The Energon Pub

[Bucky]

D-Max - Very cool! Archadis is a pretty sweet Dino-bird. I’m really liking his character in the show. I’m 20 episodes in now. Just in terms of design, he miiiiight be my favorite character in BW Neo. Between the asymmetrical wing sweeping across his chest, and his flip out handgun, he’s a got a very slick design. Also his head-hand isn’t obtrusive, as is often the case with other head-hands.

I think Mach Kick is the winner out of those four. He’s very unique. I really dig his toy a lot, but admittedly Long Rack is a little superior in my opinion. I’m excited for you to get your last package and complete the main cast! That’s awesome!

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Packages arrived Saturday, and then Sunday while I was waiting for self checkout at Walmart, I noticed a discarded Brunt at the coolers beside checkout. grabbed him and took off for the toy aisle and a fresh stock of wave 3 deluxes!... But the pack only had 2 Reflectors, cause it had 2 Hounds with it too. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Now I gotta wait to find the 3rd to make the camera mode, which is admittedly the mode I want to form the most. And my one Reflector has 2 left feet so his gun can't peg in for spaceship mode

But at least NEO main cast is complete! Just need Rockbuster and Bazooka and I will be done with Neo!

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Went out tonight to try to find a 3rd Reflector. No joy. The one walmart had SIX cases of Wave 2 deluxes though...

And then that same walmart, for the first time in a long time, stocked leaders, and lo and behold, one stood there among an Armada of Shockwaves

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Congrats on your hauls, Bucky and D-Max.

First, belated pics of Mirage's spoiler gun and Beast Hunters Ultimate Optimus Prime:



And now...

Armada Thundercracker's right-hand launcher.

Power of the Primes Hun-Gurrr and Roadtrap, which finally completes Abomnius and Battletrap.

SIEGE Skytread. Had to do some shaving to get his tank mode turret to go together properly.

SIEGE Ironhide. I tried to photograph him against the backdrop from his packaging, but my phone's camera refused to focus properly on him like that. He's a fun figure, looks decent. And it looks like it would be fairly simple to customize him to have a removable battle platform like the G1 toy if I so chose. Also to customize him into a Headmaster (the thought of Headmaster Ratchet and Ironhide amuses me entirely too much)

SIEGE Blowpipe. Now I need to get Triggerhappy to go with him.

Bonus pics of Ironhide together with Chromia:

[STngAR]

Well catching up usually hurts the wallet but its not the first time. Yesterday the mailman dropped off Titans Return Highbrow, Cromedome, Triggerhappy, Hardhead, Quake, Krok, Twin Inferno, Hot Rod, Breakaway, Kup, Skullsmasher, and wolfwire

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Very nice!

And it could be worse - you could be catching up on Combiner Wars.

[STngAR]

Very nice!

And it could be worse - you could be catching up on Combiner Wars.

Yeah, about that....., I took a bit of a break about the time voyager brainstorm came out in the generations line

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Very nice!

And it could be worse - you could be catching up on Combiner Wars.

Yeah, about that....., I took a bit of a break about the time voyager brainstorm came out in the generations line

Oh dear.

Might want to go with KOs or hope you can find deals on the boxsets. Combiner Wars limb prices are bonkers.

[triKlops]

Very nice!

And it could be worse - you could be catching up on Combiner Wars.

Yeah, about that....., I took a bit of a break about the time voyager brainstorm came out in the generations line

Oh dear.

Might want to go with KOs or hope you can find deals on the boxsets. Combiner Wars limb prices are bonkers.

The Wei Jiang KOs for the OG Headmasters are super on point. I bought the TR versions and were underwhelmed due to size. The KOs are the perfect, voyager, heights for these characters, IMHO; especially for the sub $15 shipped price point. The only KOs i didn't buy were Brainstorm and Hardhead as i already had the Voyager versions from Generations and Universe 2.0, with upgrade kit, respectively.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Very nice!

And it could be worse - you could be catching up on Combiner Wars.

Yeah, about that....., I took a bit of a break about the time voyager brainstorm came out in the generations line

Oh dear.

Might want to go with KOs or hope you can find deals on the boxsets. Combiner Wars limb prices are bonkers.

The Wei Jiang KOs for the OG Headmasters are super on point. I bought the TR versions and were underwhelmed due to size. The KOs are the perfect, voyager, heights for these characters, IMHO; especially for the sub $15 shipped price point. The only KOs i didn't buy were Brainstorm and Hardhead as i already had the Voyager versions from Generations and Universe 2.0, with upgrade kit, respectively.

I was talking about going with KOs for Combiner Wars because of the obscene eBay prices for the limb robots.

And you were underwhelmed that Titans Return fixed the Headmasters' problem of being grossly oversize compared to their fellow Autobots??

[triKlops]

Very nice!

And it could be worse - you could be catching up on Combiner Wars.

Yeah, about that....., I took a bit of a break about the time voyager brainstorm came out in the generations line

Oh dear.

Might want to go with KOs or hope you can find deals on the boxsets. Combiner Wars limb prices are bonkers.

The Wei Jiang KOs for the OG Headmasters are super on point. I bought the TR versions and were underwhelmed due to size. The KOs are the perfect, voyager, heights for these characters, IMHO; especially for the sub $15 shipped price point. The only KOs i didn't buy were Brainstorm and Hardhead as i already had the Voyager versions from Generations and Universe 2.0, with upgrade kit, respectively.

I was talking about going with KOs for Combiner Wars because of the obscene eBay prices for the limb robots.

And you were underwhelmed that Titans Return fixed the Headmasters' problem of being grossly oversize compared to their fellow Autobots??

Ok, I understand that you were talking about Combiner Wars but he said he took a break around Voyager Brainstorm. I believed the WJ KOs to be a relevant bit to that convo about Generations catch up; no more, no less.

And yes, I prefer the larger size for those specific Headmasters. It lets them stand out a bit more, as a semi homage to the aforementioned oversizing of their older designs, as well as now so many of their contemporaries in Generations are that regulated deluxe size. If you prefer the Generations resizing, cool. If not, cool as well.

[-Kanrabat-]

Me, buying Cyberverse stuff? Preposterous, right?
Well, those Armor bots are pretty BOSS.



Could have been better for my 9000th post, but those little jem deserves it.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

I do prefer the Generations resizing. I mean, in G1 the Headmasters' toys were only as big as they were for the sake of accommodating the gimmick. They were the same size as most of the other Autobots in fiction, so I like that the Titans Return toyline brought them more in line with that.

[-Kanrabat-]

I do prefer the Generations resizing. I mean, in G1 the Headmasters' toys were only as big as they were for the sake of accommodating the gimmick. They were the same size as most of the other Autobots in fiction, so I like that the Titans Return toyline brought them more in line with that.

G1 toys...
Scale...
Maniacal Joker laughter

They truly, and completely didnt care at the time.
Still, it's baffling that only now do HasTak truly care about scale. In 3 lines, no less. Masterpiece, Studio Series, and Generations Siege.

The kid in me lament some toys are not bigger, but the nerd in me is pretty dam satisfied.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Weeeell, they made attempts to care about scale on occasion in the G1 toyline.

Caring more seriously about scale started earlier than you suggest (Although in CHUG it has been rather hit-or-miss since the very beginning). It began in Beast Wars with the Transmetals, lapsed during Beast Machines, and returned for RiD and the Unicron Trilogy (although there are some hiccup spots here and there). It had a rocky road in the movies and Animated (and still has, in the case of the former), especially because of the Ultra size class being forgotten after Universe: Classics 2.0 ended.

[Bucky]

D-Max - Awesome BW Neo and Siege hauls, D-Max! Apart from getting super lucky very early on, and finding a Shockwave and Ultra Magnus in my Local Target, I haven’t had any luck with finding Siege out in the wild. It’s been all online for me. Huge congrats on polishing off your Neo main cast!! I’m just waiting on my Big Convoy, and then it’s a few ancillary characters left to track down. I kinda want to pop over to your BW appreciation thread, and do some deep dive discussions on these, since most of the Neo molds are new to me.


Well the rest of my splurges came in, save for Encore Big Convoy. I know I went over board. Sometimes when my depression gets the better of me, I go shopping as a sort of therapy. Anyway, movie hauls...

3DAB49D5-4A80-4488-A2C9-FCE72934FB0F.jpeg

These four in particular I’ve wanted for a very long time. I got real fortunate price-wise with Stratosphere. I managed to snag him MISB for half the going rate of a used figure. He’s the only one of this group that wasn’t used. Again I neglected to check for gold plastic. I didn’t even know Has/Tak was still using it at that point. And in the arm and leg joints no less. He transformed fine, but as soon as I tried to pose him, his left leg snapped at the thigh. He’s since been mended. I just won’t try transforming him again. Decided to give him SS Sideswipes handguns, because mine isn’t using his, and those articulated claws were just begging to duel wield something!

Mixmaster is the real winner of this group for me. I love him to death. No deal on him, but I don’t feel like I over paid either, he’s just fantastic.

I love this Long Haul mold, and I thought having the yellow Payload would lad out my Constructicons nicely. I wasn’t expecting to like him more than Long Haul. There’s something about this mold in bright yellow, with the little complimentary purple accents, and red tinted windows that really makes him pop. Plus he has some nice detailing on the sides. Long Haul actually looks bland next to him. A pleasant surprise. My favorite aspect of this mold is still that his arms have little sliding pistons. And not just two, but four on each arm. It’s a real hallmark of quality and attention to detail that I feel makes the entire RotF toy line shine above other movie toy lines.

I never could find this Soundwave in the wild. Finally saw one used for a reasonable price. He’s a nice figure. I think I just want to find a WFC Sideswipe and Kickback to polish off my Cybertron shelf.

E896C75B-2BCB-4AB8-8293-361A5094717E.jpeg

CFBF43C8-5C8D-4A02-AAA5-15EB1CF0BADB.jpeg

520091D7-7E2B-49C8-A7B2-4A2B200C0029.jpeg

Knockout was dirt cheap. Another addition to my growing motorcycle TF collection. and I’m repurposing Laserbeak as Hydra for my BW Neo shelves. I haven’t handled his mold since I was a kid, and I didn’t even realize how great it is for something so simple. Despite their simplicity there isn’t any Basic class figure in BW or BW Neo that I don’t love to bits. Save for Break. I need to get my hands on a Terrorsaur badly now.

As for the eight movie toys, I got them for a steal when I lucked out and won two auctions. They came out to $12.50 each after shipping. Most of these molds I’ve never handled, save for Swerve and Sideways. Two molds I seriously love. I’ve never actually owned or handled any original Movie figures. So this is a real treat to see just how far the movie toys have come. I’ve only opened Dropkick, Bee, and Cliff so far, but they’re better than I was expecting. There’s a definite through line in terms of aesthetic and quality of the movie figures, and it really stands out to me now. In a good way. The way the interlocking gears work to fold out most of Bee/Cliff’s legs is so interesting. There’s a certain quality of engineering there I think was lost at some point along the way. I love Cliff’s skull face, and i much prefer a Bee figure with his battle mask down. Dropkick’s original movie-verse toy is soooo much better than his SS helicopter toy. It’s ridiculous. They’re also much heavier than I was expecting, which is an aspect I miss about some of the older figures.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Congrats on your haul, Bucky. Those are some very nice finds.

Honestly I think Bumblebee Dropkick should be renamed Battletrap to distinguish him.

My favorite aspect of this mold is still that his arms have little sliding pistons. And not just two, but four on each arm. It’s a real hallmark of quality and attention to detail that I feel makes the entire RotF toy line shine above other movie toy lines.

Ah yes, the Mech Alive gimmick. It really was a nice touch, even if its implementation on Optimus Prime is part of what makes transforming him to truck mode counterintuitive (generally, one does not expect that kind of forceful untabbing to be required).

[Nemesis Primal]

Oh my god it's Movie Wreckage, I love him. He's one of my prime examples of the old Movie figures being better when they were toy-only characters. I need to get my hands on a new one, since mine has gotten loose from years of use and is missing some of the legs panels to store his weapons, but he's great. Open him and his Darth Maul blades up soon, he's worth it.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Oh my god it's Movie Wreckage, I love him. He's one of my prime examples of the old Movie figures being better when they were toy-only characters.

I see I'm not the only one who thinks that about the first movie's toyline (the ones that are true movie-style toys anyway). Like, there's a few good screen character toys in that one, but the rest range from "Ugh" to "Passable." The toy-only characters OTOH...

[-Kanrabat-]

Oh my god it's Movie Wreckage, I love him. He's one of my prime examples of the old Movie figures being better when they were toy-only characters.

I see I'm not the only one who thinks that about the first movie's toyline (the ones that are true movie-style toys anyway). Like, there's a few good screen character toys in that one, but the rest range from "Ugh" to "Passable." The toy-only characters OTOH...

Had to google OTOH, but yeah, the toy-only '07 and RotF toys had pretty solid design and were fantastic. Mainly because they were not restricted to what appeared on screen.
Best winners IMO were '07 deluxe Gears and RotF Bludgeon and Mindwipe.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

D-Max - Awesome BW Neo and Siege hauls, D-Max! Apart from getting super lucky very early on, and finding a Shockwave and Ultra Magnus in my Local Target, I haven’t had any luck with finding Siege out in the wild. It’s been all online for me. Huge congrats on polishing off your Neo main cast!! I’m just waiting on my Big Convoy, and then it’s a few ancillary characters left to track down. I kinda want to pop over to your BW appreciation thread, and do some deep dive discussions on these, since most of the Neo molds are new to me.

You should! The Beast Wars toys have so much to still discuss, especially those who are just getting them.

Nice haul! Movie Dropkick is really awesome, He's my favorite to not show up in the movies.

Oh my god it's Movie Wreckage, I love him. He's one of my prime examples of the old Movie figures being better when they were toy-only characters.

I see I'm not the only one who thinks that about the first movie's toyline (the ones that are true movie-style toys anyway). Like, there's a few good screen character toys in that one, but the rest range from "Ugh" to "Passable." The toy-only characters OTOH...

The non-movie guys were really good. Wreckage himself is pretty dang good. Dreadwing has a great jet mode and Breakaway from RotF is good too. Longarm is really good too.

[Trocheman]

No toy haul but i really wanted to...went to a big comic book shop by me. i was gonna get a couple but decided not to. they had some awesome ones and some of the ones i have home at my parents. My go back to start collecting the original devastator. you can see a couple of them on the shelf.

[Rogue-Primal]

Havent posted in a while but i got my hands on Age of Extinction Legion Class Crosshairs. He's really really great and hasbro got everything into a tight package for such a tiny guy but those arm doors can get stuck.

I'm glad i chose him over Legion Class Red Drift, i dont like chicken legs/reverse knees on transformers

[The_Cryptid_Person]

Went to a local show, got these fine fellas. An absolute steal, perhaps quite literally in the case of Rendsora, those weapons appear to have come from MPM Prime, but the Orange and silver seem too dark. The seller said they went with him, so...?
Break is everything I've read about. 5mm pegs under the flippers are nice though, and help him integrate with other figures. Especially siege.
Cyclones is nice, but not my first or best. Relegated to "armada" status.
I'm going to parts-swap grimmy with my old FoC one to have a tight-jointed, complete figure. With "chrome".
Leader class megatron is alright, hilariously outclassed by Rendsora in most ways though. His flames and wings offer fun display options other TLK megatrons don't... makes a good "fairy godmother" for his larger counterpart.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Havent posted in a while but i got my hands on Age of Extinction Legion Class Crosshairs. He's really really great and hasbro got everything into a tight package for such a tiny guy but those arm doors can get stuck.

I'm glad i chose him over Legion Class Red Drift, i dont like chicken legs/reverse knees on transformers

Legion Drift is actually pretty fun too. I wish I had found legion Hound to go with them, but both Drift, Crosshairs, and Megatron were good! Much better legions than the previous wave