The Energon Pub

Deadput wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote:

Black Hat wrote:Quickswitch is literally just Sixshot with new colours and a new head. If they wanted to redeco Sixshot, why not Greatshot?

This right here kinda drives me bananas why not use the character who traditionally was a Sixshot repaint? Like it's cool that quickswitch is getting some love but it's such an odd choice.

Because perhaps more people give a darn about Quickswitch then a obscure Japanese only character that's not even that popular compared to say Six Shot or Overlord?

I'd say that Hasbro probably thought Quickswitch was a higher priority.

Yeah I'd have to disagree with that given the amount of praise this line is getting for it's use of obscure Japanese references. I think a lot of people would've preferred greatshot out of Sixshot instead so that way there would be a chance, however slim, that a new mold quickswitch would happen.

I think that would've been a better path for Hasbro to go down personally because that way they could get two uses out of each mold. Or they could've doubled down and remolded Sixshot into a version of quickswitch with more accurate alt modes so that way they could get 4 uses out of 1 base mold (Sixshot, Greatshot, Quickswitch and Sixknight)

I believe it has more to do with the amount of retooling needed to make Great Shot out of Sixshot. Compared to Sixshot, he has:

- a new head
- new chest plate
- new chest wings
- new shoulder pieces
- new animal head

Something like that is more for the main line, really, whereas the box sets have straight redecos for the most part, with 1 or 2 retooled pieces. Great Shot has a whopping 5.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I believe it has more to do with the amount of retooling needed to make Great Shot out of Sixshot. Compared to Sixshot, he has:

- a new head
- new chest plate
- new chest wings
- new shoulder pieces
- new animal head

Something like that is more for the main line, really, whereas the box sets have straight redecos for the most part, with 1 or 2 retooled pieces. Great Shot has a whopping 5.

Worst case scenario is that he bears a very striking resemblance and needs an upgrade kit to look perfect. It's not exactly like Hasbro have felt mold re-uses in this line had to bear exact resemblances; just look at the likes of Krok or Nautica or Sky Shadow.
Besides, even without the new chestplate or shoulders he'd still look extremely like Greatshot with simply a new head. More than 'Quickswitch' here looks like his original toy.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I believe it has more to do with the amount of retooling needed to make Great Shot out of Sixshot. Compared to Sixshot, he has:

- a new head
- new chest plate
- new chest wings
- new shoulder pieces
- new animal head

Something like that is more for the main line, really, whereas the box sets have straight redecos for the most part, with 1 or 2 retooled pieces. Great Shot has a whopping 5.

Yeah but quickswitch originally shared 0 parts with Sixshot so it just seems odd that they bypassed the easy repaint to begin with. They didn't have to retool anything besides the helmet and it would still be more recognizable as Greatshot than quickswitch

Kurona wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I believe it has more to do with the amount of retooling needed to make Great Shot out of Sixshot. Compared to Sixshot, he has:

- a new head
- new chest plate
- new chest wings
- new shoulder pieces
- new animal head

Something like that is more for the main line, really, whereas the box sets have straight redecos for the most part, with 1 or 2 retooled pieces. Great Shot has a whopping 5.

Worst case scenario is that he bears a very striking resemblance and needs an upgrade kit to look perfect. It's not exactly like Hasbro have felt mold re-uses in this line had to bear exact resemblances; just look at the likes of Krok or Nautica or Sky Shadow.
Besides, even without the new chestplate or shoulders he'd still look extremely like Greatshot with simply a new head. More than 'Quickswitch' here looks like his original toy.

... except he'd have a wolf mode instead of a rhino

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Kurona wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I believe it has more to do with the amount of retooling needed to make Great Shot out of Sixshot. Compared to Sixshot, he has:

- a new head
- new chest plate
- new chest wings
- new shoulder pieces
- new animal head

Something like that is more for the main line, really, whereas the box sets have straight redecos for the most part, with 1 or 2 retooled pieces. Great Shot has a whopping 5.

Worst case scenario is that he bears a very striking resemblance and needs an upgrade kit to look perfect. It's not exactly like Hasbro have felt mold re-uses in this line had to bear exact resemblances; just look at the likes of Krok or Nautica or Sky Shadow.
Besides, even without the new chestplate or shoulders he'd still look extremely like Greatshot with simply a new head. More than 'Quickswitch' here looks like his original toy.

... except he'd have a wolf mode instead of a rhino

Very true, but 5/6 modes aren't bad. Especially when Quickswitch managed to keep... none of his modes intact.
Point is that while it's obviously not going to be perfect when you're just retooling a couple parts at best, Greatshot is a far better fit for the mold re-use than Quickswitch, and if you're extremely passionate about having him resemble the original toy and show model exactly there would likely be ways towards that through customisation or shapeways or whatnot. Quickswitch does not have such a priviledge.

Hey guys, with the whole Greatshot/Quickswitch thing, what if the choice of character was for the theme?

Think about it, speed set:

Rodimus Prime AKA the Prime known for racing and having a need for speed.

Fastlane AKA name speaks for speed itself.

Nautica AKA quantum mechanic AKA specializes in the fastest moving engines ever.

Laser Prime AKA the one with flames AKA flames = speed.

Quickswitch AKA "Quick" "Switch" AKA can change modes super fast.

they all have that necessary "speed" thingy that groups them up. Greatshot, unless undergoing a massive name change, would not have fit in either name or ability

Takara have an odd habit of releasing repaints as stand alone figures outside the main line (i.e. Black Convoy/scourge) so they might think it's worth the budget to do Greatshot themselves in such a way.

I get the impression that Starsaber is on the cards for 2018 so such a thing would be a nice complement to the theme.

I'd not mind an Orion Pax and Dion set either if they are of a mind to do it.

RAR wrote:I'd not mind an Orion Pax and Dion set either if they are of a mind to do it.

I can easily see ehobby doing this

steals_your_goats wrote:

RAR wrote:I'd not mind an Orion Pax and Dion set either if they are of a mind to do it.

I can easily see ehobby doing this

With the Powermaster Prime-faced Apex and Wheelie as Dion? Genius!

Kurona wrote:See, you'd think that... but Quickswitch's only real appearance was in a single Marvel UK comic strip which had no relevance to anything else going on in the comics. Compare that to Greatshot who was a regular character in a show that's quite beloved by a not-so-insignificant portion of the fandom.

They're both very obscure characters to be sure. I highly doubt that if Greatshot was in the set instead of Quickswitch, significantly less people would be interested.

Most of the fans from that show are from Japan and while yes there are plenty plenty of fans here it's still a smaller portion then one might think just because people are a fan of a show doesn't mean everyone is a fan of a particuler character from that show and I mean where was all this demand for Greatshot? I certainly heard of Quickswitch before Greatshot mostly because Quickswitch was a character from our Hasbro and I only heard of Greatshot from the Tfwiki prior to watching the show he was a part of.

Hasbro while no stranger to Jap characters Hasbro is still more likely to do an American character that they made up.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote:

RAR wrote:I'd not mind an Orion Pax and Dion set either if they are of a mind to do it.

I can easily see ehobby doing this

With the Powermaster Prime-faced Apex and Wheelie as Dion? Genius!

That's exactly how I see this turning out if it happens. I mean they did it with g1 Kup and wheelie so why not do it again with the modern figures

Terrsolpix wrote:I'm definitely in the minority, but I think it looks good. The primarily black truck kibble blends in pretty nicely, and the grey wings and cockpit give a nice contrast, giving it a bit of a simple look. The truck is all show, but the jet is a no-frills transportation mode [strike]excluding the giant "OPTIMUS PRIME" sticker[/strike

Yeah, if g2 prime's tanker trailer turned into a jet instead of a base/disc shooter, it would look like that.

Kurona wrote:See, you'd think that... but Quickswitch's only real appearance was in a single Marvel UK comic strip which had no relevance to anything else going on in the comics.

EXCUSE YOU



He had a major role in the best continuity of all, the Ladybird continuity.

Compare that to Greatshot who was a regular character in a show that's quite beloved by a not-so-insignificant portion of the fandom.

They're both very obscure characters to be sure. I highly doubt that if Greatshot was in the set instead of Quickswitch, significantly less people would be interested.

I can think of a few good reasons why Hasbro wanted to go with Quickswitch instead of Greatshot here:
1) Quickswitch's colours stand out more distinctly than Greatshot's would. Hasbro (and toy designers in general) tend to be concerned about making sets look like they have a greater variety than they have (unless it's a theme of the set like Computron or Batman Through The Ages) and Greatshot's red, black and blue would have overlapped with Fastclash, Rodimus and Laser Prime. Quickswitch's teal and cream stand out a lot more.
2. Hasbro presumably already have the trademark for "Quickswitch".
3. Takara may have already proposed a Greatshot retool anyway.
4. Thematically Quickswitch fits better with other 1988 characters in this line like Powermaster Prime, Fangry, Quake and Getaway. The only other Victory character in TR is Sky Shadow and he's getting in on IDW cred, not Victory.

Diem wrote:1) Quickswitch's colours stand out more distinctly than Greatshot's would. Hasbro (and toy designers in general) tend to be concerned about making sets look like they have a greater variety than they have (unless it's a theme of the set like Computron or Batman Through The Ages) and Greatshot's red, black and blue would have overlapped with Fastclash, Rodimus and Laser Prime. Quickswitch's teal and cream stand out a lot more.
2. Hasbro presumably already have the trademark for "Quickswitch".
3. Takara may have already proposed a Greatshot retool anyway.
4. Thematically Quickswitch fits better with other 1988 characters in this line like Powermaster Prime, Fangry, Quake and Getaway. The only other Victory character in TR is Sky Shadow and he's getting in on IDW cred, not Victory.

Most certainly agreed and are the only reasons I think he's getting in over Greatshot too - not because he's a more well-known character or anything, that's silly. Even if he and his Double Targetmaster companions did gruesomely end the war in Ladybird. Poor Fangry, Horri-Bull and Squeezeplay... they never stood a chance against these angels of death.

Though I'm not sure about the second reason you listed. Have we had any toys named Quickswitch from them recently? In any toyline; was there a GI Joe vehicle called that I missed?

Kurona wrote:
Though I'm not sure about the second reason you listed. Have we had any toys named Quickswitch from them recently? In any toyline; was there a GI Joe vehicle called that I missed?

As far as I know, a trademark in toys is lost only if the company is no longer making active use of it AND another company is attempting to use it in the same field. I don't believe there's any need to renew a trademark unless you are concerned about someone else ganking it.

Kurona wrote:See, you'd think that... but Quickswitch's only real appearance was in a single Marvel UK comic strip which had no relevance to anything else going on in the comics. Compare that to Greatshot who was a regular character in a show that's quite beloved by a not-so-insignificant portion of the fandom.

Not everything needs to have media exposure to be familiar to fans and you can't discount nostalgia. In America Quickswitch had a TV commercial, was in the checklist that year, and appeared in store catalogs, plus was actually on our store shelves. He may not have ever been on the forefront, but his presence has always been here, the same can't be said for Greatshot. We didn't even have decent access to the cartoon he appeared in until fairly recently.

steals_your_goats wrote:Yeah I'd have to disagree with that given the amount of praise this line is getting for it's use of obscure Japanese references.

Those obscure Japanese references have been to very prominent and well known characters that have had multiple appearances in the IDW comics. It isn't really fair to call the likes of Sky Shadow, Overlord, and Metalhawk obscure anymore. Sure, they've done some obscure Titan Master likenesses, but nobody bought Sixshot because Revolver looks like Jack. Greatshot is still a complete nobody over here.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote:Yeah I'd have to disagree with that given the amount of praise this line is getting for it's use of obscure Japanese references.

Those obscure Japanese references have been to very prominent and well known characters that have had multiple appearances in the IDW comics. It isn't really fair to call the likes of Sky Shadow, Overlord, and Metalhawk obscure anymore. Sure, they've done some obscure Titan Master likenesses, but nobody bought Sixshot because Revolver looks like Jack. Greatshot is still a complete nobody over here.

Emerje

Exactly their popular for more things then the Japanese portrayals for example I never heard of Overlord until Last Stand of the Wreckers and I never heard of Metalhawk until reading the Tfwiki (I did buy the Masterforce dvd set that year though).

The more the mainstay comics use an obscure character and people get curious about the character the more fans of the Japanese series there will potentially be and therefore more of a demand for those characters.

In all honesty how many of you actually heard of most of these characters from the original sources and not from American comics, Wikis or other people spreading their names around?

I dont see why the existence of fiction makes a difference. Most kids played with toys not knowing their fiction and Quickswitch being available in the US while Greatshot was not means that he will be more recognisable to that generation stateside.

But deep down, I think its all arbitrary, and I would have preffered greatshot just for the sake of it being more in line with a Sixshot redeco than Quickswitch.

william-james88 wrote:I dont see why the existence of fiction makes a difference. Most kids played with toys not knowing their fiction and Quickswitch being available in the US while Greatshot was not means that he will be more recognisable to that generation stateside.

But deep down, I think its all arbitrary, and I would have preffered greatshot just for the sake of it being more in line with a Sixshot redeco than Quickswitch.

We would all prefer to have every single figure redone but alas that's not what fate is meant for.

It is what it is and it is done.

I'm mostly listing fiction because it's what the bulk of the fandom seems to be interested in Generations for - they want a representation of their favourite character Soundwave or Ironhide or Galvatron from the TV show. These toys don't exist in a vacuum and I think it's pretty clear most people are into them in large part due to supporting fiction.

This comes into play especially because you notice a very large fandom dropout following 1986. The Headmasters you can kind of get away with as well as, of course, Powermaster Optimus Prime; but generally any character after 1987 that most in the fandom seem to know of would be those that got major fictional appearances. Nightbeat, Bludgeon, Thunderwing, Getaway, Overlord; you get the idea. Many a Transformers fan could list these without knowing Squeezeplay or Sub-marauder or Slapdash even exist despite sharing shelf-space with those characters at the same time. And it's a good thing in the case of Slapdash considering what his Powermaster was called...


So that's what I'm getting at. Generally any G1 character/toy that came after 1987 is only particularly well-known if they have significant fictional appearances, or they're Optimus Prime.
... or, they have a name like Erector. Because we're a mature fandom!

So I just can't see why a character nigh-exclusive to the toyline who came after 1988 would sell particularly well compared to another obscure character. Quickswitch is nowhere near the same category as Ratchet, Perceptor or Unicron or even Thunderwing. No-one knows who he is, and no-one knows who Greatshot is either. That's my point and why I bring up fiction.

Kurona wrote:So that's what I'm getting at. Generally any G1 character/toy that came after 1987 is only particularly well-known if they have significant fictional appearances, or they're Optimus Prime.
... or, they have a name like Erector. Because we're a mature fandom!

What do you mean Erector was always there in fact he is always with us about a few times a day for most of us.





I don't regret anything

To any Russian Seibertronians out there, this news is for you! Thanks to the TFW user SovietBot, we have our first sighting of the 4th wave of Titans Return deluxes over in Russia! They were spotted at a toy store called "Detskiy Mir" for 1700 RUR (or around $29 in the US)

Take a look at the photos provided ow, and please let us know if you've seen any new toys down in the comments below!

Bronzewolf wrote:To any Russian Seibertronians out there, this news is for you! Thanks to the TFW user SovietBot, we have our first sighting of the 4th wave of Titans Return deluxes over in Russia! They were spotted at a toy store called "Detskiy Mir" for 1700 RUR (or around $29 in the US)

Take a look at the photos provided ow, and please let us know if you've seen any new toys down in the comments below!

I still can't find them in the US! Thanks, Trump.

RodimusConvoy13 wrote:
I still can't find them in the US! Thanks, Trump.

Please don't bring politics here it's not your governments fault that your local stores have not yet picked up your toys.