The Energon Pub

I try to avoid posting my actual feelings about Beast Machines in the interests of civility, but even I can see some good in this being THAT Tankor:

As someone pointed out when this rumor surfaced, doing a toy of BM Tankor could confirm him as separate from Rhinox in IDW continuity. I say good riddance to their being the same guy, and look forward to the day when Thrustinator is the only lingering casualty of BM's rancid character-gutting (because he actually is kinda' funny, and some scars shouldn't heal).

Second, in my experience, the first Vehicon toys have proven useful for one purpose: being repainted into the minty-green legions of the G2 Cybertronian army. A new Tankor opens the door to this being done officially, if FunPub ever does G2 Re-Redux. Okay, so maybe I'm the only one who wants that bad enough that I'd actually army-build, but more obscure s#!t's getting made these days.

And finally, assuming part of the point would be greater show-accuracy on a non-puny toy, that always has merit, even if it's accurate to media that should never have existed. I know saying that is tempting fate to see plastic wasted on a toy of The Beast (Within), but in a world where the KO/3rd-party situation has left every fan on either side incapable of sticking to an actual principled position, I have to adhere to at least one principle for my toys to live by.

MINDVVIPE wrote:These sound great, but I really think there isn't too much you could improve on beast machines tankor, other than making him more stable, and maybe a little better propotioned in the arms.

He could stand to be more show-accurate. A LOT more show-accurate.

Otherwise, he's just a Quake Drone as he is.

Unless you meant the smaller Tank Drone toy that was far more show-accurate, but needed to be a lot bigger.

If they did the RhinoxisTankor plot in IDW, it'd feel like they were repeating Shockwave's Shadowplay origin, which would be weird unless they were explicitly tied together.

Mulling over things... Deluxe Tankor = Generations Warpath w/ remolded head and Mechtech buzzsaw weapon recycled from DotM? [Edit: Like Generations FOC Topspin]

Also, for Deluxe Rattrap - a third party company needs to make his little explosives with magnets inside.

Bumblevivisector wrote:As someone pointed out when this rumor surfaced, doing a toy of BM Tankor could confirm him as separate from Rhinox in IDW continuity. I say good riddance to their being the same guy, and look forward to the day when Thrustinator is the only lingering casualty of BM's rancid character-gutting (because he actually is kinda' funny, and some scars shouldn't heal).

Here's something you might enjoy: Rhinox killing Universe Tankor.

Bumblevivisector wrote:Second, in my experience, the first Vehicon toys have proven useful for one purpose: being repainted into the minty-green legions of the G2 Cybertronian army. A new Tankor opens the door to this being done officially, if FunPub ever does G2 Re-Redux. Okay, so maybe I'm the only one who wants that bad enough that I'd actually army-build, but more obscure s#!t's getting made these days.

Well, back in the pre-Fun Pub days, 3H did repurpose the original Tankor toy as a drone army for Quake:

Caelus wrote:Mulling over things... Deluxe Tankor = Generations Warpath w/ remolded head and Mechtech buzzsaw weapon recycled from DotM?

I'd doubt it since the new Deluxes for Generations are smaller than the older ones. Warpath's too big to fit into the current packaging.

Caelus wrote:Also, for Deluxe Rattrap - a third party company needs to make his little explosives with magnets inside.

Have we seen pics of Rattrap and his accessories? Looking at the arsenal the new Skids comes with, I could realistically see Hasbro packing him with every conceivable weapon as an excuse to make the toy smaller; maybe even that rifle Dinobot used in Coming of the Fuzors.

Or would the bombs have to be so small they'd be deemed too great a choking hazard?

Sabrblade wrote:

MINDVVIPE wrote:These sound great, but I really think there isn't too much you could improve on beast machines tankor, other than making him more stable, and maybe a little better propotioned in the arms.

He could stand to be more show-accurate. A LOT more show-accurate.

Otherwise, he's just a Quake Drone as he is.

Unless you meant the smaller Tank Drone toy that was far more show-accurate, but needed to be a lot bigger.

Well, I didn't really know about the Quake Drone thing, and I was talking about that version (I didn't care about show accuracy that much). However, now that you mention it, I thought the smaller, show-accurate version was pretty sweet, and overall better looking. Still, I feel this Tankor should be a voyager, since he was pretty stocky in the show.

MINDVVIPE wrote:However, now that you mention it, I thought the smaller, show-accurate version was pretty sweet, and overall better looking.

Indeed. Of the two releases of that mold, the Beast Wars Returns version had the best deco.

A case of distilled mech-fluid, or, a bottle of Thundercracker Purple - Aged Blended radio-energon, says: Tankor's either a recolor of Shockwave from Prime with Tankor's head, or another Bludgeon retool.

Sabrblade wrote:

MINDVVIPE wrote:However, now that you mention it, I thought the smaller, show-accurate version was pretty sweet, and overall better looking.

Indeed. Of the two releases of that mold, the Beast Wars Returns version had the best deco.

This and the King Kong sized Ultra - (disc-launching) Primal were the best things to come out of the line. Though, it would also be awesome if they released another Metroplex type 80's style playset with Megatron's head. You know, that head head was a great look for a Megatron, too bad it wasn't a giant headmaster that attached to...er, satelite sized body.



http://transformers.wikia.com/wiki/Grand_Mal

a beast machines inspired tankor would be awesome
but im more curious about nightbeat

Tronus_Rex wrote:A case of distilled mech-fluid, or, a bottle of Thundercracker Purple - Aged Blended radio-energon, says: Tankor's either a recolor of Shockwave from Prime with Tankor's head, or another Bludgeon retool.

Better get that energon ready since this Tankor toy's a Deluxe.

Tronus_Rex wrote:This and the King Kong sized Ultra - (disc-launching) Primal were the best things to come out of the line.

But that was a Supreme class toy, not an Ultra.

And not even from the same line, since it came out as a Robots in Disguise toy.

not getting excited or pissed about this yet until i see pics. they all could be repaints.

Given Hasbro's habit of creating molds they can use for at least 2 different charaters, I hope Nightbeat's toy means we're finally getting an updated Minerva as well

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

if Tankor (not the Octane looking dude) is going to keep showing up, along with Rhinox, I'm going to keep pretending he's a reality jumping Renegade from GoBots, because that bloody name. Tankor.

Ratrap could be good, not sure about the other two. If Nightbeat is Geewunny enough I'll probably be happy with him.

craggy wrote:if Tankor (not the Octane looking dude) is going to keep showing up, along with Rhinox, I'm going to keep pretending he's a reality jumping Renegade from GoBots, because that bloody name. Tankor.

Ratrap could be good, not sure about the other two. If Nightbeat is Geewunny enough I'll probably be happy with him.

That observation is far more relevant than many realize as the Go-Bots were a creation of Tonka and then Hanna Barbara which developers at Hasbro/Tomy, & Mainframe Studios were influenced by. It led to the BM series TV show & toyline vehicon asthetic. They counted others influences as well, but that's another discussion for another day.

Tronus_Rex wrote:That observation is far more relevant than many realize as the Go-Bots were a creation of Tonka and then Hanna Barbara which developers at Hasbro/Tomy, & Mainframe Studios were influenced by. It led to the BM series TV show & toyline vehicon asthetic. They counted others influences as well, but that's another discussion for another day.

Citation Needed

Sabrblade wrote:

Tronus_Rex wrote:That observation is far more relevant than many realize as the Go-Bots were a creation of Tonka and then Hanna Barbara which developers at Hasbro/Tomy, & Mainframe Studios were influenced by. It led to the BM series TV show & toyline vehicon asthetic. They counted others influences as well, but that's another discussion for another day.

Citation Needed

Well, poop, after thinking about where I first heard that I finally remembered. It was actually over a decade ago, from either Phil Mitchell or Kelly Daniels, themselves being important people for Mainframe. In 2002/3 I was attending a school, and at a class, we had a guest speaker. The class was either a marketing class, (headed by a former CEO of Swiss Army Watches, no less), or, one of my film related classes, (for a long gone editing application). The speaker had been a key player from Mainframe (& possibly worked at Pixar). I wish I remembered the name, because his face is blurred by memory. It was either Daniels or Mitchell.

One of the topics that, obviously, was addressed was Beast Wars and Beast Machines. Sadly, I don't remember much from the visit. I don't even remember if he worked for Mainframe beyond the founding in the 80's, he did talk about the company founding.

Weather it was Mitchell or Daniels, our speaker knew a good deal about the Reboot TV series, as well as all the TF BW/BM TV production and the relationship to the toy maker. Design decisions did get talked about. Including the mentioning of the Gobots influence on aesthetics for vehicons, Metropolis was another influence on aesthetics, he also talked about what input FoxKids, C.N., and UPN each had on the product.

Thematic influences for the BM show included, (oddly) Der Golem, conformity, fascism, utopias, more than one classic sci-fi author was mentioned, & some other historical bits.

There were also hints at stressful, going-on's with Hasbro & their relationship to the studio, as well as Hasbro's own with Takara.

Licensing was also touched upon.

I have not (yet) found either of these two in any interviews online. My first searches actually started with just looking up Beast Wars & Beast Machines development history. The searches haven't found any hits to verify my insight, but I can try again and revisit this later.

On another note, I am glad that I did not give fenrir72 a hard time for not being to find a reference for his claim about Transformer Prime developers plans to produce only enough for syndication. I was going to argue that 65 episodes is usually not enough for syndication, but network exec's have used shows with even less than 65 episodes before. Anyway, I won't give him a hard time now.

Tronus_Rex wrote:On another note, I am glad that I did not give fenrir72 a hard time for not being to find a reference for his claim about Transformer Prime developers plans to produce only enough for syndication. I was going to argue that 65 episodes is usually not enough for syndication, but network exec's have used shows with even less than 65 episodes before. Anyway, I won't give him a hard time now.

I can give a source for that claim. TF: Prime writer Steven Melching, in this podcast interview.

Sabrblade wrote:

Tronus_Rex wrote:On another note, I am glad that I did not give fenrir72 a hard time for not being to find a reference for his claim about Transformer Prime developers plans to produce only enough for syndication. I was going to argue that 65 episodes is usually not enough for syndication, but network exec's have used shows with even less than 65 episodes before. Anyway, I won't give him a hard time now.

I can give a source for that claim. TF: Prime writer Steven Melching, in this podcast interview.

I think you two are going to get along famously.

Poor Octane. His name losing meaning... :/

Man I hope this means I can replace my TFCC Nightbeat

Crosscut is confirmed in the Dark Cybertron #1 Deluxe Edition script pages. He got ripped out of making an appearance in 1 and won't show up until around 7.

So the only one mostly unconfirmed is Nightbeat, but given that he shows up in Dark Cybertron Issue 2, I think it's a safe bet this wave is happening.