Hasbro and Skybound are shopping an adult Energon Universe animated series with Joe Henderson as showrunner, and the crew wonders whether “adult” means thoughtful or just robot gore. Don has to have the TFCon-exclusive Ocular Max Megalith, while Hasbro Asia’s tiny-run gift sets include a Devastator that comes with a wheeled suitcase. Takara Tomy’s Miniature Package Collection Wave 2 and Missing Link C-11 Delta Magnus round out the news. Brian also calls Missing Link prototype Arcee his favorite toy of the year. In What We Got This Week, Don completes a third-party Legends Class Computron and Brian brings home a stack of carded and boxed G1 figures.
News
Energon Universe Adult Animated Series Heads to the TV Marketplace
Hasbro and Skybound are taking an adult animated Energon Universe series to the TV marketplace, with Joe Henderson as showrunner. Brian finds “adult” a loaded word that could mean mature themes or a misfire like G.I. Joe: Resolute. The article points to the Skybound comic storylines and Amazon’s Invincible as the model. Brian doesn’t need another animated series since he has the G1 cartoon and Beast Wars on Pluto TV. Others wish this had happened a decade ago with More Than Meets the Eye or Last Stand of the Wreckers. One host expects it to be adult “in the robot gore sense, not in the thinky sense.” The Skybound art draws praise, but the story sits close to the old “buckets of blood” joke for one host. [Source: TFW2005]
Ocular Max Megalith Is the TFCon Chicago 2025 Exclusive
Ocular Max’s TFCon Chicago 2025 exclusive is Megalith, a green and orange figure on the Mega Octane mold. Don must have it, since he already owns the other four Combaticon-style figures in the set. Each one has been a TFCon exclusive at a different show. Don hopes Ocular Max offers a preorder, as it did with Astralift, or that Diecast has room to mule one home. The crew agrees the colors look great. [Source: TFW2005]
Hasbro Asia Exclusive Gift Sets Include a Devastator With a Suitcase
Possible Hasbro Asia exclusive gift sets showed up for Optimus Prime and Megatron, Superion and Devastator. Devastator comes with a wheeled suitcase with an extendable handle in Constructicon green, which baffled the crew. The price is about 1,400 yuan, roughly $200, not yen. The Optimus Prime and Megatron set gets a special box with a foam insert, and Megatron adds a silver version of Starscream’s throne. None of the figures appear to get deco changes. Runs are tiny, with 300 Optimus Prime and Megatron sets, 200 Superions and 1,000 Devastators. The Superion promo only shows Silverbolt with the skeleton system, likely a bad photo choice. Hasbro said not to expect gift sets, and technically that holds, since Hasbro Asia does its own thing. [Source: TFW2005]
Takara Tomy Transformers Miniature Package Collection Wave 2 First Look
Wave 2 of Takara Tomy’s Transformers Miniature Package Collection keychains features Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Metroplex, Starscream, Cyclonus and Soundwave. Chris had called Wave 1 “a Brian thing,” and Brian wants these as a novelty. He owns every figure in the wave except a Japanese Starscream and a Japanese Soundwave. Matt offers to track those down at TFCon. [Source: TFW2005]
Takara Missing Link C-11 Delta Magnus Revealed
Takara Tomy revealed Missing Link C-11 Delta Magnus, and one host is getting it immediately. He has wanted a Delta Magnus since the line launched with Optimus Prime. It looks like a general release, like Cordon and prototype Arcee. Delta Magnus comes with the powered buggy, a.k.a. Powerdrive, and a figure that resembles a Diaclone Carly. Don already pulled off some Donanomics on the Diaclone red cab version this year, in a beat-up box without the missiles. [Source: TFW2005]
Missing Link Arcee Revisited
After opening both Missing Link Arcee figures, Brian calls the prototype version his favorite toy of the year. She poses like a G1 toy, transforms easily and will sit with his movie cast. The one knock, raised by Matt last week, is that her small wheels may drag. Rob explains that prototype Arcee is based on a real 1986 prototype for a Transformers: The Movie Arcee figure. It swapped most of the pink for orange and follows the early character model, shoulder fenders included. He also thinks the head sculpt looks like it came out of Katamari Damacy. As Rob puts it, sometimes you didn’t get a toy as a kid because it never existed.
Conventions This Weekend
Diecast and Matt are headed to TFCon Chicago, and Brian is sending Matt money to shop for him sight unseen. Brian will open the results on the show. Don is running a table at the one-day Inside Pitch Promotions toy show in Hickory, North Carolina, where Brian will walk the floor.
What We Got This Week
Matt
Matt finally got Seaspray from Hasbro Pulse. He’s unhappy with the price but loves the figure, which is very different from the Power of the Primes version. His only nitpick is that the arms look a little long. He also received The Transformers Compendium Volume 2, covering issues 47 through 80, the movie adaptation and Generation 2 issues 1 through 12.
Don
Don opened Missing Link Arcee and loves her, though the heel spurs are tricky and she has a mild version of the BotCon Tigatron head issue. He’s keeping prototype Arcee boxed for now. At Ross he found the boxed EarthSpark Prowl, a recolor of the Hot Rod figure. From Show-Z Store he received Craftsman Toy Strafe and Lightspeed, which complete their Legends Class Computron.
Diecast
Diecast had nothing in Transformers this week.
Rob
Rob received Missing Link Arcee and the Nova Prime reissue, both still unopened. He also got Seaspray to reach free shipping. He likes it, calling the transformation complex but not hard. He says Seaspray nails the G1 plastic colors in a package the size of a bar of soap.
John
John finally opened Onyx Prime. He appreciates the ambition, but the centaur mode turns a tall robot into a squat figure with oversized arms. He also got the G2 Dinobots, which he sums up as G1 Dinobots in G2 colors.
Brian
Brian got Cyberworld Megatron from Walmart and is gobsmacked at how ugly it is for $30. At Dollar General he found the Authentics Mirage, which he later transformed on air and likes despite the cheap plastic. He also picked up the G2 Dinobots, Cronus Prime and the convention-exclusive Nemesis Prime, despite reports of a Mini-Con hip issue. He bought a G1 Wheeljack box and a reproduction bubble for a figure he already owned. Mandarake supplied a G2 Cyberjet Jetfire and an Italian G2 Go-Bot Gearhead. A local dealer friend’s big Transformers score filled out the rest. He picked up a boxed Taiwanese knockoff of Micro Change Jaguar, a carded figure with the Air Raid decoy, and a sealed carded Slingshot. He also got carded Freeway, Rewind and Steeljaw, Slugfest and Overkill, and Skids. Boxed finds included the Micromaster base Greasepit, Hound, Ratchet with a $7 TG&Y clearance sticker and Targetmasters Crosshairs, Sureshot and Pointblank.