Naming Rights Be Damned! - Images of Solar Storm Grappel

Oh mama. I want this naow!

Nice....inferno brother...but nice

very nice. I like the hands too.

The crane looks removable

must have

I'll buy this. Why post this here? You should have posted this in the news discussion.

Oh so that is what reveal the shield means: rubsigns. This is Generations Voyager Class.

The forearms are rounded too! Inferno's were boxy! He is more of a remold than repaint.

This I missed out on Inferno i will not miss out on this!

Oh Grapple will be bought on sight! He looks great, & I'm glad they got his shade of yellow/orange right. Come on HasTak, Release him already!

This looks sharp. Must buy.

I guess this means,the "SOLAR STORM" isn't referring to a voyager midwipe repaint like a few fans thought it was reffering to.

I'm impressed with this figure. all the remolded parts & extras make this toy a bit better than inferno.

I don't love this mold enough to have 2 characters/color schemes based off it. I'm also trying to cut back. So now I've got to decide whether to keep/sell inferno or buy/not buy Grappel.

Who's this Grapple everyone's talking about. All I see in the pictures is Grappel.

The paint scheme is horrible. I'm waiting for the TF United version.

it's based off the 1985 G-1 Grapple figure. hasbro probably couldn't use the name so created "Grappel".

And clearly even "Grappel" wasn't quite cutting it, since they had to add the "Solar Storm" to manage a trademark.

I hope this use of the mold has less floppy shoulder swivels than Inferno did.

for the price it's not bad. the only thing that looks bad "to me" is the grey painted faux windows in alt mode on the sides of the alt mode.

buying the Takara versions. bacically means spending double maybe tripple. then paying shipping fees. no thanks,I ain't spending $50+ with shipping fees included for the takaa version.

on a good sales week,I can buy the hasbro version for for under $18. regular price cost around $21.99. which is the only price i'm willing to shell out for this figure.

spending double/tripple +added shipping fees for the takara version. basically means I could have bought (hasbro) a/few extra toy/toys in various sizes.

Oh, I know. I was just joking on how they had to change the main name AND add "Solar Storm" to it as if it just wasn't enough.

Name copyrights must be a b**** if they have to do things like these.

Now THAT'S a remold!

See also "Special Ops Jazz" and "Turbo Tracks". Remember, kids: Even if you can trademark a common-use word, defending it is gonna be a bitch. Much easier to add specific words with it and make it as distinct as you can.

Well, I admit it's more creative that just adding "autobot" or "decepticon" to the name. Still, what about characters like Motormaster, apparently they coldn't modify his name so they just call him menasor sometimes.

Looks nice, and I get the name change, but why the prefix solar storm exactly...?

Basically it's like this:

If someone else has trademark on a name/phrase, there's pretty much no way around it by fiddling with the wording. That's most likely the situation with Motormaster, and I'd guess Trailbreaker as well for as many times as Hasbro has tried to use the name in the past decade.

If it's not in use by someone else, but is too common of a word to be able to trademark, that can sometimes be dealt with by adding to the word to make a specific phrase. Like how we now get "Autobot Ratchet", for example. But Aaron Archer is on record as saying he doesn't like prefixing the names in that particular way if it can be helped. So in this case the end product is Solar Storm Grappel.

This is also a considerable simplification of things, but it's good enough for a basic understanding of why the hell some stuff gets renamed/comes out with weird-ass adjective'd names.

As for why Solar Storm, anyone's best guess is that it's to reference the solar energy tower in The Master Builders. Plus his yellowy-orange color is kinda sunshiney...? ;D

Waaahaahahaant.

Well, that shatters my hopes that "Solar Storm" would end up being a CHUG Sunstorm seeker, but oh well.

Wow! First Auotbot and now this!

this needs in the news section!

man oh man does it looks nice, the head is not that great to me, but minus color, it is cartoon accurate, i would of been happier with just the original head, since it would of been toy accurate, but this will do just fine (i just love that head haha)

If you live in the US, that may be true (if you can find the figure before scalpers clean out the isles). However, here in Nowhereland, we're lucky if the figures show up at all (no Generations here, no HTFD, and I have it on good authority that we're only going to get 4 more TF figs until the end of the year). When they do show up, Deluxes cost about $20, and Voyagers are close to $40.

If I import from the US, I have to pay customs and expensive shipping, if I import from Hong Kong (which seems to get all of Takara's toys), I can get it for approximately 20% more than the US version, and the paint jobs of (most) Takara figures are sufficiently better (IMO) to warrant that 20% markup.

I like to call our country "the ass end of nowhere", when things like these are concerned.

As for Henkei prices and future AA figure prices, all I can tell is that the general popularity of the C/H/U/G line has skyrocketed in the last 2 years. I bought Henkei Prowl and Silverstreak MISB for the same price as universe versions, on ebay in 2008. I've seen other Henkei releases going for roughly the same prices as their Universe versions that year. Now you're lucky if you find it for a %50 markup.

Grappel. Sounds like cologne. Looks like a will-buy though, of course

Looks good.


EDIT: Why is news about toys now being posted in the Toy Discussion sub-forum? Makes it harder to know what has not yet been reported on tfw2005 and what news is reported on a forum that isn't the news forum.

Looks very good.

They actually remolded his forearms and feet. That's interesting.

Dig the remolding done, but the name is pretty lame.

I thought Solar Sotrm was going to be a Mindwipe repaint. This is just unnecessary to put on the front of Grapple's name. Fitting, but unnecessary.

it like what they did with jazz and tracks

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transf...-pictures.html already posted.

Wow, that looks really nice - much more remoulding than I was expecting. That said, does anyone feel like they're going to pronounce his name as "Grapp-el" from now on?

Hasbro, I love you This figure looks incredible, and I'm REALLY looking forward to this!

Threads merged.

It would help us tremendously if new news items were posted in the news forum, and not buried in the back of huge existing threads.


Great pics though, I'm loving how this toy is remolded. Naming be damned, I'm getting this one for my Classics shelf!

The toy itself looks great, but man... "Grappel"? Does he have dyslexia or something? The really odd "Solar Storm" prefix isn't enough?

Yep, it looks fantastic!

Its an actual word. They don't want to use Autobot Grapple for this line and Grappel by itself is not enough. They had to use this slight alternate spelling otherwise they would have to rename him something completely different.

Timberjack 360 grappel for Sale - Timberjack 360 grappel - Used Timberjack 360 grappel at Europe-Machinery

Looks great, but really hoping for a darker (more orange) version from Takara. Really, really want an exclusive Hauler from this and Artfire from Inferno.

I'll buy this on sight, then wait to see if Takara's Autobot Alliance version has a darker orange. If it does, I'll do swapsies.
If not, I'll keep the Hasbro one and have an AWESOME CHUG version of Grapple. Can't lose.

I was looking forward to getting this guy, but that name is so fudging stupid I might just pass on it. I mean Solar Storm? Hed a crane. Unless the bio says he absorbed the power of a million exploding suns or something, and even then it would be pretty stupuid.

If you've been anticipating this figure, the name should be the last thing to deter you. Cause ya know, once he's in your hands.... uh, come close... ya listening? You can, uhm... you can call him whatever you like!

Dear Hasbro, go ahead and take this straight from the factory and put it in my heart, thanks.