The Energon Pub

News Credits: 5749 · by **El Duque** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 12:40 pm

Remember those fully transformable WWII style PCC limbs TFC Toys kept teasing us with earlier this year? It's been so long since we've seen any updates on this project some have speculated it may have been canceled, but some prototype images have finally surfaced. Images mirrored from the weibo page of JonJonZheng, check them out below.

by **gothsaurus** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:13 pm

THIS is exactly what I want to be seeing out of Hasbro. Detailed, but in a blocky, chunky mech kinda way. (not in as spindly, movie kibble kinda way.) These give a wonderful nod back to the vintage G1 toy and cartoon style but in an updated, detailed way.

Being able to see "chunks" of the vehicle in the robot is what makes each character memorable and recognizable. That — to me — is why so many of the movie designs fail to strike a chord. They just break apart into so many spindly pieces, they all look alike... and like a walking pile of scrap metal.

I want to see robots plodding around on big, heavy legs like this... not rolling around on the ground on little chicken legs.

Spot on design. Keep em coming... and remind Hasbro/Takara what we like.

News Credits: 1 · by **Bumblevivisector** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:43 pm

So these guys are limbs, AND they have robot modes!?! Okay, even if you happen to prefer Bayniverse spindlyness over G1 blockiness, this blows the pants off the official Hasbro drone designs.

The WWII design made a lot of us assume this would be a Starscream's brigade homage, but since this seems to be based off tanks used by the Nazis, is this guy more of an homage to Destroyer of the Renegade Super Gobots? He's famous for his Iron Cross decals...and his tank-turret-for-a-head design; I'm already picturing the turret on this guy's shoulder arguing with his robot head, sort of like the ambiguous deal with Quickstrike's snake/hand-puppet in season 2 of Beast Wars. Destroyer kind of got an official homage in that green Warpath repaint in the Gobots eHobby set; sure it was supposed to be Treads, but if you just leave his head down, he looks like Destroyer's half-transformed treads-instead-of-legs mode. His original Gobots toy also makes a decent representation of the mutant Warhead from the B&W pre-Earthforce UK comics, or at least a good base figure to kitbash him from.

My PCC collection needs more drones badly enough that I'd have bought this TFC stuff regardless, but now I'm really looking forward to it!

News Credits: 5 · by **horus** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:49 pm

oh crap, it's this..

When i saw WW i imediatly tought about War Within Toys a took the credit card out of the wallet :-?

Good for me, no money wasted on this

by **gothsaurus** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 1:59 pm

HAA! thanks for the tip on leaving the head down for the gobot homage.

News Credits: 4 · by **craggy** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 2:44 pm

gothsaurus wrote:THIS is exactly what I want to be seeing out of Hasbro. Detailed, but in a blocky, chunky mech kinda way. (not in as spindly, movie kibble kinda way.) These give a wonderful nod back to the vintage G1 toy and cartoon style but in an updated, detailed way.

Being able to see "chunks" of the vehicle in the robot is what makes each character memorable and recognizable. That — to me — is why so many of the movie designs fail to strike a chord. They just break apart into so many spindly pieces, they all look alike... and like a walking pile of scrap metal.

I want to see robots plodding around on big, heavy legs like this... not rolling around on the ground on little chicken legs.

Spot on design. Keep em coming... and remind Hasbro/Takara what we like.

I fully agree, that little guy is fantastic.

News Credits: 2 · by **Requiem Prime** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 2:56 pm

Very nice; except for the PCC port I'm not getting a triple-changer vibe. Granted I can't recall how much transforming the tanks did into limb mode, but I do recall them being self-contained.

I was orignally at odds with tanks and planes from both sides, but when I saw them on Bombshock I realized it tied nicely to Megatron's infiltration phases.

by **MGrotusque** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 3:24 pm

Not bad at all. The first thing i noticed was the attention to detail.
Lookin good so far.

by **dinogeist** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:23 pm

I want all 4 but i'm only willing to spend around $30 maybe $35 at the highest. I have a feeling their gonna be around $50 or $60 for the set.

I'm kinda surprissed these are taking to so long to come out. By now I was kinda hoping & estimating they'd make more PCC limbs that transformed into individual robot modes. like some jets,some dinosaurs,some construction,some more military,some race cars,etc....
basically I wanted to see all the PCC combiners theme sets by hasbro receive the 3rd party limbs bots that transformed into individual robot modes.

by **NamelessOne** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:26 pm

I hunted down a couple of suitable PCCs especially for this, (I didn't have any up til' then), so I'm glad there's been an update..... So price? When? Quickly!!! 8-}

News Credits: 1 · by **rpetras** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 5:03 pm

I'm down with these, but I'm in no hurry to get them.

All my spare $$$ is going to Hercules.

News Credits: 2 · by **Nemesis Destron** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 5:07 pm

Yes holy freakin' crap yes I was hoping these were still on the horizon! I just bought Heavytread for this very reason. Bombshock looked ok but IMHO Heavytread was destined to be the head combiner of these past war machines and they look great so far. Can someone please dig in the back some where for those other images like the ones shown in this post? Those images also showed the 2 fighter planes and Heavytread being used as the core TF, that is if I'm not mistaken about said pics. :VEHI:

by **krenger99** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 6:26 pm

Pure Awesome-Sauce! Simple, yet detailed. Head and shoulders above the Hasbro crap that is the power core combiners series. Are these meant to be sets of two tanks and two planes? I hope they're affordable. There's not much wiggle room for "wants" in my budget, and I want these. :KREMZEEK:

News Credits: 3 · by **Midnight_Fox** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 7:10 pm

krenger99 wrote:Pure Awesome-Sauce! Simple, yet detailed. Head and shoulders above the Hasbro crap that is the power core combiners series. Are these meant to be sets of two tanks and two planes? I hope they're affordable. There's not much wiggle room for "wants" in my budget, and I want these.

That's the plan: 1 German tank, 1 Russian tank, 1 American plane, and 1 Japanese plane, IIRC.

Website · by **RK_Striker_JK_5** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 7:49 pm

I actually bought the PCC this set is supposed to go to, so I'm glad there's more progress here.

by **juxtapose519** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 8:28 pm

Awesome. Reminds me of G1 Guzzle.

News Credits: 1 · by **adamassc** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:07 pm

Damnit, Third party finally got a hook in me. I am so buying this set.

Like funeralthirst7 on Facebook · by **funeralthirst7** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 10:16 pm

So much better than drones. This makes them look like proper combiners, not just some robot with cars for limbs.

News Credits: 5 · by **alexison** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:28 pm

I am all over these. They'll look great with my Heavytread.

by **Rated X** » Mon Nov 07, 2011 11:54 pm

Im loving these guys. They should just make a new torso component and forget about the "combining with Bombshack" concept. Forget about Hasbro's failures and instead capitalize with a better version of Onslaught.

News Credits: 5 · by **alexison** » Tue Nov 08, 2011 12:30 am

Rated X wrote:Im loving these guys. They should just make a new torso component and forget about the "combining with Bombshack" concept. Forget about Hasbro's failures and instead capitalize with a better version of Onslaught.

Have you seen them combined with Heavytread? I think they look great. Much better than with Bombshock(Bruticus homage guy) IMO.

News Credits: 5749 · by **El Duque** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 8:19 pm

We have a few new TFC Toys images to share. First we have a set of Hercules images from the weibo page of jeffyzhong. For those who have been worried about the strength of Hercules' combiner ports, fear not. The first image reveals Hercules supporting the weight of Voyager Class Classics Optimus Prime with his arm straight out. The second image shows how Dr. Crank's crane arm can be removed and used as a weapon if you choose. Last we have an image of the next Hercules figure set for release, Structor (aka Scrapper) in alt mode.

The second set of images comes to us from the Transformers Galaxy Hong Kong Fans Group facebook page. We see prototypes of all four figures WWII PCC replacement limbs in their alt modes. Still no word on when these will become available, but it looks like they are coming along nicely. Image mirrored below.