Transformers: Energon & Beyond

[JediTricks]

Well, that's what G1 was, so I guess I feel like I had a lot of fun with those figs and I consider those solid toys. But you are also right.

G1's excuse was that was all they could do with the technology 30+ years ago, and even then they constantly were looking at ways of improving product. G1 Grimlock dino mode has more articulation than FOC Grimlock's dino mode and it's from 28 years back when the line was all bricky.


Oh, I see I need to make a correction, I said "and I'll even consider it up against the FOC and Prime figures" and what I meant was "and I'll even consider it up against the FOC and Prime DELUXE figures".

[El Chuxter]

Actually, with a lot of the old G1 stuff, you're talking about 40 years old, aren't you? A lot of it was older Diaclone and Microman stuff from Japan; I don't know the exact age, but I'm guessing it wasn't repurposed and imported the week after those lines hit shelves.

[JediTricks]

Actually, with a lot of the old G1 stuff, you're talking about 40 years old, aren't you? A lot of it was older Diaclone and Microman stuff from Japan; I don't know the exact age, but I'm guessing it wasn't repurposed and imported the week after those lines hit shelves.

The oldest copyrights on G1 product is 1979 copyrights for Diaclone product released in 1980.

EDIT: Actually, looking at Sunstreaker, the oldest Diaclone product in the G1 line, it's wearing a 1980 and a 1984 copyright stamp in the plastic.

[figrin bran]

I have TFP BH Smokescreen and Ripclaw now along with Kreo Bludgeon to complete the wave 1 mini figure set.

I haven't weighed in on FOC Grimlock yet. It's probably the weakest Voyager I've bought in some time...even TFP Optimus, Bulkhead and Megatron are better than him. Since Grimlock in the IDW TFP comics shares this design, at least he can be displayed with TFP characters. FOC Kickback isn't looking so bad now

[El Chuxter]

That sorta reminds me: The designs of these FOC characters aren't consistent with Prime. And neither is at all consistent with Rescue Heroes. Yet these are all supposed to be the same universe.

How does that work?

[Chaddymac]

That sorta reminds me: The designs of these FOC characters aren't consistent with Prime. And neither is at all consistent with Rescue Heroes. Yet these are all supposed to be the same universe.

How does that work?

Wait, what? Rescue Heroes is included? That's nutty.

[El Chuxter]

I was confusing Rescue Heroes and Rescue Bots, but that's what the Wikia says:

Jeff Kline stated that Rescue Bots and Prime occupy the same continuity, and do so because he felt two Transformers shows on the same network should share the same mythology. This is why Rescue Bots takes place on an island, so that it can exist in a relatively insulated bubble from the more dangerous plot elements of the older-skewing Prime.

Yeah, reconciling The Force Unleashed and Clone Wars with the previous EU might be less of a headache.

[figrin bran]

The following of my recent acquisitions have all been in the outstanding A to A- to B+ range

Legion Airachnid and Twinstrike
Voyager Predaking
Deluxe Ripclaw and Smokescreen
Kreo Superion and Devastator

Beast Hunters isn't so bad after all

[Tycho]

I finally got 2 Deluxe Mercedes Soundwave DOTM figures from the orient for under $30 each - shipped.

I had to make some deals. But I can't wait to get them.

In stores, I'll be looking at Springer whenever he comes out.

[JediTricks]

Hasbro official looks at MP Acid Storm and Soundwave & Crew:

http://www.tfviews.com/news/toysandcollectibles/1594

Soundwave's eyes are hypnotizing! Acid Storm's digital camo is an interesting MP solution to that look, but poorly timed as the military is phasing digital camo out as apparently it's stupid and doesn't work.

---

Got me Smokescreen at Target today. This figure is very interesting, it's like they said "you know how every figure we've done up until this point has been disappointing and cheap and low on parts and paint? Yeah, let's go the other way with this one, but just this one figure, that'll mess with their heads."

First things you should know when you get one though, the packaged robot mode is mistransformed in the chest/shoulders/wings so he's floppy off the tray when he's not in proper transformation. Also, the instructions about the arms turning into the roof are WRONG and IMPOSSIBLE because they have one half go up first then the other -- but it'd have to pass THROUGH the halves use a deep tab that would snap right the hell off if you did this, and the shoulder joints would likely snap off in the next move if they didn't -- so I strongly suggest snapping the roof halves together before fitting them to the windows. This section is fiddly, so make sure you figure out what works best for you, there's tabs on both sides and not everybody will have great success here without care.

This figure is quite articulated, very painted, sports a ton of movable parts from a complex transformation, and 2 different colors of translucent plastic. He doesn't sport Autobot faction sigils though or red on his crest, and his eyes are yellow, and his lower legs have a ton of paint that looks nice but isn't character-accurate, all of which is a touch odd. It's weirdest that they left out the crest considering there's a blue paint mask at work there already.

Anyway, robot mode is good, kibbly yes but largely it holds up to the character on the show, and it isn't gappy or weird. When transformed properly, the figure is fairly solid and poses like a champ thanks to solid leg articulation and big feet - he can't do 1-legged poses though because of the angle of said feet. The facade chest doesn't quite sell the "modern G1 carbot" look as well as the show, but it does hold the show's overall look. 5mm pegholes in each hand, the side of the lowest point of each heelspur, and the underside of the right forearm kibble.

Articulation is swivel head, shrug-hinge shoulders, ball-jointed shoulders, swivel lower biceps, ratchet-hinged elbows, swivel waist, ball-swivel hips, hinged knees, and hinged ankles. Also, the shoulder armor kibble is on its own hinge to get out of the way. The back wings are not intended to move, they help lock the mid-torso into place when transformed properly. The figure stands half a head shorter than the Vehicon.

Transformation to bot mode is very interesting, there's a lot going on and most of it is fun. Going back to vehicle mode though, that's wehre trouble really lies, the last quarter bit with the cockpit roof is a mess thanks to instructions that ignore the impossibility of getting the left cockpit section swinging into place and also just not making clear that the shoulder and arm positions have to be in exactly the right angle to get into place - that stuff is a bummer until you figure out why things have to be where and when. There's a lot of tabs and a lot of panel massaging to go with that, but the payoff is so good that it's almost worth the annoyance.

Vehicle mode is stunning, the lines sculpted here are nicer than the CGI version, this may be my all-time favorite Transformers car ever. It's a racecar somewhere along the lines of the Porsche GT in race spec, maybe a touch of the Nissan GTR GT500 racer and a hint of the Corvette. It's low, wide, lean, and has just the right amount of detail for a race car - including the low, large spoiler, and the thick intakes on the extra wide rear fenders... even the rear wheels in those fenders are wide, and there are sculpted brake calipers. They also balanced out the teardrop of the cockpit so it's not as front-heavy leaving it more sleek. Ground clearance is minimal but evenly so, suggesting a real race car, and the wheels are back to being classic metal pin into the hub so they roll nicely. 5mm holes are found in the center of the roof and on either side of the spoiler. The vehicle mode is slightly wider and longer than the Vehicon and a touch lower, without factoring the spoilers of either into the mix.

Paint is a different balance than bot mode, a lot of blue from the main stripe and the rear fender swoops, and the windows are purple translucent. The doors sport the red and blue swoop but instead of the checkered flag look there's just a white with red outline "38". The wheels are cast in black, no silver. Oddly, the headlamps are covered by a yellow window each instead of clear.

It's not all love though, while there are painted translucent elements they left the intakes behind the side windows unpainted, and they didn't paint in the rear window at all although it is framed by the blue stripe. There's no tail light paint, although racers often don't bother here. Annoyingly for me, the headlamp windows are not the same shade of yellow on mine.

The shadow quill armor is a blue rubbery piece that snaps over the front half of the vehicle and tabs into slots in the doors, it actually looks pretty good for what it's trying to be and it has good sculpted detail and cut-aways to show some of the front of the car through; it also has a clip on either side to hold the included missile (this would look better had it come with 3 missiles though, one in the gun and one on either side of the car). The armor in bot mode is less useful, it has to be bent to sit properly on the shoulder tabs and snaps onto pegs on the hips, and all it does is give him a narrow vest and a pointy bumper behind his head, it's not really worth using in bot mode.

The Electronet launcher is 3 parts - gun, missile, and electronet generator. The gun is a simple spring-loaded black pistol, a little sculpted detail but not much going on. The missile has industrial holes cut into 2 of the 4 fins at the nose, when fired it gets mixed results due to a tiny bit of flashing - sometimes it fires hard about 3 feet, others it dribbles out. The electronet generator is more rubbery blue plastic, the missile slips through the middle of it to load the whole affair into the pistol and sorta reminds me of a Kenner Batman figure's accessory, it doesn't look terrible thanks to a decent amount of sculpted detail, but it can't fire for crap even on its best day. The whole electronet affair put together can sit on top of the car, facing forward it looks stupid (since how much blue rubbery crap does this guy need on the front half of the car?) but if you rotate it backwards it balances the look out better (like another spoiler, or a shield for the engine) to the point where it's not embarrassing to use.

Overall, I like this figure but I can see it frustrating some folks real badly with the stuff that doesn't work. I'm giving it a strong B and I really like it a lot for what it's got going for it.

I haven't weighed in on FOC Grimlock yet. It's probably the weakest Voyager I've bought in some time...even TFP Optimus, Bulkhead and Megatron are better than him. Since Grimlock in the IDW TFP comics shares this design, at least he can be displayed with TFP characters. FOC Kickback isn't looking so bad now

Thanks for the info, I don't have any TFP voyagers other than Megatron and it's frustrating that Grimlock isn't as good as that. On the comics, is that only Rage of the Dinobots and FOC comics, or is it now in the other titles as well?

That sorta reminds me: The designs of these FOC characters aren't consistent with Prime. And neither is at all consistent with Rescue Heroes. Yet these are all supposed to be the same universe.

How does that work?

I was confusing Rescue Heroes and Rescue Bots, but that's what the Wikia says:

Yeah, reconciling The Force Unleashed and Clone Wars with the previous EU might be less of a headache.

This is a loose continuity, the essentials of the stories are meant to roughly flow together, the big stuff, but the little stuff they leave up to artistic license for each iteration of the brand. How Rescue Bots fits with Prime though, I cannot imagine. Also that isn't the Wikia one you've linked to, that's TFwiki.net. The Wikia site sucks and steals from the privately-owned www.TFwiki.net . The Wikia one is only good for when TFwiki.net is down.