The Energon Pub

I'm a big fan of RTS Jazz. Looks great in both modes, transformation isn't overly complicated, fully articulated and spot-on for the character. Even has nice integration of the weapons and can deploy the speakers in alt mode for added Geeewunniness!

MP Prowl is pretty great too, if he'd had proper missiles in the package he'd probably be my pick because he does almost everything that RTS Jazz does, but is even more accurate to the character and, being an MP, is a much nicer product in general. There are loads of options though, and a lot of the ones mentioned before this post made me go "oh yeah, he's pretty brill!"

MightyMagnus78 wrote:As an alternative I've always thought TFP First Edition Bulkhead's pretty awesome in both modes, transformation can be a bit tricky.

I was wondering about this guy. Is he the same figure as Voyager RID Bulkhead? Or is TFP First Edition more show accurate?

william-james88 wrote:

MightyMagnus78 wrote:As an alternative I've always thought TFP First Edition Bulkhead's pretty awesome in both modes, transformation can be a bit tricky.

I was wondering about this guy. Is he the same figure as Voyager RID Bulkhead? Or is TFP First Edition more show accurate?

The FE is the much better figure...



The FE is the one on the left.

MightyMagnus78 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

MightyMagnus78 wrote:As an alternative I've always thought TFP First Edition Bulkhead's pretty awesome in both modes, transformation can be a bit tricky.

I was wondering about this guy. Is he the same figure as Voyager RID Bulkhead? Or is TFP First Edition more show accurate?

The FE is the much better figure...



The FE is the one on the left.

Which is a nice way of saying the PRiD is a heaping pile. It REALLY is. I think it might be good as another character...but as Prime Bulkhead? No, a thousand times no.

They look like absolutely totally different characters. It's a bigger difference than TFTM Optimus Prime and HFTD Prime. Or the Voyager equivalents thereof.

Valandar wrote:They look like absolutely totally different characters. It's a bigger difference than TFTM Optimus Prime and HFTD Prime. Or the Voyager equivalents thereof.

Funny you should say that. IDW has used Prime Bulkhead's design for the (newly-made) G1 character with the same name. Repurposing's a-plenty.

Classics Mirage is one of my favorites.

GuyIncognito wrote:Classics Mirage is one of my favorites.

Wow, I just took a look at Mirage and he is beautiful. This gives me an idea to make this thread interesting. Some would give the best design according to class, how about we try by alt mode?
So, as an extra challenge which transformer do you find best by design with the following alt modes:

Jet/Plane:
Racecar (ex: F1, Nascar):
Sports car:
Truck/Train/ATV:
Construction Vehicle:
Helicopter:
Tank :
Weapon:
Base/Planet/City :
Seacraft :
Motorcycle :
Cybertronian land vehicle:
Cybertronian air vehicle :

None of those categories fit some of the cybertronian modes, we can't tell if they're supposed to be land vehicles, air vehicles, or just a robot doing yoga. Case in point, Voyager ROTF The Fallen.

Valandar wrote:None of those categories fit some of the cybertronian modes, we can't tell if they're supposed to be land vehicles, air vehicles, or just a robot doing yoga. Case in point, Voyager ROTF The Fallen.

HA! I have no clue what he was, but then again I wouldnt consider him good design in any way so he wouldnt appear on the list

Did he even transform in the film? Because his "vehicle" mode is just an afterthought.

Valandar wrote:They look like absolutely totally different characters. It's a bigger difference than TFTM Optimus Prime and HFTD Prime. Or the Voyager equivalents thereof.

Cloud Brawn used the FE Bulkhead mold.


WHY?

It would have looked WAY better if they had used the PRID mold.

william-james88 wrote:So, as an extra challenge which transformer do you find best by design with the following alt modes:

Jet/Plane: HFTD Leader class Starscream


Racecar (ex: F1, Nascar): Alternators Smokescreen


Sports car: Human Alliance Jazz


Truck/Train/ATV: Buster Optimus Prime (face plate edition for me)


Construction Vehicle: HFTD voyager Longhaul


Helicopter: DOTM voyager Skyhammer


Tank :voyagers ROTF Bludgeon or HFTD Banzaitron


Weapon: G1 Shockwave


Base/Planet/City : UNICRON (Amazon edition)


Seacraft : HFTD voyager Seaspray


Motorcycle : Animated Oilslick


Cybertronian land vehicle: WFC Bumblebee


Cybertronian air vehicle : Cybertron Starscream (voyager or supreme)


Dinausaur or Dragons: Ages of Extinction VOYAGER Grimlock


I own all of them and I recommend then strongly.

Thank you so much for humouring me, Kanrabat. While building my collection, I want some variety in the designs I have and the alt modes, so your list is great. I still cant believe how many figures from the Hunt for the Decepticon line show up when speaking of great design. Seaspray looks very promising especially since he can interact with Breacher, another cool transformer.

My recent haul gave me a pretty good idea of how great designs for these toys can get. Since I dont have a good enough idea of the different alt mode designs out there (hence my earlier question/challenge) I will give a list of my favourites so far by class:

Supreme: Unicron (any, even Armada)
Leader: ROTF Optimus, amazing how they got it all to fit
Voyager: ROTF Bludgeon, easy pick, I freaked when I opened his backpack
Deluxe: so many great designs in this class but my top right now is a tie between Generations Optimus (WFC), Animated Lockdown and Animated Prowl
Scout: Cybertron Scrap Metal

Hm, hard to pick just a few, but off the top of my head, two of my favorites are Deluxe Warpath and Scout Breacher. They both have very elegant transformations and are flawless in both modes.

How could we forget Warpath?! He just oozes Deluxe Class perfection. Other contenders would be Prime Wheeljack and Arcee. Arcee really nailed the always-difficult Motorbike transformation.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:How could we forget Warpath?! He just oozes Deluxe Class perfection. Other contenders would be Prime Wheeljack and Arcee. Arcee really nailed the always-difficult Motorbike transformation.

When I referred to many great deluxe class figures, I had exactly Prime Wheeljack and Generations Warpath in mind. Wheeljack's transformation is phenomenal, I especially like how his legs and feet transform, and I love the slight automorph effect in Warpath when you push back the cannon.
One of my favourite hauls ever was buying Generations Warpath and Sergeant Kup, and Prime Cliffjumper and Wheeljack, all for 20$. So much greatness. And now that I got generations deluxe springer, I can detach his missile launchers and place them on Warpath!

As for Arcee, I only have the Beast Hunters version. Is the transformation the same?

william-james88 wrote:As for Arcee, I only have the Beast Hunters version. Is the transformation the same?

Exactly the same, as BH Arcee is a retool of the RiD one. The slightly bigger First Edition one is a different mold.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:As for Arcee, I only have the Beast Hunters version. Is the transformation the same?

Exactly the same, as BH Arcee is a retool of the RiD one. The slightly bigger First Edition one is a different mold.

So the RID has a better design than the first edition one?

william-james88 wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:As for Arcee, I only have the Beast Hunters version. Is the transformation the same?

Exactly the same, as BH Arcee is a retool of the RiD one. The slightly bigger First Edition one is a different mold.

So the RID has a better design than the first edition one?

they're different. without having the PRID one I can't say for sure, but looking at pics, I'd say it's a personal preference thing. I don't even see that PRID Bulkhead is that much worse than the FE.

craggy wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:As for Arcee, I only have the Beast Hunters version. Is the transformation the same?

Exactly the same, as BH Arcee is a retool of the RiD one. The slightly bigger First Edition one is a different mold.

So the RID has a better design than the first edition one?

they're different. without having the PRID one I can't say for sure, but looking at pics, I'd say it's a personal preference thing. I don't even see that PRID Bulkhead is that much worse than the FE.

With Bulkhead, you won't see how awful it is until you have it in hand, at which point you'll want to kill it with fire.

craggy wrote:they're different. without having the PRID one I can't say for sure, but looking at pics, I'd say it's a personal preference thing. I don't even see that PRID Bulkhead is that much worse than the FE.

Here's an interesting review that compares both. I preffer more show accurate and in that sense the scale of RID/Beast Hunters Arcee fits better with my other figures

http://ericsyard.blogspot.ca/2012/02/tr ... ts-in.html

thanks, but I don't care all that much. Arcee and Megatron are the only vaguely show-accurate characters I have from Prime and that was because TFSource sent me Arcee as a freebie on some deal or other.

MightyMagnus78 wrote:One of the best figures ever made IMO is the PRID deluxe Vehicon. Virtually flawless in either mode but with an ingenious transformation.

I am guessing its very different from the First Edition one. Its the only one I can find and it doesnt look great.

william-james88 wrote:

MightyMagnus78 wrote:One of the best figures ever made IMO is the PRID deluxe Vehicon. Virtually flawless in either mode but with an ingenious transformation.

I am guessing its very different from the First Edition one. Its the only one I can find and it doesnt look great.

The FE Vehicon is okay, but he's got a massive backpack. The VASTLY superior PRiD Vehicon is utterly flawless.

Ever since it's release, Masterpiece Megatron has always stood out in my mind as a great example of superior design (if you exclude the fact that he's also extremely breakable and unstable).