The Energon Pub

As I recall, people over the years had really gotten sick of Hasbro/Takara making Cliffjumper toys from Bumblebee molds instead of giving him his own mold. "Cliffjumper ain't no red Bumblebee!", "Hasbro so lazy not giving Cliffjumper his own mold!" and such were frequent (paraphrased) criticisms people would give every time there was a new Cliffjumper toy redecoed from a Bumblebee mold.

After all, the may have shared transformation engineering back in G1, but weren't the same mold back then either.

It's not just Bumblebee and Cliffjumper because Starscream shared his mold with countless jets.

Black Hat wrote:whenever we get him he's usually a straight redeco of a Bumblebee without even a new head.

And that's exactly why I would have been the first to say "Hasbro, pls stahp'.

And if they can pause a bit with bumblebee too, I would not be offended.

Jason5billion wrote:It's not just Bumblebee and Cliffjumper because Starscream shared his mold with countless jets.

Well, they are the same jet. All the non-conehead seekers are identical aside from some with unique wings.

Hasbro probably wanted it that way because it's a good way to avoid having to come up with more molds.

Jason5billion wrote:Hasbro probably wanted it that way because it's a good way to avoid having to come up with more molds.

Well, back in G1, there were limited molds to choose from. They chose the one that we now know as the seeker mold, and as such the TV show had them and introduced more as backliners and generics throughout the cartoon.

Terrsolpix wrote:

Jason5billion wrote:Hasbro probably wanted it that way because it's a good way to avoid having to come up with more molds.

Well, back in G1, there were limited molds to choose from. They chose the one that we now know as the seeker mold, and as such the TV show had them and introduced more as backliners and generics throughout the cartoon.

In all fairness, compared to the original Diaclone and Microman lines, there are actually very few "extras" as each release from 1984 and part of 1985 has a counterpart. The one that doesn't is Skywarp, a TF-original deco. And the retools already existed, all Hasbro did was import them (and redeco a few of them).

And yeah, Cliffjumper out of Bumblebee has been done to death, the concept is more stale than weeks-old bread.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Terrsolpix wrote:

Jason5billion wrote:Hasbro probably wanted it that way because it's a good way to avoid having to come up with more molds.

Well, back in G1, there were limited molds to choose from. They chose the one that we now know as the seeker mold, and as such the TV show had them and introduced more as backliners and generics throughout the cartoon.

In all fairness, compared to the original Diaclone and Microman lines, there are actually very few "extras" as each release from 1984 and part of 1985 has a counterpart. The one that doesn't is Skywarp, a TF-original deco. And the retools already existed, all Hasbro did was import them (and redeco a few of them).

And yeah, Cliffjumper out of Bumblebee has been done to death, the concept is more stale than weeks-old bread.

At least week old stale bread is great for chicken stuffing. Bee redecos to Cliff don't taste all too good. Trust me, I tried

Hey, uh, for those who have Triggerhappy: In vehicle mode, his crotch piece prevents the landing gear from working properly, on both my copies. Anyone else have that problem?

Sigma Magnus wrote:Hey, uh, for those who have Triggerhappy: In vehicle mode, his crotch piece prevents the landing gear from working properly, on both my copies. Anyone else have that problem?

If you have this problem, please call your local doctor immediately.

Sigma Magnus wrote:Hey, uh, for those who have Triggerhappy: In vehicle mode, his crotch piece prevents the landing gear from working properly, on both my copies. Anyone else have that problem?

what are you talking about?

Kurona wrote:

Sigma Magnus wrote:Hey, uh, for those who have Triggerhappy: In vehicle mode, his crotch piece prevents the landing gear from working properly, on both my copies. Anyone else have that problem?

If you have this problem, please call your local doctor immediately.

Damn right.

How is that even possible? They are in completely different places in vehicle mode.

Pic for clarification, I guess?



First of all, sorry, probably worded that poorly. As you can (hopefully) see, when I have the front landing gear down, the back wheels don't touch the ground, so he just tilts back and forth on the front wheel and the crotch piece. Am I just being dumb and transforming him wrong? I feel like that's what the problem is...

Sigma Magnus wrote:Pic for clarification, I guess?



First of all, sorry, probably worded that poorly. As you can (hopefully) see, when I have the front landing gear down, the back wheels don't touch the ground, so he just tilts back and forth on the front wheel and the crotch piece. Am I just being dumb and transforming him wrong? I feel like that's what the problem is...

I get the same problem too. The best I could do is compress the legs even more and it got closer. It just give him a flight stand if you really want to display him in vehicular form.

Terrsolpix wrote:

Sigma Magnus wrote:Pic for clarification, I guess?



First of all, sorry, probably worded that poorly. As you can (hopefully) see, when I have the front landing gear down, the back wheels don't touch the ground, so he just tilts back and forth on the front wheel and the crotch piece. Am I just being dumb and transforming him wrong? I feel like that's what the problem is...

I get the same problem too. The best I could do is compress the legs even more and it got closer. It just give him a flight stand if you really want to display him in vehicular form.

Yeah same here, and compressing the legs does just make it worse. The opposite is also true though: if you readjust his crotch-piece to be further off the ground, at the expense of having his legs be less compressed, he comes a lot closer to touching the ground with his wheels (almost to the point that he almost doesn't noticeably wobble).


..."If you readjust his crotch-piece to be further off the ground"

Sigma Magnus wrote:Pic for clarification, I guess?



First of all, sorry, probably worded that poorly. As you can (hopefully) see, when I have the front landing gear down, the back wheels don't touch the ground, so he just tilts back and forth on the front wheel and the crotch piece. Am I just being dumb and transforming him wrong? I feel like that's what the problem is...

If you mean the little nubs, yeah they don't quite touch the ground. He still balances on the tip of his crotch.

Overcracker wrote:If you mean the little nubs, yeah they don't quite touch the ground. He still balances on the tip of his crotch.

triggerhappyvehicle.jpg

triggerhappyvehicle2.jpg

Another solution (sort of) is to attach his guns under his wings. Then he is resting on the 2 guns and the landing gear for a 3 point contact, and much more stability.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Terrsolpix wrote:

Jason5billion wrote:Hasbro probably wanted it that way because it's a good way to avoid having to come up with more molds.

Well, back in G1, there were limited molds to choose from. They chose the one that we now know as the seeker mold, and as such the TV show had them and introduced more as backliners and generics throughout the cartoon.

In all fairness, compared to the original Diaclone and Microman lines, there are actually very few "extras" as each release from 1984 and part of 1985 has a counterpart. The one that doesn't is Skywarp, a TF-original deco. And the retools already existed, all Hasbro did was import them (and redeco a few of them).

And yeah, Cliffjumper out of Bumblebee has been done to death, the concept is more stale than weeks-old bread.

The coneheads' wings (and Dirge and Ramjet's weapons) were original to Transformers.

Regarding Roadburn (who is kinda bizarre because he has Freeway's head but Chase's colors) being made instead of Cliffjumper... I think CJ being made out of Bee would have been excusable in this case, especially since the made-up car altmode is actually closer to Cliffjumper's Chibi Porsche altmode than Bumblebee's VW beetle altmode, but I guess they wanted to A. go with the 86-87 trend and B. make somebody who had a head differently colored from his body and thus stood out more on the store shelves.

I just picked up Perceptor at Target today and am loving him. I love that he's not only got a working scope like the original toy, he retains the original toy's Microchange-holdover tank mode. I want to get the original toy's gun and launcher to go with him (aren't 5mm ports beautiful?).

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Terrsolpix wrote:

Jason5billion wrote:Hasbro probably wanted it that way because it's a good way to avoid having to come up with more molds.

Well, back in G1, there were limited molds to choose from. They chose the one that we now know as the seeker mold, and as such the TV show had them and introduced more as backliners and generics throughout the cartoon.

In all fairness, compared to the original Diaclone and Microman lines, there are actually very few "extras" as each release from 1984 and part of 1985 has a counterpart. The one that doesn't is Skywarp, a TF-original deco. And the retools already existed, all Hasbro did was import them (and redeco a few of them).

And yeah, Cliffjumper out of Bumblebee has been done to death, the concept is more stale than weeks-old bread.

The coneheads' wings (and Dirge and Ramjet's weapons) were original to Transformers.

Regarding Roadburn (who is kinda bizarre because he has Freeway's head but Chase's colors) being made instead of Cliffjumper... I think CJ being made out of Bee would have been excusable in this case, especially since the made-up car altmode is actually closer to Cliffjumper's Chibi Porsche altmode than Bumblebee's VW beetle altmode, but I guess they wanted to A. go with the 86-87 trend and B. make somebody who had a head differently colored from his body and thus stood out more on the store shelves.

I just picked up Perceptor at Target today and am loving him. I love that he's not only got a working scope like the original toy, he retains the original toy's Microchange-holdover tank mode. I want to get the original toy's gun and launcher to go with him (aren't 5mm ports beautiful?).

Beautiful? They're practically art

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Overcracker wrote:If you mean the little nubs, yeah they don't quite touch the ground. He still balances on the tip of his crotch.

triggerhappyvehicle.jpg

triggerhappyvehicle2.jpg

Another solution (sort of) is to attach his guns under his wings. Then he is resting on the 2 guns and the landing gear for a 3 point contact, and much more stability.

Indeed, this was what I was going to suggest. I thought I didn't have any clearance problems, but when I went to look at the landing gear, I couldn't see it because of the underslung guns. When I took the guns off, sunova... Mine has the same clearance problem with the crotch.

Maybe I need to separate Triggerhappy and Nautica more in my display...

Kurona wrote:

Sigma Magnus wrote:Hey, uh, for those who have Triggerhappy: In vehicle mode, his crotch piece prevents the landing gear from working properly, on both my copies. Anyone else have that problem?

If you have this problem, please call your local doctor immediately.

If crotch piece related issues continue to occur for more than four hours after use of landing gear, please seek emergency help.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Overcracker wrote:If you mean the little nubs, yeah they don't quite touch the ground. He still balances on the tip of his crotch.

triggerhappyvehicle.jpg

triggerhappyvehicle2.jpg

Another solution (sort of) is to attach his guns under his wings. Then he is resting on the 2 guns and the landing gear for a 3 point contact, and much more stability.

So he's basically like G1 Blitzwing, who is designed to land on his tank turret and the deployable front landing gear

Anyone know where I can get Ramhorn for not stupid money in the UK? I need one for a Metalhawk custom I'm planning.

WOOOOOH

Found me a Shuffler and a Repugnus hidden away at the back of a peg at my Meijer today

For some reason, they only had 1 of each, but piles of apeface, hound, loudmouth, nightbeat, guess hasbro still can't get their sh|t together and make the new figures easy to get from a case

I'd like to thank anyone who kept an eye for me for these unnecessarily hard-to-find figures

Hellscream9999 wrote:WOOOOOH

Found me a Shuffler and a Repugnus hidden away at the back of a peg at my Meijer today

For some reason, they only had 1 of each, but piles of apeface, hound, loudmouth, nightbeat, guess hasbro still can't get their sh|t together and make the new figures easy to get from a case

I'd like to thank anyone who kept an eye for me for these unnecessarily hard-to-find figures

Actually, a case of wave 4 titan masters is 3 Repugnus, 3 shufflers, 3 Nightbeats, and 3 flywheels. Meijer also got slammed with wave 2. That's why there still so many of those there. The Meijer in Ann Arbor, have a ton of wave 2, no wave 3, and I've seen wave 4 once.