The Energon Pub

Earlier we have been favored with rumors of a repaint of the Energon Bruticus Maximus toy for the new Universe line.

Now some more individual pictures have appeared for the two helicopters in the group, Swindle and Vortex, repaints of the Energon Blackout mold.

You can view the images by clicking the links here and here. Some of the images are mirrored below, along with the rumored new Universe Bruticus Maximus repaint image.

Definitely gonna get this figure. Can't wait.

But why is Swindle a h...

...oh, sod it. Whatever.

looks okay, never was a fan of combiner bots

logical as ever Hasbro...
you have a new onslaught mold out, which rocks. leg connectors shouldn't be a problem, arm connectors might be trickier. but hey, if city commander showed us anything, it's that augmenting an existing mold is possible, even if said mold wasn't meant for it originally.

yet despite everything, they choose to repaint a 4 year old mold.

Horrible toy, Hasbro should make a decent combiner or none at all.

Diem wrote:But why is Swindle a h...

...oh, sod it. Whatever.

Agreed. Given the limited number of molds it would be better if Swindle were one of the tanks, given that he's a land unit. I'd rather see one of the helicopters in Blast Offs colors and name then Swindle. That being said since Swindle and Vortex are helicopters, it's safe to say Onslaught's well Onslaught, and at least one of the tanks is Brawl. So who's the second tank? If it's Blast Off I feel a facepalm and a headache coming on.

That just looks bad.

Merc With A Mouth wrote:

Diem wrote:But why is Swindle a h...

...oh, sod it. Whatever.

Agreed. Given the limited number of molds it would be better if Swindle were one of the tanks, given that he's a land unit. I'd rather see one of the helicopters in Blast Offs colors and name then Swindle. That being said since Swindle and Vortex are helicopters, it's safe to say Onslaught's well Onslaught, and at least one of the tanks is Brawl. So who's the second tank? If it's Blast Off I feel a facepalm and a headache coming on.

If I remember that instruction booklet from a while back then yeah, Mr. B. Off Esquire is indeed a tank.

Maybe they're trying to differentiate this Swindle from Animated. Whatever.

I wish that Universe Onslaught, Animated Swindle and Movie Brawl could all merge (along with...um...RID Vortex and Unicron Trilogy Blast Off?)

So, now, we have an Ultra Onslaught with all the blings, but can't combine.

And, another Deluxe Onslaught that can combine.

The chopper mode of Swindle and Vortex is not bad. But the robot mode... not!

energon combinors i dont like they cant hold anything with tose type of hands g1, g2 combinors i like. i feel were getting ripped of with the enrgon combinors energon combinors cant hold anything there hands & they dont come with weapons for when they combine.

dragons wrote:energon combinors i dont like they cant hold anything with tose type of hands g1, g2 combinors i like. i feel were getting ripped of with the enrgon combinors energon combinors cant hold anything there hands & they dont come with weapons for when they combine.

This is not 100% True.

I have Constructicon Maximus and Classics Devastator on top of my desk. Devastator has Minicons linked to his hands for weapons, and Maximus is crushing a clone trooper in one of his.

Besides, the Gestalt guns seldom made sense. Woohoo, Devastator has a super-big cannon... that Mixmaster has anyway... The exception that I'd concede to is Piranacon, otherwise, it's not like the gestalts' weapons were actually all that useful.

I like it. It might be a bit expensive to try and create new mould Combaticons, especially how the central component wasn't able to comebine, so they went for something that was good enough.

And I like the Energon combiner moulds, so any additions to my (limited) collection would be accepted with open arms.

dr_n00b wrote:logical as ever Hasbro...
you have a new onslaught mold out, which rocks. leg connectors shouldn't be a problem, arm connectors might be trickier. but hey, if city commander showed us anything, it's that augmenting an existing mold is possible, even if said mold wasn't meant for it originally.

yet despite everything, they choose to repaint a 4 year old mold.

It's called "the bottom line". They are into making money, not catering to the whims of fanboys everywhere. I'm sure some people there would LOVE to do that...the engineering challenges would make it worth it...but the stockholders and board of directors say otherwise. More than likely they weighed the option and decided that the short term losses in terms of manpower and hours would be far to significant...especially when you consider the current state of the economy. People are hanging on to their money, disposable income is down significantly, we're on the brink of a global recession (or in it already depending on which party's candidates you talk to), so they chose to go with a low-cost alternative. Makes sense to me...

Not buying either,
Not a fan of clear plastic, and the combiner is pretty ugly.

First-Aid wrote:

dr_n00b wrote:logical as ever Hasbro...
you have a new onslaught mold out, which rocks. leg connectors shouldn't be a problem, arm connectors might be trickier. but hey, if city commander showed us anything, it's that augmenting an existing mold is possible, even if said mold wasn't meant for it originally.

yet despite everything, they choose to repaint a 4 year old mold.

It's called "the bottom line". They are into making money, not catering to the whims of fanboys everywhere. I'm sure some people there would LOVE to do that...the engineering challenges would make it worth it...but the stockholders and board of directors say otherwise. More than likely they weighed the option and decided that the short term losses in terms of manpower and hours would be far to significant...especially when you consider the current state of the economy. People are hanging on to their money, disposable income is down significantly, we're on the brink of a global recession (or in it already depending on which party's candidates you talk to), so they chose to go with a low-cost alternative. Makes sense to me...

But they'll lose money just the same, if not enough buyers buy this rehash figure. It's not a sure shot "good" decision.

You're assuming people won't buy it because you won't. I'm gonna go with the expertise of an international toy company who've been selling this line for 25 years over that of some dude on the interwebz.

Sledge wrote:You're assuming people won't buy it because you won't. I'm gonna go with the expertise of an international toy company who've been selling this line for 25 years over that of some dude on the interwebz.

It's called "presenting the possible other side of the coin". It's not a foregone conclusion of some dude on the interwebz.

Notice the "if". I just didn't highlight it.

It's not a sure shot good decision. That's not cutting out all chances of a good decision. It's just not sure.

There was no mention of "people won't buy it". Or that everyone should follow my choice. It's presenting the possibility that not enough people buy it.

Sometimes you have to read the posts in its entirety. And not just shoot out random sarcasm random posts.

First-Aid wrote:

dr_n00b wrote:logical as ever Hasbro...
you have a new onslaught mold out, which rocks. leg connectors shouldn't be a problem, arm connectors might be trickier. but hey, if city commander showed us anything, it's that augmenting an existing mold is possible, even if said mold wasn't meant for it originally.

yet despite everything, they choose to repaint a 4 year old mold.

It's called "the bottom line". They are into making money, not catering to the whims of fanboys everywhere. I'm sure some people there would LOVE to do that...the engineering challenges would make it worth it...but the stockholders and board of directors say otherwise. More than likely they weighed the option and decided that the short term losses in terms of manpower and hours would be far to significant...especially when you consider the current state of the economy. People are hanging on to their money, disposable income is down significantly, we're on the brink of a global recession (or in it already depending on which party's candidates you talk to), so they chose to go with a low-cost alternative. Makes sense to me...

yet so many people paid around 100$ for the city commander set, which apparently was cost effective to produce. and it sold out, and then got a repaint I'm sure more people would buy.
Releasing random shelfwarming repaints (like the recent Scattorshot second repaint in a year, or the endless movie repaints) that cost exactly as new molds do (which thanks to the price increase is now even less worthy of your dollar) equals *no* respect for fans' intelligence, and considering how big and organized the fan base you so easily dismissed is, you can make sure a good product would advertise itself throughout the fan community and sell. I mean, who the hell were Fansproject? they could never have afforded to exist without the publicity given to them by the fans.
It is REALLY sad Hasbro doesn't listen to the fan community, and produce these 3rd party products themselves. if any good, they WILL sell, and would probably cost the end user much less than these limited amount customs.
I can go on and on about this, and go into much larger issues - such as how talk of a coming recession of which dimensions aren't yet known only creates a snowball mentality in the market, and I'm sure the eagerness of both candidates to get elected has driven them to scare tactics using the economy as leverage, but eh, what the heck.

Bottom line, I'd buy appendages to complete a Bruticus and a Superion with the recent classics' ultras. I'd even buy the ugly ass and lazy Silverbolt for it. And I'm 100% certain not a fan in the world would miss it, especially given normal Hasbro prices, and not overpriced 3rd party rates.

Yup. That's somewhere in the line of "possible other side of the coin" that i'm talking about.

Swindle just looks a touch too bland for my tastes.

I'm picking it up. I have the original Energon combiner, minus 1 tank limb. And would like a second complete.

Overall I find the combiner individual Robots to be really nice and poseable Onslaught/Barricade is a very nice deluxe on his own.

I would have preferred better hands and feet, as it stands they aren't that bad. The helicopter weapons make decent open palm hands.

Auto Bot: not every post I make is aimed solely at you. Consider that and get back to us. Or not.

dr_n00b: I can only assume you're trying to live up to the name. This fandom, despite occasional ranting about "repaints are teh sux," LOVES repaints. Look at the fuss when repaints of the Classics Seekers weren't released at mass retail.

And what is all this "they don't listen to the fans" rubbish? You are aware that they turn up at Botcon and are actively seeking questions and feedback from "the fans"? Or did this sail over your head whilst you were busy bitching about being forced to buy a repaint at gunpoint?

Bottom line: you're not every fan, and Hasbro have been doing this for 25 YEARS. Some of the people making decisions on the line are people who grew up with it and love it as much as we do. I think they generally know what they're doing, and they get it right more often than you would.

Sledge wrote:Auto Bot: not every post I make is aimed solely at you. Consider that and get back to us. Or not.

dr_n00b: I can only assume you're trying to live up to the name. This fandom, despite occasional ranting about "repaints are teh sux," LOVES repaints. Look at the fuss when repaints of the Classics Seekers weren't released at mass retail.

And what is all this "they don't listen to the fans" rubbish? You are aware that they turn up at Botcon and are actively seeking questions and feedback from "the fans"? Or did this sail over your head whilst you were busy bitching about being forced to buy a repaint at gunpoint?

Bottom line: you're not every fan, and Hasbro have been doing this for 25 YEARS. Some of the people making decisions on the line are people who grew up with it and love it as much as we do. I think they generally know what they're doing, and they get it right more often than you would.

At least some are.

Anyway, none of the posts i make here is aimed solely at you.

But sometimes, it's nice to make some people taste a dose of their own concoction.

Mmm... tasty.

Martini?

why yes, sledge, once a year taking notes at a convention, that's almost as good as year long follow up of fans' wishes online and test groups of fans and not only children of 5-10. Sitting at a convention and saying "unfortunately there are no current plans for a product, but it is good to hear your opinion on the matter!" counts, especially when they release a random repaint the following day.

Notice the word "random". no one is bitching about fiction planted repaints like the seekers. HELL, I'll do a special order for the Ironhide\Ratchet classics Takara repaint.
it's these damn rehashed products (swindle as a chopper, unrelated Energon clear weapons, no remolding of anything) that annoy me.
Especially when it lowers the chances of a proper Bruticus, in the face of a new and spectacular Onslaught mold.

God, you really like to bash new guys on the board regardless of logic and common sense... your ego must be THIS BIG, eh. Try being nicer instead of beating your fellows to the discussion to a bloody pulp with your ideas. they might actually listen to you instead of disregarding your comments.