The Energon Pub

william-james88 wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:GI Joe's popularity is a strange one to me. I dunno, maybe it is a popular thing in America? But I don't hear too many people that actually like it, globally. Certain characters have pop culture status IE Cobra Commander or Destro. But personally, I couldn't name more than probably ten characters? I only know them from reading the crossovers that were printed in the part work.

GI Joe is conceived as an American brand, especially the 80s version which is what all this is based on. It makes sense that it wouldn't have much appeal outside of the US if that is indeed the case.

The other factor for G.I.Joe ARAH is that it hasn't aged all that great due to real world events. In one of Jim Sorenson's animation model books, there's a note from Buzz Dixon (I think?) that episodes should be structured like mini James Bond movies when possible. Well, one thing the '80s Joe has in common with James Bond is that they don't make as much sense now that the Cold War is over.

And while I agree that making TFs turn into functional MASK vehicles would just create toys that are jumbled messes, it always seemed like MASK would actually make sense in a TF universe with the same dynamics as early Marvel continuity, where the public feared and hated Autobots and Decepticons alike. R.A.A.T. creating vehicles that partially emulated Cybertronian transformation abilities to hunt down TFs would've made more sense than the full-on sci-fi vehicles they started deploying in the latter half of Budianski's run.

If Soundwave's true I hope they learn from the previous two collabs. But it's probably been in development close to the other two, so likely not.

SW is a good choice. He's an iconic TF. I have to admit, I don't care about the Ravage with a collar. I'd rather they have redecoed a G1 Ravage into Black Cat. And have G1 tape compatibility!

If I'm gonna dream, may as well dream big, lol.

They couldn't include Thrasher, the driver of the vehicle?

chuckdawg1999 wrote:They couldn't include Thrasher, the driver of the vehicle?

Keeping the trend going. The HISS tank didn't come with a HISS Tank Driver and the AWE Striker didn't come with Crankcase.

Emerje

I really do wish they had used the Earth Wars Joe Crossover designs, seeing that vehicle for Soundwave, I really do think Earth wars had the better concepts.

I finally did my HISS Tank Megatron. So have my TlDr review:

Pros:
- Big and commanding presence.
- Kibble management is good and the backpack is forgiven because it serves as a "baby seat" for a Joe figure.
- Megatron do look like Megatron.
- The vehicle is just PERFECT and is clearly the main mode.
- The Baroness figure is excellent at this scale.
- The transformation was very interesting to figure out.

Cons:
- Too many hollow spaces that needs filling for the bot mode. Especially for Meg's classic arm canon. That's unforgivable.
- Poseability is very limited for the bot mode.
- Transformation is a bit fiddly toward the end to make sure everything align and tab properly.
- Not worth the full 130$CAN at all. It should have been at maximum the same price as the Joe Bee. But that's the price I paid so it's all good.

Conclusion:
Expensive, yes, but I'm glad I didn't missed out on this flawed, yet pretty cool thing. I might get the Bee while I'm at it.

Emerje wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:They couldn't include Thrasher, the driver of the vehicle?

Keeping the trend going. The HISS tank didn't come with a HISS Tank Driver and the AWE Striker didn't come with Crankcase.

Emerje

Technically The Baroness IS a HISS tank driver. It was on her original file card, and her being disfigured while driving a HISS was a major storyline in the comics.

I hated that Bee. I hated it so much. And here I am, loving the shiit out of it!

The bot was better than expected despite the fact that just a good shake is enough to untab the whole torso. As for the transformation and the vehicle? Chef kiss.

I wouldn't have paid full price for it. But as a trade-in against some unwanted used Transformers? Count me in!

I'm looking forward the rest of this libe, if they ever happen.

While I like these figures overall, there are some pretty obvious problems that are pretty hard to ignore. If I were to refine it down to my two biggest gripes, it would be:

- Megatron's small hollow fusion cannon, with half the bottom cut out, so it only looks ok when viewed from above.
- Bumblebee's roll cage, that gets in the way, restricts all movement; from the hinges and shoulderpad design, it looks like it was designed to sit even lower, but doing so restricts everything even further!

Does anyone know what the chances of getting upgrade kits for these might be? Maybe even just from one of the little guys making the 3D printed part/shapeways stuff?

If anyone has seen anything along these lines, let me know. I'd love to find a better cannon, and a rollcage with few extra hinges that can fold up out of the way.

I have three or four Siege and Earthrise Megatrons, so I'm not hurting for fusion cannons. They might be a tad small for his size, but nothing that bothers me. Then again, I wasn't too concerned by the hollow parts to begin with. I've found the best way to appreciate my toys is to manage my expectations rather than correct Hasbro's production decisions.

SimianProphet wrote:
Does anyone know what the chances of getting upgrade kits for these might be? Maybe even just from one of the little guys making the 3D printed part/shapeways stuff?

If anyone has seen anything along these lines, let me know. I'd love to find a better cannon, and a rollcage with few extra hinges that can fold up out of the way.

I saw on some forum that an upgrade kit is being made for Megatron, but that's yet to be truly confirmed. A bit baffling that it's not already being done.

As for Bee's roll-cage, I don't think a "further folding" one is possible. Simply because THAT'S the very thing that's holding the whole vehicle together. So unless you want your dune-buggy to be like a wet noodle, you have to make do with the solid roll-cage.

That is a good point on the BB roll cage providing stability in vehicle mode. Mine holds together fairly well in alt mode without the front of the roll cage being tabbed in, but I'm also not 'playing' with it that mode. I'm not putting extra figures into passenger seats/side boards/back turret, or even rolling it around, but I could imagine it being less stable if I did.

That all said, I'm still hoping to see a roll cage upgrade of some sort one day.

SimianProphet wrote:That is a good point on the BB roll cage providing stability in vehicle mode. Mine holds together fairly well in alt mode without the front of the roll cage being tabbed in, but I'm also not 'playing' with it that mode. I'm not putting extra figures into passenger seats/side boards/back turret, or even rolling it around, but I could imagine it being less stable if I did.

That all said, I'm still hoping to see a roll cage upgrade of some sort one day.

The roll-cage in bot mode is cumbersome but not a dealbreaker for me. What it is is the fact that Bee's chest barely tab together. So just a wee bit of play make the whole thing come undone. Is it just my copy or is it a widespread issue?

I was of the same mind about BB's chest not clipping together well, until the last time I changed it and, with enough force, I was able to clip the chest together better.

The black strut should be straight up and down inside, flush up against the backside of the chest piece. there are two tabs that hold it in place when doing this, a vertical one along the center of the black strut, and the more obvious one one at the bottom. with both tabs in their slot, the chest is very stable. I can pick the toy up by its chest piece and shake it around, and it does not come loose.

It takes much more force to clip this in, to the point I was a bit worried about damaging the figure, but it all seems good!

I put a bit of nail polish on the tab and it holds solidly now.

Apparently, Sgt. Slaughter, a good friend of Hasbro's, let it slip during a convention that his character would be in an upcoming Transformers GI Joe collaboration. The transforming vehicle would be the Triple T and it would come with a Sgt. Slaughter O-ring figure. This is all just a rumour, but it has been circulating around the internet, like in the video below, so we wanted to let you know. Let us know which Transformers character you think could be used for the Triple-T and if this is an item that could interest you.

So apparently Sgt. Slaughter himself has hinted about the Triple-T with himself may be a future G.I.Joe Transformers collab. No clues to what Autobot it would be.

Here's a link to a video reporting about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuuKu7j6lEE

I'm giddy like a fangirl right now!

Sergeant Slaughter is one of my childhood icons along MrT and Swartzeneger. As for what the vehicle could be, it could be anything. Maybe Ironhide?

william-james88 wrote:Apparently, Sgt. Slaughter, a good friend of Hasbro's, let it slip during a convention that his character would be in an upcoming Transformers GI Joe collaboration. The transforming vehicle would be the Triple T and it would come with a Sgt. Slaughter O-ring figure. This is all just a rumour, but it has been circulating around the internet, like in the video below, so we wanted to let you know. Let us know which Transformers character you think could be used for the Triple-T and if this is an item that could interest you.

I've never been sure about most of the G.I. Joe vehicles. Sure, they look cool. And with a toy, that's usually the main point. But I always wind up looking at a vehicle with an eye to how practical it would be in real life. For the Triple T, there's two 'kinds' of vehicles it might be, and what kind it is would determine whether it would be practical.

If it's an all-terrain transport, then it might be OK. It looks like it might do well over fields, dirt, rocky ground, sand, and so on. But if it's a tank that's supposed to protect the occupant? Then it would be terrible. The driver is completely exposed to enemy gunfire, and so is anybody hanging onto the sides. The purpose of a tank is to shield the occupants as well as inflicting damage. It doesn't look like the Triple T would do that. And it's not a slam particularly against the Triple T. A large amount of the G.I. Joe vehicles did that. It was great for the toys, which needed an easy-access cockpit so you could jam the figures in as pilots/drivers. But for real-world military application? The designs were not very good.

Okay, given the good Sergeant's depiction as borderline superhumanly strong in the Joe cartoon, and the likelihood that all these crossovers will involve the top 10 most recognizable 'Bots or 'Cons, I'm guessing Grimlock.

The Triple T is even structurally similar to Grimlock's War Within tank mode.

Bumblevivisector wrote:Okay, given the good Sergeant's depiction as borderline superhumanly strong in the Joe cartoon, and the likelihood that all these crossovers will involve the top 10 most recognizable 'Bots or 'Cons, I'm guessing Grimlock.

The Triple T is even structurally similar to Grimlock's War Within tank mode.

Goddamn...if it IS Grimlock, I may have to get this.

Though I wonder...the bot choices haven't exactly been in line with the vehicles. Soundwave would've made more sense with a spy plane, or a trouble bubble with a Tele-Viper, instead of the Thunder Machine. Hound would've made a great choice for the jeep-like AWE Striker...

Just saying, so far vehicles and bots seem like they have been names pulled out of hats.

Which could explain why we haven't seen Prime yet.

I'm going to say Wheeljack or Ironhide for the Triple-T.

Overcracker wrote:I'm going to say Wheeljack or Ironhide for the Triple-T.

We still haven't had Prime yet. How many of these do we think they're going to do?

AcademyofDrX wrote:

Overcracker wrote:I'm going to say Wheeljack or Ironhide for the Triple-T.

We still haven't had Prime yet. How many of these do we think they're going to do?

As Sergeant Slaughter was seen as one of the leaders of GI Joe, maybe Prime is an option here.

DeathReviews wrote:I've never been sure about most of the G.I. Joe vehicles. Sure, they look cool. And with a toy, that's usually the main point. But I always wind up looking at a vehicle with an eye to how practical it would be in real life. For the Triple T, there's two 'kinds' of vehicles it might be, and what kind it is would determine whether it would be practical.

If it's an all-terrain transport, then it might be OK. It looks like it might do well over fields, dirt, rocky ground, sand, and so on. But if it's a tank that's supposed to protect the occupant? Then it would be terrible. The driver is completely exposed to enemy gunfire, and so is anybody hanging onto the sides. The purpose of a tank is to shield the occupants as well as inflicting damage. It doesn't look like the Triple T would do that. And it's not a slam particularly against the Triple T. A large amount of the G.I. Joe vehicles did that. It was great for the toys, which needed an easy-access cockpit so you could jam the figures in as pilots/drivers. But for real-world military application? The designs were not very good.

Even the HISS tank is illogical with it's huge clear cockpit and exposed artillery guy.

But it's all right because if I remember the Sunbow cartoon, EVERYONE shoot like Star Wars Stormtroopers. Joes and Cobras. And it's always the vehicles that get hit.

So, eh. "Logic" need not apply. And that's perfectly fine.