New Galleries: BotCon 2014 Pirate Brimstone and Pirate Hunter

For whatever reason, the small head doesn't look as bad on Hunter/Shockawhatever

Brimstone seems to lose a bit of his visual appeal with the lack of asymmetrical legs, but I'd totally have gotten him if he was a mass-release figure. And fan-moded a pterodactyl mode.

Brimstone's range as a rail gun is five-billionths of a kilometer?

Caelus wrote:Brimstone's range as a rail gun is five-billionths of a kilometer?

That's "Klick" with a "K". Here's what I found:

In "military-speak," the term "click" (spelled with a "c" instead of a "k") is used when sighting-in a weapon, such as a rifle. On most weapons, one "click" equals one minute of arc, or -- in other words, one inch of distance at one hundred yards. So, moving the site adjustments of the rifle "one click" will change the point of impact one inch for a target 100 yards away, two inches for a target 200 yards away, and so forth.For the detailed oriented, 1 MOA at 100 yards is actually a tad over 1 inch (There are 360 degrees in a circle and each degree is divided into 60 minutes. If we round to the nearest 1⁄100 of an inch, at 100 yards 1 degree measures 62.83 inches. One MOA, 1⁄60 of that, measures 1.047 inches), but rounding it works for quick calculations. The term comes from the clicking-sound made by the sight adjustment knobs as they are turned.

Hunter/Shockaract is beautiful. I've been planning on picking him up, but may be unable to wait for a Club sale.

So how much would a Flamewhore be going for?

Toralei_De_Nile wrote:So how much would a Flamewhore be going for?

Between $75 and $100 on eBay, currently.

Brimstone matches his original figure better than I expected.

I was always disappointed the original Brimstone wasn't used for an exclusive. He would've made a good Swoop or Cutthroat.

So he isn't Shokoract? Or is he and Trademarks are getting in the way?

hinomars19 wrote:So he isn't Shokoract? Or is he and Trademarks are getting in the way?

That's Shokaract before he became known and named as such. 3H fiction said he was nothing but a Hunter before the discovery of the Matrix of Conquest, and FunPub took it from there.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

hinomars19 wrote:So he isn't Shokoract? Or is he and Trademarks are getting in the way?

That's Shokaract before he became known and named as such. 3H fiction said he was nothing but a Hunter before the discovery of the Matrix of Conquest, and FunPub took it from there.

Yeah, and in this story, he's Cannonball's tracker beast "pet". Known only as "Hunter", for he has no real name, Cannonball "won" him in a game of cards with uncooperative player (though "won" is more like "cheated every time and then killed his opponent when he got called out for his cheating, and then negociated with his prize into joining his crew" in this case).

He would not take the name "Shokaract" until acquiring the Matrix of Conquest and upgrading into his BotCon 2000 toy body.

The story of life aboard the Tidal Wave is quite a fascinating one, IMO. It's what made Tornado the most forward looked to figure of the convention for me.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Caelus wrote:Brimstone's range as a rail gun is five-billionths of a kilometer?

That's "Klick" with a "K". Here's what I found:

In "military-speak," the term "click" (spelled with a "c" instead of a "k") is used when sighting-in a weapon, such as a rifle. On most weapons, one "click" equals one minute of arc, or -- in other words, one inch of distance at one hundred yards. So, moving the site adjustments of the rifle "one click" will change the point of impact one inch for a target 100 yards away, two inches for a target 200 yards away, and so forth.For the detailed oriented, 1 MOA at 100 yards is actually a tad over 1 inch (There are 360 degrees in a circle and each degree is divided into 60 minutes. If we round to the nearest 1⁄100 of an inch, at 100 yards 1 degree measures 62.83 inches. One MOA, 1⁄60 of that, measures 1.047 inches), but rounding it works for quick calculations. The term comes from the clicking-sound made by the sight adjustment knobs as they are turned.

So really, the sentence in Brimstone's bio just doesn't make any sense, as the unit "nanoclick" would really only be used in reference to calibrating the weapon's aim, and (I assume) summarizing the weapon's margin of error (its spread). "Nanoclick" would not be used in reference to a weapon's range.

Still, that makes me curious as to what sort of ranges would necessitate 'nanoclick' accuracy.

1c = 1 inch change per 100 yards to target
1c = 2 inch change per 200 yards to target

So:

1c = 1 inch change per 3600 inches to target

One click represents a 1:3600 adjustment to range ratio, which means one nanoclick represents a change to range ratio of 1:3600*10^9 or 1:2.78*10^13. So, a one nanoclick adjustment to your targeting would yield a one inch change at a target 2.78*10^13 inches away. Or 3.33x10^12 feet away. Or 1.76x10^8 miles. Or (and this is when it sounds cool):

A one nanoclick adjustment to the weapon's aim would yield a one inch change in the point of impact on a target that is 1.636 astronomical units away.

Mars, by the way, is 1.523 AUs from the Sun.

So if we were to willfully ignore the wording in Brimstone's techspec, and assume it was supposed to say something like, "Brimstone fires a solid Cybertronium slug, accurate to within five nanoclicks while in independent flight, and his accuracy improves when wielded by his crewmate Pirate Scorponok," then we would infer that Brimstone transforms into something functionally equivalent to a sniper rifle with a range that's measured on the interplanetary scale.

Does anyone know the names of the Microns that come with the Pounce and Wingspan clones?

Seibertron wrote:Does anyone know the names of the Microns that come with the Pounce and Wingspan clones?

In the Facebook story, many of the crew members have these "Arms Minicons" that Ferak created, but the ones belonging specifically to Thunderclap and Rolling Thunder respectively were named "Pillage" and "Plunder".

Sabrblade wrote:

Seibertron wrote:Does anyone know the names of the Microns that come with the Pounce and Wingspan clones?

In the Facebook story, many of the crew members have these "Arms Minicons" that Ferak created, but the ones belonging specifically to Thunderclap and Rolling Thunder respectively were named "Pillage" and "Plunder".

What Sabrblade said. The Arms Minicons have specific names when tied to specific Dread Pirates, but there's no official name for them beyond "Arms Minicon".

They're not even characters/sentient, being programmed with the basest of AIs.

If it's for naming their Galleries, may I suggest Arms Minicon X, where X is the first letter of either the Clone they go with(W/P, like Frenzy and Rumble's Microns) or the first letter of their color like Igu S or the individual pack recolors.

Midnight_Fox wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Seibertron wrote:Does anyone know the names of the Microns that come with the Pounce and Wingspan clones?

In the Facebook story, many of the crew members have these "Arms Minicons" that Ferak created, but the ones belonging specifically to Thunderclap and Rolling Thunder respectively were named "Pillage" and "Plunder".

What Sabrblade said. The Arms Minicons have specific names when tied to specific Dread Pirates, but there's no official name for them beyond "Arms Minicon".

Plus, even though the promotional images for the Clones 2-Pack called the toys "Pounce" and "Wingspan", respectively, the fiction and toy bios for the Dread Pirate Crew indicate that they aren't exactly those two individuals.

At first glance, they just seem to be generic drones developed from the technology of the original Pounce and Wingspan (essentially "clones of the Clones"), but in actuality, each one of them is a named individual with his own identity and job.

All of named car-based ones are Cutback, Drydock, Neurotoxin, Rolling Thunder, Stormcharge, and Wheel Lock.

All of the named jet-based ones are Boltcaster, Lockpick, Skyduster, Thunderclap, and Turbolift.

Thunderclap and Rolling Thunder are known as the "Thunder 'Twins'" who cause all sorts of racket aboard the ship, racing up and down its corridors, and are foremen of Scorponok's work crew. Cutback and Lockpick run a secret black market aboard the ship unbeknownst to Captain Cannonball. Drydock is Scorponok's chief mechanic. Neurotoxin is a boatswain. Stormcharge and Turbolift act like they were both forged on some backwater planet, but are easily occupied when given guns. Wheel Lock once lost his right arm to a Klud beast. Skyduster is Cannonball's ace pilot who has the ability to release a gas that reacts with local weather patterns to create unnatural atmospheric storms. And Boltcaster, well, he hasn't been focused on much, so we don't know much about him.

So basically... they design them after one character but fictionally use them as a dozen different other characters, in what I assume is a crazy ploy to get fans to buy the same exact toy far too many times over.

Noideaforaname wrote:So basically... they design them after one character but fictionally use them as a dozen different other characters, in what I assume is a crazy ploy to get fans to buy the same exact toy far too many times over.

To be fair, they ARE this year's Troop Builder set.

Noideaforaname wrote:So basically... they design them after one character but fictionally use them as a dozen different other characters, in what I assume is a crazy ploy to get fans to buy the same exact toy far too many times over.

Well, I did just recently purchase five more 2-packs just to get all 11 of the named pirates (and one extra).

Sabrblade wrote:

Noideaforaname wrote:So basically... they design them after one character but fictionally use them as a dozen different other characters, in what I assume is a crazy ploy to get fans to buy the same exact toy far too many times over.

Well, I did just recently purchase five more 2-packs just to get all 11 of the named pirates (and one extra).

Just looking for what to name their galleries ... open to suggestions. Need a name or designation for each one.

Seibertron wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Noideaforaname wrote:So basically... they design them after one character but fictionally use them as a dozen different other characters, in what I assume is a crazy ploy to get fans to buy the same exact toy far too many times over.

Well, I did just recently purchase five more 2-packs just to get all 11 of the named pirates (and one extra).

Just looking for what to name their galleries ... open to suggestions. Need a name or designation for each one.

Well, the toys are labeled "Dread Pirate Crew" as a set. Individually, though, they can be any one of the car or jet type crew members. These two are a rare case of just two toys meant to represent several named characters.

Maybe something like "Dread Pirate Crew (Pounce type)" and "Dread Pirate Crew (Wingspan type)", to use both the real name and to acknowledge the promotional images using the Clone names?