The Energon Pub

Skritz wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I love that Metalhawk from the Siege of Cybertron set. However, it seem to be made out of bronze/gold plastics. It really worry me. Will it crumble to dust in a couple of years or is GPS a thing of the past?

Apparently GPS has been fixed since 2007.

Besides, Metalhawk's gold-colored plastic looks matte, no metal flake that I can see.

Speaking of Siege, I went over to my friend's for lunch, and his Pile o' Loot dropped...!I'm totally down with Other People's Piles of loot.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Skritz wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I love that Metalhawk from the Siege of Cybertron set. However, it seem to be made out of bronze/gold plastics. It really worry me. Will it crumble to dust in a couple of years or is GPS a thing of the past?

Apparently GPS has been fixed since 2007.

Besides, Metalhawk's gold-colored plastic looks matte, no metal flake that I can see.

Indeed, yellow/orange/gold/amber/brown plastic subject to GPS generally has a flaky or 'swirly' look to it. If the color and texture is mostly uniform, it is far less likely to be the type of plastic that will shatter into dust clouds.

Skritz wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Skritz wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I love that Metalhawk from the Siege of Cybertron set. However, it seem to be made out of bronze/gold plastics. It really worry me. Will it crumble to dust in a couple of years or is GPS a thing of the past?

Apparently GPS has been fixed since 2007.

Besides, Metalhawk's gold-colored plastic looks matte, no metal flake that I can see.

Indeed, yellow/orange/gold/amber/brown plastic subject to GPS generally has a flaky or 'swirly' look to it. If the color and texture is mostly uniform, it is far less likely to be the type of plastic that will shatter into dust clouds.

I'm so glad our figures are made better today....GPS is scary.

bodrock wrote:

Skritz wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Skritz wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I love that Metalhawk from the Siege of Cybertron set. However, it seem to be made out of bronze/gold plastics. It really worry me. Will it crumble to dust in a couple of years or is GPS a thing of the past?

Apparently GPS has been fixed since 2007.

Besides, Metalhawk's gold-colored plastic looks matte, no metal flake that I can see.

Indeed, yellow/orange/gold/amber/brown plastic subject to GPS generally has a flaky or 'swirly' look to it. If the color and texture is mostly uniform, it is far less likely to be the type of plastic that will shatter into dust clouds.

I'm so glad our figures are made better today....GPS is scary.

IMG_6345.JPG

GPS destroyed one of my most played-with and beloved toy of my childhood: Transmetal Megatron. He was the first of my transformers to suffer an irrepairable breakage. I remember it made my kid self very sad, because it just wasn't the same to have those Predacons fight Maximals on the kitchen table without their leader. It doesn't help that, due to badluck, all my Megatrons eventually broke, leaving me without a lead villain.

It just wasn't the same, I tell you. GPS can break your childhood...

Skritz wrote:GPS destroyed one of my most played-with and beloved toy of my childhood: Transmetal Megatron. He was the first of my transformers to suffer an irrepairable breakage. I remember it made my kid self very sad, because it just wasn't the same to have those Predacons fight Maximals on the kitchen table without their leader. It doesn't help that, due to badluck, all my Megatrons eventually broke, leaving me without a lead villain.

It just wasn't the same, I tell you. GPS can break your childhood...

Everyone that says Michael Bay ruined their childhood should hear your tragic story

Relic0037 wrote:

Skritz wrote:GPS destroyed one of my most played-with and beloved toy of my childhood: Transmetal Megatron. He was the first of my transformers to suffer an irrepairable breakage. I remember it made my kid self very sad, because it just wasn't the same to have those Predacons fight Maximals on the kitchen table without their leader. It doesn't help that, due to badluck, all my Megatrons eventually broke, leaving me without a lead villain.

It just wasn't the same, I tell you. GPS can break your childhood...

Everyone that says Michael Bay ruined their childhood should hear your tragic story

What made this infuriating is that I was a very careful kid and breakage only hapenned due to accidents. My first exposure to GPS was a horrific experience: one moment I'm transforming Megatron, going all *ahem* "Megatron, terrorize!" and going through the motions of his transformation, which I had done so many times. And then?

Crunch.

Nowadays when I take a Beast Wars figure out of the box I know what to expect in some of them and handle them carefully or avoid transforming fragile ones. But when you are a kid and this is your first exposure to the fact some transformers have some shoddy construction element that will cause their inevitable breakdown? Ouch. It's a real shock. For years I thought it was because I transformed him outside when it was colder but since then it has come to my attention that it's simply a problem with the Hasbro transmetal Megatron: that he has a waist that will inevitably crumble into pieces. It is a good thing that modern engineering seem to have, barring some still-existent problems, reduce the odds of a toy breaking this badly. Sure, Transformers aren't designed to last forever but in general there seem to have been an improvement in joints since the Beast era, which you'll recall had a lot of ball joints or weird, flimsy joints needed in transformation, as well as terrible weight/mass distribution.

All this to say: all I hope is that those kids who bought Transformers in 2017 don't suffer the same fate which befell those of us who grew up during Euro G1/G2/Beast Wars. This is why I worry about Titan Masters, that one day their little heads will snap and render these Transformers headless.

bodrock wrote:I'm so glad our figures are made better today....GPS is scary.

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Your memes always crack me up Bodrock, so glad to have you with us

We have heard from a few users that Transformers Titans Return Sixshot is currently on Amazon for 35 dollars USD. At the moment of writing, there are only 19 left. Let us know if you think this is a good enough deal. And if you have him already, let us know if you find this to be a good deal for those that don't have him yet. The original price for this Decepticon leader class toy on Amazon was 50$ making this close to a 30% discount. For those not in the know, Sixshot is a six-changer, meaning that he can change tino six different modes, just as the original toy did. If you find good deals like this in stores or elsewhere, write it in your corresponding sightings thread.

Sixshot is pretty hit and miss but I'd say he's worth it while on any kind of sale if you are remotely interested in the character or his concept. His articulation is a bit lacking but that's in part because he is a rather slavish update of the G1 figure to the point of crippling it a little bit. His lack of waist and wrist swivel as well as melee weapon is a real bummer for a guy associated with ninja stuff. He may yet be one of the least flexible ninjas to ever exist. That said, he has a plus in that you can transform him to all mode without ever touching his head titanmaster gimmick.

Are there better Sixshot out there? Yes, but they are all third party. At the very least one could enjoy all his fanmode potential.

william-james88 wrote:

bodrock wrote:I'm so glad our figures are made better today....GPS is scary.

The attachment IMG_6345.JPG is no longer available

Your memes always crack me up Bodrock, so glad to have you with us

Thanks Will!

Wow, $35 for Sixshot is an excellent price.
I think bargain-hunting shall be upon us soon with Xmas less than a couple months away....!

I'm thinking it's the only way I may find Overlord at this rate.....hoping to get Trypticon for cheap too.

Skritz wrote:Sixshot is pretty hit and miss but I'd say he's worth it while on any kind of sale if you are remotely interested in the character or his concept. His articulation is a bit lacking but that's in part because he is a rather slavish update of the G1 figure to the point of crippling it a little bit. His lack of waist and wrist swivel as well as melee weapon is a real bummer for a guy associated with ninja stuff. He may yet be one of the least flexible ninjas to ever exist. That said, he has a plus in that you can transform him to all mode without ever touching his head titanmaster gimmick.

Are there better Sixshot out there? Yes, but they are all third party. At the very least one could enjoy all his fanmode potential.

I really only got him because I need places to put Titan Masters.

I got Sixshot by pure impulse -- I had to know how he compared to the original and was hoping for max poseability! It ain't bad.

I really liked Alpha Trion and Lione -- I see a fair amount of surplus for the former, but I hope others enjoyed him too.

bodrock wrote:I got Sixshot by pure impulse -- I had to know how he compared to the original and was hoping for max poseability! It ain't bad.

I really liked Alpha Trion and Lione -- I see a fair amount of surplus for the former, but I hope others enjoyed him too.

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Your ability to make toys that I don't think look good, look good, never ceases to amaze me. Guess I'm gonna have to bust out Alpha Trion again when I get home


Having never experienced G1 Sixshot I have to admit I was a little let-down by how incredibly abstract most of his modes were (I mean what car, sci-fi or otherwise, has 1/3 of its mass in front of its front wheels). On the other hand, his relative super-chunkiness, slightly-limited articulation and semi-realistic-at-best alt-modes gave me shades of the UT toys, so I guess he managed to somehow squeeze a bit of nostalgia out of me as well.

I wouldn't say he's the best Leader of TR (though admittedly I haven't been incredibly wowed by any of TR's Leaders either, good as they all are), but in my opinion he's pretty much worth the price of admission even without a significant price-drop. I bought mine at the standard slight-TRU-markup since that was the only B&M I could find him at, and I'm still pretty satisfied, so make of that what you will.

I'm not gonna lie that my enjoyment of Alpha Trion come solely out of the fact of 1) having an AT figure to begin with and 2) his Beast mode and design reminding me of a Transmetal, down to the derpy half-formed 'vehicle' mode.

Skritz wrote:I'm not gonna lie that my enjoyment of Alpha Trion come solely out of the fact of 1) having an AT figure to begin with and 2) his Beast mode and design reminding me of a Transmetal, down to the derpy half-formed 'vehicle' mode.

A Space Age Carrier is still more of a vehicle than most Transmetals have ever been

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Skritz wrote:I'm not gonna lie that my enjoyment of Alpha Trion come solely out of the fact of 1) having an AT figure to begin with and 2) his Beast mode and design reminding me of a Transmetal, down to the derpy half-formed 'vehicle' mode.

A Space Age Carrier is still more of a vehicle than most Transmetals have ever been

Yes, but just because it looks more visually complete doesn't mean it looks good.

Thanks Qwan! I try to give any bot I've spent money on some love -- especially if one of their modes fit some theme in my head.

But yeah, as much fun as AT can be, I've never bothered with his craft-type thang. I like him as a barbarian sage and liocorn, though!

To me, his lion-mode and large armored look remind me of a wizened yet-still-badass king, like some sort of aged King Arthur. While he may be generally remembered as an 'old sage' in the modern era, it is worth remembering that back in the cartoon Alpha Trion (or rather A3, as he was known) was part of the rebellion against the Quintesson. So it's not implausible to see him as some old badass who is equally an intellectual and a powerful warrior.

It is worth noting that due to molding, TR Alpha Trion has a shorter beard than his actual depiction. Maybe that's just Alpha Trion in his robot fifties rather than eighties? /headcanon-ing the hell out of one toy....

Skritz wrote:To me, his lion-mode and large armored look remind me of a wizened yet-still-badass king, like some sort of aged King Arthur. While he may be generally remembered as an 'old sage' in the modern era, it is worth remembering that back in the cartoon Alpha Trion (or rather A3, as he was known) was part of the rebellion against the Quintesson. So it's not implausible to see him as some old badass who is equally an intellectual and a powerful warrior.

It is worth noting that due to molding, TR Alpha Trion has a shorter beard than his actual depiction. Maybe that's just Alpha Trion in his robot fifties rather than eighties? /headcanon-ing the hell out of one toy....

The Titans Return version made me think of him as Master Bra’tac from Stargate SG-1.

Skritz wrote:To me, his lion-mode and large armored look remind me of a wizened yet-still-badass king, like some sort of aged King Arthur. While he may be generally remembered as an 'old sage' in the modern era, it is worth remembering that back in the cartoon Alpha Trion (or rather A3, as he was known) was part of the rebellion against the Quintesson. So it's not implausible to see him as some old badass who is equally an intellectual and a powerful warrior.

It is worth noting that due to molding, TR Alpha Trion has a shorter beard than his actual depiction. Maybe that's just Alpha Trion in his robot fifties rather than eighties? /headcanon-ing the hell out of one toy....

I hear ya on head-canons!

And yeah, this A-3 is certainly more combat-ready than the old sage we saw in the cartoon! I agree -- it's plausible he got this body upon becoming a Titan Master as well.

See, it does require a bit of headcanon to explain what the hell this Alpha Trion is supposed to repesent: while his design clearly harken to G1 cartoon Alpha Trion in head and color, the lion body is a clear homage to the 3H comic Leobreaker recolor which got scrapped.

So, okay, it's a meta homage which is damn cool. However it still beg the question where or how this guy's design fit into continuity...and the answer is problably 'nowhere' because he's just a toy in the Generations toyline. But speculating on such minute details is certainly something the fandom does, especially given that nowadays we can be assured pretty much everything is 'canon' to some degree in that it exist somewhere in the multiverse. Generally, we can assume design changes to a character are just artistic license in the engineering but that they still nonetheless 'represent' that character, such as how Generations Armada Starscream can be officially seen as an Armada figure inside the Generations line, even if the design was used in comics.

So is he a form of the (a?) G1 A3/Alpha Trion? He appears in some promotional material and there have been universal clusters named for far less. Is he Aligned Alpha Trion? Is he 'Alpha Trizer' from the Wing universe? Or am I simply overthinking a single figure? Probably.

He's based on both his previous Botcon toys -- the Vector Prime repaint (hence the alt-mode and the chest thingy) and the planned BW lion repaint. It's honestly pretty interesting to behold, especially in a line that is so incredibly G1-orientated.

Kurona wrote:He's based on both his previous Botcon toys -- the Vector Prime repaint (hence the alt-mode and the chest thingy) and the planned BW lion repaint. It's honestly pretty interesting to behold, especially in a line that is so incredibly G1-orientated.

I know, which is why his amalgamated design make me speculate all the more! He's the only retail Alpha Trion figure to exist and he's a big pile of crazy Botcon homages to boot, where you'd think that had they wanted a G1-accurate Alpha Trion figure they could have just retooled Scourge given that it is semi-canon that G1 Alpha Trion is some sort of space car and/or hovercraft.

Mind you I'm not complaining, he's certainly one of the most unique and unexpected releases in recent years.

whatdyamean planned? Legends Lio Prime was already released(a while ago)