The Energon Pub

MemphisR56 wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:'Brainstorm' is offensive now? But we even use that in our drama group and the schools too!

I can't keep up with what is politically correct and what ain't...

I said this was back when I was in primary school. That's the mid 90's. If it ever *was* offensive, which I can't seem to find any record of online, it wasn't a recent thing. Odds are it's dropped back into the "overton window" of being a widely accepted term, and it was a whole lot of hoo-haa.

I don't see the problem with the name myself. And I'm as lefty as they come. I'm even married to someone who has grand-mal epilepsy, who are the people who it's supposed to offend, according to the daily mail (about 8 years ago), and even she calls it brainstorming.

I reiterate: It's not because of the thought police looking to curb people's free speech, it's because Hasbro will want to protect their neck after their previously bad experiences with names like Spastic and Slag.

It's not at thing that people are mad about.

EDIT: I referred to the daily mail up there, here's the article I was alluding to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1027985/Council-bans-brainstorming-replaces-term-thought-showers--fear-offending-epileptics.html Cliffnotes: One city council banned use of the term because, even against advice, they thought it *might* be offensive. People actually felt patronised that they were considered to be so hair-trigger over a largely outdated term. They issued an apology and changed it back. Daily mail framed it as the usual 'poltical correctness gone mad' stuff they're famous for

I think this has less to do with being "politically correct" and more like an local company, that has no branches in the US, already owning the trademark there (I originally thought it was the Lego company with their Mindstorm sets). If it was for the sake of PC, the US name would have been changed as well, see "Slug" and "Spastic" (even if the latter was never intended for UK release). Think of "Star Fox" vs. "Starwing", "Star Fox 64" vs. "Lylat Wars", the same principle applies.

Pretty weird, he's the first Transformer since RiD 2001 Midnight Express that had to have his name changed for a local market.

Sabrblade wrote:

Stuartmaximus wrote:Here's something, this was posted on the Titans Return thread on The Allspark website, now.....isn't that Unicron in the middle there & does this mean that we could see a TR Unicron toy(i know we're getting a platinum edition one) or even a Primus one

http://67.media.tumblr.com/5aeeac1ecd02 ... 1_1280.jpg

No.

That's a rather abrupt answer! seeing as part of the inscription would indicate something along the lines of Seek The 13! now YES it could refer to the 13 planets or it could also refer to 13 NEW figures coming in the 3rd part of the Prime Wars, & even your hindsight isn't THAT accurate as to determine who those may be?(which could....for all we know?....indeed include Unicron & Primus....highly unlikely i know...but none of us have any concrete information as to what's coming then).

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

MemphisR56 wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:'Brainstorm' is offensive now? But we even use that in our drama group and the schools too!

I can't keep up with what is politically correct and what ain't...

I said this was back when I was in primary school. That's the mid 90's. If it ever *was* offensive, which I can't seem to find any record of online, it wasn't a recent thing. Odds are it's dropped back into the "overton window" of being a widely accepted term, and it was a whole lot of hoo-haa.

I don't see the problem with the name myself. And I'm as lefty as they come. I'm even married to someone who has grand-mal epilepsy, who are the people who it's supposed to offend, according to the daily mail (about 8 years ago), and even she calls it brainstorming.

I reiterate: It's not because of the thought police looking to curb people's free speech, it's because Hasbro will want to protect their neck after their previously bad experiences with names like Spastic and Slag.

It's not at thing that people are mad about.

EDIT: I referred to the daily mail up there, here's the article I was alluding to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1027985/Council-bans-brainstorming-replaces-term-thought-showers--fear-offending-epileptics.html Cliffnotes: One city council banned use of the term because, even against advice, they thought it *might* be offensive. People actually felt patronised that they were considered to be so hair-trigger over a largely outdated term. They issued an apology and changed it back. Daily mail framed it as the usual 'poltical correctness gone mad' stuff they're famous for

I think this has less to do with being "politically correct" and more like an local company, that has no branches in the US, already owning the trademark there (I originally thought it was the Lego company with their Mindstorm sets). If it was for the sake of PC, the US name would have been changed as well, see "Slug" and "Spastic" (even if the latter was never intended for UK release). Think of "Star Fox" vs. "Starwing", "Star Fox 64" vs. "Lylat Wars", the same principle applies.

Pretty weird, he's the first Transformer since RiD 2001 Midnight Express that had to have his name changed for a local market.

I think you're right here. A quick flex of the google muscles and it turns out th UK trademark for Brainstorm in relation to toys and games is for a series of sciency edu-tainment toys.


http://www.brainstormltd.co.uk

Sabrblade wrote:

Stuartmaximus wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Stuartmaximus wrote:Here's something, this was posted on the Titans Return thread on The Allspark website, now.....isn't that Unicron in the middle there & does this mean that we could see a TR Unicron toy(i know we're getting a platinum edition one) or even a Primus one

http://67.media.tumblr.com/5aeeac1ecd02 ... 1_1280.jpg

No.

That's a rather abrupt answer! seeing as part of the inscription would indicate something along the lines of Seek The 13! now YES it could refer to the 13 planets or it could also refer to 13 NEW figures coming in the 3rd part of the Prime Wars, & even your hindsight isn't THAT accurate as to determine who those may be?(which could....for all we know?....indeed include Unicron & Primus....highly unlikely i know...but none of us have any concrete information as to what's coming then).

"Seek the Thirteen" likely refers to the Thirteen Primes. And we're already getting a Unicron in the Platinum Edition line. And we know that only one Titan class figure is done per year, with this year's being Fortress Maximus and next year's being Trypticon, and with Omega Supreme and Scorponok also likely in the pipeline given their inclusion in the poll that picked Trypticon to be the next one.

Besides, that Unicron seen in the middle there is a really old piece of artwork from way back in 2003. It's stock art, nothing new.

Aye, true i s'pose, that for the forseeable future we're getting those Titan Class figures, but btw that Platinum is just a reissued figure! nothing newly made! as for beyond the forseeable future....it would've been nice to have got a NEW Unicron & Primus(i mean....who wouldn't wanna see a newly designed Unicron & Primus? something along the lines that they're gonna be doing with these Titan Class figures over the coming years).

Keep your patience, we'll get the planet-formers one day...just not now.

Just to say, but there being a Platinum edition of a figure doesn't mean we aren't getting a new version anytime soon. For instance, just this year we've gotten or are getting both a Platinum and a TR version of Galvatron, Blurr, Megatron, Optimus, Hot Rod and Scourge; not to mention the all-but-confirmed rumour of a new Kup in TR Wave 4 and us just getting a Cyclonus, Megatron and Optimus last line.

Kurona wrote:Just to say, but there being a Platinum edition of a figure doesn't mean we aren't getting a new version anytime soon. For instance, just this year we've gotten or are getting both a Platinum and a TR version of Galvatron, Blurr, Megatron, Optimus, Hot Rod and Scourge; not to mention the all-but-confirmed rumour of a new Kup in TR Wave 4 and us just getting a Cyclonus, Megatron and Optimus last line.

And there was Platinum Trypticon, and he's getting a new toy next year...

Sigma Magnus wrote:

Kurona wrote:Just to say, but there being a Platinum edition of a figure doesn't mean we aren't getting a new version anytime soon. For instance, just this year we've gotten or are getting both a Platinum and a TR version of Galvatron, Blurr, Megatron, Optimus, Hot Rod and Scourge; not to mention the all-but-confirmed rumour of a new Kup in TR Wave 4 and us just getting a Cyclonus, Megatron and Optimus last line.

And there was Platinum Trypticon, and he's getting a new toy next year...

That's true, but I'm meaning more Platinum and Generations releases close to each other in release. A character getting another new toy a year or two after release is nothing new. But Blurr literally getting a Platinum toy and a Titans Return toy around the same time?

Stuartmaximus wrote:Here's something, this was posted on the Titans Return thread on The Allspark website, now.....isn't that Unicron in the middle there & does this mean that we could see a TR Unicron toy(i know we're getting a platinum edition one) or even a Primus one

http://67.media.tumblr.com/5aeeac1ecd02 ... 1_1280.jpg

Unicron was also on the poster for last year's SDCC Combiner Hunters set, don't read anything into it.

Emerje

I'm not sure if Hasbro intends to "Clarify" how Titan Masters are supposed to work as they are giving out mixed messages upon my casual viewing of it.

I still don't know if Titan's Returns are neo-tectors by some random mini-robot (most of who we have never heard of) wearing the robots we have heard of like a skin suit.

or if they are like the headmasters (us version) and the robot in the robot and the head performs some vague (and mostly non-specified) performance upgrade to said robot.

The thing that adds so much confusion is the blurbs talk about controlling the titan masters and talks about Titans in the manner they talked about say Devsatator or even any combiner in Combiner Wars.

Yet the implication actually is that a Titan master isn't mastering any titans at all it's just some ill-defined upgrade for pretty ordinary Transformers.. this leaves me very confused indeed.

Maybe they should have said the Titan-Master upgrades reconfigured their bodies and allowed the propensity of Triple changing or something.

But I admit I'm completely confused - even more so by the titan Master mini-figure Plus mini-vehicle sets.

As a play pattern from a purely toy perspective they make some sense I guess - but as a story - they seem incomprehensible and contradictory to me.

-----

Oh and the Brainstorm I like best is the G1 toy colour teal one.

I wouldn't mind to much if Arcee is a Chromedome remould - but a straight repaint would be weird.

I'm pretty sick of that "Stunticon" transformation pattern though and wish it was retired - going forwards. It was a useful trick one or twice - but when nearly every car they make has the same Transformation it soon gets really boring.

I'm gonna leave this here:

I'm slightly worried by Terribull's blue plastic. It's got a very present metallic swirl, and it seems to have that same sort of texture as ye gold plastic of yore.

Are there any recorded cases of blue plastic syndrome?

To clarify, this is just a gut feeling, I haven't had him chip or break or anything. In fact he's solid as a rock, and his detail is really crisp and clean. He's my favourite of the wave 1 heads. Just wondered if someone else had the same concerns.

MemphisR56 wrote:I'm slightly worried by Terribull's blue plastic. It's got a very present metallic swirl, and it seems to have that same sort of texture as ye gold plastic of yore.

Are there any recorded cases of blue plastic syndrome?

To clarify, this is just a gut feeling, I haven't had him chip or break or anything. In fact he's solid as a rock, and his detail is really crisp and clean. He's my favourite of the wave 1 heads. Just wondered if someone else had the same concerns.

You're not the only one with this worry, but I can safely tell you there have been no recorded cases that I know of, of figures with such plastic of any color other than gold breaking from the 90's on.

Back in the 80's it was a whole different story tho. Figures in that era, like Diaclone and Popy toys (those Japanese robot toys) often had metallic blue plastic and tended to crumble much like how GPS-ridden plastic does. That variety is called "Popy Disease", and at least one Transformer would have suffered from it, had it not switched to plain blue plastic: Thundercracker. His Diaclone predecessor, F-15 Robo Acrobat Type, breaks easily in the wings.

I'm just providing background info here, I don't mean to scare anyone. I do have to remind everyone that Hasbro has taken steps to prevent GPS, and that should extent to other colors as well. Again, no recorded cases of metallic plastic in colors other than gold breaking since the 90's.

Alpha Trion in hand (Thanks to Jensen Teh on Facebook)

Retool Comparison (Thanks to Fok Lau on Facebook)

Logan79 wrote:Retool Comparison (Thanks to Fok Lau on Facebook)

Don't look like retools to me, they just happen to share a transformation scheme.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Logan79 wrote:Retool Comparison (Thanks to Fok Lau on Facebook)

Don't look like retools to me, they just happen to share a transformation scheme.

They look eerily similar to me, though..

Fellow Seibertronian Logan79 has shared some images taken by Transformers fan on Facebook Jensen Teh, of the upcoming voyager class Titans Return figure Alpha Trion, in all three modes! Including lion, ship, Titan Master and robot mode, you can check out the in hand photos below.

RAR wrote:I'm not sure if Hasbro intends to "Clarify" how Titan Masters are supposed to work as they are giving out mixed messages upon my casual viewing of it.

I still don't know if Titan's Returns are neo-tectors by some random mini-robot (most of who we have never heard of) wearing the robots we have heard of like a skin suit.

or if they are like the headmasters (us version) and the robot in the robot and the head performs some vague (and mostly non-specified) performance upgrade to said robot.

The thing that adds so much confusion is the blurbs talk about controlling the titan masters and talks about Titans in the manner they talked about say Devsatator or even any combiner in Combiner Wars.

Yet the implication actually is that a Titan master isn't mastering any titans at all it's just some ill-defined upgrade for pretty ordinary Transformers.. this leaves me very confused indeed.

Maybe they should have said the Titan-Master upgrades reconfigured their bodies and allowed the propensity of Triple changing or something.

But I admit I'm completely confused - even more so by the titan Master mini-figure Plus mini-vehicle sets.

As a play pattern from a purely toy perspective they make some sense I guess - but as a story - they seem incomprehensible and contradictory to me.

-----

Oh and the Brainstorm I like best is the G1 toy colour teal one.

I wouldn't mind to much if Arcee is a Chromedome remould - but a straight repaint would be weird.

I'm pretty sick of that "Stunticon" transformation pattern though and wish it was retired - going forwards. It was a useful trick one or twice - but when nearly every car they make has the same Transformation it soon gets really boring.

Its my understanding the takara version have the little guys being the known characters and the bigger bodies are lifeless transtwctors they had to get due to black hole implosions shrinking them. Long story, not typing it all out on my phone.

the hasbro story is that the big guys are thw named characters and the titan masters are essentially minicons. They attach as heads and grant a power boost and ability upgrade. But there are two personalities at play for hasbro.

Also from Jensen Teh over on Facebook, we have a good first (more or less) look at the mold that was meant to be Astrotrain, but first showed up as Sentinel Prime! The Decepticon triplechanger has its shuttle, space train and robot modes all sorted out in redecos and very minor tooling tweaks, plus new Titan Master Darkmoon - compare to the Sentinel Prime galleries here, and let us know what you think of this classic character in the Energon Pub!

That purple on the train mode cabs really helps to make them stand out from the cow catcher, definitely makes it look a bit more coherent in that mode. Love the additional black on the arm guns. I felt that a bit of paint picking those out was something we were really missing on the sentinel figure. The black on the toes makes him look like he's wearing a pair of 30's prohibition gangster wingtip shoes.

All in all, nifty looking. I'm still not sold on the paler looking grey. Definitely going to want to wait until the takara decco is on show for me.

Yeah it's going to be a toss up why Takara does. They've gone both ways with Astrotrain. White and purple or dark grey and purple

Seeing how they seem to be going full on G1 toon with this line, I'm gonna say he'll be G1 toon coloured. Slavishly so.

... that Astrotrain looks so nice in-hand. I might have to break my rule of only going for Titan Masters, Skullcruncher and Lost Light crew members.