The Energon Pub

WeatherManNX01 wrote:A far, far better rendition of the character than Cheetor is, especially since Tigatron actually gets his gun!

The twinges of off-white look a bit odd, almost like he was left out in the sun and discolored. I guess it's accurate to the original toy, but it just looks...off. I'd prefer all white.

Lol, I agree. My Airhawk figure has the same discolorations from sitting in front of a picture window throughout my college years. And yes, I know white tigers are leucastic forms of their orange counterparts, but maybe more of a brown rather than the yellow that old plastic gets would’ve worked better.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:HASBRO HAS NOT, DOES NOT, AND NEVER WILL GIVE OUT REVIEW SAMPLES MONTHS OR WEEKS BEFORE A FIGURE IS RELEASED TO MARKET.

Not true about the "has not" part, I know this first hand as they sent me CW May Mayhem Quickslinger and Brake-Neck (as well as all the figures to build Motormaster and Superion including Alpha Bravo and Offroad) to promote the online exclusives ahead of release. They also sent me the SDCC exclusive Combiner Hunters set and Kreon '85 set ahead of SDCC 2015. Seibertron/Ryan has received sever exclusives early for review as well. Of course things change and they use a different PR company now than they did then and the current one seems to prefer sending out big boxes of stuff that's already out rather than a few things early.

The last thing Hasbro wants is to reveal flaws, issues, and other problems with a mold before it's on a shelf and no longer their problem. Imagine a reviewer got a FULLY FINISHED READY TO SHIP AND SELL Tracks figure with those horrible legs and that review made it all over the net before Target and Walmart had the figures out to sell, most people would pass on it because they wouldn't want to bother trying to fix it and parents wouldn't want to deal with their children's complaints.

You're over estimating how much Hasbro cares about reviews of retail figures. You know why Hasbro hasn't been making a huge effort to stop reviews of stolen figures? It's because ultimately reviews don't have a huge impact on retail. And it would be foolish for Hasbro to even try to prevent such reviews since these figures are already on shelves in Asia a month before they show up in North America. They'd at best delay them by a month before legitimately bought reviews from Asia are made. And yet fans still buy anything and everything including in many cases things they know aren't good. And surely you don't really think parents are watching or reading reviews a month before a toy is released before buying it for their kid, that just isn't a thing that happens unless they're already a fan themselves.

Frankly, I've always believed that Hasbro rated out YouTube to the FTC and caused that whole COPA thing as a backhanded way to get rid of video reviewers, there's brand loyalty for you.

You mean COPPA, and toy reviews were just unfortunate collateral damage from a legit attempt at protecting children online, what could Hasbro have possibly said that would have lead to that unpredictable result?

Emerje

So, wave 3 Deluxes aren't very good. Haven't opened Wingfinger yet so maybe that isn't an entirely accurate statement, but Tracks and Scorponok are very problematic.

My Tracks has one good left leg and one very loose right leg. And I don't mean a loose hip or knee, I'm talking about every moving part and panel being loose. Aside from the obvious reasons that's bad it's doubled down on by the much of the lower leg being held together by nothing more than friction. The right side of the leg just spins around freely and that's the part the foot is connected! Plus the transformation of the legs is very convoluted with lots of moving parts for no real reason and the only part that locks in in any way is at the knee. Car mode is almost good, but the front fender panels refuse to hold together on either side leaving an unsightly gap on each side. They really overengineered this figure to death.

Meanwhile, on the flipside, Scorponok is severely UNDERengineered. I transformed him without instructions and thought there was no way I did this right because I had such a mess of half opened panels and parts not hiding like I thought they should. But no, I had done it exactly right according to the instructions. You put his arms up, open his chest, slightly bend his head down (not all the way, you aren't hiding it), turn his waist 90 degrees, bend on of his legs at the knee and stick it in his chest, close his chest against the leg (not over it, you aren't hiding it), take the other leg and stick it in the massive open space in the back of his tail. Somewhere in there you're pulling the scorpion head over the front and rearranging the scorpion legs. It's stupid that his chest is so big and square and it ISN'T so you can tuck stuff inside, it stays open in scorpion mode and closed in bot mode, there's just no excuse for it just like there's no excuse for a very obvious leg to be running up the back of the scorpion. It has to be the most overly rushed figure to come out in WFC, it just isn't fun.

Bottom 5 WFC figures so far for me:

5) Core Class Megatron
4) Alicon
3) Tracks
2) Arcee
1) BW Scorponok

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:HASBRO HAS NOT, DOES NOT, AND NEVER WILL GIVE OUT REVIEW SAMPLES MONTHS OR WEEKS BEFORE A FIGURE IS RELEASED TO MARKET.

Not true about the "has not" part, I know this first hand as they sent me CW May Mayhem Quickslinger and Brake-Neck (as well as all the figures to build Motormaster and Superion including Alpha Bravo and Offroad) to promote the online exclusives ahead of release. They also sent me the SDCC exclusive Combiner Hunters set and Kreon '85 set ahead of SDCC 2015. Seibertron/Ryan has received sever exclusives early for review as well. Of course things change and they use a different PR company now than they did then and the current one seems to prefer sending out big boxes of stuff that's already out rather than a few things early.

The last thing Hasbro wants is to reveal flaws, issues, and other problems with a mold before it's on a shelf and no longer their problem. Imagine a reviewer got a FULLY FINISHED READY TO SHIP AND SELL Tracks figure with those horrible legs and that review made it all over the net before Target and Walmart had the figures out to sell, most people would pass on it because they wouldn't want to bother trying to fix it and parents wouldn't want to deal with their children's complaints.

You're over estimating how much Hasbro cares about reviews of retail figures. You know why Hasbro hasn't been making a huge effort to stop reviews of stolen figures? It's because ultimately reviews don't have a huge impact on retail. And it would be foolish for Hasbro to even try to prevent such reviews since these figures are already on shelves in Asia a month before they show up in North America. They'd at best delay them by a month before legitimately bought reviews from Asia are made. And yet fans still buy anything and everything including in many cases things they know aren't good. And surely you don't really think parents are watching or reading reviews a month before a toy is released before buying it for their kid, that just isn't a thing that happens unless they're already a fan themselves.

Frankly, I've always believed that Hasbro rated out YouTube to the FTC and caused that whole COPA thing as a backhanded way to get rid of video reviewers, there's brand loyalty for you.

You mean COPPA, and toy reviews were just unfortunate collateral damage from a legit attempt at protecting children online, what could Hasbro have possibly said that would have lead to that unpredictable result?

Emerje

This ^

We also know that In Demand Toys have sent out early Toys as well and are the ones who gave PvP the Selects Abominus (or should I say, he got it from them as they had them before all other western retailers by virtue of their provider. Remember Singapore and that part of Asia get most of these first.

Chuck has a very valid point. There's a big difference between reviewers getting figures early and owners/staff of fan sites getting figures early FROM HASBRO. But whatever suits your narrative I guess.

Funny thing is that end game of both is hype for the toys, only negative "early" review I can think of is Earthrise Ratchet, which I think was TonTon, in which case he bought it locally from a shop in Hong Kong*

* this is assuming that my memories are playing ball which, thanks to Covid, is not something I take for granted.

Anyway, I don't think I shared thoughts on Tigatron, and those thoughts are as follows:

Love it, this is a case where shared transformation schemes completely works, especially still allowing the characters to be themselves. I'm glad he came out okay, and it certainly looks like the Ravage head is unique to that Decepticon turned pred

Final nail on this "stolen figures" coffin, ever notice that every reviews of third party figures or unlicensed originals are NEVER from "early samples" and are always made when those toys are out at international retails?


Anyway, this phenomenon will never stop and the poor dead horse is now just a smear on the ground at this point.

Not good to hear about tracks as he's one of a few wfc figures that I prefer alt modes over classics but I'd still like a Tf with two modes to have two good modes

Scorponoks on my maybe list as it could be forever and a day before a MP version. Wingfinger going to be a must with a transmutate and the overpriced hasbro pulse fossil guy ordered for the full combined mode.

Emerje wrote:Car mode is almost good, but the front fender panels refuse to hold together on either side leaving an unsightly gap on each side.

I don't know how much it bugs you but one of the people I know who got Tracks was able to get the front fenders to hold with a lot of pressure and a couple of weird clicks. I'm skipping Tracks but I know when Road Rage's listing will go up I'm preordering just because I love her. Hopefully the different paint makes the legs a little better since it's all friction and no tabs

Sowndwave76 wrote:Just a little fyi...
If you're like me and skipped Arcee, Walmart has her listed for $10!!
I don't think anyone can realistically ask for a better price. Got 1, and now will be looking into an upgrade kit for her.

I got her for 7$ USD and still havent decided to take her out of the box. I just hate that damn toy.

Razorbeast88 wrote:I regret not getting T30 arcee instead of this one tbh

Just wondering but are you new to collecting? Like only been around for a year or 2? Because that T30 one was available for years on BBTS for retail price. You could get her and chromia for 30$ together. Was a great deal, but I guess fans didnt want that toy much since they stayed in BBTS' warehouse, never being bought.

Emerje wrote:So, wave 3 Deluxes aren't very good. Haven't opened Wingfinger yet so maybe that isn't an entirely accurate statement, but Tracks and Scorponok are very problematic.

This is super sad, I knew tracks was not great but didn't know he was terrible. Also, I too think Core Megatron sucks.

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:So, wave 3 Deluxes aren't very good. Haven't opened Wingfinger yet so maybe that isn't an entirely accurate statement, but Tracks and Scorponok are very problematic.

This is super sad, I knew tracks was not great but didn't know he was terrible. Also, I too think Core Megatron sucks.

Scorponok's beast mode legs pop off easily but he is otherwise pretty decent. Tracks is the worse of the two because of his leg transformation and a minor QC problem: the transformation involves the rotation of the other panel with the foot (i.e. the feet are not connected to the main legs), but they do not peg in place properly plus the joint is too weak. In fact, the reviewer wotafa who is very meticulous can't keep him standing because of those problems. Tracks also suffers from a PotP Jazz problem in which much of the vehicle is a clear plastic shell.

william-james88 wrote:

Razorbeast88 wrote:I regret not getting T30 arcee instead of this one tbh

Just wondering but are you new to collecting? Like only been around for a year or 2? Because that T30 one was available for years on BBTS for retail price. You could get her and chromia for 30$ together. Was a great deal, but I guess fans didnt want that toy much since they stayed in BBTS' warehouse, never being bought.

Yes and no haha I grew up with unicron trilogy and bayverse/Animated so I collected some of those but I mainly focused on getting beast wars figures (that were sadly right before my time). Then in high school I told myself I was done collecting because I was ashamed to still be playing with toys and sadly got rid of a lot of them (and thankfully kept several too). That was around the time of generations Kup and Scourge I think, right around T30 or right before. Then with titans return on the way out and power of the primes on the way in I started up again because I'd visit this site to see reveals once in awhile

Before deciding to get Kingdom Arcee I was deciding between that one and T30 version, as I saw the deal on BBTS you spoke of. But after watching the review for Chromia I really wasn't impressed and although it would've been a sweet deal just paying a few extra bucks for another figure it would've been a waste because I didn't like that figure. I'd rather wait for the rumored legacy Prime Arcee and pass her off as Chromia.

When between kingdom and T30, I saw kingdom for about $19 and T30 for about $24-25. And I told myself at the time I wouldn't play with arcee as much as others so saving a few bucks wouldn't be a big deal, kingdom arcee has better arm articulation and I like the hoverboard thing, and T30s swords were too chonky.

But now looking back, I want Arcee to have swords, T30 has a better vehicle mode, kingdom has a terrible transformation and the barely working swivel at the head pisses me off. That being said I plan to give her the hammer that comes with DNA Magnus upgrade and if that doesn't look good I'll get an upgrade kit with swords or something


Pretty much I convinced myself that kingdom arcee was good enough to save some money and it backfired

It's too bad the Chromia review turned you off on the mold. I think it's good, and she's my preferred chromia over the Siege one we got.

william-james88 wrote:It's too bad the Chromia review turned you off on the mold. I think it's good, and she's my preferred chromia over the Siege one we got.

Her alt mode is pretty cool and I definitely prefer her over siege version as well. I just wasn't attached enough to the character and I don't remember if it was the arms or backpack that bothered me, though normally I don't care much about backpacks. Had I not been buying so many other figures at the time and right now, my decision would've been different for sure. But like I said I think I'll use prime arcee as an updated chromia, not sure if thats blasphemy haha but siege chromia mold definitely felt neglected. She's pretty badass and I like that she was a sniper in the Netflix series

Burn wrote:Chuck has a very valid point. There's a big difference between reviewers getting figures early and owners/staff of fan sites getting figures early FROM HASBRO. But whatever suits your narrative I guess.

But that was Chuck's point, not mine. He said Hasbro has never sent out review samples early, but that simply isn't true. I wasn't getting special treatment, they were sending these out to a bunch of reviewers to hype up the new line. I don't know what their criteria was for who they sent stuff out to, maybe they weren't sending stuff to YouTube reviewers at the time (which is dumb because any of them would have gotten way more than my 1K average views that's for sure), maybe that's why they dumped Hunter PR not long after and I couldn't get their new PR group to return my emails, no idea. All I know is it did happen.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:Scorponok's beast mode legs pop off easily but he is otherwise pretty decent.

I just don't understand his engineering and why they had to make him look the way he does with that big boxy torso. Nothing goes inside his chest, it doesn't even have to open all the way. Having the scorpion mode sit on one of his bot legs is very clumsy, it's like they didn't know what to do with it. Having the other leg go inside the tail not only looks terrible from behind, but also makes the articulation at the base of the tail unusable. Aside from a joint at the top of the tail that isn't useful and a ball jointed stinger (not nearly as cool as the bladed stinger of the original) the tail is just a static piece. I feel like there was a lot of ways they could have designed him and they settled on the easiest and most contrived. I haven't had any issues with the scorpion legs falling off so that's something.

Anyway, this was a surprise today:



I thought for sure the next time Hasbro emailed me it was going to be to say they canceled my order after multiple delay approvals, sure didn't expect a shipping notice!

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Anyway, this was a surprise today:

Capture.JPG

I thought for sure the next time Hasbro emailed me it was going to be to say they canceled my order after multiple delay approvals, sure didn't expect a shipping notice!

Emerje

Sweet Jeebus, I can't wait for this and the Ark to ship from Amazon!

I used gift cards so the Ark is paid and I got like 17 bucks left on Rodimus. They can ship anytime without hurting my wallet and I think Rodimus is going to be a very fun figure, both posing and transforming.

Apparently Rodimus has shown up at Target in the U.S. which is a nice surprise. If I can find it before Amazon gets it in stock, I'll pick it up.

*Edit- Apparently the Ark was found also. Good to know Target is carrying both 2021 big ticket Transformers. I imagine they will be quite hard to find though.

Let the Hunt Begin!

o.supreme wrote:Apparently Rodimus has shown up at Target in the U.S. which is a nice surprise. If I can find it before Amazon gets it in stock, I'll pick it up.

*Edot- Apparently the Ark was found also. Good to know Target is carrying both 2021 big ticket Transformers. I imagine they will be quite hard to find though.

Let the Hunt Begin!

Hopefully their distribution for the Ark isn't as hit or miss as it was for Scorponok. I missed out on ordering from Amazon and Target doesn't let you use gift cards on pre-orders for some reason (but coupons remain A-OK!). If I find one locally I'll convert my Bing points to $50 in Target gift cards; if I find it comes in stock on Amazon first or they start taking pre-orders again I'll convert to Amazon gift cards. Honestly I didn't expect the Ark to be as big of a seller as it has been, I thought it was too odd and too out of scale to sell well. We'll see.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Hopefully their distribution for the Ark isn't as hit or miss as it was for Scorponok.

Unfortunately I don't anticipate it being any better. Fortunately I do have Ark Pre-Orders on both BBTS and Amazon. If I can get it at retail first though...that would be nice. Brickseek was an amazing help for me getting Scorponok last year from Target, though I had to fight with 2 levels of Management to get it out of the back of the one store in my area that had it. .

I've heard (and it appears however), that Brickseek isn't as reliable anymore,. even with the DPCI's from Target.

It's odd looking back a year ago. Because our wedding anniversary is in late July, I recall that by the end of July this time last year, I had both Skylynx and Scorponok in-hand. At the same time however, regular ER wave 2 was still not out yet. This year however, regular Kingdom Wave 3 is starting to trickle out, but most people will not get the CC or Titan until August/September.

I know a lot of people want to just say "Pandemic" and call it a day, but I believe it is more complicated than that. We have become accustomed to both CC and Titans coming out in "Summer". But as for exactly when, that can vary.

Siege Omega Supreme was (mercifully) delayed until fall 2019 because it didn't pass the drop test. As he is my favorite character/Titan, I appreciate the extra time to develop it correctly so there were no QC issues. Not sure how Scorponok got released so relatively quickly, though i did hear there were some QC issues (missing parts etc) on some copies. the ramp section on mine has some major stress marks, so I am just super careful with it.

The Ark appears to be the simplest Titan yet (from a design standpoint), but I am still looking forward to adding it to my collection.

o.supreme wrote:

Emerje wrote:Hopefully their distribution for the Ark isn't as hit or miss as it was for Scorponok.

Unfortunately I don't anticipate it being any better. Fortunately I do have Ark Pre-Orders on both BBTS and Amazon. If I can get it at retail first though...that would be nice. Brickseek was an amazing help for me getting Scorponok last year from Target, though I had to fight with 2 levels of Management to get it out of the back of the one store in my area that had it. .

I've heard (and it appears however), that Brickseek isn't as reliable anymore,. even with the DPCI's from Target.

It's odd looking back a year ago. Because our wedding anniversary is in late July, I recall that by the end of July this time last year, I had both Skylynx and Scorponok in-hand. At the same time however, regular ER wave 2 was still not out yet. This year however, regular Kingdom Wave 3 is starting to trickle out, but most people will not get the CC or Titan until August/September.

I know a lot of people want to just say "Pandemic" and call it a day, but I believe it is more complicated than that. We have become accustomed to both CC and Titans coming out in "Summer". But as for exactly when, that can vary.

Siege Omega Supreme was (mercifully) delayed until fall 2019 because it didn't pass the drop test. As he is my favorite character/Titan, I appreciate the extra time to develop it correctly so there were no QC issues. Not sure how Scorponok got released so relatively quickly, though i did hear there were some QC issues (missing parts etc) on some copies. the ramp section on mine has some major stress marks, so I am just super careful with it.

The Ark appears to be the simplest Titan yet (from a design standpoint), but I am still looking forward to adding it to my collection.

I never heard of the drop test issue with Supreme, where did you hear that?

william-james88 wrote:I never heard of the drop test issue with Supreme, where did you hear that?

From a facebook video in Japanese:

https://www.facebook.com/TransformersNe ... 548832452/

o.supreme wrote:

Emerje wrote:Hopefully their distribution for the Ark isn't as hit or miss as it was for Scorponok.

Unfortunately I don't anticipate it being any better. Fortunately I do have Ark Pre-Orders on both BBTS and Amazon. If I can get it at retail first though...that would be nice. Brickseek was an amazing help for me getting Scorponok last year from Target, though I had to fight with 2 levels of Management to get it out of the back of the one store in my area that had it. .

I've heard (and it appears however), that Brickseek isn't as reliable anymore,. even with the DPCI's from Target.

Well it looks like miracles can still happen, my wife and daughter just reported finding The Ark at our local Target, happy anniversary indeed

So I am happy to report that Brickseek still does work with Target DPCI 087-16-4340 for the Ark if anyone is interested. (Looks like 3 of the 10 stores in my area might have got one case this morning)

Rodimus Prime is 087-16-4302. still no stores in my area show him in stock.

Cool, thanks for posting that. Looks like there aren't any in Maine yet.

Emerje

We have news that Transformers War for Cybertron Kingdom Titan Ark and Commander Rodimus Prime have been found at US retail. They were both found at Target. O.Supreme's family found the Ark and Instagram user @inpursuitoftoys found Rodimus at a Target in Arizona. O.Supreme used Brickseek in his quest, here is what he posted:

o.supreme wrote:Well it looks like miracles can still happen, my wife and daughter just reported finding The Ark at our local Target.
So I am happy to report that Brickseek still does work with Target DPCI 087-16-4340 for the Ark if anyone is interested. (Looks like 3 of the 10 stores in my area might have got one case this morning)
Rodimus Prime is 087-16-4302.

If you have found them, share your sightings with our community in the sightings section and on our boards in your region related thread.

So Target has the Ark in some stores, but keeps delaying shipping my preorder?

Booooo.