Transformers: Energon & Beyond

[JediTricks]

Spotted a new Wal-mart commercial recently that was all about Energon, specifically that they had Megatron as an exclusive for now. I hadn't realized how big Megs box really was, that was a shocker. The commercial really didn't do much to persuade me to be more interested in this figure though, he still seems only a slight cut above Fatimus.

[Adam]

JT, they were called Omnicons, because uh, that's what they are. They're not Omnibots.

Your comment about Megatron only being a cut above Optimus is quite silly to me.

[kool-aid killer]

I actually like Megatrons look. Im really thinking of picking one up for my brother. Is he only exclusive to Walmart right now or will we be seeing him released in in other stores sometime in the future? The newer figures have started popping up in greater numbers around here, which is good because im interested in quite a few.

[JediTricks]

WEIRD! This whole time, I thought they were "Omnibots", both on packaging and on the show.

Why is my comment "quite silly" to you? I saw Megs in person yesterday at WM, this toy still doesn't look very good to me, especially for the $40 pricetag, barely a cut above Prime and the Fatimus Force Four. Remember, I'm interested in everything, not just bot modes, but accessories, transformations, and alt modes.


Kool-aid, Megs is currently exclusive to WM, then later down the road will go into wide-release (in theory, I have a feeling that will strongly depend on how well he sells at WM).

[Adam]

It seems silly to me, because I really don't have a problem with him at all except his wrists. He's way better than Prime, and much better than Armada Megatron.

[JediTricks]

Oh, I thought you meant that they were both on a high level.

[JediTricks]

So get this, I transforming my Scorponok back to alt mode the other day and when I removed Ravage's gun from his hand peg-hole, the peg came right off! This is exactly what I feared about these clear weapons. It turns out this accessory's rearmost peg is only molded to the gun on one half, the gun is from 2 molds, the left and right half, and the peg is part of the right half's mold, so the other half of the peg sits against the left side of the gun but isn't anchored down in any way. Even still, this came off far too easily, so I think the plastic might have broken down over time or something. Now I have to wait for Hasbro to decide whether they're replacing it or not, and while they're doing that, I have to somehow get this peg out of Scorponok's hand.

But wait, there's even more, upon checking the other energon accessories from that time, I've found that Hot Shot's gun handle peg is super loose in his hand, and the peg hole that accomodates the "sight" piece is severely cracked and probably will break.

[Adam]

I doubt Hasbro will ever learn that clear plastic is cool in theory, but in the long run its not so cool.

[JediTricks]

Yeah, especially for accessories.

So I was at Target yesterday where I picked up Scorpo on sale a week or so ago, and just like then, they still had the sale prices but no tags. I took Divebomb and Ravage over to the scanners, came up $4.99, so I bought 'em. When I got 'em home, I found that Divebomb was the 1st version, the one with the pointy weapon, and Ravage also had changes.

Before, in the old thread, I said that Divebomb's original version was only different because it had a point in place of the peg, but it turns out I was wrong. Where the 2 weapon halves interlock, each side has a hole and a peg, and on version 1, the pegs have a tab molded onto each and the holes have notches outside to accomodate the tabs. These tabs unfortunately also make it impossible for the figure to hold the accessories like guns. Even more surprising to me was that Divebomb himself had those same notches to accomodate the tabbed pegs, meaning that not only did Hasbro remold the weapon halves, they also remolded the figure!

If that wasn't enough of a surprise, original Battle Ravage's weakling ankles had been retooled so the ankles had small tabs that stopped the rotation in 3 positions (forward, straight up, back). The torso still has problems, but at least the bot mode can stand now.


Finally, Remy put up pics of Mirage, looks pretty cool to me but he's sporting maximum shell pieces (though the largest 2 are removable).

[JediTricks]

Well, I saw yesterday that Target was having a big sale on Energon figs that was on its last day, $7 for dlx, $5 for basics, $14 for Mega, $20 for Ultra, and $34 for Supreme or whatever it's called. Mega was the best deal IMO, and they had lots of Ironhides and Jetfires in stock, but after about 20 minutes of consideration, I came to the conclusion that the stuff on top of Ironhide's alt mode was too ugly for me to bother with, and passed. I also thought about getting another Prowl or Hot Shot, $3 off on dlx was really impressive, but I ended up passing there too because I'm low on funds and already have 'em both. Finally, I picked up an extra Skyblast because of the wing problems on mine, and this version is definitely much strong with the wing energon pieces, so that was money well-spent. Also, I saw a bunch of pointy-version Divebombs, that seemed pretty weird after all this time.

Oh, and Hasbro sent me a prepaid label to return my busted Battle Ravage (they'll only exchange the WHOLE figure, not just the busted accessory), but no box or envelope or anything, so I'll have to figure out how to deal with that.


So, let me ask you guys, which Energon figure do you think integrates its energon weapon into alt-mode the best? How about the worst? How well has the line overall integrated these accessories into the alt-modes?

As for best, I think Rodimus's gun/jet engine w/flame missile go very well with his alt-mode. Skyblast's stuff is my second choice because it makes his alt-mode change from a jet into a starfighter.

As for worst, I'm leaning towards Starscream's, it just doesn't look too nice, not balanced, and oversized on his nimble jet fighter form. Second choice would be Ravage, who doesn't have 'em integrated at all, they're just plugged onto his shoulders.

As for the whole line, I dunno yet...