The Energon Pub

Bradimus wrote:

Kurona wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Bradimus wrote:But if they did do Dinobot we'd all want him in deluxe

Really? He's supposed to be the tallest of them all, taller than Primal even. If they make another Dinobot I would want a voyager.

I agree with this sentiment.

In that case I'm all for Voyager, especially if he gets the sword and cool tail weapon done right. But not as a velociraptor, that just doesn't make sense.

I think an army of legends class velociraptors would be cool, like Cruellock.

The problem is, you're applying scale backwards in this case. Beast Wars had the animal modes scaled to the robot modes, not vice versa. So if you want BW toys in a proper scale, you ignore the beast modes and go off their robot modes.

Here is a thought for you.

Buzzsaw is a prelude / Preview for Titans Returns.

Maybe the name list we have seen for later in 2017 includes the same idea - a character or even multiple characters released as a prelude to the 2018 concept.

The advantage there is if they throw in a few random crazy things at the end of 2017 like Beast Combiners or a Pretender.

Other than the 1st question that arises which is would they still be Titanmasters as well ?

It does offer up a useful test to Hasbro they can see what the fans and kids take an interest in in later 2017 with regard to new ideas in 2017 then buy the time they are thinking about what to put in the winding down period in 2018-2019 they will have an idea in advance of what is popular and can either jump towards more combiners, more Titan Masters, more Pretenders or whatever it is they decide to do.

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The fun thing to speculate about Micromasters is you could do some randomly daft stuff with them - like say they hold off doing Twin cast & Soundblaster until 2017-2018 even if they are the same mould there is a small difference they could make to them which is make a data pad shaped frame that can hold one or two Micromasters in it to slot inside their cassette bays.

I do wonder though is it worth making really small Transformers like WST size ones so they are closer to the titan masters - or make them Minicon size so they are more useful and have enough space to maybe cram in a weapon mode. The only real change i'd like to Micromasters is to pin their knees separately - other than that I like them just fine.

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Here is another thought though taking the idea of Micromaster Combiners (combining in Vehicle modes) and applying that to larger toys you get a Micromaster and a vehicle at Deluxe price point and they can inter-connect to make crazy combinations in vehicle mode like those old Matchbox cars could. and perhaps also open up to make Base connectors to interact with the likes of Fort Max & Trypticon too.

You could have something like Countdown with a Micromasters Combiner Vehicle that was a space shuttle that split into he can ride in either half - but you could split it and stick the rocket booster rear end on car or a boat. a bit like Landcross only with vehicles instead of robots.

Heck why not base the characters on Landcross' parts. each part would also open up and be a small base element too.

So lets say you had a Ambulance that splits into two that ambulance would also open into a medical console (front) and a medical bed (rear part).

You could then interconnect the bases a bit like the Starcom pods could.

Perhaps they could even be designed to fold up into cubes like the recent sentai line and form parts of trailers for the likes of Optimus or underslung on something like Sky-carry (Skygarry)

Just some thoughts anyway.

Emerje wrote:

Stuartmaximus wrote:Aye....i know.....it's just wild speculation until next years Toy Fair

Toy Fair 2017 will still be focusing on Titans Return. All of the stuff we've been seeing leaked still needs to be officially announced and will likely fill up Toy Fair and probably SDCC next year (along with whatever replaces BotCon) as well as New York Comic Con in less than a month from now. Don't expect anything official on part three until maybe Cybertron Con after SDCC depending on how annoyingly fast they release this stuff.

as Unicron is on that planet map(TR Exclusives)).

Unicron was also on the planet map that came with the 2015 SDCC Combiner Hunters set. It doesn't mean anything. Plus we've got Platinum Unicron coming up. Not that that means a new one can't still be made, we've seen that happen a lot lately, but what would they do about size? Another one at the same size or smaller would be pointless and anything bigger would take a Titan slot that isn't available unless it bumped Scorponok or Omega Supreme from 2018.

I'd say beasts have the biggest chance of happening since Trypticon will be out late next year to lead the way much like Fort Max lead the way for Titans Return.

Emerje

About all I could see them doing with Unicron that would be new aside from a heavy retool of the Armada one would be to actually just go nuts and do Unicron's HEAD as a Fortress Maximus sized toy that transforms into a playset. Sort of a 12" x 12" x 12" helmet that becomes a playset.

Maybe they could focus on horning in on Masters of the Universe style play dynamics if you want to think Unicron (and Primus?) as Castle Grayskull/Snake Mountain.

If that's the general direction, I could also see some medieval/Heavy Metal fantasy elements creeping in from other sources. Maybe a line where all the Transformers transform into vehicles (and animal mounts) that can ride one another.

That would mean the motorcycle characters would get some extra love. Dinobots with a saddle mechanic engineered in. Maybe a bit more emphasis on swords, energy axes and flails.

It might mean Optimus Prime turns into a high tech chariot for other figures to ride. (It doesn't mean he couldn't also be a truck if he's a triple changer but it would likely mean everybody has at least one mode that scales as an accessory.) So maybe Bumblebee can become a winged jetpack, Wheelie can become a skateboard. Remember Rodimus Prime's old battle station? Imagine if instead of being a trailer that becomes a battle station for him, he just becomes a turret mounted battle chariot for deluxes to ride?

The beast thing could be interesting if, say, Razorclaw is designed as Megatron's personal riding mount.

RodimusRex wrote:About all I could see them doing with Unicron that would be new aside from a heavy retool of the Armada one would be to actually just go nuts and do Unicron's HEAD as a Fortress Maximus sized toy that transforms into a playset. Sort of a 12" x 12" x 12" helmet that becomes a playset.

Maybe they could focus on horning in on Masters of the Universe style play dynamics if you want to think Unicron (and Primus?) as Castle Grayskull/Snake Mountain.

If that's the general direction, I could also see some medieval/Heavy Metal fantasy elements creeping in from other sources. Maybe a line where all the Transformers transform into vehicles (and animal mounts) that can ride one another.

That would mean the motorcycle characters would get some extra love. Dinobots with a saddle mechanic engineered in. Maybe a bit more emphasis on swords, energy axes and flails.

It might mean Optimus Prime turns into a high tech chariot for other figures to ride. (It doesn't mean he couldn't also be a truck if he's a triple changer but it would likely mean everybody has at least one mode that scales as an accessory.) So maybe Bumblebee can become a winged jetpack, Wheelie can become a skateboard. Remember Rodimus Prime's old battle station? Imagine if instead of being a trailer that becomes a battle station for him, he just becomes a turret mounted battle chariot for deluxes to ride?

The beast thing could be interesting if, say, Razorclaw is designed as Megatron's personal riding mount.

Those don't really sound like ideas for a "teen-to-adult" toy line like Generations. A $150 head with little play value on its own that turns into just a play set and not a third mode like a robot or vehicle would be a very hard sell even to adult collectors. And I can't see anyone choosing a Titan class head over an entire Titan class robot with two alt modes.

The idea of vehicles for figures to ride around in works best for smaller figures like Micromasters and Cyberverse, but can cause problems with larger figures. Mainly you limit your design options in bot mode by having to be careful about articulation and kibble to make sure everything is always compatible. Things like backpacks and wings start to become an issue. This would also be an issue for cross compatible Pretenders. Play features work best when they're smaller in scope and not too ambitious.

Emerje

RodimusRex wrote:And if we're brainstorming crazy ideas?

Imagine the botmodes split down the middle, VERTICALLY and link up. With the heads going with the right side. So instead of the sometimes frustrating Energon gimmick, this approach leaves you with two figures but they've swapped the left half of their body in bot mode out. The big downside here is that it would mean all characters need the exact same proportions in bot mode, within a scale class.

Symmetrical Docking!

Why would "beasts" be seen as a gimmick? We've had four Transformers with beast modes so far in Titans Return (the Decepticon Headmasters plus Alpha Trion), and no one says that those toys have an extra gimmick. No one says of the rest of the toys, "Oh, all these characters transform into vehicles, that's an extra gimmick beyond the fact that they transform into something in the first place."

If they transform into beasts, as far as I am concerned, that just falls into the franchise-wide (discounting things like Action Masters) gimmick of being "Transformers."

If the third portion of this "trilogy" turns out to be based around figures with beast alternate modes, I wouldn't call that a "gimmick" as much as I'd call it a "theme."

No-one's really saying it's a gimmick; it's just that all other previous G1 gimmicks are either exhausted (combiners, headmasters), too similar to previous gimmicks and have their main characters represented anyway (targetmasters, powermasters) or are just flat-out not viable (action masters, pretenders)

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. Do we fans really buy everything coming out of a line? Are there toys you have skipped so far in Titans Return (or the Takara counterpart) or that you are waiting for a price drop to pick up?

In wave 1, I skipped on Stripes and Terribull and for wave 2 have skipped on Ravage, Laserbeak and Clobber. So far, I dont want to repeat on Titan Masters even if the face the create is different.

For Wave 3 I will skip on Overboard and, the more I think about it, I will skip getting Gettaway. I dont care for the character and I dont need a straight up repaint of chromedome with a different face. I wasnt going to get Sentinel Prime for that same reason but since he came out first and I found him for cheap I could not resist getting to experience that new mold. But for Gettaway, I would already have experienced Chromedome, which I can already imagine transforming from the ton of Deadend molds I have. Not sure if I will skip BB or not.

So, how about you guys?

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. Do we fans really buy everything coming out of a line? Are there toys you have skipped so far in Titans Return (or the Takara counterpart) or that you are waiting for a price drop to pick up?

In wave 1, I skipped on Stripes and Terribull and for wave 2 have skipped on Ravage, Laserbeak and Clobber. So far, I dont want to repeat on Titan Masters even if the face the create is different.

For Wave 3 I will skip on Overboard and, the more I think about it, I will skip getting Gettaway. I dont care for the character and I dont need a straight up repaint of chromedome with a different face. I wasnt going to get Sentinel Prime for that same reason but since he came out first and I found him for cheap I could not resist getting to experience that new mold. But for Gettaway, I would already have experienced Chromedome, which I can already imagine transforming from the ton of Deadend molds I have. Not sure if I will skip BB or not.

So, how about you guys?

For me it's less about 'this toy isn't good' and more about 'this is not a character I care about not something I find mind-blowingly awesome'.

So in CW, I'm currently picking up Bruticus and Defensor because I love them. I'd also consider as a lower priority Sky Reign, Computron and Victorion because they're amazing. But I don't particularly care for Superion or Menasor - I suppose their toys are fun (though that Motormaster torso is... euuuugh) but I just don't care about them.

In TR just about everything I've seen so far I love (aside from laserbeak and fort max) but I'm gonna have to skip a lot of it due to money. Pretty much prioritising MTMTE, some random Titan Masters and guys I find extremely cool; so so far what I'm not getting amounts to...

-Fort Max
-All leaders
-Wheelie, Stripes
-Blurr, Scourge, Hardhead
-Galvatron, Sentinel Prime
-Laserbeak, Rumble
-Mindwipe, Highbrow
-Astrotrain, Alpha Trion
-Bumblebee, Kickback (but this one's slowly becoming a 'maybe')
-Doublecross
-Optimus Prime


Aaaaaaand now I start to realise my wallet's going to die in Wave 3. Gnaw, Megatron, Hot Rod, Getaway, Triggerhappy, pretty much all the Titan Masters. ****.

I highly doubt any of these speculated things are going to happen in part three. I think the most obvious theory, and the one that holds the most water, is that the final portion will be a mix of combiners and titan masters. Hasbro already said that they're working on beast combiners and there's no way they'd stop at just the two that have been rumored. They're going to want to get use out of their molds. I believe they also mentioned once that they're going to be completing teams going forward and with the rumored nightbeat deluxe coming I would think that should be seen as a hint of things to come. With apeface and nightbeat supposedly getting new figures the notion of titan master characters being only that should be thrown out and the possibility of full figures shouldn't be overlooked.

There's plenty of characters between combiners and headmasters to fill out a third line of figures, even if Predaking and Abominus get released in titans return like that one leak mentioned. There's also the slip of the tongue that a Hasbro rep had at SDCC(i think?) where they mentioned something called titans unite. Now this could be a simple mistake and mean nothing or it could've been an accidental mention of the next line, only time will tell. But I think it makes the most sense to just assume that prime wars part 3 will just be finishing off the teams they started.

And Will to answer your new question; I'll be getting everything that the prime wars trilogy churns out. I made a resolve at the beginning of combiner wars to get everything that comes out, including exclusives. I'm doing pretty well so far, I have all the botcon/funpub stuff that's been released with tfss5.0 already paid for, I have Ehobby grand scourge and I preordered convobat, I have all the main combiner wars waves legend through titan as well as a few box sets (just missing g2 bruticus, Victorion and Computron) and the unite warriors exclusive combiners grand Galvatron with computron, lynx master and megatronia on preorder plus the Takara releases of some combiner wars legends like runamuck, override, run about and dogfight.

For titans return I have all the titan masters, all but wheelie from wave 1 and 2 of the legends ( I'm waiting for the Takara version to release) all the wave 1 deluxes (they were half Hasbro half takara) and Takara mindwipe and brainstorm on preorder. Voyager I have sentinel prime and Takara Galvatron with Takara astrotrain on pre-order and for leaders and the titan they're all on pre-order from Takara.

This has been my longest post ever I believe, sorry!

steals_your_goats wrote: And Will to answer your new question; I'll be getting everything that the prime wars trilogy churns out. I made a resolve at the beginning of combiner wars to get everything that comes out, including exclusives. I'm doing pretty well so far, I have all the botcon/funpub stuff that's been released with tfss5.0 already paid for, I have Ehobby grand scourge and I preordered convobat, I have all the main combiner wars waves legend through titan as well as a few box sets (just missing g2 bruticus, Victorion and Computron) and the unite warriors exclusive combiners grand Galvatron with computron, lynx master and megatronia on preorder plus the Takara releases of some combiner wars legends like runamuck, override, run about and dogfight.

That... that can't be healthy

As for me, the figures that I won't be getting because I don't like them...Stripes and Ravage. To be totally honest, that's the only terrible mold of this line so far.

Kurona wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote: And Will to answer your new question; I'll be getting everything that the prime wars trilogy churns out. I made a resolve at the beginning of combiner wars to get everything that comes out, including exclusives. I'm doing pretty well so far, I have all the botcon/funpub stuff that's been released with tfss5.0 already paid for, I have Ehobby grand scourge and I preordered convobat, I have all the main combiner wars waves legend through titan as well as a few box sets (just missing g2 bruticus, Victorion and Computron) and the unite warriors exclusive combiners grand Galvatron with computron, lynx master and megatronia on preorder plus the Takara releases of some combiner wars legends like runamuck, override, run about and dogfight.

That... that can't be healthy

Oh definitely not, however I'm probably going to take a break from collecting after this though. I'll still follow the franchise but I'll only pick up what really interests me. I'm picking up everything now though because I'm easy to please and I like everything that has been released so we'll see if it actually happens.

With me.....i'll prob get Mindwipe(as i like the look of that cybertronian jet fanmode you can make with connecting Apeface to him), Leader Sixshot(i've got the WST), Gnaw, Trypticon(i've got the original G1 & Master Made Diabolus Rex), Omega Supreme(of which i just recently got the 3P Master Made Apollo...beautiful figure btw), Scorponok(i've got Perfect Effect Deathstalker) & Fort Max(i'm Fort Maxed out already! with two KO's, 2 Kabayas, Toyworld's Infinitor & Perfect Effect's Maxwarden).

for the ones i've avoided....Astrotrain, Sentinel, Hardhead, Blaster, Soundwave, Wolfwire, Highbrow & quite a number of the TM's

one's i've got on pre-order....or should i say....the one i've got on pre-order(which is a 3P btw....is IF's Lord Scorpion(Scorponok))

Oh...& the TR's/TM's i've got so far, are PMOP, Blurr, Scourge, Galvatron, Crashbash & Apeface.

steals_your_goats wrote:Oh definitely not, however I'm probably going to take a break from collecting after this though. I'll still follow the franchise but I'll only pick up what really interests me. I'm picking up everything now though because I'm easy to please and I like everything that has been released so we'll see if it actually happens.

Do you collect the other lines too like RID and MP and will you be getting the movie line as well?
I do admire your commitment to the line, I hope you enjoy it all

And thanks for the lengthy post!

william-james88 wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote:Oh definitely not, however I'm probably going to take a break from collecting after this though. I'll still follow the franchise but I'll only pick up what really interests me. I'm picking up everything now though because I'm easy to please and I like everything that has been released so we'll see if it actually happens.

Do you collect the other lines too like RID and MP and will you be getting the movie line as well?
I do admire your commitment to the line, I hope you enjoy it all

And thanks for the lengthy post!

I was collecting RID but lately the figures haven't been interesting me much. I saw the newest warrior Starscream in stores but passed him up. Something about it just didn't scream want to me. I used to collect some movie figures but the last ones kinda sucked. If something catches my eye maybe I'll pick up one or two but it won't be my main focus. I love the masterpiece line, but I don't have too many unfortunately. With the bulk of my collecting being from generations it doesn't leave a lot of money for the masterpiece line. However I did just get a better paying job so I'm definitely seeing more of them in my future.

For me I was going into the first two waves of Titans Return saying I was getting everything except these guys:
Fort Max
Stripes
Sentinel Prime
Blaster
Soundwave
Laserbeak
Ravage
PMOP
RumbleFrenzy
Scourge
Alpha Trion
My plan for Titanmasters was buy them if I see them, but I haven't seen them so...
I bought Hardhead when I still thought I was buying most of it but then I realized I collect other lines too and I need money for those so now I'm only buying characters I like (for the most part; Doublecross, Triggerhappy, and Weirdwolf look too cool to pass up.) Right now I have the mentioned Hardhead, as well as Rewind, Blurr, and Chromedome. I'd still like to get Wheelie, Astrotrain, and Galvatron from Waves 1&2. So basically my habits for this line are very similar to Kurona's.

william-james88 wrote:

Bradimus wrote:

Kurona wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Bradimus wrote:But if they did do Dinobot we'd all want him in deluxe

Really? He's supposed to be the tallest of them all, taller than Primal even. If they make another Dinobot I would want a voyager.

I agree with this sentiment.

In that case I'm all for Voyager, especially if he gets the sword and cool tail weapon done right. But not as a velociraptor, that just doesn't make sense.

I think an army of legends class velociraptors would be cool, like Cruellock.

Why are we bringing sense into a series where a rat is half the size of a gorilla?
]

Rattrap's not a rat, he's a ROUS.

ThunderThruster wrote:

RodimusRex wrote:And if we're brainstorming crazy ideas?

Imagine the botmodes split down the middle, VERTICALLY and link up. With the heads going with the right side. So instead of the sometimes frustrating Energon gimmick, this approach leaves you with two figures but they've swapped the left half of their body in bot mode out. The big downside here is that it would mean all characters need the exact same proportions in bot mode, within a scale class.

Symmetrical Docking!

Its been done.



Transformers Animated Safeguard Gallery

I was trying to limit myself with the line, but I think I'm going to get more than I think I was originally. Except for Scourge, Stripes, Rumble, Terribull, Crashbash, and Sentinel Prime I'm getting everything from waves 1 and 2 somehow (even if that Prime will be in the boxset with Godbomber). Wave 3 I will skip the voyagers (maybe not Megatron), Bee, Gnaw, and Getaway. I'm trying to limit myself to molds and what looks really good and what I'm attached to.

For me, I am skipping the majority, due to lack of money and me not being around during the original G1 stuff and thus not knowing the characters. From waves 1 and 2 I only plan to get the deluxes, wheelie, all wave 2 legends, astrotrain and Soundwave, just purely due to me being in love with Astrotrain since I discovered him, I've never had a Soundwave except the crappy ROTF version (and the Human Alliance one, which I still treasure to this day) and just wanting to collect all the deluxes because of the original headmasters.

I haven't had the money for Fort Max so far, nor have I been able to find the Walgreens version of Brainstorm anywhere online for the UK, but from wave 3 through to 5 I only plan to get Sixshot, Broadside, Blitzwing, Octane, Trypticon and POSSIBLY Hot Rod. None of the others (that are officially confirmed) tickle my fancy, so I'm only going for this lot as of yet.

Emiliano Santalucia, who previously shared images of his Powermaster Optimus Prime artwork, has dropped by once again to show off another set of artwork that he did, this time for Alpha Trion! Emiliano stresses in his Facebook post that this artwork was done with no intention of making it a toy, and it was not meant to be a triple-changer either. Check out his artwork below, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

The original Alpha Trion Sketches:
VERY IMPORTANT: these are early concepts commissioned by Hasbro that have been created years before the actual toy design began.
It would be unfair to compare them to the final model. My sketches were concepts for the character, not for a specific toy. There was no Titans Return line back then, no specific class this was meant for, no third mode.
#Transfomers #Hasbro #Titansreturn #conceptdesign #toydesign

if only the lion mode actually looked like that

This is really amazing artwork

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.

D-Maximus_Primal wrote:This is really amazing artwork

right. The person that draws these is amazing