Transformers: Energon & Beyond

[JediTricks]

I picked up TF:Classics Starscream, Bumblebee, Rodimus, & Optimus Prime. I will post about them more but I actually have to run in a few minutes.


Dom, tell us how you really feel about that comic. I can tell it really cheesed you off because it got over twice as much coverage as most of your comic reviews.

There were lots and lots, just outside the checkout area.

I wish I had read that before I went there, I had to figure it out for myself as a few figures were strewn throughout the toy aisle. I was glad to see all the TFs by checkout though, as were half the adults in the joint - nothing brings out the kid in computer geeks like Transformers at Fry's, eh?

I am glad you dig yours, I didn't pick up Megs or Astrotrain because I am not willing to pay over retail for 'em. The others are very cool, though Starscream is my least-favorite of the bunch because of the kibble in alt mode, blocky bot mode, and milky silver plastic.

They also had DVD Prime, what a piece of crap, that voice sounds even worse in person!

What's the final word on continuing with Classics? Will Hasbro have it run along side the movie line if it's successful? If a movie sequel happens, will they keep the movie line going between films (ala SW)?

There's no specific future for it yet, they're considering extending it due to positive reaction but that would take an extra year, it'd come after the movie toys have come and gone (that's timeline-oriented, the movie toys will probably keep coming if they decide to do more Classics).

Optimus Prime (gorilla)

This toy is a recolor of the BWX Optimus Primal. Over-all, I actually like this toy better. The brown color on the fur looks better than one might expect, and the fact this toy is 5 dollars cheaper will likely appeal to collectors who did not want the PVC packed with the BWX toy. The biggest problem is the uninspired character profile on the packaging.
Grade: B Worth picking up, even if you have the BWX toy.

Glad to hear you feel the same way about it that I do.

[Dominic Guglieme]

Wow. We actually agree on a TF. Amazing.

Dom, tell us how you really feel about that comic. I can tell it really cheesed you off because it got over twice as much coverage as most of your comic reviews.

Swll, sure, if you ask for it.

Dawn of Futures Present
BotCon 06 exclusive comic

After the monumental let-down that was Hearts of
Steel, it was nice to get exactly what I expected from
a Transformers comic. And, when a TF comic has a
title that is clearly trying to piggy back on an old
arc from the Claremont years of X-Men, you can expect
something truly awful.

Frankly, this might be the worst Transformers comic
I have ever read. Yes, it is worst than IDW's Beast
Wars comic, Dreamwave's WWII comic, worse than
Universe/Wreckers, and even worse than the club-comic.
I could at least read those without putting the comic
down in despair. This comic actually made me mourn
for a fanfic that it over-wrote. (The fanfic in
question is a CG animation thing, produced I think by
a guy named Trent Troop.)

Besides being completely devoid of any ideas, this
comic is not just "stuff what happens", it is "stuff
what happens in the stupidest possible way and for no
reason." One such gem occurs in a contrived first
meeting between Tigatron and Airrazor. I am assuming
these to characters were shoe-horn-swoggled because
the voice actors were at the convention. I would not
have minded the characters appearing. But, the
context was idiotic. (I actually dislike my Tigatron
and Airrazor toys now, because I associate them with
this garbage.) Long and short, Tigatron is a cop, and
is pursuing the Predacons who just stole the disk. He
attempts to commandeer Airrazors ship, on the basis
that he *is tracking very dangerous criminals and
everything could go to hell if he fails*. Airrazor
says that nobody is piloting her ride (cleverly names
"Chromia 10") but her. Tigatron then says he will get
another ship in that case, (hey, no biggie right, he
is just carrying out super duper important orders from
the Maximal Council), then Airrazor says she will give
him a ride............. Boy, it is a good thing that
they were able to take time out to banter while
Megatron and co were getting away.

Later, Tigatron and Airrazor fight the Lazerbeak and
Buzzsaw exclusives while the Axalon and Darkside
battle over Cybertron. Then, in a bit of
techno-jibber worthy of the worst most contrived
fanfic, the two future Maximals have their sparks
beamed aboard the Maximal ship at the last minute.
Just their sparks are beamed aboard, into conveniently
blank protoforms, because obviously Primal and co
would have packed plenty of those aboard a ship that
was departing for a long-term mission, rather than
supplies or the like.

It would have been just as easy to show Tigatron and
Airrazor as random crew members (preferably no knowing
each other at all) on the ship, rather than contriving
some gibber-tale about how they just happened to be
chasing the Predacons too.

For all of my complaints about IDW's Beast Wars comic,
it did not try to contrive back-story for the sake of
playing up characters for the sake of show-casing said
characters. Wreckers and Universe more or less read
like a small child's play session. But they avoided
the kind of idiotic back-story a small child would
come up with. Dreamwave's WWII comic at least did its
own thing, rather than try to piggy back on its source
franchises.

Grade: F There is no reason for a comic distributed
primarly through a convention for adult collectors
should be written at a level that could insult a
reasonably bright 10 year old.

In short, the comic really sucks.

[Adam]

Good try, but there's the conversation in its complete glory, so unless there are multiple yous, my point was incredibly TRUE - nobody else is YOU.

Actually you forgot the clone thing, which was my favorite part, but I'll let it slide.

We are both saying the same thing, but looking at it at different angle. I realize I'm the only one that posts on THIS board with that view. What I meant to say, was while that I am just the only person here with this pov, go to some place like tfw2005 and you'll find there are plenty more people who watched Galaxy Force (which, btw, is infinitely superior to Cybertron in everyway if you can get past having to read subtitles). Bottom line: Box Bios get thrown in the garbage, cartoons get thrown on dvd in the long run. :P

Why are we going back and forth on this anyway? Seems sillly.

I also found wave one classics at work today. There is much love with Bumblebee.

[Adam]

Hasbro.com got updated with buy it options for all of classics wave 1, including deluxe grimlock

http://hasbro.com/default.cfm?page=p...rs&viewall=yes

They need to take Alt Nemesis Prime off there, it angers me.

[Adam]

Plus, inserting these pig terds into Classics wastes several names. Snarl should be a Dinobot Stegosaurus. Overbite should be, uh, was he an obscure Pretender or a Seacon? Dreadwing is the combination of two Powermaster jets. And Thunderwing? Oh, man, that is the saddest waste of all. I'd kill to see a figure of the real Thunderwing in a Classics form that doesn't suck, but it looks like this retarded plane/kibblebot (and Autobot to boot? WTF?) has killed that chance. &

You should be happy there are using these names, in ANY form. That way the still have the rights them, and don't lose them like they lost BumbleBee for awhile.

[El Chuxter]

While I'm not going to argue against that, why release a character named Snarl in the Classics line if he's not a Stegosaurus? Why Thunderwing is not a weird space-jet/vampire thing?

I didn't mean to offend anyone by bashing the MiniCons. But the MiniCons offend me by their very existence, so bash them I shall.

[figrin bran]

argh, missed out on grimlock again

[El Chuxter]

Okay, half-joking griping about MiniCons aside, here's a serious question for those of you more familiar with newer incarnations:

Which Scorponok is the Titanium?

I ask because I read the bio on hasbrotoyshop.com. It mentions him skirting the line between Autobot and Decepticon loyalties, much like the G1 comic version. It also mentions him making the ultimate sacrifice in battle against Unicron (and his death scene is one of the greatest single moments in the comic: "Did I do good, Prime? Did I do good?")

But it also mentions him being reprogrammed by Megatron, which I don't recall from the G1 comic. And his claws are red, which isn't quite true to G1.

So which line does he properly belong to?

[Dominic Guglieme]

Thus far, there is no meaningful or cohesive arguement against Minicons. Aside from the set being in the Classics line, there really is nothing bad to say about 'em. (I fully agree that Minicons should not be in Classics.)


As for Skorponock, based on the "reprogrammed by Megatron" bit, I would guess it is Energon Skorponock. The faction switching could fit with the Energon cartoon as well, if one stretches things a bit.

[JediTricks]

Actually you forgot the clone thing, which was my favorite part, but I'll let it slide.

What, no wars about the clones?


Dom is right, that is clearly Scorponok from Energon: http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/Product...R=396&ID=18292