(I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face)
HasLab 2025: Liokaiser
- Thread starter Powered Convoy
- Start date
I should've used my f-ing card
I should've pawned my left kidney
If I'd have known that cursed FOMO
would be back to bother me
I should've pawned my left kidney
If I'd have known that cursed FOMO
would be back to bother me
"There once was a combiner team from Nantucket...."
Not to ruin the lyric vibe of the thread, but we've seen a lot of Victory in HasLab, haven't we?
We got Galaxy Shuttle in a capsule line, Dinoking in Selects, Greatshot in Legends, and a couple of Black Shadows at retail over the years.
Victory Sabre and Deathsaurus were HasLabs (along with the bonus Rescue Patrol), and Liokaiser is in production.
Who does that leave? The 2 biggest names I can think of are Road Ceasar and the Multiforce. Would they be viable at retail, or more likely future HasLabs? Beyond them, there's Clipper and Blue Bacchus, who else am I forgetting? The comic-only characters like Esmeral and Lyzack are still off the table due to rights issues, correct? There's Ginrai, but he's technically Masterforce, and surely would be a viable retail release much like Star Convoy?
We got Galaxy Shuttle in a capsule line, Dinoking in Selects, Greatshot in Legends, and a couple of Black Shadows at retail over the years.
Victory Sabre and Deathsaurus were HasLabs (along with the bonus Rescue Patrol), and Liokaiser is in production.
Who does that leave? The 2 biggest names I can think of are Road Ceasar and the Multiforce. Would they be viable at retail, or more likely future HasLabs? Beyond them, there's Clipper and Blue Bacchus, who else am I forgetting? The comic-only characters like Esmeral and Lyzack are still off the table due to rights issues, correct? There's Ginrai, but he's technically Masterforce, and surely would be a viable retail release much like Star Convoy?
If you're willing to pay Haslab prices for Ginrai, the MP is already there. Powermaster Prime could be done well as a Commander (maybe with a Leader Apex Bomber to go with him).
I couldn't come up with any others, and the only other named character I could find on the wiki is Raikuru, who seems to have even less presence than Clipper.
I would love to see a Blue Bacchus. If one were made to match the old Generations Deluxe Black Shadow, I'd happily hit up eBay for him, though I'd prefer he get a new release too.
I'd love to see the Pretenders done fully featured...
Multiforce would be a serious lift in either HasLab or Retail, as if you did it 'full' version, you have six bots doing 'Energon Autobot' styles of combination, AND making a six-bot combiner. Weirdly this is where Core Class as a special box-set would probably shine, justifying some limited articulation in favor of combination like Dinoking, but the engineering would have to be ingenious reguardless. Otherwise, deluxe-or-up, but then it's a cost issue. Road Ceaser wouldn't be hard, but would probably also be a box set of some sort?
Everyone else who was remolded or repainted from someone else could be argued to need a 'dedicated' update but I don't know how likely that actually is in both this economy, and diminishing returns for 'different yet same' character re-re-remakes. Then again, we've gotten a lot of that lately in the main lines, so who knows?
Depending on the fiction, the Combaticons have a history with Deathsaurus, but that's all post-Victory stories, so I doubt they count. I still think the desighners for Bruticus and Liokaiser either were the same people or collaborated heavily:
Multiforce would be a serious lift in either HasLab or Retail, as if you did it 'full' version, you have six bots doing 'Energon Autobot' styles of combination, AND making a six-bot combiner. Weirdly this is where Core Class as a special box-set would probably shine, justifying some limited articulation in favor of combination like Dinoking, but the engineering would have to be ingenious reguardless. Otherwise, deluxe-or-up, but then it's a cost issue. Road Ceaser wouldn't be hard, but would probably also be a box set of some sort?
Everyone else who was remolded or repainted from someone else could be argued to need a 'dedicated' update but I don't know how likely that actually is in both this economy, and diminishing returns for 'different yet same' character re-re-remakes. Then again, we've gotten a lot of that lately in the main lines, so who knows?
Depending on the fiction, the Combaticons have a history with Deathsaurus, but that's all post-Victory stories, so I doubt they count. I still think the desighners for Bruticus and Liokaiser either were the same people or collaborated heavily:
I can't see it happening, but a straight re-release of the Multiforce as a box set would make for a decent anniversary set. We're getting closer to the 50th all the time....
Not really ideal for HasLab, though.
Not really ideal for HasLab, though.
I think Road Caesar would be a viable retail release. They don't even have to do it as a set. He's a three bot combiner. They could stagger three carbots out over two years worth of product.
and we can get a BIG MOTORVATOR redeco too!!!!!
Or Missing Link them up, if they wanted to just add modern articulation
I can't be the only person who thinks that Hasbro's current methodology of spreading combiners out over multiple years is a really horrible idea. Especially when we're only talking about three members, I see no reason they can't get them all out within the same year.
Possible, but honestly, I don't think the extra trouble would actually be worth it for these guys. A straight reissue would generate nearly the same number of sales for much less effort and production cost.
Next Haslab set: BIG RESCUE FORCE!
For authenticity they're leaving three guys out.
For authenticity they're leaving three guys out.
But only Guyhawk and Hellbat were missing from the original.
Presumably there's no UK version of Deathcobra, who would be left out of a modern version, even though he never existed in the original at all....
Given the proposed idea, I like the typo.
Given that the Multiforce members were small enough to be sold as Micromasters in Japan for their reissue, I'd be hesitant on Missing Link, simply because their track record with small joints has been spotty and we've seen how 'modern' Micromasters quickly became infamous for ball joint popping frustration.
There's only been one "new" Black Shadow in Japan as the TR version wasn't unfortunately released over here.
On another note, Hasbro really really needs to find a new stock photographer or tell the Marketing department to do it themselves when they're not too busy with all the literally nothing that they're usually doing, because Bruticus looks ridiculously better than the stock photos made it look. The stock photographer didn't even get the transformation wrong this time, but somehow the proportions look completely different.