The Energon Pub

Hello!

I'm on a mission to get EVERY movie-line toy.

I'm nearly there, but I have a few questions (trust me, they're not easy):

1) Do we know whether or not Premium Blackout is IDENTICAL to the Japanese Lawson Blackout? I'm holding off on the Lawson until I can can get a definitive answer on this. If they're the same then there's no need to get two of him - but if there's even the slightest difference then I need both!

2) I know a dealer who can get me the Tsutaya Exclusive metallic legends Bumblebee repaint. However, his price seems a little steep. What's the going rate for this little feller and are there any other on-line dealers who may stock it?

3) According to one source, there are two different paint styles for 77 Deluxe Bumblebee, one having more black sprayed 'battle damage' than the other. This is the first I've heard of this - can anyone shed any light on this report? (Yes, I already own the Japanese clear-window version and the Lawson gold repaint) (source: http://www.geocities.com/futuristgroup/valternators.html?200829#beyond)

To anyone who can succesfully answer any of these questions - many thanks in advance!

1. I'm postive the Hasbro Blackout will PALE compared to the Lawson version. But unless you get both and compare every little detail, it may be too hard to tell (that and I'm sure alot of people who get the Lawson version probably won't open there's). That doesn't mean there won't be a difference - I know there will be.

2. Don't know. I would say not too much.

3. I've never heard of a variant Classic BB with different black marks. And I *do* keep up with variants. I'm sure copies exist with varing degrees or shades of "battle-damage", but generally they are not distinct enough to warrant consideration as a "variant". Star Wars figures prove that time and time again.

If you want more damage on BB, get the reprolabels set.

Further to my earlier question, I've been studying several pictures of the two Blackouts. They look EXTREMELY similar, even down to identical patterns of silver scratchmarcks and other tampoed details. They appear to be different colours (the Lawson version seems darker and bluer in some pictures), but that MAY just be due to the lighting used in the various photos I've seen.

However, I believe I've spotted an irrefutable difference: the colour of the turbines/nacelles (I'm not up on helicopters so I don't know the official name of the part). On the Lawson version, these turbines are Black

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff122/starfish232/lawson.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff122/starfish232/lawson2.jpg

And on the Premium version, these nacelles are grey!

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff122/starfish232/premium.jpg
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff122/starfish232/premium2.jpg

So that's one question solved! Now how about the other two?