The Energon Pub

Rumors surrounding Takara Tomy's Device Label Blaster figure have proven true. Mike from Digital Toys has been kind enough to give us word from his suppliers that the figure is indeed officially canceled and none will be made in the foreseeable future.

Mystery still lies around this release however, as it's scheduled release was in the coming weeks. Did the Device Label line see poor pre-sales? Perhaps this is an indication of Takara Tomy's financial state? Other possibilities are out there, stay tuned for updates from Seibertron.com.

Well there goes getting a Blaster for my Classics collection.

You know, I was considering a DL Ravage until I watched some video reviews on the piece and came to the conclusion that Takara was out of their mind to be asking Binaltech/Alternity prices for a glorified scout. Sure it's a fully functioning memory stick with a screen saver built in. But the stick is technology circa 2004 and the screen saver, while cool, is something I would expect a lot of manufacturers to offer as a free download.

In a market as advanced as Japan's, to be marketing computer-based, scout/deluxe sized figures with 3-5 year old technology built into them at those price points pretty much doomed this line to fail.

Between this line, the failed Cronos watch line, and the new price point for it's specialized lines (MP, Alternity, etc.), I wonder if Takara's just out of touch with the market.

i cant say im too surprised about this.


still. *this is my sadface*

Terrible news. I'm not happy about this at all, I was VERY MUCH looking forward to this guy!

After not going after Ravage only to buy one immediately after the first screen shots of a virtual Ravage jumping on-screen.

I am sad to see this figure that looks absolutely great has been canned, however compared to the actual cost for a USB hub, and a figure of that size the cost is way to high. That said I'm glad that i don't have to worry about finding out it has some brilliant extra like the Ravage program that will cause me to do the same again.

Like I said before. At least we still have this guy:

Sabrblade wrote:Like I said before. At least we still have this guy:

The Blaster with the Decepticon-inspired head? No thanks.

Poor form, Takara. Poor form. And even leting it be shown in recent magaines too.

The overpriced Memory sticks must have sold VERY poorly indeed. despite their price I was set to buy Tigatron until I heard Blaster was cancelled. Who needs his minion without the main bot?

I feel like this is part of the problem with releasing characters that should be released together at separate times. The Energon Combiners come to mind. The Device Label figures come to mind. Seems like they should have released all 5 of these figures together to help people out with that "impulse" buy.

Seibertron wrote:I feel like this is part of the problem with releasing characters that should be released together at separate times. The Energon Combiners come to mind. The Device Label figures come to mind. Seems like they should have released all 5 of these figures together to help people out with that "impulse" buy.

Don't even get me started on the Energon Combiners. It took two years before I found a Terradive for less than $40.

So annoyed...

Sabrblade wrote:Like I said before. At least we still have this guy:

Hey I have that guy. He was a pack in with Blockrock. Blockrock is displayed with Cybertron Soundwave while that one is sitting in a storage box.

Editor wrote:Hey I have that guy. He was a pack in with Blockrock. Blockrock is displayed with Cybertron Soundwave while that one is sitting in a storage box.

Don't you mean Flashback?

But seriously, bad Takara! BAD! I was really looking forward to this Blaster. I got e-mail from BBTS too saying that it's canceled and their removing it from their site. I don't get it. Why got through all the trouble of making the mold and not use it? That's where most of their money has gone, into designing the toy. It costs them next to nothing to simply manufacture it now. So why not?

UltraPrimal wrote:

Editor wrote:Hey I have that guy. He was a pack in with Blockrock. Blockrock is displayed with Cybertron Soundwave while that one is sitting in a storage box.

Don't you mean Flashback?

No, by god, I did not. Good day to you Sir.

Maybe if they had stuck with a figure that transformed into a G1 Boombox like Blaster is supposed to they would have no need to cancel. The whole idea of Blaster transforming into a laptop, 2 way pager, or whatever that 2 in 1 gimmick figure turned into was stupid. Everyone on this blog knows they only wanted this figure for the robot mode. Nobody actually planned to use him as a PDA or whatever. I think the whole enigma behind G1 homages is to keep them retro. So just give us a Blaster that transforms into that classic 1980's style boombox. And if they insist on making him actually play music, just build in an MP3 player.

Rated X wrote:Maybe if they had stuck with a figure that transformed into a G1 Boombox like Blaster is supposed to they would have no need to cancel. .... And if they insist on making him actually play music, just build in an MP3 player.

I agree with that. While I'm sad they had to cancel, I would have rather had him in a more gee-wun-y form a-la music label Soundwave.

In fact, I just picked up the "Blaster Black" version because he is so great in his normal blue form.

I'd much rather have a continuation of the Music label series.

While I like the Ravage quite a bit, I was only so-so on Blaster anyway.

Rated X wrote:Maybe if they had stuck with a figure that transformed into a G1 Boombox like Blaster is supposed to they would have no need to cancel. .... And if they insist on making him actually play music, just build in an MP3 player.

I don't know, you have to accept that some things are going to change because they're not relevant to today anymore. Don't get me wrong, I'd prefer a tape cassette Soundwave and a boom box Blaster any day of the week. But they don't have any relevance to a younger audience and it also makes sense that Transformers would scan new alt modes. If Blaster was on Earth in 2009 he wouldn't have a boom box as an alt mode.

I think they did enough to make him G1ish. His robot mode is pretty damn good and he can store G1 tapes in his chest.

I must admit I was originally not going to get him. But getting DL Ravage also inspired me to go pick up ML Soundwave, both to go with my Classics/Universe figures, and that made me realise that DL Blaster would make a great Classics Blaster. Probably the best we're going to get.

That's just great... Thanks a lot TAKARA!
You are the best. The best pieace of bull dung I ever seen.
For ages, FOR AGES, fans have been pleeding for a decent Blaster figure ever since Classics line came out. And when they come up with this label figure we all said "hey thats cool. I could roll with that". And what did TAKARA do? They cancel Blaster.
You know what you could do with that figure? Turn that sucker sideways and stick it where the Sun don't shine

Yeah... they cancelled it just to annoy us.

Rated X wrote:Maybe if they had stuck with a figure that transformed into a G1 Boombox like Blaster is supposed to they would have no need to cancel. The whole idea of Blaster transforming into a laptop, 2 way pager, or whatever that 2 in 1 gimmick figure turned into was stupid. Everyone on this blog knows they only wanted this figure for the robot mode. Nobody actually planned to use him as a PDA or whatever. I think the whole enigma behind G1 homages is to keep them retro. So just give us a Blaster that transforms into that classic 1980's style boombox. And if they insist on making him actually play music, just build in an MP3 player.

Yeah, and then overcharge for out-of-date technology just like Soundwave! But I'd probably buy it anyway.

Well, simply put this blows. Blaster was probably the toys I was looking forward to the most in the second half of 09, and now I've got squat.

I'm sure we will see this someday, but I'm sending out a good 'ole Philly BOO to TakTom!


BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! YOU SUCK!!!!!

I wonder if we'll see a US release with all of the electronics gutted for U3.0?

::Files this under "Stupid **** Takara/Tomy does on account of Hentai"::

No. I won't elaborate on that.

Counterpunch wrote:::Files this under "Stupid **** Takara/Tomy does on account of Hentai"::

No. I won't elaborate on that.

At first, I read that as "Henkei"!