The Energon Pub

[Cobotron]

Me yesterday: How can a torso twist be exciting?

Me today, after opening my own package from Pulse: OH!

Ha! Right? I thought after posting that, I hope folks don't think I mean a standard waist swivel. But, yeah, the OTHER torso swivel!

[TF-fan kev777]

Me yesterday: How can a torso twist be exciting?

Me today, after opening my own package from Pulse: OH!

Ha! Right? I thought after posting that, I hope folks don't think I mean a standard waist swivel. But, yeah, the OTHER torso swivel!

Oh man, now I'm all tingling with anticipation. Ironhide, Chromia and a couple Six Guns arrived from Hasbro Pulse on Monday (with Prowl arriving today), but so far I've only been able to open them. My youngest saw them arrive and commandeered them to play school, and they are currently still stuck in class. SixGun is a stern but fair teacher.

I've got the afternoon off today, and will finally have some time to play, before setting them all back up in "class" so the new student (Prowl) can be introduced.

[Wolfman Jake]

Me yesterday: How can a torso twist be exciting?

Me today, after opening my own package from Pulse: OH!

Ha! Right? I thought after posting that, I hope folks don't think I mean a standard waist swivel. But, yeah, the OTHER torso swivel!

As much as possible, I like to figure out a figure's transformation without looking at the instructions. With Siege Ironhide, I was a little stuck with what to do with the chest at first. It looked like it hinged out, but nothing would budge. Then I saw the circle inside, and thought I could twist it around, but it wouldn't budge. Finally, I tried again to twist, and it worked. Just took a little more force to get it going than I would have thought. It's a very sleek transformation overall, though. Not overly complicated, but still satisfying and elegant. My only issue is that, of course, the leg panels will fall off as you are handling the figure, trying to transform it between modes.

[Wolfman Jake]

I'd like to stimulate some conversation by way of speculation about the upcoming Siege Ratchet (Walgreens exclusive in the U.S., presumably). I assume he'll use the Ironhide mold with a new Ratchet head sculpt, but how exactly will Hasbro and Takara Tomy go about giving him a classic G1 deco? My first guess is a simple swap of plastic colors, trading out all the red plastic for white and all the dark gray plastic for red. The light gray plastic should probably be white too, but I'll not be too upset if it remains light gray (it only really affects the thighs and windshield hinge, honestly). That all sounds good, but it also sounds quite plain. What other deco details might the designers employ to make Ratchet look a little more visually interesting on toys shelves but still stay true to the "G1 Cartoon" aesthetic this line seems to be aiming for? Maybe using some blue paint on the inside of the "driver's cabin" instead of silver like on Ironhide will help the figure pop more with all that white around it? I kind of wish they'd done that with Prowl too, honestly.

[sol magnus]

I'd like to stimulate some conversation by way of speculation about the upcoming SIEGE Ratchet (Walgreens exclusive in the U.S., presumably). I assume he'll use the Ironhide mold with a new Ratchet head sculpt, but how exactly will Hasbro and Takara Tomy go about giving him a classic G1 deco? My first guess is a simple swap of plastic colors, trading out all the red plastic for white and all the dark gray plastic for red. The light gray plastic should probably be white too, but I'll not be too upset if it remains light gray (it only really affects the thighs and windshield hinge, honestly). That all sounds good, but it also sounds quite plain. What other deco details might the designers employ to make Ratchet look a little more visually interesting on toys shelves but still stay true to the "G1 Cartoon" aesthetic this line seems to be aiming for? Maybe using some blue paint on the inside of the "driver's cabin" instead of silver like on Ironhide will help the figure pop more with all that white around it? I kind of wish they'd done that with Prowl too, honestly.

Strangely enough, I'm actually looking forward to running around to 50-11 Walgreens to find this Ratchet when it hits.

While his aesthetic is worthy conversation to be sure, I just want to make sure I get one. I do seem to remember running into the exclusive Headmasters(?) at Walgreens, but I was strictly Masterpiece except for top 5-8 characters at the time.

[Wolfman Jake]

Here's another consideration. How are they going to do the light bar for Siege Ratchet? They can't really use the same one as they have for Prowl and Red Alert. There's no central 5mm hole on the top of the Siege Ironhide mold. They'll almost have to make one that has two 5mm pegs on either end, instead of one in the middle, to secure it atop the shoulders in vehicle mode. What will they do for a weapon for Ratchet? What if they used that plastic budget to sculpt a nice roof top with a light bar that covers the gaps left by the arms in vehicle mode in the Ironhide version of the mold. The roof part can then pop off and become a shield for Ratchet to use instead of a weapon.

[sol magnus]

Here's another consideration. How are they going to do the light bar for Siege Ratchet? They can't really use the same one as they have for Prowl and Red Alert. There's no central 5mm hole on the top of the Siege Ironhide mold. They'll almost have to make on that has two 5mm pegs on either end, instead of one in the middle, to secure it atop the shoulders in vehicle mode. What will they do for a weapon for Ratchet? What if they used that plastic budget to sculpt a nice roof top with a light bar that covers the gaps left by the arms in vehicle mode in the Ironhide version of the mold. The roof part can then pop off and become a shield for Ratchet to use instead of a weapon.

You certainly have it well thought out. Now, if we can get a Ratchet appearance in the Transformers comic, we might have a decent idea of how he's going to look with less speculation.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

I'm thinking Ratchet will be entirely white with the stripe deco on the leg panels. If there is a light bar, I think it'll be a new mold lightbar that has 2 pegs so it can mount on his shoulders, and he'll come with a new gun that has 2 pegs so the lightbar can clip to it

[TF-fan kev777]

Strangely enough, I'm actually looking forward to running around to 50-11 Walgreens to find this Ratchet when it hits.

While his aesthetic is worthy conversation to be sure, I just want to make sure I get one. I do seem to remember running into the exclusive Headmasters(?) at Walgreens, but I was strictly Masterpiece except for top 5-8 characters at the time.

No worries, if you are in the US, he should be fairly easy to come by. TR Brainstorm, the TR Clones and PotP Wreck Gar were all very easily available. They just won't hit until the Walgreen's stores rearrange things for Christmas in late October/early November.

[Sentinel_Primal]

I'd like to stimulate some conversation by way of speculation about the upcoming Siege Ratchet (Walgreens exclusive in the U.S., presumably). I assume he'll use the Ironhide mold with a new Ratchet head sculpt, but how exactly will Hasbro and Takara Tomy go about giving him a classic G1 deco? My first guess is a simple swap of plastic colors, trading out all the red plastic for white and all the dark gray plastic for red. The light gray plastic should probably be white too, but I'll not be too upset if it remains light gray (it only really affects the thighs and windshield hinge, honestly). That all sounds good, but it also sounds quite plain. What other deco details might the designers employ to make Ratchet look a little more visually interesting on toys shelves but still stay true to the "G1 Cartoon" aesthetic this line seems to be aiming for? Maybe using some blue paint on the inside of the "driver's cabin" instead of silver like on Ironhide will help the figure pop more with all that white around it? I kind of wish they'd done that with Prowl too, honestly.

I still want to know how they plan to go about the headsculpt. Will it be red with white chevrons like the Marvel comic, white with grey chevrons like the G1 cartoon, or white with red chevrons like some of the more recent versions of Ratchet. Personally, I'm hoping for the white and red because I've always preferred that small pop of color the red chevrons give that the others miss

[Sarahthecutevixen]

I am not reuploading 92 images here so click the link for a bunch of images of Siege Galaxy upgrade optimus prime
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/ ... 40.1172795

[Emerje]

I am not reuploading 92 images here so click the link for a bunch of images of Siege Galaxy upgrade optimus prime
https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/ ... 40.1172795

Hmm, partially armored with just the shoulder armor and legs actually looks pretty cool.

Emerje

[Wolfman Jake]

I still want to know how they plan to go about the headsculpt. Will it be red with white chevrons like the Marvel comic, white with grey chevrons like the G1 cartoon, or white with red chevrons like some of the more recent versions of Ratchet. Personally, I'm hoping for the white and red because I've always preferred that small pop of color the red chevrons give that the others miss

My bet is on the cartoon accurate white helmet with dark grey crest, because it seems to me that Hasbro is leaning more towards cartoon accuracy with Siege. Red Alert actually gets a retooled head and red helmet to match his cartoon appearance, after all. Hasbro would have just left him with Sideswipe's head like the original toy and been done with it years ago.

[blackeyedprime]

I doubt ratchet will have any resculpting other than maybe a new head. If they do retool the figure I can see it being used as a basis for trailbreaker and hoist (all be it innacurate). If they do go to the efforts to make ratchet different then we might see a straight up repaint of Ironhide in black/diaclone for the selects figures.

[Sabrblade]

I still want to know how they plan to go about the headsculpt. Will it be red with white chevrons like the Marvel comic, white with grey chevrons like the G1 cartoon, or white with red chevrons like some of the more recent versions of Ratchet. Personally, I'm hoping for the white and red because I've always preferred that small pop of color the red chevrons give that the others miss

My bet is on the cartoon accurate white helmet with dark grey crest, because it seems to me that Hasbro is leaning more towards cartoon accuracy with Siege. Red Alert actually gets a retooled head and red helmet to match his cartoon appearance, after all. Hasbro would have just left him with Sideswipe's head like the original toy and been done with it years ago.

It'd be nice to finally get a Ratchet with a helmet colored like one of his own, instead of wearing one colored like Prowl's, for a change.

[Wolfman Jake]

I still want to know how they plan to go about the headsculpt. Will it be red with white chevrons like the Marvel comic, white with grey chevrons like the G1 cartoon, or white with red chevrons like some of the more recent versions of Ratchet. Personally, I'm hoping for the white and red because I've always preferred that small pop of color the red chevrons give that the others miss

My bet is on the cartoon accurate white helmet with dark grey crest, because it seems to me that Hasbro is leaning more towards cartoon accuracy with Siege. Red Alert actually gets a retooled head and red helmet to match his cartoon appearance, after all. Hasbro would have just left him with Sideswipe's head like the original toy and been done with it years ago.

It'd be nice to finally get a Ratchet with a helmet colored like one of his own, instead of wearing one colored like Prowl's, for a change.

Well, there is Henkei (and Autobot Warriors) Ratchet, but I'm guessing you mean something from Hasbro as opposed to Takara Tomy?

Here's some more food for thought while we're talking retooled head sculpts. Do you think we would be so lucky as to have a retooled head for 35th Anniversary (Siege) Bluestreak? I was impressed that Red Alert got a resculpted head, despite the early CG mock-ups that showed him with a repainted Sideswipe head. We know that Siege Barricade will use a pretooled Smokescreen head. What's to stop Bluestreak from getting that same love and attention to detail? I know Prowl and Bluestreak have very similar looking heads in their cartoon models at first blush, and I wouldn't be surprised or overly disappointed if they just repainted Prowl's head for Bleustreak, but I think going the extra mile to distinguish the two in their new toy forms by more than just paint decos would be very much appreciated by the longtime fans that the Siege line seems aimed at pleasing first and foremost.

[Wolfman Jake]

I know we've already talked about our woes over the recent stock photography reveals for Red Alert, but I don't think we've asked ourselves explicitly "what the heck went wrong?" yet. Red Alert definitely gets the "Least Improved" award for the Siege line so far, with regards to the translation from CG mock-ups to in-hand products.

If I remember correctly, I think Hasbro has explained that they budget out a size class based on who's in the case assortment/wave and not by a strict budget per each figure. Maybe some other figure in Wave 3 ate up the paint budget for Red Alert? It's hard to imagine who that would be, unless Reflector needed a lot more paint detail that we'd think or getting Brunt's gun barrel orange again was more costly that it would initially seem.

The loss of some paint app details is unfortunately, but understandable. What I can't understand, though, is why they would need to cast the light bar in the same dark/smoky plastic as the car canopy for Red Alert. The gun and the light bar are obviously part of separate molds, as they are the same used for Prowl, and not tied to the Sideswipe mold and presumably not the Prowl mold either. They could have easily kept the dark canopy for the vehicle mode (which does look cool and helps break up all the white in car mode) and cast the light bar in the same clear plastic as Prowl.

[Ironhidensh]

Picked up Chromia for my son today, and of course, I had to play with it a bit as well.


Hot damn, this figure sucks. Nice robot mode, but the car mode, and most especially, the transformation to car mode, is incredibly lame.

[Inactive_____]

My most recent Siege purchases, Prowl and Megatron, arrived on Thursday. After a few days to mull them over, I thought I'd briefly give my thoughts.


Megatron's okay. I like him, but I'm not completely won over by him. He's definitely the weaker of the Wave 1 pair. His proportions look a little bit too squat and hunched over compared to what I'd like. I'm tempted to paint his helmet dark grey, like his Marvel comics appearance, because I think that would help break up the uniform grey a little bit. The tank mode is cool, I'm a sucker for H-shape tanks in anything, but I wish they'd found a better way to transform the feet rather than having them sort of there on that back. Also that snapping noise when you untab his knees from his waist makes me very uncomfortable. Despite his much I'm moaning, I do like Megs here. He pairs very well with Siege Prime, and I love his GIANT sword.

I'm really happy with Prowl though. Like I'm super enamored with this guy and I can't think why. I just like everything about him. His alt mode is compact and solid feeling, and the transformation is pretty interesting. The fact that a Deluxe has ankle title is crazy to me. I just love him and I definitely want Barricade now too and probably anything else they repaint this guy into.

[Vic Zanzibar]

How does one go about using alcohol to remove the battle damage? I’m using 70% alcohol with a q-tip on Megatron and it isn’t really going well so far.

EDIT: Never mind.

[william-james88]

Picked up Chromia for my son today, and of course, I had to play with it a bit as well.


Hot damn, this figure sucks. Nice robot mode, but the car mode, and most especially, the transformation to car mode, is incredibly lame.

Thats because they removed 2 of its 4 modes. It makes more sense when the mold can also be used as a combiner limb.

[Wolfman Jake]

Picked up Chromia for my son today, and of course, I had to play with it a bit as well.


Hot damn, this figure sucks. Nice robot mode, but the car mode, and most especially, the transformation to car mode, is incredibly lame.

Thats because they removed 2 of its 4 modes. It makes more sense when the mold can also be used as a combiner limb.

Even if they weren't going to let Siege Chromia be Combiner Wars/Power of the Primes compatible, they could have done a little more to her to give her a "hideen" third mode, a la Soundwave. Something that could configure her into a nice BFG for Orthia/Elita Infin1te to wield would have made that bitter pill a lot easier to swallow. And "weaponizing" Chromia as such wouldn't have been out of step with the rest of the Siege line either. I tried to find a good fan mode for Chromia as such a Combiner Targermaster, but nothing really does the job to me satisfaction.

[Sabrblade]

Picked up Chromia for my son today, and of course, I had to play with it a bit as well.


Hot damn, this figure sucks. Nice robot mode, but the car mode, and most especially, the transformation to car mode, is incredibly lame.

Thats because they removed 2 of its 4 modes. It makes more sense when the mold can also be used as a combiner limb.

Even if they weren't going to let Siege Chromia be Combiner Wars/Power of the Primes compatible, they could have done a little more to her to give her a "hideen" third mode, a la Soundwave. Something that could configure her into a nice BFG for Orthia/Elita Infin1te to wield would have made that bitter pill a lot easier to swallow. And "weaponizing" Chromia as such wouldn't have been out of step with the rest of the Siege line either. I tried to find a good fan mode for Chromia as such a Combiner Targermaster, but nothing really does the job to me satisfaction.

My beef with the Chromia mold is how it handled her altmode kibble in robot mode. While stowing it all away similar in concept to that of the Moonracer mold, the Chromia mold just does it so much worse.

First off, the kibble on her legs just hangs off from her shins. On the Moonracer mold, this kibble was better integrated with each leg, and extended forwardly from each leg. With Chromia, this kibble is instead a set of separate pieces pinned into each leg and set further back on her legs so that, when each piece is rotated to rest again the length of her legs, these pieces keep hitting her thighs whenever her legs are bent at the knee, obstructing her leg articulation. The only way to avoid this is to instead have her kibble pieces rotated to extend away from her legs, which just looks bad.

And then there is her backpack. While the Moonracer mold had a pretty sizable backpack of its own, the Chromia mold's backpack is even bigger, all because they gave her ordinary feet when the Moonracer mold's feet transformed into part of her altmode's windshield, and so that part of Chromia's windshield went into her backpack mass with everything else.

It's like they had designed Chromia's robot mode first and with almost no altmode parts anywhere on her (her arms are the only place on her robot mode on which altmode parts can be found fully integrated into her robot mode body), and then realized that she still had to be able to transform into something and so built her altmode around her robot mode almost completely separate from it, and then tacked it on to her robot mode as an afterthought.

And another knock against the figure just happened tonight: Her belt keeps popping off.

[Sabrblade]

Stop-motion video for Transformers: Siege, by Taiwan Hasbro:

[Wolfman Jake]

We've got a treat for you today, fellow Seibertronians! Our own forum member Sabrblade has found a fun little stop-motion animated short on the official Taiwan Hasbro YouTube channel, featuring several of the Transformers: War for Cybertron - SIEGE figures released over the past several months. The 2 minute long short is done in a "fighting game" style of presentation, complete with a character select screen. Among the feature characters are Deluxe Class Hound, Skytread (a.k.a., Flywheels), and Cog, with a surprise guest appearance by none other than Voyager Class Starscream! Most of the laser fire is done with special effects instead of the soft plastic "effects parts" that come with the Battle Master figures of the SIEGE line. Take a look for yourself at the short below.

What do you think of this marketing effort by Taiwan Hasbro? Do you wish we could see more things like this from Hasbro in North America or other parts of the world? Has it sparked your imagination for your own epic battles among your Transformers: War for Cybertron SIEGE figures? Let us know in the comments below, and stayed tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest news on all things Transformers!