The Energon Pub

Kurona wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Sky shadow

Blackshadow

Like his Generations deluxe, Black Shadow is going by the name Sky Shadow in his upcoming toy.

The preview night post referred to him as Blackshadow, the stock images from Hasbro call him "Blackshadow" in the filenames, and John Warden referred to him by both names in the Twitch panel. There were no official name placards at preview night for me to use as an absolute reference, but I have been treating this as evidence that he is officially Blackshadow again. Has there been some official confirmation that he is still Sky Shadow? Because that's why I keep correcting news crew who refer to him as such in official posts.

Kurona wrote:

Bumblebee21 wrote:most likely but look at scourge and highbrow

Essentially just shared engineering and a skeleton. Not exactly a retool.

Highbrow is a FOC-style reshell of Scourge, which falls under the banner of "retool". Someone posted a thorough pictorial comparison earlier in the thread which helps lead to this conclusion.

Scourge and Highbrow are reshells. They share much more than toys like Chromedome and Blurr/Brainstorm, who share knees, thighs, Titan Master bodies, and guns.

Does anyone think it's possible that the next line might be targetmasters? Maybe they would release small packs with targetmasters just like the TR titan master packs for the targetmaster characters in Titans Return like Blurr, Triggerhappy, Misfire, and others? That seems like a likely option to me, and it would also give them to connect all three lines together by giving characters like CW Cyclonus his Nightstick targetmaster also. Then we could also have other targetmaster characters like the three main autobots as deluxes also to go with the TR Headmasters.


Transformers G1 1987 Pointblank (Blanker) Gallery

This could also give them a chance to use molds like TR Triggerhappy, and share engineering to make the third Decepticon targetmaster Slugslinger.


Transformers G1 1987 Slugslinger Gallery

Kurona wrote:Sixshot hasn't shown any compatibility yet, though I think him having his tank mode renamed 'battle station mode' is pretty telling.

They didn't rename it, they mixed up the pictures in the slides.


The picture for tank mode is battle car mode while battle station mode is showing tank mode. That means whatever his real battle station mode is it hasn't been shown yet and he has six alt modes for seven total modes.

Ironhidensh wrote:

Mr Skram wrote:I've only seen one PMOP in stores. No other wave 1 or 2 Leaders at all. Pretty weird. No wave 2 Voyagers yet either.

Weird. Leader Prime and Blaster are both shelf warming in northern Indiana areas.

Between two Walmarts I've only seen three PMOPs and two Blasters since release. Furthermore I've never seen both at the same time and they're always selling out leaving weeks of no Leaders (aside from CW Skywarp) on the shelves. I still haven't seen wave 2 Voyagers or Leaders either. Plus I've mentioned before that my area completely skipped Titan Masters wave 2, instead jumping to revision wave 2 (Apeface, Brawn, Loudmouth, and Nightbeat) so no Clobber or Skytread for me.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Kurona wrote:Sixshot hasn't shown any compatibility yet, though I think him having his tank mode renamed 'battle station mode' is pretty telling.

They didn't rename it, they mixed up the pictures in the slides.


The picture for tank mode is battle car mode while battle station mode is showing tank mode. That means whatever his real battle station mode is it hasn't been shown yet and he has six alt modes for seven total modes.

Ironhidensh wrote:

Mr Skram wrote:I've only seen one PMOP in stores. No other wave 1 or 2 Leaders at all. Pretty weird. No wave 2 Voyagers yet either.

Weird. Leader Prime and Blaster are both shelf warming in northern Indiana areas.

Between two Walmarts I've only seen three PMOPs and two Blasters since release. Furthermore I've never seen both at the same time and they're always selling out leaving weeks of no Leaders (aside from CW Skywarp) on the shelves. I still haven't seen wave 2 Voyagers or Leaders either. Plus I've mentioned before that my area completely skipped Titan Masters wave 2, instead jumping to revision wave 2 (Apeface, Brawn, Loudmouth, and Nightbeat) so no Clobber or Skytread for me.

Emerje

For my area, it's the voyagers that disappear. Can't find one of those to save your life.

King Kuuga wrote:

Kurona wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Sky shadow

Blackshadow

Like his Generations deluxe, Black Shadow is going by the name Sky Shadow in his upcoming toy.

The preview night post referred to him as Blackshadow, the stock images from Hasbro call him "Blackshadow" in the filenames, and John Warden referred to him by both names in the Twitch panel. There were no official name placards at preview night for me to use as an absolute reference, but I have been treating this as evidence that he is officially Blackshadow again. Has there been some official confirmation that he is still Sky Shadow? Because that's why I keep correcting news crew who refer to him as such in official posts.

We're going by the assumption that Hasbro has not yet been able to claim "Black Shadow" as a trademark in the Toys & Games category. A quick search reveals that "Black Shadow" has already been applied to:

- a motorcycle series
- a wrestler
- a character from Wild Cards
- a vigilante or death squad group in El Salvador, as Sombre Negra
- shockingly, a model of shotgun.

At the same time, jumping on the Decepticon targetmaster conversation, I don't want them to be retools. I want new molds. Yes we could probably get all 3 targetmasters from a single mold, but is that really what we want? I'd prefer they use new molds, and it does seem they are getting back to pre-CW levels with a smaller number of same molds.

Kurona wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Sky shadow

Blackshadow

Who's the real name anyway?

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:At the same time, jumping on the Decepticon targetmaster conversation, I don't want them to be retools. I want new molds. Yes we could probably get all 3 targetmasters from a single mold, but is that really what we want? I'd prefer they use new molds, and it does seem they are getting back to pre-CW levels with a smaller number of same molds.

I'm really sure that Misfire will just share parts from other molds
so that doesn't count as "retooling?"

SillySpringer wrote:Does anyone think it's possible that the next line might be targetmasters?

No, Hasbro stated that Titan Masters are named as such because they fill all three "-master" roles

Headmasters- Form the head of a larger robot.


Powermasters- Form the engine to the mini vehicles.


Targetmaster- Form weapons with the mini vehicles.


And with so many new figures that would be better suited to being Targetmasters or Powermasters in Titans Return it seems highly unlikely that they'll be revisiting a "-master" line for part three. Same can be said for Pretenders, too.

Emerje

Only other thing I can think of would be Minicons, which actually wouldn't be a half bad idea...

Albatross250 wrote:

Kurona wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Sky shadow

Blackshadow

Who's the real name anyway?

To clarify, the character was originally named "Black Shadow" when he debuted in the Transformers: Victory cartoon and toyline in Japan back in 1989. Since then he has gone on to appear in Western fiction maintain his original "Black Shadow" Japanese name. However, as Hasbro has evidently been unable to Trademark the name "Black Shadow" for their toys of the guy, the name "Sky Shadow" is what Hasbro uses for their Black Shadow toys instead of his actual name. So while all of his Hasbro-released toys go by the name "Sky Shadow", the character's name remains as "Black Shadow" in the fiction.

Meanwhile, Takara seems to have no trouble using the "Black Shadow" name for their toys of the guy, so the "Sky Shadow" replacement name is only for Hasbro's Black Shadow toys.

Sky Shadow remains one of the most abused of Transformers names it's the sort of name to be randomly slapped on anything, when I hear it though I usually think of the Beast Wars Fuzor Character.

------

Albatross250 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:At the same time, jumping on the Decepticon targetmaster conversation, I don't want them to be retools. I want new molds. Yes we could probably get all 3 targetmasters from a single mold, but is that really what we want? I'd prefer they use new molds, and it does seem they are getting back to pre-CW levels with a smaller number of same molds.

I'm really sure that Misfire will just share parts from other molds
so that doesn't count as "retooling?"

Depends. Blurr and Chromedome share guns and thighs, but it's not a retool. And I hope we get at least 2 different molds for the con targetmasters. I'd be a bit disappointed if they all shared the same skeleton

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

Albatross250 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:At the same time, jumping on the Decepticon targetmaster conversation, I don't want them to be retools. I want new molds. Yes we could probably get all 3 targetmasters from a single mold, but is that really what we want? I'd prefer they use new molds, and it does seem they are getting back to pre-CW levels with a smaller number of same molds.

I'm really sure that Misfire will just share parts from other molds
so that doesn't count as "retooling?"

Depends. Blurr and Chromedome share guns and thighs, but it's not a retool. And I hope we get at least 2 different molds for the con targetmasters. I'd be a bit disappointed if they all shared the same skeleton

Seems to me that Sluggy should've been the second one that Misfire were to be retooled into, and then Triggerhappy should've been the new mold. He looks good, but the g1 Triggerhappy was way less similar to Misfire than Slugger.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:

Kurona wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Sky shadow

Blackshadow

Like his Generations deluxe, Black Shadow is going by the name Sky Shadow in his upcoming toy.

The preview night post referred to him as Blackshadow, the stock images from Hasbro call him "Blackshadow" in the filenames, and John Warden referred to him by both names in the Twitch panel. There were no official name placards at preview night for me to use as an absolute reference, but I have been treating this as evidence that he is officially Blackshadow again. Has there been some official confirmation that he is still Sky Shadow? Because that's why I keep correcting news crew who refer to him as such in official posts.

We're going by the assumption that Hasbro has not yet been able to claim "Black Shadow" as a trademark in the Toys & Games category. A quick search reveals that "Black Shadow" has already been applied to:

- a motorcycle series
- a wrestler
- a character from Wild Cards
- a vigilante or death squad group in El Salvador, as Sombre Negra
- shockingly, a model of shotgun.

I'm not sure how much any of those would affect an attempt at a Toys and Games registration, but it certainly sheds some light on the situation. I guess we'll see what ends up happening.

King Kuuga wrote:I'm not sure how much any of those would affect an attempt at a Toys and Games registration, but it certainly sheds some light on the situation. I guess we'll see what ends up happening.

Names can change for reasons other than trademark unavailability:

- Hasbro is unwilling to use "Slag", "Spastic", "Slapper" or any other name with a negative association tied to it in any country it's active in (funnily enough, most problems seem to stem from the UK). "Spastic" especially caused a stir, so much that the PCC release was hastily renamed to "Over-Run", despite that release never being planned for the UK.
- Platinum Edition Liokaiser has a few name changes from the original Japanese: "Killbison", "Hellbat" and "Deathsaurus" were renamed to "Ironbison", "Fellbat" and "Dezarus". In the same vein, Overboard was renamed from "Overkill". So touchy... It's no recent development, Mega Man Zero 3 had a boss named "Hellbat Schilt", he got renamed "Devilbat Schilt" (uhm...sure, that's a lot better) for the US.

That said, the shotgun and maybe the vigilante group may have Hasbro think twice. They do Google names you know (but with safe search on, ask Nexus Prime)?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:I'm not sure how much any of those would affect an attempt at a Toys and Games registration, but it certainly sheds some light on the situation. I guess we'll see what ends up happening.

Names can change for reasons other than trademark unavailability:

- Hasbro is unwilling to use "Slag", "Spastic", "Slapper" or any other name with a negative association tied to it in any country it's active in (funnily enough, most problems seem to stem from the UK). "Spastic" especially caused a stir, so much that the PCC release was hastily renamed to "Over-Run", despite that release never being planned for the UK.
- Platinum Edition Liokaiser has a few name changes from the original Japanese: "Killbison", "Hellbat" and "Deathsaurus" were renamed to "Ironbison", "Fellbat" and "Dezarus". In the same vein, Overboard was renamed from "Overkill". So touchy... It's no recent development, Mega Man Zero 3 had a boss named "Hellbat Schilt", he got renamed "Devilbat Schilt" (uhm...sure, that's a lot better) for the US.

That said, the shotgun and maybe the vigilante group may have Hasbro think twice. They do Google names you know (but with safe search on, ask Nexus Prime)?

I am familiar with all those examples, but had they been reluctant to use the name for any of the possible reasons listed, they probably wouldn't have named the relevant picture files "Blackshadow" or referred to him as such in their presentation. They were very careful to only refer to Breastforce members by their new names when they were talking them up at SDCC, attempted to use the new names for the Technobots as well, although they slipped up a few times and corrected themselves. So to see Blackshadow still seeing some use, which as far as I'm aware is more than he got when they made Generations Skyshadow, makes me think that it's far from off the table. When an official listing for him goes up with his name, or a picture of his box surfaces, we'll know for sure.

I find Targetmasters highly unlikely. Not just because of the reasons mentioned above, but because they've had their main players taken away - Hot Rod, Blurr and Scourge. Not to mention Triggerhappy, the likely retools of Slugslinger and Misfire to come from him, and the rumoured Kup. That kinda leaves you with a small number of obscure bots (... well, you've got Spinister and Needlenose I guess) to form a Targetmaster line around. I'd love it, but very likely not happening - they're bundling all the -master dudes into TR. Same reason Powermasters aren't happening; once you take away Optimus and Getaway, just who are you left with?

Kurona wrote:Same reason Powermasters aren't happening; once you take away Optimus and Getaway, just who are you left with?

Don't forget Overlord

The Autobot Targetmasters (Pointblank, Sureshot and Crosshairs) are untouched for the moment, but I doubt it'll last. If anything, Sureshot has redeco potential as Joyride.


Transformers G1 1987 Sureshot Gallery


Transformers G1 1988 Joyride (Ranger) Gallery

"Ranger" / Joyride (or a character based on him) is one of the rumoured 2017 deluxe releases.

RAR wrote:"Ranger" / Joyride (or a character based on him) is one of the rumoured 2017 deluxe releases.

Unfortunately the rumours say he is a titan master.

Albatross250 wrote:

Kurona wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Sky shadow

Blackshadow

Who's the real name anyway?

Depends what you consider "real". Hasbro only ever used Sky Shadow as a name for his toy released by them so we will see if that ends up being the name of this toy too. It's the name of the Hasbro listing so far: http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... dow/36300/

And since the news was reporting on the toy, that's the name I felt was appropriate to use. Like that fans know what name to look for when this toy comes out.

SillySpringer wrote:Only other thing I can think of would be Minicons, which actually wouldn't be a half bad idea...

But its already the whole gimick of RID, so I dont think they will have another minicon line in generations.

Is it just me or does hotrods titan master look like an unpainted saber? Specifically sabers brain of courage?

Immortal Starscream wrote:Is it just me or does hotrods titan master look like an unpainted saber? Specifically sabers brain of courage?

Simply based on his visored appearance in The Rebirth.



A Star Saber retooled from or sharing parts with Hot Rod would be... something else.