The Energon Pub

[Blurrz]

Happy holidays everyone! Thought I'd spend this year's advent calender by sharing my love for the one's that are overlooked, the little guys!



Day One - Twirl

I don't own Twirl personally, as the figure is one of my holy grails, but I do own my fair share of her mold variations. Twirl's unique in that she's a Linkage DVD Micron. When the Transformers: Armada cartoon (Micron Legend) was released in Japan, it was released in individual DVDs. Together, the 13 sets released 15 'Linkage' mini-cons into the wild, and to this day, these are one of the rarest mini-cons known to our fandom, and thus these beauties have the most dollar per square plastic. The first few mini-cons range from $50, and as we go from Linkage-1 to Linkage-15, the prices get much higher, capping off at $100+.. if you can even find these for sale.




Of course you could be a lucky jerk like Counterpunch and jrfitzpatrick7 who've had this figure grace their collections. While to this day I find myself as a customizer who can do a little handy work here and there and recreate figures, Twirl is just impossible to imitate. While it is possible to dye clear plastic, it's impossible to recreate clear light pink plastic with what's been given to us (not a resin hero like Renderform.. yet)




And essentially that's what makes the figure extremely unique to me, and one of my grails. The Thunderwing/Twirl mold is also pretty high up there in regards to it's possibility. It's drawbacks, is it does have a hard time standing still in robot mode. However that's all made up by it's awesome shuriken alternate mode. If you don't have the Air military mini-con team, then by all means... there's eBay.

I'll leave you with some more Stella...



What?

[Blurrz]

Day Two - Quantum



So you're probably like wtf? Mini-con fetish much, eh? Well next up is the Quantum (of Solace) and one of my favorites, not just for mini-cons, but for Transformers of all time. OF ALL TIME. Micron Quantum is originally from the tooled Star Saber -> Energon Saber, and is the middle of the Cryo Saber. As we'll get through this calender, you'll figure out that there are tons and tons of different Micron sabers. In my opinion, Cryo is just simply the best.



The figure was released in the now elusive Micron Booster assortments, blind-packed, gashapon-esque, and all of that jazz. Thus, if you were a kid in Japan and didn't have the $$$ to buy all of the boxes, you'd be playing with lady luck if you wanted a complete team. Of course I tried my best to help out any of you stragglers in getting the Cryo Saber.. but eBay searches for Micron Booster just ended up in disappoint (No love for the Adventure Mini-Con team it seems).



The jet mini-cons are genuinely my favorite, and I feel that Quantum has the best mold out of the three. Of course, a mini-con belonging to a team cannot solely be based on itself, but it's other substituents. You might be saying, eh Blurrz, sure the Cryo Saber is cool and all, but it doesn't really fit with anyone from the Unicron Trilogy. Oh really?



GET HOOKED SON

GET HOOKED

[TulioDude]

Nice!
Question:Can you mix and match Star Saber minicons?

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Nice!
Question:Can you mix and match Star Saber minicons?

Between the original and retooled molds? You certainly can, things get iffy with the Cybertron versions thanks to mold degradation.

[Counterpunch]

STELLLAAA!

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Another awesome countdown thread from Blurrz. The mini-cons... micromasters taken to the next level, basically.

[alexison]

Hahaha, this is fun man. Keep them coming!

[Counterpunch]

I actually have something kind of cool in store for Mini-Con lovers in the next week or two. I finally found a good way to display a collection of them.

[Blurrz]

A man of your expertise would be much appreciated in spotlighted some mini-cons or mini-con teams in one of the couple of days.

It would be

[Geekee1]

Nice job so far Blurrz. I can really get behind anything that goes with Cybertron Scourge. He's harsh like Judd Nelson.

[waaaaghlord]

Any chance we'll be seeing the Bumble recolours from the TRU JP Magna Convoy DX set? My personal favourites among my own Minicons.

[Mykltron]

Hurray for Blurrz lists, however, I fear we'll have to wait until february for the completion of this countdown to Christmas!

[Galvatron X]

Oooo, nice. I like these Blurrz threads.

Fun to read AND educational!


Keep 'em coming, brother.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Any chance we'll be seeing the Bumble recolours from the TRU JP Magna Convoy DX set? My personal favourites among my own Minicons.

You mean Micron Booster 1 Chrome, Synapse and Thyristor?

[Blurrz]

Day 3 - Pan-Handler

Life's not all Autobot or Decepticon for some Cybertronians. Sometimes the rich get rich, and the poor get poor. He wasn't expecting to be powerlinked to Megatron or Starscream, but the the least of his worries, he thought, would trying to get more soup or energon. But let me tell you, it's tough, it's just a tough life. Nothing comes easy especially when you're just a repaint. His sibling before him, Sledge, maybe he just set the standard too high for Pan-Handler to follow.



And while as Transformers, we should feel sympathy for this mini-con, so far away from home, and so deattached from his brethren, there's really nothing that should be done. Pan-Handler has put himself in this situation. Signing up for experiments on his chassis for extra energon and cash, only to use those funds to exchange his humble hands into mechanical, soul-less scoopers that can carry 'more change'. Some may ask, is it stupidity, greed, perhaps a side effect from never losing his Powerlinking innocence? No one has fully grasped this young Decepticon-allied mini-con's situation.



However, awareness to Pan-Handler's situation isn't my only goal here, I think I can shed some light. Is it not just the crowd, the fellow mini-cons he hanged out with the reason behind his current endeavor? Or perhaps I should say, the lack of fellow mini-cons. You see, it all started out as mini-cons would be part of a three-man team, or at least paired up with a defacto Autobot and Decepticon. And in the Mart-era, those K's and those Wal's would feature gangs of eight and twelve mini-cons, running the show on the streets on Cybertron.



But... but... Pan-Handler was all by himself. Single-packed. All alone in the world. So if you're walking on the streets of Iacon and manage to catch of a glimpse of this outcast, don't leave his scoopers empty. Fill them with whatever you may spare, because it was never fair for Pan-Handler.

[alternator77]

I actually have something kind of cool in store for Mini-Con lovers in the next week or two. I finally found a good way to display a collection of them.

cant wait to see it as i still cant figure out a way to put them out seeing a unicron has but only so many ports. also i can use what i learn with my legends as theyre quickly taking over the whole damn room



love this thread blurrz

[Razorclaw0000]

Glad to see another Micron Advent calendar! Also, I <3 the Sonic Attack Team.

[Doubledealer93]

ya know what, next time i see that rare minicon in a small store i will get it. just cus you convinced me to

[Mykltron]

Looking at the articulation of that left arm it seems all he can do with it is scratch his bum or cup his junk.

[Counterpunch]

Any chance we'll be seeing the Bumble recolours from the TRU JP Magna Convoy DX set? My personal favourites among my own Minicons.

You mean Micron Booster 1 Chrome, Synapse and Thyristor?

No, JP Magna Convoy came with a redeco of Perceptor. Arcee was painted in pink and white. The others were a mix of green, red, and black. It's quite striking.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Any chance we'll be seeing the Bumble recolours from the TRU JP Magna Convoy DX set? My personal favourites among my own Minicons.

You mean Micron Booster 1 Chrome, Synapse and Thyristor?

No, JP Magna Convoy came with a redeco of Perceptor. Arcee was painted in pink and white. The others were a mix of green, red, and black. It's quite striking.

I need to stop misreading! And stop calling Sparkplug Bumblebee.

[SJ21]

I love these threads!

[Blurrz]

Spotlight 4 - The Street Speed Teams



When we take a look at mini-cons or anything that's small we tend to scoff at any recognition of 'good articulation', but the Street Speed Teams are figures that are high up there in that regard. Each team member transforms into a sleek sports or race car, and they do it way better than the boring Movieverse Legends Bumblebee. They offer waist rotation and elbow rotation, something that figures at the smaller have lacked in the past few years.



I've got a fair share of these ones and I still think that they are the flag bearers of the mini-con scale. Despite their stature, they're loaded with nice details, including painted head/tail lights. 2/3 of the team have feet, and something you don't see on every Legends figure to this day - is that their wheel rims are actually painted.



My personal favorite is the Oval mold, and of the teams available to the majority of the general public, I suggest the Cybertron versions.

[Blurrz]

Spotlight 5 - X-Dimension Prowl

The Prowl mold is boss. Hands down it's the best pseudo-Targetmaster mini-con that's been made and that's simply because he transformers into a gun. And what makes X-Dimension Prowl so special? Albeit being a Micron Legend import and a fancy repaint, he also happens to be Shattered Glass Ricochet's targetmaster. That's some dirty botcon retcon!



Moving on to the figure, who sports orange and black. Surprisingly he does have clear plastic in his legs and chassis, much like the original mold does. Be forewarned though, someone who wasn't a mini-con collector, but totally got milked into buying the X-Dimension Emergency team for his Shattered Glass targetmasters, someone certainly not named Mkall, experienced a defective leg on his Prowl... quality control is tough for small clear plastic.



Once you get past the fact that Prowl has a f'ed up shaped head, he's one fancy mini-con and a favorite of my collection. It's hard for me to say this is the 'best' variation of the Prowl molds, as it feels like nearly all of Prowl's reiterations are top-class. Plus one of Prowl's molds was used by the Seibertron.com Twincast/Podcast to troll robofreak. How awesome is that?

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I only have the Cybertron and Armada Beast versions of the Street Speed Team, but despite them being fidgety and a bit fragile, they're top notch. Still looking for the originals, Micron Booster and Overdrive editions.