The Energon Pub

Cobotron wrote:I've used this method to get 20% off twice. I used the same email address both times and I still don't get emails from HTS, but I got the discount both times.

I'm actually really disappointed now, I used that trick with multiple emails that I've had for different things, and I didn't know you could use the same email!

I got all 5 wave 2 deluxes and Outback today, so I'm super happy. Woke up, checked, saw they were in stock, ordered them at 630 AM, and they're out of stock now save Snappy, so luck was on my side! And I used a bunch of money from Paypal from selling my KO MP Barricade, so it was still very well priced.

And considering my order shipped, I'm expecting it either tomorrow or Thursday. SS Blackout was next day shipping! I love living close to one online store.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Cobotron wrote:I've used this method to get 20% off twice. I used the same email address both times and I still don't get emails from HTS, but I got the discount both times.

I'm actually really disappointed now, I used that trick with multiple emails that I've had for different things, and I didn't know you could use the same email!

I got all 5 wave 2 deluxes and Outback today, so I'm super happy. Woke up, checked, saw they were in stock, ordered them at 630 AM, and they're out of stock now save Snappy, so luck was on my side! And I used a bunch of money from Paypal from selling my KO MP Barricade, so it was still very well priced.

And considering my order shipped, I'm expecting it either tomorrow or Thursday. SS Blackout was next day shipping! I love living close to one online store.

I miss the days when TFSource was here in Minnesota. I frequented them because I would get my stack shipped for free to my door in just 24 hours! That was service! Now they're in Navada, and it takes about a week for a free shipment order to come in. It was also nice that I could literally drive up to their warehouse to exchange any broken products. They once gave me a tour of their facility just for the heck of it!

Also, as I now have all 5 voyagers from this line, I have an unpopular opinion to state here.

Inferno is the best voyager class figure from Power of the Primes.

Wolfman Jake wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Cobotron wrote:I've used this method to get 20% off twice. I used the same email address both times and I still don't get emails from HTS, but I got the discount both times.

I'm actually really disappointed now, I used that trick with multiple emails that I've had for different things, and I didn't know you could use the same email!

I got all 5 wave 2 deluxes and Outback today, so I'm super happy. Woke up, checked, saw they were in stock, ordered them at 630 AM, and they're out of stock now save Snappy, so luck was on my side! And I used a bunch of money from Paypal from selling my KO MP Barricade, so it was still very well priced.

And considering my order shipped, I'm expecting it either tomorrow or Thursday. SS Blackout was next day shipping! I love living close to one online store.

I miss the days when TFSource was here in Minnesota. I frequented them because I would get my stack shipped for free to my door in just 24 hours! That was service! Now they're in Navada, and it takes about a week for a free shipment order to come in. It was also nice that I could literally drive up to their warehouse to exchange any broken products. They once gave me a tour of their facility just for the heck of it!

This is an awesome tale! The HTS facility is only 2 hours away from me here, so I sort of know what that feels like

Am I wrong in thinking that Grimlock and the rest of the Dinobots are being re-tooled and re-released? My apologies in advance if I was having a mental moment.

This is for D-Maximal_Primal (and anyone else interested). I've got "Firestormer" now with Unite Warriors Ratchet instead of Combiner Wars Smokescreen. They look great with a "unified" color scheme of mostly white limbs and a red torso with touches of white. All the limbs have hints of blue and red as well, helping them match each other and the torso. Yes, Alpha Bravo is a bit more orange, but it still works, playing well with the yellow on Inferno and even the orange turn signals painted on Ratchet.




I also went ahead and rearranged the limbs some. They're in a more "Defensor" style of configuration now, with Alpha Bravo and Ratchet taking up the arms on the same sides as Blades and First Aid do. Rook is on the right leg in place of Groove. And Jazz is pretending to be a police car like Streetwise? Nah, maybe he's a music therapist bring emergency grooves to people in despair. He's a mental health urgent care unit, disguised as racing car to be extra "HIPPA compliant." (Bonus points to anyone who knows WTF I'm rambling about here.)

I would love to have a Red Alert CW styled limb now. It would really make Firestormer a complete "secondary" Defensor-esque rescue squadron. That and maybe some coast guard stickers for Alpha Bravo?

Thanks to an epiphany I just had, I've figured out how I can add all of the non-Titan POTP combiners into my plans for the CW/UW combiners, and without leaving Inferno's combined form rival-less.

Prior to POTP, I had laid out plans for a total of 22 CW/UW combiners and 2 spare torso warriors. That's 12 Autobots/Maximals and 12 Decepticons/Predacons. With POTP adding in the odd number of 5 new combiner torsos, 3 Autobots and 2 Decepticons, I was left with not only having to figure out which of the 3 non-team torsos would get which Deluxes to make up their limbs, but also how to get another Decepticon combiner to even things back out. And now, I think I've gotten everything figured out, even if it admittedly requires some CW/UW figures to be repeated.

Here's what I've got planned for the POTP combiners.


Volcanicus vs. Abominus (Beasts of War)

Volcaninus
* POTP Dinobot Grimlock
** POTP Dinobot Slug
** POTP Dinobot Swoop
** POTP Dinobot Snarl
** POTP Dinobot Sludge

Abominus
* Terrorcon Hun-Gurrr
** Terrorcon Rippersnapper
** Sinnertwin
** Terrorcon Blot
** Terrorcon Cutthroat


Elita Infin1te vs. "Megascream" (Jet torso combiners)

Elita Infin1te
* POTP Elita-1
** POTP Autobot Moonracer
** POTP Autobot Novastar
** POTP Wreck-Gar
** (if he can indeed form a limb) POTP Punch-Counterpunch

"Megascream"
* POTP Starscream
** POTP Dreadwind
** POTP Blackwing
** Prime Wars Trilogy Combiner Wars exclusive space shuttle Blast Off
** Golden Lagoon Starscream


"The Magnificent Firestormer" vs. Ruination (special commando units)

"The Magnificent Firestormer"
* POTP Inferno
** POTP Autobot Jazz
** CW Prowl
** CW Sunstreaker
** CW Wheeljack

Ruination
A second whole UW Baldigus completely repurposed as his American counterpart Ruination, and reconfigured into whichever of his two modes that I Baldigus would not be in. Like, if I have Baldigus in Flight Mission, then I would put Ruination in Land Mission, or vice versa.

As for the choices for "Firestormer's" limbs and the "Magnificent" title, those four characters and Inferno were the five surviving members of the Magnificent Six, a special Autobot unit from an old Marvel UK prose story. Of these limb choices, only Prowl, Sunstreaker, and Wheeljack would be repeats, but each would still look different since my CW/UW plans had the UW versions of those three as part of Convoy Grand Prime and Lynxmaster, whereas these would be the differently-decoed CW versions (though, Prowl would technically be a second repeat since I'd also have a stickered-up version of the CW figure as part of Magnaboss, but those stickers would still distinguish him from the unstickered CW and UW versions, so there'd be three of him with some color differences for each one).

And as for the decision to repeat Baldigus altogether, I was inspired by the fact that, technically, Ruination and Baldigus aren't the same guy in the same way that most American and Japanese character counterparts are.While Baldigus exists in a G1 universe, Ruination instead hails from a distinctly non-G1 universe that features the unique setup of a Cybertron whose main warring factions have, as far as can be told from the English RiD 2001 dub, always been Autobots and Predacons rather than Autobots and Decepticons or Maximals and Predacons. It's a completely different backstory from what we usually get. Decepticons are a subgroup in this universe. Megatron is a Predacon subject to the ruling Predacon Council. The civil wars pitted Autobot against Predacon. Beast Machines-esque Vehicons also exist as implied servant/grunt drones. It's like some weird hodgepodge of many things from G1 to BM, but mixed in such a unique way that it doesn't resemble any previously established setup, or any that would ever come afterward. Whereas the world of Car Robots is just the Japanese G1 cartoon world. Thus, I can see the Ruination from the unique world of the English RiD 2001 cartoon as a separate person from the Baldigus of the more familiar world that Car Robots inhabits. And their having two official configurations for the combiner mode enables me to visually distinguish the two even further.

Those are some nice ideas there sabr and your megascream is going to have some serious bling first a arm

ZeroWolf wrote:Those are some nice ideas there sabr and your megascream is going to have some serious bling first a arm

Or a leg.

Sabrblade wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Those are some nice ideas there sabr and your megascream is going to have some serious bling first a arm

Or a leg.

Well they do say in football/soccer about players with a golden leg

Chuck,

But in this picture, it looks like it comes with both a gun and landing gear!

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Prime Target wrote:Looks like CW and UW Blast off aren't leaving their shelves like ever when I get them. I love everything about this version. from the G1 toy accurate deco to how they kept the UW gun on the Hasbro release. Hopefully POTP Punch/Counterpunch and Repugnus come in the same type of awesome box this guy comes in.

They kinda had to keep the gun since it becomes the front landing gear in shuttle mode

Targetmaster Kup wrote:But in this picture, it looks like it comes with both a gun and landing gear!

The landing gear in the picture is the thumb of his HFG.

Qwan wrote:

LegoYoda wrote:i just picked mine up last night and i looks like the little blue peg on the top of the knee (the one at the front of the knee joint that pegs into the shin in robot mode) is preventing it from closing completely.

Interestingly, mine doesn't seem to have that problem. Admittedly my Rippersnapper seems to go together a lot better than most, so maybe I just got a "good" copy? Otherwise just make sure everything else is all pegged in properly (I can see in the third photo that his kneepads aren't pegged into their slots in his back), or else that'll mess with his legs even more.


For reference, here are LegoYoda's photos:

LegoYoda wrote:

Thanks Qwan for the tip on the imgur url's appreciate you taking the time.

Looks like the little blue peg on my copy is slightly longer, it actually prevents the leg from closing since its right beside the hinge, i can get the knee pad pegged into the back but it pops out again from the pushback. I might try filing it down since there's no way i can exchange it for the zero copies remaining at my local Walmart.

Cyberpath wrote:

Click to enlarge.

Nice touch in including Movor, though there is an early model for Blast Off himself that was more toy-accurate (except for its head):

(top center)

Cyberpath wrote:

Click to enlarge.

This is also a great example of that Takara doesn't always come out with the best color scheme. Where the heck did their color scheme for Blast Off come from?

Seibertron wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:

Click to enlarge.

This is also a great example of that Takara doesn't always come out with the best color scheme. Where the heck did their color scheme for Blast Off come from?

Honestly, if they had just made the copper be the same darker brown as seen on all the others there, I'd be fine with Takara's deco. It's just that copper shade that needs to be more like that brown shade.

Seibertron wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:

Click to enlarge.

This is also a great example of that Takara doesn't always come out with the best color scheme. Where the heck did their color scheme for Blast Off come from?

This was discussed pretty extensively when he was first revealed in the UW line, but I believe it was discovered that, like galvatron, TT chose one episode where blastoff was kinda off color and went crazy with it, dunno why they keep doing it though

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:

Click to enlarge.

This is also a great example of that Takara doesn't always come out with the best color scheme. Where the heck did their color scheme for Blast Off come from?

This was discussed pretty extensively when he was first revealed in the UW line, but I believe it was discovered that, like galvatron, TT chose one episode where blastoff was kinda off color and went crazy with it, dunno why they keep doing it though

Either that or Takara keeps using old faded-in-color source materials for reference, or ALL of their computer monitors need a serious adjustment to their color and contrast settings.

Sabrblade wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:

Click to enlarge.

This is also a great example of that Takara doesn't always come out with the best color scheme. Where the heck did their color scheme for Blast Off come from?

This was discussed pretty extensively when he was first revealed in the UW line, but I believe it was discovered that, like galvatron, TT chose one episode where blastoff was kinda off color and went crazy with it, dunno why they keep doing it though

Either that or Takara keeps using old faded-in-color source materials for reference, or ALL of their computer monitors need a serious adjustment to their color and contrast settings.

Yeah, I feel like UW bruticus had really vivid colors, but blastoff is the wrong color entirely

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

Cyberpath wrote:

Click to enlarge.

This is also a great example of that Takara doesn't always come out with the best color scheme. Where the heck did their color scheme for Blast Off come from?

This was discussed pretty extensively when he was first revealed in the UW line, but I believe it was discovered that, like galvatron, TT chose one episode where blastoff was kinda off color and went crazy with it, dunno why they keep doing it though

Either that or Takara keeps using old faded-in-color source materials for reference, or ALL of their computer monitors need a serious adjustment to their color and contrast settings.

Yeah, I feel like UW bruticus had really vivid colors, but blastoff is the wrong color entirely

That may have been a part of it. All of the vivid colors of Unite Warriors Bruticus might have taken a hit to have dark brown just thrown in there. Hence the choice of the lighter, coppery brown. I will say this about Takara's color scheme, though. It is very faithful to the layout in the animation model in robot mode. If you look closely at the animation model, there are actually two tones of brown used. It's easiest to see this contrast in the forearms. Takara got that much right. The dark gray on the character model is a bit too dark on the actual figure, being nearly black, but that's an easier pass than the way too light brown. Unfortunately, the chest piece for UW Bruticus uses that light brown, so swapping in the Hasbro version now still won't really mesh with the rest of the gestalt for a perfectly screen accurate combiner mode look.

BBTS now has the wave 3 Legends in stock. I have a pair sitting in my pile of loot awaiting the deluxes and prime masters.

Got cindersaur and outback today, having never had brawn, outback is a lot of fun, like his jeep mode and his head is now much cooler than brawns was, so there's that.

Cindersaur on the other hand, found out why they didn't do any retooling for the mold, turns out potp cindersaur is a fem-bot now, according to her bio card, so that's pretty cool