The Energon Pub

Never heard of Thindertron until now. Based on his TF wiki entry, I'm guessing this will be a repaint/retool of Legacy Evolution Lio Convoy?

Overcracker wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Overcracker wrote:LDR Prime is almost certainly the Armada Prime the teased in the Legacy poster.

These listings are for 2024. Armada Prime is 2023. And Commander class.

Ahh, my mistake. Good to know.


So two more Primes in 2024, in that case what other Prime are we expecting the Leader figure to be>

It's apparently a rerelease of the current G2 Laser Optimus figure since it's labeled as "Legacy EV" (like the current Legacy figures) instead of "Legacy UNI" (like the 2024 ones in this list).

o.supreme wrote:Never heard of Thindertron until now. Based on his TF wiki entry, I'm guessing this will be a repaint/retool of Legacy Evolution Lio Convoy?

If it's extensively retooled, maybe, but the two designs don't look very similar at all. I'm betting on a new mold.

SpaceEagle wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Never heard of Thindertron until now. Based on his TF wiki entry, I'm guessing this will be a repaint/retool of Legacy Evolution Lio Convoy?

If it's extensively retooled, maybe, but the two designs don't look very similar at all. I'm betting on a new mold.

On the other hand, Takara did use Thundertron's original mold for Lio Convoy.

Im not going to be liking paying leader price for a voyager sandstorm but always chance he will be totally skippable like astrotrain and Blitzwing.

I'll probably go for g2 grimlock, too expensive for me to double dip on the fanstoys even if Hasbros dinos are too small for me. Animated primes likely skippable due to third party but at least 2924 is looking like a good range of characters.

Sabrblade wrote:

SpaceEagle wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Never heard of Thindertron until now. Based on his TF wiki entry, I'm guessing this will be a repaint/retool of Legacy Evolution Lio Convoy?

If it's extensively retooled, maybe, but the two designs don't look very similar at all. I'm betting on a new mold.

On the other hand, Takara did use Thundertron's original mold for Lio Convoy.

You're not wrong, but I just think Prime fans need at least one bone thrown their way!

Razorbeast88 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Overcracker wrote:Sandstorm poses a question. Would he be a retool of Springer, or a new mold?

New mold, since this one is a leader figure

Retool of Springer like t30 wouldve been a bummer
Excited to see a new mold for Sandstorm, I hope the buggy mode looks good

So this actually gives me a bit of flex to share some news I had learned earlier this week related to the T30 Springer/Sandstorm.

Nick Roche spilled earlier this week that he was working with Hasbro at the time, and he was the one who provided the drawing sketches for Sandstorm's design. I'm including that picture below. They actually used his Sandstorm design for the toy, and then proceeded to backwards retool Springer out of Sandstorm.

That's right folks: Sandstorm was actually the original, and Springer was "pre-tooled" out of him. Now mind you Nick did not design the toy, but as you can see below, they certainly did a toy that matches his art work. He did not provide them with Springer art, as he clarified in further comments on his post. He only provided Sandstorm, and Hasbro themselves pulled Springer out of it as a retool.

T30 Sandstorm is excellent. It's great retool of a pretty decent figure already. The massive wheels / v-tol engines are just a ton of fun.


It would not surprise me if it's still a retool of Springer with more accessories to make up the price. There's no real reason to make him a Leader when Springer is just a Voyager.

Agreed - T30 Sandstorm is still among some my favorite recent figures. The buggy mode tires raise an eyebrow, but the robot mode looks good, and the hovercraft mode is great. I thought the G1 sandstorm figure suffered from lazy engineering, like many of the later-era G1 figures.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:So this actually gives me a bit of flex to share some news I had learned earlier this week related to the T30 Springer/Sandstorm.

Nick Roche spilled earlier this week that he was working with Hasbro at the time, and he was the one who provided the drawing sketches for Sandstorm's design. I'm including that picture below. They actually used his Sandstorm design for the toy, and then proceeded to backwards retool Springer out of Sandstorm.

That's right folks: Sandstorm was actually the original, and Springer was "pre-tooled" out of him.

From David "Walky" Willis on the TFWiki Discord:

According to Joe Kyde... Springer was already in motion when Kyde got Roche's Sandstorm art, and he liked it so much that he tried to get both designs from one toy. So Springer is still the original. But was altered due to the influence of Nick Roche's Sandstorm entry.



From Roche's vantage point, he's kind of right -- he made a Sandstorm and that Sandstorm affected a Springer -- but from a larger vantage point, Springer was developed first.



Kyde says Sandstorm was the ship's pilot.

SpaceEagle wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Overcracker wrote:
Sandstorm poses a question. Would he be a retool of Springer, or a new mold?

New mold, since this one is a leader figure

LEADER?
Why?

Anyway, you got my attention.

Probably to utilise the leader budget for a more complex transformation, much like what was done with Blitzwing by making him leader.

(People weren't too satisfied with the results, myself not included, but I feel like Sandstorm will probably be better. At the very least his animation model didn't misinterpret his modes like Blitzwing's did.)

Springer was better than I thought and the design was slavishly based on the G1 toy and it worked. G1 Sandstorm is no more complicated than Springer but if they base the Legacy toy on the toon model, this may warrant the extra budget to make a "mini MP".

I just hope it will not be a "voyager" with some useless accessories like Blitzwing's boxing gloves to justify the leader price.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

SpaceEagle wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Overcracker wrote:
Sandstorm poses a question. Would he be a retool of Springer, or a new mold?

New mold, since this one is a leader figure

LEADER?
Why?

Anyway, you got my attention.

Probably to utilise the leader budget for a more complex transformation, much like what was done with Blitzwing by making him leader.

(People weren't too satisfied with the results, myself not included, but I feel like Sandstorm will probably be better. At the very least his animation model didn't misinterpret his modes like Blitzwing's did.)

Springer was better than I thought and the design was slavishly based on the G1 toy and it worked. G1 Sandstorm is no more complicated than Springer but if they base the Legacy toy on the toon model, this may warrant the extra budget to make a "mini MP".

I just hope it will not be a "voyager" with some useless accessories like Blitzwing's boxing gloves to justify the leader price.

I dig how the Energon fists look in tank mode, but I still find them to be an incredibly odd inclusion. Really does feel like it's there solely to justify the price. The fact they look like the hands of old Energon combiners adds a lot to the "They're not really here for Blitzy, are they." vibe and makes the inclusion even more dubious.
But seeing that they pretty quickly dropped the Energon weapons for Evolution probably means Sandstorm might not get something like that. Might.

I would guess that Thundertron will be a repaint of Leo Prime with a new head.

-Kanrabat- wrote:I ham, however, interested in how Legacy will re-interpret the character. Will it be just a pretool with an out of place head like Legacy Bulkhead, or will it be a so absurd-but-awesome new mold like Jhiaxus?

You know, we keep calling Bulkhead a pretool, but we're already looking ahead to 2024 and we've yet to see that mold used again outside of a repaint that was still Bulkhead. I think we need to accept that this was who they always intended the mold to be and the design team simply missed the mark.

Emerje

Overcracker wrote:So two more Primes in 2024, in that case what other Prime are we expecting the Leader figure to be?

We are expecting a reissue of a previous leader prime (there are a bunch of options for that).

SpaceEagle wrote:I would find it really funny if they decided to bring back TransTech, maybe finally fulfil what couldn't have been done years ago.

I will always want a Transtech depthcharge

-Kanrabat- wrote:LEADER?
Why?

Same reasons Blitzwing was leader class/price.

o.supreme wrote:Never heard of Thindertron until now. Based on his TF wiki entry, I'm guessing this will be a repaint/retool of Legacy Evolution Lio Convoy?

I feel confident that it will be a new mold. He's very different from Lio Convoy in both modes, with a really unique look. And he has his own multiple redecos (including Cybertron Overhaul).

william-james88 wrote:And he has his own multiple redecos (including Cybertron Overhaul).

Wait, what?

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:And he has his own multiple redecos (including Cybertron Overhaul).

Wait, what?

Leobreaker anyway. I can see it, but I also don't see the point unless they do Cybertron Prime again and make the two combinable.

Emerje

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:And he has his own multiple redecos (including Cybertron Overhaul).

Wait, what?

Yeah, if you look at the 2 modes of Overhaul's evolved lion form it fits with Thundertron. Would be an easy redeco.

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:And he has his own multiple redecos (including Cybertron Overhaul).

Wait, what?

Leobreaker anyway. I can see it, but I also don't see the point unless they do Cybertron Prime again and make the two combinable.

Emerje

It would be a new leobreaker to go with our other new cybertron figures. And leader Cybertron Prime wasn't made to connect with an upcoming leobreaker or wingsaber, so this one wouldnt connect either. I could easily see him in a 4 pack of sorts.

Emerje wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I ham, however, interested in how Legacy will re-interpret the character. Will it be just a pretool with an out of place head like Legacy Bulkhead, or will it be a so absurd-but-awesome new mold like Jhiaxus?

You know, we keep calling Bulkhead a pretool, but we're already looking ahead to 2024 and we've yet to see that mold used again outside of a repaint that was still Bulkhead. I think we need to accept that this was who they always intended the mold to be and the design team simply missed the mark.

Emerje

Legacy Bulkhead SCREAM "pretool" but indeed it is odd that the "obvious" repaint with a different head still hasn't happened yet, nor is being announced.

If they never make a new character out of that mold, I'll be really surprised.

I'm looking forward to seeing Animated OP, Sandstorm and BW Silverbolt in Legacy style.

PRIME is a commercial and scenaristic failure,that's the reason they do batardized versions "how do you convince investors to celebrate this failure",the presumed retool was maybe an argument i imagine.

I have the Thundertron figure and i feel lucky like it was leftovers sold in England and north of France,the saber is ruined by a mecanism,probably can be modified.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Emerje wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I ham, however, interested in how Legacy will re-interpret the character. Will it be just a pretool with an out of place head like Legacy Bulkhead, or will it be a so absurd-but-awesome new mold like Jhiaxus?

You know, we keep calling Bulkhead a pretool, but we're already looking ahead to 2024 and we've yet to see that mold used again outside of a repaint that was still Bulkhead. I think we need to accept that this was who they always intended the mold to be and the design team simply missed the mark.

Emerje

Legacy Bulkhead SCREAM "pretool" but indeed it is odd that the "obvious" repaint with a different head still hasn't happened yet, nor is being announced.

If they never make a new character out of that mold, I'll be really surprised.

Also super bizarre that the alt mode for ROTB Optimus Prime in the kid lines happens to be extreamly similar to Legacy Bulkhead's. It's one hell of a design coincidence.
FYI, Bulkhead was rumoured to be the same mold used for the Optimus toy based on the video game that would have been out, so there's that too.

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:And he has his own multiple redecos (including Cybertron Overhaul).

Wait, what?

Leobreaker anyway. I can see it, but I also don't see the point unless they do Cybertron Prime again and make the two combinable.

Emerje

It would be a new leobreaker to go with our other new cybertron figures. And leader Cybertron Prime wasn't made to connect with an upcoming leobreaker or wingsaber, so this one wouldnt connect either. I could easily see him in a 4 pack of sorts.

But again, what's the point? That would just make him another non-combining combiner and I thought we were done with that? I'd be very disappointed in a Leobreaker that couldn't be connected to Prime. I'd rather not have Leobreaker at all if the alternative is a repaint that isn't up to the character's full potential.

Emerje

Sabrblade wrote:

Overcracker wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Overcracker wrote:LDR Prime is almost certainly the Armada Prime the teased in the Legacy poster.

These listings are for 2024. Armada Prime is 2023. And Commander class.

Ahh, my mistake. Good to know.


So two more Primes in 2024, in that case what other Prime are we expecting the Leader figure to be>

It's apparently a rerelease of the current G2 Laser Optimus figure since it's labeled as "Legacy EV" (like the current Legacy figures) instead of "Legacy UNI" (like the 2024 ones in this list).

Ahh, that makes sense. Odd that it doesn't have the "PR" identifier anywhere though.


As for Sandstorm, yeah I'm expecting Blitzwing Leader class shenanigans with him. Do we get Energon Feet with him to go with the Energon hands?

I'm pretty sure those hands had an additional purpose even of it may be scrapped now for whatever reason.