The Energon Pub

This is how it's done. While I understand ILMs need to suggest a truly alien civilization based on eons old sentient technology, it certainly doesn't hurt to design humanoid forms that balance beauty (or at the very least clarity) and power. Emilano's work marries these goals perfectly in his art, Transformers or otherwise. Love this stuff!

Wow, that looks awesome. Not so sure about the fur, but awesome nonetheless.

Kurona wrote:Something very interesting about that then is that if this was not meant to be made into a toy - and hence no retool - it was not designed with Vector Prime in mind, despite having the chest circle thing and the sword.

Very true. This is very sweet though, and I love that staff

Kurona wrote:No-one's really saying it's a gimmick...

SureShot18 wrote:At this point I think the only gimmick I'd be happy with is beasts for the next line.

Kurona wrote:it's just that all other previous G1 gimmicks are either exhausted (combiners, headmasters)...

Well, I think we've got a few more combiners people really want, but I suppose they are beast based ones, and thus fit in if the theorized "Beast" theme comes to pass...

Kurona wrote:...too similar to previous gimmicks and have their main characters represented anyway (targetmasters, powermasters)...

I'd still love more proper Targetmasters and any proper Powermasters, but I agree that it is unlikely. Especially because if, say, they did start doing Power Masters, for example, many people (myself included) will be annoyed that characters (such as Powermaster Optimus Prime) that should have been Powermasters were instead Headmasters.

It is too bad Hasbro was hell bent on everyone having the interchangeable heads. Imagine if Titan Masters instead could be either heads, guns, or engine blocks, but all still had the same size robot mode, all still had the same size peg holes in their feet, and all had the same interactivity with the figures who had base modes. It could have meant that certain characters that shouldn't have been Headmasters (*cough*Galvatron*cough*) wouldn't have to have been, and we could have still had some measure of cross-toy line interactivity. Ah, well, no use spending too much time lamenting what could have been.

Kurona wrote:...or are just flat-out not viable (action masters, pretenders)

Action Masters, I'll agree, would be a terrible idea. I'd kind of not mind seeing Pretenders, but I'll agree it may not be the most feasible idea. It would wipe out the smaller size classes, as what would have been a Legend would now be sold as a Deluxe, with a Legends class figure in a Deluxe sized shell. And even then, it would probably add a few bucks cost to each size class.

william-james88 wrote:I was thinking of something, we often show the toys we got and talk about the toys we will get, but what about the toys we wont get.

There are certainly many toys I won't get. Not necessarily because I think they are bad toys. I'm certainly happy they're coming out for other people who may enjoy them. I skip them for various reasons:

* They aren't a toy I feel strongly enough about to order online, and I never see it in the store. Examples include things like Stripes or Sentinel Prime.

* It is a toy I have an earlier version of for that character, and I don't feel the new one is superior to the old one to a degree I feel that it has made the old one was obsolete. Examples include Combiner Wars Ultra Magus (I, for one, am still happy with the Fansproject add-on for the Classics version) or Combiner Wars Bruticus (again, still happy with my Fansproject-augmented earlier version).

* It is a character I just wasn't interested in in the first place. Examples include Victorion. (Although, if the budget allows, I am interested in what Takara's doing with those molds.)

Does anyone else's Highbrow have a super floppy head connection?

Vic Zanzibar wrote:Does anyone else's Highbrow have a super floppy head connection?

Kinda

For a toy that added an entire 3rd mode, I feel that the robot mode looks pretty close to the original design. Well done to both Hasbro and the artist

Problem is Hasbro is on record saying that Titans Masters aren't called Headmasters because they embody all three -master types.

Headmaster- Form the head of larger robots
Powermaster- Form the engine of the small vehicles
Targetmaster- Form a gun with the small vehicles

I suppose you could also add Action Masters to that since they don't have normal alt modes and ride around on vehicles.

I doubt they'll go back on that and start doing Targetmasters and Powermasters in the next series when they've got several members of both in this line.

Maybe we're overthinking it and Hasbro will surprise us with something entirely different that we haven't thought of yet. Maybe vehicle combiners where they come together to form giant tanks and air ships so instead of coming with HFGs they instead come with big wheels or wings. Downside is it would be hard to do a scramble with something like that.

Maybe a line like Transmetals where everyone has both a beast and vehicle mode, but better, would be fun?

Or better yet, just drop the whole concept of doing line-wide gimmicks and themes in a line that's supposed to be more accessible to adults and go back to the way things were pre-Combiner Wars so each figure felt unique.

Emerje

Asda now has the Wave 2 deluxes in stock at £20. Picked up Chromedome and Mindwipe.

I wish the toy had that staff...

It's like Alpha Trion merged with Anduin Lothar of Warcraft lore. I love it.

It helps to reinforce my headcanon that TR Trion put on some Magnus-style armor to take up the fight again.

ThunderThruster wrote:Asda now has the Wave 2 deluxes in stock at £20. Picked up Chromedome and Mindwipe.

TWENTY QUID

Jesus. I remember when Voyagers used to cost that. And in those days, Deluxes were better quality than the Leaders we have now/

Is it just me that thinks instead of these really...in my opinion awful gimmicks on the voyagers with the spring, instead they could have made a gentle push sort of thing that just pops the headmaster off instead? That would have been so much cooler, it would have been like an ejecting sort of thing. I think it could have been done, but just have made it not so intense in power so that it doesn't just ping off and then you are left with a headless figure. I would much rather this than some rather pointless and ugly looking whateveryoucallthem on Astrotrain.

LeAwesome1 wrote:Is it just me that thinks instead of these really...in my opinion awful gimmicks on the voyagers with the spring, instead they could have made a gentle push sort of thing that just pops the headmaster off instead? That would have been so much cooler, it would have been like an ejecting sort of thing. I think it could have been done, but just have made it not so intense in power so that it doesn't just ping off and then you are left with a headless figure. I would much rather this than some rather pointless and ugly looking whateveryoucallthem on Astrotrain.

They're not pointless, they're intended to bulk out the head to prevent it from looking too small on Voyager bodies. Besides astrotrain has always had those

steals_your_goats wrote:

LeAwesome1 wrote:Is it just me that thinks instead of these really...in my opinion awful gimmicks on the voyagers with the spring, instead they could have made a gentle push sort of thing that just pops the headmaster off instead? That would have been so much cooler, it would have been like an ejecting sort of thing. I think it could have been done, but just have made it not so intense in power so that it doesn't just ping off and then you are left with a headless figure. I would much rather this than some rather pointless and ugly looking whateveryoucallthem on Astrotrain.

They're not pointless, they're intended to bulk out the head to prevent it from looking too small on Voyager bodies. Besides astrotrain has always had those

Hm, I suppose, just to me they seem rather strange looking and the head has rather good proportions without them, but still the gimmick of firing the head off would be nice.

Alpha Dominus wrote:This is how it's done. While I understand ILMs need to suggest a truly alien civilization based on eons old sentient technology, it certainly doesn't hurt to design humanoid forms that balance beauty (or at the very least clarity) and power. Emilano's work marries these goals perfectly in his art, Transformers or otherwise. Love this stuff!

concept art looks better than,

Not all aliens have to be balanced these aliens use alternate forms for disguises which are earth vehicles in there alien parts are there bodies in bot modes in first generation comic series iron hide looks like red mini van, but in bot mode he looks blocky and alien looking aliens are not from earth that's why some menacing, not humanoid looking at all and some aliens are from other planets kinda do blend in cone heads, Vulcans, aliens from alien nation 99% alien movies I watch aliens not born, created from earth they do not look humanoid at all predator, aliens, nameks, buu, doomsday, brainiac, lobo, unicron, primus, quentisons, darkseid,

Delta Magnus wrote:

ThunderThruster wrote:Asda now has the Wave 2 deluxes in stock at £20. Picked up Chromedome and Mindwipe.

TWENTY QUID

Jesus. I remember when Voyagers used to cost that. And in those days, Deluxes were better quality than the Leaders we have now/

It's becoming the norm, as both Toys'T'Us and The Entertainer have done the same

Optimus Prime is the obvious "Premold" for Octane & Megatron looks like he could be retooled as Blitzwing. Best news looks to be Sixshot.

dragons wrote:

Alpha Dominus wrote:This is how it's done. While I understand ILMs need to suggest a truly alien civilization based on eons old sentient technology, it certainly doesn't hurt to design humanoid forms that balance beauty (or at the very least clarity) and power. Emilano's work marries these goals perfectly in his art, Transformers or otherwise. Love this stuff!

concept art looks better than,

Not all aliens have to be balanced these aliens use alternate forms for disguises which are earth vehicles in there alien parts are there bodies in bot modes in first generation comic series iron hide looks like red mini van, but in bot mode he looks blocky and alien looking aliens are not from earth that's why some menacing, not humanoid looking at all and some aliens are from other planets kinda do blend in cone heads, Vulcans, aliens from alien nation 99% alien movies I watch aliens not born, created from earth they do not look humanoid at all predator, aliens, nameks, buu, doomsday, brainiac, lobo, unicron, primus, quentisons, darkseid,

Erm...brainiac was played by a human, in Smallville! Predator, Unicron, Primus, Doomsday all look humanoid(two arms, two legs & a head)

holy alpha trion prime

Kurona wrote:Something very interesting about that then is that if this was not meant to be made into a toy - and hence no retool - it was not designed with Vector Prime in mind, despite having the chest circle thing and the sword.

Except, I remember hearing that part of this inspiraction came from the Botcon Trion, who was a rehead of Vector Prime anyway.

Flashwave wrote:

Kurona wrote:Something very interesting about that then is that if this was not meant to be made into a toy - and hence no retool - it was not designed with Vector Prime in mind, despite having the chest circle thing and the sword.

Except, I remember hearing that part of this inspiraction came from the Botcon Trion, who was a rehead of Vector Prime anyway.

Doy, I keep forgetting about that

Kurona wrote:

Flashwave wrote:

Kurona wrote:Something very interesting about that then is that if this was not meant to be made into a toy - and hence no retool - it was not designed with Vector Prime in mind, despite having the chest circle thing and the sword.

Except, I remember hearing that part of this inspiraction came from the Botcon Trion, who was a rehead of Vector Prime anyway.

Doy, I keep forgetting about that

It's okay, I forget about convention exclusives and the like too - except in my case it's more to numb the pain of not being able to buy them at retail

Comment moved to : brag-or-cry-about-your-retail-transformers-section-p1826345.php#p1826345

Kurona wrote:And here I was thinking I was the only one who thought a bat looked like a website link. Who's laughing now, people who said I needed glasses

Say Kurona , not meaning to go off topic but what book did this image:

come from?