The Energon Pub

There’s something incredibly Japanese about a small team of intricate and tiny transforming robots that combine to form a larger more powerful being, packaged in an attractive giftset depicting a soaring mechanical beast of battle. That is exactly what Takara started to market in Japan at the end of Battlestars: Return of Convoy with the above C-370 Sixliner, and then throughout 1992′s “Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformer Operation Combination”.

6 Is The Magic Number | Source Blog <- CLICK TO READ



All the best
Maz

Nice and informative yet again, Maz

One thing though, Sixtrain is indeed a retool of Sixliner, but what goes unmentioned is that one mold has been completely replaced: Windy is a completely new mold, not a retool unlike the rest.

hah! I actually didn't realise that was the case, so thank you for pointing it out!

Is it definitely not a retool/repaint of any of the existing bullets that were in Sixliner?

All the best
Maz

Maz wrote:hah! I actually didn't realise that was the case, so thank you for pointing it out!

Is it definitely not a retool/repaint of any of the existing bullets that were in Sixliner?

All the best
Maz

Compare Joe and Windy on TFU.info (or check TFWiki), and you'll see what I mean They only share the transformation scheme (almost all micromasters do ), but the molded details do not match up at all.

I was just looking at that here:
http://www.tf-1.com/articles/jtf_frame.php?art=sixliner

and was about to say how close in moulding/transformation Joe and Windy are haha. But yeah, the aesthetic of the train mode is very different, even if they occupy the same spot in the combiner and have the same transformation. Even the chest and torso area look very similar.

Do you think it;s worth adding something in brackets after "Sporting a repainted TGV locomotive, Japanese style bullet trains..." ?

EDIT: Also, if it's technically the same transformation, same function as the previous robot and shares much of the inner moulding if not the outer shell...does that not qualify as "retool" or "remould" ? I would think that mentioning it is an entirely new mould would imply that it wasn't based on the previous "Joe" figure at all, even within a relative Micromaster sense.

All the best
Maz

It is indeed worth noting IMO, as replacing an entire mold with a completely new one for a combiner hasn't been done before, or ever since. Sixtrain really is unique in that.

And "retool" is the proper term used within design teams. As Joe and Windy share no parts whatsoever to my knowledge, they're completely separate molds.

But the mechanics of the toy are the same, right? It still has the same type of connection to the above and below parts, transforms the same way and has the same inner workings. It's just the outer shell aesthetics that have been re-done.

Is that not akin to having Predaking's Razorclaw figure have his Lion motif changed to another animal, but have it transform the same and connect the same to the rest of the bots in combined mode?

All the best
Maz

They do have the same construction, yes. But that's not the most important aspect of a retool. Look as G2 Smokescreen vs. Energon Starscream or Armada Leader-1 vs. Cybertron Drillbit Using the same mechanics for two different toys is not unheard of.

In my book, a retool has to share at least 50% of its parts with its parent mold.

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the toys you're mentioning as an example, but I want to first of all thank you for bringing the major difference to my attention. However I must apologise and say that I have to disagree with you on this one, it qualifies as a retool to me as the fundamental moulding of the two toys appears to be the same.

All the best
Maz

Fair enough, the whole Joe vs. Windy thing is iffy I admit, with the whole retool vs. new mold being a bit vague. Makes you wonder what Takara was thinking at the time.

Another example for same construction but not a retool would be G1 Bumblebee and Cliffjumper. Looks like Joe and Windy have something similar going on based on the images I could find. Doesn't look like a retool to me.