a Hasbro sleeve, then the TakaraTomy one, then finally the box itself.

Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:12 am

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:He's already out as the Japanese reviewers can attest. The delay is a Pulse-only thing, possibly having problems securing stock and/or making the special Hasbro sleeves for them.

That's right: Star Convoy has shown that those delivered via Pulse have a Hasbro sleeve, then the TakaraTomy one, then finally the box itself.

Ok thanks! I was confused about it.

Does anybody know when Robotkingdom usually gets this kind of stuff? I'm not even sure where RK is located. My set is already paid for so when can I expect it to ship? I don't have much experience with RK. I only ordered from them once before & that was a long time ago.

News Credits: 462 · Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:15 am

Aimless Misfire wrote:I'm not even sure where RK is located.

Hong Kong

News Credits: 11 · Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:56 am

Ya know, when Star Convoy got so severely delayed, I wrote it off as a fluke. But, if this is going to be the norm for Pulse, I think we're better off securing these figures elsewhere. Pulse is either totally disorganized or intentionally putting out BS release dates so people will order from them.

Tue Jan 28, 2020 2:53 am

I’m skipping them but they do look pretty good, better than I thought, indeed this is perhaps one of the better uses of the mould. The two blasters help the figure too... I have hungrr, silver lot and skylynx, and must say this guy would top them.

News Credits: 42 · Tue Jan 28, 2020 8:54 am

Lore Keeper wrote:Ya know, when Star Convoy got so severely delayed, I wrote it off as a fluke. But, if this is going to be the norm for Pulse, I think we're better off securing these figures elsewhere. Pulse is either totally disorganized or intentionally putting out BS release dates so people will order from them.

A couple thoughts here. First, these (Star Convoy and Turtler/Gulf) are the first 2-3 Takara initiated Selects releases, and they are 0-2 on meeting the original dates. However if I recall correctly, there were some delays on Takara's end for Star Convoy as well as delays from Hasbro, so it is tough to draw any legitimate conclusion from just 2 data points, that don't even completely match each other. I think Kraken and Lobclaw should tell us a bit more on how Pulse is handling these and whether they are getting better at it or not. If we see them also delayed about 2 months, then it is safe to assume that will be standard. If they are not delayed, or only delayed for a shorter period of time, then we can guess that Hasbro is figuring it out on their end. Right now, we really just don't know.

I do think Pulse is a bit disorganized on how to handle Takara Selects offerings, as opposed to putting fake dates out there to gain business. Just look at the last 2 limbs where they forgot to put the pre-orders up until about a week before their cutoff date. However, this is also only their second time doing this.

Finally, even with the extra wait, the price through Hasbro is still better for me than going elsewhere, so I won't be taking my money to other sites unless/until Hasbro completely screws something up and I don't get a pre-order that was secured.

Tue Jan 28, 2020 10:55 am

I do hope nautilator doesn't get delayed. That is the only one i bought and the sole one I am looking forward to.

News Credits: 56 · Tue Jan 28, 2020 11:49 am

Hopefully HP will offer them again somehow. Think about it. These had arguably one of the shortest windows of availability of any release (for Takara or Hasbro), even Unicron had a longer window of opportunity. And as some have argued Selects are not, supposed to be exclusives, they are supposed to be just figures available online only. Almost every other selects figure is still currently available on HP (Though of course not Star Convoy). Maybe the definition of Selects should be restated to mean online only for Hasbro, but Exclusives for TT.

I mean arguably one of the Best/Most popular Unite Warriors sets was Computron. It was the only one (IIRC), that also sold out prior to release by most online retailers, and was more widely available than the Selects Seacons are currently. Still, after release date, UW Computron was still available in limited quantities from some shops. These Selects Seacons are shaping up to be one of the most ridiculously hard to obtain (almost convention level) items of the past few years. I mean, is there any single place online whereby you can order all six today for a comparable price that Pulse was offering in their very, very short window of opportunity?

News Credits: 42 · Tue Jan 28, 2020 12:49 pm

o.supreme wrote:Hopefully HP will offer them again somehow. Think about it. These had arguably one of the shortest windows of availability of any release (for Takara or Hasbro), even Unicron had a longer window of opportunity. And as some have argued Selects are not, supposed to be exclusives, they are supposed to be just figures available online only. Almost every other selects figure is still currently available on HP (Though of course not Star Convoy). Maybe the definition of Selects should be restated to mean online only for Hasbro, but Exclusives for TT.

Why would you need them to restate or define anything? Isn't it pretty obvious that Selects is really 2 different lines depending on whether it was a Hasbro effort or a Takara one? Hasbro selects is an online only type offering for most of the world through Hasbro Pulse and other retailers. The Hasbro ones are basically an affordable version of what FunPub used to cover, repaints using existing molds with maybe a new head. Takara Selects are pretty much what used to be the LG-EX releases (heavy retools or even new molds), and Hasbro Pulse is really just a retail outlet for them in the US. Whether you or I consider either type or both "exclusives" is just splitting hairs on defining an exclusive. Defining it or leaving it undefined has no bearing on how they are produced and marketed, we already know the deal here.

o.supreme wrote:I mean arguably one of the Best/Most popular Unite Warriors sets was Computron. It was the only one (IIRC), that also sold out prior to release by most online retailers, and was more widely available than the Selects Seacons are currently. Still, after release date, UW Computron was still available in limited quantities from some shops. These Selects Seacons are shaping up to be one of the most ridiculously hard to obtain (almost convention level) items of the past few years. I mean, is there any single place online whereby you can order all six today for a comparable price that Pulse was offering in their very, very short window of opportunity?

Nope, whether anyone likes it or not, the retail environment changed for transformers over the past few years. The loss of TRU as a retail outlet caused some of the changes and the brand unification changed some other things as well. Any comparison you try to make to toys offered before these changes is likely to be a fools errand.

Keep in mind that the brand unification essentially cut off a number of worldwide Takara customers because there is no longer a reason to wait for the Takara version for a more preferred deco if you can get the Hasbro offerings locally. This doesn't only affect Takara directly, but also indirectly through retailers like BBTS. With the brand unification in place, do you think BBTS is ordering nearly as many items from Takara as they used to? They got spanked pretty hard on PotP with the Takara versions just sitting there not moving much.

So you have Takara trying to make things work with a smaller regular customer base and smaller orders from retailers than before. If their customer base is smaller, then I can see them wanting to move more towards a pre-order/made to order format for their exclusives in order to have more secure numbers and leave less up to chance. Sure it may be a royal pain for some consumers, but giving us exactly the type of distribution you want to have likely puts too much risk on their numbers to be worth it to Takara.

How many of us waited out a price drop for Big Powered or Grand Maximus from BBTS or other retailers? While it may have meant a great deal for us, it also likely meant some losses or very thin profits from the retailers that had to discount them to move them. I'm sure this will affect how many extras those retailers want to order for non-secured pre-orders in the future.

And this isn't just Takara, Hasbro has tightened things up a bit as well. How were the Titan deals this year? Still good, but not as good as before, presumably because of lower stock. And how were the great "wait a year" deals on Predaking at TJ Maxx or Ollies this year, oh yeah, they didn't happen, or were very limited. It looks to me like both Hasbro and Takara are getting smarter as far as limiting overproduction on larger ticket items so that they or their retailers don't have to take as much of a hit if they don't sell.

The reality is that in trying to satisfy their own profits, retailers needs and the customer's desires, they will never be able to strike a balance that makes everyone happy. Some items will simply be harder to find and obtain than others. I personally am glad the Hasbro Pulse does offers the Takara Selects offerings, even with as much of a pain that it was to get the pre-orders in for the Seacons. As much of a pain as it was, it was still easier for me than hunting them down through the other online retailers or ordering direct from Japan with a forwarding service.

News Credits: 56 · Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:10 pm

I also noticed the lack of deals on the OS Titan this past end-of-year (in fact I only saw ONE deal on Amazon for a short time $130). Which is why I still don't have it, but it is still readily available online, so I'm not worried yet. But I do have to disagree about the lack of distinction with TT Selects vs Hasbro Selects they are all SELECTS, whether Hasbro to TT shouldn't matter 9as you stated, brand unification and all that...), and if HP is going to offer them at all, availability should be the same, or call them something else.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:As much of a pain as it was, it was still easier for me than hunting them down through the other online retailers or ordering direct from Japan with a forwarding service.

I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree. I'd much rather have TT items available through 3rd party online retailers, even if having to pay a bit more, as long as they are available for months, if not years after their release, as opposed to having 2 weeks to decide on a pre-order item that doesn't come out for several months, and if not oh well, they're gone forever, unless you want to pay ridiculous markups. Then we are basically back to convention level exclusivity, which I thought is what Selects was attempting to avoid in the first place.

News Credits: 8 · Tue Jan 28, 2020 1:24 pm

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
Aimless Misfire wrote:Is Turtler & Gulf totally delayed in Japan by Takara or is this just a Hasbro Pulse thing? Because I ordered both from Robotkingdom. Will they be released on time in Japan?

He's already out as the Japanese reviewers can attest. The delay is a Pulse-only thing, possibly having problems securing stock and/or making the special Hasbro sleeves for them.

That's right: Star Convoy has shown that those delivered via Pulse have a Hasbro sleeve, then the TakaraTomy one, then finally the box itself.

The real test then is it a Hasbro Pulse delay or did tfsource/ BBTS get delayed