POST YOUR NEWEST ACQUISITIONS!

Tetsuro · Post by **Tetsuro** » Mon Apr 16, 2018 1:34 pm

The micro madness continues, this time with combiner squads!

Astro Squad - I mostly got this one since it'll go nicely with both the Battlefield Headquarters spaceship modes, as well as Countdown's rocket base. They're unfortunately pretty badly rusted, but they were complete and this was the only listing where Missile Master actually had his missile. Might replace the bots themselves at some point.

Metro Squad - this one I got for the BFHQ's truck mode, but also because Power Run/Strikedown's hovercraft mode somehow managed to make quite an impression on me as a child as I still distinctly remember seeing it in a particular store. This one is in a much better shape than Astro Squd too. Slider's other arm is kind of loose tho.

Battle Squad - this one I just got on an impulse. The seller had all the squads up for auctions and I chose this one over the construction squad because 1) I'm dreadfully short on Decepticon Micromasters, and 2) the construction squad were all redecoed for the combiner transports, I already own one of those and I'd rather get the molds that way. These guys are also probably in the best condition of the three.

Post by **Warcry** » Mon Apr 16, 2018 5:45 pm

The Constructor Squad are Decepticons too, though! And pretty great in their own right.

The Micromaster Combiners are definitely my favourite Micros. The slightly bigger alt-modes are way more interesting than most of the tiny individual figures. I remember buying all of them at once for only a few bucks each from a local discount/clearance toy store. Probably one of the happiest toy getting days of my whole childhood, getting 24 new Transformers in one go.

All four teams are really good for Micromasters, but I think the Astro Squad was my favourite. In particular, I remember spending a lot of time swooshing Phaser and Blast Master around.

Tetsuro · Post by **Tetsuro** » Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:50 pm

Warcry wrote:The Constructor Squad are Decepticons too, though! And pretty great in their own right.

Well damn, so they are! I don't know where I got the idea they were Autobots.

I was also a baffled by Wheel Blaze/Road Burner's alt mode for the longest time - a giant truck just for a personnell lift? I only just now realized it's supposed to be a fire truck of some kind. The illustration on the instruction even has "FIRE" written on Road Burner's side - which is absent on the toy.

I think the only downside with the combiners is that some of the combinations don't make a lot of sense - but then, where'd be the fun in that? I'm gonna stick Power Run and Blast Master together and you can't stop me!

Post by **Clay** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 12:38 pm

I picked up a Rodimus Unicronus yesterday because they were on clearance for $30. It's alright in person. Never was all that interested in POTP Hot Rod/Rodimus Prime, but I like the black deco. It helps obscure the cheapness of the wheels.

However! It's liquidation price comes the fact that my local walmart (and apparently a bunch of others) isn't going to carry leader class figures in the future (for how long, I don't know). Considering my other local options were Kmart and Toys R Us, which are now closed, it kind of sucks.

Also, I saw the movie deluxe figures. No lie, those things are $20 a pop.

Tantrum · Post by **Tantrum** » Tue Apr 17, 2018 11:57 pm

Clay - I've seen the $30 Leaders at 2 Walmarts near me, too. Do you know of any that are still selling Leaders? I'm assuming it's chain wide.

TLK Deluxes were $20 at Target and TRU, but $16 at Walmart. I wonder if $20 at Walmart means Target will be even higher, or if Walmart's just catching up.

In addition to $30 Leaders, the Walmart nearest me had $2 RiD Legions, so I got Sideswipe and Twinferno. SS is OK, but forgettable. He doesn't seem to roll too well, either. I'm trying to see if I can fit him into RiD Menasor's hand, like M's holding his fallen enemy aloft.

Twinferno's a bit more fun, just for how odd he is.

I also got PotP Tailgate, but haven't opened him yet.

Post by **Clay** » Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:04 am

Tantrum wrote:Clay - I've seen the $30 Leaders at 2 Walmarts near me, too. Do you know of any that are still selling Leaders? I'm assuming it's chain wide.

I went to a different walmart today, and it was the same situation. The POTP leaders they had (Optimus and Evil Hot Rod) were in the clearance section, and in the little tiny sliver of space they had left for transformers, the only tag on the shelf was for the boxed studio deluxes. Also, this one being a smaller walmart, it didn't even have tags left for voyagers. The store closest to me has shelf tags for two assortments of those (movie and POTP), at least.

Out of curiosity, I checked walmart's webstore, and for the listings fulfilled by walmart itself the POTP leader figures are marked "in store purchase only, not available online". So... yeah, it seems a chain-wide thing. Maybe it'll only last until the next inventory reset in the fall?

Like I say, this is problematic mostly because the other physical stores (toys r us and kmart) that I would look for such figures in are... out of business. The closest Target is a ninety minute drive.

Hooray for online shopping, I guess.

TLK Deluxes were $20 at Target and TRU, but $16 at Walmart. I wonder if $20 at Walmart means Target will be even higher, or if Walmart's just catching up.

The latter, I think. I've seen deluxes for $20 at smaller stores like Walgreens before, but it was a bit of a sticker shock to see them priced that high at walmart.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Sat Apr 21, 2018 10:26 am

Heh. It's kind of funny to read posts like this ^ As in Europe, stuff like this has been a regular thing since 2000 - pricing disparity/ lack of availability/ lines not available to buy unless they randomly show up at a discounter. It'll be interesting to see if any retailers step in to fill the gap in the US market - from the sounds of it, TRU was pretty much the only nationwide dedicated toy retailer left in that territory. At least in the UK, we've had smaller chains in some form or another so toys haven't totally disappeared from the high street. Indeed, Smyths and The Entertainer's rise over the last twenty years has been a sign of positive, steady growth. Unlike TRU, these two have largely avoided massive out of town barns and gone for town centre shopping complexes or mid-range retail parks located close to/ in town centres. Which might be part of the reason they haven't died off, despite the decline in toy sales generally.

Aside: I've often wondered if The Entertainer, with their Christian driven ethos (won't sell horror-themed toys, closed on Sundays etc) would do well in America.

TRU Exclusive Commemorative Edition Insecticons Reissue
It's the 2009 book-box release that came out alongside reissues of Soundwave and Perceptor. I don't really need more Insecticons, he says, fooling no-one, but just really wanted this set. I love the packaging design Hasbro used here, which took the Takara style and made it work, unlike the earlier releases from 2002 - 2004. It looks smart, the artwork is really nice and I like the new names they had to give tow of them due to trademark stuff. The figures themselves are still amazing and these molds must be indestructable, having had four outings since their original use in 1980 something something.

HeavyArms · Post by **HeavyArms** » Sat Apr 21, 2018 5:50 pm

Tetsuro wrote:I have that same reissue and he stands with a really bad forward slant in combined mode, even when he isn't holding an entire additional limb as a gun, at least in his "official" configuration anyway. Using Seawing and Nautilator as legs instead of arms seems to improve his stability significantly.

Skyquake87
The only problem I've found with it is the same thing that hampers the TFCC version - he leans forward an awful lot in combined mode. The connector ports and overall top-heaviness of the combined form are worrisome. Easily corrected though - just turn the legs the other way around, so all the creature parts face forward, rather than the smaller robot torsos. This makes him stand up nice and straight. The plastics feel a lot lighter and less dense than the originals too, so I suspect that this is the reason the set isn't as good as it could be, as otherwise, I've found them to match up detail-wise to the originals. There's none of the Encore Constructicons melted faces, for example.

Warcry
I have the same issues with my Commemorative Piranacon -- he leans precariously forward no matter what configuration I use, and the combiner ports are so loose that his legs fall off if I lift him straight up. Those weren't even the biggest problems, though! Ovebite is entirely the wrong colour (hot pink where he should be purple), and he couldn't even transform until I took him apart and hacked away a bunch of plastic from the robot legs. Just a huge QC embarrassment all around.

Thanks for the advice guys, if I ever notice him leaning forward I'll try switching around the limbs.

Also, I received BW Razorbeast and Inferno in the mail from eBay.

Heinrad · Post by **Heinrad** » Sun Apr 22, 2018 9:46 pm

Over the past few weeks.....

POTP Battletrap: I had the original Battletrap way back when, and I thought it was a neat idea. But I love this one. It's not perfect, but it's really good.

POTP Metalhawk, Cloudburst, and Skullgrin: I wasn't going to get the little guys at first, but once I realized I was going to get Battletrap(I got Battle first), I knew I'd need to get something to use as a gun. Metalhawk was a good color match. Unfortunately, there's a couple of small problems. One, there seems to be something wrong with the post on my Metalhawk because it's real loose in Battletrap's hand, and Two, since Battletrap's arms are made from Battle's feet, his heel struts wind up interfering with Metalhawk. Cloudburst and Skullgrin's feet seem to line up better, but the guns themselves are way too big. If I can figure out how, I'll switch in Cloudburst's guns and have them clipped to Battletrap's shoulder. For right now, Metalhawk's rifle/backpack gun(whatever it's supposed to be) is Battletrap's rifle, thanks to the hollows on the underside of the barrel. And Skullgrin's here for yard work.

POTP Tailgate: I like the Windcharger mold a lot. Not as much as the RTS Windcharger, but it's a great representation of the character model. And Tailgate is a very nice remold.

Tetsuro · Post by **Tetsuro** » Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:20 am

G1 Grapple - I think the Takara reissue was a convention exclusive, which explains the higher pricetag. But after experiencing the Platinum Perceptor, I'd rather just continue to pay extra for working spring mechanism.

Because that sort of thing is totally worth extra 80 bucks!

Tantrum · Post by **Tantrum** » Sat Apr 28, 2018 2:43 am

Tantrum wrote:RiD Menasor was a few bucks off, and got me a $12 coupon which I used on RiD Windblade...I haven't opened Windblade yet, but I doubt I'll be disappointed in a figure that was basically free.

I finally opened Windblade. I was wrong. The way the tail fin folds into the legs is clever, and there's no gap between the legs in jet mode. But, it's still a pretty poor figure. The leg gap from the Gen figure wasn't solved by clever redesign, just more back pack kibble. The nose is bigger, too, making for a smaller figure with a larger backpack.

Plus, there's QC issues. The headband/fan keeps popping out of her head. One of her wings won't stay folded down. Her head doesn't rotate freely, like the ball joint isn't round, and only rests in a few positions.

I'd just stick her on my shelf of ninja/samurai bots, but I already have the superior Gen Windblade there.

HeavyArms · Post by **HeavyArms** » Sat Apr 28, 2018 7:04 pm

BW Rhinox and TM Rhinox from eBay.

Skyquake87 · Post by **Skyquake87** » Sun Apr 29, 2018 9:59 am

TLK Nitro
Just having a bimble around my local Smyths and surprised to find this guy, as I thought he was one of those figures that was destined to never make it anywhere except the US and Asia. Given how the Last Knight is now all being clearanced, I was surprised to see both him and case-mate Scorn commanding full RRP of £32.99. There was 1 left and it saves roughly £10 against online prices, so I was happy to bite and I've heard only good things about him. And he is great. Easily one of the best Movie toys since the peak of the ROTF/HFTD lines. Robot mode is excellent, transformation is fun and the alt mode is great. The only downside is the deathly dull palette - he's mostly boring grey plastic. The few bits of bronze and black help break this up in robot mode, but I think he would have looked really nice done up in white. The jet mode looks odd with the black nose cone - I'm not sure what they were going with on that choice of colour. It really jars next to the grey of the rest of the jet. That aside, he's still a great figure and I'm really pleased with him.

Paul053 · Post by **Paul053** » Tue May 01, 2018 8:23 pm

BM Jetstorm!!

Found him at a local comics shop. Used one but still in very good condition. Hip ball joints are a little loose but that can be fixed. Spring loaded projectile weapons (and jet nose), light piping eyes, solid paints and no hollow grids here and there. Sadly why I feel they don't make this kind of toy anymore.

Post by **Warcry** » Wed May 02, 2018 3:02 pm

Are you talking about the Deluxe or the Ultra? I've always wanted to track down more versions of the Deluxe mold. I only have Universe Skywarp right now, but the mold was like the Classics Starscream of the early 2000s, and a lot of the decos look really nice.

Paul053 · Post by **Paul053** » Wed May 02, 2018 4:45 pm

Warcry wrote:Are you talking about the Deluxe or the Ultra? I've always wanted to track down more versions of the Deluxe mold. I only have Universe Skywarp right now, but the mold was like the Classics Starscream of the early 2000s, and a lot of the decos look really nice.

The deluxe class. Wasn't it more fun than the ultra class one? Here is the link to numbat's review. http://www.tfarchive.com/toys/reviews/bm_jetstorm.php

Post by **Warcry** » Wed May 02, 2018 5:50 pm

I've never actually handled the Ultra, but the Deluxe certainly looks a whole lot better. Neither of them really resembles the show character, but I like the Deluxe's chunky aesthetic better anyway. And I love how much personality the jet mode has. Articulating the cockpit like it was a bird's head was a nice touch.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Fri May 04, 2018 5:07 pm

So at the big TF meet last weekend I only bought two actual Transformers.

First up, POTP Beachcomber! Fun little toy, feels very much like a hippy you smoked too much weed.

Then POTP Tailgate! Which is also fun, and I especially like how he captures the beefy ripped Universe profile art for the original.

The new line hasn't really sold me on a lot, but the minibots are knocking it out the park.

Post by **Warcry** » Sat May 05, 2018 3:17 am

I finally found some new stock!

POTP Rippersnapper is really solid. His landshark mode in particular is really nicw-looking, and surprisingly poseable considering how static the Dinobots are. Robot mode is basically what you'd expect from a CW-style figure, lots of articulation but maybe just a bit too skinny. It's nice that he's got two guns, unlike the Dinobots, because it really adds to his look in beast mode, having them over his shoulders.

I also saw Hun-grrr, but he's just as disappointing in person as the pics made him seem.

Tantrum · Post by **Tantrum** » Sat May 05, 2018 9:28 pm

Marshalls had blind boxed non-transfroming vinyl figures for $4 each. I got 1 Swoop and 2 Wheeljacks. Their heads and waists turn side to side, but Swoop's beak and Wheeljack's windshield get in the way of the waist movement.
Their shoulders and hips have ball joints. The arms can move up and down, but WJ's shoulder cannons hit his ear things. Swoop has a blue torso. Wheeljack's ears flash blue when you puch a button on the side. Wheeljack is based on the Marlboro deco.

I found Custom Kreon NuRiD Grimlock & Sideswipe at Dollar General for $5 each; haven't opend them yet.

I almost forgot Studio Series Thundercracker, the last TRU exclusive I'll ever buy. It's Nitro Zeus with TC's paintjob and a new head. I saw the rest of SS a couple weeks ago and, with the possible exception of Grimlock, wasn't too impressed.