OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

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Skyquake87
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Skyquake87 »

I'm a bit puzzled by the Studio Series '86 stuff. I think it's a great idea...but some of these characters are getting concurrent releases in Siege...so I don't quite understand what Hasbro is going for. Or is it that some characters will only show up in Siege or SS '86 and vice versa? Quite like the look of Scourge and will be interested to see how Galvatron and Cyclonus turn out. Er, if they're going to be in the Studio Series line...

I love the look of Runabout. Too bad he's an unobtainable exclusive, like Thrust. The Micromaster set is neat and I like the M.A.S.K. homages.

I think Grimlock looks a bit too podgy, something that was also a problem for the POTP version, whose proportions are also a bit off.

Some good stuff, but not really enough to get me excited at the moment. I think its just seeing more versions of characters we've had releases of previously - although Titans Return was 5 years ago (blimey), it still feels a bit soon to be revisiting some of these characters. Hot Rod in particular has had 2 recent releases in Generations, plus an MP figure and releases in Cyberverse... it all feels a bit money for old rope.
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Clay
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Clay »

Skyquake87 wrote: Wed Oct 21, 2020 7:21 pm I'm a bit puzzled by the Studio Series '86 stuff. I think it's a great idea...but some of these characters are getting concurrent releases in Siege...so I don't quite understand what Hasbro is going for. Or is it that some characters will only show up in Siege or SS '86 and vice versa? Quite like the look of Scourge and will be interested to see how Galvatron and Cyclonus turn out. Er, if they're going to be in the Studio Series line...
Cyclonus is in Earthrise, but Scourge is Studio Series I think.

I don't see the need for the the G1 figures in the studio line. They're already in everything else! If they want to make like Studio Series was meant to be inclusive of all big screen features, I expect some Beast War II figures too, dangit.
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inflatable dalek
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by inflatable dalek »

Lots of love for the various recolours out there had me get my MMC Arcee down to play with.

I broke the arm off.
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Denyer
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Denyer »

https://www.facebook.com/DaimChocReport ... 5685128810

^ Kingdom listings on Amazon in Australia.

edit: I'm assuming that Mainframe is separate, so that's a definite even if I don't make space for the Ark.

https://news.tfw2005.com/2021/04/07/tra ... led-431070
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Clay
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Clay »

Also they've showed off stock pics for the titan Ark and the new Beast Wars Scorponok.

I've already seen people wanting the Ark retooled into Omega Supreme like in Animated, but I don't see how that works. The ship is flipped 180* from one robot to the other, so the retooling would mean chucking the alternate mode and building a new shell on top. At that point, there's no point in retooling it because the only thing that links the designs has been completely changed.

Unless of course they just change the head and add a claw or whatever, but then that wouldn't really look like Animated Omega Supreme. So they might do that.
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StoneCold Skywarp
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by StoneCold Skywarp »

Good lord I want that Ark, it would look awesome wall mounted (like the lego batwing)
I know it's unlikely but also hoping the teletraan is big enough to be a suitable part of a MP scale diorama
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Clay
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Clay »

Based on previous Titans, it's likely to be deluxe-ish in size, though that's not a given by any means.

But yeah, I want me some Ark too. And I think the time for giant, gloriously intricate, third party masterpiece Rock Lords has come. I mean, the Ark needs a volcano to lodge into, yeah?
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Hound »

I keep getting all these Titan Class TFs and I make space for them but what I'd really like is some kind of shelves that I could display them in base modes. Or a room that has just one big table that I could make battle dioramas out of my collection.
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Clay »

More new stuff from the Hasbro live stream thing: https://tformers.com/hasbro-pulse-fans- ... /news.html

Several of them we already new about from leaks or what was shown a couple of days ago, but there are some genuine new reveals:
+ Titan Class The Ark - Has golden discs stored behind Teletran-1

+ Commander Class Rodimus Prime

+ Leader Class Galvatron

+ Deluxe Class Scorponok

+ Voyager Class Rhinox

+ Deluxe Class Tracks

+ Deluxe Class Wingfinger Fossilizer

+ Core Class Fossilizer - Vertibreak Recolor

+ Core Class Soundwave - Has Laserbeak tape

+ Deluxe Class Tricranius Fossilizer with Blast Effects - Hasbro Pulse Exclusive

+ Deluxe Class Shattered Glass Blurr - Hasbro Pulse Exclusive

+ Collectors Edition Auto-Transforming Optimus Prime - $699 MSRP
Curiously absent: the rumored Waspinator, Terrorsaur, and Tigatron.
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Skyquake87
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Skyquake87 »

The lack of Predacons in Kingdom is killing me (Fossilizers don't count!). I get it though, good guys sell better and all that and there's the weaponizer gimmick to cram in. Just a shame, good guys are BORING!
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Clay
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Clay »

Here's some Q&A from the hasbro people after the fan event thing:

https://tformers.com/hasbro-transformer ... /news.html

Nothing really substantial or concrete, but just that they want to make more 1986 movie bots and more Beast Wars stuff. I don't why they weren't asked about more live-action Studio Series stuff.
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Skyquake87
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Skyquake87 »

I suppose the kind of fan questions at these things are going to skew more towards G1 / heritage stuff, because that's the kind of stuff that dominates fandom.

Interesting that Hasbro weren't sure a full SS86 line would be a goer, so hedged their bets by sticking some in Kingdoms. Would have made more sense to me to put the new characters introduced in the '86 Movie into SS86 if they're going for the whole 'Micro Collections' / 'Recreating a scene' thing, but I'm sure they did some clever marketing brain thoughts to come up with the mix of characters they made,
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Warcry »

https://news.tfw2005.com/2021/07/10/buz ... ges-437181

Well, this is a disappointment.

- They're making a Fangry! That's great, I've wanted one for years! :)
- Oh, wait, they were too cheap to give it any accessories. :(
- Oh, wait, it's a store exclusive. :( :(
- Oh, wait, it's in a box set with three other toys. :( :( :(
- Oh, wait, the three other toys are totally unrelated, mostly uninteresting, and barely different from stuff I already own. :( :( :( :(

I don't know how much X-Men stuff Hasbro talked me out of buying in the past few years by using this exact same game plan, and it drove me to stop following Legends entirely. I don't understand how they make more money this way than just selling the toys separately to the people that want them. It must work, because they keep doing it, but it doesn't make any sense to me.

How many fans out there would actually want all of these? Do a lot of people just blow $100 US/$140 Canadian on a set to get the one toy they actually want? I guess that must be what happens, but 2/3s of Hasbro's Marvel box sets seem to rot on the shelves at Toys'R'Us until they hit deep discounts.
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Skyquake87
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Skyquake87 »

I think I'd be more excited for Fangry if he was a brand new mold. Between Boxsets and Exclusives, it's been a torrid time to be a Transformers fan. I think it's made worse by Hasbro turning out some excellent product.

I can kind of see the point of some of the box-sets, selling more minor characters with popular ones as a draw. It would be nice if these 'store exclusives' could be store exclusives for a set period and then reissued through Pulse or at the very least some avenue the rest of the world has access to.

I won't be even considering bothering with this. I'm only interested in toy colours Blackarachnia and the set won't be worth the expense and hoop jumping it'll take to get her.

I expect like the Legends and other Transformers box sets (those infamous Titans Return ones spring to mind), these'll end up parted out on the secondary market. That's how I got Psylocke and Fantomex for my wee X-Force collection. They were in a three pack with some big weird robot guy and it was clearly that figure the seller wanted.

Diamondbolt made a great video about how crap this all is:
https://youtu.be/ajZ42VxrYCU
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Tantrum »

I don't own Grotusque, Kingdom Primal, or that Bee mold, and the Blackarachnia is different enough from the one I own that I could be tempted to double dip. But, I'd need to see the set in person to be sure. Which means I'd have to drag myself to a Target 30 min away and hope there's one on the shelf.

Pre-pandemic, that wasn't a problem. There's a Walmart and a comic shop near each of the Targets in range, so I'd hit several stores in one trip. But now, after basically only driving to work 3 miles away for a year, the idea of sitting in a car for most of an afternoon doesn't appeal to me. Even this week, which I took off and have 9 consecutive days of free time, I couldn't be bothered to make the trip.

The video Skyquake linked to, which is pretty great, wondered why Walgreen's not only has Transformers, but exclusives. I don't know why, but I'm glad, because that's 2 of the only stores near me that actually sell TFs, the other being a Walmart that does OK, not great, selling TFs. It can actually be easier for me to get Walgreen's exclusives than mainline releases.

So, even though I'm more interested in this set than Skyquake, I also feel like there's too much hoop jumping involved to actually get it.
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Denyer »

Warcry wrote: Sat Jul 10, 2021 4:08 pmIt must work, because they keep doing it, but it doesn't make any sense to me.
Somehow not just work, but justify additional tooling.

Highly doubt I'll bother picking up the set unless it gets clearanced to B&M over here or something similar but if I do will keep people here in mind for the other figures.
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Clay »

https://hasbropulse.com/products/transf ... tory-saber

Victory Saber is finally getting a western debut, assuming it hits the crowdfunding numbers.

I ordered two: one for myself, and one to resale later when the aftermarket prices skyrocket. Apparently there's a customer limit of 5, so it'll be interesting to see how that affects the numbers if online stores can't order them in bulk, or at least not on the front end without a hassle.

Happy to order up to three more in escrow for people in geographic exclusions (assuming the restrictions are the same as for Unicron).
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Warcry
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Warcry »

I would imagine the online stores would go through different channels for this? I seem to recall their orders all got added into the count en masse at the end of Unicron's campaign.

A part of me hopes that this campaign fails because I really don't like the idea of billion-dollar companies like Hasbro using crowd-funding. They avoid taking any risk and guarantee themselves profits, while charging a higher price than they could get away with at retail and pocketing buyers' money years before they hand over the product. It's just another in a pile of decisions they've made lately that are openly hostile to the consumer.

(I suspect I'm I the minority and this will get funded pretty easily, though.)
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Denyer
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Denyer »

Yeah, purely a PR exercise. It's essentially the same sort of item and price bracket as 3P and those companies manage to pump out multiple figures a year without shenanigans.

They can't do it on many figures, but keeping a treadmill of them going (with fatigue gaps) for higher ticket items gets them exposure. I don't think it's market testing because they're prepared to put out things like the Ark without pre-funding. It's market testing when Eaglemoss do it with an chess set so oversized that most people could DIY it themselves by making a huge gridded board and just buying a bunch of figures. That's not to say there isn't a market testing effect; if it's a runaway success they won't be caught out by under-production.

Considering how hostile Pulse has been to overseas customers (with a marketing department that doesn't actually seem to realise the comms tools they're using are global) and the way they've handled distribution, bundling of exclusives, etc I'm finding I'm not bothering to follow Hasbro/Transformers as much. Price/value-wise the age of the action figure is coming to an end -- eg with a recent 20% price hike from Mattel I suspect simpler toys like MOTU Origins will be in difficulty shortly -- but they seem keen to speed things up.

The thing that's grinding my gears more is actually the way toy companies insist on including hazardous small plastic ties in packaging, which far too easily fall out when cut and risk being eaten by pets or small children. Hasbro is making a big thing of sustainable packaging but not bothering to use a plastic alternative where it'd really benefit the safety of the families they're trying to sell the stuff to.
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Re: OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

Post by Unicron »

Warcry wrote: Sun Aug 29, 2021 6:14 am I would imagine the online stores would go through different channels for this? I seem to recall their orders all got added into the count en masse at the end of Unicron's campaign.
Glad I'm not the only one who remembers this. Thought I was having one of those Mandela things.

So I ordered one of those Victory Sabers, cause why not. Also the low odds of them doing another US release. And because I'm still annoyed I wasn't able to back Unicron (gonna be murder acquiring one of those eventually)
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