The Energon Pub

SillySpringer wrote:What we need are more figures based on the MTMTE and LSOTW IDW comic designs of the characters, and all go together with the Generations figures that were designed like that like Gen Springer. I would love to see an IDW style Chromedome, (leader) Optimus Prime, Prowl, and other figures.

NEED might be to strong a word, but Chromedome is on Hasbro's to do list for Titan Wars according to internet radio show rumours.

I think the One-step Changer Prowl is based on IDW Prowl if that helps at all.

Wait wait wait wait wait....

1) What talk of there being a 1-step Prowl? I have never heard that.

2) All kinds of IDW MTMTE guys are anticipated considering the crew does have a lot of movie era and beyond characters on board, so I would expect lots of new LL crew members.

3) I think talking about lack of bad guys toys is ridiculous. In all honesty, we have probably gotten more bad guy molds than good guy molds, it's just that several good guys keep getting repainted, and now that we are past all of the main autobots being released, we are getting lots of bad guys, in all sizes. Besides, would you rather we be getting combining Bee's and Bee repaints? This is his show and line.

4) We have asked for rescue bot generations figures that is true, but the thing is: we already moan enough over the lack of other characters being made from the original 80's stuff and over how badly apparently figures are done, so I can't say I blame them for not making generations rescue bots.

5) I for one do not want to go back to the 80's style transformers. I liked the direction Thrilling 30 and Combiner wars was taking by using updated designs. I do not want figures to look like their original toys, I want them updated. And other things such as RiD enable us to step away from those classic designs with good reasons, and there have been some very good figures and designs that I like much better that are non-G1 based. AoE Prime was a great looking character, even if toys could not pull it off. Same with Prime Smokescreen: fabulous design, and I loved what they did with the wings. Armada and beast wars had a fair share of great designs as well, not to mention animated Prowl. Not everything should fall back on G1.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:
5) I for one do not want to go back to the 80's style transformers. I liked the direction Thrilling 30 and Combiner wars was taking by using updated designs. I do not want figures to look like their original toys, I want them updated. And other things such as RiD enable us to step away from those classic designs with good reasons, and there have been some very good figures and designs that I like much better that are non-G1 based. AoE Prime was a great looking character, even if toys could not pull it off. Same with Prime Smokescreen: fabulous design, and I loved what they did with the wings. Armada and beast wars had a fair share of great designs as well, not to mention animated Prowl. Not everything should fall back on G1.

Agreed. I am a huge fan of the IDW designs of the characters. I am still waiting for a Nautica.

Sabrblade wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Wait wait wait wait wait....

1) What talk of there being a 1-step Prowl? I have never heard that.

The AOE one, methinks.

I know they did that one because it did show up at my local walmarts, toys r us and it was at 5-below not too long ago. And I do not believe that thing was IDW at all. CW Prowl was closer to IDW, but still not it (though the head was amazing)

SillySpringer wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:
5) I for one do not want to go back to the 80's style transformers. I liked the direction Thrilling 30 and Combiner wars was taking by using updated designs. I do not want figures to look like their original toys, I want them updated. And other things such as RiD enable us to step away from those classic designs with good reasons, and there have been some very good figures and designs that I like much better that are non-G1 based. AoE Prime was a great looking character, even if toys could not pull it off. Same with Prime Smokescreen: fabulous design, and I loved what they did with the wings. Armada and beast wars had a fair share of great designs as well, not to mention animated Prowl. Not everything should fall back on G1.

Agreed. I am a huge fan of the IDW designs of the characters. I am still waiting for a Nautica.

Milne, Roche and Griffith have put out some incredible designs, and they really aren't appreciated enough. I long for a Rodimus, and I consider it a huge win the we got Leader MTMTE Magnus and Megatron with autobot symbols! Those were wins for us, as were the likes of Skids, Swerve and Tailgate. I feel they really missed out on giving CW cyclonus the IDW head and a sword instead of a gun. First Aid was also great.

One thing that disappoints me a wee bit though is what they appear to be doing with the TR aesthetic: it all seems G1 toy based, or concept based. This is the first time Nightbeat has used this head design, and it is the first time besides the original toy Hardhead has a faceplate. Overall, it looks just a wee bit too 80's for me. I still love it don't get me wrong, but I so would have preferred a MTMTE Nightbeat and Siren head, not to mention the Hardhead head with the actual face. But oh well.

Still looks cool nonetheless, but I am a wee bit worried that they will look much less at IDW designs for Rodimus and Chromedome, amongst others, when doing the toys.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:

SillySpringer wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:
5) I for one do not want to go back to the 80's style transformers. I liked the direction Thrilling 30 and Combiner wars was taking by using updated designs. I do not want figures to look like their original toys, I want them updated. And other things such as RiD enable us to step away from those classic designs with good reasons, and there have been some very good figures and designs that I like much better that are non-G1 based. AoE Prime was a great looking character, even if toys could not pull it off. Same with Prime Smokescreen: fabulous design, and I loved what they did with the wings. Armada and beast wars had a fair share of great designs as well, not to mention animated Prowl. Not everything should fall back on G1.

Agreed. I am a huge fan of the IDW designs of the characters. I am still waiting for a Nautica.

Milne, Roche and Griffith have put out some incredible designs, and they really aren't appreciated enough. I long for a Rodimus, and I consider it a huge win the we got Leader MTMTE Magnus and Megatron with autobot symbols! Those were wins for us, as were the likes of Skids, Swerve and Tailgate. I feel they really missed out on giving CW cyclonus the IDW head and a sword instead of a gun. First Aid was also great.

One thing that disappoints me a wee bit though is what they appear to be doing with the TR aesthetic: it all seems G1 toy based, or concept based. This is the first time Nightbeat has used this head design, and it is the first time besides the original toy Hardhead has a faceplate. Overall, it looks just a wee bit too 80's for me. I still love it don't get me wrong, but I so would have preferred a MTMTE Nightbeat and Siren head, not to mention the Hardhead head with the actual face. But oh well.

Still looks cool nonetheless, but I am a wee bit worried that they will look much less at IDW designs for Rodimus and Chromedome, amongst others, when doing the toys.

Yeah, I was hoping that the Titan Wars line would be more like the Generations line with a lot of homages to the comics and more "recent" cartoons instead of being like Combiner Wars. I like the Combiner Wars/Unite Warriors Devastator design, but that is because it is not meant for the normal Combiner Wars gimmick! He is his own set. He is meant to be himself, and not center around the combiner port thing. Since Titan Wars is just made up of Headmasters and not figures with 1 or 2 extra limb modes, I hope they take more opportunity to focus on design and aesthetic rather than gimmicks. I know I mention him a lot but, I love the Generations Springer because of how much thought they put into the design, and how much they tried to make him a mix of his different comic incarnations' designs. I hope they do something similar with Rodimus, and other MTMTE and Last Stand/Sins of the Wreckers characters. I am still wanting a voyager Blurr, Kup, and Perceptor too.

Edit: I also am crossing my fingers for Chromedome to have the same comic accuracy as Generations Brainstorm. I am gonna orgasm if he does.

Sabrblade wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:Not to beat up on RID but yeah. I get that too. It is a kind of wasted effort by someone in Hb who keeps on pushing for the TFA style product when they should be focusing on the original style circa G1.

RID wishes its toys were half as good as TFA's complex toys.

I dont thnk RID cares at all about this. They are not aiming for complexity in the least. And I read some fun takara interviews, they too were aiming for simplified designs that were still fun to transform and the takara engineers feel they nailed it with the RID line. One guy even said he made the transformation slightly more fun by giving Warrior Bee a waist turn as an extra step which he felt could have easily been removed as a step (and he is totally right, you only need that extra step because bumblebee's torso is not facing the ground when in alt mode).

william-james88 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:Not to beat up on RID but yeah. I get that too. It is a kind of wasted effort by someone in Hb who keeps on pushing for the TFA style product when they should be focusing on the original style circa G1.

RID wishes its toys were half as good as TFA's complex toys.

I dont thnk RID cares at all about this. They are not aiming for complexity in the least. And I read some fun takara interviews, they too were aiming for simplified designs that were still fun to transform and the takara engineers feel they nailed it with the RID line. One guy even said he made the transformation slightly more fun by giving Warrior Bee a waist turn as an extra step which he felt could have easily been removed as a step (and he is totally right, you only need that extra step because bumblebee's torso is not facing the ground when in alt mode).

This is a thing. RiD had its own aesthetic, and it is a good one. And the toys are lots of fun! screw the posability really, they are fun to transform and to actually play with. And the fact that they were engineered like that and have succeeded well in it is an amazing thing

Maybe I am slow but I just dont get it. If all people want are exactly what G1 looks like then why is it that third parties rarely do just that and instead preffer making updated designs, I mean Hasbro is giving us exactly what we asked for in comparison:

Will, I am probably an exception to that rule. I have no interest in buying 3rd party stuff, so really I am not qualified to respond to some of what you just said. But I far and away prefer updated stuff like the MTMTE styled characters and less of the original toy loyalty, such as how Hardhead is shooting. I prefer updates, but I don't want to spend $90 a pop for one when I could spend $15 or $25. So in reality here, I am just slightly sad that there is less IDW in these guys than I had hoped, but I don't want to do the 3rd party route, so I stick to Hasbro's doing, and considering the comics running and how things look there, I wish for more influence from them.

Hope that blurb makes sense to you.

Opps sorry I pressed Quote instead of edit by mistake.

RAR wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Wait wait wait wait wait....

1) What talk of there being a 1-step Prowl? I have never heard that.

The AOE One step wave that also had ROTF Tank Megatron, Strafe & Rollbar in it has a Prowl with the Butterfly knife Transformation that looks not unlike the IDW Prowl to me as shown on the covers of the earliest IDW comics. At least it looks more like him that it does other Prowls I can think of.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:Will, I am probably an exception to that rule. I have no interest in buying 3rd party stuff, so really I am not qualified to respond to some of what you just said. But I far and away prefer updated stuff like the MTMTE styled characters and less of the original toy loyalty, such as how Hardhead is shooting. I prefer updates, but I don't want to spend $90 a pop for one when I could spend $15 or $25. So in reality here, I am just slightly sad that there is less IDW in these guys than I had hoped, but I don't want to do the 3rd party route, so I stick to Hasbro's doing, and considering the comics running and how things look there, I wish for more influence from them.

Hope that blurb makes sense to you.

Mastermind Creations seems to have more of a burning desire for IDW than Hasbro does lately - neatly their whole line is becoming one big IDW love letter lately.

They are a clever people as they are able to make even me see the merit in what they do as I know they make good "toys" so they even get past my innate disinterest in IDW as a brand representation because of the cool toyishness alone.

Quite an achievement really to be able to make toys based on a version of something I have zero emotional attachment too and yet still make me want to buy more of them due to vague G1ishness and good product quality - not to mention I do actually like unique and interesting alt modes and they do that super well.

If you are a person who enjoys IDW though I think MMC's Tailgate homage is a must buy pretty much.

But I'm buying them as a representation of the Characters "Pre-Earth" bodies rather than any desire to collect a comic cast.

Which is a good thing really as that means the aforementioned Tailgate is then a complement to the Hasbro one rather than an alternative to it.

Thing is: Mastermind may put out some nice looking stuff, but I just don't want nor can afford 3rd party stuff. And the Tailgate Hasbro put out is very good to me. i enjoy the mold and it works so well for Tailgate. And it is a good size and I love it.

I just wish for a little more IDW influence in hasbro stuff, especially since the toys are coming packaged with the comics (however much lack of sense in packaging is involved). I was really hoping for an IDW Rodimus as his design is very awesome and honestly the best Rodimus I have ever seen, but it's looking like a little closer to the original, which is still cool, but IDW Rodimus is still what I would really want, and if he is to be a deluxe, I would prefer him look closer to his comic appearance.

Sales.

Thrilling 30 did give us some great updates from outside of G1, pulling from Beast Wars and Armada, but I kind of wish we could continue to get more outside-of-mainstream homages, especially in the repaints. Instead it seems to work the other way around. RID and Prime seemed like they got a lot of G1 homages, and they seem less... inspired(?) than the homages that showed up in TFA.

Japan has an RID Drift coming out in IDW colors, right? How about re-releasing the "G1" Drift figure in his RID orange? Or maybe repaint Generations Springer as AoE Drift? Both of those were great molds, whatever color you put them in. Or how about retooling the Combiner Wars First-Aid mold as RID Strongarm? Or the Prowl/Streetwise mold as Barricade? If we have to have a bunch of combiner-bots repainted as non-combining characters, why not expand those outside of G1? Titan Wars Sentinel Prime will almost certainly be repainted as Astrotrain, but his shuttle-mode looks a lot like Armada Jetfire, too, so there's another possibility.

I bet if they did repaint something as REV people would just complain that it wasn't Sunstreaker instead.

RAR wrote:I bet if they did repaint something as REV people would just complain that it wasn't Sunstreaker instead.

I would just complain its a repaint.

Caelus wrote:Thrilling 30 did give us some great updates from outside of G1, pulling from Beast Wars and Armada, but I kind of wish we could continue to get more outside-of-mainstream homages, especially in the repaints. Instead it seems to work the other way around. RID and Prime seemed like they got a lot of G1 homages, and they seem less... inspired(?) than the homages that showed up in TFA.

Japan has an RID Drift coming out in IDW colors, right? How about re-releasing the "G1" Drift figure in his RID orange? Or maybe repaint Generations Springer as AoE Drift? Both of those were great molds, whatever color you put them in. Or how about retooling the Combiner Wars First-Aid mold as RID Strongarm? Or the Prowl/Streetwise mold as Barricade? If we have to have a bunch of combiner-bots repainted as non-combining characters, why not expand those outside of G1? Titan Wars Sentinel Prime will almost certainly be repainted as Astrotrain, but his shuttle-mode looks a lot like Armada Jetfire, too, so there's another possibility.

See now this is not a bad idea. There are some great designs from other families and it would be pretty cool to see them homaged like that

william-james88 wrote:Maybe I am slow but I just dont get it. If all people want are exactly what G1 looks like then why is it that third parties rarely do just that and instead preffer making updated designs, I mean Hasbro is giving us exactly what we asked for in comparison:

Hmm yeah... I actually love the TW design for Hardhead better than most 3rd party Hardheads. If it is based of the COMIC deisgn like Thrilling 30 Brainstorm I am TOTALLY cool with it though. We need more comic figures.

Sabrblade wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

RAR wrote:I bet if they did repaint something as REV people would just complain that it wasn't Sunstreaker instead.

I would just complain its a repaint.

Unless they could somehow make that figure turn invisible, disappear into the pavement, or drive on the sides of walls/buildings. That would make it much more interesting.

...then he would complain about it going missing every two seconds.

Actually, the reason 3rd party companies preffer updates, I think, is because it gives them both more freedom and avoids greater hassels for stealing copyrighted designs.

Sabrblade wrote:And, well, it's what Classics did. Third parties just play along to that tune.

I think Mastermind Creations is doing a pretty good job with their comic-based figures.