BotCon 2013 Machine Wars Megaplex Revealed

So is he a clone of Megatron, or does he just share some personality traits? I'm confused. Sometimes I think they're using a customized version of Mad Libs to write these bios.

Ok, I retract my statement of Prime molds being too recent for use.

This really caught me by surprise, Prime Dreadwing of all things. But no new head mold? I was really hoping for one, but it seems that 4 is the limit for this set. It does work in fiction a bit though, as Wings Jhiaxus has made clones of G1 characters before, but with G2 Gobot (aka RiD Spychanger) bodies who looked anything but the real deal.

...

Prime Dreadwing? They used an 6-month-old toy?

My only complaint is the lack of the Megatron head. I know four heads is the limit, but only Strika and maybe Hoist have really appealed to me thus far.

This set is doing absolutely nothing for me.

This set is kinda all over the place. It's Machine Wars, but they've included a few Beast Machine characters, and they're using molds from Movieverse, Classics, and now Prime.

Noideaforaname wrote:This set is kinda all over the place. It's Machine Wars, but they've included a few Beast Machine characters, and they're using molds from Movieverse, Classics, and now Prime.

Regarding the molds, what else could they have done? All they had to work with were post-UT molds.

no no no no no...

PrymeStriker wrote:...

Prime Dreadwing? They used an 6-month-old toy?

Yeah, I thought there had to be a gap between the release of a mold and when they can use it. Did they pay extra or something for this mold?

This set is reminding me of a bad poem...........no rhyme or reason.

This would have worked, but only if it had a new head.

ausbot wrote:This would have worked, but only if it had a new head.

Funny you should mention that. I just looked into the original MW Megaplex, specifically his packaging art:

Machine Wars Megaplex Packaging Art on TFwiki.

It's recolored from the G1 Predator Falcon art, but it shows some very superficial similarities to Prime Dreadwing. And I said very superficial.

Crap. I've made it a point to collect all of the US Prime mold releases and this just jacked them out of my price range.

RiddlerJ wrote:

PrymeStriker wrote:...

Prime Dreadwing? They used an 6-month-old toy?

Yeah, I thought there had to be a gap between the release of a mold and when they can use it. Did they pay extra or something for this mold?

Pete Sinclair wrote this over at Allspark.com:

Pete@BotCon wrote:The Prime Dreadwing mold became available VERY late in planning. All other head molds were done. We decided that with the right deco and characterization he still worked as Megaplex. Worked well actually once we put him up against all the other toys.

As always, its all about context. Once they all are displayed, the Decepticons side by side, they look pretty sharp...

He also wrote this:

Pete@BotCon wrote:I understand some people don't like it, but this is NOT a Machine Wars Redux. This is taking the concept and expanding it. And just like many other instances within Transformers, the file cards are not going to 100% reflect the character/story. Though many of the aspects FROM then file cards will still be a part of the overall story.

You know, I know funpub is a bit limited in what it can and can't use/do with these molds, However, they may be using good molds, however they're using them for rather drab figures, whose colors don't look much better than the original machine wars wave. If anything the should be improving on the characters color schemes, adding more detail and the like, a bit like Skywarp. Granted Skywarp may be a bit sucky, but at least they tried something to break up the monotony.

STngAR wrote:This set is reminding me of a bad poem...........no rhyme or reason.

Totally True, Im sorry but this ranks up there as 1 of the WORST Botcon sets I think I have ever seen. And making characters that literally Nobody wants or cares about in Machine Wars and Beast Machines? Plus using a "new" mold already AND no new head on it?

The entire thing is not getting bought by me now. At least I get to save $375 or so. Maybe with any luck they will have some decent Botcon attendee sets? Does anybody have any guesses or leads on them yet?

Anyone who knows me well knows that I will be quick to call FunPub out on errors, but just as quick to jump to their defence. In every previous Botcon Boxset I found far more positives than I did negatives.

Not so this year's. In my oppinion Fun Pub messed up in their Boxset design. Here's why I believe this to be the case

First, only 3/5 characters are actually from Machine Wars. This is the Box Set that is teased publicly to every fan out there. They have been saying "Machine Wars" for the last 4 months which means the box set SHOULD BE Machine Wars, not Machine Wars and others... this was supposed to bring people to the event and cause excitement, not cause confusion. Don't get me wrong, I like Strika and Obsidian, but they should've been attendee-only figures in their own pack of two.

Second, the aesthetics are all over the place. There have one movie mold, one TF: Prime mold and 3 Universe/Generations/Classics Molds. Sure the molds may "work" for the individual character, but they don't work for those who like a unified look... If I get the box (big If right now), then I'm going to leave some in the box because they don't work with the aesthetics I collect.

I think I'm just going to get the few figures I like off of eBay this year. Sorry but this is a low set for me. The lowest in a very long time.

This would have worked with a new G1 styled Megatron head. But without it, it doesn't look like a clone of Megatron at all. It looks like a recolored Dreadwing. Megaplex with a new head would have sold the set alone. I thought reveals 3 through 5 were supposed to be the ones that wowed us all?



And for good measure ...



And they wonder why there's such an explosion of 3rd party products over the past 1/2 decade. These poor decisions/choices to save a buck are really frustrating. Believe in your products, do them right so that no explanations are needed, toss in a modified weapon for Hoist so he's got a tow hook, a new head for Megatron Megaplex, and charge us 20 to 50 bucks more for the set.

Think I say it every year.

Ever since FunPub took over, the BotCon exclusives have been boring.

3H may have crashed and burned in the end but at least they came up with ORIGINAL characters that EXPANDED on current mythos instead of unoriginal revamped existing characters slotted into a storyline that is just uninteresting. (And incredibly unoriginal in the case of Shattered Glass)

But that's just my opinion ...

Oh for 5.

I didn't think Machine Wars would interest me much, and I was right.

If I can get a Hoist CHEAP for a custom, I'm interested, but I won't spend big dollars on fodder figures.

Oh well, I get to save some cash for other stuff this year.