The Energon Pub

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

What part of that car mode doesn't look like an Earth mode? Like, seriously, what?

Sculpted windshield guff that's normally considred cybertronian guff (fortunately it hides in bot mode and the robot chest has a smooth windscreen.

I think that sculpted stuff is mainly for the benefit of his robot mode, since some of it is visible behind his torso.

The hood square indentations which dont really represent headlights and the unfortunate placement of the gold strip makes them look worse.

The indentations aren't supposed to represent headlights. They're supposed to represent the indentations in front of the headlights. The headlights proper, are the rectangles behind the indents.

Just like on the original toy. Granted, the gold stripe is on top of the headlights instead of in front of them now, probably for ease of machine painting. But it doesn't really hurt things, considering they're supposed to be pop-up headlights.

And when you factor in the park lights and grille below the hood, the Earthly wheels, the gas tank cover, the doors complete with door handles...

[sol magnus]

Both of these guys are buys.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Oh, yeah, these are definite "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY" for me.

[ZeroWolf]

Yeah I'll be getting Runamuck (and I'll try to get Runabout but it depends whose exclusive he is. Just normal Selects is better for me)

[Ig89ninja]

I would personally love a repaint of this so that they resemble the decepticon grunts has in Devastation

[Mindmaster]

If you're not sure, look up video reviews.

Me, I'll buy Doubledealer full price when I'll find it in stores. As for the cassettes pack, I stupidly missed out on the preorders so I had no choice but to pay 20$CAN extra to a reseller/scalper.

I feel your pain. I got my set about $15+ extra from a reseller but I had an excuse for missing out on preorders; I was out in the New Mexico desert doing cool tank stuff and my old phone was on its last leg so I couldn’t even get on the internet much less than stay in contact with my folks back home

Cool tank stuff? Now you have my attention.

Mine too! Also, be honest Mindmaster, you did name your tank Brawl, right? (because that would be awesome)

I say “cool tank stuff” but it was more me and my crew sitting in the desert with our broke af tank waiting for another crew to finish their gunnery run so we could hop on their tank and do our gunnery runs. Sadly no, my tank is named “Collimated Hate” (named after the collimation process, which is part of getting the sights on the tank lined up with the guntube, goofy name if you ask me) since our tanks have to start with “C” (the company’s name is “Comanche”) so no Brawls or Megatrons in sight. Aside from the maintenance (which tanks are a huge pain in the ass), tanking is fun. I’m the driver for my current crew lineup (I started as a driver when I first got to my unit in Korea, then was a loader when I came back to the states, now back to driver) and I personally really enjoy driving. Hoping to get a gunner’s spot before my contract ends late next year.

Didn’t mean to derail the thread, just wanted to get that out there.

[Mindmaster]

I would personally love a repaint of this so that they resemble the decepticon grunts has in Devastation

I honestly would love this. Decepticon army builders are my schtick, I think it’s a fun idea to have a small band of Autobots versus a group of Decepticons augmented by hordes of nameless nobody drone dudes like how Prime’s story did it. If they do end up making drone characters from this mold, I’ll happily get a few. And Runabout/Overrun for obvious reasons.

[ZeroWolf]

Will given we got Brunt redecoed into a drone from a 14 year old comic book, I wouldn't rule out a Decepticlone drone repaint

[Nemesis Primal]

Runamuck looks great, he's still on my list, although I didn't preorder him in case they release a toy-colored version of him like how we got 2 versions of Impactor (I miss the orange).

...I also just noticed that his gun looks different now, and comparing to TFWiki, this gun looks more accurate to Runamuck's gun, while the one in his Toy Fair render...was Runabout's.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

I would personally love a repaint of this so that they resemble the decepticon grunts has in Devastation

I honestly would love this. Decepticon army builders are my schtick, I think it’s a fun idea to have a small band of Autobots versus a group of Decepticons augmented by hordes of nameless nobody drone dudes like how Prime’s story did it. If they do end up making drone characters from this mold, I’ll happily get a few. And Runabout/Overrun for obvious reasons.

That would be cool.
I'd also love a "storage cube" warrior retool of Reflector, for the same reason. At least, if it was retail.

[Rodimus Prime]

Since we're getting a Runamuck, we should be getting a Runabout as well, right? I mean, it's practically a straight redeco, isn't it? It would have made more sense to have these guys in a 2-pack exclusive than the seekers.

[william-james88]

Since we're getting a Runamuck, we should be getting a Runabout as well, right? I mean, it's practically a straight redeco, isn't it? It would have made more sense to have these guys in a 2-pack exclusive than the seekers.

Hasbro LOVES to release redecos that go into teams as exclusives rather than mainline figures. They did it with Ironhide, the seekers (as you mentioned), the Datsuns and even the cassettes. So Runabout will probably be a selects release or Walgreens exclusive or Amazon exclusive set or something like that.

[Sabrblade]

Since we're getting a Runamuck, we should be getting a Runabout as well, right? I mean, it's practically a straight redeco, isn't it? It would have made more sense to have these guys in a 2-pack exclusive than the seekers.

Runamuck was the fan poll winner. It was a vote for just him rather than both of them. But, we can likely expect a Runabout later on, too, since, like you said, it's a simple redeco.

[Sowndwave76]

I will definitely pass on Sunstreaker... I like the Universe version better and don't see this being worth $20+.
Runamuck totally has my interest, but yeah, the back of the lower legs look really bad...
Being that I don't see him flying off shelves, I may hold off for a while once he's released.

[Emerje]

Since we're getting a Runamuck, we should be getting a Runabout as well, right? I mean, it's practically a straight redeco, isn't it? It would have made more sense to have these guys in a 2-pack exclusive than the seekers.

Sure seems like they intend to:

...I also just noticed that his gun looks different now, and comparing to TFWiki, this gun looks more accurate to Runamuck's gun, while the one in his Toy Fair render...was Runabout's.

Though we've seen figures with the wrong guns (and heads) before that didn't lead to a new figure so who knows, but this is such an each retool I'd be surprised if we didn't get Runabout.

Emerje

[Tuned Agent]

Since we're getting a Runamuck, we should be getting a Runabout as well, right? I mean, it's practically a straight redeco, isn't it? It would have made more sense to have these guys in a 2-pack exclusive than the seekers.

Hasbro LOVES to release redecos that go into teams as exclusives rather than mainline figures. They did it with Ironhide, the seekers (as you mentioned), the Datsuns and even the cassettes. So Runabout will probably be a selects release or Walgreens exclusive or Amazon exclusive set or something like that.

I'm predicting that Runabout will be put in a two-pack with another deluxe, probably a redeco of one of the modulators as an exclusive. Something similar to what they did for the IDW version of Impactor, because they know people are going to buy the multipack for that one figure. Though I hope I'm wrong and he's released individually.

[Rodimus Prime]

Since we're getting a Runamuck, we should be getting a Runabout as well, right? I mean, it's practically a straight redeco, isn't it? It would have made more sense to have these guys in a 2-pack exclusive than the seekers.

Runamuck was the fan poll winner. It was a vote for just him rather than both of them. But, we can likely expect a Runabout later on, too, since, like you said, it's a simple redeco.

But that shouldn't mean that he has to be sold by himself. Winning the poll means that fans want him, and wouldn't it make sense that fans want Runabout as well, considering they are together in whatever media they appear in (as far as I know)?

Besides, they may be well-known characters, they're still only supporting cast. I never liked main cast characters (such as Ratchet or the Seekers) being exclusives. The Battlechargers are a perfect example of what an exclusive should be, IMO: character(s) that are known but not must-have for everyone.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Here are some things to consider:
1. Runamuck winning the fan poll indicates that (barring shenanigans like TFW2005's campaign to get Erector into the hall of fame because his name was funny) a lot of people want him. To Hasbro, that says he's viable for wide release. And indeed, fans who voted for him might be ticked at him becoming an exclusive.
2. The Seekers are Voyagers, and voyager slots are more precious than Deluxe slots. Bundling two Seekers of a set together as a store exclusive gets them all released without filling three store slots with recolors of the same mold (And Hasbro has long been averse to putting three decos of the same mold out at wide release in the same line; instances of it past G1 are rare). And we have two sets of three Seekers coming out..
3. Bundling Skywarp and Thundercracker gets them both out while reducing the likelihood of Skywarp ending up a tail-end shelfwarmer.

Regarding what should be an exclusive... from my observation, there are two kinds of exclusives: There's relegated exclusives, which are exclusive because they were either deemed to niche to get a wide release slot, or bend the rules and thus don't fit neatly into any of the wide release slots. Then there's prize exclusives, which are things esteemed to be desirable enough that a store wanted exclusive rights to carry them.

[william-james88]

I do agree that the TFA Arcee is the best of the Arcees so far, with TFP a close 2nd.

Which TFP arcee?

[Solipsist]

Runamuck looks great. His vehicle mode reminds me of a classic car driven by James Bond in one of his movies with Roger Moore back in the late '70's or early '80's. I can't remember which film it was. THIS is an awesome figure and I am going to try to find it when it is available.

[Cyberpath]

Since we're getting a Runamuck, we should be getting a Runabout as well, right? I mean, it's practically a straight redeco, isn't it? It would have made more sense to have these guys in a 2-pack exclusive than the seekers.

Runamuck was the fan poll winner. It was a vote for just him rather than both of them. But, we can likely expect a Runabout later on, too, since, like you said, it's a simple redeco.

Was kind of hoping for a minor retool too, since the originals were two different car models. But they sort of gave Runamuck Runabout's mode, so yeah, probably a redeco.

[Ballistic90]

Is it me, or does Runamuck share a some engineering with Cliffjumper? The back of the car looks similar to the removable back to Cliffjumper to me.

[Evil Eye]

If you're not sure, look up video reviews.

Me, I'll buy Doubledealer full price when I'll find it in stores. As for the cassettes pack, I stupidly missed out on the preorders so I had no choice but to pay 20$CAN extra to a reseller/scalper.

I feel your pain. I got my set about $15+ extra from a reseller but I had an excuse for missing out on preorders; I was out in the New Mexico desert doing cool tank stuff and my old phone was on its last leg so I couldn’t even get on the internet much less than stay in contact with my folks back home

Cool tank stuff? Now you have my attention.

Mine too! Also, be honest Mindmaster, you did name your tank Brawl, right? (because that would be awesome)

I say “cool tank stuff” but it was more me and my crew sitting in the desert with our broke af tank waiting for another crew to finish their gunnery run so we could hop on their tank and do our gunnery runs. Sadly no, my tank is named “Collimated Hate” (named after the collimation process, which is part of getting the sights on the tank lined up with the guntube, goofy name if you ask me) since our tanks have to start with “C” (the company’s name is “Comanche”) so no Brawls or Megatrons in sight. Aside from the maintenance (which tanks are a huge pain in the ass), tanking is fun. I’m the driver for my current crew lineup (I started as a driver when I first got to my unit in Korea, then was a loader when I came back to the states, now back to driver) and I personally really enjoy driving. Hoping to get a gunner’s spot before my contract ends late next year.

Didn’t mean to derail the thread, just wanted to get that out there.

Nice! Tanks are cool. Well, actually they're incredibly hot (though not as hot as the tanks of WW1 which reached 60 degrees inside) but you get my drift.

Anyway, Runamuck. The fake wheels...oh boy I do not like that. I see what they were going for but between it showing up in the car mode and just how weak they look, plus my dislike of fake kibble in general, I don't think it was worth it. Also the chest being fake is just...why? It's not a hard transformation to do, did they really need to make the chest fake?

[Rodimus Prime]

I do agree that the TFA Arcee is the best of the Arcees so far, with TFP a close 2nd.

Which TFP arcee?

First Edition.

[Deadman48]

The bot and car modes are very nice, but are my eyes playing tricks on me or is the roof a bright yellow while the rest of him is a washed out yellow? Be a bit disapppointing if he didn't get some nice paint or bright yellow. That air intakes look a bit off in car mode too; Not chunky enough or is it just the lack of a spoiler just making it look strange?