The Energon Pub

The Takara Tomy Hobby Expo was held last week and while we had seen most of the toys on display, there were some new ones. They had a grey model of the completed MPG Raiden which gives us our best look yet at the MP gestalt. We get a look at the back and the connection points for some components. Speaking of gestalts, they also had a fully completed Legacy Menasor on display. Which means we got to see Breakdown in it's combined mode.

There was also MP Trailbreaker, the Canon Prime figure and the Haslab Victory Sabr, along with other figures. We posted some images below but you can see more here which is where they were posted by the fan who took them, Gamerlingual.

Hmmm...I guess that Breakdown "works" but...seems so odd that all the other limb bots look unique yet they'd only barely retool the rear of 'Rider for the last limb. I'm hoping this is but a mere placeholder until he gets a proper reveal. Maybe some kind of kitbash mockup.
I don't particularly hate it but is intriguing.
Especially since Motormaster's box art showed a very different looking Breakdown that was much more Lambo-like.

Very interesting indeed....

Well Raiden is as messy and kibble heavy as expected. Would much rather they used all that extra junk for his leg "wings" to make him taller and used proper non-integrated wing accessories instead. Hopefully those "wings" can be removed.

Emerje

SpaceEagle wrote:Hmmm...I guess that Breakdown "works" but...seems so odd that all the other limb bots look unique yet they'd only barely retool the rear of 'Rider for the last limb. I'm hoping this is but a mere placeholder until he gets a proper reveal. Maybe some kind of kitbash mockup.
I don't particularly hate it but is intriguing.
Especially since Motormaster's box art showed a very different looking Breakdown that was much more Lambo-like.

Very interesting indeed....

If this is the final Breakdown, it's entirely likely that a bunch of retooled parts went towards his robot mode that simply aren't visible in alt mode, which would make him more than "barely" retooled.

Either way, we'll know this weekend.

Nemesis Primal wrote:

SpaceEagle wrote:Hmmm...I guess that Breakdown "works" but...seems so odd that all the other limb bots look unique yet they'd only barely retool the rear of 'Rider for the last limb. I'm hoping this is but a mere placeholder until he gets a proper reveal. Maybe some kind of kitbash mockup.
I don't particularly hate it but is intriguing.
Especially since Motormaster's box art showed a very different looking Breakdown that was much more Lambo-like.

Very interesting indeed....

If this is the final Breakdown, it's entirely likely that a bunch of retooled parts went towards his robot mode that simply aren't visible in alt mode, which would make him more than "barely" retooled.

Either way, we'll know this weekend.

I wouldn't doubt the budget went into robot if this is truly what Breakdown will end up as either!
As much as I do prefer displaying bots in robot mode...it'd still pretty jarring to have one of them just be a retool when the rest are new!
HasTak didn't seem to mind making alt modes that resemble the Lambo'tach with ER Sunstreaker and KD Sideswipe, I wonder why they would suddenly drop that ball for ol' Breakdown.

Nemesis Primal wrote:

SpaceEagle wrote:Hmmm...I guess that Breakdown "works" but...seems so odd that all the other limb bots look unique yet they'd only barely retool the rear of 'Rider for the last limb. I'm hoping this is but a mere placeholder until he gets a proper reveal. Maybe some kind of kitbash mockup.
I don't particularly hate it but is intriguing.
Especially since Motormaster's box art showed a very different looking Breakdown that was much more Lambo-like.

Very interesting indeed....

If this is the final Breakdown, it's entirely likely that a bunch of retooled parts went towards his robot mode that simply aren't visible in alt mode, which would make him more than "barely" retooled.

Either way, we'll know this weekend.

The chest, head, front of the torso (lower part), shins and feet are pretty much all that is left that we can't see from car/leg mode. My bet is on the head, chest and torso being new tooling along with the back of the car that we can see. The shins and feet probably didn't really need any changes.

Perhaps the Takara version has a speech chip in the sword?

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Nemesis Primal wrote:

SpaceEagle wrote:Hmmm...I guess that Breakdown "works" but...seems so odd that all the other limb bots look unique yet they'd only barely retool the rear of 'Rider for the last limb. I'm hoping this is but a mere placeholder until he gets a proper reveal. Maybe some kind of kitbash mockup.
I don't particularly hate it but is intriguing.
Especially since Motormaster's box art showed a very different looking Breakdown that was much more Lambo-like.

Very interesting indeed....

If this is the final Breakdown, it's entirely likely that a bunch of retooled parts went towards his robot mode that simply aren't visible in alt mode, which would make him more than "barely" retooled.

Either way, we'll know this weekend.

The chest, head, front of the torso (lower part), shins and feet are pretty much all that is left that we can't see from car/leg mode. My bet is on the head, chest and torso being new tooling along with the back of the car that we can see. The shins and feet probably didn't really need any changes.

Structurally, Breakdown (at least from these photos) looks nearly identical to Wildrider. If Breakdown is simply a remold of Wildrider, that would be disappointing. As was observed, the art for the Motormaster box conveyed the impression that Breakdown would be more traditionally "Lambo". As strong as this combiner set was with Dragstrip and Motormaster, it would be tragic if they went lazy at the end with a simple remold. They should at least add a spoiler accessory to plug into the back of the car. It's not really a Lambo without that rear spoiler - right?

Sadly, this Breakdown just looks like a lightly retooled Wild Rider.

While I understand they would need to share underlying engineering since they need to work the same way, this is a lazy way of doing it.

The car mode should have been retooled to more closely resemble a Lambo at the very least.

If they produced a Dead End that works essentially the same way as Dragstrip, but looks completely different, they can produce a Breakdown that is not just a cheap retool of Wild Rider.

This is a lazy end to what otherwise was turning out to be a really good Menasor.

DeathReviews wrote:It's not really a Lambo without that rear spoiler - right?

Tell that to WFC Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and all their repaints.

Nemesis Primal wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:It's not really a Lambo without that rear spoiler - right?

Tell that to WFC Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and all their repaints.

OK. I'll tell it to them too . They don't look like proper Lambos without a rear spoiler. Even if they had only been detachable plug-in accessories, they SHOULD have included that as a feature for all the WFC versions which used that mold. They lost a lot by not having proper spoilers on those figures as well. The closest we got was that weird hair dryer for ER Sunstreaker, and even that was a poor substitute. All it did was prove they COULD have made a rear spoiler as an attachable accessory, but didn't. BOO!

For Legacy Breakdown, they could do it easily. It would just be a matter of MAKING a spoiler with two 5mm pegs at the base. The ports are right there on the back of the car, plain as plain can be. Hopefully, they are doing this. But I get the hunch that they'll just be giving Breakdown two identical guns, like they did with Wild Rider and Dragstrip, and those will plug into those ports.

Overcracker wrote:Sadly, this Breakdown just looks like a lightly retooled Wild Rider.

While I understand they would need to share underlying engineering since they need to work the same way, this is a lazy way of doing it.

The car mode should have been retooled to more closely resemble a Lambo at the very least.

If they produced a Dead End that works essentially the same way as Dragstrip, but looks completely different, they can produce a Breakdown that is not just a cheap retool of Wild Rider.

This is a lazy end to what otherwise was turning out to be a really good Menasor.

Hear, hear. Looking closely at the photos, it looks like the lower portions on the car are a perfect match to Wild Rider except for the colors. The hinges, sculpting and transformation seams appear identical. The only difference is the molding on the top. Even the windows and windshield seem to be the same shape. Granted, that won't stop me from GETTING one - I fully intend to complete Menasor. Time will tell, I suppose. But if these photos are any indication, Hasbro seems to have gone lazy with this one.

DeathReviews wrote:

Overcracker wrote:Sadly, this Breakdown just looks like a lightly retooled Wild Rider.

While I understand they would need to share underlying engineering since they need to work the same way, this is a lazy way of doing it.

The car mode should have been retooled to more closely resemble a Lambo at the very least.

If they produced a Dead End that works essentially the same way as Dragstrip, but looks completely different, they can produce a Breakdown that is not just a cheap retool of Wild Rider.

This is a lazy end to what otherwise was turning out to be a really good Menasor.

Hear, hear. Looking closely at the photos, it looks like the lower portions on the car are a perfect match to Wild Rider except for the colors. The hinges, sculpting and transformation seams appear identical. The only difference is the molding on the top. Even the windows and windshield seem to be the same shape. Granted, that won't stop me from GETTING one - I fully intend to complete Menasor. Time will tell, I suppose. But if these photos are any indication, Hasbro seems to have gone lazy with this one.

Yup. Only the rear of thew car appears to have bene modified to accommodate those ports, and provide a more sloped rear "window". Everything else looks pretty much the same.

I'll probably get it too though, as otherwise, there's no way to complete Menasor.

They wouldn't just release a lightly retooled Wild Rider now and then release a real Breakdown later down the line would they? Would They? WOULD THEY?

Nemesis Primal wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:It's not really a Lambo without that rear spoiler - right?

Tell that to WFC Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and all their repaints.

Wrong: some models have no spoiler or have them as an option, including the Aventador (AoE Lockdown), Centenario (TLK Hot Rod), the Diablo (RiD R.E.V./CR Eaglekiller) and of course the Countach.

So what do the numbers add up to (ballpark) if someone were to get all Raiden combiners?

I want to see more images in the coming days, not to mention the final after prototypes!

Nemesis Destron wrote:So what do the numbers add up to (ballpark) if someone were to get all Raiden combiners?

Shouki is $160, give or take, Getsuei is a tad smaller at $140, we can expect fellow leg Yukikaze to be the same. The arms Suiken and Seizan we haven't seen anything yet, so we don't know their size or price. I'd say $150 for each member is a safe average, with Raiden coming to... yikes, $900?!

Nemesis Destron wrote:So what do the numbers add up to (ballpark) if someone were to get all Raiden combiners?

I want to see more images in the coming days, not to mention the final after prototypes!

Around $900 depending on where you get them and what shipping costs. The first 3 from Pulse come to $445 before shipping and tax.

Emerje

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

Nemesis Destron wrote:So what do the numbers add up to (ballpark) if someone were to get all Raiden combiners?

Shouki is $160, give or take, Getsuei is a tad smaller at $140, we can expect fellow leg Yukikaze to be the same. The arms Suiken and Seizan we haven't seen anything yet, so we don't know their size or price. I'd say $150 for each member is a safe average, with Raiden coming to... yikes, $900?!

The best way to go (if you can) is to pre order from Amazon.jp direct.

Shouki was around $125, Getsuei just shipped at around $113, and if the exchange rates are around the same next March (not likely but...) Yukikaze is currently also at $125. So there will be some variance, but around $750 for all 6. At any rate, if I end up spending less than $800 (as opposed to $900+ through conventional means) I'll consider it a win.

Raiden does look messy, but I really want to see it completed with final models and colors before I pass a judgment on it. I have been really excited for this figure.

I'm looking forward to completing Raiden, but that Menasor just makes me sad.

That Trailbreaker looks really awkward for some reason.

Can't wait for that Star Saber! It's gorgeous!

That Raiden...I was holding off on picking those figs up until I saw the final combined form first. Wow. AMazing.

Clumbsy, just akward and clumbsy. Masterpiece line is horrible, look at trailbreakers hips, they look squashed and his legs look like they are squeezed and being split apart. Raiden is an utter expensive joke, look at the third party stuff, takara is really loosing it, not only do they not fix things like star sabres super mode, what is v.leo meant to be, giant shoes, it didnt work back in the day and it doesnt work now. I hate the gestalts and menasor in fact all official gestalts looks like a kid has drawn them, 3rd party all the way, look at how unicron turned out, one amazing and one a failure, look at the engineering of the zeta version, its beautiful. what is the target audience, think takara is it collector or kid not in between you money grabbing sods no wonder there is so mich third party, its becuase you make the gaps that need t so be filled