The Energon Pub

Emerje wrote:I think they meant Nemesis without the Prime, as in the Decepticon ship which showed up again on Metroplex's box, but probably just to show that the Decepticons traveled to a different planet.

Emerje

Either way, it's a curious inclusion.

Come on Hasbro, you know what you need to do for a Titan Class Nemesis

Emerje wrote:I think they meant Nemesis without the Prime, as in the Decepticon ship which showed up again on Metroplex's box, but probably just to show that the Decepticons traveled to a different planet.

Emerje

Ah.

Now that makes sense.

If they really do it, I'd be way more into that than Cybertron Metroplex. The Ark needs it's rival and I do hope such a Nemesis will also include a deluxe bot. Why not a transformable throne? It would be cool and hilarious at the same time.

So there was another on of those designer roundtable-things today, and evidently we had at least someone involved on our behalf, so I assume they'll probably be a news article put up about it at some point? In case there isn't though, things that came of it according to Twitter & TFW (since they were almost entirely Legacy questions or could have future implications for Legacy, sorry for the incoming wall of text):
-Legacy is it's own line, not a trilogy/collection of sublines
-They know that some recent figures (SG Screamer, etc) have been weirdly/rapidly yellowing, they think they've figured out how to stop it
-Blitzwing's turret has full 360-degree rotation
-Reasons for doing Metroplex as the Titan for this year include: story reasons of him being an Energon miner in a line with an Energon gimmick, perceived kid interest in cool giant construction equipment, prior design team (so Warden) had already done some work on him
-Legacy preorders are doing well, better than some of the WFC segments, and some of the non-G1 characters are out-selling some of the G1 guys
-Netflix Soundwave is still under the effect of an exclusivity deal made between Hasbro and Walmart for that whole subline, so tape player Soundwave cannot be used/rereleased unless by Walmart (which could still happen at this point in time), hence Legacy's Soundwave repack being Siege
-Price increases have been a sad necessity due to worldwide situation, not a TF-exclusive thing
-Legacy Menasor has Combiner Wars-compatible ports ONLY in his legs, are designed to facilitate that but not there exclusively for that so connection may be loose
-Jhiaxus was Mark's idea since he's a huge fan of the character (he owns and showed original comic art of Jhiaxus), he had worked on T30 Jhiaxus but wasn't allowed to do the original colors since the orange was pushed by higher-ups
-Mark apparently brings up Machine Wars every time the team has a brainstorming session
-Drill Bit was planned to come with Metroplex but was costed out early on, could be released as a Core later (since all the components he interacts with on Metroplex are still there)
-Metroplex has Airlock base ports (I think that had already been caught though)
-Every weapon in Legacy that was not part of a figure's OG design is meant to be used as build-your-own-weapon parts
-The bios accessible through the QR codes on the packaging are as short as they are due to translation costs
-In response to a question of Motormaster getting any retools: "something's cooking"
-Tarantulas uses the same gun as Blackarachnia, zero shared parts otherwise
-Menasor has the blasters from Masquerade molded into his arm
-A box set for Menasor is still on the table

Emerje wrote:I think they meant Nemesis without the Prime, as in the Decepticon ship which showed up again on Metroplex's box, but probably just to show that the Decepticons traveled to a different planet.

Emerje

And/or they meant Prime Nemesis/the Aligned continuity Nemesis specifically and just typed the 2 words in the wrong order.

In other news, I found Iguanus and Bulkhead today!

Nemesis Primal wrote:and some of the non-G1 characters are out-selling some of the G1 guys

That would be fascinating if true. I'd like to see how Hasbro came to this conclusion. Hasbro ships entire cases to retailers, which have a variety of product, It stands to reason the only way Hasbro could make this assumption is by looking at the sales form their own website. I mean its not like Target and Walmart can order a whole cases of Bulkhead, or Prime Arcee, etc.

But just looking at Hasbro Pulse...

4 characters (Skids, Kickback, Dragstrip, and Wild Rider) are the only ones sold out, all OG characters... Unless fewer of these specific toys were made available on Pulse to begin with, the above statement doesn't seem to be accurate.

METROPLEX

The Alt Mode is simply ugly, far from the original machine it's insipred to.

It's hard to believe it needs more than 50steps to convert: the parts of the robot are clearly visible in that sort of machine.

Maybe it's full of gimmicks to be discovered further.

o.supreme wrote:

Nemesis Primal wrote:and some of the non-G1 characters are out-selling some of the G1 guys

That would be fascinating if true. I'd like to see how Hasbro came to this conclusion. Hasbro ships entire cases to retailers, which have a variety of product, It stands to reason the only way Hasbro could make this assumption is by looking at the sales form their own website. I mean its not like Target and Walmart can order a whole cases of Bulkhead, or Prime Arcee, etc.

But just looking at Hasbro Pulse...

4 characters (Skids, Kickback, Dragstrip, and Wild Rider) are the only ones sold out, all OG characters... Unless fewer of these specific toys were made available on Pulse to begin with, the above statement doesn't seem to be accurate.

I can believe it to be fair, also it wouldn't make any sense to lie about it. If the opposite were true, they would be touting the strength of the G1 theme and its lasting appeal.

The robot mode on Metroplex looks pretty good, but I'm not keen on either the "Welding" mode or the vehicle. I find it weird how the scooping arm of the excavator is really short and there's a load of folded up robot mode kibble just below it that would restrict its movement even more, and the whole thing doesn't look at all functional.
It looks as if they haven't really built upon or improved the original Cybertron Metroplex, they've just made it bigger and more expensive. Not to mention there's no Drillbit and no Cyber Planet Key, so this new Metroplex ends up with fewer features than the original. It's still on my maybe pile because I'd like to have at least the majority of non-G1 characters from Legacy, but I did buy The Ark a few months ago so I'm not sure if I really need another Titan.

Munkky wrote:The robot mode on Metroplex looks pretty good, but I'm not keen on either the "Welding" mode or the vehicle. I find it weird how the scooping arm of the excavator is really short and there's a load of folded up robot mode kibble just below it that would restrict its movement even more, and the whole thing doesn't look at all functional.
It looks as if they haven't really built upon or improved the original Cybertron Metroplex, they've just made it bigger and more expensive. Not to mention there's no Drillbit and no Cyber Planet Key, so this new Metroplex ends up with fewer features than the original. It's still on my maybe pile because I'd like to have at least the majority of non-G1 characters from Legacy, but I did buy The Ark a few months ago so I'm not sure if I really need another Titan.

They confirmed that drill bit was considered and planned for but was costed out (I.e. it wouldn't have been cost effective for hasbro.) We may get Core Class Drill Bit later on.

ZeroWolf wrote:

Munkky wrote:The robot mode on Metroplex looks pretty good, but I'm not keen on either the "Welding" mode or the vehicle. I find it weird how the scooping arm of the excavator is really short and there's a load of folded up robot mode kibble just below it that would restrict its movement even more, and the whole thing doesn't look at all functional.
It looks as if they haven't really built upon or improved the original Cybertron Metroplex, they've just made it bigger and more expensive. Not to mention there's no Drillbit and no Cyber Planet Key, so this new Metroplex ends up with fewer features than the original. It's still on my maybe pile because I'd like to have at least the majority of non-G1 characters from Legacy, but I did buy The Ark a few months ago so I'm not sure if I really need another Titan.

They confirmed that drill bit was considered and planned for but was costed out (I.e. it wouldn't have been cost effective for hasbro.) We may get Core Class Drill Bit later on.

I do wonder what led Hasbro to make that decision. It means Metroplex is the first non-Combiner Titan to not come with a little extra figure, even Predaking had a Prime Master. I'm also sad that the Gigantion Planet Key wasn't kept, seeing as we're getting Override as well in Legacy, it would've been nice if we had Scourge and Evac get new toys as well and they had their own Planet Keys, then maybe a Vector Prime with the Omega Lock. Maybe incorporate the Omega Lock into the overarching Multiverse story in Legacy.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Emerje wrote:I think they meant Nemesis without the Prime, as in the Decepticon ship which showed up again on Metroplex's box, but probably just to show that the Decepticons traveled to a different planet.

Emerje

Ah.

Now that makes sense.

If they really do it, I'd be way more into that than Cybertron Metroplex. The Ark needs it's rival and I do hope such a Nemesis will also include a deluxe bot. Why not a transformable throne? It would be cool and hilarious at the same time.

I'm hoping some day we'll get Universe Nemesis Prime again (aka Big (black) Convoy). I'd be down for a commander class (bulk) update with new articulation and a bigger size (even if the original toy is technically in-scale with the MP Leo Convoy).

Nemesis Primal wrote:-Jhiaxus was Mark's idea since he's a huge fan of the character (he owns and showed original comic art of Jhiaxus), he had worked on T30 Jhiaxus but wasn't allowed to do the original colors since the orange was pushed by higher-ups

This is quite different from the story we heard before, and more convincing. The previous story was that the design team wasn't that familiar with the character so when they were hunting for references they realized they had done the character before and thought orange was the right color. That story was full of holes like why did he have a fairly accurate G2 head and some body parts rather than being a fairly straightforward Armada 'Screamer repaint with a Jetstorm style head? The idea that they did everything they could with the sculpt only for someone higher up saying it had to be in Universe colors because that was their only reference makes a whole lot more sense.

Unrelated, I think I know what would make for a really good shared engineering partner for Tarantulas.




Think about, the bot arms and legs are in the same spot, in bot mode the backpack sits basically the same way. Maybe they'd have to rework the spider legs off the arms and maybe modify the torso so the spider doesn't have back boobs plus the shoulder pads would be gone (they were pretty cumbersome anyway), but I think it'd be a good choice. I don't think TM2 Blackarachnia needs to be a Voyager, but at the larger Tarantulas size she'd be ideal.

Emerje

Thankfully I got an e-mail from Hasbro Pulse UK today saying my pre-order for Arcee has been moved up from July to 9th June, so it won't be much longer to wait for her. Of course she and the rest of Wave 1 could just randomly appear at Smyths Toys or The Entertainer some time between now and June and when they do Hasbro Pulse won't let me cancel the pre-order because it'll be too close to the shipping date, but at least I'm getting my Arcee soon.

Munkky wrote:Thankfully I got an e-mail from Hasbro Pulse UK today saying my pre-order for Arcee has been moved up from July to 9th June, so it won't be much longer to wait for her. Of course she and the rest of Wave 1 could just randomly appear at Smyths Toys or The Entertainer some time between now and June and when they do Hasbro Pulse won't let me cancel the pre-order because it'll be too close to the shipping date, but at least I'm getting my Arcee soon.

Huh? In the US you can ALWAYS cancel a preorder.

sol magnus wrote:

Munkky wrote:Thankfully I got an e-mail from Hasbro Pulse UK today saying my pre-order for Arcee has been moved up from July to 9th June, so it won't be much longer to wait for her. Of course she and the rest of Wave 1 could just randomly appear at Smyths Toys or The Entertainer some time between now and June and when they do Hasbro Pulse won't let me cancel the pre-order because it'll be too close to the shipping date, but at least I'm getting my Arcee soon.

Huh? In the US you can ALWAYS cancel a preorder.

Pulse UK has this thing where you can't cancel a pre-order or change the shipping address if the shipping date is only a few days away. I ran into this problem with Bulkhead, first the shipping date was July, then it was moved up and up, until eventually it was shipped in late February, mere days before I was due to move house. I tried to cancel, it wouldn't let me, then I tried changing the address, and it wouldn't let me do that either. Perhaps they've changed it since then, I'm not sure, but it's one of the reasons why I don't like the scheduled pre-order shipping dates for Legacy being set so far out, anything can happen in eight or nine months.

To my mind, Legacy Metroplex even has an unfortunate name. He's not a city-former, or even a base-former. He has 2 robot modes, and one vehicle mode. And a construction vehicle at that - albeit a very large one. I know they had their reasons for the name shift when it was carried over from Japan, but he should have been named "Dig-a-tron", or "Earthquake" or something. Metroplex implies that he's supposed to be a city - or at least a subdivision.

sol magnus wrote:

Munkky wrote:Thankfully I got an e-mail from Hasbro Pulse UK today saying my pre-order for Arcee has been moved up from July to 9th June, so it won't be much longer to wait for her. Of course she and the rest of Wave 1 could just randomly appear at Smyths Toys or The Entertainer some time between now and June and when they do Hasbro Pulse won't let me cancel the pre-order because it'll be too close to the shipping date, but at least I'm getting my Arcee soon.

Huh? In the US you can ALWAYS cancel a preorder.

I was unable to cancel a pre-order on the Pulse US website and app that was due to ship but had not yet. In that case, I don't think it had been charged. I did not raise with customer service, though, as I was able to return the other copy to the retail store.

Emerje wrote:Unrelated, I think I know what would make for a really good shared engineering partner for Tarantulas.




Think about, the bot arms and legs are in the same spot, in bot mode the backpack sits basically the same way. Maybe they'd have to rework the spider legs off the arms and maybe modify the torso so the spider doesn't have back boobs plus the shoulder pads would be gone (they were pretty cumbersome anyway), but I think it'd be a good choice. I don't think TM2 Blackarachnia needs to be a Voyager, but at the larger Tarantulas size she'd be ideal.

Emerje

I can see it. Blackarachnia was one of the few that didn't really get bigger when they were upgraded so you're right in that she wouldn't need to go up a size class. And it's not like I didn't come up with worse mold reuses a several pages back. I just kind of ignored the Transmetals when making my list. As for the shoulder pads, I'm pretty sure the character model had tiny ones anyway (especially when compared to the toy) so they could just be molded onto the shoulders themselves.

I feel like I'd rather a TM2 BA hewed closer to the toy than the show model honestly. The show model was tiny and not particularly interesting, whilst the toy, flawed though it was, looked awesome with its Gigery sculpting, enormous Qubeley esque shoulder binders, monstrously cool spider mode and sheer size. Like we don't get a lot of large female characters, and I'd 100% be down for a Voyager sized giant spider fembot.

DeathReviews wrote:To my mind, Legacy Metroplex even has an unfortunate name. He's not a city-former, or even a base-former. He has 2 robot modes, and one vehicle mode. And a construction vehicle at that - albeit a very large one. I know they had their reasons for the name shift when it was carried over from Japan, but he should have been named "Dig-a-tron", or "Earthquake" or something. Metroplex implies that he's supposed to be a city - or at least a subdivision.

I think it perfectly fits for the leader of a planet that's a massive, ever-expanding city.

Anyway, I finally have time to properly go through these last news, so here's a quick rundown of my first impressions:

- Elita-1: at least it actually transforms so it's already much better than the last Arcee remold. Robot mode looks accurate enought, even if I can see the obvious Minerva pretool. Given they only had the front of the vehicle mode as reference, I think they did a good job at designing a full model.
- Tarantulas: looks great, and adding the Transmetal buzzsaw (without removing the original weapon, thank you Cheetor ) is a nice touch. The hands/mandibles being so pronounced in beast mode looks a little odd, though; were they like that in the cartoon?
- Prime Knock Out: *sigh* this is why I don't like the G1-ifying of other universes' designs; it takes most of the personality and identity of the original. At least it mostly looks like Knock Out in both modes (especially in car mode), unlike Bulkhead.
- G2 Jhiaxus: YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!
- Soundwave reissue: eh, I already have Siege and I wasn't as bothered by the battle damage paint as everyone else seems to be, so pass.
- Blitzwing: robot mode is okay, and I actually welcome the Hulk hands; vehicle modes seem way too accurate to the cartoon, especially on the goofs (did you really have to copy the protuding cockpit in tank mode?), but aren't a strong enough deterrent for me.
- Motormaster/Wild Rider/Menasor: as I said before, I could see this combination style working for a new character, or a new continuity's version of Menasor. My main hang-up is sacrificing a far more interesting gimmick of the original design (interchangeable limbs) for what's basically accuracy to a glorified animation error. Still, the engineering and play features seems solid and very fun, and the CW compatibility (even if it's just for the legs) is promising. Not sure if it'll justify replacing my current CW version (which I'm still building, because 5/6ths of the team never shipped to Portugal), but it raised my interest.
- Cybertron Metroplex: I actually like this one. The robot and vehicle modes are very accurate, it has cool features, and the "brute mode" is a good example of deviating from the original design, since it improves on a lackluster feature. Still, I don't really care much for scale (I actually find it rather limiting, since it prevents really large or really small characters from being considered), it doesn't have Drill Bit (yet, probably, maybe) nor a Cyber Planet Key, and the Sparkdrinker doesn't seem to split into axe mode, so I'll probably stick to the original anyway.
- Possible BW Inferno: YESYESYESYESYESYESYES!!

sol magnus wrote:

Munkky wrote:Thankfully I got an e-mail from Hasbro Pulse UK today saying my pre-order for Arcee has been moved up from July to 9th June, so it won't be much longer to wait for her. Of course she and the rest of Wave 1 could just randomly appear at Smyths Toys or The Entertainer some time between now and June and when they do Hasbro Pulse won't let me cancel the pre-order because it'll be too close to the shipping date, but at least I'm getting my Arcee soon.

Huh? In the US you can ALWAYS cancel a preorder.

Depends where even for Americans.

At Amazon.JP, pass a certain delay the preorder cannot be cancelled.

william-james88 wrote:

MeGrimlock78 wrote: I get they want to release a yearly Titan, and after Scorponok were out of G1 options

As far as G1 options go, they never released an actual G1 Metroplex. The one we got initially was of the game design. A titan class G1 styled Metroplex would sell fairly well I reckon.

This couldn't be more false. T30 Metroplex wasn't even remotely Fall of Cybertrony. The only influence from the game was the voice clip and face. Otherwise, not even close. It's like saying CW Motormaster was a War for Cybertron video game character toy. We still need a FOC Metroplex.

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I want a Nemesis to go with the Ark.

They can do more G1 if they went stupid with it and made every early season combiner a titan to match with Devy.

Please no. If anything, we next would need a smaller better Predaking and a Leader Fort Max and Scorponok to match every other piece of media outside of the G1 cartoon.

Evil Eye wrote:I'll be real, I'd rather we got characters from other continuities (like this Metroplex) before obscure 90s Euro-only literal whos. I like literal whos and all, but it's about time we got some UT representation.

Now I just want a Cybertron Menasor to go with him...

I will mostly agree with this. I want to complete the autobot Targetmasters, have actual powermasters, and complete the Wreckers lineup, but i do welcome material beyond the 80's full time. It's time we let that era rest for a bit.

primalxconvoy wrote:

Gauntlet101010 wrote:I mean ... I just think Grandus has a boring design and does nothing in the fiction on top of that.

The same kinda deal as a deluxe? Yeah, okay. As a titan? Hard pass.

I suppose it's a matter of "rank". Grandus is G1 and hasn't had a re-vamped release yet, and it's thus more eligible than something as "ugly" and "irrelevant" as Galaxy Force Metroplex to some people.

Being G1 doesn't automatically make something "more eligible". The fact that on the fan council yesterday they said the non-g1 guys were outselling many of the G1 guys in Legacy is proof of that.

Plus, Cybertron Metroplex was a main character towards the latter half of Cybertron. He is actually important, and in fact may have more fiction and more importance and development than G1 Metroplex did in the 80's cartoon. Just because the ~40 year olds think it is "ugly" and "irrelevant" doesn't mean it is to everyone. Some of us folks in our 20's are utterly stoked that the 2000's are finally getting that break through.

Generations has an "s", plural. the G1 elitist attitude of many members of the fandom has been a significant turnoff for me in the past 2 years. This is one example.

I for one am so very excited for Metroplex. while it is unfortunate that he times out at a time of large price increases, I will get him, and hopefully he is a sign that more non-G1 titans are coming. We certainly have a few to choose from:

Beast Wars Majin Zarak
Armada Tidal Wave (while the game is second to the cartoon, for many people like yours truly, titan
Tidal Wave is the one that we remember)
Cybertron Primus
Animated Omega Supreme
DotM Driller
TLK Dragonstorm with more Knights to combine?
FOC Metroplex
Rescue Bots High Tide
Rescue Bots Academy Citadel Secundus
Cyberverse Iaconus
Cyberverse Croaton
IDW Lodestar

Ok i'm calling shenanigans regarding Wave 1 G1 vs Non-G1 for Legacy

Core
Skywarp - G1
Hot Rod - G1
Iguanus - G1

...Literally zero out selling here

Deluxe
Skids - G1
Dragstrip - G1
Kickback - G1
Arcee - Prime

ok this one might be true...Skids no been done in 100 years but he's not the most popular character and other prefer the previous version, Dragstrip ok folk might be sticking with their CW/UW version, Kickback again folks might be sticking with the previous version but he's not been done in the G1 style in deluxe before...
Arcee is a Prime fan favourite but hasn't been to everyone liking.

Voyager
Blaster & Eject - G1
Bulkhead - Prime

ok this one is pretty easy to figure out Blaster was already released exactly the same a few month earlier literally no reason for stores, fans or parents to buy the legacy version.
Bulkhead again pretty divisive but different enough.

Leader
Galvatron - G1
Laser Optimus Prime - G2

Galvatron was literally released not few months before i can't see many bothered about the little bits of paint that were removed for the legacy version. LOP 100% believable as this one of the most popular OPs in fandom.

Coptur wrote:Ok i'm calling shenanigans regarding Wave 1 G1 vs Non-G1 for Legacy

Core
Skywarp - G1
Hot Rod - G1
Iguanus - G1

...Literally zero out selling here

Deluxe
Skids - G1
Dragstrip - G1
Kickback - G1
Arcee - Prime

ok this one might be true...Skids no been done in 100 years but he's not the most popular character and other prefer the previous version, Dragstrip ok folk might be sticking with their CW/UW version, Kickback again folks might be sticking with the previous version but he's not been done in the G1 style in deluxe before...
Arcee is a Prime fan favourite but hasn't been to everyone liking.

Voyager
Blaster & Eject - G1
Bulkhead - Prime

ok this one is pretty easy to figure out Blaster was already released exactly the same a few month earlier literally no reason for stores, fans or parents to buy the legacy version.
Bulkhead again pretty divisive but different enough.

Leader
Galvatron - G1
Laser Optimus Prime - G2

Galvatron was literally released not few months before i can't see many bothered about the little bits of paint that were removed for the legacy version. LOP 100% believable as this one of the most popular OPs in fandom.

They might count Iguanus because he's late G1 and had so little fiction outside of Marvel comics where he was overshadowed by other cons of the time (*cough* Bludgeon *cough*)