The Energon Pub

News Credits: 226 · Sun Dec 24, 2017 5:30 pm

Cobotron wrote:I'm really looking forward to reclaiming my MOTU collection now!

Hopefully they're in one piece.

When I grabbed mine last year, a couple of them had the bands split that connected the legs to the waist.

News Credits: 56 · Tue Dec 26, 2017 10:51 am

I found watching these with my kids was a little awkward at times though. The Mattel guys for MOTU cursed up a storm. Also my 12 year old daughter wanted to watch the Barbie one, so we got a few minuets in, and...well...lets just say I had to do a lot of parental explaining...jeez I never knew Barbie's history was so ....*unwholesome* anyway...

Of course I've never been interested in girl toys, for obvious reasons, but I do recall the "Barbie and the Rockers" release in the late 80's and felt it was a complete rip-off taking advantage of Jem (the opposite of how it was portrayed in the documentary...) I guess perception really Is reality for some people heh...

I cant wait for the Transformers and the remainder of the episodes to be released.

News Credits: 6188 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 6:42 am

For those of you keeping tabs, or just wondering about the new Netflix series The Toys That Made Us - focusing on eight toy brands that made a big impact in the 80s and their legacy - we have a small update from the official series' Facebook page.

The Transformers episode, which along with with Star Trek, LEGO, Hello Kitty will form the second half of season one, is currently in post-production - and will feature not only our very own Seibertron / Ryan Yzquierdo, but also movie director Michael Bay, and a whole roster of Transformers-related people, such as Cullen, Budiansky, and more! Additionally, we have an interview with show creator Brian Volk-Weiss explaining more in detail his intention with the show, and how he chose what he did for the series, courtesy of Fatherly. Stay with Seibertron.com to find out more about the actual release date of the next four episodes, and read an extract of the interview below!

You focus on the history of a different toy for each of the eight episodes. What did the process look like for picking which toys to focus on?

In picking the toys, we sort of created four categories that we would pay attention to when we were asking whether or not a toy belonged.

Category one: Are the toys still being made today? We didn’t want to look at a toy that was great for three years or even ten years and then went away. We wanted to be covering toys that were relevant 30, or, in some cases, even 50 years ago and are still relevant today.

Category two: If there was a Mount Rushmore of toys, would this toy be selected? Could Optimus Prime be up there? Yeah, so that makes the cut. It means there needs to be a personality or a face.

Category three: Does the toy have a fanatical following? I wanted to find out the history of toys that had conventions where people were dressing up.

Category four: Is there a good story to tell? If there was a toy that became a hit and that was that, we didn’t want to cover it.

Why do you think toys can play such a strong role in shaping us even as adults?

Everyone has an imagination and toys allow you to utilize your imagination more than watching TV or reading books ever could. When I was a kid, there were no toy versions of the ships in Star Trek so I would make my own out of LEGOs. And eventually, I started designing my own Star Trek ships with LEGOs. When I started drawing Star Trek ships in eighth grade, I’m drawing the ones I designed as well as the ships from the show. I wouldn’t have done that without LEGO. Toys allow us to manifest our imagination in a physical way.

MyFigureCollection.net collection · Wed Jan 03, 2018 8:28 am

This series is actually very good. Highly recommended if you were born in the 80s or are curious about how these companies were run back in the day. Looking forward to the next round of episodes. The G.I. Joe and He-man episodes are my favorites so far, but even the Barbie episode was pretty fascinating.

Emerje

News Credits: 131 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 9:47 am

Emerje wrote:This series is actually very good. Highly recommended if you were born in the 80s or are curious about how these companies were run back in the day. Looking forward to the next round of episodes. The G.I. Joe and He-man episodes are my favorites so far, but even the Barbie episode was pretty fascinating.

Emerje

What if you were born in the 70's?

Very excited for the next batch of episodes. They were not what I expected, but exceeded those expectations. Nice little documentary/history lesson. Mostly I just like looking at toys :POPCORN:

Oops, meant to drop this here (cause my wife was born in the 80's):

Wed Jan 03, 2018 10:21 am

Like many others I really do like this series. It could've been very dull, but they made it very lively and I especially recommend the Star Wars episode.

News Credits: 293 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 12:22 pm

I watched the first batch of episodes over Christmas and thought they were fantastic. Especially since 3/4 of them were toys I cared nothing about... and they still held my interest. I'd recommend this series to anyone who has a general interest in toy collecting.

Highlight so far: the origin of Battlecat :lol:

I can't wait for the TF episode. At least give us a release date!? :KREMZEEK:

News Credits: 131 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 12:25 pm

shajaki wrote: so far: the origin of Battlecat

It was cool to find out just how half assed the origins to all these "iconic" toys were. Seemed like they were just tossing ideas at walls to see what would stick.

I hope they do a second season. I'd love to see some Voltron and Thundercats, or even GoBots ;)^

News Credits: 56 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 12:32 pm

^Until I saw that, it NEVER occurred to me that Battlecat was "not to scale" . Still...

If a guy rides up to a bar on a 12-foot tiger, you aren't going to mess with him..

best line ever!

News Credits: 226 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 3:19 pm

carytheone wrote:I hope they do a second season.

Same, though I really want these last four episodes NOW.

I wouldn't mind seeing them delve into the likes of TMNT, Power Rangers, and of course Voltron and Robotech.

News Credits: 56 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 4:23 pm

Burn wrote:
carytheone wrote:I hope they do a second season.

Same, though I really want these last four episodes NOW.

I wouldn't mind seeing them delve into the likes of TMNT, Power Rangers, and of course Voltron and Robotech.

1. A release date for the second wave of four episodes would be nice so we have something to anticipate. Perhaps in February around Toy Fare? Merely speculation, but it would be neat.

2.A Second season would be nice. But if they stick with the formula of toys that have a long-lasting legacy, I fear things like Voltron and Robotech wouldn't quite fit. (Although I myself am a huge fan of the series, the toys were relatively short lived). Although they could probably be lumped together with perhaps Shogun Warriors and a few other minor toy lines for a combined "It came from Japan" type episode, That would be cool.

In a similar vein, I'd love to see episodes about MASK, Thundercats etc... but the toy lines themselves really didn't last long enough to make a show of this scale. Future episodes I could see:

MEGO, Hotwheels, TMNT, Care Bears, My Little Pony, Garfield, additionally maybe 2 episodes dedicated to all the Marvel and DC comics toy lines over the years.

News Credits: 226 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 4:35 pm

Operative term there being "long-lasting legacy".

The likes of Voltron and Robotech most certainly have legacies, Voltron has a new series (on Netflix no less) and new toys. Robotech/Macross is still getting churned out in Japan. Both also have comics, along with other brands you listed.

I guess it depends on how they really define what they deem worthy to cover.

News Credits: 131 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 4:42 pm

I'd imagine if they get a second or even third season, they'd have to loosen up standards or they'd force themselves off the air. Besides, we're just beginning to tickle rampant speculation at this point.

So far I'd say we have a pretty good wish list going though.

M.A.S.K. btw...

I'd bet quite a few people here wouldn't mind a Diaclone episode. I'm sure the TF episode will touch on them, but why not take a deep dive.

News Credits: 56 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 4:51 pm

Burn wrote:I guess it depends on how they really define what they deem worthy to cover.

True. I'd love to see episodes dedicated to those lines...It's just that looking at this purely from the perspective of toys released, I'm not sure there'd be much to talk about. Voltron had toys in 1985, 1998, and now in 2017/18 (are they even making any new ones??). That's it. And of course while Macross has a great and continuing legacy in Japan, that's not really Robotech...

(Though I'd love to hear the story about how Exo Squad and Robotech got integrated, most people don't even know about that). . Not trying to be a downer, and I hope I'm wrong, I'd love to see episodes dedicated to these lines, just trying to look at things objectively.

News Credits: 11 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 10:41 pm

The shows were ok, but it was puzzling why they omitted the problems Hasbro had with their "super buff" Star Wars figure line (so much so that it created the monstrous buff Leia and most of the figures couldn't fit into the vehicle cockpits), plus the lack of coverage as to the controversy surrounding Mattel with Conan the Barbarian and He-Man (they were taken to court, I believe).

And why no Pixel Dan in the He-Man episode?

News Credits: 226 · Wed Jan 03, 2018 11:24 pm

Does Netflix ever release their viewing figures? Or do they keep that to themselves to help justify **** like saying how awesome Bright was?

Hopefully the show has proven popular enough for a second season.

News Credits: 11 · Thu Jan 04, 2018 12:21 am

Those that BURN BRIGHTest, eh Burn?

Bladerunne for the win.

However, yes, I couldn't sit through Bright. It was lie watching an even worse version of "Underworld"...

News Credits: 6188 · Thu Jan 04, 2018 3:28 am

I was able to watch the first three episodes in the past couple of days, and I really enjoyed the style of the narration and documentary! The Barbie one was probably the highlight of them all so far though, as it had even more ruthlessness than what the MOTU people did to Mark Taylor (and that was kind of hinted at in the episode itself).

Going to try getting through GI Joe today, but the opening already had my eyes rolling so hard I scored a critical hit.

News Credits: 56 · Thu Jan 04, 2018 10:15 am

Burn wrote:Does Netflix ever release their viewing figures? Or do they keep that to themselves to help justify **** like saying how awesome Bright was?

Hopefully the show has proven popular enough for a second season.

The numbers are mostly kept private. I heard a radio show on the way to work a couple of months ago talking about how Nielsen ratings was somehow able to *hack* Netflix and release some viewing numbers, but I don't know if there is any truth to that or not. ...

News Credits: 6188 · Thu Jan 04, 2018 10:34 am

o.supreme wrote:
Burn wrote:Does Netflix ever release their viewing figures? Or do they keep that to themselves to help justify **** like saying how awesome Bright was?

Hopefully the show has proven popular enough for a second season.

The numbers are mostly kept private. I heard a radio show on the way to work a couple of months ago talking about how Nielsen ratings was somehow able to *hack* Netflix and release some viewing numbers, but I don't know if there is any truth to that or not. ...

Almost - though of course they're incomplete, and Netflix is denying they are accurate at all.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/nielsen-of ... 1508320800

Thu Jan 04, 2018 1:41 pm

The image of Bay scares me. I hope they don't spend an inordinate amount of time on Bayformers and completely skip over the stuff that has kept long time fans and collectors engaged.

Overall though, I've enjoyed every episode of this show. It's fun to see some of the personalities and the stories of how stuff was done. It also has a fun sense of humor about it. I can't wait to see what they do with TFs. ;)^

News Credits: 293 · Thu Jan 04, 2018 9:10 pm

Y'know what I just thought of? I wonder if, in the TF episodes, 3rd Parties will be mentioned? I mean, if Seibertron is featured, one of it's uniqueties is the fact that they DON'T cover 3P news. It'd be hella interesting if the episode features anything about them.

News Credits: 11 · Thu Jan 04, 2018 9:17 pm

Doubtful.. The GI Joe episode didn't even include Action Force in the UK and the "GI-Joe/Henshin Cyborg/Microman/Diaclone/Transformers" circle of life, as they were outside the US. I wish they had mentioned also that outside the US, I think the US flag was replaced? GI-Joe, probably due to its nationalism, just never really caught on outside the US.

News Credits: 149 · Mon Jan 08, 2018 10:41 am

The first 4 episodes have been utterly fascinating. The He-Man episode is my fave though. The just BSed their way into that, they really did. My Brother and I had vast collections of He-Man and Transformers as kids. Always loved that He-Man figures came with a comic. Thanks ToyWorld!

News Credits: 226 · Wed Jan 17, 2018 3:07 pm

A few of us mentioned it here, and apparently many more have been asking as well to the point The Toys That Made Us Facebook page has answered as to just what the **** that weird naked chick thing was in the background.