The Energon Pub

Core class soundwaves better than the siege/netflix figure but I have no need for a small soundwave so I'll be skipping it.

Probably gonna watch the review on the overpriced rodimus to see what kind of things can be placed inside it if nothing else but i'm doubting it can used a bike carrier unless the bikes are legends sized.

I think Emgo does solid reviews. No, I don't need the intro's or outro's, but overall I like the way her reviews.
Now, I'm not Youtube reviewer expert... But reviewing dozens and dozens of TF, I would never expect any of them to come up with fresh lingo/verbiage as they transform figures...
In fact doing as many as they do, I would say the same things a lot as well. Because it just makes sense.

Emgo is positive, and I appreciate that. Sure, he could be more critical, but I'm also confident that he genuinely likes (if not loves) these toys and what he's doing. So assuming this is the case, he's going to lean towards the positive naturally.
I have enough of a brain to figure out what I like and don't like based on what I see; he's not intentionally or unintentionally swaying me.

Criticisms just as important for a review. Emgo criticised Unique toys sworder/mp sandstroms torso and I totally agree on it but it still convinced me to buy and enjoy that figure.

so rodimus trailer does what primes trailer should have done andfd fits deluxes..yet the only thing the video does is convince me I want the SS Hotrod at some point despite the car mode paint (maybe if they do a premium paint version down the line ot replace the yellow roof)

Patriot Prime Reviews is good too. Jobby is the man though, hilarious, but he doesn't post much content.

ZeroWolf wrote:Oh I wasn't saying that was the case for everything, in fact my example was primarily about the Takara Selects stuff that he was attacked over despite in demand toys Shipping those exact same figures.

I still prefer the conspiracy theory though the 'Factory thief' is actually working on behalf of Hasbro to build up hype for certain figures (see how there was no leaks of Rhinox for instance but wreck-gar did leak). Why would Hasbro do this (aside from the hype train?) To get around YouTube T&C of course! They always have plausible deniability. After all it wasn't them who gave the youtuber the figure...it was the thief.

Yes, I'm cynical enough to believe that a corporation would do this in order to manipulate a fandom to make more money. After all I'm betting there's more that don't care these are stolen figures then those that do. By a large margin.

Seeing as how Hasbro and Mattel were the two big companies that reported YouTube to the FCC and caused COPA to happen last year, I'm certain they'd love to see online reviewers and that whole community go away let alone help them.

I'm a big fan of Emgo's. I love his reviews. He does criticize some figures sure, what he doesn't do is overreact to issues or problems with the figures.

He'll tell you if something is wrong, but like with the parts forming dig he'll make fun of you for overreacting to things that aren't all that important in the grand scheme of things.

I also look forward to his skits at the end. That' the best part. I keep trying to predict what he'll do there with each figure. And love his Shockwave voice. It just cracks me up every time.

I watch his reviews to have fun and get a sense of the figure.

By that same token I enjoy DeathReviews for his sarcasm and dry whit.

If you want a condescending douchebag, watch Optibotimus. Stopped watching him a long time ago because he just annoyed the heck out of me.


In regards to Hot Rod's yellow hinge on the roof, minor issue at best. Doesn't really bother me, and in robot mode, its basically gone.

Hard to imagine a Premium Finish version painting the hinge. It's a hinge, its gonna rub off the paint eventually. Maybe casting it in the same color as the rest of the roof would be a better option. Of course then all the other parts that are yellow and share the same sprue, will end up having to be painted. Which is basically just the Spoiler. Every other yellow part I can see doesn't really need to be yellow.

The underside of the hood, the knee hinges, his torso frame.. all those can be left red.

primalxconvoy wrote:There's a plethora of great reviewers out there, and all of them aren't using stolen toys to bolster their ratings. Sure, some might review KO or 3P toys (which might go against the morals of some TF collectors) but at least they usually cite their sources and/or put some genuine effort into their reviews. I have managed to enjoy reviews from China, Japan, the UK, Vietnam, Australia and US, including:

- Benscollectibles/BensKOllectibles
- Mangmotion
- peaugh
- The Lazy Eyebrow
- Toy Polloi
- wotafa
- Bootleg Toys Vietnam (who, ironically, DOESN'T review stolen toys from a nearby factory)
- Bots and Bits
- JobbytheHong (NSFW)
- Kuma Style
- SirToysDotCom
- TheHenshinGuy
- THECOLLECTOR75
- Toyhax.com

I'm sure there are others (I used to watch Optibotimus, and some others).

I think you forgot someone at the top of the list there buddy, pal.

Seibertron wrote:Long story short, we should keep this conversation and news about the actual products instead of debating this issue about factory leaks and YouTube reviewers. If you want to have that debate, please debate it in a separate topic and keep topics about the toys on-topic. Thanks.

Yes.

Sorry, I didn't mean to spark this whole debate. But yes, leaked samples have been around since ebay. I believe the amount of leaks increases and decrease with time (and we're currently at an increase). Even if Hasbro patches up the current avenue, a new one will be formed and they'll continue to trickle out. It's a part of the collecting ecosystem.

With that out of the way...
Do we know when the next announcement from Hasbro will be? I know that next Tuesday will be a TF Tuesday (if the pattern continues) and we'll probably get the Target Exclusives + Jolt and Grindor there, but do we know if there are any major announcements planned currently? Or will we just have to wait for IGN to spring it on us like Wave 2?

Nuclearxpotato wrote:Do we know when the next announcement from Hasbro will be? I know that next Tuesday will be a TF Tuesday (if the pattern continues) and we'll probably get the Target Exclusives + Jolt and Grindor there, but do we know if there are any major announcements planned currently? Or will we just have to wait for IGN to spring it on us like Wave 2?

No clue. I wouldn't expect that many reveals from a TF Tuesday, historically they've only ever had 1-2 figures and always exclusives/Selects (maybe they'll show Toy Colors Galvatron?). They could do a Fan First Friday at any point, as even though Hasbro's promoting this month as being big on GI Joe, they're still doing a Power Rangers FFF this Friday, so that could be where the rest of that SS wave shows up along with probably SG Goldbug. Other than that, I would assume maybe something in the SDCC online stuff later, in terms of Wave 4 and the alleged Wave 5? Or the next wave could be revealed out of nowhere by IGN, like you said, but I feel like that wouldn't get as much attention as Hasbro would want if they did that anytime soon, since E3's on the horizon and I assume that would be IGN's main focus.

Nuclearxpotato wrote:With that out of the way...
Do we know when the next announcement from Hasbro will be? I know that next Tuesday will be a TF Tuesday (if the pattern continues) and we'll probably get the Target Exclusives + Jolt and Grindor there, but do we know if there are any major announcements planned currently? Or will we just have to wait for IGN to spring it on us like Wave 2?

It hasn't really been said, but my money would be on late July or early August for a big reveal. They might continue the formula from last time and dedicate an entire stream to just wave 4 of Kingdom and maybe another Shattered Glass toy tacked on at the end. That "Worlds Collide" box set and some other things we know about from leaks like Terrorsaur will probably get announced separately in Trasformers Tuesdays, like the Battle Across Time sets were.

Munkky wrote:

Nuclearxpotato wrote:With that out of the way...
Do we know when the next announcement from Hasbro will be? I know that next Tuesday will be a TF Tuesday (if the pattern continues) and we'll probably get the Target Exclusives + Jolt and Grindor there, but do we know if there are any major announcements planned currently? Or will we just have to wait for IGN to spring it on us like Wave 2?

It hasn't really been said, but my money would be on late July or early August for a big reveal. They might continue the formula from last time and dedicate an entire stream to just wave 4 of Kingdom and maybe another Shattered Glass toy tacked on at the end. That "Worlds Collide" box set and some other things we know about from leaks like Terrorsaur will probably get announced separately in Trasformers Tuesdays, like the Battle Across Time sets were.

This is what I think will be the case as well, a Hasbro Pulse online event (with IGN getting first dibs on the reveal as per last year)

Speaking of events though, is the Fall Toy Fair looking to go ahead or are they waiting till next year?

ZeroWolf wrote:Speaking of events though, is the Fall Toy Fair looking to go ahead or are they waiting till next year?

A quick Google shows everything is still a go for the Dallas one on Oct. 5th through 7th.

I held off on getting any of the Core Class figures from Kingdom that are simply the G1 characters at a smaller scale until a couple of weeks ago. I picked up Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Starscream to be desk toys for me at work, and I must say, they are way better than I had expected. None of them are absolutely perfect, but for their size and price, they are amazingly well detailed and painted figures with just the right amount of complexity for fun and quick transformations. I'd say Starscream is the best, but Megatron isn't too shabby, and even Optimus Prime is impressive for the umpteenth iteration of basically the same transformation scheme since the original toy line. Each one also does something pretty unexpected and new for their transformations too, like how Starscream's chest splits asymmetrically and his wings rotate between modes, how Megatron's right forearm rotates and how his gun stores in robot mode, and how neatly everything tabs together on Optimus Prime's back. I look forward to adding Soundwave to the collection once Wave 3 hits my area. I hope a few more Autobots come out in the next line to even out the ranks. For now, I've got Core Optimus Prime paired with G1 "Core" Bumblebee from the Buzzworthy Bumblebee line, but he's obviously out of scale with the proper Generations Core Class figures, even if he is shorter than the rest.

Nuclearxpotato wrote:With that out of the way...
Do we know when the next announcement from Hasbro will be? I know that next Tuesday will be a TF Tuesday (if the pattern continues) and we'll probably get the Target Exclusives + Jolt and Grindor there, but do we know if there are any major announcements planned currently? Or will we just have to wait for IGN to spring it on us like Wave 2?

As others have said we have no clue, but I'm assuming since June is dedicated to GI Joe (mostly) as stated by Hasbro, that in the entire month of June TF *may* get 1 selects reveal, and SG Bugbite. I'm expecting a sizable event in July (another FFF, or something like it), to make up for the lack of SDCC. I'm expecting the reminder of SS for the year, and hopefully Kingdom wave 4, and SG Jetfire, but we will see.

Wolfman Jake wrote:I held off on getting any of the Core Class figures from Kingdom that are simply the G1 characters at a smaller scale until a couple of weeks ago. I picked up Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Starscream to be desk toys for me at work, and I must say, they are way better than I had expected. None of them are absolutely perfect, but for their size and price, they are amazingly well detailed and painted figures with just the right amount of complexity for fun and quick transformations. I'd say Starscream is the best, but Megatron isn't too shabby, and even Optimus Prime is impressive for the umpteenth iteration of basically the same transformation scheme since the original toy line. Each one also does something pretty unexpected and new for their transformations too, like how Starscream's chest splits asymmetrically and his wings rotate between modes, how Megatron's right forearm rotates and how his gun stores in robot mode, and how neatly everything tabs together on Optimus Prime's back. I look forward to adding Soundwave to the collection once Wave 3 hits my area. I hope a few more Autobots come out in the next line to even out the ranks. For now, I've got Core Optimus Prime paired with G1 "Core" Bumblebee from the Buzzworthy Bumblebee line, but he's obviously out of scale with the proper Generations Core Class figures, even if he is shorter than the rest.

For me, I wish there was a bit of storyline to "explain" how these figures are "smaller". Obviously, they're not really smaller, as it's just the scale that's changed. However, if they could "explain" that the TFs became "smaller" for (insert reason here), and, say, included a feature that "bulked them up* (such as additional Pretender Shells, Actionmaster Styled accessories and vehicles, etc), then I think Hasbro could be on to a winner...

primalxconvoy wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:I held off on getting any of the Core Class figures from Kingdom that are simply the G1 characters at a smaller scale until a couple of weeks ago. I picked up Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Starscream to be desk toys for me at work, and I must say, they are way better than I had expected. None of them are absolutely perfect, but for their size and price, they are amazingly well detailed and painted figures with just the right amount of complexity for fun and quick transformations. I'd say Starscream is the best, but Megatron isn't too shabby, and even Optimus Prime is impressive for the umpteenth iteration of basically the same transformation scheme since the original toy line. Each one also does something pretty unexpected and new for their transformations too, like how Starscream's chest splits asymmetrically and his wings rotate between modes, how Megatron's right forearm rotates and how his gun stores in robot mode, and how neatly everything tabs together on Optimus Prime's back. I look forward to adding Soundwave to the collection once Wave 3 hits my area. I hope a few more Autobots come out in the next line to even out the ranks. For now, I've got Core Optimus Prime paired with G1 "Core" Bumblebee from the Buzzworthy Bumblebee line, but he's obviously out of scale with the proper Generations Core Class figures, even if he is shorter than the rest.

For me, I wish there was a bit of storyline to "explain" how these figures are "smaller". Obviously, they're not really smaller, as it's just the scale that's changed. However, if they could "explain" that the TFs became "smaller" for (insert reason here), and, say, included a feature that "bulked them up* (such as additional Pretender Shells, Actionmaster Styled accessories and vehicles, etc), then I think Hasbro could be on to a winner...

I think its more to have recognisable characters at that price point, while taking advantage of the scale for characters like Rattrap. I also can't see them ever going the route of accessories or vehicles for core class, I think they were burned from the last time they tried that.

Of course. "My" idea was simply to highlight that they could be a cyst effective way to get "true" Pretenders, etc back into the franchise (and I REALLY hope they, or a third party company starts making some shells for either the existing "CHUG" or legends scaled figures.

And what's this about them getting burnt?

I’ve gone back & forth with Core Class…
Initially I thought getting Megs, Soundwave, & SS would be cool to have at the feet of my CW Devastator…
But when I think of wanting 3 SS86 Sharkticons & 2 Sweeps, $30 is tough to justify for those 3 little guys.
Not to mention, there’s surely going to be something from the last Kingdom wave/first wave of the new line that I’ll want.

primalxconvoy wrote:For me, I wish there was a bit of storyline to "explain" how these figures are "smaller". Obviously, they're not really smaller, as it's just the scale that's changed. However, if they could "explain" that the TFs became "smaller" for (insert reason here), and, say, included a feature that "bulked them up* (such as additional Pretender Shells, Actionmaster Styled accessories and vehicles, etc), then I think Hasbro could be on to a winner...

Yeah, Action Masters is immediately what I thought of when I first read your post, and that would have to be a HARD PASS. I honestly think AM's would not be looked back on with so much hatred, if they in fact existed as a separate line, and did not try to force the continuous story of them sacrificing transformation to be "stronger, faster...." blah blah blah...... I'm not collecting core class, but I'm glad people can enjoy them on their own merit.

I'm excited for little Dracodon, I like that mold, and she will go good with T-Wrecks I think.

as for T-Wrecks, robot mode is disappointing, but I am all about that T-rex mode. I will have him in Dino mode roaring out over my assembled Maximals.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I'm excited for little Dracodon, I like that mold, and she will go good with T-Wrecks I think.

Dracodon is male.

o.supreme wrote:I was watching Death's Review of Core Class Optimus. Not a first to be sure, but it is the first I've seen to compare one of the newer Core class with any of the Previous Legends Class figures...which begs the question...Why the name change? I mean I know this particular size of Transformer disappeared for two years during Siege and ER to focus on Micromasters. But now that it is back (under a new name), it just doesn't seem to make sense. Sure the toys have slightly better engineering and articulation than previous Legends class. But the same could be said for all other toy class sizes, and their names haven't changed. Was it maybe to avoid conflict with another Hasbro line (Marvel Legends?).

I wonder if they took time off from using it so they could repurpose it next year? Next year is "Legacy" so either making a new class or renaming an existing one "Legend" fits right in. I'd be happy if they stopped using ranks for class names, most of the Leaders aren't Leaders, some of the Voyagers ARE leaders, Ultra Magnus is a Leader, but not a Commander even though he's a city commander, it's all dumb. If they wanted rename Commander class to Legend class (because they're so rare) in Legacy I'd be all for it.

Emerje

Good review by emgo.

Hahahaha what a **** joke this Rodimus toy is.

RNSrobot wrote:Good review by emgo.

Hahahaha what a **** joke this Rodimus toy is.

What about it don't you like?

As for my 'burned' comment, I was also referring to the cyberverse playsets they came out with for the Dark of the Moon line/ TF: Prime line. Here in the UK, they ended up at discount shops and stuck around for a while on the shelves. Action Masters speak for themselves