The Energon Pub

If you like Misfire you'll love Slugslinger, trust me.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:If you like Misfire you'll love Slugslinger, trust me.

Hell yeah he's awesome! I don't regret the 5$ + taxes extra paid on top the regular 20$.
That way, I undercut the unreliable Walmart and TrU and got my figure for a not too expensive fee.

I hope my Geek store is able to get TLK Cogman too because he'll be a bi-OTCH to get.

-Kanrabat- wrote:Who's with me to declare Trigger Happy, Misfire, and Slugslinger TR's Seeker Trio?

As soon as I can get my grubby little paws on Slugslinger I will gladly declare them TR's Seeker Trio; for now, they'll just have to remain a fantastic TR Seeker Duo. (Seriously I still can't decide whether I like Triggerhappy or Misfire more, they're both so good!)

I'm sure other people ranted about this before. And I'm aware it is utterly and completely pointless to complain about it what with Hasbro making it clear they're not revisiting the gimmick but this is something which has utterly baffled me about Titans Return. I've returned to collecting Transformers with the line and, for the most part, even with some screw ups I've got a generally positive experience out of Titans Return and yet there is a certain design to it which has racked my brain:
[*]Titans Return is focused on Headmasters, either via oldschool Headmasters, other -masters redone as Titan Masters or just characters being made into Titan Masters for no apparent reason. Okay, no problem there.
[*] A mandatory design choice is that all Voyagers are triple-changing headmasters. Okay, cool.
And yet it BAFFLES ME that Apeface only existed as a little titan master figure and Snapdragon wasn't even in it at all. I have to wonder just what the hell Hasbro was smoking when they agreed on triple-changing headmasters and then not making the characters who were triple-changing headmasters. Does anyone know the reasoning for not remaking those headmasters when most got new figures? Was it simply because they didn't have any idea what to re-use the molds for? Because that argument falls apart given Voyager-class Galvatron who was never retooled into anything.

I know, I know, a pointless rant that won't change anything but I had to get it out of my system. If anyone has an official explanation from the toy designers I'd be curious to hear it. Again, it's not that they didn't do all the Headmasters that bother me so much as this combined with the mandated statement of all Voyager being triple changers. Talk about missed opportunity.

Skritz wrote:[*]Titans Return is focused on Headmasters, either via oldschool Headmasters, other -masters redone as Titan Masters or just characters being made into Titan Masters for no apparent reason. Okay, no problem there.
[*] A mandatory design choice is that all Voyagers are triple-changing headmasters. Okay, cool.
And yet it BAFFLES ME that Apeface only existed as a little titan master figure and Snapdragon wasn't even in it at all. I have to wonder just what the hell Hasbro was smoking when they agreed on triple-changing headmasters and then not making the characters who were triple-changing headmasters.

That, sir, is the cry of anguish every fans yell. And the cry keep echoing through the night.... and the day after.... and the next.............

Fans asked for a Dinobots combiner team and we'll finally get it in Power of the Primes. It was a fan-concept made true. But will the obvious (and official) Horrorcons be ever made? Maybe as some surprise figures yet to be announced for PotP?

I need my OFFICIAL Horrorcons updates. I don't want to eat fried chicken.

Galvatron was never retooled into anything, but he's a loooooot more important and popular of a character than the Horrorcons. Apeface and Snapdragon's triple-changing head gimmick (and the resulting nonstandard designs) would not have played nice with the "One Titan Master fits all" nature of the line, and even if you through that out they would have been annoying - not difficult, just annoying - to do as modern figures while being faithful to their designs. The original toys were a bit clunky, Apeface and his two separate sets of limbs especially. So I'm guessing that between that and their relative lack of popularity (which would tend to translate into a lack of sales) Hasbro just didn't want to bother.

As for why Snapdragon didn't even get a Titan Master representation, I blame the similarity of Crashbash's vehicle design and color choices. That and maybe his face design.

While I can't provide any explanation for why Apeface and Snapdragon didn't get figures in TR (aside from Hasbro as a whole being clinically insane), I can hopefully lift some spirits. In an interview with the design team during Hascon, John Warden (I think it was him?) said something along the lines of "We know fans are wanting Apeface, don't worry, we haven't forgotten about him" (and presumably Snapdragon also). Admittedly this was then followed up with a statement to the effect of "we just wanted to put them somewhere that they fit in" which makes NO FRIGGIN SENSE considering where could they possibly fit in better than TR, but at the very least it sounds like we will be getting Horrorcons at some point in the foreseeable future; just not quite yet I suppose. Gotta make sure they're done when it makes sense in the context of the line

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Galvatron was never retooled into anything, but he's a loooooot more important and popular of a character than the Horrorcons. Apeface and Snapdragon's triple-changing head gimmick (and the resulting nonstandard designs) would not have played nice with the "One Titan Master fits all" nature of the line, and even if you through that out they would have been annoying - not difficult, just annoying - to do as modern figures while being faithful to their designs. The original toys were a bit clunky, Apeface and his two separate sets of limbs especially. So I'm guessing that between that and their relative lack of popularity (which would tend to translate into a lack of sales) Hasbro just didn't want to bother.

Couldn't they have just engineered them with non-Headmaster beastmode heads? Well that and my gut tell me a dragon and ape would have sold way better than poor Broadside, who is shelf-warming to an absurd degree at least around my place.

The more I think about it, the more fairly obvious Apeface and Snapdragon not being done becomes.

In the Prime Wars trilogy, this is Hasbro's only opportunity to do Voyagers who are not Combiner Torsos. Naturally they're going to want to do the rest of the 1985/6 Triple Changers and they want a redo at Galvatron. All of these are much more popular characters than Apeface and Snapdragon and all 5 require their own mold. There simply wasn't space for the horrorcons, unless people want to wait a lot longer for Galvatron and Blitzwing.

+ there's a bunch of other Headmasters that we never got

Minerva
Hosehead
Siren
Nightbeat
Sunstreaker
Sideways(I know he's not an official Headmaster)

+ a bunch of TM's we've yet to get

Kirk
Rodney
Loafer

@Qwan: The thing about Titans Return is it has a strict standardized design for the Headmaster partners, and in G1 Spasma and Krunk were anything but standard thanks to forming the robot and beast mode heads. Spasma had his robot face on the back of his legs (where Titan Masters have a protruding spur and two hollows that act as connection points for seating them), and Krunk had his hip joints at his torso and his pelvis as his connector. If they wanted to keep that, they'd have to wait 'til after Titans Return when they would thus be free from that stricture - that could be what he meant with that comment. There's also what Kurona said about priority, so he could have been talking about fitting in Apeface priority-wise.

@Stuartmaximus: Kirk, Rodney, and Loafer lacked the benefit of an animal form that provided a handy starting point for the vehicle. Also, we at least got Nightbeat and Siren as Titan Masters (which all the '88 Headmasters were relegated to because the '86-'87 cast had priority). Hosehead, I'll grant you.

Skritz wrote:

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Galvatron was never retooled into anything, but he's a loooooot more important and popular of a character than the Horrorcons. Apeface and Snapdragon's triple-changing head gimmick (and the resulting nonstandard designs) would not have played nice with the "One Titan Master fits all" nature of the line, and even if you through that out they would have been annoying - not difficult, just annoying - to do as modern figures while being faithful to their designs. The original toys were a bit clunky, Apeface and his two separate sets of limbs especially. So I'm guessing that between that and their relative lack of popularity (which would tend to translate into a lack of sales) Hasbro just didn't want to bother.

Couldn't they have just engineered them with non-Headmaster beastmode heads? Well that and my gut tell me a dragon and ape would have sold way better than poor Broadside, who is shelf-warming to an absurd degree at least around my place.

Yes, they could have. I mentioned that possibility even. Although I said "through" instead of "threw" Even with non-Headmaster beast mode heads bringing them up to modern standards would be annoying. I didn't say difficult, I didn't say impossible, I said annoying. There's also what Kurona said about the Triple Changers being higher-priority for Hasbro.

Also, Snapdragon's beast mode is T. Rex, not a dragon.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Also, Snapdragon's beast mode is T. Rex, not a dragon.

Like Trypticon, Snapdragon don't turn into a "T-Rex".

Both turn into a KAIJU.

Stuartmaximus wrote:+ there's a bunch of other Headmasters that we never got

Minerva
Hosehead
Siren
Nightbeat
Sunstreaker
Sideways(I know he's not an official Headmaster)

+ a bunch of TM's we've yet to get

Kirk
Rodney
Loafer

We got a titan master for Nightbeat, just not a body for him. Cab, Minerva, and Goshooter can be imported, again with no bodies, although repolabels are an option for the latter two of those I mentioned if you buy a bunch of the Getaway/Breakaway figures. Hopefully, they revisit some of these characters after POTPs along with Apeface, Snapdragon, and the Autobot targetmaster trio they skipped.

I notice that the Arcee box has the Intelligence symbol on it (the head with gears). Is this how they're wrapping up the two missing box sets? I'm assuming the Walgreens twins pack with have the Fireblast symbol?

Really?



Seriously, I'm not against the idea of getting great things to the masses.... but what was even the point of the initial exclusivity??

Everyone's finding Misfire, Windblade, Twintwist & Ramhorn...

And I'm just sitting here with Repugnus.

shajaki wrote:Seriously, I'm not against the idea of getting great things to the masses.... but what was even the point of the initial exclusivity??

It was never a HasCon "exclusive" in the same vein as other convention-only exclusives. It was always to be that HasCon would be the venue of its first release before its wider release venue would come later.

bodrock wrote:Everyone's finding Misfire, Windblade, Twintwist & Ramhorn...

And I'm just sitting here with Repugnus.

IMG_7702.JPG

I'm not!

BTW everyone bar the UK y'mean

No luck in the UK either, Stuartmaximus?

I really hope we see them final wave(s) -- otherwise I'll be hunting at the discount retailers soon to see if they got dumped, like I did for Sky Lynx.

Or there's always online

True, online is always available....but it just isn't the same.

There has been confusion from the very beginning with Titans return Arcee. She was labelled as an exclusive tied with Hascon but it seemed she would be available elsewhere at a later date. We didn't know if that would mean just Hasbro Toy Shop, or if the temporary exclusivity was linked to the other toys in the press release rather than Arcee. Well, mystery solved, thanks to Shajaki we now know that Arcee will also be available at Toysrus at a later date. A listing is currently on their website, with a $24.99 price tag. A release date of the October 5th is also written. This is very similar to the Mastepiece releases which are first released "exclusively" at a convention and then end up at Toysrus. We now have another reason to hope Toysrus sticks around for a while.

And now I'm the current highest bidder on an eBay listing.

Slugslinger is in stock on Amazon for $19.99 and eligible for Prime. Not sure how long it will last.

https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Gen ... lugslinger

TF-fan kev777 wrote:Slugslinger is in stock on Amazon for $19.99 and eligible for Prime. Not sure how long it will last.

https://www.amazon.com/Transformers-Gen ... lugslinger

Thank you for that! Saved me a larger bill at BBTS because of having to buy two other figures with Sluggy. (Though I hate to do that to BBTS as they have been so very good to me...)