The Energon Pub

william-james88 wrote:Interesting, I keep hearing that fans hated the action masters and I often see them in worst toy list, simply because of the terrible marketting plan of removing the transforming aspect from transformers. But that doesnt at all translate to secondary market prices. There must still be a big interest in them since they are expensive as all hell on e-bay, way more than complete characters from 85-86. That Action Master Optimus is really expensive.

There must be a big collector demand somewhere.

Some Action Masters on the secondary market do come with a hefty price, of that there is no debate. However...it stems more form the fact that this was when the line was winding down, and thus nearly not so much product was made. We talk here about tail-enders. AM's were a "line-ender". Not that they were hard to find, but for every 1000 kids who bought Optimus in 1984, there were only... say 100 who bought the same character as an Action Master 6-7 years later, the supply met the demand of the times. I feel sorry for fans of Action Masters today. It is definitely an expensive niche to be involved in.

o.supreme wrote: It is definitely an expensive niche to be involved in.

And it can be an even more expensive niche than people think when you bring in action master elites. Have you heard of those, they were Europe exclusive, so that just makes things even crazier.

william-james88 wrote:And it can be an even more expensive niche than people think when you bring in action master elites. Have you heard of those, they were Europe exclusive, so that just makes things even crazier.

Oh yeah, there used to be a seller at conventions famous for charging $1000 or more for these individually (My favorite Transformer was bastardized as Omega Spreem, so yeah I'm well aware of them) . He always proudly proclaimed he was happy not to sell them. I wondered to myself always...then why are you even offering them? If you want to keep them, do so...Oh well he probably still has them .

Kurona wrote:A bit out of the blue, but does anyone else find it kind of friggin' awesome that we're at a point where we're not just getting new toys of 1980s Transformers characters, not just of the obscure 1987 guys when most people stopped being interested, but completely accurate ones that are the main focus of the line?

Just... in retrospect, this would probably have seemed impossible when CHUG started out and we just got the main stars plus a few other guys from 85. At most we'd get a Hardhead redeco of a Cybertron toy that didn't really work for Hardhead but the alt-mode sort of worked so we sort of accepted it?
To be at the point where we get a full remake of the 1987 Headmasters as one of the main lines in the current franchise is just astonishing to me. It's friggin' cool.

All thanks to the changeover from Aaron Archer's team to John Warden's team, with all those things you speak of the current team doing now for Titans Return (and all the things they've done for Combiner Wars) being things that the previous team didn't do either because they didn't think they could be done (either well enough or at all) or because they seemingly didn't really want to do those things (i.e. - line-wide G1-based Scramble City-styled Combiners, a new G1 Sky Lynx, line-wide G1-based Headmasters, etc.).

Hey, Entertainer, can you maybe learn what a decent price people are actually willing to pay is?



Seriously, this is friggin' nuts.

Both Quake and Topspin look great. Roadburn looks.....meh.

O. supreme and I are probably twins, but my story is pretty much the same - CW brought me back after decades!

But yeah, I totally hated on the Pretenders, but I'd totally love a G1 Bludgeon rite nao.

omega666 wrote:Not a fan of this guy's reviews. I prefer videos to start out in alt mode and transform them into bot mode. I don't care about what they look like right out the package.

Ha I'm the opposite. I would prefer a video that started with the figure out the box, then transformed into alt mode(s), then back to bot mode. That's cuz I'm lazy and don't like looking at the instructions and don't want to figure it out on my own either. I like vids from optibotimus, but I usually start from the middle since he does the video the way you like it.

I like Actionmasters - ( In case you have not noticed I mention them all the time).

Also Banzaitron and others have gain traction over the years I often say I want Skyfall to be a jetfire repaint sometime. I think it would look nice :

http://www.tfu.info/1990/Autobot/Skyfall/skyfall.htm


I was just wondering the other day too if more of the Arms Microns should get re-released as they'd make great Actionmaster Companions/Targetmasters
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As for Shadow-chappy yes it appears some for of super jet mode is feasible all be one atypical as that is sort of half how he is in combined base mode and robot mode already.

You just leave the waist plugged in and do your best - besides some people think the toy design is also designed to be adapted to make Diatlas as well which would require the modes to still be combined.

Kurona wrote:Hey, Entertainer, can you maybe learn what a decent price people are actually willing to pay is?



Seriously, this is friggin' nuts.

Well....the lesson here is

DON'T BUY FROM THE ENTERTAINER!! buy from somewhere else! like maybe the Supermarkets will have that figure in cheaper! or maybe an online retailer? or check Smyths Toys....see what price they have it at

its all fine and dandy saying buy them from the shops, but considering that the shops have so far have only stocked the deluxes from wave 3 (if anything) it's kinda difficult to give them our business.

Only really have Tescos nearby, which have RiD toys from a few waves back and... that's about it.

I think it will be really hard for me to judge generations molds now. They are concistently good so its a bit hard to see which is better. I was thinking of listing them all in order and I cant. Every class is more or less consistent. I would say my favourites are Blurr (Takara), Astrotran and Triggerhappy, but I am quite satisfied with all of them, they each bring their charm. Hot Rod is surprisingly good and does everything right. But I think he will go down in histiry similarly to RTS Jazz, a good toy that does everything right, but not in a surprising fashion. I really like how Hot Rod folds up in alt mode, leaving the back really clean. The leaders are the ones i feel where I get the least for my money. They are all very simple toys, with Optimus being the most complex (but he comes from a more complex mold). The deluxes give the best play value for me so far.

The toys are exciting for a certainty, but what I find interesting in a duplicitous way is this.... In times past, (talking pre-internet) what Hasbro/Takara released was what the consumer got, and that was that. In terms of quality...it wasn't until the community united, and found out...yeah all our G2 Slinghsots broke etc...

Fast forward to today. Some people get toys with loose joints, incorrect assembly, incorrect or missing pieces/accessories etc... I think its neat how more industrious fans have provided fixes/workarounds for many of these and have shared them. But then I think...why do we have to do this at all? Cant Hasbro have better QC? If TT and Hasbro product come out of the same location in Vietnam, why does the quality of one seem superior to the other? These are just some questions I have. Don't think for one moment I'm not thankful to all those who have provided workarounds to make our toys "better" (or in some way, just up to standard), but sometimes I just wonder why it has to be this way.

All those stupidly loose joints on Skullcruncher's mould are an indication of poor testing if they are pretty much all like that out of the box.

The question that has me scratching my head is why there needs to be 3 different methods of attaching the legs to a Titanmaster.

My daught broke off Elita-1's thumb while trying to get her to hold TM Nightbeat's drill-hammer -- she didn't know about the weapon-hole in her arm.

I hope plastic surgery helps....

bodrock wrote:My daught broke off Elita-1's thumb while trying to get her to hold TM Nightbeat's drill-hammer -- she didn't know about the weapon-hole in her arm.

I hope plastic surgery helps....

What Elita? The Thunderblast repaint?

SillySpringer wrote:

bodrock wrote:My daught broke off Elita-1's thumb while trying to get her to hold TM Nightbeat's drill-hammer -- she didn't know about the weapon-hole in her arm.

I hope plastic surgery helps....

What Elita? The Thunderblast repaint?

That's the one, S-Springer! I had gotten her loose off of eBay for like $30 (no key) as my daughter's first TF but shoulda known something like this would happen. I broke countless numbers of TFs growing up, so why should I expect anything more from my 3 & 5 y/o?

bodrock wrote:

SillySpringer wrote:

bodrock wrote:My daught broke off Elita-1's thumb while trying to get her to hold TM Nightbeat's drill-hammer -- she didn't know about the weapon-hole in her arm.

I hope plastic surgery helps....

What Elita? The Thunderblast repaint?

That's the one, S-Springer! I had gotten her loose off of eBay for like $30 (no key) as my daughter's first TF but shoulda known something like this would happen. I broke countless numbers of TFs growing up, so why should I expect anything more from my 3 & 5 y/o?

Haha, so true. My first transformer was Cybertron Clocker, and I lost that thing shortly after. Got another one later, than that thing got lost again. I finally have a third Clocker now though.

Third time's a charm for Clocker!

My first was Soundwave....I still have him, sans chest-cover, stickers, etc. but he can still stand and is ideal for 3 & 5 y/os.

SillySpringer wrote:

bodrock wrote:

SillySpringer wrote:

bodrock wrote:My daught broke off Elita-1's thumb while trying to get her to hold TM Nightbeat's drill-hammer -- she didn't know about the weapon-hole in her arm.

I hope plastic surgery helps....

What Elita? The Thunderblast repaint?

That's the one, S-Springer! I had gotten her loose off of eBay for like $30 (no key) as my daughter's first TF but shoulda known something like this would happen. I broke countless numbers of TFs growing up, so why should I expect anything more from my 3 & 5 y/o?

Haha, so true. My first transformer was Cybertron Clocker, and I lost that thing shortly after. Got another one later, than that thing got lost again. I finally have a third Clocker now though.

My first was a six-pack of Mini-Cons from Energon. The Road Wrecker Team and the Night Attack Team. No idea where they went.

Compared to the TR and CW line, the G1 originals were very brick-like. Some of those alt-modes remain awesome, however!

bodrock wrote:

SillySpringer wrote:

bodrock wrote:My daught broke off Elita-1's thumb while trying to get her to hold TM Nightbeat's drill-hammer -- she didn't know about the weapon-hole in her arm.

I hope plastic surgery helps....

What Elita? The Thunderblast repaint?

That's the one, S-Springer! I had gotten her loose off of eBay for like $30 (no key) as my daughter's first TF but shoulda known something like this would happen. I broke countless numbers of TFs growing up, so why should I expect anything more from my 3 & 5 y/o?

You gave an ultra rare BotCon exclusive Adult Collectible to your 3 & 5 y/o?

Sabrblade wrote:

bodrock wrote:

SillySpringer wrote:

bodrock wrote:My daught broke off Elita-1's thumb while trying to get her to hold TM Nightbeat's drill-hammer -- she didn't know about the weapon-hole in her arm.

I hope plastic surgery helps....

What Elita? The Thunderblast repaint?

That's the one, S-Springer! I had gotten her loose off of eBay for like $30 (no key) as my daughter's first TF but shoulda known something like this would happen. I broke countless numbers of TFs growing up, so why should I expect anything more from my 3 & 5 y/o?

You gave an ultra rare BotCon exclusive Adult Collectible to your 3 & 5 y/o?

Well, only cuz she was already loose and the 5 y/o always asked me to help....but yeah, there's a reason most of the TFs remain hidden away. I'm still upset about it, but it's all my fault for thinking she could handle it. My son (3) can transform CW Megatron and is pretty good with CHUGs....

bodrock wrote:My son (3) can transform CW Megatron and is pretty good with CHUGs....

Then again, that Megatron is quite simplified for a leader class figure.

I play with power rangers zords with my 1.5 year old. Those are big sturdy toys which I don't fear will break.