The Energon Pub

chuckdawg1999 wrote:It does suffer from the lack of Jolt, it just feels like something is missing.

Better than suffering from compromised designs were Jolt included. Look at Pointblank.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:It does suffer from the lack of Jolt, it just feels like something is missing.

Better than suffering from compromised designs were Jolt included. Look at Pointblank.

What's wrong with Pointblank?

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:It does suffer from the lack of Jolt, it just feels like something is missing.

Better than suffering from compromised designs were Jolt included. Look at Pointblank.

What's wrong with Pointblank?

Pointblank got lots of flack for being severely flawed. The fact that it could have been a voyager to be "complete", but was trimmed down to a deluxe didn't help. Lack of spoiler shield, barebone targetmaster, no panels to cover the back of the legs, limited articulations, lack of painted details, and so on.

By itself, it's not a bad toy. But it could have been much, much more.

Oh well, I'll just have to buy the upgrade kits. I already started with the legs panels. All that remain is the spoiler shield at the very least.

I forgot to mention, the new deluxe packaging is not what we were shown, the figure is not 95% covered by the tray, and it sits like the core and voyager class figures do with the paper ties.

I finally saw a Legacy Blitzwing in the wild last night at Walmart…
Just 1.

Although I don’t think this means anything in terms of improving distribution…
I went to a Target that I normally don’t go to and it literally had 5 different TF’s on all pegs and shelves, 7 TOTAL:

1 SS86 Kup
1 SS86 SS
1 Cyberverse Snarl
1 Cyberverse Wheeljack (1 step changer?)
3 Cyberverse 3 pks of OP, Bee, and Cheetor

And yes, I checked end caps, looked for extra aisles of clearance toys…
Just so pathetic…

Sowndwave76 wrote:I finally saw a Legacy Blitzwing in the wild last night at Walmart…
Just 1.

Although I don’t think this means anything in terms of improving distribution…
I went to a Target that I normally don’t go to and it literally had 5 different TF’s on all pegs and shelves, 7 TOTAL:

1 SS86 Kup
1 SS86 SS
1 Cyberverse Snarl
1 Cyberverse Wheeljack (1 step changer?)
3 Cyberverse 3 pks of OP, Bee, and Cheetor

And yes, I checked end caps, looked for extra aisles of clearance toys…
Just so pathetic…

Christmas was three weeks ago, toy sections have been wiped out all over the place. What do you expect?

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:I finally saw a Legacy Blitzwing in the wild last night at Walmart…
Just 1.

Although I don’t think this means anything in terms of improving distribution…
I went to a Target that I normally don’t go to and it literally had 5 different TF’s on all pegs and shelves, 7 TOTAL:

1 SS86 Kup
1 SS86 SS
1 Cyberverse Snarl
1 Cyberverse Wheeljack (1 step changer?)
3 Cyberverse 3 pks of OP, Bee, and Cheetor

And yes, I checked end caps, looked for extra aisles of clearance toys…
Just so pathetic…

Christmas was three weeks ago, toy sections have been wiped out all over the place. What do you expect?

Target is starting to do their clearance and reset of the whole toy section. This is basically the worst time of year to expect something, but may be turned around quite quickly once each store resets. Its just a guessing game on what that will be for your particular store.

Also being down to 1 SS86 Kup is a good thing, that was one of the more consistent peg warmers. My store still has 4.

So, I kinda got a brainstorm to propose for Legacy, related to G2.

My proposition is to give us a G1 Landfill as a double targetmaster, to go with Scoop from T30 as a Targetmaster. Obviously a Quickmix would be needed to, but he is not essential to what I am about to propose. A new Scoop also wouldn't be a terrible idea either, to be discussed again below.

Now, once we have Landfill, we need a G2 repaint with a new head as Dirtbag, to go with the Adventure Roadblock that was repainted from Scoop. Alternatively, if a new Scoop was done too, they could design him to be reversed at the torso to have the proper Roadblock chest and also allow him to have the proper head design.

Both Landfill and a reversed Scoop torso would be accurate to the G2 designs. Thus, we could get 2/3 of the Autobot double targetmasters, and we could get the 2 G2 Autorollers out of the deal too.

And there would be further alternative repaint options, chief among them giving us a new Autocrusher and Autostinger to go with the Beast wars II figures coming out lately, which might also lead to new figures of Autojetter and Autolauncher and thus repaints of them as the unreleased G2 versions of those 2 characters. And then there is also the G2 General Optimus and Sargent Hound as well.

In short, lots of fun!

AcademyofDrX wrote:Christmas was three weeks ago, toy sections have been wiped out all over the place. What do you expect?

Doesn't help explain much when they have looked like that all year long though. At least everyone I've ever been to.

Till-all-R1 wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:Christmas was three weeks ago, toy sections have been wiped out all over the place. What do you expect?

Doesn't help explain much when they have looked like that all year long though. At least everyone I've ever been to.

I'm not sure what the OP was, but in my area, Target at least had some Legacy Wave 2, and the most recent SS. They have also cleared most inventory out for a new years reset. Whereas Walmart never got anything beyond Legacy Wave 1, and the Beast Wave. Also tons of Velocitron deluxes, and SSBB Arcee/Ironhide clogging up pegs. Even at clearance prices they aren't moving hardly at all. Not a good look for Walmart to be full of old product.

o.supreme wrote:

Till-all-R1 wrote:

AcademyofDrX wrote:Christmas was three weeks ago, toy sections have been wiped out all over the place. What do you expect?

Doesn't help explain much when they have looked like that all year long though. At least everyone I've ever been to.

I'm not sure what the OP was, but in my area, Target at least had some Legacy Wave 2, and the most recent SS. They have also cleared most inventory out for a new years reset. Whereas Walmart never got anything beyond Legacy Wave 1, and the Beast Wave. Also tons of Velocitron deluxes, and SSBB Arcee/Ironhide clogging up pegs. Even at clearance prices they aren't moving hardly at all. Not a good look for Walmart to be full of old product.

Which most recent SS? Because I was told the deluxe class toys had not changed from 6 months ago. If you found crosshairs, that would be news

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:It does suffer from the lack of Jolt, it just feels like something is missing.

Better than suffering from compromised designs were Jolt included. Look at Pointblank.

What's wrong with Pointblank?

Pointblank got lots of flack for being severely flawed. The fact that it could have been a voyager to be "complete", but was trimmed down to a deluxe didn't help. Lack of spoiler shield, barebone targetmaster, no panels to cover the back of the legs, limited articulations, lack of painted details, and so on.

By itself, it's not a bad toy. But it could have been much, much more.

Designer Notes on Legacy Pointblank revealed that Peacemaker's inclusion forced some simplification for budget reasons:

Mark Maher wrote: This time around since I lead the design of this guy I thought it was essential to add in Peacemaker. I soon realized how cost challenging it was to include a target master at a Deluxe scale and pricepoint.

btw Wouldn't have been the first time an Armada Hot Shot toy was tweaked:


Armada Hot Shot original prototype on TFWiki.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Designer Notes on Legacy Pointblank revealed that Peacemaker's inclusion forced some simplification for budget reasons:

Mark Maher wrote: This time around since I lead the design of this guy I thought it was essential to add in Peacemaker. I soon realized how cost challenging it was to include a target master at a Deluxe scale and pricepoint.

More proof that PB should have been a voyager.

I didnt pick up Pointblank, mostly because I'm not attached to the character but I also just don't think it's a good toy. Voyager price point definitely wouldve helped, or having the targetmaster separate. The designers did what they could with what they had. Headsculpt should've been the other one tho

But along comes needlenose- a character I like and do what in my collection- and I think he looks great. Yes a simple figure, but the robot mode is much nicer than pointblanks. And the jet mode has undercarriage but so does every other jetformer ever lol. The targetmasters are static figures but I honestly prefer those over the giant bulky gun bots from siege. The gun modes were prioritized and im happy about that

D Max, I love your idea for the Autobot Double Targetmasters. We need more figures with not entirely obvious second uses for more obscure (especially G2) characters. I want updated G2 Cyberjets that go together, not the last round of updates they got from two movie figures and a massive Universe Ultra.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Designer Notes on Legacy Pointblank revealed that Peacemaker's inclusion forced some simplification for budget reasons:

Mark Maher wrote: This time around since I lead the design of this guy I thought it was essential to add in Peacemaker. I soon realized how cost challenging it was to include a target master at a Deluxe scale and pricepoint.

More proof that PB should have been a voyager.

And yet they doubledowned with Needlenose. They had four options with Pointblank: 1) Scrap the whole thing, 2) cut it down and release an inferior version of what they started with, 3) Start over and try again from scratch, 4) Go all in and build it up to a Voyager class. IMO they went with the second worst option.

Emerje

To their credit Amazon sent me a replacement Armada Hot Shot overnight. Anybody want a Hot Shot that's missing a part you'll only notice in car mode?

I received notification this morning that my two copies of Breakdown will be here tomorrow night by 10.
Which isn’t all that surprising; I figured if I didn’t see this guy in store before Christmas, I’d have him one way or another before the end of January.
What’s surprising is that I’ll have these before I have two copies of Dead End…
The one I snagged from my Target I’m almost positive was a return— the box-wear looked anything but case-fresh, & I’m pretty sure this store never received any wave 3 deluxes.
Repacked Core figures just showed up this past week.

Anyway, getting Breakdown tomorrow has me thinking stores around here will be getting in a lot more product within the next two weeks.

I got the same email about Breakdown and the last D&D Dicelings, new year same as the old year.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I got the same email about Breakdown and the last D&D Dicelings, new year same as the old year.

PM me when you get the dicelings. I'm considering and would love to hear your take on them!

Emerje wrote:D Max, I love your idea for the Autobot Double Targetmasters. We need more figures with not entirely obvious second uses for more obscure (especially G2) characters. I want updated G2 Cyberjets that go together, not the last round of updates they got from two movie figures and a massive Universe Ultra.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Designer Notes on Legacy Pointblank revealed that Peacemaker's inclusion forced some simplification for budget reasons:

Mark Maher wrote: This time around since I lead the design of this guy I thought it was essential to add in Peacemaker. I soon realized how cost challenging it was to include a target master at a Deluxe scale and pricepoint.

More proof that PB should have been a voyager.

And yet they doubledowned with Needlenose. They had four options with Pointblank: 1) Scrap the whole thing, 2) cut it down and release an inferior version of what they started with, 3) Start over and try again from scratch, 4) Go all in and build it up to a Voyager class. IMO they went with the second worst option.

Emerje

To comment on both aspects of this post:

More G2, as in G2 original characters, will be appreciated. I have truly come to appreciate how much fun they had in G2 with all the original stuff, and I would love to see more of it.

See, I like Pointblank, and looking at needlenose, they did him right on a deluxe scale even with a 2nd Targetmaster. I do not mind what they put out. If they had made him smaller, it may have helped offset a couple of more nitpick points, like the arm joints. But I still like him.

A voyager pointblank would have passed off fans to no end with all them condemning Hasblow for selling a deluxe at a voyager price point. That alone makes me glad pointblank was sold as a deluxe, compromised as he may be. Plus there are more deluxe slots than voyager slots for a given year.

They should have just kept Battle Masters going. That's the only way we could have gotten a decent Deluxe Pointblank by himself and a decent Peacemaker too.

Sabrblade wrote:They should have just kept Battle Masters going. That's the only way we could have gotten a decent Deluxe Pointblank by himself and a decent Peacemaker too.

They should have released the targetmasters at the same time as the battlemasters, the same year for the same theme. They already said that it's more about alt modes than character selection and all target masters have perfect alt modes to sell to kids.

Got Needlenose recently. I'm really liking him. Hopefully we'll get a new quake to finish the trio.

Congrats on the van Gough lego too!