The Energon Pub

[EvasionModeBumblebee]

I need SS Ironhide in my life now. The head sculpt and cannons are perfect, and the proportions are spot-on, it just looks SO good. The bumper's a little out of place, but I think if it's painted to be a much darker gray it should look better. He's out of scale in vehicle mode, but that's what HFTD Ironhide is for!

[TulioDude]

There is an offcial confirmation that all of the Bumblebee's movie toys will be in the Studio series?
I'dont want depend solely on it for them all.

All the generations Bumblebee movie toys will be under the Studio Series banner yes

And there's only four Transformers in the Bumblebee movie: Bee himself and three Decepticons, who are a jet and two cars.

There are 5, Optimus Prime is also confirmed to show up in some capacity.

I'm pretty sure Bee himself will have at least 2 toys. Let's hope for radically different molds.

Yeah,even if there are fewer characters,I dont think there will be only one option for each.

[william-james88]

There is an offcial confirmation that all of the Bumblebee's movie toys will be in the Studio series?
I'dont want depend solely on it for them all.

All the generations Bumblebee movie toys will be under the Studio Series banner yes

And there's only four Transformers in the Bumblebee movie: Bee himself and three Decepticons, who are a jet and two cars.

There are 5, Optimus Prime is also confirmed to show up in some capacity.

I'm pretty sure Bee himself will have at least 2 toys. Let's hope for radically different molds.

Yeah,even if there are fewer characters,I dont think there will be only one option for each.

I doubt that. They are part of a line filled with other characters not related to the film because there are so few toys from the film. Hasbro does the same thing with the marvel films for Marvel ELgends. There is only 1 toy of Ant Man or the Wasp in the marvel legends line available at wide retail.

There might be more than 1 bumblebee, bu I dont expect multiples of other characters.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Finally got around to taking those photos. First, the group shots:


"Sandstorm", as I have named the desert colors Brawl, is in the process of being repaired with parts from a regular Deluxe Brawl that I made a bad attempt at repainting then scrapped for parts.
Dirge is under restoration following half-assed and ill-conceived customizing attempt

And now the solo(ish) shots:

[Carnivius_Prime]

Damn, these videos are awesome.

[Hellscream9999]

Got Brawl, he's awesome, love him a ton, he's just so, well realized, it's great.

Got megs too, the hollow torso bugs me as much as I figured it would. Shame too, as the panels on his feet coulda been stuck to ball joints on his back and used to hide the torso gap since they are unnecessary to support his weight on his feet

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Got Brawl, he's awesome, love him a ton, he's just so, well realized, it's great.

Got megs too, the hollow torso bugs me as much as I figured it would. Shame too, as the panels on his feet coulda been stuck to ball joints on his back and used to hide the torso gap since they are unnecessary to support his weight on his feet

There's a few problems with that idea:
1. The panels are formed from parts of his tread cowlings, so they wouldn't have been able to go in their proper place in vehicle mode if mounted to his back (especially if it was just with ball joints)
2. The panels wouldn't really make good covers for the torso gaps because they don't match the "alien ribcage" look of his torso
3. Those panels, while not necessary to support his weight, are approximations of panels present on his feet there in the actual movie design (you can get a good look at that on Josh Nizzi's website).

I've been on-off obsessively researching Megatron's ROTF design for a while now, in preparation for customizing the ROTF Leader-class toy whenever I finally got my hands on it.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Finally finished cleaning my apartment and moving bots around. I could not get satisfied with the layout, and finally am.

In the process, this is how my movie display, including Bee and Ratchet, ended up. Several movie guys are elsewhere in alt mode (including final battle Jazz, see below), but with the exception of Jazz (when I get his SS figure he'll go here) every movie character minus the Dinobots and Knights (a shelf all to themselves) and the Arcees (those toys looked crud, so no) is represented. And I think it works.

Ratchet still feels a bit too small there, and Bee also a bit small, but overall not bad.

[Carnivius_Prime]

) and the Arcees (those toys looked crud, so no) is represented. And I think it works.

I still love the 2007 Arcee figure. One of my fave TFs ever. But she's now waaaay too big for my movie shelf scale, at least in bike mode since Jazz and Bee can probably ride her (not in rude way)

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Yeah, Arcee is way out of scale except maybe with one of the stupid oversize Bumblebee toys (Why does Hasbro keep making that mistake, of making large toys of the little yellow kid-appeal character.. It didn't go well for them the first time they did it, with Supreme-class BM Cheetor, and it hasn't really gone well for them the subsequent times.. *ahem*). Now, if she was a car she'd be fine, but nooo. Speaking of Arcee, maybe the Studio Series will do us a favor and give us accurate semi-in-scale toys of her ROTF bodies. Maybe even bringing back the combination feature we were denied, though that's a stretch.

Another longshot hope of mine for the Studio Series: Dark of the Moon Devcon. AKA "Clovercon". He was a cool design that deserved a toy but the DotM toyline was rather hit and miss. Toyline-only Decepticons that didn't match anyone in the movie (though I'd still like to have them), spotty tail-end distribution, getting one of the aforementioned oversize Bumblebees instead of a Leader-class Megatron...
Someone actually did a transformable custom of DOTM Devcon, so he's doable.

[ZeroWolf]

Think is the studio series won't do a combining arcee team as they never combined in the film. If they did an arcee first this line it would have to be legends or smaller.

[william-james88]

The latest voyager figures from the Transformers Studio Series line, Brawl and Megatron, are now being found across Canada at their (now fully Canadian) Toysrus stores. While they are $39.99 CAD, they can be obtained for far less. There is currently a buy one get one half off offer as well as Hasbro Coupons where you can save 20$ off 50$ or buy 2 and get the third product free. These two offers stack, meaning that you can buy three voyagers and have them come out to $20 a piece (or $15 USD), which ends up being half that original price.

Speaking of voyagers at Toysrus, the Power of the Primes voyagers have had a price hike where they are now also $39.99. This has been reported throughout the country and is now the norm.

The Studio Series wave 2 deluxes Jazz and Lockdown have also been found at Toysrus.

Brawl and Megatron can be seen around the middle left area of this iamge below which also shows a massive restock of Power of the Primes Wave 2 voyagers. This particular photo was taken in the Montreal area.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

Elita and Hun-Grr? What mythioal shops are these?

[william-james88]

Elita and Hun-Grr? What mythioal shops are these?

Toysrus Canada, filled to the brim with everything you want



Especially if what you want is Elita and Hungurr, there were tons of em

[Puhonix]

Elita and Hun-Grr? What mythioal shops are these?

Toysrus Canada, filled to the brim with everything you want



Especially if what you want is Elita and Hungurr, there were tons of em

You know if the TRU in the US had selection anywhere like this, they probably wouldn't be going bankrupt.

(Relax, it's hyperbole, I know they still would be closing)

[Wolfman Jake]

I want to go to there!

[william-james88]

I want to go to there!

If ever you are thinking of coming by Jake, let me know, it would be a pleasure to go hunting alongside you!

[RiddlerJ]

Elita and Hun-Grr? What mythioal shops are these?

Toysrus Canada, filled to the brim with everything you want



Especially if what you want is Elita and Hungurr, there were tons of em

I KNEW IT!!!

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[EvasionModeBumblebee]

They even have Thundercracker! Dang, I've been to 4 different Toys R Us stores and none of them had Thundercracker. Or the MPMs for that matter, glad i ordered Bee online when I did.

Back to Studio Series, I wonder how the upcoming VW Bee is going to work. He's way smaller than he is in the other movies, if he were actually in SS scale he'd be shorter than Jazz.

[-Kanrabat-]

I'll do a little hunt at my Laval store. Usually, it's always late compared to Montreal, which is just across the river.

[ZeldaTheSwordsman]

They even have Thundercracker! Dang, I've been to 4 different Toys R Us stores and none of them had Thundercracker. Or the MPMs for that matter, glad i ordered Bee online when I did.

Back to Studio Series, I wonder how the upcoming VW Bee is going to work. He's way smaller than he is in the other movies, if he were actually in SS scale he'd be shorter than Jazz.

Yeah, that's... I love the Beetle and all, but movieverse Bee turning into one after he's already been established as muscle car sized is a definite case of someone being a Geewunner. I was hoping he was going to turn into a larger kind of VW, but alas.

Although doing that VW Bumblebee is probably preferable to doing, say, AoE Galvatron. Because since the designers for AoE decided to be dipsh*ts and forget that the designs had to be translated to toy form, the only way to pull off an accurate Galvatron would be to release him as a two-piece set: An essentially Action Master toy of his robot mode, and a separate toy of his truck mode. And AoE Drift isn't exactly much better. Thank gods for the TLK redesigns - I suspect the artists not wanting to be murdered in their beds by the toy designers was a factor there.

[ZeroWolf]

Already established to be a muscle car? Do you mean in the prequel comic from Cybertron with love? There could still be am explanation as to why his size changed... (plus there's still the rumour that as a soft reboot that this will either sit nicely as a prequel to the bay movies or be a new start.

[-Kanrabat-]

I'll do a little hunt at my Laval store. Usually, it's always late compared to Montreal, which is just across the river.

Called today. And sigh, I knew it.

[william-james88]

And AoE Drift isn't exactly much better. Thank gods for the TLK redesigns - I suspect the artists not wanting to be murdered in their beds by the toy designers was a factor there.

I dont get it, TLK Drift is far worse than AOE Drift. At least the toy designers were able to have his robo chest detail come from the actual front of the car. For TLK, they just said **** it and used nothing of the car, leaving it as a massive loose shell sticking out his backside.

[william-james88]

This toy has been found in the US for a few weeks now but has yet to reach saturation. And while there are several video reviews out there for this bad boy, there are several aspects of his that I wanted to address since they took me a bit by surprise.

Firstly, people have been saying from day one that he was a BIG voyager. But I was always curious about how big he really was, since he is often paired up with Studio Series Optimus, who is the smallest voyager Optimus Prime figure we have ever gotten so far (for any line). Well it turns out he is indeed big. He dwarfs the previous Revenge of the Fallen Megatron mold, as well as any voyager movie mold I paired him with. He is even a head taller than Power of the Primes Hun Gurrr who is himself a decently sized voyager (as are any voyagers from the Prime Wars Trilogy).













So that's a major plus. He does look better than the previous ROTF voyager not only thanks to the lack of a backpack but also since he can pose better and stand more upright. His left "hand" is actually split so the elongated fingers don't have to be oriented the same way all the time.



Also, while he does not have the great paint job of the movie the best version (which is next to him in the previous images) his paint job is serviceable. I like the highlights they make in a gunmetal grey as well as the gold on the chest. The legs are beautifully painted too. Basically, it looks good... from the front.











And that is where the main problem lies. This toy being so big comes at the cost of him being hollow. Now that transformation scheme can work and it has given us some incredible transformations before, like Prime First Edition Bulkhead. But here it is quite easy to see thanks to the gaping hole on his side.



The other problem with viewing from he side is the head. He seems to have no neck if you lay the head flat against the body but while you can stretch it up, it ends up looking odd at the sides.





He also ends up feeling very light. Now that is partly due to some of the plastic used. I hear the expression "feels like a KO" thrown around a lot and most of the time, it is undeserving. This figure as a whole does not feel like a KO (a lot of work went into this guy), but some of the plastic used is the very rigid yet light plastic we find on cheap KOs (like the oversized Prime Abominus toys). It isn't used a lot, but we can see it mainly on the biceps with the big mushroom peg. It's the kind of plastic that leaves a big seam to show the separate mold halves.



Speaking of pegs an biceps, there is one aspect of this toy that is really odd and it's the right shoulder joint. Now most toys have the bicep move along the shoulder, but here the shoulder separates in half so you end up seeing the toy's innards when moving the shoulder for any pose you might want to do. Only happens on the right side with the left side being more traditional.







My other gripe is the feet, they are just a mess. Both the right and left side have some obvious kibble hanging there. The panels do not look at all like the are a part of the foot, they just look like there was nowhere else to put them, which is too bad because there could have been some decent integration if they could peg and be more flush with the rest of the foot.







The Transformation to alt mode is more complex than I would have imagined for a toy which just looks like a pile of scrap on alt mode. I would have called the transformation fun if pieces didn't easily pop off. The reverse kneecaps (so in the back of the leg) come off easily. So much so that I lost one of them and have been doing this whole review with only one of them. Bet you didn't notice! There is also an issue with the panels that cover the thighs. They hold fine but because the movable hinge they are stuck to offers ridiculous resistance, they will also pop off when transforming.





In alt mode, the toy is fine. It looks incredibly different from the voyager. It has a completely different shape where instead of being on the wide side, it is on the long side, closer to the recent live action Batmobile. Definitely sleeker than before. There are no wings of any kind, which I am told is not accurate to what we see in the film and that turns out to be true.















But honestly, I don't care. The robot mode is far more iconic to the film than the alt mode is, and if I had to freeze frame a clip just to make sure it was inaccurate I think its safe to say that it is not something I would have known off hand. My bigger issue is the giant claw hand sticks out in the back so it looks like this tank has a bad case of hemorrhoids. I will say that the original ROTF voyager Megatron mold rolls much better than this one. Maybe I have the treads misaligned but mine does not roll at all. In the end, I like this sleeker tank and I really like those twin guns it has at the side.

I do like this toy even though I never liked the alt mode but I do wish pieces did not fall off. The robot mode is awesome enough, just don't turn it to the side.