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Jelze Bunnycat wrote:As for Liokaiser... Well...


Transformers G1 1992 Big Rescue Force Gallery

Compromise: Liokaiser is Haslab with Deathcobra as a stretch goal. Rescue Force is literally the same thing as its G1 figure but as a Selects boxset. It's missing three members making the price much lower (plus the tooling is already produced) especially if the Breastanimals are cut.

It'd be the most amazing worst best decision ever

Just some observations:

All HasLabs releases have been made to go with whatever is at retail at the time. The two Star Wars crowdfunds were made to go with retail figures, the Sentinel is made to go with Marvel Legends, Hero Quest is supposed to get a retail version, and Unicron is officially a War for Cybertron figure (which Hasbro also claims is a Selects release to explain why it came in a brown cardboard box). Whatever this HasLab figure ends up as it's going to be part of the 2022 line.

That means it wont be an MP for sure, if it is Star Saber it probably wont be bigger than MP Star Saber since the scale has changed to smaller figures and Star Saber is smaller than Liokaiser anyway. Unless Liokaiser in fiction is a giant combiner like Predaking, only Victory Saber is the same size as normal combiners, individually they're shorter (but still bigger than "normal").

I also can't see them doing just Star Saber at a HasLab price, he really needs to come with Victory Leo to round out the price. Star Saber, done right, is pretty complex, but there's no reason for Victory Leo to be, but he's also more than they would normally offer as a stretch goal. The Sentinel and Razor Crest has multiple stretch goals and I'm not sure if combined they came to an entire large Transformer. More likely stretch goals would be things like extra weapons and effect parts and Star Saber's shield (which would double as a stand like the MP), maybe even Fixit and Seawatch to round out the Rescue Patrol Micromasters.

Also I agree with those that say it's pointless to do a combiner in HasLab, those are sure things on their own. Only way I could see it happening is if they did entirely new, toy accurate Monstructor and Dinoking complete with rubber shells. In other words no PotP retools. Anything less than that can be done in Takara Tomy Selects.

Nuclearxpotato wrote:Personally I hope Star Saber's full jet mode isn't entirely accurate to the original thing. Or at least not as bad as the MP's jet.
They hopefully put some work into making it look less like a cockpit glued to a barge.

Awww, but that's the whole point. At the time those things were in, its' very Gundam.





Emerje

Sabrblade wrote:Not eBay.

Very Well....

$299 - TFSource

$189.90 - Robot Kingdom

$159.90 - Robotoybase

So I just got an email about a new Haslab project and got super excited.....Turns out it is Marvel Legends Galactus. While that is cool...it is not the Haslab I was looking for
Also of possible concern is running 2 Haslabs at once. I'm sure there is some crossover in Marvel and Transformers collectors. I hope this doesn't force some fans to make a choice to support one and not the other.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Not eBay.

Very Well....

$299 - TFSource

$189.90 - Robot Kingdom

$159.90 - Robotoybase

But is there enough to go around all the new fans? We need thousands available not a handful

Though, jokes aside, there will be plenty of people who will double dip.

o.supreme wrote:So I just got an email about a new Haslab project and got super excited.....Turns out it is Marvel Legends Galactus. While that is cool...it is not the Haslab I was looking for
Also of possible concern is running 2 Haslabs at once. I'm sure there is some crossover in Marvel and Transformers collectors. I hope this doesn't force some fans to make a choice to support one and not the other.

Yeah that might be a problem, but i expect it will be only a small one, especially where Hasbro is concerned. As long as they make bank, they don't care where it comes from.

Having said that, this Galactus intrigues me.

ZeroWolf wrote:But is there enough to go around all the new fans? We need thousands available not a handful

Of course. Enough to cater to all those legions of new fans that came about due to exposure from two comic book arcs (eight years ago) in the past 32 years. Surely he's more famous than Optimus at this point

Rodimus Prime wrote:Having said that, this Galactus intrigues me.

It does make me laugh that these two Marvel HasLab's - Sentinel and Galactus - were already perfected BAF's by Toybiz years ago. For a fraction of the price.

But Scale is important not that I expect Galactus to actually be in scale, otherwise it'd just be a costume for the buyer to wear!

Also when I meant new fans, I was talking in general terms, nor specifically Star Saber fans

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:
Of course. Enough to cater to all those legions of new fans that came about due to exposure from two comic book arcs (eight years ago) in the past 32 years. Surely he's more famous than Optimus at this point

IDW Star Saber is Garbage. I feel a great amount of pity for anyone thinking it would be based on that, or that only knows SS from IDW. TF Victory Star Saber is the only one that matters.

"Scale" ... sigh



During his debut and early years, this is relatively accurate scale for The Devourer of Worlds. It was only later, post-Kirby, that they gave him a defining height.

Back on Topic:

As far as New Fans go. Without IDW, they wouldn't have a clue who Star Saber is. He has been in nothing since Zone. Many of the newer fanbase likely weren't even born when he was last, exclusively, on Japanese screens. That doesn't generate hype or demand. Especially not on a HasLab level.

o.supreme wrote:IDW Star Saber is Garbage. I feel a great amount of pity for anyone thinking it would be based on that, or that only knows SS from IDW. TF Victory Star Saber is the only one that matters.

Absolutely. Having read the the story through the Part-Work, I have no idea who that iteration was aimed at? Funnily enough, the Wiki states that the bio for MP-24 in some markets (Australia specifically) was the IDW version.

You'll be surprised by how many will have come across Star Saber simply from other people talking about him. Though I don't even think that reasoning probably matters to Hasbro. Again, they may just see it as two birds one stone. Fans want Star Saber in Generations, hasbro wants another haslab tf item, mush them together and they'll see it as a win-win. Doesn't get backed, it'll prove a point about not having enough appeal (the only factor that will be considered no doubt), but not much lost in money terms. Star Saber gets backed, and they'll be no left others sitting on store shelves as it'll be made to order, no mess and no fuss.

If Hasbro could get away with making all Transformer toys made to order they'd love it

make it Dinoforce (they have alt heads tooled that we've seen) and throw in the shells as incentives since there's probably no way to do them otherwise...

make Monstructor colors as a really long stretch goal...

Monstructor/Dinoking. Not only a Masterpiece combiner, but a team of Masterpiece Pretenders. Which would be something they have never done before and in all likelyhood, you will never see them in the regular MP line.

Also, if they ever even bothered to put Star Saber in a modern show, that would bring in the new fans and the money.

ZeroWolf wrote:If Hasbro could get away with making all Transformer toys made to order they'd love it

Joking aside, that is the danger with this HasLab release specifically. Unicron at that size, was never going to be a retail release. Star Saber is smaller than a City Bot, so he could/should be part of any standard line. Even Masterpiece.

You don't seem them pull things like this with the Star Wars fanbase.

They released the Sail Barge and that's it. They haven't decided to make each figure from the Black Series HasLab dependant. If they did, the fans would likely boycott and the IP would depreciate over night. In contrast to Transformers fans, that seem to bend over backwards whenever something like this is announced. For example, pointing to the grossly overpriced MP-44 and those that bizarrely defended it. Only for HasTak to spit in those advocates' faces with the more honestly priced MP Nemesis Prime redeco. Which they could do because they already got away with it, via MP-44.

In fairness, what they wind up showing us may justify whatever price they'll be asking for. I remember people saying Unicron should have been scaled down to a Titan release and that just wouldn't have worked out at all.

In some ways TFs are better than ever. In other ways they have limited paint apps and very limited parts count. It could wind up like Rodimus Prime who has a commander parts count and price, but a leader / voyager bot height.

I'll wait and see before deciding it's just a big rip off.

Although I likely won't back it either way since I'm not Haslabs into Star Saber.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:You don't seem them pull things like this with the Star Wars fanbase.

They released the Sail Barge and that's it.

The Razor Crest was HasLab too and significantly smaller than the Sail Barge.

o.supreme wrote:So I just got an email about a new Haslab project and got super excited.....Turns out it is Marvel Legends Galactus. While that is cool...it is not the Haslab I was looking for
Also of possible concern is running 2 Haslabs at once. I'm sure there is some crossover in Marvel and Transformers collectors. I hope this doesn't force some fans to make a choice to support one and not the other.

What makes you think they'll be doing two at once? They haven't given a date for the new Transformers HasLab crowdfund and Galactus will be completed at the end of August. I'm guessing they'll save the reveal for PulseCon November 1st.

Only thing I don't like about Galactus is that he's 5" taller than Unicron and has LEDs, something we were asking for for Unicron.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:What makes you think they'll be doing two at once? They haven't given a date for the new Transformers HasLab crowdfund and Galactus will be completed at the end of August. I'm guessing they'll save the reveal for PulseCon November 1st.

Emerje

I seem to recall not much time between when Unicron was first teased, and when it was officially started. I would be fine with waiting, but Haslab has ran 2 crowdfunds at once before (admittedly I don't think there is Much crossover between Transformers and Sesame Street Fans)
But Cookie Monster is a black spot on Haslabs perfect record I'm sure they don't want to repeat.

Yeah, even if there mightn't have been much overlap, it was a mistake for Hasbro to run Cookie Monster and Unicron at the same time. While I didn't back Cookie Monster, as a lifelong Muppets fan I would have really liked to see Cookie Monster get made.

Sabrblade wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:You don't seem them pull things like this with the Star Wars fanbase.

They released the Sail Barge and that's it.

The Razor Crest was HasLab too and significantly smaller than the Sail Barge.

The context to that quote comes from the second part of that line...

AllNewSuperRobot wrote: They haven't decided to make each figure from the Black Series HasLab dependant.

Personally, in light of what Super7 have done with pricing of the Thundertank. I think on-demand high end vehicles for lines such as Star Wars, works through HasLab/Crowd Funding. But to me, regular sized figures shouldn't need it. Fan polls have worked well enough for such things in the past. I don't really know what has changed now?

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:You don't seem them pull things like this with the Star Wars fanbase.

They released the Sail Barge and that's it.

The Razor Crest was HasLab too and significantly smaller than the Sail Barge.

The context to that quote comes from the second part of that line...

AllNewSuperRobot wrote: They haven't decided to make each figure from the Black Series HasLab dependant.

Personally, in light of what Super7 have done with pricing of the Thundertank. I think on-demand high end vehicles for lines such as Star Wars, works through HasLab/Crowd Funding. But to me, regular sized figures shouldn't need it. Fan polls have worked well enough for such things in the past. I don't really know what has changed now?

Easy, because hasbro doesn't think this would sell at retail. We can try to argue otherwise but it will be in vain.

ZeroWolf wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:You don't seem them pull things like this with the Star Wars fanbase.

They released the Sail Barge and that's it.

The Razor Crest was HasLab too and significantly smaller than the Sail Barge.

The context to that quote comes from the second part of that line...

AllNewSuperRobot wrote: They haven't decided to make each figure from the Black Series HasLab dependant.

Personally, in light of what Super7 have done with pricing of the Thundertank. I think on-demand high end vehicles for lines such as Star Wars, works through HasLab/Crowd Funding. But to me, regular sized figures shouldn't need it. Fan polls have worked well enough for such things in the past. I don't really know what has changed now?

Easy, because hasbro doesn't think this would sell at retail. We can try to argue otherwise but it will be in vain.

This is what I've been thinking, what if this is a trial run for hasbro to give us figures we want, but that they don't think will do well at retail? this obviously doesn't fit into their business model for selects (repaints/retooled heads) and TT just does whatever they want with no rhyme or reason, so what if hasbro wants to try doing a consistent line of lower cost haslab tf figures to give us the odds and ends of zone and masterforce and all the weird stuff in between?

A fan poll would be a faster and cheaper way to test that theory. That's how the Star Saber Masterpiece came into existence, after all. Which is still assuming of course, this HasLab thing will be something as small as a individual figure.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:A fan poll would be a faster and cheaper way to test that theory. That's how the Star Saber Masterpiece came into existence, after all. Which is still assuming of course, this HasLab thing will be something as small as a individual figure.

A poll figure will still have to go to retail. Haslab cuts out the retail aspect (and the shelfwarming / underselling). I think if Hasbro made multiple Haslab pitches that were voted on would be great, however. They estimate the costs of four projects to fit within a certain budget and give us the choice between Victory Saber, Liokaiser, Dinoforce, or... some other Victory character that isn't Deathsaurus (because he's not very complex).

Because while Star Saber is cool and all, and collectors have wanted a version of him... he's no Liokaiser. But this is just my perspective, I imagine there's people who would prefer a Victory Saber over a Liokaiser.

Nuclearxpotato wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:A fan poll would be a faster and cheaper way to test that theory. That's how the Star Saber Masterpiece came into existence, after all. Which is still assuming of course, this HasLab thing will be something as small as a individual figure.

A poll figure will still have to go to retail. Haslab cuts out the retail aspect (and the shelfwarming / underselling).

HasTak already did that. Star Saber won and MP-24 was born. Being well received and selling enough to still be relatively rare now. Also make no mistake, MP-24 was not a regular retail release.

Which is why a Star Saber HasLab figure would be a waste of crowd funding.
Because they already know there is enough of a remaining Victory fanbase to sell to.

That's why I still think this has to be something Bigger. The Gestalts, Galaxy Shuttle etc As for collector/fan demand for Liokaiser. I think they would be all in favour of one that isn't a bizarre retool of another set.

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:

Nuclearxpotato wrote:

AllNewSuperRobot wrote:A fan poll would be a faster and cheaper way to test that theory. That's how the Star Saber Masterpiece came into existence, after all. Which is still assuming of course, this HasLab thing will be something as small as a individual figure.

A poll figure will still have to go to retail. Haslab cuts out the retail aspect (and the shelfwarming / underselling).

HasTak already did that. Star Saber won and MP-24 was born. Being well received and selling enough to still be relatively rare now. Also make no mistake, MP-24 was not a regular retail release.

Which is why a Star Saber HasLab figure would be a waste of crowd funding.
Because they already know there is enough of a remaining Victory fanbase to sell to.

That's why I still think this has to be something Bigger. The Gestalts, Galaxy Shuttle etc As for collector/fan demand for Liokaiser. I think they would be all in favour of one that isn't a bizarre retool of another set.

That was all Takara though, the fan poll was Japanese only (hence why Star Saber won it when, if opened to the west, Primal would have won and got a figure years earlier then what he did. HasLab is purely Hasbro...they just get Takara to design it. As I said, Hasbro clearly doesn't believe in retail value for SS, hence HasLab. Its been pointed out before as well that Combiners have retail value.