The Energon Pub

I have noticed that Classics Optimus Prime has a square peg on his legs that isn't as tall as the back of his feet when transformed into a robot. The peg splits when his legs do. Too bad it isn't round.

I'm thinking of finding some semi-truck toy that comes with a trailer and figuring out a way to latch it on, even if it means adding something to Prime.

Some home-made color stickers later, I could have the side of the trailer looking decent.

Anyone tried this or done this? Have any advice or know something that works?

Nice pic and very cool idea.

I too would like to know if this has been attempted.

SB

I'm sure a model store would have something in scale with Prime, but I'm not sure how well it would go stylistically without a lot of kitbashing.

Go to a site called Transtopia.com they have forums and lots of kitbashes and repaints of Transformers. There are lots of threads of folks finding trailers that work with Classics Prime that they found in the toy asile.

I built a customn trailer/battle armor for the Classics Ultra Magnus that came in the two pack with Skywarp. The trick is to make the hitch on the trailer itself have an axis. The square peg on Prime and Magnus will fit snugly inside a 9mm square tube. That becomes the actual hitch on the trailer. Below are some shots of the underside showing the hitch itself, as well as its axis, to show how it is made. It's actually very simple.

Wow that is awesome. I assume you affixed this piece to a trailer?

Where did you acquire the parts? Can I find a square 9mm peg at Lowe's or somesuch?

Please explain more or link me

(I'll get on that forum on Transtopia.com as well.)

DavidBeoulve wrote:Wow that is awesome. I assume you affixed this piece to a trailer?

Where did you acquire the parts? Can I find a square 9mm peg at Lowe's or somesuch?

Please explain more or link me

(I'll get on that forum on Transtopia.com as well.)

I fabricated them all.The hitch itself is cut from 9mm sytrene tubing you can get at any hobby store that deals in model making. Inside is setions of smaller square tubing. The post is 1/8' round tubing and is held in place with a phillips head screw.

I wonder why Hasbro never thinks of putting his trailer with him in releases like this

Wheeljack35 wrote:I wonder why Hasbro never thinks of putting his trailer with him in releases like this

Simple. money. IF they had built a trailer to go with him they would have had to place him as a Leader class or Supreme class figure and he would have cost too much. IT would also mean more development and production costs. By eliminating the trailer, they save development and production costs and can sell him as a Voyager class which costs less to the consumer.

I'm running out of room as it is.

The trailers end up sitting on my shelf anyways, so might as well not have em.

Plus, no trailer means Hasbro aren't tempted to throw a super mode together, which has saved us all a lot of trouble.
And, like Tramp said, money.


I wouldn't mind if they release an official UM super armour trailer seperately though. It'd be a nice optional buy, and I'm sure pretty much everyone would want it.


Kinda a moot point now they're making a proper Classics Ultra Magnus though. Can't wait to see pics.

Well, the two pack Magnus wasa proper Ultra Magnus. He just needed his armor. That's why I built my own.

Tramp wrote:

Wheeljack35 wrote:I wonder why Hasbro never thinks of putting his trailer with him in releases like this

Simple. money. IF they had built a trailer to go with him they would have had to place him as a Leader class or Supreme class figure and he would have cost too much. IT would also mean more development and production costs. By eliminating the trailer, they save development and production costs and can sell him as a Voyager class which costs less to the consumer.

It didn't bother them to put one on that horrible Energon Prime

^ And ironicallly I rather enjoy Energon Prime's trailer, and often use it for my Movie Leader Prime. It's a good looking trailer, damn it!

But yeah, Classics + 20th Anniversary Prime deserve trailers. And movie leader should have had one too, but we can blame Michael Bay for that. Trust me, if there had been a trailer on Prime in the movie, Hasbro would've stopped at nothing to create a Leader Prime Box Set and charge 70 bucks for it.

Wheeljack35 wrote:

Tramp wrote:

Wheeljack35 wrote:I wonder why Hasbro never thinks of putting his trailer with him in releases like this

Simple. money. IF they had built a trailer to go with him they would have had to place him as a Leader class or Supreme class figure and he would have cost too much. IT would also mean more development and production costs. By eliminating the trailer, they save development and production costs and can sell him as a Voyager class which costs less to the consumer.

It didn't bother them to put one on that horrible Energon Prime

He was also Leader Class, and he had a Super mode as did all the the AEC Primes. They wanted to keep Classics to Deluxe and Voyager class, and even then, they only released four Voyager class figures—Prime, Megatron, Jetfire and Ultra Magnus.

Tramp wrote:Well, the two pack Magnus wasa proper Ultra Magnus. He just needed his armor. That's why I built my own.

So basically, the two pack one was a proper Magnus. His armour's what makes him Ultra. And unable to deal with that now.

And Energon Prime's trailer was better than the crap inside it. If it wasn't so...abstract a shape, it would've been great for Classics Prime.

PrimeSuspect wrote:^ And ironicallly I rather enjoy Energon Prime's trailer, and often use it for my Movie Leader Prime. It's a good looking trailer, damn it!

But yeah, Classics + 20th Anniversary Prime deserve trailers. And movie leader should have had one too, but we can blame Michael Bay for that. Trust me, if there had been a trailer on Prime in the movie, Hasbro would've stopped at nothing to create a Leader Prime Box Set and charge 70 bucks for it.

Movie Prime with a trailer would have been nice, but Bay didn't want to deal with the whole "disappearing Trailer" shtick.

Back on topic, had anyone seen an actual trailer that could be kitbashed for Classics Prime? I searched around on those Transtopia forums but never saw anything worthwhile. I've researched some model truck trailers but all look like they are too big.

lanzajr26 wrote:Back on topic, had anyone seen an actual trailer that could be kitbashed for Classics Prime? I searched around on those Transtopia forums but never saw anything worthwhile. I've researched some model truck trailers but all look like they are too big.

I have plans to build one from scratch. I'm still working on designing the interior though.

Here's the link: http://www.tfmaster.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6172

It should be easier to build than Ultra Magnus', as it doesn't need to become armour, rather a base station of sorts.

Don't forget to open a kitbash thread and tell us how it goes Tramp!

The Master Blaster wrote:It should be easier to build than Ultra Magnus', as it doesn't need to become armour, rather a base station of sorts.

Don't forget to open a kitbash thread and tell us how it goes Tramp!

You would think it were easier, but my experience with designing the trailer for my custom Prime, as well as the armor for Magnus, says otherwise. Believe me. It isn't. While the basic shape is simpler, you still have to design all of the battle platform's internal components which includes a lot of small moviing parts: articulated armatures, little computers, the roller, etc. Those are actually more difficult than making a trailer than becomes armor.

Call me a dumbarse, but regarding the hitch, is it actually necessary to have all that swivelly gubbinry? Surely a round tube large enough to cover the square post would do the job just as effectively, but a lot more cleanly and simply?

Well see, trailers wouldn't be put our shelves in our neck of the woods - me and my kids play with our transformers almost like a role-playing game. So that trailer moves from "nice to have" to "essential." Hiding Autobots in there, hauling a downed comrade or enemy... you can't do these things without a trailer unless you fly back to base in robot mode with the stricken Transformer in your arms - and since humans aren't too keen on a second Transformer war happening on Earth, they're kind of openly hostile.

Transforming, in our game, isn't so much a disguise from each other, as much as humans. They're fine in small numbers, and then you remember: "It's their planet, there's like 6 billion of them, and they've had since 1984 to steal what they can of our technology and use it against us."

Yeah. Trailer would help. Battle station not required, just the trailer, which would hold something called cargo space (humor intended, not being flippant).

My pic of Skyfire / Jetfire

Jetfire/Skyfire coming from outer space (the only Transformer I ever owned as a kid who had his own private warp drive, no need for a space ship; still the case today), that was big news. Little things count for your Autobots and Decepticons when there are only 3-5 main guys and 8 mini KO's of combiners per side

TRAMP:
Version 1 of your trailer looks better. Please keep us posted. I'm going to hit Toys Aren't Us to see if I can find a toy with a trailer that's about the right height.

Ramrider wrote:Call me a dumbarse, but regarding the hitch, is it actually necessary to have all that swivelly gubbinry? Surely a round tube large enough to cover the square post would do the job just as effectively, but a lot more cleanly and simply?

Nope, it wouldn't work. You do need the 9mm square tubing. First off, the largest round tubing they sell is also 9mm. In a round form, that is too small a diameter. So, yes, you do need to have the swivel axis built in.

Tramp wrote:

The Master Blaster wrote:It should be easier to build than Ultra Magnus', as it doesn't need to become armour, rather a base station of sorts.

Don't forget to open a kitbash thread and tell us how it goes Tramp!

You would think it were easier, but my experience with designing the trailer for my custom Prime, as well as the armor for Magnus, says otherwise. Believe me. It isn't. While the basic shape is simpler, you still have to design all of the battle platform's internal components which includes a lot of small moviing parts: articulated armatures, little computers, the roller, etc. Those are actually more difficult than making a trailer than becomes armor.

Sounds like it's gonna be a fun project!

IF I can ever come up with a good interior design, yes, it will.