The Energon Pub

[El Duque]

We just received word from site sponsors TFsource and BigBadToyStore.com that Takara will be reissuing Soundblaster and Twincast in the Encore series with new repainted cassettes! Both sites listed pre-orders for these highly anticipated reissues which is great news for those of you who might have missed the previous releases of these figures. Soundblaster and Twincast are scheduled to be released in February 2012.

Encore #21 Soundblaster (order at BigBadToyStore.com or TFsource.com)

Now up for Preorder: Encore #21 Soundblaster! This highly sought after Japanese Exclusive includes an all new repainted cassette bots: Enemy and Wing Tsing - which are repainted Frenzy and Ratbat!

http://tfsource.com/products/view/product_id/2998/
http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=TAK11349&mode=retail


Encore #22 Twincast - (order at TFsource.com or BigBadToyStore.com)

Now up for Preorder: Encore #22 Twincast! This highly sought after Japanese Exclusive includes an all new repainted cassette bots: Stripes and Nightstalker - which are repainted Ravage and Steeljaw!

http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=TAK11350&mode=retail
http://tfsource.com/products/view/product_id/2999/

[leokearon]

Look nice, hopefully there will be a bigger pic soon of the repaints.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Merger Requested

[Counterpunch]

If anyone is planning on getting Encore Soundblaster and Twincast & wants to defray the cost, I will buy the tapes at a very fair price.

[Metroplex79]

Oh snap!!!

Just when I thought I can stop for a little bit from collecting.

Oh well. It's only money.

Plus with repainted cassettes, who can truly resist?

[Jelze Bunnycat]

And i may be wrong on this, but isn't Wing Tsing supposed to be Wingthing, after Soundwave's Action Master partner?

[Bumblevivisector]

WING-THING finally gets some non-ActionMaster toy love? Well, he'd better have a new configuration as Soundwave's gun, and...

Oh, Wing TSING, is it? What, could Coleco or Marvel sue them because Zak and Stellara had that big Dragonfly name Wingthing in the Sectaurs comics?

And as nice as Stripes is, it makes the absence of any cassette that could pass for Stinger the scorpion all the more glaring. Maybe Perfect Effect will step up to the plate with a Stinger that can turn into Twincast's flight-pack and gun.

And Nightstalker too, no less? Well, can't say they don't do their homework, but IDW had better come through with those Marvel UK omnibus collections, or not many more fans on this side of the Pacific will know who he's supposed to be either. Well, he'll keep the Ehobby Hauler toy company, if ya' know what I mean.

And an official Enemy! My red Microchange cassette will have to portray someone else then.

Was anyone else hoping for a green Ravage repaint called "BlackCat" too? Oh well, at this rate, they'll put him, Playback, show-accurate purple Rumble, and an extra generic cassette from that one crowd shot in More Than Meets the Eye with the NEXT Soundblaster and Twincast reissues in another 6 years...

[Mkall]

For the time being I've preordered them simply for the new cassettes. I'll probably cancel them later, or sell off the SoundBlaster and Twincast figures.

[MightyMagnus78]

For the time being I've preordered them simply for the new cassettes. I'll probably cancel them later, or sell off the SoundBlaster and Twincast figures.

I actually managed to them both the last time they were reissued. I wasn't planning on getting them again, however those new recolours do look awesome.

[Bumblevivisector]

For the time being I've preordered them simply for the new cassettes. I'll probably cancel them later, or sell off the SoundBlaster and Twincast figures.

Shades of everyone who made it to BotCon this year trying to sell off Toxitron at the next con they attended. I'd sarcastically wish everyone else who's getting this set lotsa' luck with that, but seeing as Shout!'s Headmasters box set just came out, and this might actually coincide with their complete Takara collection's release, well, maybe there actually will be a spike in demand for SB and TC among fans who don't care who any of these cassettes are supposed to be.

Oh how much more sense it would've made to reissue those Headmasters-era Dino Combiner cassettes instead, but I'm not complaining. Paying Takara a bit extra for two radios I already own simply eases any guilt I may have had over how I'm going to acquire those 4, and every other cassette they're not reissuing. MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

[Skullcrunchberries]

They're nice, and preordered. I do wish they kept the clear red plastic for Soundblaster's chest though...

[Sabrblade]

Obscurity made reality!

For the time being I've preordered them simply for the new cassettes. I'll probably cancel them later, or sell off the SoundBlaster and Twincast figures.

Shades of everyone who made it to BotCon this year trying to sell off Toxitron at the next con they attended.

Haters gonna hate. Toxitron is adorable.

[Seibertron]

The Soundblaster cassette exclusives are awesome. It's about time we finally get the red microchange version of the Rumble/Frenzy mold. This figure is known as "Enemy" to Transformers fans because of the Decepticon Voice Changer toy that came out in the mid-80s with a red Frenzy. Very awesome!

It's also nice to get a cassette version of Wingthing after 21 years. This makes Action Master Soundwave's partner a legit cassette after all of this time.

Kudos to Takara Tomy for both of these.

As for Twincast's partners, I'm not sure if they homage anything so I'm not feeling them like Soundblaster's new cassette partners. A black Steeljaw is cool though.

I am a little disappointed that this opportunity wasn't used to give us Grandslam, Raindance, Beastbox, and Squawktalk. Even the dino cassettes would've been really nice since the KOs were just made available this week and that would have been a nice way to make a statement. Ah well!

[Bumblevivisector]

Obscurity made reality!

For the time being I've preordered them simply for the new cassettes. I'll probably cancel them later, or sell off the SoundBlaster and Twincast figures.

Shades of everyone who made it to BotCon this year trying to sell off Toxitron at the next con they attended.

Haters gonna hate. Toxitron is adorable.

Who's hatin'? Just an honest observation; there has in fact been one dealer or another trying to sell Toxitron while simply showing off all of their other 2011 exclusives at every single convention, big or small, that I have been to since BotCon. If the same were true of Animated Wingthing, G2 accurate Jhiaxus, G1 accurate Scrounge, or any other hypothetical exclusive I'd truly love to see them do, I'd have said the same thing. TRU Ricochet ended up being a bit of a shelf-warmer despite how long we'd wanted Stepper reissued, right? It happens to good toys all the time. Even if he is the best of all Evil-Optimus-repaint characters, his toy may have just been the one that reached the world market's Evil-Optimus-saturation-point, that's all. I have yet to read any fiction containing him, my bad, so I'm not making any judgements, regardless of empirical evidence that a lot of collectors are content without him.

Back on topic, have any cassette reissues besides Laserbeak/Buzzsaw been showing mold degradation lately? I see Sundor's protruding foot and shudder to think how screwed up Wingthing might be if Ratbat's mold has suffered a similar fate.

[Screamfleet]

Wow, I didn't see cassette repaints coming. I dont have either of these players, so maybe I'll have to get them. I would have preferred the dino's they haven't seen a re-release, but hopefully they'll get to them soon.

[elric2]

i already bought the twincast the last time they sold the e-hobbey one, but i will have to buy both i always wanted soundblaster. i just won't be able to tell my wife that i am buying another twincast...shhhh

[Bass X0]

As for Twincast's partners, I'm not sure if they homage anything so I'm not feeling them like Soundblaster's new cassette partners. A black Steeljaw is cool though.

They are toys to two previously unseen characters -

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Stripes

http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Nightstalker

I am a little disappointed that this opportunity wasn't used to give us Grandslam, Raindance, Beastbox, and Squawktalk. Even the dino cassettes would've been really nice since the KOs were just made available this week and that would have been a nice way to make a statement. Ah well!

I think this is intended to be strictly a repaint set of previously reissued molds. Yes, those other toys would have been cool, but I actually think that these obscure characters may be even cooler despite being repaints.

[Prime Evil]

I can't believe I may actually be buying G1 toys again with Twincast and the new cassettes repaints. I seriously thought I was done. Well played Takara/Tomy, well played...

[Bumblevivisector]

And Dial and Zaur only had their preorders open up, so it's possible no one will actually have them in hand until after these legit guys come out.

I agree that these repaints are even cooler. CHMS has KOed a lot of recent molds for the purpose of repainting them into new characters that HasTak apparently have no intention of doing (the Classics Starscream and Animated Arcee molds are churning out legions), so doing repaints that the KO-meisters never thought of beats them at their own game without getting bogged down in legal action, while those of us who just want as many cassette characters as possible, legit or not, get just that! It's a win-win!

[kirbenvost]

I'm so glad Encore is continuing. These make logical choices, but the cassette repaints are surprising. I personally don't collect these two characters, so I won't be picking them up, but I look forward to seeing what comes next.

I do think the red tape door looked better on Soundblaster though...what did the original have?

[Sabrblade]

I do think the red tape door looked better on Soundblaster though...what did the original have?

A red door. This reissue looks more like a show-accurate purple door.

[Rijie]

Excellence! The G1 cassette love lives!

Black Steeljaw=WIN!

[Stormrider]

I am going to get them to support the Encore cause, even though I have them from the TFC line. The cassette repaints are interesting, but releasing cassettes that haven't been reissued yet would have been cooler.

[Pretender Skywarp]

Can I be the first to point out;

If Enemy is Red, then which colour is Rumble or Frenzy?

;-p

[It Is Him]

This is fantastic! Now to just get caught up with Encore 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20!

I'm way behind.