The Energon Pub

[ZeroWolf]

I was going to say that about ratchet but I then didn't as I recalled past instances of certain tooling not being at retail, like PotP Counterpunch...actually any of those exclusives would suffice as shuttle blastoff was exclusive only, as well as Repungus. Then there's also the opinion that the addition of the van mode roof that tipped the weight of the deluxe class

[Wolfman Jake]

I managed to find the Earthrise Wave 3 Deluxe figures out in the wild! They were at a Target I don't much frequent. I found Sunstreaker, Trailbreaker, and Runamuck on the pegs, but a store clerk was kind enough to find a Fasttrack for me as well in the back of the store. I haven't had time to open them yet, but I will soon, and I'll, of course, post some of my thoughts on each of them in due time.

As for the Earthrise Wave 4/Siege Wave 5 speculation, it's all pretty interesting, but it also begs the question "Why?" Was it JUST to placate brick and mortar stores that thought the didn't have enough "new" Siege figures for the holiday rush? I know that there was a request to "extend" Siege because of positive sales, but why didn't Hasbro just explain that Earthrise was a direct continuation of the "War for Cybertron Trilogy" and push up Wave 1 of Earthrise to the end of 2019? Seems ridiculous to have the whole trilogy planned out and then bend over backwards to extend one year of the product line and shorten the other, just to maintain the "Siege" a little longer on store shelves. This didn't result in more figures (or less figures) getting made. It was purely a semantics game that benefited no one and gave us some products with battle damage hastily slapped on to their paint jobs that wasn't mean to be there in the first place.

It really seems like brick and mortar stores have undue influence on how these toys are marketed, as I doubt many consumers, whether kids, their parents, or adult collectors, care that much about having a new name for a given line each year. It just sounds like some more pseudo-science marketing "wisdom" that amounts to superstitious nonsense. I'd rather see manufacturers push back on stores to do some actual research on how toys sell and figure out how to end distribution problems and stock glut by not over ordering on the first wave and getting out a steady stream new and refreshed product out over the course of the year ON TIME.

[o.supreme]

Cool, that supports my speculation. If they are showing up on the east coast now, the shipment that arrives at my local Target on Nov 12 will most likely be wave 3. Fortunately Ill already have my fasttrack from Amazon, but good news for those looking for them.

[Nuclearxpotato]

Also, a leaker recently stated that there's two more ER Prime redecos in the pipeworks, they didn't specify what toylines or which version of the mold (with or without trailer). I wonder what's planned... I'm hoping one is Pepsi Convoy because I find his existence extremely funny. I really don't know what other decoes they could do from that specific figure though.

I'm personally hoping for Toxitron.

Honestly I didn't even consider Toxitron! For some reason I always saw Toxitron as a Long-nose Prime only, but that really only applies to his initial unreleased figure (with his two released toys being Flat-nose Primes). A Toxitron would be a great addition and would be more than enough to convince me to get the ER Prime mold.
I can see Toxitron happening since he's the underdog Evil Prime character and has that luscious colour scheme.

[Overcracker]

Also, a leaker recently stated that there's two more ER Prime redecos in the pipeworks, they didn't specify what toylines or which version of the mold (with or without trailer). I wonder what's planned... I'm hoping one is Pepsi Convoy because I find his existence extremely funny. I really don't know what other decoes they could do from that specific figure though.

I'm personally hoping for Toxitron.

Honestly I didn't even consider Toxitron! For some reason I always saw Toxitron as a Long-nose Prime only, but that really only applies to his initial unreleased figure (with his two released toys being Flat-nose Primes). A Toxitron would be a great addition and would be more than enough to convince me to get the ER Prime mold.
I can see Toxitron happening since he's the underdog Evil Prime character and has that luscious colour scheme.

So far, there's Vanilla x 2, Nemesis, Dead, Shattered Glass.

Aside form Toxitron and Pepsi, we could expect G2 (black trailer), Maybe a Bape release, Magnus sans trailer, Chromed version, Ginrai.

With Primes, the sky is the limit.

[o.supreme]

So far, there's Vanilla x 2, Nemesis, Dead, Shattered Glass.

Aside form Toxitron and Pepsi, we could expect G2 (black trailer), Maybe a Bape release, Magnus sans trailer, Chromed version, Ginrai.

With Primes, the sky is the limit.

Actually Netflix Nemesis is made form the Siege mold, not ER, but believe me I know, sometimes it's hard to keep track.

[Overcracker]

So far, there's Vanilla x 2, Nemesis, Dead, Shattered Glass.

Aside form Toxitron and Pepsi, we could expect G2 (black trailer), Maybe a Bape release, Magnus sans trailer, Chromed version, Ginrai.

With Primes, the sky is the limit.

Actually Netflix Nemesis is made form the Siege mold, not ER, but believe me I know, sometimes it's hard to keep track.

You are indeed correct. Though since it uses the trailer from Earthrise, and Earthrise uses the Siege lower legs, can we say its at least tangentially using 60% of EarthRise?

[o.supreme]

Eh, I won't fuss either way. It's just the lines are getting more an more blurred as time goes on as to what is reuse, and what is not (since so much is partial). I consider ER Megatron to be a straight up retool of Siege Megatron, thus IMHO it has been used Six times so far ( I think)...

But to me Siege Optimus and ER Optimus are different enough to be counted as different figures, even though as you say now there is minimal parts sharing, but now we have accessory sharing which makes it even more confusing.

[Overcracker]

Eh, I won't fuss either way. It's just the lines are getting more an more blurred as time goes on as to what is reuse, and what is not (since so much is partial). I consider ER Megatron to be a straight up retool of Siege Megatron, thus IMHO it has been used Six times so far ( I think)...

But to me Siege Optimus and ER Optimus are different enough to be counted as different figures, even though as you say now there is minimal parts sharing, but now we have accessory sharing which makes it even more confusing.

Accessory sharing is a whole different can of worms, might be best to avoid.

And yeah Megatron is just a completely different rabbit hole.

Trying get everything sorted for all these recurring lines is a chore.

Don't get me started on drawing up a coherent list of 1986 Movie characters if you want a complete cast. 4 different lines + exclusives + Selects.....

[AcademyofDrX]

My Prowl and Ironhide set says it's arriving tomorrow even though it hasn't shipped yet. At least one of those is wrong, so I'm probably looking at a delay. I'm nervous because it's now showing out of stock, but historically Amazon comes through eventually. I ordered before the listing was properly announced, so I don't think it'll be unfulfilled, but I'm still anxious about it.

[sol magnus]

My Prowl and Ironhide set says it's arriving tomorrow even though it hasn't shipped yet. At least one of those is wrong, so I'm probably looking at a delay. I'm nervous because it's now showing out of stock, but historically Amazon comes through eventually. I ordered before the listing was properly announced, so I don't think it'll be unfulfilled, but I'm still anxious about it.

Mine said arriving tomorrow before it shipped, too. Don't sweat it.

[Rodimus Prime]

My Prowl and Ironhide set says it's arriving tomorrow even though it hasn't shipped yet. At least one of those is wrong, so I'm probably looking at a delay. I'm nervous because it's now showing out of stock, but historically Amazon comes through eventually. I ordered before the listing was properly announced, so I don't think it'll be unfulfilled, but I'm still anxious about it.

I'm in the same boat. It's supposed to be here tomorrow and it hadn't even shipped yet. Same with my Runamuck. So yeah, we're probably looking at a delay, even though I also ordered the set as soon as it popped up. The only order Amazon has cancelled on me so far has been the Conehead 2-pack.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

My Sunstreaker arrived today, so 3/4 of the final retail wave attainted.

I will say, the yellow isn't horrible in person, but wow does it not take good photos. I promise, in hand, the yellows look much better than they do here, but the different in hand is still noticeable.

I will also say i was right that he is engineered just like Wheeljack. I am pretty sure the base torso behind the windshield is the same chunk as Wheeljack too, and the transformations are nigh identical except for some superficials.

first impression, he's not a bad figure, but the colors and also his looseness around the waist and hips drag him down some for me

[Sabrblade]

Sunstreaker Dairy Version: A rich mix of freshly-made cream and cheese.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Was asked this on Twitter, in hand, the color difference is more akin to the below differences in red compared to the actual photos above. Noticeable, but not as awful as photos make it seem

[TF-fan kev777]

My Prowl/Ironhide set should be arriving tomorrow as well. It didn't ship until sometime overnight. Sunstreaker is arriving today and didn't ship until this morning, so I wouldn't fret on the 2 pack until tomorrow morning. Amazon is weird with how down to the last minute they can get things done.

[william-james88]

My Sunstreaker arrived today, so 3/4 of the final retail wave attainted.

I will say, the yellow isn't horrible in person, but wow does it not take good photos. I promise, in hand, the yellows look much better than they do here, but the different in hand is still noticeable.

I will also say i was right that he is engineered just like Wheeljack. I am pretty sure the base torso behind the windshield is the same chunk as Wheeljack too, and the transformations are nigh identical except for some superficials.

first impression, he's not a bad figure, but the colors and also his looseness around the waist and hips drag him down some for me

I just got him and will make a post about them appearing all across canada all at once later. I didn't notice the colour difference much, just that some of the colour is painted while the other is plastic. So it was more the texture and gloss than the actual colour that I noticed. I feel that same way about the waist and it's something Runamuck shares as well.

But major props to sunstreaker's transformation. I love how all the parts are real and the way the arms become the back...

[AcademyofDrX]

But major props to sunstreaker's transformation. I love how all the parts are real and the way the arms become the back...

Technically speaking, aren't his toes fake? It's not disqualifying or anything, I'm just being difficult. I'm waiting for him from Pulse, but I'm sure I'll love him.

[aronjlove]

My Prowl and Ironhide set says it's arriving tomorrow even though it hasn't shipped yet. At least one of those is wrong, so I'm probably looking at a delay. I'm nervous because it's now showing out of stock, but historically Amazon comes through eventually. I ordered before the listing was properly announced, so I don't think it'll be unfulfilled, but I'm still anxious about it.

I'm in the same boat. It's supposed to be here tomorrow and it hadn't even shipped yet. Same with my Runamuck. So yeah, we're probably looking at a delay, even though I also ordered the set as soon as it popped up. The only order Amazon has cancelled on me so far has been the Conehead 2-pack.

I think since ours say 'tomorrow' and not 'Nov. 4th' we should be OK. The product may be in town and shipped by courier. If it still had a date then we would be screwed as I know multiple people who had a date, not a day, and had theirs delayed yesterday. Mine has been showing a day since Sunday evening.

Looking forward to Sunstreaker as the Amazon order that wouldn't be in stock until Friday has shipped and is showing up Thursday ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Technically speaking, aren't his toes fake? It's not disqualifying or anything, I'm just being difficult. I'm waiting for him from Pulse, but I'm sure I'll love him.

Toes are fake yes, real ones are on the bottom of the feet.

[TF-fan kev777]

Technically speaking, aren't his toes fake? It's not disqualifying or anything, I'm just being difficult. I'm waiting for him from Pulse, but I'm sure I'll love him.

Toes are fake yes, real ones are on the bottom of the feet.

Clearly so he can paint his toenails and not give it away in car mode.

[Wolfman Jake]

I opened up my Earthrise Sunstreaker and Trailbreaker last night, so I'll give some thoughts on each. First, both of these are amazing figures and are keeping the "Mini Masterpiece" feel of the War for Cybertron Trilogy cranking along.

Sunstreaker has a very familiar transformation in many ways to Earthrise Wheeljack, with some key differences, such as how the legs are handled. I love that the car roof chest is real. It may be large compared to the G1 character model, but it doesn't look out of proportion to the rest of the figure either. The difference in yellows is definitely much less drastic in person and really just amounts to the difference between yellow plastic and yellow paint. The painted parts are obvious because they are painted THICK and glossy to prevent bleed through of the black plastic forearms or the clear blue plastic window pieces. I think the biggest issue with photos is not the yellow paint, but the yellow plastic, which gets washed out really badly on camera, but looks fine in person. I also think that painting the headlights on the bottom of the front bumper is a genius way to handle the feet without making it overly complicated. They hide just fine in car mode. This is a good use of "faux parts." It's also nice that the rear engine block doesn't have to come off at all for transformation between modes. I wish that Sunstreaker came with a gun accessory, though. The engine block doesn't cut it, since it's part of the robot mode silhouette and should stay on his back, and because it doesn't even peg into Sunstreaker's hands securely. You can mount it to the holes on the forearms snugly enough, though. Overall, Sunstreaker is great and looks cool with his Countach brother Sideswipe standing next to him. The one thing that has me a bit worried about use over time of this figure is that there is a LOT of tight snapping together of pieces of the clear plastic hood of the car when converting between car and robot mode if you want everything to sit nice and flush with minimal gaps. I hope that won't cause the plastic to break over extended use. Even when applying the needed pressure and making sure everything snaps together, my root top won't sit perfectly in car mode, either rising up a bit in the front or the back, seemingly teetering on something in the middle.

Trailbreaker is fantastic. I knew what to expect from the Earthrise Hoist mold, but Trailbreaker I think wears it better. The black coloring helps a bit with the arms peering through from the undercarriage of the truck. The new piece for the robot back/topper for the truck bed works pretty seamlessly. Trailbreaker looks almost kibble-free in robot mode, honestly. The tolerances on the 5mm holes are better, so I can get the hose nozzle attachment to come on and off the fists so much more easily than on Hoist. Everything snaps very neatly into place too. All the panels line up to make a very pretty alt mode with minimal gapping. It's too bad they couldn't have re-engineered the "wings" to fold away to give us a perfect cartoon model silhouette, but I understand that would have taken a LOT more doing to fix the way the shoulders work too.

Overall, I'm very pleased with these two figures. I don't think I'll need a new Sunstreaker or Trailbreaker (or Hoist, for that matter) in my collection for a VERY long time.

[william-james88]

But major props to sunstreaker's transformation. I love how all the parts are real and the way the arms become the back...

Technically speaking, aren't his toes fake? It's not disqualifying or anything, I'm just being difficult. I'm waiting for him from Pulse, but I'm sure I'll love him.

Haha, yeah technically, but it's the same part of the toy (ie the front tip of the car) so I didn't really mind. I find it pretty smart actually. You get the same shape and effect in both modes without being overly complicated. He`s a rather elegant toy. I think the reason I didn't mind is because I experienced him and Runamuck at the same time and Runamuck has a bunch of fake parts with a rather inelegant transformation overall.

And @Wolfman Jake, I have the same minor issues with my sunstreaker. He does not hold his "gun" well (though I would never use it as such) and the roof does elevate slightly, though you can choose to push the forward area down more making it seemlessly connect to the bottom of the windshield.

[william-james88]

It's as if the floodgates were open and now all that's left of Earthrise is hitting all at once. In Canada this past week we had several new sightings, mostly for the deluxe class. Wave 3 with Sunstreaker, Runamuck, Trailbreaker and Fasttrack can be found at Walmart and Toysrus stores all across the country (the specific photo below comes from the Montreal area). Bluestreak was found at EB Games, where it is exclusively sold. The SKU is 756990. Speaking of EB Games, Tigertrack from the Generations Selects line was also found there. These two EB Games sightings come to us from Cybertron.ca. Lastly, the Battle master Doublecrosser was found at Walmart. With the wave 3 voyagers found a month or so ago at EB Games, this marks the end of mainline toy sightings for Earthrise in Canada, where everything was released.

[william-james88]

Here, I was able to take some pics showing how the different shared of yellow on sunstreaker looks like in person.