The Energon Pub

Sorry if this has been covered but, Is the Premium Series Battle Damaged Optimus exclusive to any particular store?

Yes target as i recall

Is there a release date set yet????

Any New Info. Yet???

Has there been any new info. posted?????

I don't think it's actually part of the Premium line, just a repackage of the Battle Damage Prime from the Sams' Club 3-pack, yes?

Let's see if this helps. These are the Primes:

Target Robo-vision Prime (Target)
Leader movie Prime (mass release)
Voyager movie Prime (mass release)
Battle Damaged Voyager Prime (Sam's club 3-pk)
Leader Nightwatch Prime (mass release)
Leader Premium Prime (mass release)
Voyager First Strkie Prime (mass release)
Battle-damaged Voyager Prime (similiar package to the Best Buy exc.; unknown distribution)
Premium Leader Prime (Takara version)

I think that's all of them. The recent "Battle-damage" Prime we've been seeing is the one in dispute, I think. I've not heard where he's going to be released. Considering Target has the Allspark exclusives that are out now and then Deep Space SS, I don't know when they would release another Prime.

Well, if we're listing movie (transformable) Primes, you forgot to mention these...

Leader Nightwatch Prime (Japan / UK version with bronze trim in place of the Allspark electric blue)
Legends Prime
Legends Nightwatch Prime
FAB Prime
FAB Prime (orange/grey)
Cyber-Slammer Prime
Spychanger Prime (free with Japan DVD, repaint of Spychanger Scourge)
Trans-Scanning Prime
Protoform Prime
Fusion Cluster Protoform Prime (clear blue with orange flame)
Softimus Prime

Any more?

You are correct in your list; I left out the Legends and FAB because they weren't entirely relevant to the topic.

In the U.S. the only release of battle-damaged Optimus Prime was in the Sam's Club Exclusive 3-pack. The single packaging release I think is in Australia and Europe, along with the single packaging of Battle-damaged Arcee. The Premium packaging of the Battle Damage Optimus Prime costs so much because it must be imported from other countries. It is not likely that this single release will be sold in the U.S.

"You are correct in your list; I left out the Legends and FAB because they weren't entirely relevant to the topic."

But nor were the Leader-class figs either, surely?

"In the U.S. the only release of battle-damaged Optimus Prime was in the Sam's Club Exclusive 3-pack. The single packaging release I think is in Australia and Europe, along with the single packaging of Battle-damaged Arcee. The Premium packaging of the Battle Damage Optimus Prime costs so much because it must be imported from other countries. It is not likely that this single release will be sold in the U.S."

But we here in the UK had the 'Sam's Club' version too - it was certainly sold at my local Forbidden Planet. Let's not forget that Europe are yet to have any Voyagers in these nice presentation boxes yet - the Bestbuy Premiums, Space Starscream, Robovision Prime etc were all North America only. Are they really going to start now? Besides, battle-damage Arcee was released singly in the US.

But the question remains - is the single edition any different to the Sam's club version?

The pics I've seen on the single version do seem to be slightly different - there's a lot less black on the torso and the silver scarring on the shins could be a different pattern - but whether this is an intended difference or just random batch variations I'm not sure.