The Energon Pub

I want one so bad.. How can a "yank" go about getting one of these magazines with the figure without being assraped by online companies?

tigertracks 24 wrote:It is a good mold though. Still would make sense for HASBRO to do this exclusive as a two-pack with Artfire Inferno.

This is the best idea since glow in the dark cheese wiz!! Tigertracks is a genius!!! TargetMaster two pack, exclusively available at.....TARGET!!!! OMG, should we start a petition now or wait until the morning?

HoosierDaddy wrote:Forgive my ignorance but who is Stepper? I've never heard of the character before. i see he is a mold of RTS Jazz but his decals look like G1 Tracks. So, who is he?

Way back in 1987, Takara gave Japan "Stepper" and "Artfire" who were repaints of Jazz and Inferno respectively. These repaints came equipped with the Targetmaster guns that were included with Targetmaster Scourge and Cyclonus. Japan got Stepper and Artfire instead of Targetmaster versions of Cyclonus, Scourge, Hot Rod, Kup, and Blurr. For years, Stepper commanded extremely high after market prices and was considered a holy grail in the collections of collectors lucky enough to afford one. In 2003 or 2004, Takara decided to reissue Stepper and Hasbro followed suit by releasing the figure as "Ricochet" in their markets. I'm not sure what the original Stepper goes for nowadays, but I would imagine that it doesn't go for anywhere near what it used to.

I would consider the reissue to be a better toy because it comes with Jazz's other weapons (albeit gold plated), whereas the original Stepper figure was only equipped with the Targetmaster weapon.

Now if we could only get a Classics Artfire and a reissue Artfire. One day!













He even got a Robot Heroes toy ...



and even an Alternator toy (though he had Smokescreen's head instead of Jazz/Meister's unfortunately)

tigertracks 24 wrote:

RhA wrote:Sweet. A great mold deserves to be on my shelves a second time.

What shelves will we see this on? Only collectors shelves in their homes who are willing to pay $xxx for the exclusive.

You'll see him on mine!

Though I'm only paying $XX for him.

Seibertron wrote:

HoosierDaddy wrote:Forgive my ignorance but who is Stepper? I've never heard of the character before. i see he is a mold of RTS Jazz but his decals look like G1 Tracks. So, who is he?

Way back in 1987, Takara gave Japan "Stepper" and "Artfire" who were repaints of Jazz and Inferno respectively. These repaints came equipped with the Targetmaster guns that were included with Targetmaster Scourge and Cyclonus. Japan got Stepper and Artfire instead of Targetmaster versions of Cyclonus, Scourge, Hot Rod, Kup, and Blurr. For years, Stepper commanded extremely high after market prices and was considered a holy grail in the collections of collectors lucky enough to afford one. In 2003 or 2004, Takara decided to reissue Stepper and Hasbro followed suit by releasing the figure as "Ricochet" in their markets. I'm not sure what the original Stepper goes for nowadays, but I would imagine that it doesn't go for anywhere near what it used to.

I would consider the reissue to be a better toy because it comes with Jazz's other weapons (albeit gold plated), whereas the original Stepper figure was only equipped with the Targetmaster weapon.

Now if we could only get a Classics Artfire and a reissue Artfire. One day!

Thank you VERY much for such a good detailed explanation. Now I want one!!

Mkall wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:

RhA wrote:Sweet. A great mold deserves to be on my shelves a second time.

What shelves will we see this on? Only collectors shelves in their homes who are willing to pay $xxx for the exclusive.

You'll see him on mine!

Though I'm only paying $XX for him.

So lucky..

Cyber Bishop wrote:

Mkall wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:

RhA wrote:Sweet. A great mold deserves to be on my shelves a second time.

What shelves will we see this on? Only collectors shelves in their homes who are willing to pay $xxx for the exclusive.

You'll see him on mine!

Though I'm only paying $XX for him.

So lucky..

well, to be fair, it's still 95 bucks, but that's still better than BBTS's offering.

alldarker wrote:I do hope this will turn into some good news for all those pre-orders. I think this is the first time that you can get TWO exclusive TF's per book: previously it was always one book - one TF, right? I can imagine that with Million Publishing's previous lack of additional information, this might have caused some confusion with the go-to sites.
I really do like Stepper's color scheme, I've got him on pre-order and would actually buy him whatever the cost, but any drop in the original pricing would be greatly appreciated!

Actually, everytime a book/coupon is offered - two transformers can be purchased with 1 coupon. And usually the price tag is about $40 for one figure and $75 for two. These types of exclusives used to go for about $70 each in the online stores; but after Ghost Starscream the price keeps going up. Supply and demand.

Overall the color scheme is great.

not to mention the value of the dollar tanked. damn.

Mkall wrote:

Cyber Bishop wrote:

Mkall wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:

RhA wrote:Sweet. A great mold deserves to be on my shelves a second time.

What shelves will we see this on? Only collectors shelves in their homes who are willing to pay $xxx for the exclusive.

You'll see him on mine!

Though I'm only paying $XX for him.

So lucky..

well, to be fair, it's still 95 bucks, but that's still better than BBTS's offering.

I'd still drop that kind of $$$ to get one.

Question is will this one eventually see a deep discount like the last few? I want this thing, but I'd want it that much more if it were to drop to half the price. BBTS currently has nearly 250 available for preorder still...

Looks like it may come with the gold-plated regular gun too.

Kibble wrote:Question is will this one eventually see a deep discount like the last few? I want this thing, but I'd want it that much more if it were to drop to half the price. BBTS currently has nearly 250 available for preorder still...

how are you able to tell how many BBTS still has of a certain item? Do you you use a certain browser or what? i use google chrome and do not see anything anywhere.

lmk

Cybershark wrote:

Kibble wrote:Question is will this one eventually see a deep discount like the last few? I want this thing, but I'd want it that much more if it were to drop to half the price. BBTS currently has nearly 250 available for preorder still...

how are you able to tell how many BBTS still has of a certain item? Do you you use a certain browser or what? i use google chrome and do not see anything anywhere.

lmk

You load up your cart (change the number to like 1,000) and it will tell you how many they have of that number to fill your order, which would be the remainder to sell them out, if they do not get to your number.

Then DO NOT push complete order.... or you just about $10,000+ in Steppers.

lol, cool. Never even thought of that, makes sense though. Thanks!!

Every time a new Stepper/Ricochet figure comes out, it's horrendously priced. Why in the hell can't they just release one that people would like them for instead of making it exclusive or super expensive? Blarghlearghaaahh!

Don't mind me, I just don't have any money.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Such a cool looking figure but if BBTS doesn't come down in price from where they are I'll have to pass. Any idea if this Stepper is the same as the G1 version and a "rebirth" of Jazz?

I'm not sure if you know this, Stepper and Jazz are different dudes altogether. The G1 and "Classics" toys share the same molds though.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Such a cool looking figure but if BBTS doesn't come down in price from where they are I'll have to pass. Any idea if this Stepper is the same as the G1 version and a "rebirth" of Jazz?

I'm not sure if you know this, Stepper and Jazz are different dudes altogether. The G1 and "Classics" toys share the same molds though.

I thought in Japan Jazz got "killed" and reborn as Stepper, no?

Nope. Nor is Artfire a reborn version of Inferno.