The Energon Pub

Motormaster is an awesome figure that turns into an even more awesome super robot. I'm not going to call it a combiner. You can't make me!

Greetings. Another great review as always Lore Keeper. You never fail to impress. Very well done. I am in agreement with your assessment of the new Motormaster Toy. Those that know me, I was adamant about not getting this out of principal. I have UW Menasor, an while it does have obvious flaws, I dont need another of the same character. However when faced with seeing the toy in person at Target a couple of days ago, I was weak and gave in. Heck I wasn't even there. My Wife was and she just told me on the phone they had it on the shelf and I caved. Like you, I believe this is a wonderfully designed toy. It is stable, has great articulation, and accomplishes it's goal of looking very much like the character from the animated series (which normally I gravitate towards). However, in so doing, YES the whole "scramble" combiner aspect is lost, which does set a precedent for something I do NOT want to see in the future.

So far...the leaks/rumors for 2023 haven't said anything about other scramble type combiners, which is good. I do not feel that all the combiners form CW/UW/PotP need to be revisited. They are fine, and I enjoy them for what they are. What I would like to see are NEW takes on classic combiners that yet to have an update in the modern era, all of which are in my signature below. My personal collection will not feel complete until all of these get some sort of release, which I know may be a long, long wait, if ever. Even if it's by means of Haslab or special TT releases, they are all worth getting for me.

Personally, as the Generations line goes on, I feel a sense of satisfaction each time a new character from the original Transformers (1984-1991) that HASN'T had a toy in the last decade is released, because while it may not be on my list, I know it is filling a hole in someone's collection. Toys like Crankcase, Goldbug, Ransack, and Minerva; while they are all repaints/retools are all very welcome. At the same time, we get our 3rd Blitzwing in the last decade, and it still has a mixed reception. This is incredibly frustrating because so much time and effort went into designing this toy, that could have gone to fill the "holes" in characters that haven't been released in a while. Yes I know Blitzwing, even as a secondary character probably will sell far more units than 3rd/4th tier characters, but sometimes, when a toy is really well designed, and word of mouth catches on it doesn't matter. Heck Clampdown from the Walmart Velocitron line is like the 20th use of that WFC Sideswipe mold, but it is probably one of the most wanted of that line, how crazy is that!

Lastly, it's just crazy to think, that in late 2015 you could basically get all of CW Menasor (including Blackjack as the 6th member), for just over $100 USD *(about $104 by my calculation), yet in 2022, we are paying just a little less for a single CC toy. Legacy Menasor (just 5 members) all together will cost roughly DOUBE what CW Menasor cost, at least in the United states. For many it will be worth it as all the toys are considered to be superior in quality and engineering, but it definitely raises an eyebrow to me, which makes me glad my wish list is shrinking, and I'm not making nearly as many purchases year over year. I swear though, if Hasbro later announces a Box Set for Legacy Menasor, I am going to be quite upset. I loved the old style giftsets as a kid, despite never owning any, but I did go out of my way to obtain ALL of TT UW ones, and kept the packaging because they are so amazing. I know some people might be thinking that a G2 Legacy Menasor might be an easy repaint/reuse. However...I'll remind them that the G2 CW sets didn't sell well at all. All 3 (Supereon. Menasor, Bruticus) ended up in market 6 stores like Ross/Marshalls and were even sold on the old Hasbro Toy Shop on clearance for $39.99... (IIRC?). Hopefully Hasbro remembers this as well.

o.supreme wrote:Greetings. Another great review as always Lore Keeper. You never fail to impress. Very well done. I am in agreement with your assessment of the new Motormaster Toy. Those that know me, I was adamant about not getting this out of principal. I have UW Menasor, an while it does have obvious flaws, I dont need another of the same character. However when faced with seeing the toy in person at Target a couple of days ago, I was weak and gave in. Heck I wasn't even there. My Wife was and she just told me on the phone they had it on the shelf and I caved. Like you, I believe this is a wonderfully designed toy. It is stable, has great articulation, and accomplishes it's goal of looking very much like the character from the animated series (which normally I gravitate towards). However, in so doing, YES the whole "scramble" combiner aspect is lost, which does set a precedent for something I do NOT want to see in the future.

So far...the leaks/rumors for 2023 haven't said anything about other scramble type combiners, which is good. I do not feel that all the combiners form CW/UW/PotP need to be revisited. They are fine, and I enjoy them for what they are. What I would like to see are NEW takes on classic combiners that yet to have an update in the modern era, all of which are in my signature below. My personal collection will not feel complete until all of these get some sort of release, which I know may be a long, long wait, if ever. Even if it's by means of Haslab or special TT releases, they are all worth getting for me.

Personally, as the Generations line goes on, I feel a sense of satisfaction each time a new character from the original Transformers (1984-1991) that HASN'T had a toy in the last decade is released, because while it may not be on my list, I know it is filling a hole in someone's collection. Toys like Crankcase, Goldbug, Ransack, and Minerva; while they are all repaints/retools are all very welcome. At the same time, we get our 3rd Blitzwing in the last decade, and it still has a mixed reception. This is incredibly frustrating because so much time and effort went into designing this toy, that could have gone to fill the "holes" in characters that haven't been released in a while. Yes I know Blitzwing, even as a secondary character probably will sell far more units than 3rd/4th tier characters, but sometimes, when a toy is really well designed, and word of mouth catches on it doesn't matter. Heck Clampdown from the Walmart Velocitron line is like the 20th use of that WFC Sideswipe mold, but it is probably one of the most wanted of that line, how crazy is that!

Lastly, it's just crazy to think, that in late 2015 you could basically get all of CW Menasor (including Blackjack as the 6th member), for just over $100 USD *(about $104 by my calculation), yet in 2022, we are paying just a little less for a single CC toy. Legacy Menasor (just 5 members) all together will cost roughly DOUBE what CW Menasor cost, at least in the United states. For many it will be worth it as all the toys are considered to be superior in quality and engineering, but it definitely raises an eyebrow to me, which makes me glad my wish list is shrinking, and I'm not making nearly as many purchases year over year. I swear though, if Hasbro later announces a Box Set for Legacy Menasor, I am going to be quite upset. I loved the old style giftsets as a kid, despite never owning any, but I did go out of my way to obtain ALL of TT UW ones, and kept the packaging because they are so amazing. I know some people might be thinking that a G2 Legacy Menasor might be an easy repaint/reuse. However...I'll remind them that the G2 CW sets didn't sell well at all. All 3 (Supereon. Menasor, Bruticus) ended up in market 6 stores like Ross/Marshalls and were even sold on the old Hasbro Toy Shop on clearance for $39.99... (IIRC?). Hopefully Hasbro remembers this as well.

I agree that not every character needs to be revisited every few years. Menasor was an exception to me. He was so poorly executed in CW, that I was excited for another crack at him. Unfortunately, this new one isn't was I was looking for. I wanted CW+. I wanted to see them take what they learned during Prime Wars and improve on it. Instead, they just scrapped the whole system. So, here I am, still without a decent Scramble City Menasor. At least most of the other combiners were pretty solid (even if you had to go out of your way to get the best version). I'm ready for them to move onto something new, like Road Caesar or a proper Liokaiser. If we're just going to get more Scramble CIty guys in the style of this new Menasor, I'm going to be harshly disappointed.