The Energon Pub

[-Kanrabat-]

As far as "definitive" versions go, I think it's a bad term. Because the designs do change over the movies. Some subtle, some drastic. The best term would be FAVORITES. Unfortunately, it suck as a display because the scales will be all out of wack.

[Sabrblade]

As far as "definitive" versions go, I think it's a bad term. Because the designs do change over the movies. Some subtle, some drastic. The best term would be FAVORITES. Unfortunately, it suck as a display because the scales will be all out of wack.

Maybe "definitive version of a character's particular body form" would be more accurate.

[-Kanrabat-]

As far as "definitive" versions go, I think it's a bad term. Because the designs do change over the movies. Some subtle, some drastic. The best term would be FAVORITES. Unfortunately, it suck as a display because the scales will be all out of wack.

Maybe "definitive version of a character's particular body form" would be more accurate.

The problem is that in the Bayverse, NOBODY is ever "defenitive". Gotta sell some new molds, ya know! But in-universe, it's logic because those transformers NEVER stop evolving.

...


After seeing Optimus going from genuine TF with truck-kibbles to a "lol imma knight but really I'm justa dude inna wet suit", I bet that if there would have been a Bay movie #7 (Bee movie don't count), Optimus and Co would have been FREAKING PRETENDERS. Japanese versions, of course.

[Sabrblade]

As far as "definitive" versions go, I think it's a bad term. Because the designs do change over the movies. Some subtle, some drastic. The best term would be FAVORITES. Unfortunately, it suck as a display because the scales will be all out of wack.

Maybe "definitive version of a character's particular body form" would be more accurate.

The problem is that in the Bayverse, NOBODY is ever "defenitive". Gotta sell some new molds, ya know! But in-universe, it's logic because those transformers NEVER stop evolving.

That's why I said "of a particular body form". Do you know how many toys there are of a character in just one of their many bodies? For many people, Battle Blade Bumblebee could be seen as the definitive version of Bumblebee in the body type that that toy represents, while others could instead view the first Human Alliance Bumblebee as the definitive version of that body since it's the same body as the Battle Blade figure. Meanwhile, neither would be the definitive version of Bumblebee's AOE body since neither represent that body type of his, but both the Movie Advanced and Platinum Edition versions of the AOE mold do, and one person could prefer the Platinum while another could prefer the Movie Advanced. That's what I mean.

[-Kanrabat-]

Oh, if you talk about a "body type", that make things way easier...……...As long that none care about scale. Ah, good old scale.... The inescapable OCD conundrum.

[Wolfman Jake]

I actually was talking about which character appearance is the one you'd put on your shelves AS that character, de facto, for the live action Transformers movie universe. Let's say you're putting together a display, and you only want each character represented once. Who do you choose to be in the big "group shot"? Bumblebee from the first three movies, AOE, or TLK? Which Prime, first three movies, evasion mode, or knight? Which Megatron, jet, tank, truck, or knight? Starscream with our without cybertronian tribal tattoos? Original Ratchet deco or DotM deco? Etc.

[Autobot Roadburn]

I actually was talking about which character appearance is the one you'd put on your shelves AS that character, de facto, for the live action Transformers movie universe. Let's say you're putting together a display, and you only want each character represented once. Who do you choose to be in the big "group shot"? Bumblebee from the first three movies, AOE, or TLK? Which Prime, first three movies, evasion mode, or knight? Which Megatron, jet, tank, truck, or knight? Starscream with our without cybertronian tribal tattoos? Original Ratchet deco or DotM deco? Etc.

Personally I'd probably put two or three versions of the same character up if they're different looking enough. Some of these guys are absolutely the definitive version of the character for me like Blackout and Grimlock, but while I feel the same way about the new Studio Megatron I'd consider putting his TLK voyager up there too. He scales great still and he's a fantastic toy that looks different enough from RotF Megs to work. I'd put Evasion Prime up too if he weren't slightly too tall for me, he's just a bit bigger than Studio Prime but it's noticeable.

So basically, the Studio Series as a whole is my definitive Movieverse collection along with whatever other figures scale with them. I've always been incredibly picky about scale and this line is a godsend. A voyager size version of the RotF leader mold (I know they're different, just appearance at least) is something I've been dreaming of for a long time. Almost caved and got the Movie Best voyager Starscream, would've been a huge waste of money for me.

[-Kanrabat-]

Almost caved and got the Movie Best voyager Starscream, would've been a huge waste of money for me.

Especially because the RotF voyager starscream mold is COMPLETE and UNFORGIVABLE GARBAGE. Movie '07 voyager looked great even with the gimmicky big "hands" and his transformation was clever and fun. RotF had those hands popping out of the jet's but and his posability was ASS because of the elbows bending the wrong way and no wrists. SS Starscream then made sure to bury the previous two voyager molds definitively and make them irrelevant.


I still love the '07 Screamers and if they release a special exclusive deco, I may be tempted. Eh I wonder how the '07 mold would look in a RotF "tattoo" deco?

[Sabrblade]

Need help picking a toy for the Hall of Fame thread. I wanna pick either Grimlock or Blackout since I've heard so many good things about them, but I haven't gotten to experience either figure in-hand yet. Which one's better?

[-Kanrabat-]

Need help picking a toy for the Hall of Fame thread. I wanna pick either Grimlock or Blackout since I've heard so many good things about them, but I haven't gotten to experience either figure in-hand yet. Which one's better?

It's relative to what one want in a figure. Blackout never interested me. Mainly because I just can't forgive how paneltastic he is. Especially his PALMED FEET. Also, call it nitpicking, but even though I'm complaining about too much panels, he ironically need more to hide that unsightly empty bottom of the copter mode.

Grimlock on the other hand, is PURE GENIUS. The paintwork is amazing, the transformation is simple but damn effective, he hide his kibbles in plain sight, and he's crazy posable. Furthermore, it's a bad-ass UNDEAD KNIGHT that transform into a ZOMBIE T-REX. Hollow jaw? Pah! That fit the zombie dino perfectly. So my vote is obviously for leader SS Grimlock.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I actually was talking about which character appearance is the one you'd put on your shelves AS that character, de facto, for the live action Transformers movie universe. Let's say you're putting together a display, and you only want each character represented once. Who do you choose to be in the big "group shot"? Bumblebee from the first three movies, AOE, or TLK? Which Prime, first three movies, evasion mode, or knight? Which Megatron, jet, tank, truck, or knight? Starscream with our without cybertronian tribal tattoos? Original Ratchet deco or DotM deco? Etc.

Ah, you have opened this movie bot lovers can of worms. I'll keep each entry brief:

Autobots

Optimus: Dark of the Moon Prime is my personal favorite design, complete with trailer and weapons. a toy of him would be perfect. As is, my RotF Leader is the ultimate version.

Ratchet: an updated voyager version of his movie 1 self would be my go to.

Ironhide: Same as Ratchet, I liked him better with the cannons permanently on his arms.

Bumblebee: His TLK look is the perfect look for me.

Jazz: only 1 to go on, and it's good with me.

Sideswipe: I actually preferred his DotM look, especially since he got stealth force. And he looked a smidge better for some reason.

Skids and Mudflap: DotM color schemes work better for me.

Jolt: I liked the RotF colors more than the DotM toy's

Wreckers: they are perfect in the one form they show up in.

Jetfire: good as is. really need one that combined a bit better with Prime

Arcees: eh, I wasn't a fan of any of their looks

Dino: good as is

Que: good as is, actually really liked his looks and his toy is one of my favorites

Crosshairs: Liked his look

Drift: I preferred the red and black look to him, shame the toy wasn't better

Hound: I preferred the AoE look

Wheelie/Brains: good as were.

Dinobots: good looks as they were.

Decepticons

Megatron: TLK was by far the best design he had, no regrets owning 6 versions of him.

Starscream: I kinda preferred the tribal tattooes, it's why I'm waiting out that version of the voyager

Blackout/Bonecrusher/Brawl/Frenzy/Scorponok: movie 1

Constructicons: RotF (and give us a combiner Devastator toy please in this line!!!)

Soundwave: DotM

Barricade: really hard choice, I liked both designs almost equally, slight edge to TLK

TLK guys: TLK look

Stinger: AoE

[Emerje]

I'll agree on Grimlock. I don't have Blackout yet, but visually he's made up of a lot of panels and has a somewhat blocky appearance. Grimlock, on the other hand looks like a statue in both modes and not like something that should be able to transform. Not just the colors, but also the sculpting, it's just so ridiculously detailed and hides the joints and screws so well. It helps that he's one color scheme from top to bottom, but rare few figures can pull that off. If I were to pick two things I didn't like it would be the bottom jaw hanging off his left arm and the way the forearms are slightly curved. He's such a visually impressive figure, likely the most impressive thing Hasbro will release all year.

Emerje

[-Kanrabat-]

I actually was talking about which character appearance is the one you'd put on your shelves AS that character, de facto, for the live action Transformers movie universe. Let's say you're putting together a display, and you only want each character represented once. Who do you choose to be in the big "group shot"? Bumblebee from the first three movies, AOE, or TLK? Which Prime, first three movies, evasion mode, or knight? Which Megatron, jet, tank, truck, or knight? Starscream with our without cybertronian tribal tattoos? Original Ratchet deco or DotM deco? Etc.

All right, why not play the game as well? If I'd go best and "definitive" toy for a given character, SCALE BE DAMNED (Only characters that have received several toys count. Only deluxe, voyagers, and leaders count):


Optimus: Leader Buster that came in the DOTM 2 pack with Jetfire.

Ratchet: '07 voyager

Ironhide: DotM voyager. I regret having sold it instead of the kinda crappy 07 voyager.

Bumblebee: "Deluxe" HFTD Battleblade

Starscream: HFTD Leader. Studio Series voyager came really close.

Megatron: TLK Voyager for now. Maybe the SS voyager will surpass him?

Grimlock: SS LEader all the way.

Barricade: Human Aliance

Jazz: Human Alliance, but soon the SS deluxe instead?

Skids and Mudflap: RotF/HftD Human Alliances

As for the others, they never had enough toys or I never owned enough to judge.


Ironhide:

[Wolfman Jake]

D-Maximal_Primal petty much understands what I'm getting at. It's not at all about your favorite toy of a character. It's your favorite appearance of a given character in the actual movies. What is each character's "iconic" or "timeless" look for you across the whole movieverse? Let's pretend that the Studio Series will do every single character in the exact size you would want and each one will look and transform as close to perfection as possible. Now imagine that you are only getting ONE iteration of each character. No double dipping! Which Optimus Prime would you want to get? Which Megatron? The twins as a combiner ice cream truck or as individual cars? Soundwave as an artificial satellite or as a Mercedes-Benz? That is what I'm interested in.

[Terrsolpix]

Dang, Ironhide looks great!

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

D-Maximal_Primal, Ironhide's movie 1 toy does not have the cannons permanently on the arms. It would sure be nice if it did, but alas. I know this because I have looked for him on eBay and seen many instances listed sans cannons. Sigh.

I'm curious as to why you prefer 2007 Blackout to Studio Series. He looks crude detail-wise except for the arms, his altmode bits are dealt with far less efficiently, his main rotor doesn't collapse as well, and his feet are completely wrong. Is it because of the Scorponok gear-link gimmick?

As for me, well.. here's what I've got off the bat.

Optimus:
* The ROTF Leader-class mold is the definitive "main" version of his original bod.
* The ROTF Legends mold is good for scaling purposes with toys of giant characters (such as Voyager Demolishor)
* I'm softening on Studio Series Voyager Optimus (but still, those feet showing in truck mode), he might end up the version for scaling purposes with the Studio Series line

Megatron (and his umpteen bodies):
* Movie 1 Leader-class mold is de facto definitive "Main" version of his first form. Would be better with a cannon upgrade, and new legs that could turn into the tail section (as opposed to the battery box that's there now)
* ROTF Leader-class is again de facto definitive "main" version of his second form and at least has good upgrades available now
* Studio Series Voyager is definitive Voyager version of his ROTF bod, hands down.
* Dark of the Moon... The Voyager is de facto (because stupid Hasbro made a Leader-class BUMBLEBEE instead of a Leader-class Megatron), but I really hope for a Studio Series replacement that doesn't do the dumb thing of having half the altmode's oil tank be his weapon and thus ruin his truck mode if it's absent.
* Age of Extinction: Nothing, because the stupid movie art department went off their trolley
* The Last Knight: Leader-class. That's the one I want most.

Starscream:
* HFTD Leader-class mold is the definitive "main" version and I really want to own it
* Studio Series Voyager seems to be the best mold for scaling purposes.
Currently I just have the DOTM Deluxe, which I guess at least scales okay with DOTM Voyager Megs

Bumblebee:
* ROTF Battle Blade Bumblebee. But I'm making due with DOTM Deluxe Bee

Blackout:
* Studio Series, hands down.

Brawl:
* Leader-class is definitive "main"
* Studio Series wanted for scaling purposes, best smaller version by a country mile

[Va'al]

Thanks to a tip from fellow Seibertronian Terrsolpix and some further searching for sources, we have some in hand in package images of the next, highly anticipated Voyager figure from the Hasbro (and Takara Tomy) Transformers Studio Series toyline: Ironhide!

You can check out the images below, as found on the RoboRobo - the Singapore based toy store - Facebook and eBay pages, shown alongside Optimus Prime, from both the front and the back of the box. With the Movie Masterpiece also due out shortly, is this something that catches your interest? Let us know in the discussion thread in the Energon Pub!

[Autobot Roadburn]

Thanks to a tip from fellow Seibertronian Terrsolpix and some further searching for sources, we have some in hand in package images of the next, highly anticipated Voyager figure from the Hasbro (and Takara Tomy) Transformers Studio Series toyline: Ironhide!

You can check out the images below, as found on the RoboRobo - the Singapore based toy store - Facebook and eBay pages, shown alongside Optimus Prime, from both the front and the back of the box. With the Movie Masterpiece also due out shortly, is this something that catches your interest? Let us know in the discussion thread in the Energon Pub!

YEP, do want that. Glad he's being repacked with Optimus too, I can finally not buy multiple voyagers at once! Looks awesome too, the guns look ridiculously well detailed, his head sculpt is fantastic and the paint is great, especially on his head. All we can hope is he holds together well and his arms have a good range of movement, I had a bad experience with the DotM voyager - one of the pins in his shoulder ripped out of the plastic about 5 minutes after opening him.

[-Kanrabat-]

So Ironhide will be a voyager. VERY interesting.

I'm looking forward the reviews to see how he's actually made.

[Hydrargyrus]

So Ironhide will be a voyager. VERY interesting.

I'm looking forward the reviews to see how he's actually made.

Ironhide is a Voyager, Ratchet is a Deluxe.
...what?

[-Kanrabat-]

So Ironhide will be a voyager. VERY interesting.

I'm looking forward the reviews to see how he's actually made.

Ironhide is a Voyager, Ratchet is a Deluxe.
...what?

I bet Ironhide will be a smallish voyager like Optimus. SS is made to be un scale with each others so it may turn out perfect in the end.

[Emerje]

So Ironhide will be a voyager. VERY interesting.

I'm looking forward the reviews to see how he's actually made.

Ironhide is a Voyager, Ratchet is a Deluxe.
...what?

I bet Ironhide will be a smallish voyager like Optimus. SS is made to be un scale with each others so it may turn out perfect in the end.

Yeah, he's probably a Voyager just so they can make a bulkier bot mode with big guns.

Emerje

[-Kanrabat-]

So Ironhide will be a voyager. VERY interesting.

I'm looking forward the reviews to see how he's actually made.

Ironhide is a Voyager, Ratchet is a Deluxe.
...what?

I bet Ironhide will be a smallish voyager like Optimus. SS is made to be un scale with each others so it may turn out perfect in the end.

Yeah, he's probably a Voyager just so they can make a bulkier bot mode with big guns.

Emerje

Exactly. It's all about parts count. The good old HFTD deluxe Ironhide is the perfect size in vehicle mode, but the bot is way smaller than SS Ratchet. There's even a picture somewhere in the previous posts that show that.

Anyway, that SS Ironhide is one more SS figure to add to my very short list of SS wants.

[Carnivius_Prime]

Yeah, he's probably a Voyager just so they can make a bulkier bot mode with big guns.

Emerje

Yeah that's what I said weeks ago when speculating on the voyager classing of Ironhide announced.

Anyways this figure looks good from what I can see (though back kibble and that bumper on his waist area looks odd). Looking forward to more photos and especially just to get one in hand and see if fixes what i've hated on every previous voyager Ironhide (the fiddly chest transformation and awkward shoulder articulation).

Also it'll just be nice to have the core 2007 Autobot team all together.

[Va'al]

Courtesy of fellow Transformers fan Darren Tan, and the Planet Iacon Facebook page, we have - after the shots of the packaging for the figure earlier today - a full set of images of the Transformers Studio Series Voyager Ironhide figure!

The images show us the weapons specialist in both GMC vehicle and full arm cannoned robot mode, while also giving us comparisons in truck mode with Studio Series deluxe Jazz (as both share the 2007 live action movie designs), and in robot mode with Jazz again and more recently seen Megatron. Check them all out below, and let us know what you think!