The Energon Pub

I was surprised that qute a few of you see my news staff status as meaning I should have as high standards as regular journalists and I welcome it. So I scoured the net and now have an actual source for the Dead End/Chrome Dome debate:

someone did indeed ask if Chromedome was just a redeco/retool of Dead End and Hasbro product designer John Warden told the group that the Takara designers started with a Dead End figure to develop a proof of concept of the Headmaster gimmick, so some of the engineering of that figure has a lineage that leads right into Chromedome.

So while it is a new mold/toy in every sense, it is not an oiginal mold thought up from the ground up. The entire toy is based on Dead End and built around that initial mold. It isnt an inspiration, it is a deliberate copy of the engineering. The best example I can think of is the one step RID Sideswipe toy. While it is made up of completely new parts, the mold is based off the One Step Drift and Prowl from AOE.





Now those are the facts. The interpretation of it being a retool or a fully original toy or not is up to the fans and their personal definitions and biases.

ZeroWolf wrote:Allow me

So we know three of the leader class so far, pmop, blaster and soundwave. Now barring hasbro going the uber cheap option of giving us soundblaster and twincast what do you think they will do for the fourth slot?

See I think we may get a repaint of the pmop mold as nemesis prime (lazy idea) or, completely out of left field...Clench. still with me? Good. Clench is one of the g1.5 molds which got repackaged as g2 like his polar opposite pyro on the autobot side, clench was going to be a new decepticon leader...until they made a new megatron.

Twincast already is Blaster's Headmaster and I don't think they'll make Soundblaster.
And I would love to get Nova Prime and Thunderclash remolded out of PMOP.
Another cool option for a Leader class would be Broadside with his base mode designed like an aircraftcarrier.

yeah can i just get on my soapbox here for a minute! coz i'm hearing a lot of in general that we may not get this suggested repaint/remold of a character coz of one that we've just had previously! now we've had a Generations Brainstorm fairly recently, but that hasn't stopped them from giving us a new one + look at how many times in the CW line that molds have been reused, repainted & retooled to give us new characters/figures! + who says that it's gonna stop there with those? they may very well indeed reuse TR molds to give us repainted/retooled figures somewhere down the line!

Who's to say at this stage in time?

Lunatic Prime wrote:Another cool option for a Leader class would be Broadside with his base mode designed like an aircraftcarrier.

Since he's a triple changer and should have his robot mode be as big as Astrotrain, I am pretty certain he would be in the voyager class if he were ever made.

It's kinda crazy that people would even think 'robot who's head is itself a robot and can ride the bigger one' is *just* a reuse of 'robot who can turn into a limb'. I know retools have become ridiculously extensive, but still.


... though I do sorta wonder if Transformers are moving away from all molds being unique to everything being based on generic builds, making the existing lingo meaningless. Previous lines would've made Dead End, Prowl*, and Chromedome completely and unquestionably distinct from each other, but now instead we get three* technically separate molds (no sharing of physical mold tray) that are all heavily adapted from one another.
* ASSUMPTION! 4+ alternate heads and at least one alternate body/vehicle strikes me as difficult to do one just one mold (it's twice as much as we've been getting)

Noideaforaname wrote:It's kinda crazy that people would even think 'robot who's head is itself a robot and can ride the bigger one' is *just* a reuse of 'robot who can turn into a limb'. I know retools have become ridiculously extensive, but still.


... though I do sorta wonder if Transformers are moving away from all molds being unique to everything being based on generic builds, making the existing lingo meaningless. Previous lines would've made Dead End, Prowl*, and Chromedome completely and unquestionably distinct from each other, but now instead we get three* technically separate molds (no sharing of physical mold tray) that are all heavily adapted from one another.
* ASSUMPTION! 4+ alternate heads and at least one alternate body/vehicle strikes me as difficult to do one just one mold (it's twice as much as we've been getting)

I definitely believe we are now using an antiquated lingo. Hasbro and Takara seem to have moved past what we call retools. Its actually closer to the G1 days of micromasters and even scramble city, where everything was different from oneanother yet also extremely similar.

I am not too fond of that though, for the simple notion that I like being surprised. Already knowing how everything falls into place because I already have another toy based on the same engineering is not as fun for me.

william-james88 wrote:

Lunatic Prime wrote:Another cool option for a Leader class would be Broadside with his base mode designed like an aircraftcarrier.

Since he's a triple changer and should have his robot mode be as big as Astrotrain, I am pretty certain he would be in the voyager class if he were ever made.

...and Astrotrain's spaceship mode should be big enough to contain all Constructicons plus some others but it isn't.

Edit: And if you look here, he's supposed to be much taller than most of the other charaters like Springer and Whirl who are Voyagers.

check this out! IDToys have Blaster & PMOP up for preorder of around £60

http://www.idtoys.co.uk/generations-titans-return/

Stuartmaximus wrote:check this out! IDToys have Blaster & PMOP up for preorder of around £60

http://www.idtoys.co.uk/generations-titans-return/

And this is in that listing:

March/April 2016

thats a hell o an early 2016 Q3

william-james88 wrote:

Stuartmaximus wrote:check this out! IDToys have Blaster & PMOP up for preorder of around £60

http://www.idtoys.co.uk/generations-titans-return/

And this is in that listing:

March/April 2016

thats a hell o an early 2016 Q3

It says PMOP will ship in Feb 2016

william-james88 wrote:

Stuartmaximus wrote:check this out! IDToys have Blaster & PMOP up for preorder of around £60

http://www.idtoys.co.uk/generations-titans-return/

And this is in that listing:

March/April 2016

thats a hell o an early 2016 Q3

lol your telling me, but that's what the thing says.

mind you £60 for a Leader Class in the UK is a bit steep! seeing as the CW Leaders go for around the £45 mark.

Stuartmaximus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Stuartmaximus wrote:check this out! IDToys have Blaster & PMOP up for preorder of around £60

http://www.idtoys.co.uk/generations-titans-return/

And this is in that listing:

March/April 2016

thats a hell o an early 2016 Q3

lol your telling me, but that's what the thing says.

mind you £60 for a Leader Class in the UK is a bit steep! seeing as the CW Leaders go for around the £45 mark.

While there's probably a bit of a markup there it is in line with price increases.

Also stu since I figured your post earlier about getting characters we already had was in response to me allow me to retort.

I already said I could see the club doing arcee like that but I would hope that hasbro has more sense to avoid it like the plague. The mold is not suited for arcee in the slightest, they would have to retool it significantly to make it feminine.

I mentioned the last release of arcee as that was a long time coming for everyone, but it's a slightly different case for brainstorm who, has been reintroduced to be in the same scale as his brethren and to be compatible with the gimmick.

@lunatic prime, given that all the previous triple changers have come in at voyager scale, I think it's a safe bet that's what broadside would release under

well if that turns out to be the RRP in physical stores in the UK then there's NO WAY i'm paying 60 quid each for those!

& god knows then....what Fort Max will be going for?

Does anyone else think it looks more like Triggerhappy is with Sentinel and Windblade, instead of Brainstorm? Or is it just me?

Genericon #378 wrote:Does anyone else think it looks more like Triggerhappy is with Sentinel and Windblade, instead of Brainstorm? Or is it just me?

The colors really do look a bit like him but I don't think so. He would need a new Headmaster.
I'm just curious what's that symbol on Windblade's chest.


Why no Autobot symbol?

We done struck gold, boys

Scaleface from TFW2005 wrote:I recently asked the Transmissions podcast about some leaks coming from other sources that have been online, including details on Voyager Headmasters Optimus and Megatron, and a new rumor about a Deluxe Rodimus. This is their response:

Transmissions Podcast wrote:We have a significant amount of rumors to pass along in ep. 155. We held off during the 154 recording to show respect for Toy Fair. Keep listening, and we’ll satisfy all your desires.

Decepticon Sunstorm wrote:We done struck gold, boys

Scaleface from TFW2005 wrote:I recently asked the Transmissions podcast about some leaks coming from other sources that have been online, including details on Voyager Headmasters Optimus and Megatron, and a new rumor about a Deluxe Rodimus. This is their response:

Transmissions Podcast wrote:We have a significant amount of rumors to pass along in ep. 155. We held off during the 154 recording to show respect for Toy Fair. Keep listening, and we’ll satisfy all your desires.

If they come out with a DELUXE Rodimus I'm just gonna get the MP version. I knew they would probably come out with Rodimus soon in some form since they're doing the season 3 characters, but I was hoping voyager class.

SillySpringer wrote:
If they come out with a DELUXE Rodimus I'm just gonna get the MP version. I knew they would probably come out with Rodimus soon in some form since they're doing the season 3 characters, but I was hoping voyager class.

I'm sure it's just going to be car Rodimus who fits more as a deluxe then the Car/truck and trailer Rodimus Prime.



They can't use the name Hot Rod so it's just Rodimus without the prime name.

Deadput wrote:They can't use the name Hot Rod so it's just Rodimus without the prime name.

They got the Hot Rod name back with the Platinum Edition "Planet of Junk Clash" set labeling the Classics Rodimus redeco as "Autobot Hot Rod".

Stuartmaximus wrote:

Burn wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Allow me

So we know three of the leader class so far, pmop, blaster and soundwave. Now barring hasbro going the uber cheap option of giving us soundblaster and twincast what do you think they will do for the fourth slot?

See I think we may get a repaint of the pmop mold as nemesis prime (lazy idea) or, completely out of left field...Clench. still with me? Good. Clench is one of the g1.5 molds which got repackaged as g2 like his polar opposite pyro on the autobot side, clench was going to be a new decepticon leader...until they made a new megatron.

Fire Guts God Ginrai!

didn't i already suggest this many posts back?

You did, and I agreed with you. So do you have a point?

well.....here he is!

Fortorion Maximus!

or is it Victorion Maximus? or maybe Fortress Victorion? aww anyway, you pick a name!

Stuartmaximus wrote:well.....here he is!

rsz_rgmoe6z.jpg

Fortorion Maximus!

or is it Victorion Maximus? or maybe Fortress Victorion? aww anyway, you pick a name!

2020 Titan Class confirmed

Stuartmaximus wrote:well.....here he is!

rsz_rgmoe6z.jpg

Fortorion Maximus!

or is it Victorion Maximus? or maybe Fortress Victorion? aww anyway, you pick a name!

Why? Why would someone do this? This boggles my mind

ZeroWolf wrote:

Stuartmaximus wrote:well.....here he is!

rsz_rgmoe6z.jpg

Fortorion Maximus!

or is it Victorion Maximus? or maybe Fortress Victorion? aww anyway, you pick a name!

Why? Why would someone do this? This boggles my mind

i think it's a photoshop! it's not really happening

Sabrblade wrote:

Deadput wrote:They can't use the name Hot Rod so it's just Rodimus without the prime name.

They got the Hot Rod name back with the Platinum Edition "Planet of Junk Clash" set labeling the Classics Rodimus redeco as "Autobot Hot Rod".

It wouldn't make sense to bring out a new version of the olf mold and just a new TR Hot Rod. So, besides that, it's really time to bring out a new Rodimus Prime (besides the MP version). And they could remold PMOP for that.