The Energon Pub

Courtesy of news site Entertainment Weekly, we've got news of another SDCC 2017 exclusive which might excite fans on the IDW side of things -- a Revolution boxset featuring characters from all seven franchises involved, at last immortalising the comic's Hasbro universe in plastic!

At a hefty price tag of $99.99, probably the most notable inclusion in this boxset would be Jetfire; using his Leader-class mold which was released way back in Generations Thrilling 30 in 2014 -- this time sporting a few deco changes to be more accurate to his appearance in IDW's Optimus Prime series, including de-chromed guns. Other participants in the set would be GI Joe's Roadblock, ROM's eponymous Space Knight and one of the Dire Wraiths he fights, MASK's Matt Tracker, Action Man's... Action Man, a whole load of Micronauts in adorable tiny figurine form... and Leoric from Visionaries, confirming - if there was any doubt - that that franchise is to join Transformers, GI Joe and others in IDW's Hasbroverse.

Check out the images of the figures and box below and tell us what you think in the forums!

I thought the Movie commemoration Transformers 3 pack of bumblebee's was pointless - but that Jetfire may actually be even more superfluous to requirements.

Almost ANYTHING would have been better - why the hell wasn't it Sunstorm or Acidstorm or something like that - Even Ghost Starscream?

Also a Visionary with no hologram offends me on a visceral level

I like this in general. Plenty of cool stuff here, especially with Rom and AM getting some new toys. Surprised they passed on Scarlett. I'd guess it's Jetfire instead of the TF characters that were actually in Revolution for several reasons, but a Thundercracker/Buster combo would've been rad too. I'd bet there are more sets like this coming, probably as soon as Hascon.

Action Man's headsculpt is bad but I don't expect much from Joe toy headsculpts. I haven't been impressed by any of the TFCC sets' Joe toys.

RAR wrote:I thought the Movie commemoration Transformers 3 pack of bumblebee's was pointless - but that Jetfire may actually be even more superfluous to requirements.

Almost ANYTHING would have been better - why the hell wasn't it Sunstorm or Acidstorm or something like that - Even Ghost Starscream?

Probably because Sunstorm and Acid Storm are bit players at best in IDW and... well, everything but one volume of Dreamwave really.

The point of this boxset is to get together big, recognisable characters from the Hasbroverse into one boxset. And honestly I'm a pretty big fan of the fact they went with Jetfire since for some people he's been hard to get, especially with de-chromed guns.

WHAAAAAAAT!?!?! no holographic stickers on leoric?

OK what did I miss why is Matt Trakker Black ?

Is Julio Lopez, Hondo MacLane, Bruce Sato and heck knows how many other not enough diversity for them ?

Is Miles Mayhem got a sister now instead of Maximus then ?

Congratulations IDW you managed to make me face palm more than I did with you made Prowl a Constructicon

RAR wrote:I thought the Movie commemoration Transformers 3 pack of bumblebee's was pointless - but that Jetfire may actually be even more superfluous to requirements.

Almost ANYTHING would have been better - why the hell wasn't it Sunstorm or Acidstorm or something like that - Even Ghost Starscream?

Because the rainmakers have only made background cameos in IDW and Ghost Starscream doesn't exist in that universe. The Jetfire re-release is an opportunity for folks that didn't import Takara's version, or for new readers that are enjoying the Optimus Prime comic where Jetfire has a major role, to get their hands on the toy. I don't see a big issue with it. This is really sensible Con set/casual fan bait and it'll probably sell out annoyingly quickly on HTS.

On closer comparison, looks like Jetfire's colour choices and applications are identical to Takara's Legends release. Pretty friggin' sweet!

RAR wrote:OK what did I miss

The entire point of this set.

Finally bought a Jetfire about a month ago, but even if I hadn't, I don't think I would spend the outrageous prices scalpers will be charging on eBay for this set. A Visonary figure without a hologram & a MASK figure without a vehicle don't make this worth going out of my way for.

ScottyP wrote:

RAR wrote:I thought the Movie commemoration Transformers 3 pack of bumblebee's was pointless - but that Jetfire may actually be even more superfluous to requirements.

Almost ANYTHING would have been better - why the hell wasn't it Sunstorm or Acidstorm or something like that - Even Ghost Starscream?

Because the rainmakers have only made background cameos in IDW and Ghost Starscream doesn't exist in that universe. The Jetfire re-release is an opportunity for folks that didn't import Takara's version, or for new readers that are enjoying the Optimus Prime comic where Jetfire has a major role, to get their hands on the toy. I don't see a big issue with it. This is really sensible Con set/casual fan bait and it'll probably sell out annoyingly quickly on HTS.

Also his inclusion over someone more important like, say, Optimus himself is likely because this toy is pretty much 100% accurate to his appearance in the IDW comics -- while Optimus unfortunately doesn't have an official toy besides maybe the Legends figure accurate to his current IDW appearance yet.

So it's basically Takara leader Jetfire with maybe one or two new paint dabs and a bunch of GI Joe retools. FYI, that Roadblock was supposed to be released as a Wal-Mart exclusive with some interchangeable bits to go from The Rock to Renegades Roadblock. That looks mostly like the Renegades figure.

You can get a Takara Jetfire on ebay for a fraction of it's original price - new in box - I can't see the appeal of selling you a old toy twice and it's not even changed or unusual - if it was Dark Skyfire or Powerlinx Colours - i'd have been quite interested.

But seriously if that mould needed re-releasing it was as another character such as http://www.tfu.info/1991/Autobot/Powerf ... rflash.htm
or
http://www.tfu.info/1990/Autobot/Skyfall/skyfall.htm

Were the previous comic convetion Gi Joe / Transformers giftsets even compliant to the comics anyway.

I'm sure they could have found something better than a no-effort re-release of a sub-standard mould.

RAR wrote:You can get a Takara Jetfire on ebay for a fraction of it's original price - new in box - I can't see the appeal of selling you a old toy twice and it's not even changed or unusual - if it was Dark Skyfire or Powerlinx Colours - i'd have been quite interested.

But seriously if that mould needed re-releasing it was as another character such as http://www.tfu.info/1991/Autobot/Powerf ... rflash.htm
or
http://www.tfu.info/1990/Autobot/Skyfall/skyfall.htm

Were the previous comic convetion Gi Joe / Transformers giftsets even compliant to the comics anyway.

I'm sure they could have found something better than a no-effort re-release of a sub-standard mould.

Which would be a good idea -- if Powerflash, Skyfall and Dark Skyfire were relevant characters in the Hasbro verse rather than being a background character on the Lost Light, being dead and not existing. Again, Jetfire's here because he's a relevant Hasbroverse character as a main part of Optimus' crew and he's relatively well-known to casual Transformers fans.

ScottyP wrote:

RAR wrote:OK what did I miss

The entire point of this set.

Well the Micronauts minifigures would have been nice on their own.
3 or 4 Visionaries on their own would have been good too (but only if they had holograms)

Rom is cool but he'd have been better sold in a miniature replica vintage box - his "enemy looks like a repaint to me Zombie Viper is it ?

Jetfire has no purpose existing and can't be justified at all.

They could have re-issued Combiner Wars Optimus in different shades at least. Shame they didn't just throw the comic compliance out the window and use the unreleased Botcon idea for an Optimus that was a mash up of Armoured Convoy Optimus and Hero Optimus using the Titans Return mould as then the mini-figures would have complemented that a bit.

But yes you are right I don't see the point of the Transformers element of the set - the others are mostly fine (other than the headswapped Matt Trakker repaint).

RAR wrote:You can get a Takara Jetfire on ebay for a fraction of it's original price - new in box - I can't see the appeal of selling you a old toy twice and it's not even changed or unusual - if it was Dark Skyfire or Powerlinx Colours - i'd have been quite interested.

But seriously if that mould needed re-releasing it was as another character such as http://www.tfu.info/1991/Autobot/Powerf ... rflash.htm
or
http://www.tfu.info/1990/Autobot/Skyfall/skyfall.htm

Were the previous comic convetion Gi Joe / Transformers giftsets even compliant to the comics anyway.

I'm sure they could have found something better than a no-effort re-release of a sub-standard mould.

I think you've completely missed the point of this set.

They obviously wanted a Leader class figure to give SOME semblance of giant-robot scale with all the G.I. Joe-sized figures. And at that a Leader class that didn't have a Titan Master gimmick since the small figure would throw off the illusion of said giant-robot scale with the G.I. Joe-sized figures.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:FYI, that Roadblock was supposed to be released as a Wal-Mart exclusive with some interchangeable bits to go from The Rock to Renegades Roadblock. That looks mostly like the Renegades figure.

This is interesting to me. What else was meant to be in those sets? Just wondering if they'll try to get some other current IDW Joe characters out of them. Quick Kick, Rock n Roll, Crystal Ball, and Storm Shadow have been pretty rad. Not to mention the over-the-top 90s cheese villains like Ironblood, Kreiger, and Von Rani.

Kurona wrote:Also his inclusion over someone more important like, say, Optimus himself is likely because this toy is pretty much 100% accurate to his appearance in the IDW comics -- while Optimus unfortunately doesn't have and official toy besides maybe the Legends figure accurate to his current IDW appearance yet.

Fair point, but I bet if there weren't two other SDCC OP toys they would've included the Cyber Commander OP. Limitations of the mold aside, it's quite IDW in appearance.

These were more interesting colours (but they've been done already with the other mould - applying them to the new one would be mildly interesting)

http://www.tfu.info/2010/Destron/DarkSk ... kyfire.htm

Seibertron wrote:
I think you've completely missed the point of this set.

(quite possibly) but feel free to educate me how so ?

Sabrblade wrote:They obviously wanted a Leader class figure to give SOME semblance of giant-robot scale with all the G.I. Joe-sized figures. And at that a Leader class that didn't have a Titan Master gimmick since the small figure would throw off the illusion of said giant-robot scale with the G.I. Joe-sized figures.

This too. There's actually a lot more reasons than I thought.

RAR wrote:http://www.tfu.info/2010/Destron/DarkSkyfire/darkskyfire.htm

Dude, SDCC isn't the place for obscure nobody exclusives. It's for exclusives of characters who have mainstream appeal/marketability, characters that either a lot of people already know about or whom Hasbro wants a lot of people to know about. Jetfire's a very well known Transformer, loved by SDCC's usual crowd. He's the perfect choice for this kind of convention set. Stop thinking of SDCC like BotCon.

Sabrblade wrote:They obviously wanted a Leader class figure to give SOME semblance of giant-robot scale with all the G.I. Joe-sized figures. And at that a Leader class that didn't have a Titan Master gimmick since the small figure would throw off the illusion of said giant-robot scale with the G.I. Joe-sized figures.

Now that you mention TMs, a Joe sized Blackrock/Sovereign would be pretty cool.

Sabrblade wrote:

RAR wrote:http://www.tfu.info/2010/Destron/DarkSkyfire/darkskyfire.htm

Dude, SDCC isn't the place for obscure nobody exclusives. It's for exclusives of characters who have mainstream appeal/marketability. Jetfire's a very well known Transformer, loved by SDCC's usual crowd. He's the perfect choice for this kind of convention set. Stop thinking of SDCC like BotCon.

Yeah but it already exists - they are selling you the same toy again and claiming it's something special - it's not something special.

Taxi- Bumblebee or Pink Arcee were something special - this is a cynical way to pad a boxed set that didn't need a Transformer in the set at all.

Seriously You can not find one single mould or colour scheme that wouldn't be a cynical cash grab unlike that Jetfire.

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This set offers nothing special (outside the figures) and to think I though Hound was Lazy - this simply put isn't a good set compared to the Gi Joe Skystriker Starscream or the Hisstank Shockwave.

Those had a double point to them - this is just insulting (mainly jetfire) but the lack of the hologram on Leoric is really insulting too.

Really they'd have been better off just making Rom on his own.

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I guess I am feeling offended that they made a Giftset with a Transformer in it that is overtly not aimed at typical Transformers fans. it's aimed at impluse buying newbies who likely have touched non of these character either since the 1980's or 1990's or may have seen a cartoon of a couple of them.

So yeah - cynical and aggressive like the Bumblebee 3 pack, the superflous Movie 1986 anniversary giftset or the 2007 Optimus Leader re-release. I'm not impressed - but I'll shut up now and let others talk.

RAR wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

RAR wrote:http://www.tfu.info/2010/Destron/DarkSkyfire/darkskyfire.htm

Dude, SDCC isn't the place for obscure nobody exclusives. It's for exclusives of characters who have mainstream appeal/marketability. Jetfire's a very well known Transformer, loved by SDCC's usual crowd. He's the perfect choice for this kind of convention set. Stop thinking of SDCC like BotCon.

Yeah but it already exists - they are selling you the same toy again and claiming it's something special

No, they are claiming that the whole set, which Jetfire but one part of, is special.