The Energon Pub

I'm sorry, but I really don't see how the vast majority of the line - literally every single Deluxe and above figure aside from the 1987 headmasters - could have been designed for a different line and then shoehorned into this one. It just seems a little ridiculous. I have no doubt that some of them were designed for a different line - again, Galvatron and Alpha Trion have been confirmed for that - but you're essentially saying, unless I'm misinterpreting here; that Chromedome, Brainstorm, Weirdwolf, Mindwipe, Skullcruncher, Highbrow, Hardhead, Fortress Maximus (and if rumours hold true, Nightbeat, Apeface and Snapdragon) were the only figures designed for Titans Return. That's... that doesn't make any sense. If it is true and all of them besides that handful were last-minute decisions, then Hastak has some extremely serious problems.

Hasbro's current line of thinking currently seems to be at least one titan per line. Metroplex for Thrilling 30, Devastator for Combiner Wars, Fortress Maximus and Trypticon for Titans Return. Devastator fills that spot, there's nothing more to it. There's a lot more to suggest he started out as a titan class toy than not.

Kurona wrote:Hasbro's current line of thinking currently seems to be at least one titan per line. Metroplex for Thrilling 30, Devastator for Combiner Wars, Fortress Maximus and Trypticon for Titans Return. Devastator fills that spot, there's nothing more to it. There's a lot more to suggest he started out as a titan class toy than not.

I still don't think it's right that we only got one titan for Thrilling 30. Metroplex was released in the half FoC half T30 year and it was clear with some of the design choices that he was meant to be for both. They really should've done Trypticon for the full T30 year so we wouldn't be stuck with the out of place TR Trypticon and gotten Scorponok. I'd rather of gotten another new fembot (not saying I have a problem with getting more) from a fan poll than them trusting us to pick the headmaster titan for a headmaster centric line.

Railbomb wrote:

Kurona wrote:Hasbro's current line of thinking currently seems to be at least one titan per line. Metroplex for Thrilling 30, Devastator for Combiner Wars, Fortress Maximus and Trypticon for Titans Return. Devastator fills that spot, there's nothing more to it. There's a lot more to suggest he started out as a titan class toy than not.

I still don't think it's right that we only got one titan for Thrilling 30.

They had to first see how successful Metroplex was before doing any additional Titan class figures. The Titan class continuing depended on Metroplex's commercial success, and he took a while to get out to people in stores since a lot of places never stocked him. Only TRU and Costco ended up carrying him at brick-and-mortar stores. Evidently, once Metroplex's success was evaluated, Hasbro was finally able to plan their second Titan, by which point was apparently when they were planning Combiner Wars.

I spoke to the engineer who modeled Gnaw and TR Bumblebee at Comic-Con this year. He's a fresh university graduate who's been at Hasbro less than 18 months or so and Bumblebee and Gnaw are the first designs that are "his babies".

There might have been concept art. I believe BB references Devastation. But the toys themselves are fairly new designs by a guy too young to have done much else professionally, as he was probably in high school when Thrilling 30 was being designed.

Well so long as Bee doesn't suffer from the cave-in in your hand problem of Wheelie the he looks quite promising as does Gnaw.

It would be nice if they could slap a few Sharkticons & Wheelie in a boxed set -perhaps with that much discussed 'Grey Kup' too.

Kurona wrote:I'm sorry, but I really don't see how the vast majority of the line - literally every single Deluxe and above figure aside from the 1987 headmasters - could have been designed for a different line and then shoehorned into this one. It just seems a little ridiculous. I have no doubt that some of them were designed for a different line - again, Galvatron and Alpha Trion have been confirmed for that - but you're essentially saying, unless I'm misinterpreting here; that Chromedome, Brainstorm, Weirdwolf, Mindwipe, Skullcruncher, Highbrow, Hardhead, Fortress Maximus (and if rumours hold true, Nightbeat, Apeface and Snapdragon) were the only figures designed for Titans Return. That's... that doesn't make any sense. If it is true and all of them besides that handful were last-minute decisions, then Hastak has some extremely serious problems.

Hasbro's current line of thinking currently seems to be at least one titan per line. Metroplex for Thrilling 30, Devastator for Combiner Wars, Fortress Maximus and Trypticon for Titans Return. Devastator fills that spot, there's nothing more to it. There's a lot more to suggest he started out as a titan class toy than not.

That's exactly what I'm saying. It would not be strange to think the designers had a vision of the "2005/Movie/ 2010" G1 cartoon cast as figures, complete with different headmasters, targetmasters, etc, while other designers were working on generic headmasters (new characters) and then, later on, but not late in the design process, for one play pattern to be settled on, both to unify the designs, help with repaints and save money in design.

Trypicon's design, for example, was almost finished prior to Hasbro asking the fans what the next "Titan" was going to be. Strangely enough, that's the one the "fans" chose. I have it on good authority from an ex-employee of Hasbro that Trypicon was almost ready, prior to the announcement (and they told me that was the next intended Titan, although they didn't mention Fort Max, which might have been due to my surmised idea of a later decision for Titans Returns).

In conclusion, I don't think it would be strange for a new range of the "2010" bits to be designed, with a later decision to homogenise them into a singular play pattern. I believe that this style of thinking has evolved from the time of releasing such figures as "Springer", "Darkmount", etc (with the inclusion of multiple heads for remolds/recolours), Combiner Wars (similar designs and engineering, plus multiple recolours and remolds) to now this. I suspect this allows designers to suggest more obscure characters and for managers to allow them, due to less risk relating to the ease of inclusion in a range (as they can share engineering and production with multiple other figures).

To fit my hypothesis, it wouldn't surprise me if many TR figures were being designed around the time of Springer and Jetfire's release, and then amalgamated into Hasbro's new design ethnic of canabalising, assimilating and reusing designs to get the most out of them.

Asia exclusive stickers, Wolfwire and Chromedome: Comparisons

I think I prefer my TF's unstickered... Way too busy with them imo.

Generations VS Titans Return: Blurr (Quick Comparison)

primalxconvoy wrote:

Kurona wrote:I'm sorry, but I really don't see how the vast majority of the line - literally every single Deluxe and above figure aside from the 1987 headmasters - could have been designed for a different line and then shoehorned into this one. It just seems a little ridiculous. I have no doubt that some of them were designed for a different line - again, Galvatron and Alpha Trion have been confirmed for that - but you're essentially saying, unless I'm misinterpreting here; that Chromedome, Brainstorm, Weirdwolf, Mindwipe, Skullcruncher, Highbrow, Hardhead, Fortress Maximus (and if rumours hold true, Nightbeat, Apeface and Snapdragon) were the only figures designed for Titans Return. That's... that doesn't make any sense. If it is true and all of them besides that handful were last-minute decisions, then Hastak has some extremely serious problems.

Hasbro's current line of thinking currently seems to be at least one titan per line. Metroplex for Thrilling 30, Devastator for Combiner Wars, Fortress Maximus and Trypticon for Titans Return. Devastator fills that spot, there's nothing more to it. There's a lot more to suggest he started out as a titan class toy than not.

That's exactly what I'm saying. It would not be strange to think the designers had a vision of the "2005/Movie/ 2010" G1 cartoon cast as figures, complete with different headmasters, targetmasters, etc, while other designers were working on generic headmasters (new characters) and then, later on, but not late in the design process, for one play pattern to be settled on, both to unify the designs, help with repaints and save money in design.

Trypicon's design, for example, was almost finished prior to Hasbro asking the fans what the next "Titan" was going to be. Strangely enough, that's the one the "fans" chose. I have it on good authority from an ex-employee of Hasbro that Trypicon was almost ready, prior to the announcement (and they told me that was the next intended Titan, although they didn't mention Fort Max, which might have been due to my surmised idea of a later decision for Titans Returns).

In conclusion, I don't think it would be strange for a new range of the "2010" bits to be designed, with a later decision to homogenise them into a singular play pattern. I believe that this style of thinking has evolved from the time of releasing such figures as "Springer", "Darkmount", etc (with the inclusion of multiple heads for remolds/recolours), Combiner Wars (similar designs and engineering, plus multiple recolours and remolds) to now this. I suspect this allows designers to suggest more obscure characters and for managers to allow them, due to less risk relating to the ease of inclusion in a range (as they can share engineering and production with multiple other figures).

To fit my hypothesis, it wouldn't surprise me if many TR figures were being designed around the time of Springer and Jetfire's release, and then amalgamated into Hasbro's new design ethnic of canabalising, assimilating and reusing designs to get the most out of them.

Just so long as they don't take shared parts too far!

Christ! are we still on about this?



i wish i hadn't said anything now

Stuartmaximus wrote:Christ! are we still on about this?



i wish i hadn't said anything now

But... no-one's talking about anything you said.



Also goddamn what I wouldn't give for Generations Blurr's head on Titans Return Blurr's body. I'm only collecting MTMTE (... and weirdwolf and skullcruncher and triggerhappy) at the moment, but that would be an instant buy.

Hey! Anybody try Weirdzie here with dog legs in bot mode? Giving off a heavy Beast Wars vibe, and I like it!


And I'm loving this guy. For me, he's just an empty vessel to be filled with head canon.


And he has important friends.


Loudmouth's face sculpt is cool.


More fun with new toys here.

Cobo, is that Alpha Trion the most majestic TF toy you have, or do you find Vector Prime to be more regal?

william-james88 wrote:Cobo, is that Alpha Trion the most majestic TF toy you have, or do you find Vector Prime to be more regal?

I like your question. I think maybe Vector is a little more regal because he is so clean and shiny. Plus that toy's size, stature, and presence is so impressive. A3 feels a little haggard by the trials of his ancient existence, and he looks kind of jaded about it.

But MAN, Alpha Trion really hits all of my fantasy sci-fi adventure bullet points. Animal adorned, magic sword wielding, horn-helmed ancient mystic warrior-king transforming giant robot... with a beard.
In my line of play, that pretty much equals PERFECTION!

Cobotron wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Cobo, is that Alpha Trion the most majestic TF toy you have, or do you find Vector Prime to be more regal?

I like your question. I think maybe Vector is a little more regal because he is so clean and shiny. Plus that toy's size, stature, and presence is so impressive. A3 feels a little haggard by the trials of his ancient existence, and he looks kind of jaded about it.

But MAN, Alpha Trion really hits all of my fantasy sci-fi adventure bullet points. Animal adorned, magic sword wielding, horn-helmed ancient mystic warrior-king transforming giant robot... with a beard.
In my line of play, that pretty much equals PERFECTION!

All good stuff. I hope to be judge of that soon when Alpha Trion shows up in Canada. In the meantime, here are the TF toys I found to be truly majestic, let me know if there are any else you can think about:

RID Megatron
Transformers Go Bukadora
Cybertron Scourge Flame Convoy
Movie Advanced AD 31 Optimus Prime

Cobotron wrote:Hey! Anybody try Weirdzie here with dog legs in bot mode? Giving off a heavy Beast Wars vibe, and I like it!

I actually was messing around with the legs like that when I was trying to get the sword to be in a good sheathed position on the peg hole on his legs. It's interesting to pose him with the legs like that though!

http://imgur.com/K6DTsPc

I think I just made the best proportioned version of fort max

Fans like to mock the new "casettes" we have gotten in the Titans Return line but I would be curious to know who doesnt find this shot awesome



And here is that new leader scale we have in the gen line:

We have seen how the Hasbro Asia exclusive stickers look like on the Titans Return deluxes and now it is time to take a look at how they fair with voyagers Alpha Trion and Astrotrain as well as leader Soundwave. Due to their larger scale, the stickers will look more sparsed than on the deluxes. They are harder to make out for Alpha Trion's robot mode but they add a nice snout to the lion. They also add some very nice detail to leader Soundwave's knees though the additional stickers in media deck mode clash with the blue plastic. Please note that the train mode on Astrotrain is mistransformed with the wheel panel not brought down. These were found on the chinese website toy-people, thanks to a tip from user Blackai.

So, will any of you be getting these stickers when they hit e-bay (as wave 1 did) ?

ebo716 wrote:http://imgur.com/K6DTsPc

I think I just made the best proportioned version of fort max

Cobotron wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Cobo, is that Alpha Trion the most majestic TF toy you have, or do you find Vector Prime to be more regal?

I like your question. I think maybe Vector is a little more regal because he is so clean and shiny. Plus that toy's size, stature, and presence is so impressive. A3 feels a little haggard by the trials of his ancient existence, and he looks kind of jaded about it.

But MAN, Alpha Trion really hits all of my fantasy sci-fi adventure bullet points. Animal adorned, magic sword wielding, horn-helmed ancient mystic warrior-king transforming giant robot... with a beard.
In my line of play, that pretty much equals PERFECTION!

Plus he turns into the SDF-1!!

Agamemnon wrote:

Cobotron wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Cobo, is that Alpha Trion the most majestic TF toy you have, or do you find Vector Prime to be more regal?

I like your question. I think maybe Vector is a little more regal because he is so clean and shiny. Plus that toy's size, stature, and presence is so impressive. A3 feels a little haggard by the trials of his ancient existence, and he looks kind of jaded about it.

But MAN, Alpha Trion really hits all of my fantasy sci-fi adventure bullet points. Animal adorned, magic sword wielding, horn-helmed ancient mystic warrior-king transforming giant robot... with a beard.
In my line of play, that pretty much equals PERFECTION!

Plus he turns into the SDF-1!!

And a ferocious LIONICORN!

Agamemnon wrote:

Cobotron wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Cobo, is that Alpha Trion the most majestic TF toy you have, or do you find Vector Prime to be more regal?

I like your question. I think maybe Vector is a little more regal because he is so clean and shiny. Plus that toy's size, stature, and presence is so impressive. A3 feels a little haggard by the trials of his ancient existence, and he looks kind of jaded about it.

But MAN, Alpha Trion really hits all of my fantasy sci-fi adventure bullet points. Animal adorned, magic sword wielding, horn-helmed ancient mystic warrior-king transforming giant robot... with a beard.
In my line of play, that pretty much equals PERFECTION!

Plus he turns into the SDF-1!!

He really does, that makes him another cool macross homage within the Transformers Legacy.

Cobotron wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:

Cobotron wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Cobo, is that Alpha Trion the most majestic TF toy you have, or do you find Vector Prime to be more regal?

I like your question. I think maybe Vector is a little more regal because he is so clean and shiny. Plus that toy's size, stature, and presence is so impressive. A3 feels a little haggard by the trials of his ancient existence, and he looks kind of jaded about it.

But MAN, Alpha Trion really hits all of my fantasy sci-fi adventure bullet points. Animal adorned, magic sword wielding, horn-helmed ancient mystic warrior-king transforming giant robot... with a beard.
In my line of play, that pretty much equals PERFECTION!

Plus he turns into the SDF-1!!

And a ferocious LIONICORN!

Or rather, GRANDPA UNIKITTY!