The Energon Pub

Think these look like HasTak Pretender updates 3rd party TF toys.

Don't approve of Former HasTak employees ripping off HasTak's TF property by creating 3rd party Updates TF toys. Don't approve because these guys signed and broke contract agreements, Broke and ignored confidentialities, Received Special inside company training in the art of the TF toys process. Know company info.

Tsutsukakushi wrote:Think these look like HasTak Pretender updates 3rd party TF toys.

Don't approve of Former HasTak employees ripping off HasTak's TF property by creating 3rd party Updates TF toys. Don't approve because these guys signed and broke contract agreements, Broke and ignored confidentialities, Received Special inside company training in the art of the TF toys process. Know company info.

And you have proofs to all these claims of yours?

I like the idea of seeing what these guys can do without the constraints of apeasing dumb kids and their cheap, over paranoid parents. I support these guys for stepping up. As I always said, my loyalty lies with the G1 continuity itself, not the corporate investors who financed its creation. Lets see what these guys can do...

guarayakha wrote:

Tsutsukakushi wrote:Think these look like HasTak Pretender updates 3rd party TF toys.

Don't approve of Former HasTak employees ripping off HasTak's TF property by creating 3rd party Updates TF toys. Don't approve because these guys signed and broke contract agreements, Broke and ignored confidentialities, Received Special inside company training in the art of the TF toys process. Know company info.

And you have proofs to all these claims of yours?

I agree, where is the proof. That is like telling an engineer they can't ever have their own company after being trained and gaining knowledge from someone else after they leave that company. You don't know what the contract stated or didn't state. You need to stop making your assumptions and trying to pass them off as fact.

I heard Starbucks once had a man killed because after working for them for 3 months, he went an made a cup of coffee for his mum one afternoon.

craggy wrote:I heard Starbucks once had a man killed because after working for them for 3 months, he went an made a cup of coffee for his mum one afternoon.

They didn't kill him because he made a cup of coffee, they killed him because he served it in a cup with mum written on the front.

That title is a mouthful

Any way i like the look of these designs and i'm very interested to watch these develop .

I think the companies name "play with this too" is a direct shot at hasbro. Its like theyre telling hasbro to suck it. At least thats what the phrase "play with this" usually means. I think its funny as hell. We should all give these guys our full support.

I thought they were making action figures and not figures that transfors.

Sorry, but I don't want Pretenders on my shelf.

Mkall wrote:Sorry, but I don't want Pretenders on my shelf.

So you dont own ROTF Bludgon, Generations Skullgrin or Botcon Octopunch ?

Rated X wrote:

Mkall wrote:Sorry, but I don't want Pretenders on my shelf.

So you dont own ROTF Bludgon, Generations Skullgrin or Botcon Octopunch ?

Yes, but those toys aren't Pretenders. Sure they homage characters who were Pretenders in G1, but now they have a properly transforming toy, and not a crappy little toy in a HeMan ripoff suit. I don't want giant-sized action figures that may incorporate a little transforming toy on my shelves.

Mkall wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Mkall wrote:Sorry, but I don't want Pretenders on my shelf.

So you dont own ROTF Bludgon, Generations Skullgrin or Botcon Octopunch ?

Yes, but those toys aren't Pretenders. Sure they homage characters who were Pretenders in G1, but now they have a properly transforming toy, and not a crappy little toy in a HeMan ripoff suit. I don't want giant-sized action figures that may incorporate a little transforming toy on my shelves.

Exactly, Mkall! I never liked the original Pretenders.

I could totally get into pretenders done in the style that Primo's Customs does them:
https://www.facebook.com/primoscustoms/photos_stream

This guy's take on the characters is right up my alley.

Agamemnon wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Mkall wrote:Sorry, but I don't want Pretenders on my shelf.

So you dont own ROTF Bludgon, Generations Skullgrin or Botcon Octopunch ?

Yes, but those toys aren't Pretenders. Sure they homage characters who were Pretenders in G1, but now they have a properly transforming toy, and not a crappy little toy in a HeMan ripoff suit. I don't want giant-sized action figures that may incorporate a little transforming toy on my shelves.

Exactly, Mkall! I never liked the original Pretenders.

I never liked any of the human pretenders but i do like the monsters . Depending on the final product if they look the part and are about 7" i will buy all the Decepticon monster pretenders, They don't need to transform since there organic creatures so i'm fine with articulated figures .

Agamemnon wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Mkall wrote:Sorry, but I don't want Pretenders on my shelf.

So you dont own ROTF Bludgon, Generations Skullgrin or Botcon Octopunch ?

Yes, but those toys aren't Pretenders. Sure they homage characters who were Pretenders in G1, but now they have a properly transforming toy, and not a crappy little toy in a HeMan ripoff suit. I don't want giant-sized action figures that may incorporate a little transforming toy on my shelves.

Exactly, Mkall! I never liked the original Pretenders.

I get what youre saying, but I think concept art isnt enough to see how these figures work. They might be transforming shells as well. Didnt G1 thunderwing have a transforming shell ?

Autobot Genocide wrote:

Agamemnon wrote:

Mkall wrote:

Rated X wrote:

Mkall wrote:Sorry, but I don't want Pretenders on my shelf.

So you dont own ROTF Bludgon, Generations Skullgrin or Botcon Octopunch ?

Yes, but those toys aren't Pretenders. Sure they homage characters who were Pretenders in G1, but now they have a properly transforming toy, and not a crappy little toy in a HeMan ripoff suit. I don't want giant-sized action figures that may incorporate a little transforming toy on my shelves.

Exactly, Mkall! I never liked the original Pretenders.

I never liked any of the human pretenders but i do like the monsters . Depending on the final product if they look the part and are about 7" i will buy all the Decepticon monster pretenders, They don't need to transform since there organic creatures so i'm fine with articulated figures .

Also don't care for the human looking Pretenders. Prefer the monsters or Animal pretenders.

My ideal HasTak or 3rd party Pretender would be a legends scaled TF toy that fits into a torso cavity of a Voyager or Ultra scaled Pretender toy. With the Pretender shell itself transforming from monster to vehicle mode. Or a Animal Pretender transforming from beast to humanoid robot mode.

If a 3rd party creates a leader scale pretender shell for MMC Felisaber I'd buy it. Kinda want it to be a mega pretender shell that can transform from animal to humanoid-robot mode.

Autobot Genocide wrote:I never liked any of the human pretenders but i do like the monsters . Depending on the final product if they look the part and are about 7" i will buy all the Decepticon monster pretenders, They don't need to transform since there organic creatures so i'm fine with articulated figures .

After having spoke with the guy running this company and listening to his interviews, maybe I can explain a few things.

Rik Alvarez runs the company. He was let go from Hasbro about 2 years ago and has been working on this project for about a year. He has several freelancer designers working for him that have Hasbro and/or Fun Publications experience, but are tired of being restrained by Hasbro's limits.

The toy line they are starting with is 6 inch tall articulated figures, which are all original designs, but yes, many fans have noticed they are similar to some classic 1980's characters.



The figures do not transform, but they are highly articulated, and have interchangeable heads and hands. They also ship with "tech drone" partners, who are made up of weapons and accessories for the big figured who can be assembled into vehicles or robots, about 3 inches tall.

So basically, to put into Transformers terms, this is like a Pretender, but the little inner robot becomes the shell's accessories.

We can expect more news every week, podcast interviews, and big reveals at TFcon Chicago.

Scaleface wrote:

Autobot Genocide wrote:I never liked any of the human pretenders but i do like the monsters . Depending on the final product if they look the part and are about 7" i will buy all the Decepticon monster pretenders, They don't need to transform since there organic creatures so i'm fine with articulated figures .

After having spoke with the guy running this company and listening to his interviews, maybe I can explain a few things.

Rik Alvarez runs the company. He was let go from Hasbro about 2 years ago and has been working on this project for about a year. He has several freelancer designers working for him that have Hasbro and/or Fun Publications experience, but are tired of being restrained by Hasbro's limits.

The toy line they are starting with is 6 inch tall articulated figures, which are all original designs, but yes, many fans have noticed they are similar to some classic 1980's characters.



The figures do not transform, but they are highly articulated, and have interchangeable heads and hands. They also ship with "tech drone" partners, who are made up of weapons and accessories for the big figured who can be assembled into vehicles or robots, about 3 inches tall.

So basically, to put into Transformers terms, this is like a Pretender, but the little inner robot becomes the shell's accessories.

We can expect more news every week, podcast interviews, and big reveals at TFcon Chicago.

Thanks for the info. It's good to know more. But honestly, just looking like a G1 character isn't enough for most fans. We expect a transformable figure. Especially from people with Hasbro/Funpub connections. Unlike most here, I can live with a pretender shell. But the inner robot really has to kick ass. Having weapons turn into the robot is not my definition of kicking ass. It's not supposed to be a Six Gun homage. Just my opinion.

Rated X wrote:Thanks for the info. It's good to know more. But honestly, just looking like a G1 character isn't enough for most fans. We expect a transformable figure. Especially from people with Hasbro/Funpub connections. Unlike most here, I can live with a pretender shell. But the inner robot really has to kick ass. Having weapons turn into the robot is not my definition of kicking ass. It's not supposed to be a Six Gun homage. Just my opinion.

You do understand the small robot also has a jet mode, not JUST turns into weapons. I have no expectation for G1 Cloudburst's shell to transform, so that's not a problem. I'm unsure if the small robot is very articulated, and if it transforms or parts-forms from jet to robot, but I think it's an innovative way to NOT have the small robot go inside the shell. If you put the small robot inside, then the shell/large robot has to become a brick.

Scaleface wrote:

Rated X wrote:Thanks for the info. It's good to know more. But honestly, just looking like a G1 character isn't enough for most fans. We expect a transformable figure. Especially from people with Hasbro/Funpub connections. Unlike most here, I can live with a pretender shell. But the inner robot really has to kick ass. Having weapons turn into the robot is not my definition of kicking ass. It's not supposed to be a Six Gun homage. Just my opinion.

You do understand the small robot also has a jet mode, not JUST turns into weapons. I have no expectation for G1 Cloudburst's shell to transform, so that's not a problem. I'm unsure if the small robot is very articulated, and if it transforms or parts-forms from jet to robot, but I think it's an innovative way to NOT have the small robot go inside the shell. If you put the small robot inside, then the shell/large robot has to become a brick.

I agree that it is an innovative way not to put the robot inside the shell. But if they are going to deviate that far from the original 80's concept (as silly as it was) then they might as well just forget about the shell altogether. I praise them for basically telling Hasbro to "suck it". But if they're that bold with their name choice, they should be that bold with their designs too. The whole parts forming concept seems to be way too conservative for former employees who are trying to one up Hasbro at their own game. What they're doing is what I would expect from less experienced designers who haven't yet mastered the engineering of transformation. But how do you go from making actual Transformers to this ? That's kind of a step backwards.

As Ric Flair says: "If you wanna be the man, first you gotta beat the man".

Rated X wrote:

Scaleface wrote:I agree that it is an innovative way not to put the robot inside the shell. But if they are going to deviate that far from the original 80's concept (as silly as it was) then they might as well just forget about the shell altogether. I praise them for basically telling Hasbro to "suck it". But if they're that bold with their name choice, they should be that bold with their designs too. The whole parts forming concept seems to be way too conservative for former employees who are trying to one up Hasbro at their own game. What they're doing is what I would expect from less experienced designers who haven't yet mastered the engineering of transformation. But how do you go from making actual Transformers to this ? That's kind of a step backwards.

As Ric Flair says: "If you wanna be the man, first you gotta beat the man".

Again, I should repeat, we do not know if the Tech Drone dude partsforms, or transforms from robot to jet. We do know it comes apart into weapons, but it is unclear at this time if you have to disassemble it to transform it between robot and jet.

Just looking at the closeups of the drawings, it looks possible that one of the storage options is that the jet just folds up and can become the backpack of the larger robot, which I think is really cool.

Scaleface wrote:Just looking at the closeups of the drawings, it looks possible that one of the storage options is that the jet just folds up and can become the backpack of the larger robot, which I think is really cool.

I personally would have absolutely no problem with this project if the little drones could fold up into a backpack and peg onto the larger robot, FP Core style. That would be a great reinvention of the Pretender concept, IMO.

Need to see more of this before I pass my nay or for comments.