Transformers: Energon & Beyond

[Dominic Guglieme]

Who cares if Lugnutz is a new character? Alternators has new characters (Richochet and Decepticharge), and characters so obscure (Rollbar, Camshaft) that they may as well be new.




To answer the question about "Stormbringer": I do not have the cover referenced in front of me. But, Bludgeon and Thunderwing both play prominent roles, with Thunderwing being presented as a "super duper cosmic bad thing". Furman seems to be assuming people know and care about his old G1 writing. (As much as I liked much of his old run, given that it has been 15 years, Furman seems to be a bit......overconfident.)



Hookay:

ich one of us refuses to buy TF:Classics for the most arbitrary of reasons? That would be you. Which one of us owns the laser cycles, every minicon motorcycle, Energon Arcee and Deluxe High Wire, Armada Sideways, Beast Machines Thrust and Motorcycle Drone, even Beast Wars Transmetal Tarantulas for his motorcycle mode, and both of the TMNT line's transforming hover-cycles? That would be me. It is not my fault that the designers put the entire rear and front end on Lugnutz's shoulders, it is not my fault the actual figure stems from the small midsection of the bike, it is not my fault the designers locked the kibble into his back with a wimpy friction bump, it is not my fault that the designers made his head pop up so he looks like a hunchback, it is not my fault that the designers gave him a trombone weapon that he can't even hold right, none of that is me being mean, that is a bad figure which you have a crush on simply because it has a decent vehicle mode.

How am I being arbitrary in skipping Classics? I am sick of dealing with Hasbro, and need a break. Thus, I am skipping the current line. Hasbro's distribution made it difficult enough that any reason to not buy TF is fine with me. Would it be better to force myself to buy the toys?

And, even if I concede the point about me being capricious......I never said I was not. O_o

And, some of those cycle TFs you mention.......those are good indicators of how you look at motorcycle TFs. Thrust and the drone are two of the few toys that I have cannibalized for parts without having spare copies on hand. Even discounting the fact that neither really looks like the animation, Thrust is a hideous toy, looking like congealed KoolAid....

And, your cruel remarks about Lugnutz's physical appearance show the depths of your cruelty. He cannot help his hunchback, nor his waist. Did noone ever tell you that the spark is what matters? Lugnutz gets up in the morning, and does his job, in the face of being physically awkward. Why can you not just respect that?

And, for the record, I display Lugnutz in robot mode.

[El Chuxter]

Furman seems to be assuming people know and care about his old G1 writing. (As much as I liked much of his old run, given that it has been 15 years, Furman seems to be a bit......overconfident.)

While I can more or less see your point, I've got to disagree for two reasons:

1) IDW can say what they want about this being a relaunch. The fact is, most (if not all) readers would be fans of the original toyline, in their 20s or 30s (or beyond), and probably have at least the basic knowledge that these two lousy toys (basically worthless, anonymous turds) became heavy hitters, not to mention two of the deadliest Decepticon commanders, during his run.

2) The guy just seems to really, really like a handful of characters, mainly Prime, Grimlock, Starscream, Nightbeat, Bludgeon, and Thunderwing. I'd be extremely surprised if he could go ten whole issues without most of these characters showing up in some important roles. And, after reading the B&W Titan reprints of the UK backup stories, it's clear that he didn't start out with a deep love for these two Pretenders (as it seemed to American readers years ago). Both of them (and Nightbeat, too) started out as almost as pointless window dressing, like the toys.

[JediTricks]

Who cares if Lugnutz is a new character? Alternators has new characters (Richochet and Decepticharge), and characters so obscure (Rollbar, Camshaft) that they may as well be new.

Tycho cares, he's like that.

How am I being arbitrary in skipping Classics? I am sick of dealing with Hasbro, and need a break. Thus, I am skipping the current line. Hasbro's distribution made it difficult enough that any reason to not buy TF is fine with me. Would it be better to force myself to buy the toys?

You're skipping it for the most arbitrary of reasons, not because the product itself isn't good but because you felt it some pieces over the past 2 years have been hard to find, because you got a few QC issues, because it's not connected directly to a TV or comic continuity, because it's not running long enough, and because you're a big baby.

And, some of those cycle TFs you mention.......those are good indicators of how you look at motorcycle TFs. Thrust and the drone are two of the few toys that I have cannibalized for parts without having spare copies on hand. Even discounting the fact that neither really looks like the animation, Thrust is a hideous toy, looking like congealed KoolAid....

Oh man, I cannot believe you called it out because it doesn't look like the animation - the animation is based on the toy, the animation's failure is on the animator's fault, not the toy's fault. Your eyes are not open.

And, your cruel remarks about Lugnutz's physical appearance show the depths of your cruelty. He cannot help his hunchback, nor his waist. Did noone ever tell you that the spark is what matters? Lugnutz gets up in the morning, and does his job, in the face of being physically awkward. Why can you not just respect that?

Um... what? He absolutely CAN help his hunckback, waist, and myrad of problems because the designers didn't have to make him suck as bad as Nightbeat the minicon. Plus, he's some goofy surfer beatnik dork Decepticon on the show, soon after he joined the cast is when I stopped watching (ok, that was merely when Cartoon Network stopped airing them, but still).

And, for the record, I display Lugnutz in robot mode.

Because you have no taste.

[Tycho]

Who cares if Lugnutz is a new character? Alternators has new characters (Richochet and Decepticharge), and characters so obscure (Rollbar, Camshaft) that they may as well be new.

Tycho cares, he's like that.

JT's right. I didn't buy Richochet, Decepticharge, Rollbar, or Camshaft either.

1) SideSwipe and SmokeScreen struck me with awe at how good they were. I used to buy Transformers as a kid and never missed the cartoon show or the 1986 movie. MasterPiece Prime sealed the deal! I'd buy major characters that I was a fan of - in the most realistic, detailed quality manner that Hasbro presented them in. Hence: Alternators and (some) MPEs.

2) I longed for a live action movie and held my hopes for something that would be great and bolster the Transformers brand strength for at least another generation (of fans - not Autobots, LOL) I saw the designs from Michael Bay's craptacular efforts and cringed. I was ready to put out a contract hit on him! But I've very recently gotten my hands on the script and I was floored it was such a good read. I passed it off to one of my best friends (who's a SW collecting buddy, but not really a Trans-Fan) and he loved it and read it TWICE! (ok BumbleBee rocks!!!) So I know that I want to represent the 13 Cybertronian characters from the movie in my own collection, as long as some of my traditional favorites.

3) I still think that mass-market movie toys will compromise scale, detail, and quality. I bought stock in Hasbro for this and Spider-Man's toy records they'll set (and Star Wars is still kicking butt for them), but I'm not aniticpating liking the movie toys myself (the sneak preview figures already suck - as I posted the pics in this very thread and I think you'll agree). So I want the characters best represented by Alternators and MPEs.

I need:

Prime - MPE 01

Jazz - Alternator Meister - white / silver - what's the total difference. I know a spoiler about Jazz that renders the argument moot anyway.

BumbleBee - would be sweet as a Camarro Alternator.

Ironhide - change the headsculpt on the darn Nemesis Prime Alternator already!

Ratchet - would require a whole new toy tooling, else maybe they could change and repaint Skids somehow - but I don't really care for that idea.

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Megatron - a MPE is planned - hopefully it'll be his Cybertronian Jet form. He needs to be as large as MPE Prime, or larger.

StarScream - I ordered the MPE 03 from Japan to get this! He's a grey jet. An F-15 or an F-22 - big deal? I'll display him more often as a robot anyway. Furthermore - I don't care for his movie "insect look." I prefer the traditional StarScream I grew up with.

Soundwave - a movie figure of him (or Frenzy if that's the name they go with) could be great as the thing need barely be any different in size from the common Star Wars figure. I just hope the detail's good.

Scorponok - from what I understand, he is not a Transformer and he's small enough to attach to Blackout's helicopter - so perhaps he's almost as small as a real scorpion, but I picture a face-hugger size.

Brawl - repaint the Wheeljack Alternator, change the head, add police lights. Do it already.

Devastator - make a rocking MPE!

Blackout - make one of the best MPEs ever!

BoneCrusher - I don't know. Make a deluxe sized Alternator or something.

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Additionally, I have other Alternators because they are cool and their characters I hope will be used in some film at some point:

SideSwipe
SmokeScreen
HOUND
Tracks
WHEELJACK
Sunstreaker
MIRAGE

And I plan to get Ravage and Rumble when they come out.

We've all heard of these guys and they had speaking (or growling) lines in the cartoons - and Ravage my not be a car, but to be Ravage, he'll always have to turn into a cat. Rumble works for what he is, as well.

So that explains what I buy and why.

I could care less about Richochet or Camshaft, even Skids (don't really like Scions anyway).

So that's that.

[Tycho]

MASTERPIECE STARSCREAM HAS ARRIVED!!!

It's been less than 30 minutes since I got him!

My order was processed Friday, Oct. 6th according to my e-mail from Japan's HobbyLink (thanks to JediTricks for the reference) and Starscream arrived today, October 30th. (Evil has a way of showing up around Halloween).

He ships in his sleek fighter jet mode. The F-15 is so sleek and streamlined, he reminds me of a very dangerous SHARK! He's ready to prey on my Autobots - they've armed themselves and are standing poised to fire since Starscream's arrival.

Jazz and Tracks (Alternators) are in car-mode for comparison.

Unfortunately, Starscream's pilot ejection seat isn't large enough to be a baby seat on the rear couch in Jazz (Meister for people who actually forgive Hasbro for that one). Now I realize that Starscream would be at least the size of the original 1979 X-wing fighter mold, should he have been built to scale with the Alternators. More unfortunately, that would actually be possible, as that huge Cybertron Starscream that's being stocked by Toys R Us for $49 or more is about that size I think (at least the robot size is right). Still, he is awesome and so far, I am really, really, really, really, really, really, really glad I got him!

Starscream actually has sticker decales and a partially color and partially black and white book that describes how you put them on. At this juncture, I'm going to decline "decaling him." It has letters however (amongst the stickers) so if you are military and assigned to a particular squadron, you can decale Starscream to represent! That's a pretty cool afterthought.

NO I haven't transformed him yet - I wanted to post once before he breaks (just in case - there's a scary bulletin about that going around my Transformers group on MySpace).

The rear landing grear are attached to the landing gear flaps and very tiny (a real fighter jets would extend on suspensions). The front landing gear is totally authentic. The nose cone opens up and displays the radar sensor suite inside like a real fighter jet. Speaking of noses, Starscream does not smell, so I can't recommend snorting him. (Master Piece Prime's laser-axe is sharp as cheese though -even after 2 years I think. So sniff that.)

Starscream's box is flat, a lot like a model kit's would be. It says Starscream in English on it, but most of the other writing is in Japanses. Some of it reads:

#$#@#@&(@+#$@)&!!$#$#$#@!!! - or something like that. I can't translate for certain - but I think it means "The robot inside this box is really cool."

Starscream does feel kind of fragile - like a model kit would. I'm posting before I transform him because it looks daunting - also complicated. The instructions are very long and deep.

In the booklet, there is also a color photo history of every incarnation of Starscream from the first G1 figure to this one, including Cybertron, and the other lines, including some creature that must have been from BeastWars or BeastMachines. That's pretty cool!

OK, now I'm going to go transform him and I hope I will not be back here crying shortly - but instead, telling you how awesome his robot mode is.

BTW - he comes with a stand and clear supports so his fighter jet can be displayed "flying," but I'll deal with that another month or so. I'm going to robot mode!

[figrin bran]

Starscream's box is flat, a lot like a model kit's would be. It says Starscream in English on it, but most of the other writing is in Japanses. Some of it reads:

#$#@#@&(@+#$@)&!!$#$#$#@!!! - or something like that. I can't translate for certain - but I think it means "The robot inside this box is really cool."
!

if i were japanese (which i'm not) i'd take great exception to your mockery

i know it would be quite a drive for you but i'm pretty sure they sell these MPE's at the infamous Frank & Sons. i'm not sure what their prices are but at least you wouldn't have to pay shipping and you could see the toy in person. then again, it is quite a drive.


i saw alternators optimus yesterday. passed on it.

[Tycho]

The figure is probably shipped to the Frank'n'Scalpers though, and they'll charge their customers the shipping, plus their markup.

It was $97.12 for everything and took 3 weeks to arrive. MPE Prime is about $80 in Wal-Mart and 10 minutes or less away from most of us.

All things considered, this wasn't a rough price to pay.

What was just rough was that perhaps I had too many windows open (ActionFigs, SSG, MySpace, and another MySpace page that was letting me listen to "Instruments of Destruction" over and over again (as well as "Autobot / Decepticon Battle"). My IntExp. put up a "program not responding" message right as I'd nearly finished typing 6-8 paragraphs reviewing Starscream as a robot.

I took nearly an hour, but I carefully transformed him with no damage. He's so cool! I stress that he's a model, not a toy.

Since I'm not in the mood to type more about Starscream as I had just minutes ago, I'll answer questions instead. That way you all can know what you want to know.

[figrin bran]

The figure is probably shipped to the Frank'n'Scalpers though, and they'll charge their customers the shipping, plus their markup.

It was $97.12 for everything and took 3 weeks to arrive. MPE Prime is about $80 in Wal-Mart and 10 minutes or less away from most of us.

i got my dvd Prime from hasbrotoyshop for only $52.49 (thanks to the 25% off plus free shipping code that was posted earlier this month) i should be getting it any day soon now as it shipped out last week

[Tycho]

Good deal Figrin Bran. Nice piece of shopping!

I don't know if Hasbro will ever release Starscream in the US. As he's not a toy, but more rather like a model, I think that his breaking too much of the time would be a huge customer service nightmare for them.

The alternative would be to use the molds, but stronger plastic or even metal in his construction - but I don't see that in this economy.

[JediTricks]

Glad to hear you got your Starscream and dig him Tycho! Are you transforming him with the kibble attached to the hips (intended) or to the legs (superior)? I seen pictures that show the figure in bot mode using the flight stand that's pretty cool. I am shocked to hear they included decals, I HATE decals!