The Energon Pub

News Credits: 3 · Sun Sep 19, 2010 7:20 pm

I agree with you guys, gimmicks suck. Remember those voices on the 20th DVD Prime? They weren't even Peter Cullen.

But I should say that for the record I love this figure as much as I love my Masterpiece Optimus Prime.

Now if they would just make a Galvatron Masterpiece.... :BANG_HEAD:

News Credits: 4 · Mon Sep 20, 2010 11:05 am

gimmicks have their place, sure, but lights, sounds, punching actions and the like, often limit the complexity of a figure, or rather, add to the complexity and price in a way that I would rather spent on detailing and articulation. Haven't got Grimlock yet, so can't say how I feel about the jaw or tail or any of that, I do like the light up thing from picutres, and the eye-colour change is a cool feature for them to have included, but I think the figure would have been fine without. Same goes for MP Rodimus Prime's "old man face".

News Credits: 4 · Mon Sep 20, 2010 4:39 pm

I'm hoping to buy MP Grimlock tomorrow, however my local TRU hasn't restocked, usually never does when it comes to a Masterpiece - which led to me buying MP Starscream from Amazon for £86 a few weeks ago.
So that leaves me with Amazon, and the only Hasbro version is being sold for over £100. I'm not fond of paying that much, but I'm tired of waiting for my local TRU to restock only for scalpers to buy them all again. So it looks like I'll be paying the amount being asked.

I'm curious, is MP Grimlock worth that amount? I don't want to be waiting again and having my chances running out like they almost did with MP Starscream.

News Credits: 7 · Mon Sep 20, 2010 4:56 pm

Smokescreened wrote:I'm hoping to buy MP Grimlock tomorrow, however my local TRU hasn't restocked, usually never does when it comes to a Masterpiece - which led to me buying MP Starscream from Amazon for £86 a few weeks ago.
So that leaves me with Amazon, and the only Hasbro version is being sold for over £100. I'm not fond of paying that much, but I'm tired of waiting for my local TRU to restock only for scalpers to buy them all again. So it looks like I'll be paying the amount being asked.

I'm curious, is MP Grimlock worth that amount? I don't want to be waiting again and having my chances running out like they almost did with MP Starscream.

*calculates*

Wow, that makes the price to over 150$! Is that shipped or shipping costs add even more to that price?

I'd try searching some online retailers before buying for that much.

News Credits: 4 · Mon Sep 20, 2010 5:04 pm

The price for him is £99.95, with £2.45 postage and packaging. That's the cheapest one there is in Amazon, and it's not sold by them either but by one of of the online retail companies who sell through them.
The Takara ones are £99.99, £119 and £219. The closest TRU near to me is 50 miles away, and bus fare is pricy. I don't like travelling much so if I went in to Aberdeen, the closest city near to where I live and where the local TRU is, and didn't find him, it would be prety annoying to say the least.

Calling TRU tends to be a waste of time since none of them who work there can tell the difference between a Transformer and a Power Ranger and don't even bother to actually check.
I'll be checking the TRU UK site again and seeing if he's been restocked, but if he hasn't then I'll just buy him from Amazon and hope he's worth the price.
MP Starscream turned out to be worth the £86 I paid a few weeks ago, since he would disappear for months and only appear when I couldn't afford him at the time, then disappear just before I could.

Very annoyed at him being a TRU exclusive since my local TRU is useless when it comes to the Masterpieces. Wouldn't have minded if Argos got him as well, the local Argos to me is about three, four miles away.
Very bad marketing plan.

News Credits: 9 · Mon Sep 20, 2010 6:35 pm

Yeah, I had one TRU tell me they had 3, but nothing there when I arrived, they even looked around.

OTOH, another store was very helpful, they found one in back and had it for me at the Cust Service desk. And the girl was pretty too.

Wed Oct 06, 2010 12:14 am

I just picked up mine yesterday, and I am completely and utterly happy with it. I actually think it is one of the most interesting figures I have. The size it a smidge on the small side compared to other MPs, but that it ok.

As far as the pros and cons of the gimmicks.......I tend to believe everyone has a choice not to buy it if they don't like them. At least own the figure before you really gripe. I agree that there are better ways to make a figure amazing rather than add gimmicks, but I seriously doubt Hasbro would greatly increase the quality if they didn't use those resources on the gimmicks. The quality of this figure is as good as any other figure in the MP line.

I freaking love this figure, and I am not even a huge Grimlock fan. That says a lot about it. I even like the relatively easy transformation. I think it is appropriate for the figure, and it takes nothing away from it.