The Energon Pub

[Gauntlet101010]

Maybe they got the Bumblebee arms mixed up with the Cliffjumper arms and it's still gonna be a shared mold between the two of them.

[Rodimus Prime]

The pessimist in me says Bee will be a heavy retool of Cliffy, but will still look like a scaled-down, more affordable MP. I also thought that he (as well as Wheeljack) should have gotten a Cybertronian version (from MTMTE) in Siege.

Cliffjumper's arms and legs are Bumblebee's arms and legs. Not sure how two toys based off the same general construction would warrant re-inventing the wheel.

I said retooling. They have different heads and torsos as well as different alt modes. Unless Hasbro just decided to paint Cliffjumper yellow in vehicle mode.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

The pessimist in me says Bee will be a heavy retool of Cliffy, but will still look like a scaled-down, more affordable MP. I also thought that he (as well as Wheeljack) should have gotten a Cybertronian version (from MTMTE) in Siege.

Cliffjumper's arms and legs are Bumblebee's arms and legs. Not sure how two toys based off the same general construction would warrant re-inventing the wheel.

I said retooling. They have different heads and torsos as well as different alt modes. Unless Hasbro just decided to paint Cliffjumper yellow in vehicle mode.

From the image the front of the shoulders match between Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, but of course the arms and legs can't be compared because they're obscured or the side showing is the hollow one.

I call part-sharing akin to PotP Moonracer vs. Siege Chromia.

[sol magnus]

The pessimist in me says Bee will be a heavy retool of Cliffy, but will still look like a scaled-down, more affordable MP. I also thought that he (as well as Wheeljack) should have gotten a Cybertronian version (from MTMTE) in Siege.

Cliffjumper's arms and legs are Bumblebee's arms and legs. Not sure how two toys based off the same general construction would warrant re-inventing the wheel.

I said retooling. They have different heads and torsos as well as different alt modes. Unless Hasbro just decided to paint Cliffjumper yellow in vehicle mode.

I hear ya, but wouldn;'t it make more sense for Bee/Cliff to be more like Siege Ironhide/Ratchet where they are clearly off the same design, done simultaneously? The only thing I find strange is Cliff having "Bee type" arms, and Bee having (going by the picture) Cliff-type arms. But, those are the arms Bee has in the comic.

I don't know. I'm not trying to argue. It's gonna Be(e) what it's gonna Be(e).

From the image the front of the shoulders match between Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, but of course the arms and legs can't be compared because they're obscured or the side showing is the hollow one.

I call part-sharing akin to PotP Moonracer vs. Siege Chromia.

If you look at Bumblebee's right arm, it's three rectangles, rather than rectangle/tube/rectangle.

[Rodimus Prime]

but wouldn;'t it make more sense for Bee/Cliff to be more like Siege Ironhide/Ratchet where they are clearly off the same design, done simultaneously?

Yes it would, and knowing how prominent Bee is considered to be by Hasbro, I'm surprised that didn't happen. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we got a new Cliffy, but I was fully expecting Bee to come first, followed by a Cliffy that was similar in design and maybe even a retool.

[TF-fan kev777]

but wouldn;'t it make more sense for Bee/Cliff to be more like Siege Ironhide/Ratchet where they are clearly off the same design, done simultaneously?

Yes it would, and knowing how prominent Bee is considered to be by Hasbro, I'm surprised that didn't happen. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we got a new Cliffy, but I was fully expecting Bee to come first, followed by a Cliffy that was similar in design and maybe even a retool.

If anything, this might be the one line where they felt like they can afford to let Bee take a back set to some of the others. Bee is way too prominent in Cyberverse and the movies to pull that off there. And them finally getting back around to Bee at the time when the Netflix series is going to be coming out would make sense to wanting him on the shelves in some form then.

[CobraKai]

Even if Bee is just a redeco/reshell of Earthrise Cliffjumper, I'll definitely be replacing TR Bee. TR Bee isn't bad by any means, but ER Cliff is much more fun to transform and pose for me, so I'll definitely upgrade.

Titans Return Bee's still staying even if I get ER bee

Duality of man.

Huh. After years of never seeing a post like this, This is the second time I see this post today. The other had to do with My Little Pony crossovers.

[Skritz]

Since people have speculated about an ER Galvatron and Rodimus (or at least, Roddy for next part) I've been wondering about how HasTak would engineer and design a Rodimus figure. We've seen a few modern Hot Rod with a variety of accuracy or lack thereof. We've seen an MP Hot Rod happen twice including the first one which turned into Rodimus. POTP Rodimus ended up looking more like Rodimus body-wise as his smaller Hot Rod figure, aside from the youthful face.

The weird thing going on with Rodimus is that his appearance has been all over the place. For example, how different does he look from Hot Rod? This range from being a slightly taller Hot Rod with an older face to the comics and toy having quite a different physique. Recently, with the WFC trilogy they've mostly stuck to the animation models as much as they could for the robot mode. So would a new, 'show accurate' Rodimus just end up looking more like a 'Puberty Hot Rod' in robot mode? If so, would he be Leader class with a separate trailer like the toy? There's a problem with that and it's that, unlike Optimus Prime, Rodimus never separate from his trailer in vehicle mode. It's part of his body so to speak to the point that if you look at the G1 toy?


It looks like crap. So, a few theories about an ER (or whatever is the next is called) Rodimus:
-The trailer become part of the legs/torso like Titanium.
-The legs now become a more coherent truck like Optimus. The trailer is a battle station like the toy.
-The vehicle mode can become more Hot Rod-esque. Again, battle station mode.

[Jeddostotle7]

Since people have speculated about an ER Galvatron and Rodimus (or at least, Roddy for next part) I've been wondering about how HasTak would engineer and design a Rodimus figure. We've seen a few modern Hot Rod with a variety of accuracy or lack thereof. We've seen an MP Hot Rod happen twice including the first one which turned into Rodimus. POTP Rodimus ended up looking more like Rodimus body-wise as his smaller Hot Rod figure, aside from the youthful face.

The weird thing going on with Rodimus is that his appearance has been all over the place. For example, how different does he look from Hot Rod? This range from being a slightly taller Hot Rod with an older face to the comics and toy having quite a different physique. Recently, with the WFC trilogy they've mostly stuck to the animation models as much as they could for the robot mode. So would a new, 'show accurate' Rodimus just end up looking more like a 'Puberty Hot Rod' in robot mode? If so, would he be Leader class with a separate trailer like the toy? There's a problem with that and it's that, unlike Optimus Prime, Rodimus never separate from his trailer in vehicle mode. It's part of his body so to speak to the point that if you look at the G1 toy?


It looks like crap. So, a few theories about an ER (or whatever is the next is called) Rodimus:
-The trailer become part of the legs/torso like Titanium.
-The legs now become a more coherent truck like Optimus. The trailer is a battle station like the toy.
-The vehicle mode can become more Hot Rod-esque. Again, battle station mode.

There's a chance it'll just be one cohesive vehicle mode with the "car" unable to separate from the "trailer" without looking weird, like Siege Ultra Magnus/GU Optimus. I would like them to try to make it able to look good separate from the trailer, though.

[Skritz]

Still, the Siege 'Cabnus' and Galaxy Convoy at least looked like a coherent and complete vehicle when separated, whereas G1 Rodimus just looked like some weird pogo-man-stick-thing with a car glued at the front. Btw I know its a weird thing to like, but I really like the more orange and smoother, snub-nosed front of the Rodimus vehicle mode, whereas the POTP toy looked more like Hot Rod with a trailer (which it was!).

I know. Weird detail to like about it.

[Sentinel_Primal]

I think a new Rodimus Prime would have to also have the car mode for that reason. Frankly I think if they retool the POTP it might work because the Hot Rod part was fairly close. Just retool the base figure to have an accordian style spoiler thet collapses forward to have the front spoiler for the combined vehicle mode, retool some of the joints to be closer to WFC standards, and have a completely new trailer section. Though... Saying all that makes me think it's be easier to start from scratch The MP figure did the "Evolution" thing with the inclusion of the Battle Platform though, so I don't see an issue with doing that for WFC

[Skritz]

Honestly I don't care much for an 'Evolution' gimmick on a Rodimus figure. I just hope we get a Rodimus Prime which scale decently with Siege Magnus and ER Arcee. Of course, we could also end up with a 'Hot Rod with a trailer' who has a switching face gimmick for all we know, since the animation models for Hot Rod/Rodimus are so damn close in the Sunbow show.

[aronjlove]

Still, the Siege 'Cabnus' and Galaxy Convoy at least looked like a coherent and complete vehicle when separated, whereas G1 Rodimus just looked like some weird pogo-man-stick-thing with a car glued at the front. Btw I know its a weird thing to like, but I really like the more orange and smoother, snub-nosed front of the Rodimus vehicle mode, whereas the POTP toy looked more like Hot Rod with a trailer (which it was!).

I know. Weird detail to like about it.

Rodimus needs to look like that one truck from the Highwayman TV Show from the '80s

[Skritz]

Btw call me a weirdo/Rodimus hipster but I do like the weird dome/cone head the toy and early designs had going.


It looks goofy but at least it's distinct, you know? Compared to the rather tame and dare I say almost generic look Hot Rod's head got. I mean, let me put it this way: there was probably a reason why every Hot Rod/Rodimus until fairly recently (where show accuracy became important) had some yellow crest added.

[Gauntlet101010]

I wouldn't mind it if Roddy worked like Siege Magnus / the G1 toy. A cap that didn't make sense without the trailer. As long as the trailer turns into a really nice battle station and the cab wasn't too terrible I think it'd be alright.

G1 Roddy might have worked better if he was fully articulated with a removable Matrix. Since we already have Primes Roddy and I still have the old Fansprojects upgrade kit I'd rather they make Roddy a 100% great Rodimus Prime instead of shoehorning in Hot Rod's alt. mode.

I know there's an episode where Roddy separates from his trailer and look nothing like Hot Rod, but I can't find it for the life of me.

[Skritz]

I too mainly want a good Voyager-ish Rodimus robot mode. I'm just hoping it come with the proper space winnebago if possible.

[Rodimus Prime]

Rodimus needs to look like that one truck from the Highwayman TV Show from the '80s

That truck had a helicopter built into the cab. Now that would be awesome in a TF figure. Have the cab be a triple-changer and let it have a trailer for upgrades.

But actually, PoTP Rodimus, as much of a fail as it was, fits the Highwayman truck almost perfectly. Except for the aforementioned chopper.

Hasbro should take a cue from 3P and make their own version of DX9's Carry.

[Jeddostotle7]

I'm betting we'll get both a deluxe Hot Rod and a Leader-class Rodimus (Voyager-sized figure with trailer) to get both done at the same time. I can't imagine they'd want to redo the "Evolution" gimmick with a character they've already done it for.

[Skritz]

I suppose that Titans Return just was too different from GEEWUN so yes, its plausible.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

I think TR Hot Rod is a pretty good match, frankly, does a good compromise job with the cartoon design on the legs even. Although he could use a chestplate that combines the bumper tuck with the ability to hide te engine block. But still, he's pretty good as-is. TR Hot Rod is the toy that got me actively collecting CHUG stuff.

Rodimus Prime is the one we definitely need, and IMO he just needs to work like the G1 toy but with more articulation, somewhat better proportions, and a non-partsforming spoiler. Yeah, the cab robot would look weird separated from the camper shell in vehicle mode, but so what? It's a camper! It's not like a semi where the cab is an independent vehicle meant to drive around on its own.



These two are the same way.
Off-topic aside: Maybe Seibertron's next gallery project should be re-taking the vehicle mode photos of Cybertron Optimus, because he missed a noticeable step in the transformation.

Still, the Siege 'Cabnus' and Galaxy Convoy at least looked like a coherent and complete vehicle when separated

Aside from the exposed hands

Btw I know its a weird thing to like, but I really like the more orange and smoother, snub-nosed front of the Rodimus vehicle mode, whereas the POTP toy looked more like Hot Rod with a trailer (which it was!).

Eh, it still looks fairly Rodimus Prime-y to me even with the length, because of something it doesn't have: Hot Rod's prominent engine block.

[Skritz]

TR Hot Rod is good enough for me but plenty of people are screeching mad at his Headmaster gimmick so its why I suspect that Hot Rod/Kup/Blurr (and others) might get remade anyway.

[AcademyofDrX]

I love Hot Rod and PotP Rodimus, I never got why everyone complained about them. Of the TR figures, Kup had the biggest deviation in transformation, and Blurr in coloration. We'll only see Hot Rod if the others come first.

Hypothetically, a WfC Rodimus should be a standalone figure with separate trailer. As mentioned above, there's no reason to redo the evolution gimmick. Partsforming is standard in WfC, so there's no harm in an independent trailer, and they could create similar play features as with ER Optimus.

With Unicron coming soon and other teases for movie characters like Galvatron, I wouldn't be surprised to see new versions of the Autobot cars, but we still have some of the '85 class to get to.

[william-james88]

TR Hot Rod is excellent, very happy with him and I have no need to ever get another Hot Rod toy (same goes for Kup and Blurr).

[Rodimus Prime]

What I would love to get is a voyager Scourge to go with Cyclonus and Galvatron, even if Galvatron gets a leader figure. They don't need to bother with Cyclonus, the CW figure is great, even with the torso mode built in.

[Sentinel_Primal]

I mean, I like the CW Cyclonus, but I'd much rather we get a new one. I'd settle for an upscale of the Universe Cyclonus mold, though I would miss the Targetmaster plugging into the hand gimmick