16 - The CRAZY development of Transformers Energon
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- We dive into the creation of Transformers Energon also known as Transformers Superlink in Japan. A series with a lot of ups and downs and we cover how this was all put together after the mega success of Transformers Armada going into the 20th anniversary of the brand.
Hosted by former Hasbro/Kenner Designer Aaron Archer and Protoman
Big Thank You to Solfury and Seibertron for photography
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Speaking it was the 20th Anniversary of Transformers, it's a real shame to hear the amount of bad luck and pressure Energon, Aaron and the band went through. The show switched to 3D over 2D(let me just say the bots in Energon look amazing in what little 2D animation we got of them), Deramwave going bust just as the Energon book was about to tell the sinister truth about Unicron, some of the toys not reaching their deadline and Aaron having to throw out some last min repaints to put together a wave 1 to sell in stores. I feel had Energon been given more development time and there was so much pressure to surpass Armada right out the gate, Energon could have been a great squeal to Armada. Having said that, I do think the Energon toys are great! As Potoman said in the video, some figures such as Energon Galvatron, Scorponok, and Downshift (who is clearly meant to be a base on G1 Wheeljack) would fit right in a Classic 1.0 shelf. I personally have always liked Energon Optimus Prime and do enjoy him being a love letter to the Barve/Yuusha series.
Skyblast was my first Energon figure. I was horribly disappointed when I found out he and the Omnibots were essentially pacifists, though. It meant my toy would rarely be seeing action, if at all.
Thanks for the shout out ! Energon was one of my favorite lines! Specially for the chance to work on so many iconic characters for that show!
Speaking from personal experience your work made for some great memories!
Hey Mr. Matere! I remember you from deviant art! ❤
I really like that we see the return of the duo combiners with the new EarthSpark toys. Really had the Energon nostalgia churning in the brain
Energon was my actual introduction to the franchise as a kid, my first toy was the Energon Class Skyblast which was a birthday gift and from there I went on to seek out the show on DVD and look for specific figures of characters as stores and do the back catalogue deep dive on Armada and G1 (Beast era and RiD weren't available to me at the time). As a 27 year old now it is really vindicating to see it start to break into the nostalgia sphere and hearing Aaron explain stuff like why the Animation ended up being so jank and why they went with such a variety of play features after so long not really having a solid answer from the source and just hear say from other older fans to go on, it was just a real treat. Thanks!
I don’t care what old fogey fans think, The Unicron Trilogy, especially Energon as it was the first full series I saw, was my childhood.
Beast Wars to RID 01 was my childhood but I'd never shame other fans for simply discovering the franchise in a different era, it's wild that people do that
Don’t want to sound like a boomer, but in terms of how kid-oriented toyline was treated, Unicron Trilogy, Animated, and to some extent Prime, was peak Transformers experience. It is depressing to see Earthspark barely get any toys.
I have been waiting for this… Time to see the creation of the most mine boggling transformers shows
Me every day "I need more Energon"!
Hello! I have a few Energon specific questions (though these may be more on the Eric Siebenaler side of things):
1) What was the deal with Energon Wing Saber? I recall back in the day that it was probably a Takara-initiated design (final design by Hirofumi Ichikawa, I think?) and whether it was making it to the US was in question, but we also saw a bio pop up online for an air carrier named "Superion Maximus" before the combiners happened that sounded like that was going to be Wing Saber. Was sticking to the name "Wing Saber" due to time constraints or a case of "Superion Maximus" just sounding more impressive on a combiner so it got swapped?
2) I recall in the Orson days that Energon Starscream "came out different from what we expected." What were the initial Energon Starscream designs and how far did the final skew away from them?
3) Energon had a lot of weird shenanigans specifically with the heads of figures- Hot Shot having a different head on his concept art with a sweet visor, a bug-eyed Hasbro head, and a more standard Takara head, Prowl's head getting swapped from an Armada Silverbolt one to a more G1-ish design, Strongarm having a wide face with large eyes then a more standard one, and Optimus having a mouth then a regular faceplate. Was it just an odd case by case basis and a tight schedule, or miscommunication, or...?
Rodimus was my first ever figure.
Another great one! I've been looking forward to it since Aaron mentioned it during the livestream a couple days ago. The UT toys and shows bring back fond memories for me and my past toy collecting life (I collected until early 2007...took an 11 year cold turkey break and started again in late 2017). I was really never able to get into the shows (I was 27 when Armada started, lol, but I probably would have loved it if I were a kid at the time). I really enjoyed a lot of the toys, though, and had, at one point, at least one toy version of most of the UT characters...and multiple versions of many of them. The toys represented a very different design philosophy compared to most other iterations of Transformers. They were tough, solid and heavy on the gimmicks (which I truly enjoyed). I didn't care that Superpants Optimus's lower body was permanently stuck in that A-stance...I HAD to have a Transformer that could transform itself (and not cost several hundred dollars or more doing it).
Excellent to hear more about the development process in these long form videos! I’m excited to know more! Thank you!
I could never hate Energon
i heard of gaogaigar i watched a few episodes of it
I'm still so sad that I can't find a complete energon unicorn for a decent price. I have a cybertron primus and I really want a version of unicorn to go with him.
As ropy as the show was, the Energon toyline was a great line of toys.
Would you guys do an episode on the classics line?
Was the character selection a way to celebrate the brand? Specially since they didn't have the Trademarks.
Yeah, Energon was the 20 year anniversary and there's tons of explicit callbacks in it, especially in Japan where the names are a lot more obvious (the one that resembles Springer being called Sprung instead of Bulkhead, for example). The Triple Takeover Toycast did an episode about G1 callbacks in Energon/Superlink, worth listening to.
Personally really appreciate how accurate the show models are to the toys. It's frustrating when figures don't/can't look like they do on screen.
I actually love Energon toys, but yes, I think Cybertron were even better
Facts
The Energon toyline was pretty awesome to me. The industrial style and unique vehicle selection made even the most basic figures feel unique. The Decepticon toys especially still hold up as great figures with fantastic design and style.
Can’t forget they rolled the armada deco out in the energon packaging of unicron.
Aaron's auto-adjusting mic volume is really bad. I don't know if it's software or hardware, but my speakers are getting blown out and I gotta quickly adjust it to 25% (and then back up to hear properly, and then back down, repeating forever.)
Shoehoring hot horseshoeing lol