The Energon Pub

Which one should I go for first? What's rare and what should I avoid?
Cheers

ok..... you should just look around, there should be threads about which one is a good one... I like all except for the jeep mold. and get your wallet ready, its gonna take a big ass beating.

bran10 wrote:ok..... you should just look around, there should be threads about which one is a good one... I like all except for the jeep mold. and get your wallet ready, its gonna take a big ass beating.

Hmm, the Jeep mold is one of the most popular. Hound and Swindle are pretty spiffy.

Bonger wrote:

bran10 wrote:ok..... you should just look around, there should be threads about which one is a good one... I like all except for the jeep mold. and get your wallet ready, its gonna take a big ass beating.

Hmm, the Jeep mold is one of the most popular. Hound and Swindle are pretty spiffy.[/quoteI'm not a jeep fan ahah...

Very rare and expensive--Swerve <--I missed this one twice.
Rare and expensive--Clear Mirage (BT)--I found this one 1/4 of the normal price
Ones that are tough to transform: Wheeljack & Grimlock

The toughest debate is do you prefer plastic or die-cast....Also, which vehicle do you want? Which character do you want?

I have almost all of the Autobots in my collection, which is listed in the collection thread.

Cascadia wrote:Very rare and expensive--Swerve <--I missed this one twice.
Rare and expensive--Clear Mirage (BT)--I found this one 1/4 of the normal price
Ones that are tough to transform: Wheeljack & Grimlock

The toughest debate is do you prefer plastic or die-cast....Also, which vehicle do you want? Which character do you want?

I have almost of the Autobots in my collection, which is listed in the collection thread.

you should tell him the prices so that he won't look for a mirage at 20 bucks LOL...

I love the purple RX8 (Shockblast?). What's the story behind the Alternators?

*goes over to eBay*

Oh yeah... this thread its entirely up to YOU just because what if no one likes this certain mold but you do? so now what?

good point...that will take some research on my part.

My Clear Mirage was $120 when it is normally $400.

0ptimus wrote:I love the purple RX8 (Shockblast?). What's the story behind the Alternators?

*goes over to eBay*

story? lol

this is the back story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers:_Alternators

Shockblast is the same mold as Jazz, which is named as Meister for the line.

In terms of costs, the figures can range between $30 and several hundred depending on if they are plastic/die-cast and how rare they are. The die-cast (Binaltech) are more expensive than the plastic (Alternators)

Cascadia wrote:this is the back story

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers:_Alternators

Shockblast is the same mold as Jazz, which is named as Meister for the line.

he sort of does, shockblast as the sports kit.

Cascadia wrote:good point...that will take some research on my part.

My Clear Mirage was $120 when it is normally $400.

Eh, where r u shopping. Clear Rjie is on ebay these days for BIN of 180 all the time. Still a rip considering the pre-order was 80. But 400?

IMO, the must haves are Sunstreaker, Skids, Smokescreen, Silverstreak, Tracks, Ravage, Sideswipe, Meister, Alert, Prowl, Hound, Swindle, Laserwave, Hot Rodimus, Mirage, Wheeljack, Clear Mirage. I'd also pick up a Prime for the Ironhide conversion and look for the KO white Ratchet for that conversion.

I wouldn't sweat the plastic vs die cast issue. The Alts hold a pose better in most cases than the BTs and cost less than half as much in most cases.

Oh, and some advice. Rollbar, Skids, Ravage, Rumble, Skids, Sunstreaker can still be found in Walmarts. Theres actually discounted to 16 where I live. Also, be patient. IF you are patient you should be able to get most for 25-40 each. This excludes Mirage who fetches a serious premium and Alert who is JP and hence costs more.

The $400 was very high and only one seller did that. I said no to that. But as I now think about it, you are right.

Cascadia wrote:The $400 was very high and only one seller did that. I said no to that. But as I now think about it, you are right.

Yah, 400 is nuts. Thats like 500% markup over US retail prices.

get the Smokescreen molds, i think the most common is Silverstreak. good intro to Alternators.

If you get Smokescreen, be aware there are 3 versions. The first two (BT & Alt) and the GT version, which has a shoulder cannon. The GT version can be tough to obtain. But I agree, these are good version of the Alternators. Smokescreen was first than Silverstreak was #3.

Cascadia wrote:If you get Smokescreen, be aware there are 3 versions. The first two (BT & Alt) and the GT version, which has a shoulder cannon. The GT version can be tough to obtain. But I agree, these are good version of the Alternators. Smokescreen was first than Silverstreak was #3.

smokescreen kicks ass... i have the alt version

I have the BT version, which was my first BT.

I think the worst one is Sunstreaker.. IMO I just hate his robot mode.. looks kinda lame to me.. but you should pick up Skids for sure!! without a doubt hes one of the best!!

The OP hasn't come back from eBay yet.

My theory is that the reality of the prices gave him a heart attack.

(two times.)

haha yeah they are a bit pricey, although my local Argos has Wheeljack, Prime & Ravage brand new for under £20 each!

suggestion: get only the Alternators that you can get, and if you can't get them all, it's not the end of the world. there are other TF toylines to get into.

Legend.

BT = Binaltech
Alts. = Alternators
BTA = Binaltech Asterisk

I'm going by recent MISB ebay auctions.

The common alternators can still be found at certain Walmarts for $20. Sometimes on clearance for as low as $7.

These common alternators are.

-ricochet
-rollbar
-skids
-sunstreaker
-ravage (rare, but still out there)
-rumble (usually found with ravage)

- The most rare BT ... BT-17 wonderfest exclusive (Black Ram SRT-10/Die Cast) Black Convoy. He's going for about $500 lately.

- Also, don't automatically think optimus prime(red Ram SRT-10) is "rare." I hate when sellers say that he is. He can be had MISB for $30 + shipping if you're patient with ebay.

- (black Ram SRT-10) Alts. Nemesis Prime - $70.

- (yellow competition viper w/ racing stripes) Alts. Sunstreaker. Most common viper. $25ish. His die cast version is BTA, and goes for around $65.

- (yellow #4 honda S2000) Decepticharge is also quite rare. He's going for around $60 MISB. There is not Binaltech version of him.

- (red honda S2000) Overdrive(BT version of windcharger) is easily found for $40.

- (red vette) Swerve, as others have said. Rare as HECK. $150 bucks if you're lucky. $100 if you're REALLY lucky. $250 if you're stupid. With that said, he is the worst looking vette of them all IMHO. Stupid gold paint apps.

- (black convertible vette) Battle Ravage - Binaltech. $40. One of the easiest to acquire.

- (blue or yellow vette) Tracks - Blue is slightly more expensive than Yellow version. Yellow is Binaltech only, and can be had for $35 MISB.

- (dark blue subaru with stupid looking flames) The most attainable/common subaru is Ricochet ... not silverstreak. $25-ish. Silverstreak goes for about $30 to $50 in alternators. $80 and up for the Binaltech.

- (reddish/orange? jeep wrangler) The most attainable/common jeep is Rollbar. $25ish.

- (blue scion xB w/ ghost flames & scion symbol) Alts. Skids is common. $25 ish. Binaltech is not common. $80 and up.

- (blue WRC Subaru WRX sti) There are 4 different basic versions of Smokescreen, #7/#8/#1GT/#2GT. The binaltechs are getting pretty expensive, but #8 alts is easy to come by. Cheap, too. Around $40.

- (white mustang w/ blue stripes) Binaltech Wheeljack ... $150 to start, MISB. (silver mustang)Grimlock is the other (mustang), sells for about half of what WJ does.

- (Acura RSX) Prowl - $80 to start. Any version of him.(Blue Pearl, Japan Police, Highway Patrol alts.)

- BTA (Binaltech Asterisk) There are 3. range of $70/$100. Red Alert(fire dept. subaru), Sunstreaker(yellow competition viper, no stripes) and Broadblast.(scion xB)

- (red RX-8)Red Meister(AKA Zoom Zoom) - $100 to $150. BT only

- Hound,(green jeep wrangler) Lambor/Sideswipe,( red viper) Dead End.(black competition viper w/ silver racing stripes) Binaltechs. $56 ea. from gundamstoreandmore.com. While supplies last of course.

- (White RX-8) Meister (AKA Jazz) - $55ish for alts. version. $80ish for BT.

- (Purple RX-8 mazdaspeed) Laserwave. $80/$100 (Binaltech version of Shockblast $40/$50 for alts. version)

- (red ford GT w/ stripes) Kiss players. hot rodimus. $150 and climbing.

- (red Ram SRT-10) Kiss players. OP convoy $110

- (police RX-8) Kiss players Autorooper $65

- (Blue?Black? Ford GT [sorry, i'm colorblind and still haven't figured this one out]) Alts. Mirage - $80.

- (Red Ford GT with ghost flames) SDCC Rodimus. $60

- (Clear Ford GT) Mirage/Rijie. $180. ($400, WTF??)

- (yellow jeep wrangler) Swindle. Binaltech. $40, alts ... pretty much the same.

- (red honda civic Si) Rumble. ebay ... $40ish

- (black jaguar XK8) Ravage 2.0 ... same price as rumble.

- (gray Acura RSX) Camshaft - $50, getting quite rare.

I'm probably forgetting some, so I'll edit them in later.

I'm also new to collecting Alts and so far have the blue version of Tracks,Silverstreak & Shockblast. My favorite is Tracks as it's probably the closest to the original G1 toy in both modes,especially if you add the G1 decals that are available from reprolabels.com. I'm not going to be a completist as I don't like all of them but I intend on getting at least 5 or 6 more providing I can get them for the right price.