The Energon Pub

What do you think they will do with the combiners in the future, especially for the Generations line?

Should their alt modes be Cybertronian or Earth Mode?

What size should the combiners be?
For reference we have seen:
Abominus – 5 Cyberverse
Energon Aerialbots – 4 scouts/basics, 1 deluxe
Combaticons – 5 deluxes

Silverbolt and Onslaught got non-combining figures. Additionally, there were some repaints such as Blades and Hot Spot. Takara released Drag Strip and Vortex. They are running out of characters for the Generations line that aren’t combiners, sure we’ve gotten multiple Optimus Primes, so they can always redo some, but unless the Combaticons didn’t sell well they must be working on the other gestalt groups. Are there any rumors and what do you think that they should do?

Combiners, especially the Scramble Type, are really hard to design within Hasbro and TakaraTomy's strict limits on price points.

FoC Bruticus and BH Abominus... Abominus isn't bad given its simplicity, can't comment on Bruticus. But the decision of making all components the same size (Which I understand) works against the overall looks, especially in the hands and torso department. When all components have to be the same size, 3 and 6 are the magic numbers, but we only have 7 combiners with that number, mainly Japanese:

- Raiden
- Devastator
- Landcross
- Road Caesar
- Liokaiser
- Monstructor / Dinoking
- Rail Racer

I'd love for them to try Monstructor: he's simple, non-scramble, all are the same size and he's attained status thanks to the comics.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Combiners, especially the Scramble Type, are really hard to design within Hasbro and TakaraTomy's strict limits on price points.

FoC Bruticus and BH Abominus... Abominus isn't bad given its simplicity, can't comment on Bruticus. But the decision of making all components the same size (Which I understand) works against the overall looks, especially in the hands and torso department. When all components have to be the same size, 3 and 6 are the magic numbers, but we only have 7 combiners with that number, mainly Japanese:

- Raiden
- Devastator
- Landcross
- Road Caesar
- Liokaiser
- Monstructor / Dinoking
- Rail Racer

I'd love for them to try Monstructor: he's simple, non-scramble, all are the same size and he's attained status thanks to the comics.

oh, and the Samurai and Shinobi teams from TF Go!

Honestly?

Third-party companies for me.

Hasbro lost their chance to make proper combiners eons ago. The likes of Devastator, Superion and other combiners have already been released by 3rd Party companies. And they're of better quality than Hasbro will ever be, perhaps ever again.

If FoC Bruticus is any indication as to the quality and future of combiners, then I'd say Hasbro blew it.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
I'd love for them to try Monstructor: he's simple, non-scramble, all are the same size and he's attained status thanks to the comics.

I'm pretty surprised that a repaint of the Cyberverse Abominus didn't get released as Monstructor. I know you're going to say that Monstructor has six parts, and I've just demonstrated that I know that, but they could have reused the name, and frankly, I think the Cyberverse Abominus was probably the best chance to do that right now.

thedistinctroom wrote:Hasbro lost their chance to make proper combiners eons ago. The likes of Devastator, Superion and other combiners have already been released by 3rd Party companies. And they're of better quality than Hasbro will ever be, perhaps ever again.

If FoC Bruticus is any indication as to the quality and future of combiners, then I'd say Hasbro blew it.

I don't own any third party figures just yet, but based on what I've seen in pictures and the FoC Bruticus that I do own, I have to agree with this. I like FoC Bruticus, and I like the Energon combiners, but unless Hasbro has some stuff hidden away in their skunkworks that no one on the outside has ever seen before, the third parties are running away with the combiner designs. Sure, Hasbro could catch up in the future, but not anytime soon given what their direction right now seems to be.

Dagon wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
I'd love for them to try Monstructor: he's simple, non-scramble, all are the same size and he's attained status thanks to the comics.

I'm pretty surprised that a repaint of the Cyberverse Abominus didn't get released as Monstructor. I know you're going to say that Monstructor has six parts, and I've just demonstrated that I know that, but they could have reused the name, and frankly, I think the Cyberverse Abominus was probably the best chance to do that right now.

Especially considering at least one Monster Pretender got homaged: Icepick,

as much as I like what I've seen of third party combiners, I've yet to own one aside from the FP Bruticus add-ons. Honestly, if Hasbro were to knock out another combiner (say a Devastator) in the Generations line, I'd be tempted to pick it up. Passed on the FOC Combaticons, because I don't need 2 Brutici and the FOC ones had weird colours at retail (not that I seen them in shops). Am interested in the Wreckers set, because that'll give me some more generic bots (hardly any of them will be the characters named on the box in my collection) plus they look better as a set and they come with more guns, but again, never seen them in stores.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Dagon wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
I'd love for them to try Monstructor: he's simple, non-scramble, all are the same size and he's attained status thanks to the comics.

I'm pretty surprised that a repaint of the Cyberverse Abominus didn't get released as Monstructor. I know you're going to say that Monstructor has six parts, and I've just demonstrated that I know that, but they could have reused the name, and frankly, I think the Cyberverse Abominus was probably the best chance to do that right now.

Especially considering at least one Monster Pretender got homaged: Icepick,

Which one would have been Icepick, and why is it an homage to him and not the Terrorcons that the BH Abominus are based on?

Dagon wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Dagon wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
I'd love for them to try Monstructor: he's simple, non-scramble, all are the same size and he's attained status thanks to the comics.

I'm pretty surprised that a repaint of the Cyberverse Abominus didn't get released as Monstructor. I know you're going to say that Monstructor has six parts, and I've just demonstrated that I know that, but they could have reused the name, and frankly, I think the Cyberverse Abominus was probably the best chance to do that right now.

Especially considering at least one Monster Pretender got homaged: Icepick,

Which one would have been Icepick, and why is it an homage to him and not the Terrorcons that the BH Abominus are based on?

He's homaged in a repaint of Blight:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Dagon wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:
Especially considering at least one Monster Pretender got homaged: Icepick,

Which one would have been Icepick, and why is it an homage to him and not the Terrorcons that the BH Abominus are based on?

He's homaged in a repaint of Blight:

Eh, I think that works as an homage if you're trying to make it work, color scheme wise. I agree the robot mode is pretty Icepicky, but that teal or whatever color it is, the "all spark blue" barely used doesn't say homage to a character who was mostly that color. I could see that one being a decent Icepick stand in though, for sure.

I'd like small, cheap Combiners myself. Abominus worked a lot better than Bruticus (or at least all Abominus' flaws were acceptable due to the size class's inherent limitation), and it'd be much easier/cheaper to get alternative limbs, etc..
Shoot, just repaint the Terrorcon team a couple more times, I'd happily buy those (well, depending on availability, distinctiveness from previous recolors, etc.).

Also, giftsets are a MUST. I know I couldn't find a full set of anything at stores.


I assume, since Bruticus sold out fast anytime he appeared online (at least at first), Hasbro's at least seriously considering more Deluxe-scaled Combiners. No clue if that'll even pan out or anything, and I'd imagine they'd want/need whatever show to support it, so it probably wouldn't be strictly classic G1 updates. Shoot, the way these recent Movie exclusives are going they may repaint Tripredacus if the Insecticons become a thing.
Classic gestalts being rather uniform in color and alt modes might be "too similar" for retailers... then again they accepted Endless Dragons, Endless Dinosaurs, and Endless Cars, so...


And then there are the Kreons, who've already covered 13 combiners so far. Dunno what they're planning there, though; they went from all the US G1 cartoon guys (with each successive wave getting smaller) to a bunch of completely new bots (and back to a "full" wave at that).

Boy, I rambled far more than I thought I would...

Noideaforaname wrote:I'd like small, cheap Combiners myself. Abominus worked a lot better than Bruticus (or at least all Abominus' flaws were acceptable due to the size class's inherent limitation), and it'd be much easier/cheaper to get alternative limbs, etc..
Shoot, just repaint the Terrorcon team a couple more times, I'd happily buy those (well, depending on availability, distinctiveness from previous recolors, etc.).

Also, giftsets are a MUST. I know I couldn't find a full set of anything at stores.


I assume, since Bruticus sold out fast anytime he appeared online (at least at first), Hasbro's at least seriously considering more Deluxe-scaled Combiners. No clue if that'll even pan out or anything, and I'd imagine they'd want/need whatever show to support it, so it probably wouldn't be strictly classic G1 updates. Shoot, the way these recent Movie exclusives are going they may repaint Tripredacus if the Insecticons become a thing.
Classic gestalts being rather uniform in color and alt modes might be "too similar" for retailers... then again they accepted Endless Dragons, Endless Dinosaurs, and Endless Cars, so...

....
Boy, I rambled far more than I thought I would...

I cut a few lines out, but I'm with you on these things. I'm not sure I personally want a slew of Terrorcon repaints, but I like the cheaper, smaller combiner idea. I also like the giftset idea, but I'm sure they don't do that because of price considerations. If giftsets were always store exclusives, then maybe that would work, but a five member combiner team giftset, realistically, would run 45-50$.

I don't know about you, but I got that Big ass Target Predaking on clearance for like $13. I don't think the $45-60 price point is really doing all that well at retail, or well enough that stores would order cases of them. I totally agree that it's probably the best idea, but I just don't know how feasible it would be for the stores.

I'd buy a deluxe size gestalt team set at $50 no problem. (assuming I liked them enough to buy at all, that is)

and there's a few repaints of the TFP Terrorcons, but I'd like to get at least another Hun-Grr, Cutthroat and Sinnertwin in alternate colours. So many Rippersnappers and Blots.

Nice breakdown JelZe, interesting and informative.

I agree with Craggy on the price point. I would be happy with an Energon sized Generations Gestalt team for around $50, in a gift set. Abominus is too small for me. Overall I am happy with FOC Bruticus and Ruination, but for the price, availability, and their inherent issues that blue print is not my top choice for future designs.

I would like them to take the Energon blueprint, improve where possible and just Generation them up. The size of the toys would fit well enough. In the cartoons, the limbs were the same size as the average sized bots and the torsos were just a little bigger. Now the torso bots would be deluxe and the limbs just a little smaller. That would fit the size of the G1 toys, as well, more or less.

Man, I don't know. After I posted this I thought: would I really want Air Raid, Drag Strip, etc. as a scout sized Transformer. That might not be right.

I lost all hope after FOC Bruticus.

fenrir72 wrote:I lost all hope after FOC Bruticus.

Transformers designs are a funny beast. Sometimes it seems we're doomed and then we go and get something sublime. This is a company that gives us toys like Cybertron Backstop and Movie Breacher at the same price point, so I wouldn't be all that surprised to see a really nice, affordable combiner come out of them sometime in the future.

My ideal 5-man team combiner would be a voyager 'torso' with Deluxe limbs. I'd even settle for a Deluxe torso and Scout limbs. But the odds of all that? Nonexistant.