The Energon Pub

Lunatic Prime wrote:

Va'al wrote:Non-official, third party items have their own sub-forum, please continue discussing them there!

(In fact, there's a PE-specific thread too: perfect-effect-cw-tr-upgrade-kits-catch-all-thread-t106315.php )

But I think it's nonetheless interesting for the toy line and people interested in it because for example this upgrade kit in particular could change the decision of people if they wanna buy Volcanicus/the Dinobots or not.
And it's meant for the Power of the Primes toy line so I guess it has its place in here

Deja Vu...lol

As new collectors join the forums, youre might want to clarify the symbolic stance behind the actual rule.

It's true! "NEW2018" works with only some stuff, but "JAN2018" worked not only with the PotP figures, but with Titans Return as well. It means I was finally able to get Slugslinger for a bargain, instead of the hyper inflated Amazon prices. And with free shipping, you can't beat the price and convenience. Finally, no more disappointment waiting for it to turn up at retail through Hasbro's wacky, unpredictable distribution network...

Well Yes, that was a pleasant surprise, to actually have NEW Transformers items in stock, during a sale promotion at HTS . Well my PotP Wave 1 purchasing is complete... Now I can sit back and wait for wave 2...

o.supreme wrote:Well Yes, that was a pleasant surprise, to actually have NEW Transformers items in stock, during a sale promotion at HTS . Well my PotP Wave 1 purchasing is complete... Now I can sit back and wait for wave 2...

Does anyone know when approximately we can expect Wave 2 to hit the HTS or retailers?

Don't expect Wave 2 to really start hitting retailers before March. For US, Easter is the next big holiday, so the changeover is likely happening around then for the new figures.

Sjeng wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Well Yes, that was a pleasant surprise, to actually have NEW Transformers items in stock, during a sale promotion at HTS . Well my PotP Wave 1 purchasing is complete... Now I can sit back and wait for wave 2...

Does anyone know when approximately we can expect Wave 2 to hit the HTS or retailers?

All aproximate dates given here

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... nts/39844/

Alright Will I admit defeat.

mordhelm wrote:Don't expect Wave 2 to really start hitting retailers before March. For US, Easter is the next big holiday, so the changeover is likely happening around then for the new figures.

I don't care about retailers. I guess we will be able to order them online next month.

Well that kinda sucks. Maybe some day we'll get a UW 2.0 with premium-painted re-releases of the molds...but I somewhat doubt it.

I do like how Moonracer looks though, if I see her she'll be mine.

Black Hat wrote:Well that kinda sucks. Maybe some day we'll get a UW 2.0 with premium-painted re-releases of the molds...but I somewhat doubt it.

I doubt it also. In fact I wonder what the state of any unique releases will be? I mean I saw the news about the Masterpiece Shadow Panther, but I wonder if we will see any new original Masterpieces or Legends Exclusives past what's already been announced?

ON the flip side...this has me wondering if any 3P company would be interested in developing custom packaging? I mean I know there are places that recreate Original Series Packaging, but a mock up of a UW Volcanicus Set would definitely be something I'd take an interest in.

Murphy's law now decrees that all the figures we haven't been able to find in stores will turn up on shelves now that we've been able to order them online.

And now that we no longer 'need' them, they will clot store shelves and cause stores to delay putting out the PotP wave 2 figures as they try to get rid of the other ones that we no longer want....

Sabrblade wrote:Eeyup. Exactly the same as the Hasbro versions.

Funny how they picked the figures they did to show off Starscream's combiner mode. They used Jazz, Slag, Swoop, and Dreadwind, all who happen to be the wave one Deluxes for Hasbro's markets. However, Takara is only releasing Jazz in their first wave and filling the second with all of the Deluxes Dinobots, Moonracer, Dreadwind, AND Darkwing. They had their choice of who to stick on "Megascream," but went with the only option Hasbro customers have right now. It's just interesting.

On the bright side at least we finally have stock photos of the figures without the prime master armor on.

They finally got in stock. A little too late though since I already got both of them from Amazon. Now I just gotta wait for leader class Optimus and Rodimus, which might take two months for them to come out...

Wolfman Jake wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Eeyup. Exactly the same as the Hasbro versions.

Funny how they picked the figures they did to show off Starscream's combiner mode. They used Jazz, Slag, Swoop, and Dreadwind, all who happen to be the wave one Deluxes for Hasbro's markets. However, Takara is only releasing Jazz in their first wave and filling the second with all of the Deluxes Dinobots, Moonracer, Dreadwind, AND Darkwing. They had their choice of who to stick on "Megascream," but went with the only option Hasbro customers have right now. It's just interesting.

My guess is that they already had photos from Hasbro and since they actually weren't mis-transformed, they decided to just use Hasbro's.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Eeyup. Exactly the same as the Hasbro versions.

Funny how they picked the figures they did to show off Starscream's combiner mode. They used Jazz, Slag, Swoop, and Dreadwind, all who happen to be the wave one Deluxes for Hasbro's markets. However, Takara is only releasing Jazz in their first wave and filling the second with all of the Deluxes Dinobots, Moonracer, Dreadwind, AND Darkwing. They had their choice of who to stick on "Megascream," but went with the only option Hasbro customers have right now. It's just interesting.

My guess is that they already had photos from Hasbro and since they actually weren't mis-transformed, they decided to just use Hasbro's.

No, those are all TakaraTomy photos of Hasbro figures, Hasbro uses renders nowadays with photos of (mistransformed) figures for retailers.

My guess is TakaraTomy wanted to follow the same release formula at first, but decided it would be wiser to release whole teams (Dinobots, the Dreadwing Duocons) in one go.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:My guess is TakaraTomy wanted to follow the same release formula at first, but decided it would be wiser to release whole teams (Dinobots, the Dreadwing Duocons) in one go.

By that logic, why didn't they move Dreadwind and Darkwing up to wave 1 to give more than one Deluxe sized figure there? Takara's distribution plan seems a little haphazard, except for releasing the entire Dinobot team at once. I would have put at least Starscream in Wave 1 to have some Voyager scale representation and moved Rodimus Prime to wave 2 to spread out the Leader sized figures a bit better. Wave 2 seems to be lacking in Legends figures as well. You'd think they'd at least release Battleslash and Roadtrap, even if they're shy on releasing a redeco like Tailgate so soon after offering his mold mate Windcharger.

Wolfman Jake wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:My guess is TakaraTomy wanted to follow the same release formula at first, but decided it would be wiser to release whole teams (Dinobots, the Dreadwing Duocons) in one go.

By that logic, why didn't they move Dreadwind and Darkwing up to wave 1 to give more than one Deluxe sized figure there? Takara's distribution plan seems a little haphazard, except for releasing the entire Dinobot team at once. I would have put at least Starscream in Wave 1 to have some Voyager scale representation and moved Rodimus Prime to wave 2 to spread out the Leader sized figures a bit better. Wave 2 seems to be lacking in Legends figures as well. You'd think they'd at least release Battleslash and Roadtrap, even if they're shy on releasing a redeco like Tailgate so soon after offering his mold mate Windcharger.

All it takes is holding some Wave 1 figures back, really and Darkwing is Wave 2. Starscream being held back may be because of Volcanicus, and introducing one gimmick at a time.

Funny how even though the figures are identical, these photos are so much better than what uses to advertise their toys. Looking at Sl(u/a)g and Grimlock's robot mode I briefly thought these were superior color schemes. Has my brain been conditioned from years of pining for pricy imports?

Volcanicus looks beyond saving. Thank Primus for that PE kit.

As I already got the first three Dinobots from Amazon for a good deal HTS restocked during their own sale just after I ordered and received Swoop as I expected they would (I had already ordered Slag and Grimlock but took advantage of a coupon to delay delivery). But all is good. These figures are awesome! I'm having some issues posting pictures so I'm going to break them up into two posts. First, here is the top half of Volcanicus. I love the new feet. So much better than the CW HFG. But I miss the opposable thumb for the hand and have to fold away the extra thumb. Still, good things happen when you don't try to do everything in one object. Thank you for realizing that.



I really like how the Dinobot Enigma looks in Grimlock's mouth, and I decided to use the new hands to fill in the torso since I had a set of HFG's to use for this upper half combination and wanted to see how that worked. Not bad at all. If only they could have figured out something better than CW Menasor legs. Oh well. Still very cool. And I'm not getting these for the combination anyway. I just see that as a bonus.

With import sites charging significanly more for the June and July releases of Takara's Deluxes in their Power of the Primes line, there was still a hope that it meant the deco might differ from the Hasbro counterparts. We now have images from Dengeki Hobby showing us that it is not the case. As with every toy part of this line, the releases are the very same as the Hasbro versions (both in the in fact that they are released individually and look the same).

However, this gives western fans something truly amazing that we never had before. The marketting technique of Hasbro and Takara have varied wildly in the past with Hasbro releasing official images of products using 3-d renders while Takara usually has high quality images of the actual finished product showing all of its possible configurations/gimmicks. Well, since both lines are the very same, this means that western fans can now be treated to this kind of marketting for toys they do not need to import.

So below you will see images of the finished figures from the Power of the Primes line, well posed, well transformed, and showing all their possible configurations in terms of accompanying accessories. These are newsworthy for both lines since it shows us the finished product for Blackwing, Sludge, Snarl, Submarauder and Moonracer in poses and angles we did not see yet. Same for Volcanicus. We also have images of the products that came out in the west but not in Japan yet like Starscream. Regarding this toy, there is no combiner name given for the Starscream combiner.

Now for the cool thing I figured out. I gave PotP Grimlock FoC Grimlock's sword and shield. I had to flip around the prime armor foot and fold in Grimlock's left hand to plug in the shield.

You know, in some of these shots it almost looks like the little hfg should actually be a little transformer themselves, especially these new ones. I also wish that volcanicus was a little more built up at the waist but I do like him, still not sold on starscream as a torso but I love his robot mode so yay for extra playfeatures.