The Energon Pub

News Credits: 198 · by **DevastaTTor** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:11 pm

Pictures of a new, scout-sized Human Alliance Autobot attack helicopter with pilot, similar to the four-wheeled, triple changing, military ATV with driver that we saw last month, were apparently posted to DOTMToys.com. Like the ATV, this copter closely resembles a small G.I. Joe vehicle, about the size of the Cobra F.A.N.G. Here's the catch though; while preparing this news to post with links to the pictures, we have discovered that DOTMToys.com is no longer online. There's currently no way to confirm what has happened to the site but some will speculate that Hasbro's legal team may have finally caught up with them-or maybe they just forgot to pay their bill.

In any case, the only place we've found these pictures posted as of right now is on TFW2005's Rumor Board. If you want to check out this potential new Human Alliance figure, click HERE.

As for DOTMToys.com, only time will tell if this is a temporary glitch for them or the end of the road.

News Credits: 5749 · by **El Duque** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:18 pm

Looks interesting. So far these HA Scouts are the only things that have really piqued my interest from the DOTM line. Wonder if they will do Decepticon versions, doesn't really make sense for Cons to be paired with humans though.

News Credits: 1 · by **T-Macksimus** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:35 pm

I'm with El Duque on this one. It's kind of funny that the part of the movie line that I had zero interest in in terms of RotF figures now has the only 2 figures that I'm interested in for DotM. It's too bad we didn't get a chance to see the robot mode for this one. You can get a fairly good idea of how it will go from the vehicle mode since they really didn't work that hard at hiding the hands and the legs are a no brainer. Just wish we could see the head.

by **amtm** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:02 pm

Not a fan of the aesthetics on these new toys, but I love the Human Alliance interaction gimmick. It's what was sorely missing from the original 1984 line--you'd see Spike and his dad get into Bumblebee or Optimus on the cartoon, but that wasn't possible with the toys. Gives more meaning to the "more than meets the eye" theme if you can fit a human figure into them--adds credibility to the idea of "robots in disguise" for play purposes. It's like they finally got the concept that had its seed in Pretenders right. Designer: "Oh wait. Maybe we shouldn't put a Transformer into a person. Maybe we should put a person into a Transformer. Hey, wait. That's it!" CEO stares blankly. "Give this guy a raise."

by **Autobot Megatron** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:08 pm

Am I the only one who thinks this looks like a Lego creation?

...Strangly, I'm still really intrigued by him. Guess these scout HA's are irresistible to me... :BANG_HEAD:

This might as well be a Decepticon since it'll steal my money.

News Credits: 8 · by **Megatron Wolf** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 1:36 am

So far these are the only toys from the line im interested in, If you can use GIJOE figures with them then ill pick em up if not then it all depends on if the transformer is good or not.

News Credits: 3 · by **Kibble** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:08 am

Megatron Wolf wrote:So far these are the only toys from the line im interested in, If you can use GIJOE figures with them then ill pick em up if not then it all depends on if the transformer is good or not.

Looks pretty clear they're gonna be the same size humans as the ROTF HA line...

by **Rated X** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 9:09 am

DOTM keeps getting crappier and crappier. All the toys so far suck. Maybe Ill buy the taliban Megatron tanker truck because it's so unique. But thats it. And Hasbro is a bunch of ass-wipes for attacking those who give them free online promotion.

News Credits: 11 · by **kirbenvost** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 10:05 am

Hmm. Looks kind of interesting. I wonder how well these work with GI Joe figures. Could be what Joe/TF fans have wanted from the start. I probably won't start getting the HAs because I haven't collected any of them yet, but this one looks pretty cool.

by **morphobots** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:30 am

amtm wrote:Not a fan of the aesthetics on these new toys, but I love the Human Alliance interaction gimmick. It's what was sorely missing from the original 1984 line--you'd see Spike and his dad get into Bumblebee or Optimus on the cartoon, but that wasn't possible with the toys. Gives more meaning to the "more than meets the eye" theme if you can fit a human figure into them--adds credibility to the idea of "robots in disguise" for play purposes. It's like they finally got the concept that had its seed in Pretenders right. Designer: "Oh wait. Maybe we shouldn't put a Transformer into a person. Maybe we should put a person into a Transformer. Hey, wait. That's it!" CEO stares blankly. "Give this guy a raise."

We might have had this in the 80s if it hadn't been for America's toy safety laws. That's what kept us from having driver figures for TF like the Japanese had with the original Diaclones. As a kid, I used to think it was so weird that the jets and the cars had opening cockpits but nothing to put in them. That's also what kept us from having half-way decent springs in the missile launchers. "Hasbro, I want a Japanese Starscream for Christmas!" "Now, now, Ralphie. You'll only shoot your eye out."

by **OlivusPrime** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:50 am

DOTM Whirl! A possibility, since we've seen a Deluxe Autobot chopper and the Wreckers will be featuring in the movie, although I doubt that this particular figure would be Whirl. I'm not too fond of these HA figures - considering the brilliant stuff we saw at the end of ROTFs HA line, these are pretty underwhelming.

News Credits: 8 · by **LiKwid** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 3:38 pm

wtf..

Looks like a M.A.S.K vehicle...

by **OptiMagnus** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 4:00 pm

Cool. I wonder what the significance of these HA military vehicles is.

News Credits: 3 · by **NatsumeRyu** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:03 pm

I'm still on the fence with these new HA bots. The RotF HA hit a sweet spot for me in terms of size, transformation (difficulty, kibble, perks [guns, car interior, lack of electronics]), etc. They are the first line I've "collected" or am trying to (still need Mudflap...). But these guys....they don't look as pretty as the others (visible hands for instance), even if they retain the interacting figure gimmick. If you didn't notice, that perk's not high on my list of why I liked HA btw. So I may not be collecting these guys depending on how they end up.

So far I'd have to agree with everyone that DoTM toys are pretty underwhelming. Generations is starting to fight back at all my movie figures, LOL.

by **prowl123** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:29 pm

Liked him... until I saw the hands sticking out of the back.

by **amtm** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 11:40 pm

morphobots wrote:We might have had this in the 80s if it hadn't been for America's toy safety laws. That's what kept us from having driver figures for TF like the Japanese had with the original Diaclones. As a kid, I used to think it was so weird that the jets and the cars had opening cockpits but nothing to put in them. That's also what kept us from having half-way decent springs in the missile launchers. "Hasbro, I want a Japanese Starscream for Christmas!" "Now, now, Ralphie. You'll only shoot your eye out."

Yes, good points, morphobots, though those figures were really tiny. Personally I was also disappointed by the rubber on Starscream's nosecone, which apparently was plastic on the Japanese version. (Why plastic isn't safe enough is beyond me.) To boot, I couldn't resist chewing it, which obviously messed it up and made the toy not look so nice anymore.

by **morphobots** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 12:14 am

amtm wrote:
morphobots wrote:We might have had this in the 80s if it hadn't been for America's toy safety laws. That's what kept us from having driver figures for TF like the Japanese had with the original Diaclones. As a kid, I used to think it was so weird that the jets and the cars had opening cockpits but nothing to put in them. That's also what kept us from having half-way decent springs in the missile launchers. "Hasbro, I want a Japanese Starscream for Christmas!" "Now, now, Ralphie. You'll only shoot your eye out."

Yes, good points, morphobots, though those figures were really tiny. Personally I was also disappointed by the rubber on Starscream's nosecone, which apparently was plastic on the Japanese version. (Why plastic isn't safe enough is beyond me.) To boot, I couldn't resist chewing it, which obviously messed it up and made the toy not look so nice anymore.

It wasn't so much that plastic is more dangerous than rubber, but that it created an unyeilding stiff spearpoint at the front of a toy presumably held by an energetic boy tearing around his house/yard/playground with abandon. Granted, you could still have put out an eye with the American versions, but at least the company had a legal fallback position of trying to look out for safety. We still have this paranoia today. Exhibit A: ROTF Lockdown's rubberized hub spikes and hook hand. Exhibit B: 20th Anniversary (American) Optimus Prime's shortened exhaust stacks.

News Credits: 5 · by **bumble_bee_68** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 11:19 am

wtf?
Looks like crap.
The entire DOTM line...

No thanks.
I'll stick w/ my Generations/Universe/RTS lines, thank you very much

News Credits: 2 · by **Stockade** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 2:12 pm

I predict DOTM toys wont sell and will be the down fall of Hasbro! and in 2 years Hasbro will have to come up with something top notch to make up for lost profits.

News Credits: 1 · by **T-Macksimus** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 4:06 pm

Stockade wrote:I predict DOTM toys wont sell and will be the down fall of Hasbro! and in 2 years Hasbro will have to come up with something top notch to make up for lost profits.

Hate to shoot holes in your prediction, but the kids outnumber us older collectors by a considerable margin. I'm not a big fan of the PCC's but unfortunately some of my money has gone towards purchasing them since my youngest son happens to be a big fan of the product line. Much as I'm despising the DotM line I have to resign myself to the fact that some of my money will also be going towards that line as well just because something in it may appeal to my son. For those of us collectors with children, Hasbro has us by the bearings. As for that something "top notch", you better snag up what you can of the RTS/Generations figures because it's my guess that those figures will be the best we (the collectors) get from Hasbro for quite some time. They are putting a lot of effort into making us happy with figures like Wreck-Gar and Perceptor and such but I don't see them keeping that effort up for long. We just aren't profitable enough for them and they are going to shift the focus back to the youngsters sooner than later.

News Credits: 5 · by **--B--** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 4:24 pm

T-Macksimus wrote:
Stockade wrote:I predict DOTM toys wont sell and will be the down fall of Hasbro! and in 2 years Hasbro will have to come up with something top notch to make up for lost profits.

Hate to shoot holes in your prediction, but the kids outnumber us older collectors by a considerable margin. I'm not a big fan of the PCC's but unfortunately some of my money has gone towards purchasing them since my youngest son happens to be a big fan of the product line. Much as I'm despising the DotM line I have to resign myself to the fact that some of my money will also be going towards that line as well just because something in it may appeal to my son. For those of us collectors with children, Hasbro has us by the bearings. As for that something "top notch", you better snag up what you can of the RTS/Generations figures because it's my guess that those figures will be the best we (the collectors) get from Hasbro for quite some time. They are putting a lot of effort into making us happy with figures like Wreck-Gar and Perceptor and such but I don't see them keeping that effort up for long. We just aren't profitable enough for them and they are going to shift the focus back to the youngsters sooner than later.

Pretty much the same here. They will put out "Classicsverse" types of figures until May, then not again until nest spring, and we will be jumping all over the return.

Although I haven't given up hope that Generations will NOT go on hiatus and that they just pump out re-paints/re-molds to full the new mold void until next year. I don't mind the gaps in the Classics/Universe/Generations line, lets me save some cash on the movie toys that I don't buy!

News Credits: 1 · by **adamassc** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 4:55 pm

morphobots wrote:
amtm wrote:
morphobots wrote:We might have had this in the 80s if it hadn't been for America's toy safety laws. That's what kept us from having driver figures for TF like the Japanese had with the original Diaclones. As a kid, I used to think it was so weird that the jets and the cars had opening cockpits but nothing to put in them. That's also what kept us from having half-way decent springs in the missile launchers. "Hasbro, I want a Japanese Starscream for Christmas!" "Now, now, Ralphie. You'll only shoot your eye out."

Yes, good points, morphobots, though those figures were really tiny. Personally I was also disappointed by the rubber on Starscream's nosecone, which apparently was plastic on the Japanese version. (Why plastic isn't safe enough is beyond me.) To boot, I couldn't resist chewing it, which obviously messed it up and made the toy not look so nice anymore.

It wasn't so much that plastic is more dangerous than rubber, but that it created an unyeilding stiff spearpoint at the front of a toy presumably held by an energetic boy tearing around his house/yard/playground with abandon. Granted, you could still have put out an eye with the American versions, but at least the company had a legal fallback position of trying to look out for safety. We still have this paranoia today. Exhibit A: ROTF Lockdown's rubberized hub spikes and hook hand. Exhibit B: 20th Anniversary (American) Optimus Prime's shortened exhaust stacks.

If I recall my readings correctly, 'flying' toys such as Screamer have more stringent safety rules because the people in charge of these things believe kids are more likely to toss an aircraft toy.

Simply put, Hasbro thinks kids will throw Starscream, so he gets a rubber nosecone.

by **amtm** » Thu Jan 20, 2011 8:57 pm

adamassc wrote:If I recall my readings correctly, 'flying' toys such as Screamer have more stringent safety rules because the people in charge of these things believe kids are more likely to toss an aircraft toy.

Simply put, Hasbro thinks kids will throw Starscream, so he gets a rubber nosecone.

Interesting. Though, when I was 4, my brother and I were playing with a wooden block that had a hole in the middle. We were pretending it was a pirate scope. We had to "share" and "take turns." I got a little impatient after he had it for a minute or two and asked for it back (we were each supposed to have 5 minutes at a time but who knows what it actually was--I had no concept of how to measure time except how long it felt). He refused. I asked again. He refused. I asked again, and he threw it at me. It hit my forehead and split the skin, which made me bleed everywhere. I still have a scar from that.

So, as far as I can tell, kids will throw anything they want if they feel like throwing something, regardless of what it is. I think the concept that they're more likely to throw an aircraft toy is probably adults overthinking things.