BotCon toy reveals

Figures, collectables, customs and collecting.
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Warcry
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BotCon toy reveals

Post by Warcry »

Lots of new stuff so I figured a new thread was in order. :)

Fresh on the heels of me bitching about the fact that we see toys six-plus months before release...a bunch of 2014 toys!

Credit to TFW.

Beast Hunters Commanders.

You make a tiny little Bludgeon and don't base him on the inner robot? Fuck off!

Beast Hunters Deluxes. No, seriously.

Beast Hunters Legion

Beast Hunters Voyagers

None of this BH stuff appeals to me in the slightest. Are they seriously scaling up Legions and trying to pass them off as Deluxes? That's knockoff tier, Hasbro.

Generations Legends

The Legends are great. Cosmos is a big step up from the gawky Universe mold (elbows!), Swerve is going to make a lot of MTMTE fans giddy, Dogfight (I'm assuming that's who it's meant to be? It looks nothing like either Sky High) is a real surprise and Blast Master is even moreso.

Generations Voyagers

Rhinox isn't a surprise, since BW fans have been clamouring for him for ages. They did a great job though, if the pics are any indication. Doubledealer, though? Really? Not Flywheels or Overlord, who actually have the same alt-modes as Blitzwing? Alright, then...

Generations Deluxe

Waspinator is cool, but feels kinda unnecessary since the original is top-rate. Dreadwing is okay and Skids is a very pleasant surprise after Trailbreaker and Hoist turned out to be so bland.

Some non-stock photos of the toys

I look forward to not being able to find any of these in stores until March 2014, then having to drive across the city to buy them because they'll only be in stock for about six hours in one or two places. :(
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Thunderwave
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Post by Thunderwave »

Warcry wrote: Beast Hunters Deluxes. No, seriously.

None of this BH stuff appeals to me in the slightest. Are they seriously scaling up Legions and trying to pass them off as Deluxes? That's knockoff tier, Hasbro.
I, personally, am going to give Hasbro the benefit of the doubt on that. Maybe there was an image mix up, or the person posting them up was just a moron. I don't think Hasbro would go -that- far.
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Red Dave Prime
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Post by Red Dave Prime »

I'm not a collector but I would be interested in picking up some of Swerves motley crew - Swerve himself, skids, trailcutter and I hear a MTMTE inspired whirl may be coming. Any idea when these get released?
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

Anything we see at BotCon is likely to be a 2014 release, or Christmas 2013 if you're lucky enough to see new stock.

Lots of MTMTE love, I agree. Trailbreaker, Hoist, Cosmos, Skids, Tailgate, Swerve, Whirl...I suppose you could toss in the data disc Rewind too even though he's not using the MTMTE design.
Thunderwave wrote:I, personally, am going to give Hasbro the benefit of the doubt on that. Maybe there was an image mix up, or the person posting them up was just a moron. I don't think Hasbro would go -that- far.
All the news seems to indicate that, yes, that's exactly what they've done. :(

On the bright side...other news from the Hasbro panel, courtesy of the Allspark. No pics that that I can see.
  • Legends Tailgate with Groundpounder, and Legends Shrapnel with Reflector
  • Deluxe Skywarp (FoC?), Armada Starscream (what?) and Targetmaster Scoop (what?)
  • Voyager Whirl
No, seriously, they're making a new toy of Scoop. Apparently with his Targetmasters. I'm inordinately happy about this. :)
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Blackjack
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Post by Blackjack »

Screw Scoop, SHRAPNEL WITH REFLECTOR
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Post by tahukanuva »

I'm extremely excited for the Beast Wars dudes (Waspinator looms PERFECT) and Armada Starscream. (And for the inevitable Thundercracker repaint.) Skids looks rad as hell as well.

Even though he's not a new reveal, the actual in-person shots of MP Acid Storm are impressive. I certainly didn't expect them to make him quite so day-glo.
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Post by Thunderwave »

Warcry wrote:
All the news seems to indicate that, yes, that's exactly what they've done. :(
http://www.seibertron.com/images/events ... 06833a.jpg

WHAT THE HELL HASBRO?!
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

You know...I kinda understand. I've long thought that the main-line toys were too complex to draw in many kids. Hasbro's motivations do make some sense. But this isn't the way to do it. You can do "simple" without becoming cheap, and this just smacks of cheap.

This looks like something that I could pick up for $1 in a shady Chinese shop downtown, not something that I'd pay $13 for at retail. They've gone off the deep end if they think this is going to improve their sales numbers.
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Post by tahukanuva »

The new dude Hasbro hired as head of their action figure has actually done this 'super-simple cheap' thing to all of their lines, starting with Iron Man 3 and Spider-Man. It's about to happen to Star Wars as well. Apparently Transformers was pretty late in the schedule if they've just been announced.

I wouldn't worry too much, though. The strategy's already going so terribly that the Thor 2 figures are back up to regular paint and articulation, so I doubt that Transformers will stick with it for too long.
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Post by Clay »

Warcry wrote: Generations Voyagers

Rhinox isn't a surprise, since BW fans have been clamouring for him for ages. They did a great job though, if the pics are any indication. Doubledealer, though? Really? Not Flywheels or Overlord, who actually have the same alt-modes as Blitzwing? Alright, then...
Had to search a little, but Rhinox was on the "to-do" list as far back as 2008. It's nice to see things come about if you wait long enough.
Warcry wrote:You know...I kinda understand. I've long thought that the main-line toys were too complex to draw in many kids. Hasbro's motivations do make some sense. But this isn't the way to do it. You can do "simple" without becoming cheap, and this just smacks of cheap.
Simple, not cheap... the word "Armada" comes to mind. They lacked detail, but usually had a sound pack or something to make up for it.
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Nick Roche was very excited by the thought of the Whirl toy on Twitter (where he's had to learn most people on Twitter have no sense of humour. "There's gonna be a Wreckers 3?!?!" "No, that was clearly a joke comment. But now I'm going to have to make a slightly awkward apology so its not so obvious your a moron for taking my obvious joke seriously") to the point I'm surprised there don't seem to be any pics of it.

Though if we're getting a Roche/Milne Whirl, that makes the helicopter guy in the Wreckers combiner not being Rotorstorm all the more annoying.
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Post by Warcry »

I have a feeling that all the MTMTE toys we're hearing about today were a very spur of the moment thing once the comic became a huge hit among the adult nerd set, so Hasbro probably had no idea they were doing a Voyager Whirl when they designed Ruination.

I'm actually pretty shocked they reacted this quickly to the comic's popularity though, since they took several years to get Drift to market after they jumped on that bandwagon.
Clay wrote:Simple, not cheap... the word "Armada" comes to mind. They lacked detail, but usually had a sound pack or something to make up for it.
If I was trying to design the perfect kid-friendly toy I'd look at the BW basics for inspiration. Either flip-changers or toys that usually had under five transformation steps, and yet they managed to have great articulation thanks to ball joints. I've only got a handful of modern toys that manage to pull off the same level of elegant simplicity -- Energon Treadshot and 2010 Hubcap are a couple that come to mind. That is what I'd been hoping to see, with the twenty-step transformation messes kept strictly on the collector side of the brand.

Armada is another decent example, though it focused more on gimmicks than I'd like. Gimmicks can become stale, but a toy with fun robot and alt-modes and a quick, satisfying transformation will always be a hit.

But this? This is going way, way too far.
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Post by Clay »

Also, G1 Predaking reissue by Hasbro.

Counting the unlicensed Predakings by Mastermind Creations, Unique Toys, and TFC toys, that'll make four different versions of the original Predaking available all at once... in addition to three or four versions of the Beast Hunters Predaking.

That's... a lot of Predakings.
Warcry wrote:But this? This is going way, way too far.
I think people may be overreacting. The fast-action battlers from the movie lines didn't exactly overtake the traditional deluxe class.

Two or three waves and they'll be gone.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

Maybe they're just trolling people? It's what I'd do if I was Hasbro.

Also, that thing looks no worse than some of the Generations shite.
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Post by Blackjack »

Some of them are great. Waspinator! Now I don't have to scour second-hand shops for reissue Waspinators. Rhinox! They made Rhinox look damn awesome! I think I'll get Skids as well... those wheel-missile things look great. Cosmos and Swerve look great as well, although I'm not particularly excited about them since I already own different versions of Cosmos and Swerve.

The 'Deluxe Legends'... like many above me, I don't really see the point. I guess I'm kinda... cheering for actually being able to have a shot at buying Sinnertwin and Cutthroat, more power if they actually combine, but anyone else kind of feels redundant. New Voyager Predaking just kicks off the current retail Predaking as something I might buy.

Don't really care all that much for the Prime line repaints at all. Doubledealer, Dreadwing, Goldbug etc are cool but meh. Rotgut does look kinda funny with that puke green paint scheme though.

As for other news... Shrapnel, Whirl, woot! Two of my favourite characters in one go! Tailgate's kinda great news as well and I'm probably going to buy him anyway, but is overshadowed by those two.
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Post by Knightdramon »

Thoughts:

Generations: I don't think anybody could have a valid complaint anymore. With Skids we've got all the DLX 84-86 cars made. Really loving Skids bot mode, car mode looks like animated though. Couldn't care less about Goldbug Bumbles but I do like Dreadwing and Waspinator.

Kind of ****ed up timing though, Hasbro promotes DLX Bumblebee with the worst spotlight to date, but before the figure is even released, they already upgraded him and solicited the figure. Way to kill the sales of the first Bee, Hasbro.

Rhinox looks fantastic, if only a tad shell form-ish. Reminds me of Big Convoy. Makes me look back on Universe Cheetor and Dinobot.

Swerve, Cosmos and Tailgate [not pictured] are a welcome addition. With all this CRAP timing, anybody feels like purchasing the Igear Swerve from me, shoot me a pm.

More than excited for Voyager Whirl.

----There's a picture taken from hasbro's slideshow with pictures of planned figures for 2013-14, the pictures are just images of the vintage artwork, but Whirl, Skywarp, Inferno, Blaster and Defensor are there. Whirl is announced, they said they'll do Skywarp [FOC]...so...new Defensor Gestalt at some point?

Prime Beast Hunters: Remember those dollar knock offs that were scaled up figures? This is essentially what's happening. CRAP. I feel sorry for the poor kid who asks for a DLX Bumblebee and gets a scaled up cyberverse. Possibly the poorest move Hasbro has done in most of my time as a fan. Prices stay the same. Combiner ports left out on all abominus sub figures.

SDCC Exclusive Metroplex? :lol::lol::lol: I bet we'll see this soar to 200-300 USD within a week of release. Considering FOC Bruticus was much smaller and cost 100 USD retail, with him being around 240 now, I'm really laughing at the nerd rage that will ensue once SDCC Metroplex is out.
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Post by Cliffjumper »

I dunno... I think they might be onto something with trying to make the "kid" figures a bit simpler. The more complex figures just don't seem to be making the connection. While that Bee looks crappy there's plenty of wriggle-room in the equation and if Generations is there to stave off nerd rage what's the harm? Sales will be the telling factor; I'd suspect a lot more parents would go for something simple that they'll be able to do. I don't like the idea of Transformers being intimidating for under-10s, because I wouldn't be here now if it had been and neither would most of you.
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Post by Denyer »

General reminder... please don't directly embed images from other sites. It isn't polite to leech bandwidth and when the person on the other end decides to replace it with goatse it's your neck on the block.
Warcry wrote:You make a tiny little Bludgeon and don't base him on the inner robot?
Of the BH stuff I've seen, I "quite like it" more than the rest. The simplified Bumblebee kind of works as a one-off homage to the Turbomasters, but as a modern kid I'd feel a bit gipped. Potential audience of very young kids, though.

Swerve and Skids seem pretty cool and will try to get. Rhinox and Doubledealer look fun but not particularly interested in having on a shelf. Waspinator could be a for-the-hell-of-it purchase at some point, though.

Whirl? Looking forward to that.
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Post by Denyer »

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... ist/27737/
Transformers Figure Subscription Service 2.0

No pictures yet ... 3 that they are going to make: Chromedome from TFP Wheeljack with new head, Action Master Treadshot from Warpath, and Ironfist from FOC Roadbuster.
Feeling pretty good about ordering that third party Ironfist now... can't really see Wheeljack working for Chromedome, either.
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Post by Blackjack »

Denyer wrote:General reminder... please don't directly embed images from other sites. It isn't polite to leech bandwidth and when the person on the other end decides to replace it with goatse it's your neck on the block.
Sorry, I didn't know that...

Should I remove the images and replace them with links or something?
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