The Energon Pub

william-james88 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:ok, so TAV Override doesn't exactly match up as well as I'd hoped for with Inferno, but he'll still be my choice of Legends for that eventual combiner (the one pictured isn't permanent). Besides, having wreck-gar's orange as a leg is going to make him way more off-putting, so color coordinating pretty much went out the door on this guy a long time ago.

That looks super good !

Thanks, it's my first pic from my personal collection IIRC

william-james88 wrote:Real question, if I make a top 5 POTP toys list, should I include these exclusives or not? Along with these 3 prime wars ones, there would be Nemesis Prime and Wreck Gar. So, regardless if these are worthy of a top 5 or not, should they be even considered or not?

I just looked at Repugnus packaging, which doesn't make things any better. It Advertises "Prime Wars", the entire Trilogy, showcases Titans Return (part 2 of the Trilogy), and PotP on the Side (part 3 of the Trilogy), so what is it? Who Knows? Does it Matter? Who cares right?

In any case, WJ, It's Your list, YOU set the rules.

Well, let me throw this out here: Punch is a top five figure for sure, but he is also an exclusove and has a different budget and purpose than the mainline POTP. So does he deserve to be in the running for best POTP Toy even though he is playing by fifferent rules than say Rippersnapper or a Dinobot?

Coming from Dengeki Hobby is a news article containing new stock photos for the Legends two pack LG-EX Repugs and Grotes! We first saw confirmation of this release here, and stock photos have finally surfaced!

For those who were hoping for better paint applications, we apologize, as these figures are identical to their Hasbro counterparts.

The article also has stock photos on the TakaraTomy Throne of the Primes and MP20+ Wheeljack, which were already reported on this site here and here respectively.

LG-EX Ribaku & Grotes

Price: 7,000 yen (excluding tax)
Scheduled to be released late January 2019
Eligible age 15 years and over
Publisher: Takara Tomy

7000 yen...hmm...that's awfully tempting, but then I would have to get a hold of the repungus titan master set as that head is a lot better then the one the toy wears.

First area Hun-Grr sighting at Shiloh, IL Target. They had Elita as well. Sadly, only other Terrorcon I've seen in stores around here has been Rippersnapper.

Urgh, I was really hoping it wouldn't be a two-pack. If I'd just not bought Amazon Repugnus then this would be perfect, but...! But now it's too late, Pug has already shipped, and I still have to try and work out a way to get Grotusque on his own.

Qwan wrote:Urgh, I was really hoping it wouldn't be a two-pack. If I'd just not bought Amazon Repugnus then this would be perfect, but...! But now it's too late, Pug has already shipped, and I still have to try and work out a way to get Grotusque on his own.

Sell your just obtained Repug and then buy the 2-pack?

There is one notable difference between these Legends versions and the Hasbro originals. The Legends two-pack lacks Titan Master Scorponok and Prime Master Special Edition Solus Prime.

ZeroWolf wrote:7000 yen...hmm...that's awfully tempting, but then I would have to get a hold of the repungus titan master set as that head is a lot better then the one the toy wears.

I dont think anyone outside Japan can possibly buy this for 7000 yen.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Qwan wrote:Urgh, I was really hoping it wouldn't be a two-pack. If I'd just not bought Amazon Repugnus then this would be perfect, but...! But now it's too late, Pug has already shipped, and I still have to try and work out a way to get Grotusque on his own.

Sell your just obtained Repug and then buy the 2-pack?

I think this might be the way to go. Hopefully people in Australia will be more interested in a reasonably-priced Repugnus since that's way harder to get here

william-james88 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:7000 yen...hmm...that's awfully tempting, but then I would have to get a hold of the repungus titan master set as that head is a lot better then the one the toy wears.

I dont think anyone outside Japan can possibly buy this for 7000 yen.

Anyone can buy it from Takara Tomy Mall at that price, it's the extra shipping costs through a shipping service that you can't avoid (shipping within Japan is free after 5,400JPY on TTM and tax is included with the price). But you'd have to pay shipping for anything you ordered from Japan so that's just an expected cost associated with buying from Japan. I intend to do this for the Golden Lagoon Starscream, but I've been waiting to see if domestic stores will be getting it like GL Optimus.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:7000 yen...hmm...that's awfully tempting, but then I would have to get a hold of the repungus titan master set as that head is a lot better then the one the toy wears.

I dont think anyone outside Japan can possibly buy this for 7000 yen.

Anyone can buy it from Takara Tomy Mall at that price, it's the extra shipping costs through a shipping service that you can't avoid (shipping within Japan is free after 5,400JPY on TTM and tax is included with the price). But you'd have to pay shipping for anything you ordered from Japan so that's just an expected cost associated with buying from Japan. I intend to do this for the Golden Lagoon Starscream, but I've been waiting to see if domestic stores will be getting it like GL Optimus.

Emerje

FFS Emerje, do you take me for a fool? I just meant this price is not what you'll end up paying if you live outside japan. Plus you forgot to mention the extra fee the shipping service takes for providing the forwarding service.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:If they call them part of PotP, then that means they are part of PotP, regardless of anyone's personal feelings or preferences.

Wolfman Jake wrote:Will, I would definitely count anything branded with "Power of the Primes" in your list.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, if something is clearly labelled as POTP it should count, exclusive or not, makes sense. Like Wreck Gar and Throne of the Primes.

As for these though:

o.supreme wrote:I just looked at Repugnus packaging, which doesn't make things any better. It Advertises "Prime Wars", the entire Trilogy, showcases Titans Return (part 2 of the Trilogy), and PotP on the Side (part 3 of the Trilogy)

Thanks O.Supreme, mine have not shipped from Amazon yet (time to panic?!?!?!?!?!) so I didnt know about the labelling. If these arent clearly labelled, then if one is truly worthy of appearing it will be an honourable mention.

And with the brand unification, it only makese sense that I only count what is labelled at POTP globally. Wreck Gar and Throne of the Primes are a wide release in the Takara umbrella of POTP while Repugnus is still over in the Legends line, fully seperated.

Thanks for the tips guys, you have all been very helpful, now I will have to figure this out. Which isnt easy when most are interchangeable combiner limbs.

Oh and totally not related to anything, I wanted to reply to an earlier comment about the Abominus limbs. I find Sinnertwin deeply flawed. The others work fine but there are some realy weird choices made for sinner twin. I dont know why they did the beast necks that way with that odd triangle at the bottom, it just makes it look weird when you streth out the necks. Plus, I really dont like the way that barrel chest looks in robot mode. It really didnt have to look that way. With the rather small limbs by comparison he just looks so odd and unintimidating, unlike the other Terrorcons who looks pretty great in robot mode.

william-james88 wrote:FFS Emerje, do you take me for a fool? I just meant this price is not what you'll end up paying if you live outside japan.

But is that even worth mentioning since that's true for every single thing we import from Japan? Sometimes we get good deals, but we never pay just the advertised price. You may as well point that out every time someone posts a link to AmiAmi or HLJ.

Besides, there's certainly people out there that don't know that option exists to them.

Plus you forgot to mention the extra fee the shipping service takes for providing the forwarding service.

Depending on where you go the fee isn't that bad since they're just forwarding a package rather than buying it for you like a proxy service. My e-Hobby Magna Convoy shipped through Tenso cost a grand total of 2,300 JPY to ship after a 570 JPY handling fee via registered air mail which isn't much more than what it would cost AmiAmi to ship a Voyager to me through the same method. My total was less than if I had bought it from HLJ (they sold it) and much lower figure and shipping combined than if I had bought it from a domestic seller (and I had it less than a week after release).

Emerje

https://www.amiami.com/eng/detail/?gcode=FIGURE-041428

"Sloan of the Primes" Pre order open at Amiami.

No sign of Grotosque or Repugnus though.

Emerje wrote:

william-james88 wrote:FFS Emerje, do you take me for a fool? I just meant this price is not what you'll end up paying if you live outside japan.

But is that even worth mentioning since that's true for every single thing we import from Japan? Sometimes we get good deals, but we never pay just the advertised price. You may as well point that out every time someone posts a link to AmiAmi or HLJ.

It's probably worth mentioning when someone else mentions how tempting the base price is. Will's original statement wasn't apropos of nothing, it was in response to ZeroWolf talking about 7000yen being a low price - in which case saying "we can't actually get it for 7000 yen" is a fair statement.

Qwan wrote:

Emerje wrote:

william-james88 wrote:FFS Emerje, do you take me for a fool? I just meant this price is not what you'll end up paying if you live outside japan.

But is that even worth mentioning since that's true for every single thing we import from Japan? Sometimes we get good deals, but we never pay just the advertised price. You may as well point that out every time someone posts a link to AmiAmi or HLJ.

It's probably worth mentioning when someone else mentions how tempting the base price is. Will's original statement wasn't apropos of nothing, it was in response to ZeroWolf talking about 7000yen being a low price - in which case saying "we can't actually get it for 7000 yen" is a fair statement.

But you CAN get it for 7,000 JPY and then you pay shipping just like everything else you buy online from Japan. I'm giving ZeroWolf the benefit of the doubt and assuming he knows he'll still have to ship it home as well. And if he didn't know he does now which was the whole point of my comment to Will. I get what you're saying, 7,000 JPY isn't the final price, but I'd like to think everyone that buys stuff from Japan knows that. I bet I could get the set for $85 total or less buying it directly if I wanted to (thankfully I don't need to) which is less than it would cost me to buy the two off the second market right now ($100+) even if they don't come with the extra Masters. It's a perfectly viable alternative.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Qwan wrote:

Emerje wrote:

william-james88 wrote:FFS Emerje, do you take me for a fool? I just meant this price is not what you'll end up paying if you live outside japan.

But is that even worth mentioning since that's true for every single thing we import from Japan? Sometimes we get good deals, but we never pay just the advertised price. You may as well point that out every time someone posts a link to AmiAmi or HLJ.

It's probably worth mentioning when someone else mentions how tempting the base price is. Will's original statement wasn't apropos of nothing, it was in response to ZeroWolf talking about 7000yen being a low price - in which case saying "we can't actually get it for 7000 yen" is a fair statement.

But you CAN get it for 7,000 JPY and then you pay shipping just like everything else you buy online from Japan. I'm giving ZeroWolf the benefit of the doubt and assuming he knows he'll still have to ship it home as well. And if he didn't know he does now which was the whole point of my comment to Will. I get what you're saying, 7,000 JPY isn't the final price, but I'd like to think everyone that buys stuff from Japan knows that. I bet I could get the set for $85 total or less buying it directly if I wanted to (thankfully I don't need to) which is less than it would cost me to buy the two off the second market right now ($100+) even if they don't come with the extra Masters. It's a perfectly viable alternative.

Emerje

I totally agree it's viable, and in fact I'll almost certainly be picking this set up. I think at this point we're just arguing over different interpretations of ZeroWolf's post (sorry for assuming what you mean Zero!), and that's mostly my fault for jumping on in, probably.

Qwan wrote:I totally agree it's viable, and in fact I'll almost certainly be picking this set up. I think at this point we're just arguing over different interpretations of ZeroWolf's post (sorry for assuming what you mean Zero!), and that's mostly my fault for jumping on in, probably.

It's all good! We'd probably just keep talking in circles anyway if we kept going.

Emerje

This is a great release for me cos I skipped the hasbro as they were too pricey. Did pony up for counterpunch tho... They'r not amongst my favourite bots but I think they did a decent job and since I have double-cross... completion is a bitch!

Qwan wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Qwan wrote:

Emerje wrote:

william-james88 wrote:FFS Emerje, do you take me for a fool? I just meant this price is not what you'll end up paying if you live outside japan.

But is that even worth mentioning since that's true for every single thing we import from Japan? Sometimes we get good deals, but we never pay just the advertised price. You may as well point that out every time someone posts a link to AmiAmi or HLJ.

It's probably worth mentioning when someone else mentions how tempting the base price is. Will's original statement wasn't apropos of nothing, it was in response to ZeroWolf talking about 7000yen being a low price - in which case saying "we can't actually get it for 7000 yen" is a fair statement.

But you CAN get it for 7,000 JPY and then you pay shipping just like everything else you buy online from Japan. I'm giving ZeroWolf the benefit of the doubt and assuming he knows he'll still have to ship it home as well. And if he didn't know he does now which was the whole point of my comment to Will. I get what you're saying, 7,000 JPY isn't the final price, but I'd like to think everyone that buys stuff from Japan knows that. I bet I could get the set for $85 total or less buying it directly if I wanted to (thankfully I don't need to) which is less than it would cost me to buy the two off the second market right now ($100+) even if they don't come with the extra Masters. It's a perfectly viable alternative.

Emerje

I totally agree it's viable, and in fact I'll almost certainly be picking this set up. I think at this point we're just arguing over different interpretations of ZeroWolf's post (sorry for assuming what you mean Zero!), and that's mostly my fault for jumping on in, probably.

Don't worry, it's my fault for not making my initial post clearer

I was just looking at the Base price of 7000 yen, before looking at shipping options and how much customs I would have to pay (which is true of everything imported). Sorry for all the confusion!

Nemesis Primal wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:They could also have done redecoes homaging Energon Optimus' drones since CW Optimus has some major detail homages to him in torso mode... but they didn't do that either.

...they did do that though, that's exactly what they did. Those "random Autobot repaints" exactly match the colors of his Prime Force drones.
Ironhide=Fire-1=Red
Prowl=Copter-2=White
Sunstreaker=Digger-3=Yellow
Mirage=Submarine-4=Blue

That's a stretch that you're pulling out of your exhaust port and you know it. Not only did you get one of the colors wrong (Fire-1 is ORANGE), the remaining three matches seem highly coincidental at best (And just where do Hound, Smokescreen, Wheeljack, and Trailbreaker fit into your equation, hm?). Methinks a deliberate homage would, you know, have gone for vehicles that more closely matched. Like, say, redecoing Alpha Bravo (an actual helicopter) for Copter-2, Nosecone (You know, the actual digging vehicle guy) for Digger-3.. Dunno for sure what you would pass off as submarine, but the Afterbreaker mold or maybe a helicopter sans rotors probably works better for that than a freaking Formula racer. The Offroad mold probably is the best bet for Fire-1, though. But still, given all that, I highly doubt Ironhide, Prowl, Sunstreaker, and Mirage are a deliberate homage to the Prime Force. And if they are, then they're a poorly conceived and executed one.

Sowndwave76 wrote:Hi all...
After what feels like a pretty long hiatus, I wanted to stop by and drop my two cents about the Terrorcons (yeah, I know this post is really really REALLY late).

First, I seem to remember members here saying that this set wouldn't be released for a long, long time... I'm not bringing this up negatively or to point a finger, but just to say how surprised and excited I was when the news broke, photos were released, and after having a little patience, I found 3 of the 5 in a local store!
Next, is anyone else really happy with these figures?!? Between the bot modes, the at least somewhat unique transformations (for combiner figs), and really just the overall look (I also really like the alt modes), this is shaping up to be one incredible set.
I'm finally getting Hun-Gurrr (through an email from Amazon he was listed again at $24.99) this Thurs or Fri in the mail... And I have a couple different add-on kits on preorder... I know it's almost pointless to have two of these, but since there isn't a UW set for this team, I'm okay with dropping a little extra.

Anyway, I could see this set being one of my favorites, possibly my favorite overall.
And I see the upgrade kit from Dream Wave really making this an extremely nice looking combined bot!

So here's another dose of props to Hasbro. Well done!!!

I only have Rippernsapper so far because of the fubar distribution of Wave 2's original release, but I like him. And I look forward to collecting his teammates too, although they might not be top priority (Blackwing, Elita, and Roadtrap are a bit higher up the list).

Speaking of Blackwing brings me to a point. While the era of Takara doing more thoroughly painted painted (and retooled half the time, to boot) versions of practically every character for the Japanese release, we are still getting the occasional special redeco (see Golden Lagon Starscream) And I can predict at least one more they'll do based on Power of the Primes: Blackwing and Dreadwind into Hydra and Buster to further fill out the neo-Masterforce collection. I mean, if they can do freaking Grand Maximus i don't see doing the Godmaster Brothers posing an obstacle for them.

Regardless of whether or not they do, I plan on getting duplicates of the Dreadwing duo to make my own Generations Hydra and Buster (yes, despite the fact that they're retools of Combiner Wars toys and the Combiner Wars molds were designed by people with a psychopathic hatred of customizers). A. I enjoy Masterforce despite its continuity faults (IMO, the overall improvement in quality compared to Headmasters.. Don't get me started on that series) so I'd like to have the Masterforce counterparts as well (in fact, more than I want the US characters), and B. I think Dreadwind, Blackwing, Hydra, and Buster would make the perfect set of limbs for Starscream (this in fact is why I want duplicates instead of just getting one of each to repaint into Hydra and Buster). They're all jets so they would work together well from a tactical standpoint, neither the Dreadwing Duo nor the Godmaster Brothers is part of an existing combiner limb group, and Dreadwind is even suggested by Starscream's boxart (which also suggests Sinnertwin, but he kinda has a prior commitment).

Moving on from that point, still very much enjoying Volcanicus. I hope to get some pics taken soon. Including one involving a certain Decepticon Headmaster.

Why would you say that about combiner wars hating customisers? From results I've seen around the Web you can get some great results. Look at what our own Kanrabat has achieved with his combiner customs.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

Nemesis Primal wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:They could also have done redecoes homaging Energon Optimus' drones since CW Optimus has some major detail homages to him in torso mode... but they didn't do that either.

...they did do that though, that's exactly what they did. Those "random Autobot repaints" exactly match the colors of his Prime Force drones.
Ironhide=Fire-1=Red
Prowl=Copter-2=White
Sunstreaker=Digger-3=Yellow
Mirage=Submarine-4=Blue

That's a stretch that you're pulling out of your exhaust port and you know it. Not only did you get one of the colors wrong (Fire-1 is ORANGE), the remaining three matches seem highly coincidental at best (And just where do Hound, Smokescreen, Wheeljack, and Trailbreaker fit into your equation, hm?). Methinks a deliberate homage would, you know, have gone for vehicles that more closely matched. Like, say, redecoing Alpha Bravo (an actual helicopter) for Copter-2, Nosecone (You know, the actual digging vehicle guy) for Digger-3.. Dunno for sure what you would pass off as submarine, but the Afterbreaker mold or maybe a helicopter sans rotors probably works better for that than a freaking Formula racer. The Offroad mold probably is the best bet for Fire-1, though. But still, given all that, I highly doubt Ironhide, Prowl, Sunstreaker, and Mirage are a deliberate homage to the Prime Force. And if they are, then they're a poorly conceived and executed one.

When Takara released Unite Warriors Convoy Grand Prime, they not only colored Prime's torso to better match Energon Optimus's Super Mode torso more closely than the Hasbro toy did, but deliberately took further advantage of the Energon Optimus homage by specifically putting Ironhide, Prowl, Sunstreaker, and Mirage into the official limb arrangement that color-coordinated with the official main configuration of Energon Optimus's drones, placing Ironhide as the right arm like Fire-1 (yes yes, red is not orange, but they're still closely-related colors), Prowl as the left arm like Copter-2, Sunstreaker as the right leg like Digger-3, and Mirage as the left leg like Submarine-4.




As opposed to Hasbro's official configuration of the same limbs for Optimus Maximus not taking advantage of the Energon homage by instead just putting them in a more random order:




Granted, the Hasbro way does kinda resemble the secondary official configuration for Energon Optimus's limbs, but since the legs are each on the wrong side, I'm doubting that there was any intention of homage like what Takara saw and made use of.



I mean, it becomes even more obvious that Takara saw the Energon homage when one recalls that e-HOBBY even made Grand Scourge from Super Link out of the mold.