The Energon Pub

[Raymond101]

Okay, so in terms of variety and quality the movie line's been largely a mixed bag, and for me overall it cannot compare to Cybertron and compared to Animated it looks bleak. But there are individual toys that I immensely enjoyed and Automorph whether or not you liked it, did work on some of the figures. Let's acknowledge the good points of your favourite movie toys.

BTW a lot of the figures I enjoy is sometimes due to my own customizing of them, making them look more movie accurate or more metallic (like Protoform Prime and Leader Megs)

1. In terms of robot mode I love Protoform Prime. Love his design, a welcome change from blue and red. His light-piping makes him look very alien and foreign while looking good and noble. Perfect for display.

2. All-round toys: Deluxe Arcee, Concept Bumblebee, and Longarm. Longarm has a genius cannon, while Arcee and Bumbles have very smart Automorphs. Ironhide is awesome for a great Automorph too and a whopping 4 missiles and grand cannon. Leader Prime has 3 fun Automorphs and although he is nowhere near as playable as Cybertron Prime, at least Hasbro gave a good effort for the movie flagship toy. I'm not a big fan of Wreckage and Thundercracker, but many like these guys so I'll put them here.

3. Some toys are 10x better when repainted to your satisfaction. Leader Megs is one of these. He's actually kinda playable to kids since he has a whip, fusion cannon, a pretty cool Automorph and a funny dental pick on his left arm. Ratchet is also one of these. Sturdy for a movie figure, and yes he is bland, but adding facial features and some silver on him makes him a much better figure. And yes his weapons are lame, but I guess kids won't mind... too much.

And then there are the Allspark line figures:

1. The movie repaints (Premium included): I'm hoping to get the black Arcee, red Dropkick, Premium Concept Bumblebee, Jazz, Barricade and Prime.

2. Cybertron repaints: How cool is this - humanoid faces also have a place in the movie universe! I'm looking forward to Big Daddy and Grindcore.

3. New molds! So far only Landmine looks good to me.

4. New scout repaints: If they're your thing, go for it.

I myself am biased because I enjoyed the alien and inhuman look of the figures (in particular Protoform Prime), and I personally think Automorph was a good idea, although I think Hasbro should move on now. I admit I dislike pretty much all the Decepticons. I think the Autobots got superior toy representations. Nevertheless there is something for everyone in the movie line , and I hope you will remember at least some good times with this line, even with Classics 2 and Animated around the corner.

[Bumblethumper]

Lately I've noticed a lot of people bashing the movie line, and then saying how much better the animated line will be by comparison.

Personally I'm now eagerly anticipating Animated far moreso than the remaining new Movie molds.

But I found the movie line to be the most impressive line yet released. So many of figures were pushing so many envelopes it was unreal. The first few figures I got, my jaw just hit the floor. I haven't forgotten my initial reaction to figures like deluxe Brawl and Barricade, and even hold a special place for underrated figures like deluxe Swindle and Bonecrusher.

But at this point, like a lot of people I'm getting a little bored with it, and eager for new things. Right now, it's headed for repaint city, which kinda leaves a bad after taste for the whole line, like leftovers from last week's dinner.

[Craven Knight]

I don't mind repaint city too much, I held off on getting Jazz, Bonecrusher, Arcee, Swindle and Dreadwing as their colour schemes were too bland for me but the their repaints are all good in my opinion and I'll get them all.

[Agent 007]

The movie line rox. CC BB, Arcee, and leader Prime are just a few of the great ones. And looking bleak aganist Animated? I'de say it's the other way around.

[Valandar]

*looks at the barren shelves and pegs in his area*

Going just by sales, I'd say the movie line was one of the most successful since G1. I'v had all of maybe 2-3 "windows" for buying figures, one per wave, and missed more than a few I wanted to get (Target G1 repaint Jazz for example).

If Animated keeps up that level of sales, something tells me it's gonna be a good future for Transfans as Hasbro pours more money into the franchise.

[Blurrz]

Well.. when you pay $10, $15, $30, or $50 for a Transformers toy, all you are going to get is $10, $15, $30, and $50 worth of a toy.

Some are better than others, but that's really in the opinion of the owner.

Like I ACTUALLY like Deluxe Brawl more than Leader Brawl

[AlienQuiksilver]

Lately I've noticed a lot of people bashing the movie line, and then saying how much better the animated line will be by comparison.

Personally I'm now eagerly anticipating Animated far moreso than the remaining new Movie molds.

But I found the movie line to be the most impressive line yet released. So many of figures were pushing so many envelopes it was unreal. The first few figures I got, my jaw just hit the floor. I haven't forgotten my initial reaction to figures like deluxe Brawl and Barricade, and even hold a special place for underrated figures like deluxe Swindle and Bonecrusher.

But at this point, like a lot of people I'm getting a little bored with it, and eager for new things. Right now, it's headed for repaint city, which kinda leaves a bad after taste for the whole line, like leftovers from last week's dinner.

Anybody who puts animated before the movie line ... without having the actual figures in their hands 1st.

I agree though. Some of the movie molds have superior transformations to anything that I've encountered from a previous line.

I had temporarily forgotten this fact, but after getting NW Prime ... and realizing once again that the mold is original to the movie line. Pffft! Awesome!

... and that's just 1 example. Others are BB, Ironhide, Dropkick, Longarm, leader brawl.

[woosh]

I think they're trying to hold the line as long as possible.
Some of the effects are awesome (landmine, stockade!), some just lame (stealth bb? wtf?!).
I would understand it if they actually shipped some of those to other countries than us & canda (or china)

[Bumblethumper]

Anybody who puts animated before the movie line ... without having the actual figures in their hands 1st.

I mostly put it down to that tendency to want what you can't have, and become disinterested in what is readily at hand.

[Auto Bot]

I can't really see what Automorph Arcee has.

[Raymond101]

Wow. and more good news! Wingblade and Jetstorm are on the way!

I think Hasbro made the right choice in maknig some humanoid faces repaints for the movie line. It makes the movie universe in many sense MORE diverse than your traditional universe. There's something for alien-head ugly lovers like me (am I the only one here who LIKES Protoform Prime and Arcee's face?) and those who prefer human mecha style faces.

[X3ROhour]

if the movie never happened, would the toys be so badly critisized?

the only complaint that really holds water is the comparison to the film's "reality" vs reality.

i like them

[Raymond101]

Also scale has been a big complaint about this toyline. In that case, complaints should be made for every other toyline too, look at Cybertron! The only reason why scale was such a big issue with the movie toys was because

1. They were represented on the big screen to a wide audience and it was easier to calculate the scales considering none of the vehicle modes were made up (and we know Megs is similar in size to Prime)

2. There were fewer TFs in the story (11 total Transformers don't even equal the totality of the Autobot team in Galaxy Force) so people were expecting the toys to be done as right as possible.

The 2nd complaint is legit. The first, not so.

[Auto Bot]

Megs is much bigger than Prime.

If you see the concept designs, one of them has Megs and Prime in one pic. You'll see Megs is close to twice the size of Prime.

In the movie, it's not so obvious. Maybe intentionally. But he still is bigger than Prime. See them battling at close up. Megs head and face is about 50% to 80% larger than Prime. All the other body parts too.

[Valandar]

I can't really see what Automorph Arcee has.

It's the crossbow. Insert the projectile, and the crossbow arms spring out.

[Auto Bot]

I can't really see what Automorph Arcee has.

It's the crossbow. Insert the projectile, and the crossbow arms spring out.

So that's considered an Automorph? It's too simple. Anyway, at least it's got it.

[Autobotic9]

some great figs were Prime, both BBs. Barricade, Longarm, Dropkick, arcee, jazz, protoforms etc.