Transformers Discussion Thread

[Gandoor]

Meanwhile in Japan, WE'RE GETTING A NEW BIG POWERED:

For the record, they're retools:
Dai Atlas is a retool of Sky Shadow, Sonic Bomber is a retool of Misfire, and Roadfire is a retool of Twin Twist.

[Pax Nerdvana]

Meanwhile in Japan, WE'RE GETTING A NEW BIG POWERED:

(Image)
(Image)
(Image)
(Image)

For the record, they're retools:
Dai Atlas is a retool of Sky Shadow, Sonic Bomber is a retool of Misfire, and Roadfire is a retool of Twin Twist.

That looks awesome!

[Gandoor]

What's less awesome is the price.

It's $160.

And it's like I kind of want it but I don't think it's worth $160.

I mean it's just a Leader and two Deluxes.

I paid $165 for the God Ginrai exclusive set and that was two Leaders + the two exclusive Minerva and Cab Headmaster figures.

[Pax Nerdvana]

What's less awesome is the price.

It's $160.

And it's like I kind of want it but I don't think it's worth $160.

I mean it's just a Leader and two Deluxes.

I paid $165 for the God Ginrai exclusive set and that was two Leaders + the two exclusive Minerva and Cab Headmaster figures.

Yeah, it's probably not worth it.

[The first Galactic Republic]

Worst color scheme? I don't know if it's the worst, but Shattered Glass Thundercracker is pretty bad.

[Tekania]

Have quite a haul from TFCon USA 2018 dealer room this past weekend....



From FansToys: Sever (Dinobot Snarl), Soar (Dinobot Swoop), Grinder (Dinobot Grimlock), and Quietus (Cyclonus)
From X-Transbots: Savant (Skids), Flipout (Wildrider) and Crackup B2(G2 Breakdown)[a convention exclusive)
From DX9: Richthofen (Powerglide)
From Badcube: Huff (Huffer)
From Open and Play: Big Spring (Springer).

[Gandoor]

Worst color scheme? I don't know if it's the worst, but Shattered Glass Thundercracker is pretty bad.

I mean, is it fair to call that figure's deco 'bad' when it's deliberately homaging another figure that's famous for it's gaudy early 90s neon color scheme?

Anyways, people have found WFC Siege figures at US retail and, watching a couple of video reviews of the Prime and Megatron, they look really neat and have surprisingly complex engineering for a figure in 2018, but I still don't like the whole half-assed 'battle damage' paint effects.

[The first Galactic Republic]

Worst color scheme? I don't know if it's the worst, but Shattered Glass Thundercracker is pretty bad.

I mean, is it fair to call that figure's deco 'bad' when it's deliberately homaging another figure that's famous for it's gaudy early 90s neon color scheme?

Anyways, people have found WFC Siege figures at US retail and, watching a couple of video reviews of the Prime and Megatron, they look really neat and have surprisingly complex engineering for a figure in 2018, but I still don't like the whole half-assed 'battle damage' paint effects.

I'm aware of the homage, but I think Shattered Glass Thundercracker should be noted because he actually shows up in a story.

[Pax Nerdvana]

Picked up Roadtrap, Battleslash, and Alchemist Prime over the last few days. I feel like I was lucky to even see Battletrap in the wild. Also, have Siege Deluxes been spotted in the wild yet?

[Gandoor]

Yeah people have found them at Target.

[Pax Nerdvana]

Yeah people have found them at Target.

Great. My nearest Target is like half an hour away. Thanks for the tip!

[The first Galactic Republic]

Say what you want about Michael Bay, but he always used his charm to get the most out of his actors in the Transformers movies.

Here he is with Nicola Peltz, who played Tessa Yeager.

[Pax Nerdvana]

I actually got my hands on some G1 figures: A near mint Kup, with metal wheels and plastic feetonly missing his rifle, a turret, accessorie, and stickerless Blitzwing, an unpainted Magnus cab without hands, and a stickerless and rifleless Astrotrain, who is also missing some pieces.

[Serendipita]

Meanwhile in Japan, WE'RE GETTING A NEW BIG POWERED:

(Image)
(Image)
(Image)
(Image)

For the record, they're retools:
Dai Atlas is a retool of Sky Shadow, Sonic Bomber is a retool of Misfire, and Roadfire is a retool of Twin Twist.

I've been so hyped after seeing the new Dai Atlas retool; the Alternity figure didn't really cut it for me.

[Gandoor]

So the price and first color images for the new Masterpiece Convoy have been revealed......

Well for starters, here's a robot mode image:


And now comes the price

¥50,000

That's US$440.

This is the most expensive Transformers toy ever, beating out the ¥35,000 (US$308) that MP Beast Wars Megatron is gonna cost you.

And honestly, ignoring my distaste for the MP line going into 'recreate G1 cartoon model as accurately as possible', I think a $440 asking price is borderline indefensible. Mostly because like, it's G1 Optimus Prime, he gets a half-dozen new toys a year + you can easily get MP10 for $200 or less on ebay.

[Serendipita]

So the price and first color images for the new Masterpiece Convoy have been revealed......

Well for starters, here's a robot mode image:
(Image)

And now comes the price

¥50,000

That's US$440.

This is the most expensive Transformers toy ever, beating out the ¥35,000 (US$308) that MP Beast Wars Megatron is gonna cost you.

And honestly, ignoring my distaste for the MP line going into 'recreate G1 cartoon model as accurately as possible', I think a $440 asking price is borderline indefensible. Mostly because like, it's G1 Optimus Prime, he gets a half-dozen new toys a year + you can easily get MP10 for $200 or less on ebay.

While personally I quite enjoy the MP updates on characters, there's no conceivable way that anything that toy has to offer could justify such an eye-watering price. What the hell are they trying to pull here?

[The first Galactic Republic]

So the price and first color images for the new Masterpiece Convoy have been revealed......

Well for starters, here's a robot mode image:
(Image)

And now comes the price

¥50,000

That's US$440.

This is the most expensive Transformers toy ever, beating out the ¥35,000 (US$308) that MP Beast Wars Megatron is gonna cost you.

And honestly, ignoring my distaste for the MP line going into 'recreate G1 cartoon model as accurately as possible', I think a $440 asking price is borderline indefensible. Mostly because like, it's G1 Optimus Prime, he gets a half-dozen new toys a year + you can easily get MP10 for $200 or less on ebay.

What justified that? Will Peter Cullen come to your house and read all his lines from the movie if you purchase it?

[Gandoor]

The price is basically putting it in the range of Bandai's DX Soul of Chogokin figures, but when Bandai charges such a premium for a figure, there is an expectation that they will give the figure a premium amount of QC as well.

Takara doesn't have such an expectation, not only because they've never had a price this high with a Transformer before, but rather because of various design flaws and QC issues that have plagued previous collector-aimed Transformers they've released.

Like here are just a few examples off the top of my head:
MP-9 Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime: The leg panels were too fragile and broke off easily, the figure could barely hold its gun due to the peg-holes being too shallow and conflicting with the angle of his hands, the springs in the ankles coming unwound, the backpack won't clip into place, and the slot that the spoiler slides into when you put the figure into Rodimus Prime's vehicle mode is too narrow since the interior is painted, meaning the paint on the spoiler will get scraped off when you do this. Oh and let's not forget the QC issues that faced the Hasbro release of the mold and the Black Rodimus Convoy redeco. In the Hasbro release, overly powerful springs putting pressure on strangely weak plastic means that the figure WILL destroy itself, either in shoulders or by having his knee ratchets shattering. Black Rodimus Convoy features a similar issue with the knees, after one transformation the knee joints will crack due to the joint being brittle plus the plastic socket being painted, and after it's cracked, moving into some extreme positions (such as those needed to transform the damn thing) results in the knee joint snapping in two.

MP-36 Megatron: Paint damage is extremely common because of various parts of the figure having to scrape past each other when transforming it and it is impossible to attach the silencer without scraping paint off the barrel.

MP-41 Dinobot: Moving Dinobot's shoulders in robot mode may cause a small peg inside them to break off, meaning the ratchet joints now function as swivel joints instead.

Now sure, with the exception of Hot Rod, most of those don't seem like major issues (especially Dinobot's which breaks something but doesn't break the toy itself) but when you're going to be paying a premium for a figure, it shouldn't have those QC issues or design flaws at all.

[Pax Nerdvana]

So the price and first color images for the new Masterpiece Convoy have been revealed......

Well for starters, here's a robot mode image:
(Image)

And now comes the price

¥50,000

That's US$440.

This is the most expensive Transformers toy ever, beating out the ¥35,000 (US$308) that MP Beast Wars Megatron is gonna cost you.

And honestly, ignoring my distaste for the MP line going into 'recreate G1 cartoon model as accurately as possible', I think a $440 asking price is borderline indefensible. Mostly because like, it's G1 Optimus Prime, he gets a half-dozen new toys a year + you can easily get MP10 for $200 or less on ebay.

That is way too expensive, even for an MP.

[Serendipita]

If quality control has been a consistent issue with MP figures then they should be ironed out before Takara even considers releasing something near this price-point.

[Gandoor]

I mean it's far from consistent, counting only original molds (so counting only numerical releases with no redecos or minor retools [I'm counting the two MP seeker molds distinct even though the second is a HEAVY retool of the original due to the amount of differences between them], there have been twenty-six G1 Masterpiece molds released so far.

I don't think three of them having QC issues is a 'consistent issue'.

[Tekania]

So the price and first color images for the new Masterpiece Convoy have been revealed......

Well for starters, here's a robot mode image:
(Image)

And now comes the price

¥50,000

That's US$440.

This is the most expensive Transformers toy ever, beating out the ¥35,000 (US$308) that MP Beast Wars Megatron is gonna cost you.

And honestly, ignoring my distaste for the MP line going into 'recreate G1 cartoon model as accurately as possible', I think a $440 asking price is borderline indefensible. Mostly because like, it's G1 Optimus Prime, he gets a half-dozen new toys a year + you can easily get MP10 for $200 or less on ebay.

I spent more than $100 less than that on my FansToys Terminus Giganticus.... and it is 26" tall and weights 11 pounds.

[Serendipita]

I mean it's far from consistent, counting only original molds (so counting only numerical releases with no redecos or minor retools [I'm counting the two MP seeker molds distinct even though the second is a HEAVY retool of the original due to the amount of differences between them], there have been twenty-six G1 Masterpiece molds released so far.

I don't think three of them having QC issues is a 'consistent issue'.

The fact that any MP toys have quality-control issues worthy to note is concerning considering that they're meant to appeal to collectors and whatnot.

[Gandoor]

I mean it's far from consistent, counting only original molds (so counting only numerical releases with no redecos or minor retools [I'm counting the two MP seeker molds distinct even though the second is a HEAVY retool of the original due to the amount of differences between them], there have been twenty-six G1 Masterpiece molds released so far.

I don't think three of them having QC issues is a 'consistent issue'.

The fact that any MP toys have quality-control issues worthy to note is concerning considering that they're meant to appeal to collectors and whatnot.

Oh yeah that is definitely true.

Anyways in less: holy shit Takara what the fuck are you doing why is it so expensive news, Hasbro's announced a new 'line' called Transformers Generations Selects, which are mail-order online exclusive special edition figures.

So far they've put up preorders for Red Swoop (obviously POTP Swoop but in G1 toy colors instead of the cartoon/Diaclone colors that the mass release figure was) and Ricochet (Redeco of POTP Jazz as the 1987 character Stepper and I don't know why Hasbro keeps calling him Ricochet I don't know a single fan who calls him that PLEASE)

[The first Galactic Republic]

Lol, Hasbro is releasing a studio series figure of Scrapmetal, the Constructicon the other Decepticons killed for spare parts when reviving Megatron in Revenge of the Fallen.

Interestingly, he’ll turn into Devastator’s left hand. An unnamed Decepticon that Hasbro doesn’t acknowledge turned into his left hand in the movie.