The Energon Pub

pity Crashbash's TM doesn't work as a head for POTP Grimlock

I'd been debating getting Blaster since TR started. I wanted a toon accurate head and smaller robot mode for my S3 display. But I regretted not getting him because this is probably the best Blaster we'll get outside Masterpiece.

Just walked into Walmart. Found a Blaster randomly on the shelf. Ran a price check. $21! Sold!

RodimusRex wrote:I'd been debating getting Blaster since TR started. I wanted a toon accurate head and smaller robot mode for my S3 display. But I regretted not getting him because this is probably the best Blaster we'll get outside Masterpiece.

Just walked into Walmart. Found a Blaster randomly on the shelf. Ran a price check. $21! Sold!

He's a pretty fun fella, if maybe a little forgettable in the grand scheme of the line. (He's probably one of the ones I play with least often - since I do like to play with my toys - but he still looks damn good on display as long as scale isn't an issue.)

I think it's pertinent to re-share my personal favorite configuration for Blaster:


Why HOLD a boombox when you can BE ONE with the boombox

Blaster is a pretty good leader! I think him being a boombox and not very playable in terms of driving and swooshing around is why he is sort of forgotten. And we also got bangup Decepticons too.

Actually, this line was awesome for my con shelf. When it's done, I'll have added 3 leaders. 6 voyagers, and several deluxes and smaller guys to my collection. My con shelf now looks really good.

Also, Qwan, you just made me realize I needed to transform Blaster and have him on Fort Max, not standing in bot mode in front of him and Computron

Soundwave and Blaster are just Titan Master bases to me.

Rysquad wrote:Soundwave and Blaster are just Titan Master bases to me.

Same here.

A device altmode in the middle of a line of vehicules is just ridiculous. With bonus point of ridiculoussness for the mode itself, which is not recognizable by nowaday kids and the datapads which are nonsense to somebody who don't know the original toy.
If.. If at least the whole thing was able to play music, like the device label soundwave, it would have been some kind of justification, but it doesn't even do this.

Apparently it shelfwarmed a lot, I hope it sends some signals to hasbro about G1 Slave-ish.

(And I do hope that the POTP Windcharger shelves a lot too, this head is unforgivable)

ExciKaiser wrote:Apparently it shelfwarmed a lot, I hope it sends some signals to hasbro about G1 Slave-ish.

(And I do hope that the POTP Windcharger shelves a lot too, this head is unforgivable)

wow...so much hate . Anyway...I don't think any TR figure has really shelf warmed, at least from what I can see. And I saw 8 Broadsides in a single store at one time, which I had never seen before, I thought for sure that would shelf warm, but nope...

and since when is something looking the way it's supposed to look unforgivable?? Not everything can be styled and extreeeeeme!!! like IDW.

As much as I criticize Hasbro, they seem to know what they are doing. Generations toys appeal to fans like myself. I'm not sure what the appeal of Movie Line or RiD15 toys are, but apparently Hasbro does because they make tons of them, and apparently they sell. I don't know what the appeal of non-transforming $20 action figures with 2 points of articulation are either, but apparently somebody is buying them

I wanna get a Soundwave at some point. Leader class is perfect scaling for me, and I do have two of the Legends tablet thingies (Rewind and Buzzsaw -- the latter of whom I will still ardently defend) that I wanna try out with him

Although Buzzsaw was released under the CW brand, we know what he as meant for. he works just as all the other tablets do in TR, with Soundwave & Blaster.

So what figures are everybody missing from TR, with the end nearly upon us?

Myself, I have pretty much everything. Still on the hunt for Ramhorn and the Cloudraker/Wingspan 2 Pack. But I was able to get everything else. It was actually a decent mix of online vs B&M shopping, which surprised me a bit after the difficulties I had with B&M shopping for CW figures.

Even have 3 Scourges (as my sweeps) and 7 Gnaws (for my Gnawrmy). As far as individual figure playability this has been a top-notch line.

Definitely got a lot more hits than I expected. So with the line nearly over, and highly unlikely to be anymore surprises coming our way, what did you like/dislike about the line?

I can start with my top and bottom figures in each category:

Titan Master:
Best: Shuffler, just a fantastic figure. So I am expecting Ramhorn to be the same.
Runner Up: Disincluding Ramhorn, I think I have to pick Sawback. Repugnus was close, but now that Grotusque came out I have to say I am disappointed he isn't a deluxe. Still like him, but I can't help but look at him disappointingly.
Miss: The "worst" in this size class for me was Crashbash (aka Squeezeplay). While I a good toy (worked well for Overboard and Clobber), something a little closer to his original form would have been nice.

Legends:
Best: Had you asked me mid-line, it would have been Gnaw all the way. However it has to be Brawn for me. Just a great figure in my mind. Followed closely by...
Runner Up: Seaspray. This one was a total shocker for me, did not see him coming, and I didn't expect him to be so much fun. Feel bad for my Gnaws, but they still get love too.
Miss: For this, rather than a figure, the Miss is a lack of figures. Steeljaw, Blue "Frenzy", and Eject could have been super easy repaints for the end of the line to pack with Wave 4/5, and would have been well received. Sad that we will have to wait even longer for these guys.

Deluxe:
Best: This is a really hard one, in the end the the Jumpstarters win out. They are big, imposing guys and feel like I get a lot of toy for the money. The transformations are clever yet simple.
Runner Up: 2nd place really does have to go the Targetmaster jets. The variations make them feel unique to one another, and have very solid robot and alt modes.
Miss: I like the toy, but Perceptor has one glaring error I cannot pass by. His alt-mode has no way to hide the titan master. Otherwise he is a fun toy, but I am always fearful of displaying him in Microscope/Weird Tank mode for fear the titan master will disappear.

Voyager:
Best: Octone and Blitzwing. I don't really need to say anything else, both are fantastic representations of their triple changing characters
Runner Up: Astrotrain. Could have tied for first as well, but the train mode is a little nondescript. I think had they went with just a train engine rather than a war train that would have been the difference for me. It is still a good alt-mode, but not good enough to earn the top spot
Miss: Galvatron. Nearly perfect, but that crown and headsculpt combo really hurts a lot more than I would care to admit. Shapeways could help, but then the figure is no longer vanilla.

Leader:
Best: Since I don't have Overlord unpacked yet I cannot say him, so I have to go with his mold mate, Sky Shadow.
Runner Up: Magnus Prime. Kinda a tough choice here, but it makes me want to get my hands on LG-42 somehow. Blaster and Soundwave are great figures, but a little to big for my display purposes.
Miss: Powermaster Prime. While the feet of Magnus are weird, the rest really make PM OP look bad. I like both figures, but he has got too many faults compared to the rest of the line, and the Evolution gimmick in PotP

Titan:
Trypticon is a fantastic figure, with the only fault (outside of manufacturing defects) being the asinine level of stickers he has. Fort Max was fun, but he can't hold a candle to the Space T-Rex.

So, for everyone else. What figures do you still need, and where do all your figures stack up? I am curious to see how different or similar our opinions all are.

mordhelm wrote:So what figures are everybody missing from TR, with the end nearly upon us?

Myself, I have pretty much everything. Still on the hunt for Ramhorn and the Cloudraker/Wingspan 2 Pack.

These two along with Overlord are the ones I want to complete my personal collection.

o.supreme wrote:
wow...so much hate

I admit. sorry

I think after 10 years of Generations, I grow a little bit tired of G1. I'm missing original designs. I'm missing all Car robots, Armada, Energon Cybertron and even Bw stuff. It's been 10 years we're eating G1. It's even longer than G1 was.

I can survive with lines like TR which gave us characters never remade until now (like Chromedome, hardead, krok etc) so it feels like new characters. But when going on characters like Windcharger, who is getting its 3rd version for any other reason than sticking even more to the old badly drawn cartoon, yes, I start to feel a bit tired.

To answer your question, Slugslinger and the Clones are it. Overlord and Ramhorn are in my BBTS pile of loot and will ship next month.

As for best figures of the line so far, here are my picks:

Titan Master: Shuffler is the best, Ptero may be my second choice. Biggest miss would need to be... I don't think any of them are really a miss. they were all pretty good.

Legend: Rewind is the best, with Brawn being the 2nd best. Ravage would be the weakest to me.

Deluxe: Grotusque is the best, with Topspin right behind him. I agree that Perceptor is the weakest, just not a lot to offer really.

Voyager: Alpha Trion remains my favorite, though Octone/Boxset Laser Prime makes it somewhat close. Both are awesome. Galvatron is the weakest of the bunch for sure.

Leader: Sky Shadow is the best, with Sixshot being the weakest. He was the one I was looking forward to, but his looseness and the need of a few extra joints let him down. and the leaders of the line were really good too, so that was the defining line.

Titan: still need to get Trypticon, so at the moment is Max.

I'm a huge fan of CR myself, not so much the Energon Trilogy but...given PotP is the last of the Prime Wars Trilogy (and most original series characters will have been updated by its end), I'm sure Hasbro will next focus on some of their later stuff now that enough time has passed for some fans to have grown up and feel nostalgic about it. I mean T30 had a little bit of everything, but I have a feeling that whatever comes after PotP will focus on later lines, and I'm ok with that, I will have gotten mostly what I wanted between Hasbro and hopefully if TT pulls through and releases whatever Hasbro doesn't.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Titan Master: Shuffler is the best, Ptero may be my second choice. Biggest miss would need to be... I don't think any of them are really a miss. they were all pretty good.

The one to miss is Nightbeat . Unconvicing vehicule in both modes, crappy plastic, crappy colors.

Takara version seems better, but Hasbro's is an easy pass.

I thought for a minute you meant TR had shown up en masses at B&M bargains and nearly freaked dude, I've had very little luck getting much, but then a large part of that is down to decreasing budget/increasing prices...
As far as highlights and lowlights of what I do have: Triggerhappy is sensational and Hardhead is the unsung hero of wave 1.
Doublecross tried so very hard but the unstable beastmode hip area lets him way down, and Highbrow I loved at the time but sort of feel very little for now?
Megatron is great and remains the best fit for IDW megs official or otherwise imo. Not there on all the details, but something just feels right.
Galvatron is so close but so far, when I finally get round to grabbing some shapeways pieces I think he'll level up a bit.
There are no real standouts good or bad amongst the legends and titan masters I have, though rewind is particularly appreciated for the mtmteam. Really wish they gave him a dot of red paint for the camera light, but I could probably do it myself if I bothered

o.supreme wrote:I mean T30 had a little bit of everything,

Because it was a brand anniversary year (and headed by the previous brand team).

o.supreme wrote:I'm a huge fan of CR myself, not so much the Energon Trilogy but...given PotP is the last of the Prime Wars Trilogy (and most original series characters will have been updated by its end), I'm sure Hasbro will next focus on some of their later stuff now that enough time has passed for some fans to have grown up and feel nostalgic about it. I mean T30 had a little bit of everything, but I have a feeling that whatever comes after PotP will focus on later lines, and I'm ok with that, I will have gotten mostly what I wanted between Hasbro and hopefully if TT pulls through and releases whatever Hasbro doesn't.

I just hope. But I'm afraid not. When you see that in POTP they're releasing a new Windcharger (yes, can't leave this one alone), a new inferno and a new Jazz, who all three already got better versions sooner in the generations line.. you can have doubts.

ExciKaiser wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Titan Master: Shuffler is the best, Ptero may be my second choice. Biggest miss would need to be... I don't think any of them are really a miss. they were all pretty good.

The one to miss is Nightbeat . Unconvicing vehicule in both modes, crappy plastic, crappy colors.

Takara version seems better, but Hasbro's is an easy pass.

I actually liked Nightbeat, even if the vehicle doesn't really fit him. He goes really well with my Lost Light combiner:

o.supreme wrote:

ExciKaiser wrote:Apparently it shelfwarmed a lot, I hope it sends some signals to hasbro about G1 Slave-ish.

(And I do hope that the POTP Windcharger shelves a lot too, this head is unforgivable)

wow...so much hate . Anyway...I don't think any TR figure has really shelf warmed, at least from what I can see. And I saw 8 Broadsides in a single store at one time, which I had never seen before, I thought for sure that would shelf warm, but nope...

and since when is something looking the way it's supposed to look unforgivable?? Not everything can be styled and extreeeeeme!!! like IDW.

As much as I criticize Hasbro, they seem to know what they are doing. Generations toys appeal to fans like myself. I'm not sure what the appeal of Movie Line or RiD15 toys are, but apparently Hasbro does because they make tons of them, and apparently they sell. I don't know what the appeal of non-transforming $20 action figures with 2 points of articulation are either, but apparently somebody is buying them

Kids.

And despite having sat out the last three Transformers movies, I'm curious about the two TLK figures with Titan Master head ports for my spare TMs.

Kurona wrote:I wanna get a Soundwave at some point. Leader class is perfect scaling for me, and I do have two of the Legends tablet thingies (Rewind and Buzzsaw -- the latter of whom I will still ardently defend) that I wanna try out with him

It's perfect scaling until you want to pose 20 characters in scenes on a 3 foot shelf. I sold Masterpiece Grimlock as soon as I saw pictures of Voyager PotP Grimlock.

ExciKaiser wrote:

o.supreme wrote:I'm a huge fan of CR myself, not so much the Energon Trilogy but...given PotP is the last of the Prime Wars Trilogy (and most original series characters will have been updated by its end), I'm sure Hasbro will next focus on some of their later stuff now that enough time has passed for some fans to have grown up and feel nostalgic about it. I mean T30 had a little bit of everything, but I have a feeling that whatever comes after PotP will focus on later lines, and I'm ok with that, I will have gotten mostly what I wanted between Hasbro and hopefully if TT pulls through and releases whatever Hasbro doesn't.

I just hope. But I'm afraid not. When you see that in POTP they're releasing a new Windcharger (yes, can't leave this one alone), a new inferno and a new Jazz, who all three already got better versions sooner in the generations line.. you can have doubts.

Yeah as long as Warden is around odds are we'll have entire lines filled with the '80 Autobots being redone again with some bone thrown in for more obscure characters. Unless they move into the Victory, Zone, Return of Convoy or...gasp! Euro-G1 and G2? I mean, given the latter saw some use in the comics and these do technically sort of count as 'G1' to some extent we might see some stuff like the Turbomasters, given that Thunder Clash seems to have become a fan-favorite lately. Still, for now they seem to be doing late G1 which is fine by me because I've come to love weird stuff like Headmasters or Pretenders and most of these guys never had updates, except maybe Bludgeon because he's a beloved character.

Personally I'd love to, at least, see a Star Saber and Deathsaurus in PotP later waves. Star Saber being workable as a 'leader evolution figure' which could double as a Thunderwing retool. Given the Pretenders being done (to some minor extent) in PotP and the fact leader-class figures come with a Matrix, Star Saber being pretooled into Thunderwing seems perfectly plausible.

ExciKaiser wrote:

o.supreme wrote:
wow...so much hate

I admit. sorry

I think after 10 years of Generations, I grow a little bit tired of G1. I'm missing original designs. I'm missing all Car robots, Armada, Energon Cybertron and even Bw stuff. It's been 10 years we're eating G1. It's even longer than G1 was.

I can survive with lines like TR which gave us characters never remade until now (like Chromedome, hardead, krok etc) so it feels like new characters. But when going on characters like Windcharger, who is getting its 3rd version for any other reason than sticking even more to the old badly drawn cartoon, yes, I start to feel a bit tired.

I'd like to see more G2 characters and some Alternators and Unicron Trilogy and Car Robots homages. I suspect we'll see that creep in after PotP along with new designs. Because they're running out of commercially viable G1 homages.

ExciKaiser wrote:

o.supreme wrote:
wow...so much hate

I admit. sorry

I think after 10 years of Generations, I grow a little bit tired of G1. I'm missing original designs. I'm missing all Car robots, Armada, Energon Cybertron and even Bw stuff. It's been 10 years we're eating G1. It's even longer than G1 was.

I can survive with lines like TR which gave us characters never remade until now (like Chromedome, hardead, krok etc) so it feels like new characters. But when going on characters like Windcharger, who is getting its 3rd version for any other reason than sticking even more to the old badly drawn cartoon, yes, I start to feel a bit tired.

I'd like to see more G2 characters and some Alternators and Unicron Trilogy and Car Robots homages. I suspect we'll see that creep in after PotP along with new designs. Because they're running out of commercially viable G1 homages.

Skritz wrote:Unless they move into the Victory, Zone, Return of Convoy or...gasp! Euro-G1 and G2? I mean, given the latter saw some use in the comics and these do technically sort of count as 'G1' to some extent we might see some stuff like the Turbomasters, given that Thunder Clash seems to have become a fan-favorite lately. [...]
Personally I'd love to, at least, see a Star Saber and Deathsaurus in PotP later waves. Star Saber being workable as a 'leader evolution figure' which could double as a Thunderwing retool. Given the Pretenders being done (to some minor extent) in PotP and the fact leader-class figures come with a Matrix, Star Saber being pretooled into Thunderwing seems perfectly plausible.

In fact, I would be ok with all of this too. You made me realize my pb is not G1, just the 84-85 cast that I can't stand anymore.