The Energon Pub

[no-one]

Everything is news.

THIS POST is news.

Make the newsies work!!

I'm bummed for LeAwesome1 and their messed up leg SS38. I still haven't picked that guy up and I guess I'm still waiting.

Spam dem newsies, not like they have anything better to do At best they news it, at worst they ignore it, you got nothing to lose.

Speaking of SS38 and those who have been searching to no avail, I read there is a street date that some Targets are enforcing. Take this with a pinch of salt and YMMV, but if you haven't spotted one yet you may be getting lucky soon.

[Nathaniel Prime]

I read some stories about Target holding back SS38 until this May, but I have a slightly different but equally, if not more, infuriating story which I realize should have been shared as soon as this happened.

Y'all remember when there was a 25% off all Transformers sale in Target? That week, on Friday, I found SS38, and in my glee of not only actually finding the thing, but also getting a discount on it, I went to go buy it. All is well until the cashier says she has to gget the store manager, and I'm just sitting there like, "Yeah, ok, sure". The manager comes, and then tells me that I can'tget this item. I'm flabbergasted, and I ask why. Apparently Target refuses to sell me that particular figure, not because of a street date, but because of the discount. I point out that the ad said all Transformers toys are included, but he was having none of it. Either pay the full price, or leave.

This experience has left me with a bad taste with Target, and while I will still browse them, I will likely not buy anything else from them if this continues

[william-james88]

Clearly the Bumblebee domes yo!

Also, send everything to news Nathaniel Prime, it's the only way you'll get your News Credits higher!

I would if I knew what counts as news anymore!

It's things like this that confuse me, honestly

It was a mistake but thas beause I couldnt find any previous news about a sighting. it happens a lot with these items that people care less about.

The person who sent us had never seen it before and sent us a message just in case and I am thankful. if ever you see something that you didnt see reported, send it in.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

So this SS-38 Optimus Prime.

I will say firstly, this is a pretty fantastic piece. Both he and the Wave prior to him OP are pretty great toys. Movie 1 OP can move a bit more, but both really good.

Now I know I have been critical of the Bee movie Cybertron designs, and I maintain that those designs are better suited in a rebooted universe, WFC style, not my main movieverse continuity.

That said, this guy will not stand with the movie guys. He is like a Steampunk G1 Prime, so he will be separate on his own, and look good doing so.

I also really like Siege Pteraxadon as his weapon, it really seems to work.








Also for fun, taken during the Podcast recording on Thursday

[Sentinel_Primal]

I read some stories about Target holding back SS38 until this May, but I have a slightly different but equally, if not more, infuriating story which I realize should have been shared as soon as this happened.

Y'all remember when there was a 25% off all Transformers sale in Target? That week, on Friday, I found SS38, and in my glee of not only actually finding the thing, but also getting a discount on it, I went to go buy it. All is well until the cashier says she has to gget the store manager, and I'm just sitting there like, "Yeah, ok, sure". The manager comes, and then tells me that I can'tget this item. I'm flabbergasted, and I ask why. Apparently Target refuses to sell me that particular figure, not because of a street date, but because of the discount. I point out that the ad said all Transformers toys are included, but he was having none of it. Either pay the full price, or leave.

This experience has left me with a bad taste with Target, and while I will still browse them, I will likely not buy anything else from them if this continues

That's insane... That manager had to have been having a bad day or something cause I still remember one time I went to buy something at a store and it was mislabled to be $15 but it rang up as $50 and when I explained what happened, they just rang it for $15 and said have a nice day. I'm sorry about your experience with Target. In all honesty, I've stopped even checking my Targets because they get Wave 1 of a line and then stop caring and never restock. Except with Studio Series where they only restock Dropkick. And I wish I was kidding. I literally saw an employee open a fresh case one morning of just Dropkick

[william-james88]

I read some stories about Target holding back SS38 until this May, but I have a slightly different but equally, if not more, infuriating story which I realize should have been shared as soon as this happened.

Y'all remember when there was a 25% off all Transformers sale in Target? That week, on Friday, I found SS38, and in my glee of not only actually finding the thing, but also getting a discount on it, I went to go buy it. All is well until the cashier says she has to gget the store manager, and I'm just sitting there like, "Yeah, ok, sure". The manager comes, and then tells me that I can'tget this item. I'm flabbergasted, and I ask why. Apparently Target refuses to sell me that particular figure, not because of a street date, but because of the discount. I point out that the ad said all Transformers toys are included, but he was having none of it. Either pay the full price, or leave.

This experience has left me with a bad taste with Target, and while I will still browse them, I will likely not buy anything else from them if this continues

That's insane... That manager had to have been having a bad day or something cause I still remember one time I went to buy something at a store and it was mislabled to be $15 but it rang up as $50 and when I explained what happened, they just rang it for $15 and said have a nice day. I'm sorry about your experience with Target. In all honesty, I've stopped even checking my Targets because they get Wave 1 of a line and then stop caring and never restock. Except with Studio Series where they only restock Dropkick. And I wish I was kidding. I literally saw an employee open a fresh case one morning of just Dropkick

You should have taken a picture, we would have proof that the studio series line has solid cases, something we didnt know yet.

[Sentinel_Primal]

I read some stories about Target holding back SS38 until this May, but I have a slightly different but equally, if not more, infuriating story which I realize should have been shared as soon as this happened.

Y'all remember when there was a 25% off all Transformers sale in Target? That week, on Friday, I found SS38, and in my glee of not only actually finding the thing, but also getting a discount on it, I went to go buy it. All is well until the cashier says she has to gget the store manager, and I'm just sitting there like, "Yeah, ok, sure". The manager comes, and then tells me that I can'tget this item. I'm flabbergasted, and I ask why. Apparently Target refuses to sell me that particular figure, not because of a street date, but because of the discount. I point out that the ad said all Transformers toys are included, but he was having none of it. Either pay the full price, or leave.

This experience has left me with a bad taste with Target, and while I will still browse them, I will likely not buy anything else from them if this continues

That's insane... That manager had to have been having a bad day or something cause I still remember one time I went to buy something at a store and it was mislabled to be $15 but it rang up as $50 and when I explained what happened, they just rang it for $15 and said have a nice day. I'm sorry about your experience with Target. In all honesty, I've stopped even checking my Targets because they get Wave 1 of a line and then stop caring and never restock. Except with Studio Series where they only restock Dropkick. And I wish I was kidding. I literally saw an employee open a fresh case one morning of just Dropkick

You should have taken a picture, we would have proof that the studio series line has solid cases, something we didnt know yet.

I'm not even entirely sure that it wasn't already opened because it had that packing tape around it twice and the second wrapping was only along the top folds. There might have been an employee who opened it, took the figures they wanted and sealed it again just to make people think it was still fresh

[galvatron00]

*Jerks!!

[william-james88]

Scalpers!

How? That is an old wave.

[galvatron00]

Fine then. Replace "Scalpers!" with "Jerks!!"

[UsernameBee-127]

What the heck? Why Scalpers, Why not Dark of the moon Bumblebee or 07 Camaro concept Bee

[Nathaniel Prime]

What the heck? Why Scalpers, Why not Dark of the moon Bumblebee or 07 Camaro concept Bee

Scalpers, as in the demon people who buy products from the store and sell it online for overpriced values.

BTW, better hide, B-127. They're still looking for you

[Full-Tilt]

I read some stories about Target holding back SS38 until this May, but I have a slightly different but equally, if not more, infuriating story which I realize should have been shared as soon as this happened.

Y'all remember when there was a 25% off all Transformers sale in Target? That week, on Friday, I found SS38, and in my glee of not only actually finding the thing, but also getting a discount on it, I went to go buy it. All is well until the cashier says she has to gget the store manager, and I'm just sitting there like, "Yeah, ok, sure". The manager comes, and then tells me that I can'tget this item. I'm flabbergasted, and I ask why. Apparently Target refuses to sell me that particular figure, not because of a street date, but because of the discount. I point out that the ad said all Transformers toys are included, but he was having none of it. Either pay the full price, or leave.

This experience has left me with a bad taste with Target, and while I will still browse them, I will likely not buy anything else from them if this continues

That's insane... That manager had to have been having a bad day or something cause I still remember one time I went to buy something at a store and it was mislabled to be $15 but it rang up as $50 and when I explained what happened, they just rang it for $15 and said have a nice day. I'm sorry about your experience with Target. In all honesty, I've stopped even checking my Targets because they get Wave 1 of a line and then stop caring and never restock. Except with Studio Series where they only restock Dropkick. And I wish I was kidding. I literally saw an employee open a fresh case one morning of just Dropkick

Well that would explain all the targets in my area studio series deluxes consisting of 80% dropkicks, 15% shatters, and 5% everything else.

[UsernameBee-127]

Starscream arrived at my house. I can't wait to open him.

[TF-fan kev777]

Well that would explain all the targets in my area studio series deluxes consisting of 80% dropkicks, 15% shatters, and 5% everything else.

Actually, what you are seeing in your target is a combination of 2 factors. 1) Helicopter Dropkick is a pretty lame toy, and 2) they put him in back to back waves, so there is more of him out than any other deluxe at the moment because of the back to back waves.

[Wolfman Jake]

Well that would explain all the targets in my area studio series deluxes consisting of 80% dropkicks, 15% shatters, and 5% everything else.

Actually, what you are seeing in your target is a combination of 2 factors. 1) Helicopter Dropkick is a pretty lame toy, and 2) they put him in back to back waves, so there is more of him out than any other deluxe at the moment because of the back to back waves.

Dropkick wasn't in back to waves, though. The wave with Barricade, Sideswipe, Crankcase, WWII Bumblebee, and Clunker Bumblebee was in between the initial "Bumblebee movie" wave and the latest one with Shatter, Cogman, and Scrapmetal.

[Autobot N]

When I went to FAO Schwartz (a high end toy store) in NY a couple of months ago, they had an entire shelf consisting of at least 50 Dropkicks (not an exaggeration).

[william-james88]

Well that would explain all the targets in my area studio series deluxes consisting of 80% dropkicks, 15% shatters, and 5% everything else.

Actually, what you are seeing in your target is a combination of 2 factors. 1) Helicopter Dropkick is a pretty lame toy, and 2) they put him in back to back waves, so there is more of him out than any other deluxe at the moment because of the back to back waves.

Dropkick wasn't in back to waves, though. The wave with Barricade, Sideswipe, Crankcase, WWII Bumblebee, and Clunker Bumblebee was in between the initial "Bumblebee movie" wave and the latest one with Shatter, Cogman, and Scrapmetal.

I know in Canada, some stores skipped the clunker bee wave s maybe some targets did too.

[Nathaniel Prime]

Not my pic, but I need this as a Studio Series exclusive (Studio Series Spinister)

[YRQRM0]

Didn't realize this KSI guy was coming. Nitro is an amazing mold imo, I don't care at all for the character from the movie, but he's a great looking generic Decepticon. Might have to pick this guy up for the superior paint.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

With Studio Series now reusing molds from TLK... what are the chances of a re-release of Voyager Scorn?

[Nathaniel Prime]

With Studio Series now reusing molds from TLK... what are the chances of a re-release of Voyager Scorn?

That depends...

Scale wise, I'm not sure if the Voyager fits in with the Leader Grimlock we have, but selling a Voyager would make alot more sense than selling another Leader, especially for the rest of the team.

If they sell it in movie accurate colors and give it a nice paint job like with Grimlock, I'd be down for it

[Full-Tilt]

With Studio Series now reusing molds from TLK... what are the chances of a re-release of Voyager Scorn?

Taken literally, there is a .71% for scorn to be re-released, .43% if not as an exclusive, and .35 barring retools.
Also there is a 4.25% chance for a random TLK voyager re-release, and 12.76% chance for any random TLK mold to be re-released, unless I did the math wrong .
This is out of 39 releases(49 with exclusives) in studio series and 22(29 with exclusives) TLK releases.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

The thing is, Dropkick was not popular AT ALL in his toy releases last year. I only once saw the KSI dude and didn't even see the Jazz from that wave. Dropkick showed up, and he stayed long after his fellow wavemates, many right into wave 5 (if it showed), and then he was repacked to go with Shatter for wave 6. So you had the leftovers to go with the new ones, and people pounced on the Cogman they couldn't find 2 years ago, the Shatter muscle car they seemed to love to get, and the really fun/combining Scrapmetal.

And his toy really isn't something to write home about either. It felt small, flimsy, finnicky, and not even really movie accurate.

I also noticed his Nitro series toy moved much slower than the rest of his wave too. I think it literally was him for the most part, not even just the toys

With Studio Series now reusing molds from TLK... what are the chances of a re-release of Voyager Scorn?

I'm guessing maybe next year if we get the remaining Dinobots.

I've told people since the start, AOE and TLK are part of this line, they pretty much scale with SS, and it's been proof by the retoolings and the repaints from that line making their way here. Those 2 lines were pretty much in scale for the most part, and they are pretty much the same here.

so it wouldn't surprise me to get a repacked Scorn next year, along with maybe a voyager Slug and Strafe

[Wolfman Jake]

I've told people since the start, AOE and TLK are part of this line, they pretty much scale with SS, and it's been proof by the retoolings and the repaints from that line making their way here. Those 2 lines were pretty much in scale for the most part, and they are pretty much the same here.

so it wouldn't surprise me to get a repacked Scorn next year, along with maybe a voyager Slug and Strafe

Scorn and Slug would be better served as Leaders to fit in scale with Studio Series Grimlock, though. Strafe might be doable at the Voyager price point, as I think he's a bit smaller than the others on screen. Hasbro and Takara have shown they can make large Voyagers in this line already.

As for mold reuses, I hope we see repaints of AoE Deluxe Drift and TLK Deluxe Crosshairs. Those molds are pretty much fine as is, but they need more screen accurate paint jobs. Drift needs a color scheme closer to the almost black dark blue of the movie and his upcoming helicopter figure for the Studio Series. Crosshairs needs the improvements of the TLK remold with the paint job of the "Autobots United 5-Pack" figure. He's also a bit of a "Cogman" opportunity in that he too was scarce to non-existant at U.S. retail, so this is a chance for many fans to get that mold for the first time. Maybe some slight retools of AoE or TLK Voyager Hound with premium paint jobs would do too. Neither movie had a perfectly detailed (in terms of sculpt) representation of Hound, but each comes close in different ways and could easily be fixed with just a bit of a redesign, like the arms of AoE Hound or the feet on TLK Hound, for instance. And, of course, let's get a good Evasion Mode prime with a proper rusty deco. None of the attempts made by Hasbro or Takara Tomy got the rusty look anywhere close to right the first time around.