The Energon Pub

So everyone here knows the main draw of a Transformer is the ability to convert from one form to another. Usually it's done well enough that we don't need anything more than that from the figure to be satisfied. Of course sometimes the designers throw in something extra that doesn't really take anything away, but it's addition is frivolous and usually forgotten. So what modes or features do you not use often, or have even plain forgotten about?

A few picks:

TM2 Megatron's Dragster mode:



I could probably count the amount of times I've transformed Megatron this way on one hand. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but it can't be more than two hands. This is just...dumb, and you can't even properly transform the figure this way right out of the box. True it's an extremely simple fix(unscrewing the blue piece on the back of the neck and flipping it around), but it's the principle.

Armada Thrust's hurricane attack mode:



I'm going to guess at least one person reading this didn't know this was a thing. You turn the head around, extend the back section a little, and attach a mini-con to the chest to pull a lever that results in...his wings hitting his knees and not even working most of the time.

Universe 2.0 Galvatron's infamous tank mode:



*Edit*D'oh! Pic doesn't appear to be working, link to Hasbro Q&A page where it's shown: http://www.toymania.com/news/messages/10873.shtml

This is what spurned the thread, because I remembered this was a thing and looked up the picture to try it again. And you know what, it looks silly, but the deluxe can technically transform like this, though slightly slanted. And I like the crazy thing! I think it's great that an abandoned feature is still viable, and it reminds me of a certain walking nuclear death mobile.

I never use Fortress Maximus's battle station mode. It's always bot to city and back. And I never use Armada Megatron's mode where his turret is on his front. Looks really stupid.

G1 Onslaught flatbed mobile artillery mode

Hotspot's car carrier mode/repair bay mode

Silverbolt's launcher mode (mine's the USA version so no springs)

Motormaster's base mode

UM's "diaclone" repair bay mode

Fireconvoy's supermode, always in Omega Prime mode

G1 Constructicon's super vehicles mode, always in Devy mode

fenrir72 wrote:UM's "diaclone" repair bay mode

Oh yeah, I was reading up on those, and found a pic:



I think they look pretty cool. Maybe the new leader class can configure into something like them.

fenrir72 wrote:G1 Onslaught flatbed mobile artillery mode

Motormaster's base mode

And those can attach to Trypticon's base mode. Never used that either.

So after messing with Leader Class Ultra Magnus I found that he can indeed form all three additional modes I posted earlier. The airplane catapult works yes, but doesn't hold it's weight very long. The repair mode is lame with either version.

That odd looking base mode though? I think the leader class was designed to transform into that mode, because A. There are peg holes on the bottom of the leg, and when else would you use them? and B. There are tabs on the arm stacks that can lock into a halfway position, helping them line up reasonably well with the other half of the trailer when flipped upside down, and the elbows can bend forward slightly too. Pics below:

The original Star Saber has a base mode of sorts. You can kind off do it in the MP version.

fenrir72 wrote:The original Star Saber has a base mode of sorts. You can kind off do it in the MP version.

The Robot Masters(and knock off) can pull it off as well. I kind of like base modes, I'm glad Titan Wars is bringing them back.

Oh yeah, and several Cyber Key gimmicks I rarely use:

-Landmine. The spiked wheels are unique and it was used often enough in the show if I remember, but doesn't really make for an interesting pose.

-Clocker. I don't see how having the guns slightly higher and together makes them more efficient...

-Undermine and Backstop. For pretty much the same reason, they just look silly, and Backstop's is useless in robot mode.

-Brushguard. I probably haven't loaded the missile since I got the figure. I rarely load missiles anyway, and using a key to launch it was tedious.

-Lugnutz: It's not bad, but the grenade launcher always looked like it was sitting too far forward in robot mode for my tastes.

-Movie Crankcase: I think I just keep forgetting it's there! Which is odd because it homages his G1 self pretty nicely.

-Universe 2.0 Blaster(Cyb. Soundwave repaint): Again, tedium. If it was a simple button I'd probably use it more.

Duke of Luns wrote:

fenrir72 wrote:UM's "diaclone" repair bay mode

Oh yeah, I was reading up on those, and found a pic:



I think they look pretty cool. Maybe the new leader class can configure into something like them.

That base mode looks like Magnus went to the club and is grinding up on some blue guy.

Duke of Luns wrote:Universe 2.0 Galvatron's infamous tank mode:



*Edit*D'oh! Pic doesn't appear to be working, link to Hasbro Q&A page where it's shown: http://www.toymania.com/news/messages/10873.shtml

This is what spurned the thread, because I remembered this was a thing and looked up the picture to try it again. And you know what, it looks silly, but the deluxe can technically transform like this, though slightly slanted. And I like the crazy thing! I think it's great that an abandoned feature is still viable, and it reminds me of a certain walking nuclear death mobile.

The weird thing is, even though they removed that as an official mode when they took it down to deluxe scale, some of parts for that serve no purpose whatsoever in robot or tank mode, only in that walker thing mode. So why'd they leave those on? Surely they could have saved a bit of their production costs by leaving those off.



Anyway, it's probably too new to be forgotten yet, but a few years from now I'd bet CW Bombshell's gun mode will fit the bill.

Optimum Supreme wrote:

Duke of Luns wrote:Universe 2.0 Galvatron's infamous tank mode:



*Edit*D'oh! Pic doesn't appear to be working, link to Hasbro Q&A page where it's shown: http://www.toymania.com/news/messages/10873.shtml

This is what spurned the thread, because I remembered this was a thing and looked up the picture to try it again. And you know what, it looks silly, but the deluxe can technically transform like this, though slightly slanted. And I like the crazy thing! I think it's great that an abandoned feature is still viable, and it reminds me of a certain walking nuclear death mobile.

The weird thing is, even though they removed that as an official mode when they took it down to deluxe scale, some of parts for that serve no purpose whatsoever in robot or tank mode, only in that walker thing mode. So why'd they leave those on? Surely they could have saved a bit of their production costs by leaving those off.



Anyway, it's probably too new to be forgotten yet, but a few years from now I'd bet CW Bombshell's gun mode will fit the bill.

For Galvatron, I'd say they didn't remove the parts because it wouldn't have affected production much, if any, and the mold may have been so far along it wasn't worth reworking. The only superfluous parts I can see are the backpack feet and possibly the shoulder hook. And they do serve some aesthetic purpose by filling gaps if nothing else.

And Bombshell's gun mode is totally easy to forget, I don't think the instructions even mention it. Seibertron's own Bombshell gallery doesn't document it either. It is in Menasor's gallery however.

The G2 Dreadwing / Ace Evader / Gigant Bomb / BB toy has extra modes that they mainly show On the Japanese packaging.

http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii30 ... box-bk.jpg

Also the scopes on Smokesnipers guns can plug into the holes in the back of his elbows.

RAR wrote:The G2 Dreadwing / Ace Evader / Gigant Bomb / BB toy has extra modes that they mainly show On the Japanese packaging.



Also the scopes on Smokesnipers guns can plug into the holes in the back of his elbows.

Ok, those look extremely silly and I had no idea they were on official packaging. It's discoveries like this that I made the thread for. Thanks!

Though I do like the jet catapult mode....

Duke of Luns wrote:And Bombshell's gun mode is totally easy to forget, I don't think the instructions even mention it. Seibertron's own Bombshell gallery doesn't document it either. It is in Menasor's gallery however.

It's definitely not in the instructions, because for some unknown reason they declined to make it an official mode. We're not even technically sure of the proper way to make gun mode. Many people do it in a way I consider "wrong". The way I do it, I think is probably the "right" way, but there's some stuff that's really hard to get to come together just right to get a solid fit, which I think might be why they decided against making it official (just my opinion, mind you).

I rather like the exuberance of a water skiing Jet bomber myself.

I think the plane launcher or missile turret modes might look good stuck on the side of a city bot as point defences - especially Trypticon and if you have several version of the mould you can scatter them all around rather nicely or even put several of them in a circle back to back.

One small concern if you have to be a bit hard on the hip joints to get him in that mode so that is why they likely didn't promote it as you could theoretically tear his legs of by doing it.