Transformers: Energon & Beyond

**El Chuxter** · 12-16-2006

So, when is the next wave of Classics supposed to be coming out?

(By next wave, I mean Cliffjumper and Ramjet.)

**JediTricks** · 12-18-2006

Originally Posted by El Chuxter

He doesn't. He doesn't even try. It's typical of the super-sensationalist covers of the time.

What kind of superhero doesn't even TRY to defeat a giant evil robot?!?

I have no idea when TF:CL dlx Wave 3 is scheduled, my guess is February.

I picked up the Night Rescue Minicon Team, oh man does this set ever suck the big one. Even their names suck - Divebomb for the helicopter? That's not what attack helicopters do! Firebot for the firetruck? "Firebot" is a name from the Playskool line!!! Strongarm for the cop car is the closest to working but I still think it sucks. The best thing these 3 can say is they have ok alt modes - Firebot's fire truck is somewhat similar to the last minicon with that name, and he sports 2 water cannons on top; Strongarm's front half is a modern Dodge Charger, but from the middle back he gets fat and plain and there's no sculpting at all where the back windows should be; Divebomb's the best of the lot, a modern attack chopper a la AH-64 Apache, complete with the radar dome above the rotors and winglets with missile pods underneath... I'm not exactly sure how an attach chopper is going to rescue anybody though, "help, I'm trapped in a ravine! Wait, how are you going to rescue me?" "Well, I can pulverize you into soup, will that help?" Annnyway... Strongarm has one of the weirdest transformations ever, as well as one of the least cooperative, each side of the car rotates around the long axis 45 degrees or so, one side goes way further than the other but this just looks even worse, then the front end folds up. Firebot's transformation is fairly standard and simple, while Divebomb's transformation is wild and would be awesome on a bigger helicopter bot.

Strongarm's robot mode is abysmal, blocky in the wrong way, regular bot with tall shoulders, he's got 2 meaningful points of articulation - hinged shoulders from transformation - and very little sculpted detailing, his head is his only good feature here, it's an expressive tough guy thing with dark red eyes, and he's always looking a little upwards. Firebot's got huge feet that are all in front of him so he has to be repositioned a little to keep from falling back, his shoulders are set way back and just above his head which looks bad when his arms are down, he's got a long masked face which looks evil, he's got the most articulation with ball-jointed shoulders, inward-swinging elbows, rotating cannons on his forearms, limited ball-jointed hips, and hinged knees. Divebomb's got NO meaningful articulation, his body is mainly his tail split in half and rotated around to fit on the inverted chopper nose (there are tabs supposed to be holding it, but too much play prevents this from happening), it starts at his shoulders and ends as his feet (this would be great on a deluxe or mega that could add hip and knee joints to it, but alas), and the tail wheel is supposed to be the heelspurs but they're just above flush so he rocks back a little and then kips over easily; the middle of the torso is the cockpit of the chopper, the engines fold back to reveal the face between them, the arms are the most tragic because they're formed from unfolding the missile pods, he has missile pod hands but without articulation he can only point them down!!! What breaks my heart about Divebomb is that he looks kinda cool in bot mode and has some nifty sculpted details like the driveshaft inside the tail, but he's a statue-bot because he's so small, I'd really like to see this one tried full-sized with actual articulation.

Overall, this set is utterly abysmal, so few redeeming qualities, it's not even "buy it because it's so bad it's funny" territory, not much charm. This is the first minicon set I've ever suggested avoiding. Grade: D

**El Chuxter** · 12-18-2006

As I recall, Peter Parker was sent to take photos of the Decepticon base in Washington, and helped Gears sneak in. Then, when Gears was blown to bits, he helped get the pieces back to the other Autobots. (This was still really, really early, when they were just big robots who could basically be rebuilt every time they were killed.)

It was a pretty lousy issue, even for those incredibly weak first four issues of the series.

**JediTricks** · 12-18-2006

It certainly sounds sucky. I would have been super mad if I was a kid and bought that thinking there'd be an awesome Spidey vs Decepticon showdown.

**Dominic Guglieme** · 12-18-2006

I did not mind the early issues of the comic. Granted, I think the human story should have been more focused on Sparkplug and Blackrock, but hey......

I cannot tell you how many times my Secret Wars Spidey fought Ravage.

All told, I would really like to see Transformers integrated with Marvel, or better yet, pre-Zero Hour DC. Just fun enough, but just serious enough.

As for the Minicons......thanks for the warning JT. I disagree completely about Strongarm's name though-that is the best name ever for a Transforming police car. *Best*name*ever*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! I mean, c'mon...work with it man.

You are dead on about the transform. For all of the difficulty, it does not even have the ambition of the older Minicon sets, which while not always graceful, had ambitious designs. "Firebot", while not the best name, ain't bad, and it serves the purpose most Minicon names have of holding a copyright in place. Divebomb epitomizes the thrown together feel of the new sets. Divebomb is a great name for an attacking aircraft, but not for a rescue aircraft. And, why is there an attack craft in a set labelled "rescue"? Why dammit?

**figrin bran** · 12-18-2006

arrrrrrgggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!! kbtoys.com just cancelled the Jetfire that i ordered from them

**JediTricks** · 12-19-2006

Damn Figgy, that sucks bad! I hope you give them both barrels of pain for that.

Originally Posted by Dom

All told, I would really like to see Transformers integrated with Marvel, or better yet, pre-Zero Hour DC. Just fun enough, but just serious enough.

That's just disturbed, DC + Transformers sounds bad, the only thing that'd be cool is Megatron working with Lex Luthor (but keep Brainiac out of it, that's a kettle of fish we don't need). Why pre-Zero Hour and not pre-Crisis?

I disagree completely about Strongarm's name though-that is the best name ever for a Transforming police car. *Best*name*ever*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! I mean, c'mon...work with it man.

Sorry, no, he's not some corrupt Decepticon police detective, he's an Autobot. Plus, the figure can barely move his arms.

For all of the difficulty, it does not even have the ambition of the older Minicon sets, which while not always graceful, had ambitious designs.

I would say Strongarm's transformation is pretentious in that way, it is acting like it's being ambitious when it's really just sloppy. Divebomb's transformation is ambitious though, and it costs him in the articulation department which is too bad because I really do think that TF scheme is up there with some of the most ambitious minicon TF schemes.

"Firebot", while not the best name, ain't bad, and it serves the purpose most Minicon names have of holding a copyright in place.

This is a name that needs to be abandoned, no 2 ways about it, it's horribly juvenile, and any TF with "bot" in his name is generally going to have an uphill battle in the character department.

Divebomb epitomizes the thrown together feel of the new sets. Divebomb is a great name for an attacking aircraft, but not for a rescue aircraft.

Attack planes divebomb, attack choppers can fly in low and strafe or can hover and nose down to deliver serious pain, and the AH-64's weakness is close-quarters fighting, it's best suited to fire from a distance. In any case, it would make a hell of a lot more sense on a number of the wave 2 Minicons - any of the 3 on the Clear Skies team and Dreadwing of the Predator Attack team: http://www.hasbro.com/transformers/d...5C782C4065A089

And, why is there an attack craft in a set labelled "rescue"? Why dammit?

Hasbro's laziness at throwing these 3packs together after designing them for the Cybertron 2pack line.

**Tycho** · 12-19-2006

I mentioned this in the Transformers movie thread, but in about 10 more hours or so, the trailer for the new motion picture will go online if Don Murphy had his facts straight.

Hold your breath!