The Energon Pub

Bug Bite looks cool, will definitely get! Going to put a Decepticon symbol on him though.

I decided to splurge on a Botcon Bugbite from ebay when this was announced. I knew I'd like it more than this version and I've had my eye on him for ages.

Not regretting my choice. Although it's nice that we're getting another Merc bot. I really dislike one-off "factions". The symbols are neat and all, but a faction of one is no faction at all.

blackeyedprime wrote:I guess it's a nod to the old brazillian/portuguese bumper/sedan figure and Hasbro not really having a name to use for it, using Bugbites name to keep the name trade marked.

If that's the case, they should have slapped it on a recolored Insecticon. At least it would have made sense.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:The symbols are neat and all, but a faction of one is no faction at all.

Well to be fair there's also Exhaust, and the Netflix series showed Soundblaster is a leader of several members of this rogue faction

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Not regretting my choice. Although it's nice that we're getting another Merc bot. I really dislike one-off "factions". The symbols are neat and all, but a faction of one is no faction at all.

Bug Bite isn't the only one sport the Mercenary insignia.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Sentinel_Primal wrote:Bug Bite looks awesome! Also, I like that Wheeljack and Bumblebee now have "evil" versions of themselves.

I wouldn't say "evil", more like "morally ambiguous"

Not sure I'd say "awesome" either.

I personally am very happy he is a Mercenary. I am planning a Mercenary shelf now that they seem to be showing up more, repurposing some characters who would make sense there.

Exhaust, Doubledealer, Bug Bite and my FOC Soundblaster are headed there for sure. Probably some more, once i start digging around.

Sabrblade wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:Not regretting my choice. Although it's nice that we're getting another Merc bot. I really dislike one-off "factions". The symbols are neat and all, but a faction of one is no faction at all.

Bug Bite isn't the only one sport the Mercenary insignia.

Like I said, it's nice we're getting another Merc bot.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I personally am very happy he is a Mercenary. I am planning a Mercenary shelf now that they seem to be showing up more, repurposing some characters who would make sense there.

Exhaust, Doubledealer, Bug Bite and my FOC Soundblaster are headed there for sure. Probably some more, once i start digging around.

Hope you've got a lockdown planned for that shelf

Kinda weirded out by how much I like Bugbite. I also kinda like the usage of the bipod pieces as improvised magazines for the peeshooters even if they’re oddly angled. He’d make a good Shattered Glass ‘Bee too, just wish we’d get more love for that.

Guess I’ll put Exhaust and Bugbite down for preorder, because why not.

Brokebot wrote:

blackeyedprime wrote:I guess it's a nod to the old brazillian/portuguese bumper/sedan figure and Hasbro not really having a name to use for it, using Bugbites name to keep the name trade marked.

If that's the case, they should have slapped it on a recolored Insecticon. At least it would have made sense.

Wouldnt mind that. I might get another Earthrise bumblebee to turn into bugbite and if I get the selects bugbite he caan be some one else with a sticker over the symbol.

ZeroWolf wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I personally am very happy he is a Mercenary. I am planning a Mercenary shelf now that they seem to be showing up more, repurposing some characters who would make sense there.

Exhaust, Doubledealer, Bug Bite and my FOC Soundblaster are headed there for sure. Probably some more, once i start digging around.

Hope you've got a lockdown planned for that shelf

Just got reminded that I do have the HftD Lockdown for the shelf, so he will be going there. Might even move my 2 movie Lockdown to that shelf too, since he is a Mercenary as well.

Might also be where my T30 Blitzwing goes, since that story can sort of work for him (and means both he and Astrotrain have multiple figures, but the dups are on different shelves). The Universe Onslaught might go there since in IDW he sort of ended up as a mercenary type after the war. Maybe I'll even move Megascream down to there to serve as the combiner and also sort of works considering his limb choices.

Might also move my Generations Drift there (not sure yet) since soon the Flame Toys kit will be assembled and can go on the Lost Light shelf.

I need to think of a couple Micromasters that can go over there too, for fun. Slitherfang (and any alike him) will go over there too, Double head guy being a shield for Doubledealer and Slitherfang getting multiples to make a long snake.

I almost feel like RiD Bruticus might work over there too, the 3-headed dog.

Maybe toss a couple more in, but it could make for a rowdy bunch. Now I need Toyhax to make Mercenary symbols.

Mindmaster wrote:peeshooters

Ew.

o.supreme wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

o.supreme wrote:But SDCC (from home) already happened July 23-26....there was no reveal

Exclusives are sold beginning of September on Pulse... has been that way ever since I joined this site

Makes sense, but since this is an unprecedented time, one would think they would have had a few hundred to a couple thousand Ready to sell live had SDCC actually happened. There wasn't any talk of it at a panel or anything IIRC as there usually would be. Additionally isn't what sells online from Hasbro in past years usually just the "leftovers" of what didn't sell at the Convention?

Hasbro hasn't done a "panel" yet like they would have at SDCC, they didn't take part in Comic-Con@Home. Supposedly they're doing a big cross brand promotion thing in September in place of SDCC and NYCC where they'll preview Kingdom and maybe tease the next Titan.

Hasbro's SDCC exclusives are always promoted as also being Pulse (or Hasbro Toy Shop as it was) exclusives with their own allotment of figures (plus I'm sure leftovers end up there as well) since things do sell out at conventions. Only difference is this year everything is going on Pulse which may or may not make things easier to get.

Anyway, got my Bugbite on Pulse. Looks fine in bot mode, car mode is a bit annoying, but it is what it is. Since they didn't/couldn't use the Beetle mold here I hope they have plans to use it later. Goldbug seems like an obvious choice, red Bee seems like a lazy choice that would be better suited for Target. Hopefully they'll remember Glyph exists.

Emerje

o.supreme wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

o.supreme wrote:But SDCC (from home) already happened July 23-26....there was no reveal

Exclusives are sold beginning of September on Pulse... has been that way ever since I joined this site

Makes sense, but since this is an unprecedented time, one would think they would have had a few hundred to a couple thousand Ready to sell live had SDCC actually happened. There wasn't any talk of it at a panel or anything IIRC as there usually would be. Additionally isn't what sells online from Hasbro in past years usually just the "leftovers" of what didn't sell at the Convention?

I wonder how many scalpers are joining Pulse plus right now.

I hope we do eventually get Goldbug from the Bumblebee Netflix version of the mold. Could Hasbro and Takara Tomy do any remolding to the robot form of the figure to distinguish it just a bit more from the "normal" Netflix Bumblebee? I mean, besides the different head sculpt of course. I feel like the head and a premium "golden" paint job won't be quite enough to make it look like more than just a repainted Bumblebee. Maybe they could square off a few of the rounder features on Bumblebee, but then, that would likely compromise the otherwise accurate VW Bettle alt mode.

reeeeeeeeeeeally hoping against hope that this is a similar (obviously more egregious) case to Rotorstorm having the wrong head, and that the final figure will actually be on the Bumblebee version of the mold. i don't particularly expect it will be, but i'm holding out hope

Wolfman Jake wrote:I hope we do eventually get Goldbug from the Bumblebee Netflix version of the mold. Could Hasbro and Takara Tomy do any remolding to the robot form of the figure to distinguish it just a bit more from the "normal" Netflix Bumblebee? I mean, besides the different head sculpt of course. I feel like the head and a premium "golden" paint job won't be quite enough to make it look like more than just a repainted Bumblebee. Maybe they could square off a few of the rounder features on Bumblebee, but then, that would likely compromise the otherwise accurate VW Bettle alt mode.

Yes hell yes please!

Jeddostotle7 wrote:reeeeeeeeeeeally hoping against hope that this is a similar (obviously more egregious) case to Rotorstorm having the wrong head, and that the final figure will actually be on the Bumblebee version of the mold. i don't particularly expect it will be, but i'm holding out hope

It’s unlikely. We only see those kinds of errors in computer renders. These are professional photos of real factory product. It’s almost certain that the Bug Bite we get in December will be exactly what we’ve seen here today: a white repaint of Cliffjumper with Bumblebee’s head.

Wolfman Jake wrote:

Jeddostotle7 wrote:reeeeeeeeeeeally hoping against hope that this is a similar (obviously more egregious) case to Rotorstorm having the wrong head, and that the final figure will actually be on the Bumblebee version of the mold. i don't particularly expect it will be, but i'm holding out hope

It’s unlikely. We only see those kinds of errors in computer renders. These are professional photos of real factory product. It’s almost certain that the Bug Bite we get in December will be exactly what we’ve seen here today: a white repaint of Cliffjumper with Bumblebee’s head.

I mean, Rotorstorm (like all Selects, they never seem to use renders for Selects) wasn't a render, it was an actual physical sample (both in the stock pics and in hand on the stream he was revealed in) that had the wrong head.


That's what's giving me a shred of hope.

That's just a head though, their not going to do a change for the entire body like that.

I didn't watch the reveal of Rotorstorm nor the announcement of the new head but isn't it plausible that the new head was made after the reaction to the initial reveal?

Deadput wrote:That's just a head though, their not going to do a change for the entire body like that.

I didn't watch the reveal of Rotorstorm nor the announcement of the new head but isn't it plausible that the new head was made after the reaction to the initial reveal?

No, the new head was called out in the product description, and in the mid July stream they revealed the new head, saying it was always meant to have it but the last stream and the stock photos used a prototype that didn't have it for whatever reason. The description of Bug Bite calling out his vehicle mode as a "sports car" instead of a Volkswagen Beetle like Netflix Bumblebee's does put a big damper on my already-small shred of hope, but I am still holding out that tiniest little scrap of hope.

Jeddostotle7 wrote:

Deadput wrote:That's just a head though, their not going to do a change for the entire body like that.

I didn't watch the reveal of Rotorstorm nor the announcement of the new head but isn't it plausible that the new head was made after the reaction to the initial reveal?

No, the new head was called out in the product description, and in the mid July stream they revealed the new head, saying it was always meant to have it but the last stream and the stock photos used a prototype that didn't have it for whatever reason. The description of Bug Bite calling out his vehicle mode as a "sports car" instead of a Volkswagen Beetle like Netflix Bumblebee's does put a big damper on my already-small shred of hope, but I am still holding out that tiniest little scrap of hope.

Alright that makes more sense.

Preorder and done

So this is a RESOUNDING no from me.

It was going to be tough to convince me to shelve the Botcon Bugbite. That tribal deco is just awesome and the figure is still really good. Had this been the proper Bumblebee mold, I probably would have gotten it because of the VW, but its another use of the Cliffjumper mold and that does absolutely nothing for me. Funny, Cliffy finally gets his own tooling and he is forced to pimp out for everybody. Thank you Hasbro for saving me $20