The Energon Pub

Those of you who were collecting back in the Transformers Energon days probably remember Prowl's instruction sheet featured a different head sculpt from what ultimately ended up on the figure's retail version. The Transformers Wiki has managed to come up with some new images of this prototype head sculpt. As you can see in the image mirrored below, the head is completely different with the exception of the tailpipes.

I've always favored the full helmet design. I'm a little surprised that it made it into prototype-stage.

Not really news...
Energon was a line no one liked, the show sucked 20 times worse

And that was 8 years ago....

Superwheeljack wrote:Not really news...
Energon was a line no one liked, the show sucked 20 times worse

And that was 8 years ago....

I liked the Energon line! And new reveals in older lines is still newsworthy for those interested.

Surprised that the head made it to prototype. I wonder what happened: this head was dropped in favor of the current, or were both designed at the same time, the precursor to pretools?

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:I liked the Energon line! And new reveals in older lines is still newsworthy for those interested.

Thank you sir.

Ugh, I can see why they didn't use it.

Superwheeljack wrote:Not really news...
Energon was a line no one liked, the show sucked 20 times worse

And that was 8 years ago....

I have to respectfully disagree 100% with your statement.
I own this and many other TF energon figures,,, they are cool. and it was more than 8 years ago. Maybe someday I will get the TF energon figures that my collection is missing

MagnetarPrime wrote:

Superwheeljack wrote:Not really news...
Energon was a line no one liked, the show sucked 20 times worse

And that was 8 years ago....

I have to respectfully disagree 100% with your statement.
I own this and many other TF energon figures,,, they are cool. and it was more than 8 years ago. Maybe someday I will get the TF energon figures that my collection is missing

I'd have to respectfully disagree as well. Energon and the 2007 Movie line are the two lines that I have come closest to completing and I wouldn't invest that kind of money if I thought something sucked. Everyone has their own tastes though so I can't begrudge a negative opinion, just being lumped into someone else's opinion.

What would have been cool would be if they had released this variant for the Prowl/Rodimus 2 pack. Give it that little bit extra exclusiveness besides just the altered paint deco.

Hear hear. Quite exciting to see! While new reveals for upcoming toys are exciting at the time... after the toy is released, it's something EVERYONE has...

but super secret rare prototypes that NO ONE has, that gets me excited. Thanks for posting. ALWAYS interesting.

Pretty to see some thing new(old).

the autobots were terrible but the decepticon toys were some of the best transformers produced Sharkticon being one of my all time favourite figures.

Superwheeljack wrote:Not really news...
Energon was a line no one liked, the show sucked 20 times worse

And that was 8 years ago....

Yes I agree the show sucked, but that's kinda like pointing out that water is wet.

The toys where decent, well most of the Autobots where crap, but the Cons were awesome. And people did like that line, it was also very hard to get at the time, with distribution on TRU Masterpiece levels.


I love seeing concept art and prototypes, it's just something about the material and colour of prototypes that just make them look so much cooler than the final product.


I have to say, this head looks [DR Evil]1000 million times [/DR Evil]better than the one the toy ended up with.

Dead Metal wrote:

Superwheeljack wrote:Not really news...
Energon was a line no one liked, the show sucked 20 times worse

And that was 8 years ago....

Yes I agree the show sucked, but that's kinda like pointing out that water is wet.

The toys where decent, well most of the Autobots where crap, but the Cons were awesome. And people did like that line, it was also very hard to get at the time, with distribution on TRU Masterpiece levels.


I love seeing concept art and prototypes, it's just something about the material and colour of prototypes that just make them look so much cooler than the final product.


I have to say, this head looks [DR Evil]1000 million times [/DR Evil]better than the one the toy ended up with.

Some GREAT toys came from that line. Terrorcons, especially Ravage, Megatron and that sweet Optimus/Wingsaber combination.

Agreed. Most of the Autobots look dreadful, but Sharkticon Megatron and Shockwave both look amazing. Great idea and nicely executed.

Have to say the Takara decos of the beasts trump anything stateside, though.

Yeah, the Energon toyline was universally beloved. It had some awesome toys in it.

The show was what was terrible, while the comics were pretty decent.

As for this head, it looks pretty cool and... somewhat familiar. I can't think of why, though, since I'm pretty sure I don't remember it from the instructions.

Sabrblade wrote:As for this head, it looks pretty cool and... somewhat familiar. I can't think of why, though, since I pretty sure I don't remember it from the instructions.

Patlabor.

Is it possible that this mold was originally intended as Energon Blurr, because that headsculpt looks a lot like Armada Blurr

welcometothedarksyde wrote:Is it possible that this mold was originally intended as Energon Blurr, because that headsculpt looks a lot like Armada Blurr

That might be what it reminds me of, thanks.

Prowl here was my first Energon figure (memories, man, memories). I actually do remember the oddity in Prowl's instructions, and I remember thinking that it was strange. This head looks okay, but I think I prefer the final head.

Superwheeljack wrote:Energon was a line no one liked, the show sucked 20 times worse.

'Scuse me sir, but after Armada ended, I thought Transformers was over for good (I was a kid, leave me alone). When I saw Energon on television, and saw my old favorite Autobots and Decepticons, I couldn't believe it. Yes, totally agree with the majority of the fandom when they say the show itself was not up to parr with its predecessors and successors, however, Energon was the one that got me back into Transformers when I thought they had gone. Plus, some of my favorite Transformers toys came from Energon (the five-man combiner teams, to be specific).

Agreed the TOYLINE for Energon had some super offerings. Scorponok for one, plus ALL of the basics were really great figures. (I could have used a Bombshell G1 colored version of that Insecticon.) Those were way better for the size class than we saw before or after. The deluxe combiners were a great gimmick, too. We even saw the return of Grimlock and Swoop for some albeit more cartoony action. Galvatron was primo. And need I remind anyone how amazing Tidal Wave was?

So yes. Great toys. TERRIBLE series. I tried five times before I could get through that god-forsaken television series. Kicker, Demolishor, Snow Cat were all dreadful in the show. Yodeling. Groan.

On the down side of the toy line, Alpha-Q was embarrassingly bad. The combiners were all flawed in their terrible edward-scissorhand-fingers. (So glad the 3rd party companies chipped in to help.) The coloring of those were all wonky as well — at least until the Constructicons got reissued.

And lastly, the oddly pot-bellied Prime was lacking as a leader toy, in his bright rainbow colors and white chest. (Mind you, I did like the combination gimmick.) Glad to see we finally get a properly recolored version in red after all these years. That's all we wanted as fans. How hard is it to screw up Prime and his red chest?

Having an official red version, maybe I'll use my extra for an evil custom instead of the red repaint I intended so many years ago.

RhA wrote:Some GREAT toys came from that line. Terrorcons, especially Ravage, Megatron and that sweet Optimus/Wingsaber combination.

I think that Prime Wingsaber was Cybertron? I thought Energon Prime combined with Omega Supreme. Maybe there was a Wingsaber combination too, I guess I don't rmember for sure.

At any rate, I'll also throw my support for the Energon line. I didn't like everything, but there were some really great figures in there:

Downshift (which was my Classics Wheeljack until Generations) was a great homage.

Towline, a great G1 Ironhide and Ratchet homage

Arcee was fun, and I think our first official figure for the character.

I really liked Rodimus.

The combiners, while not outstanding, were a lot of fun!

Some of the Powerlinks like Grimlock and Swoop were awesome!

Starscream was a very decent update.

Insecticon, Shockblast, Slugslinger, Tidal Wave...

As mentioned previously, Galvatron/Megs, Scorponok, Ravage.

I think there were a lot of really great figures in this line. There were some stinkers too, but not by any means worthy of a broad brush of "the line sucked."

(Looking at Seib's galleries, I guess that Wing Saber did combine in Energon too. I guess I never thought about it because I never liked Energon Prime. I always thought the Cybertron Wingsaber/Prime combo was awesome!)

Agamemnon wrote:

RhA wrote:Some GREAT toys came from that line. Terrorcons, especially Ravage, Megatron and that sweet Optimus/Wingsaber combination.

I think that Prime Wingsaber was Cybertron? I thought Energon Prime combined with Omega Supreme. Maybe there was a Wingsaber combination too, I guess I don't rmember for sure.

Posted the Japanese version since it's the lesser of two evils with slightly better acting.

Sabrblade wrote:Yeah, the Energon toyline was universally beloved. It had some awesome toys in it.

The show was what was terrible, while the comics were pretty decent.

As for this head, it looks pretty cool and... somewhat familiar. I can't think of why, though, since I'm pretty sure I don't remember it from the instructions.

This is what it reminds me of.

Never heard of it.

Sabrblade wrote:Never heard of it.

Let's try this again.

Energon had some awesome toys, and it set the stage for Cybertron / Galaxy Force, which had one of the highest ratio of awesome to not so awesome in any line to date.

Energon the cartoon? Let's just say I didn't like any of the shows between Beast Wars and Animated. Beast Wars had some of the most complex storytelling, and Animated had excellent balance between humor and drama. All the shows between, from Beast Machines to Cybertron, sucked.