The Energon Pub

[william-james88]

At least you have a Target.

I'm not going to lie, the Targets have been pretty good in my area, keeping stocked with TF (certainly better than Walmarts) , but I'd still trade you 10 Targets (yes I can drive to that many) for JUST ONE TRU.....

I dont get it. So right now, your targets stock new toys, but you would rather they be gone and instead get back the TRU you lost? Everyone on these boards kept saying TRU didnt stock toys well and were always more expensive, why would you want that instead?

[o.supreme]

I dont get it. So right now, your targets stock new toys, but you would rather they be gone and instead get back the TRU you lost? Everyone on these boards kept saying TRU didnt stock toys well and were always more expensive, why would you want that instead?

No I dont want back the TRU I lost, I want the one from 20 years ago that looked good. The one YOU have NOW, ya know, with Siege Jetfires as far as the eyes can see, and all that

[Flashwave]

WJ, I wouldn't call that a "stark white" on SIEGE Firebolt so much as a very pale gray. Stark white would be Jetfire and Red Alert's color. It's a paler gray than the original toy, but it's still very much a gray. Speaking of color matching, you might call SIEGE Blowpipe's blue "an off shade" but it's a hell of a lot closer to the original toy than the Legends version's blue is. As for that "Fracas"... He's a lousy Fracas, but he's a great Premium Firedrive

Regarding the arms... as AcademyofDRX pointed out, the arms are a different color because they're actually separate pieces from the torso (unlike the original toys). That and Hasbro decided to put all the separate pieces on one sprue (rather than the arms and torso sharing a sprue); this may have been influenced by cartoon!Firebolt having gray arms, or maybe they just wanted the arms to be visibly separate pieces.

As for Takara's Legends Targetmasters turning out much more accurate, IMO that's only half true. They may all have unique parts and more accurate color layouts, but Aimless' details are wonky and they all transform wrong.

I would, in fact I would more accurately call it a "Pastel Easter White". All of the early Battle masters fall into that description. Which mwould be okay if it were consistant, but almost all of the Siege Figures and many of the older figures use darker, matte-ed hues. Neutral greys over bright white.

[Rodimus Prime]

That Ratchet is a really good figure, I just wish it had a comic accurate head. Otherwise it's a must have. I just hope Walgreens around here won't drop the ball with him like they did with Wreck-Gar.

[Stargrave]

That Ratchet is a really good figure, I just wish it had a comic accurate head. Otherwise it's a must have. I just hope Walgreens around here won't drop the ball with him like they did with Wreck-Gar.

Are you going to maybe paint the crest red? I’m debating it I just don’t want to mismatch my reds.

[Emerje]

I agree with you that "Caliburst" is completely wrong. He is not really Caliburst at all, he is G2 Blowpipe. I can only assume he was spawned by some fool operating under the delusion that it was a good idea to use "The TrainwreckRebirth" as a reference.

As you said, Caliburst is just a mess, even if you squint and try to make it a darker colors "The Rebirth" version of the character.

They at least at some point intended Caliburst to have his normal colors if you go by the package art.



It's hard to tell in the lighting of the photo, but the art is definitely blue and not purple in person.

Emerje

[Skritz]

The good thing with the Battlemaster is, if you're collecting them to assign to their respective characters who came out in Titans Return then odds are you will have both Aimless and Blowpipe. Since they are simple ball joints you can swap their legs around and get a much more accurate look right away.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I agree with you that "Caliburst" is completely wrong. He is not really Caliburst at all, he is G2 Blowpipe. I can only assume he was spawned by some fool operating under the delusion that it was a good idea to use "The TrainwreckRebirth" as a reference.

As you said, Caliburst is just a mess, even if you squint and try to make it a darker colors "The Rebirth" version of the character.

They at least at some point intended Caliburst to have his normal colors if you go by the package art.



It's hard to tell in the lighting of the photo, but the art is definitely blue and not purple in person.

Emerje

You sure that's not a darker Blowpipe in that art?

[Skritz]

I think with Caliburst they worried it would be too close to the other two. From a toy-selling standpoint this make perfect sense as in G1 the Targetmaster came with the partner as a bonus accessory. Here they need to sell these little guy alone and them being too samey doesn't help sales.

[Emerje]

I think with Caliburst they worried it would be too close to the other two. From a toy-selling standpoint this make perfect sense as in G1 the Targetmaster came with the partner as a bonus accessory. Here they need to sell these little guy alone and them being too samey doesn't help sales.

In that case they should have released Shrute at retail and Caliburst in correct colors with Skywarp. Then Skywarp would have come with a black gun and a blue gun, it would have worked out just as well.

Emerje

[Stargrave]

Why couldn’t they have named him anything other than Blowpipe...except for Suckpipe, that would definitely be worse.

[Emerje]

Why couldn’t they have named him anything other than Blowpipe...except for Suckpipe, that would definitely be worse.

What's wrong with Blowpipe? It's just another name for a blow gun or dart gun.

Emerje

[Microbot]

That Ratchet is a really good figure, I just wish it had a comic accurate head. Otherwise, it's a must-have! It's a shame in Italy will be really hard to get it! Really a shame!

[Stargrave]

Blowgun or Dartgun would be way better than Blowpipe. I mean, well, he’s a gun. None of other TM’s fire stones or insults, just this guy blowin’ hot air.

[william-james88]

I dont get it. So right now, your targets stock new toys, but you would rather they be gone and instead get back the TRU you lost? Everyone on these boards kept saying TRU didnt stock toys well and were always more expensive, why would you want that instead?

No I dont want back the TRU I lost, I want the one from 20 years ago that looked good. The one YOU have NOW, ya know, with Siege Jetfires as far as the eyes can see, and all that

There are only a few jetfires and nobody cares since all those who wanted him bought him from tru.ca when he was up 2 weeks prior. The TRU you liked is long gone, from both the US and Canada. Aside from big releases like Jetfire, Canada's TRU is constantly 4-6 months behind. It still didnt stock studio series Jetfire for instance and only now are we seeing Siege Ironhide. I am sure fans would much rather have a store that stocked toys they wanted sooner rather than have a nice store with a bunch of old merchandise, which is the case with Canada's TRU at the moment. Walmart and Amazon have been getting a lot of my business this year even though I can get to 3 TRUs quite easily.

[-Kanrabat-]

Yeah. If my local TrU bother having anything, it's always FIRST WAVES of thing. Plus they STILL have a tons of TLK Hounds to liquidate.
And finally, my local Walmart is Tumbleweed City. This is frustrating.

[TF-fan kev777]

The only thing I miss about TRU was being able to buy the titans in store, with a 15% discount on certain days for using their credit card, and usually getting a $10-$15 bonus reward for the purchase. I've always been too impatient to wait for a Black Friday sale, so that was the next best thing.

[Skritz]

I think with Caliburst they worried it would be too close to the other two. From a toy-selling standpoint this make perfect sense as in G1 the Targetmaster came with the partner as a bonus accessory. Here they need to sell these little guy alone and them being too samey doesn't help sales.

In that case they should have released Shrute at retail and Caliburst in correct colors with Skywarp. Then Skywarp would have come with a black gun and a blue gun, it would have worked out just as well.

Emerje

That's....huh, crap you're right.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Ratchet is totally going to donate his Wrench to Nautica. He looks really good too!

I love this Longarm fanmode. I haven't tried this loadout with my Shockwave yet but of course now I've got to try it out:

This is awesome. Animated Longarm in Siege!

[william-james88]

That Siege Longarm looks like he is a black and white photo

[The_Cryptid_Person]

I love this idea! Reminds me of the "brute modes" from Energon

EDIT: That Ratchet review was touching. Reminds me of the somewhat deeper reasons - the nostalgia, the great works of fiction, etc - that I and presumably others pursue the hobby.

still think he needs red thighs though

[Stargrave]

Finally scored two more Refraktors at my WalMart tonight. It’s just a silly little kids purple camera, I mean it’s a lavender freaking camera, but man...feels like I’m watching the first episode of Transformers again. I’ve wanted this toy for 35 years. I had the original complete but it’s been lost to time and I never put down for one of the 3rd party ones. I freaking love Siege.

[Rodimus Prime]

That Ratchet is a really good figure, I just wish it had a comic accurate head. Otherwise it's a must have. I just hope Walgreens around here won't drop the ball with him like they did with Wreck-Gar.

Are you going to maybe paint the crest red? I’m debating it I just don’t want to mismatch my reds.

If I do customize the head, I'm going all the way. Red helmet, white crest. I'm just not sure how well the white will cover the black. The other option is to swap the head out altogether, depending on how it's attached.

[Ironhidensh]

I dont get it. So right now, your targets stock new toys, but you would rather they be gone and instead get back the TRU you lost? Everyone on these boards kept saying TRU didnt stock toys well and were always more expensive, why would you want that instead?

No I dont want back the TRU I lost, I want the one from 20 years ago that looked good. The one YOU have NOW, ya know, with Siege Jetfires as far as the eyes can see, and all that

There are only a few jetfires and nobody cares since all those who wanted him bought him from tru.ca when he was up 2 weeks prior. The TRU you liked is long gone, from both the US and Canada. Aside from big releases like Jetfire, Canada's TRU is constantly 4-6 months behind. It still didnt stock studio series Jetfire for instance and only now are we seeing Siege Ironhide. I am sure fans would much rather have a store that stocked toys they wanted sooner rather than have a nice store with a bunch of old merchandise, which is the case with Canada's TRU at the moment. Walmart and Amazon have been getting a lot of my business this year even though I can get to 3 TRUs quite easily.

Yeah, TRU died sometime in the 90’s. It just took another 20 some years for the carcass to rot away.

[ThunderThruster]

That Ratchet is a really good figure, I just wish it had a comic accurate head. Otherwise it's a must have. I just hope Walgreens around here won't drop the ball with him like they did with Wreck-Gar.

That Ratchet is a really good figure, I just wish it had a comic accurate head. Otherwise, it's a must-have! It's a shame in Italy will be really hard to get it! Really a shame!

Which would make little sense in line that is stated to be based/influenced by the cartoon.

Shouldn't be surprised by this though, as people have been bitching about not getting show accurate <insert part> on figures based on the original toys for years, so why would it change that we're getting a line intent on homaging the show.