The Energon Pub

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Ugh, f-in' Hasblow. They're screwing the fans again.
They still haven’t given the rotors enough clearance to do this!! Where is my cartoon accuracy????

Eh, just drill a 5mm hole in the top of a green golf tee and file down the diameter of the point if need be.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Yeah, I get that. Honestly, just looking at them, I cannot tell the humanoid Battlemasters apart, anything to make them more unique would be welcome.

You can't tell the difference between a black body with off-white lims, a gray body with blue limbs, and a blue body with gray limbs? Man, I would hate to be around you when you're driving

The G1 ones were worse in that aspect. I can't remember which name goes with which red one (Pinpointer, Spoilsport and Peacemaker); I'm a bit better with the blue (Caliburst, Aimless and Blowpipe) and grey ones (Nightstick, Fracas, Firebolt, Haywire and Recoil). Don't get me started on the Doubles

[Microbot]

Where do you think this box of Skywarp will be sold? Amazon exclusive as well?

[Seibertron]

Ugh, f-in' Hasblow. They're screwing the fans again.
They still haven’t given the rotors enough clearance to do this!! Where is my cartoon accuracy????

Eh, just drill a 5mm hole in the top of a green golf tee and file down the diameter of the point if need be.

I can't wait to get this version of Springer. This is the version I wanted 5 years ago. Hard to believe it's been that long already!

[Randomhero]

^ Just curious, I used to be in retail years ago, and we would do a store wide inventory once a year, which would have several purposes, but also used to bring actual product in store closer to *true* accuracy. It seems that some chains do it bi-annually, or even quarterly now, but it could just be that time is seemingly accelerating the older I get

I don’t handle Walmart’s anymore. They were annual when I had one as a customer. Targets I think are still twice a year and most of my grocery stores are quarterly now or try to be.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Yeah, I get that. Honestly, just looking at them, I cannot tell the humanoid Battlemasters apart, anything to make them more unique would be welcome.

You can't tell the difference between a black body with off-white lims, a gray body with blue limbs, and a blue body with gray limbs? Man, I would hate to be around you when you're driving

The G1 ones were worse in that aspect. I can't remember which name goes with which red one (Pinpointer, Spoilsport and Peacemaker); I'm a bit better with the blue (Caliburst, Aimless and Blowpipe) and grey ones (Nightstick, Fracas, Firebolt, Haywire and Recoil). Don't get me started on the Doubles

The Doubles are the most colorful, though!

You can probably tell the G1 Targetmasters apart better than the bozos who animated "The Trainwreck" - I mean, "The Rebirth".

[Nemesis Primal]

-Terror-Daxtyl might be the best Transformer name ever.
-Shrute makes me really hopeful we're still getting Spinister at some point, preferably the next segment of the trilogy, especially since he's the only G1 Targetmaster to be reincarnated as a Battlemaster whose partner is currently missing from Generations.
-Fracas being relegated to boxset duty must such for diehard G1 fans with Scourges to arm, but also his colors look inverted from what they should be, so what happened?

Not picking this set up, I don't need Skywarp, but the minions are still interesting.

[Seibertron]

These Battle Masters are 100% not what I wanted for G1 homage Targetmasters. I like the new ones just fine, but the G1 "updates" are really poor representations of the G1 Targetmasters. They are definitely a cheap cop-out with all of the recolors. Definitely prefer the route that Takara did with the Legends line, but still bummed there was no Nightstick or Fracas released.

[william-james88]

Firedrive as Fracas works okay in detail terms even if the # of barrels is wrong. However, that lack of a new barrel piece combined with his fireblast parts being orange rather than purple... It makes him feel more like a Premium Edition Firedrive than a Fracas. Which IMO undercuts his value. I don't suppose it's too late for them to either drop him (and part of the price along with him?) or change the fireblasts?

Its far too late for any change, the toy is clearly past the packaging phase, let alone production.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

OK, that set with the new images is great. I will get Skywarp and his pals. I love the weapon folks, and Terror-daxtyl is right up there with Pteraxadon for awesome names!

I think Warp and Redwing will look good with my Leader Thundercracker and Megascream combiner. and 2 versions of that mold (for now) will be nice.

[notsoalex]

After images of the Autobot Alphastrike Counterforce surfaced, it was only a matter of time till we learned of the opposing set. Thanks to Seibertronian Jtprime17 in the forums, we have pictures of this new set, and finally caught the name itself, the Decepticon Phantomstrike Squadron. The images come from aiex888 of home.gamer.tw, but all images of the figures are shown below. The box art appears to be the other side of box art with the Autobot set (which has G2 Sideswipe and Slamdance if you don't know), and includes:

• Skywarp (redeco of Starscream)
• Decepticon Fracas (redeco of Firedrive)
• Shrute (redeco of Aimless)
• Terror-Daxtyl (redeco of Pteraxadon)

Shrute was the name used for Hairsplitter, in the TFCC 4.0 release of Spinister, making him one of his Targetmasters. Fracas is Scourge's Targetmaster, but was also released in Headmasters as Nightstick, Artfire's Targetmaster.

So, thoughts on this upcoming set? Are you a fan of these new Battle Masters, and who they represent? Whatever it is, tell us in the Pub forums below, after checking out the full gallery below.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

-Fracas being relegated to boxset duty must such for diehard G1 fans with Scourges to arm, but also his colors look inverted from what they should be, so what happened?

I would guess that perhaps they wanted to preserve his having a gray barrel and arms, and with mold layout being what it is...
But that choice does contribute to him basically looking more like a Premium Edition Firedrive than a Fracas. In fact, I'm thinking that Hasbro should slap revision stickers over the boxes to rename him that.

Given the colors issue you'd probably be better off just buying and customizing an extra Firedrive.

[RiddlerJ]

Is Redwing going to come with any Battle Masters? I already have way too many Skywarps, one reason why I've avoided this mold so far.

[william-james88]

Is Redwing going to come with any Battle Masters? I already have way too many Skywarps, one reason why I've avoided this mold so far.

He does not come with any

[Beachjezus]

Has there been any word on the price of this?

I gotta admit - I’m kinda annoyed I’m forced to buy the extra stuff just to get Skywarp.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Has there been any word on the price of this?

I gotta admit - I’m kinda annoyed I’m forced to buy the extra stuff just to get Skywarp.

roughly $60 for the Skywarp set.
roughly $45 for the Alphastrike guys
most likely $30 for Redwing

[Cobotron]

Does Skywarp come with that coolass flight stand in the photos?!

Or: Does anyone know where that coolass flight stand came from? It looks official.

Oh yeah. And, WOOHOO SKYWARP! My favorite!

[o.supreme]

Has there been any word on the price of this?

I gotta admit - I’m kinda annoyed I’m forced to buy the extra stuff just to get Skywarp.

roughly $60 for the Skywarp set.
roughly $45 for the Alphastrike guys
most likely $30 for Redwing

It is odd that the 2 opposing sets are being released through two different methods, unless I missed something, isn't it presumed that Skywarp is being released through Amazon as opposed to Selects? If so it should be around $45 US upon release.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Has there been any word on the price of this?

I gotta admit - I’m kinda annoyed I’m forced to buy the extra stuff just to get Skywarp.

roughly $60 for the Skywarp set.
roughly $45 for the Alphastrike guys
most likely $30 for Redwing

Oh gosh, my bad. Skywarp set is rumored for $50, not $60. Somehow mixed up the numbers in my head

[Beachjezus]

Has there been any word on the price of this?

I gotta admit - I’m kinda annoyed I’m forced to buy the extra stuff just to get Skywarp.

roughly $60 for the Skywarp set.
roughly $45 for the Alphastrike guys
most likely $30 for Redwing

Thanks

Just as I feared. I’ve gotta spend $60 for skywarp and a bunch of stuff I could care less about.

Well played Hasbro well played

[o.supreme]

Yeah, I get that. Honestly, just looking at them, I cannot tell the humanoid Battlemasters apart, anything to make them more unique would be welcome.

You can't tell the difference between a black body with off-white limbs, a gray body with blue limbs, and a blue body with gray limbs? Man, I would hate to be around you when you're driving

I know you are joking, but seriously...We had two seasons, and a movie to get to know Rumble & Frenzy. The Targetmasters were all jammed into 2 episodes in "Rebirth", and only some of them appeared in a few episodes of Headmasters.

Just taking these off my sons shelf, you tell me why 32 years later I should care about the difference between these, and who they are. (My son likes them, I'm not saying they are bad toys, just that I don't make it a point to memorize their names because I have no connection to them)

[Nathaniel Prime]

Which stand is being used here? I don't recognize that at all. I noticed it has the Transformers name on it, so it could help.

Beautiful figure BTW, and I hope people can get it better than this whole Greenlight fiasco.

[Randomhero]

Just found springer. So...Wheeljack is on the side of the box in the background art...that’s a thing

[Nathaniel Prime]

Just found springer. So...Wheeljack is on the side of the box in the background art...that’s a thing

You didn't catch that? It was from the beginning.

Though, to be fair, I just discovered Sunstreaker on that art as well.

[RodimusConvoy13]

Which stand is being used here? I don't recognize that at all. I noticed it has the Transformers name on it, so it could help.

1561505149-19.png

Beautiful figure BTW, and I hope people can get it better than this whole Greenlight fiasco.

Just go create a new gmail account, create an amazon account for it and use the free trial of Prime. That should work, right?