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[Sabrblade]

Pics of a supposed Botcon 2016 Custom-Class Offroad unpainted with Ironhide and Offroad (Glavatron?) Head sculpts.

Replying to this here.

After further consideration, I think I may have an idea as to what this thing's deal is.

From TFWiki:

At one point, Checkpoint almost became the BotCon 2016 Customization Class figure. According to Shawn D. Tessmann, the Combiner Wars First Aid mold was chosen over a year prior, with Hasbro offering the unused Ratchet head. As the months rolled on, Ratchet was changed to Checkpoint when the Trailbreaker head was offered in its place (along with the Autotroopers as the year's troop-builder set). After a series of production issues, the figure was switched back to Ratchet. As a result, the figure still retains Checkpoint's base color scheme, allowing fans to repurpose their toy, should they be so inclined.

As best as I can guess, this figure may be the result of those aforementioned "production issues", in that the attempt to get the Trailbreaker head may have accidentally led to the production of an early sample using the Offroad/Ironhide version that was the original version of the Trailbreaker mold, produced by accident instead of the correct First Aid/Ratchet mold. A number of factory errors have reportedly happened with Fun Pub over the years, so this could be another one of these factory goofs.

Though, just to be sure, I'm gonna ask those more in the know about this.

EDIT: I got a hold of Jesse Wittenrich and he had this to say:

There was some difficulty in the pre-production stages of that custom class. Shawn's first samples had parts for both the pick-up and the ambulance... but only like half of each. So neither vehicle could be built.

Fun Pub sent the requested corrections, asking for just the ambulance (the full ambulance) but requesting all of the headsculpts to make for a crazy amount of customization possibilities (Offroad, Ironhide, First Aid, Ratchet, Hoist, Trailbreaker). This was where fans would have been able to make Checkpoint and Autotroopers. But, of course, the final kit arrived with just the Ratchet and First Aid heads.

In all that commotion, I can see the real possibility that a sample or more came out as the pick-up with those two heads. Whether in the confused communication, or an intentional run-off as a "lunch special". Fun Pub never received such a sample but... I'm not too surprised!

[o.supreme]

Awesome, thanks so much for the added research. It would be cool to own an oddity like this, but Im not sure,I'll have to give it some thought. If the owner does put it up for public auction I'll post a link.

[o.supreme]

Greetings Everyone,

Well today I finally accomplished a HUGE goal I thought I never would. Thanks to a very talented fan who assisted with the painting, I now have a complete and accurate Modulus! . I've also been able to complete a unique combiner for Grand Scourge as well. I'm inching ever closer to my goal of having a complete combiner collection.

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Nice! So it's just 2 more Ratchets right?

[o.supreme]

Nice! So it's just 2 more Ratchets right?

Thank you. Technically it is all four items on the list in my signature to be absolutely complete. Marvel and G2 Ratchet will finish my Optimus Maximus Combiner. Flash Sentry will be a 6th member for PotP Predaking. (I know it is weird, but it works). And lastly, obtaining Sixwing will allow me to complete the Scrum Combination with my PotP Inferno combiner (until such time if ever a Guard City is released).

https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Autobot_Scrum_Combination



If I can get these four items, then I can rest with a feeling of completion for the time being...

[Jelze Bunnycat]

I know CW figures are hard to come at a good price, no matter where. I mean, I saw a loose but seemingly complete CW Silverbolt at a toy collector's store at a local mall (yes, we still have them!), for $40. Don't know if the Superion head is still attached

... but what about their accessories including HFG parts? I know where to possibly look, but I want to properly estimate my chances.

[o.supreme]

As I scour eBay for the couple remaining items I need, I do see HFG and other accessories fairly regularly, they aren't too expensive depending on the type.

I mean my son lost PotP Sinnertwin's weapon somehow, and I've not seen one online at all (more original series ones), and Sinnertwin just as a limb goes for around $50, no thanks. I have my selects Abominus which is complete

I have a couple extra limbs I've been meaning to sell, I guess now is as good a time as any.

[Sabrblade]

Back at BotCon 2016, Ravage's HFG was strangely left out of the boxed set, but was still included with the set as a separate piece given outside of the box.

Fast forward to this year's RoboCon and everyone who got a Swag Bag full of goodies got one of those Ravage HFGs leftover from 2016 as one the bag's goodies. So now I have an extra HFG to do whatever with it. While I'm keeping Terrorsaur as a separate, non-combined piece, I may just give it to him for the fun of it, for him to wield it as a gun in robot mode.

[Rodimus Prime]

I have a question and it has only kinda-sorta to with the toys themselves, but I wasn't sure where to ask.

Is there a specific configuration for a combiner to allow said combiner to fly? Like, if a couple of the limbs are flyers (such as Bruticus or Victorion) do they have to be either arms or legs to make the combiner be able to fly? IIRC in IDW Victorion was able to fly only if the helicopters were the legs. Is this an accepted theory to the others as well?

Or are we still going with the "Cons can automatically fly no matter who they are" concept?

[Sabrblade]

I have a question and it has only kinda-sorta to with the toys themselves, but I wasn't sure where to ask.

Is there a specific configuration for a combiner to allow said combiner to fly? Like, if a couple of the limbs are flyers (such as Bruticus or Victorion) do they have to be either arms or legs to make the combiner be able to fly? IIRC in IDW Victorion was able to fly only if the helicopters were the legs. Is this an accepted theory to the others as well?

Or are we still going with the "Cons can automatically fly no matter who they are" concept?

In Car Robots/RiD, Baldigus/Ruination could only fly when Shuttler/Movor and Hepter/Ro-Tor were his arms, a configuration referred to only in Car Robots as "Flight Mission" (the other way around was "Land Mission"; RiD never distinguished between the two for Ruination like Car Robots did for Baldigus).

I believe Superion could simply fly at will in the cartoon, by virtue of being made up entirely of air vehicles. Same with Predaking having wings on his back. But then, by Season 3 and especially in The Headmasters, the "Decepticons fly, Autobots don't" rule was being quietly ignored, letting anyone and everyone who needed to fly do so whenever the plot called for it regardless of any sense.

In Marvel, I don't think any of the Combiners could ever fly. In Dreamwave, Superion could definitely fly, though.

[Rodimus Prime]

Yeah I figured Superion was the exception, I was more curious about the others with mixed types of alt modes.

[o.supreme]

Well, as always leave it up to the "Combiner Lover" to dredge up old conversation topics.

I was thinking today about what I percieve as a misstep in releasing CW in G2 color schemes. Now I know some fans are sentimental about G2. I had all the combiners myself, GPS Slingshot and all .

However...Oddly enough it was when G2 Combiners Wars Superion came out in January of 2016 that I was convinced to jump back into collecting. I had been out since 2005 and picked up all the toys I wanted from Energon. The Galaxy Force/Cybertron esthetic just didn't appeal to me for some reason, although Primus (a figure late in the line) did appeal to me, my kids were very little, and extra money was hard to come by. I hoped to fill in a few holes in my OG collection, but that really didn't happen. I think I got a reissue Star Convoy late in 2005, or 2006 but that was about the end of it all. I sold my entire collection in the summer of 2007 and made a down payment on a Condo.

Needless to say 15 years later, that Condo is not part of my life any more, but my family and I are actually in a better living situation, and finances are stable thankfully for the time being.

I pre-ordered that G2 Superion, and I figured if Hasbro was going that dep into the well, than most, if not all the combiners would come sooner or later (which turned out to be mostly true). however I figured it would be a novelty one-off. I was genuinely shocked when CW G2 Menasor was announced, because that was a toy that was not actually released back in G2 beyond a few production samples that got into collectors hands. I seem to have this "all or nothing" mindset, that I try to, by force of thought and will make Hasbro adapt, but it hasn't worked yet. .

I figured G2 Bruticus and Defensor were absolute eventualities now, also what about G2 Devastator? That could have 2 variants (Yellow and Orange)...expensive to be sure, but was it really off the table?

Well...we did get G2 Bruticus, but it had it's issues. Instead of waiting for TT UW release which had a more accurate Blastoff, they just released the G2 version with the "Slinghsot" Blastoff, which made fans none too happy. Also the missing G2 Decepticon symbols made this even more of an eyesore.

It's at this point I think Hasbro saw the writing on the wall. G2 Defensor would be quite a challenge to get right. Do they "create" a G2 look for Rook, and offer it that way? Or wait to get the TT Deluxe Groove and just offer it as a 5 figure combiner, without the 6th Legends class member?

Unfortunately it seems the G2 sets were not as desirable as Hasbro thought. I remember them going on clearance on the old Hasbro Toy Store site for $40 (Victorion also went out on a similar deal). They also showed up at places like Marshalls and Ross for that price as well. Such a shame.

I still own all 3 G2 CW Combiners, but I actually keep them in the box, and don't display them with all the others.

Hindsight is unfortunate, but I can only wish if instead of trying to get out those G2 versions, they could have been more creative, and used the resources to get other characters based on similar design.

Hasbro has been pretty good about this in more recent times. But I think they should know by now. They can use a mold 10 times, and if it is 10 different characters (i.e. Seekers), there is greater perceived value in a fans eyes, versus using a mold 10 times, and releasing the SAME character in 10 different colors (i.e. WFC Megatron).

My want list in my signature is no secret, but it is my hope someday to complete it. Oddly enough G2 Devastator (in either color variant) is not there. Mostly because I just don't find it necessary I guess. Also because there are no rivals for him, everything in my collection is about Balance. Although I suppose if we ever to get a Guardian Robot/Omega Sentinel repaint of Siege Omega Supreme (possibly hinted at by a Hasbro employee a couple months ago). that might warrant the desire for at least ONE G2 CW/UW Devastator repaint.

[Sabrblade]

Allegedly, SDCC Devastator was originally going to be in G2 yellow and purple before someone decided it should instead just be green and chrome purple.

To say nothing of the Build Team head pretools that Hasbro ended up never using.

[o.supreme]

Wow...what could have been...

[TF-fan kev777]

Allegedly, SDCC Devastator was originally going to be in G2 yellow and purple before someone decided it should instead just be green and chrome purple.

To say nothing of the Build Team head pretools that Hasbro ended up never using.

I'm surprised they never released just the Scoop head on Scrapper to allow a late IDW Devy and milk at least one figure for some easy money while the comic was going on. I wonder if all 6 figures are gang molded in a way that there would be all or nothing.

Edit: Duh, if they planned for build team, then they must have separated the figures to be able to make them different colors.

[Sabrblade]

If I had to guess, the decision to go with another green deco for SDCC was probably because green G1 Devastator has more mainstream/nostalgia appeal for the casual fans that attend SDCC, vs. the less mainstream/nostalgic, more obscure yellow G2 deco.

Back when we had both BotCon and SDCC exclusives, BotCon could tackle the more obscure stuff for the more hardcore fans while SDCC went for more general audiences by doing things that had a much wider appeal without much of any deep cuts.

[Sabrblade]

Have I got some news for y'all!

Jesse Wittenrich has found and Tweeted a pic of Hasbro's old mock-up for Combiner Wars Ironclad. Who is Ironclad? Well, here's a quick history lesson:

Back in the Combiner Wars line, Hasbro had pretooled almost every Deluxe and Voyager mold with a second alternate head for later use of each mold. Most of these alternate heads saw use in the line, but some of them never saw the light of day. One such head was the pretooled head for the Rook mold. Originally, Hasbro had given the Rook mold a second head based on that of the Combaticon Brawl. Before the release of the Combaticons, Hasbro had planned to use the Rook mold for Brawl, but ultimately ended up making a completely new mold for Brawl instead (and one that didn't have a pretooled secondary head, but rather had a pretooled secondary drill turret instead).

When Hasbro decided to make a Combiner Wars giftset release of Computron, the original plan for that set was use the Legends class Groove mold to make Afterburner, while an all-new Technobot would replace Afterburner as a limb (just as Combiner Wars Rook had replaced Groove as a Protectobot limb). This is where Ironclad comes in, who would have been a redeco of Rook finally using the mold's secondary Brawl head. What's more, at RoboCon 2018, it was further revealed that the identity of Ironclad wasn't a whole new character as originally believed, but that he was actually meant to be a Trademark-friendly rename of Ironfist!

In the end, however, these plans fell through when Takara decided to make their own Computron (or "Computicon" in Japan) in the concurrent Unite Warriors line, and opted to heavily retool their Unite Warriors Deluxe-sized Groove mold into a Deluxe-sized Afterburner. Due to the relative closeness in timing, Hasbro was able to acquire the new Deluxe-sized Afterburner from Takara and add it to the Combiner Wars Computron giftset, nixing their original plans for a Legends class Afterburner and the replacement-limb Deluxe class Technobot Ironclad.

And now, after all this time, we finally have a look at what Hasbro had envisioned Ironclad (and its Brawl-based head) would look like:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1688012846058164224

Hmm I also found this.

It's... uh... NOT my creation. Should I show it?

Okay... well...

Remember how I name-dropped "Ironclad" in the one TCC prose story, because Hasbro had given us early mock-ups for the Technobots?

Well... uh... if you wanted to see...

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Not gonna lie... I am glad we didn't get that.

[ZeroWolf]

As much as I love the rook mold (hulk hands for the win) those colours and head...yeah, that's rough. That green on his legs looks out of place as well. Nice bit of history though

[Sabrblade]

As much as I love the rook mold (hulk hands for the win) those colours and head...yeah, that's rough. That green on his legs looks out of place as well. Nice bit of history though

Blame Afterburner and Nosecone for being the most drab of the Technobots, as Ironclad was likely colored to match them since he was replacing the former and was to be the latter's counterpart leg.

[Seibertron]

Ironclad does look like a Technobot, but that much brown kind of makes me glad they passed. I love the non-G1 combiners from Combiner Wars like Blast Off (jet), Offroad, Rook and Alpha Bravo. I wish they had created a core body and combiner that was unique to the primary 4 exclusive Combiner Wars limbs.

[Sabrblade]

Ironclad does look like a Technobot, but that much brown kind of makes me glad they passed. I love the non-G1 combiners from Combiner Wars like Blast Off (jet), Offroad, Rook and Alpha Bravo. I wish they had created a core body and combiner that was unique to the primary 4 exclusive Combiner Wars limbs.

Theoretically, one could use the Battle Core Optimus and pretend it's Nova Prime.

Or wait, Cyclonus's Galvatronus torso was perfect for that, since he had no assigned limbs. Or Grand Scourge from e-HOBBY.

[Bumblevivisector]

If only deluxe Groove had been about 4X more heavily retooled to make Afterburner, Takara might've made a perfect Computron.

And Ironfist? First glance at the thumbnail, that color scheme made me think Weirdwolf joined the Technobots.

Still, given Ironfist's prowess with experimental weapons, this guy would've made a cool solo release alongside Betatron-Scattershot.

[o.supreme]

Any CW treasures I am here for. Thanks for sharing. Of all the Combiners released Between Hasbro & TT; Computron was the one different enough to actually be 2 different bots IMHO, although colored very similarly.

I know I've shared this with many before, but you can actually make a case for using all the Scattershot releases:

Individual CW Scattershot (Torso for Modulus)
CW Scattershot (Torso for CW Computron , whihc I have dubbed "Betatron)
UW Scattershot (Torso for UW Computron, the TRUE Computron)

There's never enough Combiners if you ask me. I'd gladly add Itornfist into the fold if it was ever realized.

[Jelze Bunnycat]

Ah, what could have been... Shame Hasbro couldn't be bothered to actually use it, and that FunPub's plans for SG X-Brawn fell through.

That mold with that head as a Decepticon would have been perfect, we could have had a KO version of TT's Grand Galvatron: CW Cyclonus, CW Offroad, PotP Dreadwind, PotP Blackwing/Darkwing and this guy.