The Energon Pub

I've been lurking here for awhile and finally registered. Probably like many others I grew up with the original cartoon/toys as a kid then fell out of it, until the movie brought me back. It's really gotten me back into the toys, and I was hoping to get some collecting advice here.

I like realistic alt modes and coherent toy lines. My G1 toy collection (which I still have but are pretty worn) consists of figures released in 1984 and 1985, as I lost interest after that when the newer toys began featuring more unrealistic alt modes.

After getting all the figures I wanted from the movie line (which I love) I started going through the great galleries here to see what else I've missed over the years that I may want to collect as well. I was immediately drawn to the Alternators, Classics, and Masterpiece lines, and so that is what I have begun collecting. And I of course am looking forward to Classics 2.0.

But I am confused by some of the other lines. For example "Robots in Disguise". Looking through that gallery some figures have absolutely awesome looking realistic alt modes - such as Axer, Prowl, Sideburn, X-Brawn, etc. And then the rest vary from figures with more-or-less recognizable vehicles for alt mode (albeit brightly colored) all the way to garish creature alt modes. The aesthetics seem all over the place in that line.

I also had a question on Alternators since that is the part of my collection I think will take me the longest to complete. What are fair prices to spend on Alternators? I will be playing with them, so they don't need to be mint in box. Loose is fine, but I do want them to be complete, with instructions, and in "like-new" condition. So far I have been able to get around 10 off of Ebay in that condition for between $15 and $30 each (including shipping) - such as Ricochet, Optimus Prime, Sideswipe, Rollbar, Swindle, Sunstreaker, Skids, Tracks, Smokescreen. Are there some which I will have to pay up for if I really want them (Shockwave and Prowl seem like two of the rarer/more expensive ones)? Also, it's too late now since I've already bought several Alternators, but I think I've done the right thing for me by choosing Alternators instead of Binaltechs. I do appreciate the die-cast in the Binaltechs (I am fond of my G1 cars), but as I said I want to play with them so I think the Alternators are the better choice for me (and cheaper).

Thanks for reading. This place is a really awesome resource!

R.I.D Is a mix of many different alt modes: cars, beasts, futuristic etc...

Since R.I.D came after the Beastwars era where everything has animal alt modes of some kind I guess to ease the transition back into vehicles they decided to throw in a few beast modes mainly for the decepticons.

So its got everything, but that's not a bad thing.

As for Alternator's their prices vary depending on their rarity. but I would guess anywhere between 20 and 40 is a good price. But you will find your more expensive ones like Nemesis Prime go for 60 or 70.

Welcome back to the fandom!

Robots in Disguise was a filler line between Beast Machines (the end of the Beast Era, when the toys generally had beast modes and the main factions were the Maximals and Predacons/Vehicons) and Armada. Originally a line called Transtech was intended after Beast Machines, but after the poor reception that BM received, it was scrapped in favor of going back to vehicle alt modes. So while they planned out Armada, the Robots in Disguise line was cobbled together, primary being repaints from all previous lines. Only about thirteen original molds were made for that line (Optimus, Ultra Magnus, the Car Brothers, Team Bullet Train, the Build Team, and Megatron).

welcome back to the fandom! Alternators are one of the best lines. I suggest Mirage, Wheeljack,decepticharge,and Prowl are some of the must haves imao.

Welcome to Seibertron! You are pretty much like me and many others here, "reborn fan" from movie. We have a lot in common, after getting back into the game via movie toy line, soon to discover genuine love for realistic alt modes. Here's my collection path:

Movie (on-going) --> Alternators/WST (completed) --> Binaltech/BTA/KP (completed & revived) --> Masterpiece (completed)

Through the collection path I also picked up some figures from Classics & Cybertron lines. It is funny how much addiction/affection for Alternators line grow:

>>>At first I told myself I will just get one for each mold (loose or MISB mix)
>>>Then I want to complete the full line of 27 (loose or MISB mix)
>>>Then I want to have a MISB set displaying alt mode AND a loose set to play/display bot mode with
>>>I love Alternators so much, I began to upgrade my MISB set to AFA set, now I am 17/27 on AFA Alternators. Have I gone crazy?

Loose Alternators can range from $15-$90 shipped. I see now you have acquired most widely available figues, so they are more subtle in the costs. Later you will be paying more for figures like Swerve, Decepticharge, Nemesis Prime, etc. Good thing recently there's been price declines in Prowl, Wheeljack, Mirage & Rodimus, so it would be a little easier for you.

I have same amount of love for Binaltechs, if you can get a piece in your hand, you will soon fall in love with the die-cast weight, superb paint application & details, it shouldn't be easily passed up if you are into realistic TF toys.

Anyway, good luck with hunting down the figures you want & we'll see you around more on Seibertron! Welcome aboard!

Cheers,
Coolpop

welcome to Seibs. and to the hobby.
RID does have some great molds but like stated before it was a filler line so the aesthetic is kinda all over the place. Optimus and Ultra Magnus are some great figs as well as Prowl, X-Brawn & Side burn.

One of the problems with the earlier Binaltechs was the paint getting scraped during transformation so ALts are the way to go if you plan on transforming them alot. The newer Binaltechs (Kiss Players, etc) are plastic as well as the new ones that are coming out (most likely). As for prices, look at the completed auctions for the figure you are interested in to get an idea of how much you should pay for one in similar condition.

good luck.

JazZeke wrote:Welcome back to the fandom!

Robots in Disguise was a filler line between Beast Machines (the end of the Beast Era, when the toys generally had beast modes and the main factions were the Maximals and Predacons/Vehicons) and Armada. Originally a line called Transtech was intended after Beast Machines, but after the poor reception that BM received, it was scrapped in favor of going back to vehicle alt modes. So while they planned out Armada, the Robots in Disguise line was cobbled together, primary being repaints from all previous lines. Only about thirteen original molds were made for that line (Optimus, Ultra Magnus, the Car Brothers, Team Bullet Train, the Build Team, and Megatron).

Im pretty certain you're wrong about most of that.

It did come after BM, but was never intended to be Transtech.

Transtech was the Hasbro's sequal to BM. Meanwhile Takara made their own unrelated show called Car Robots, which Hasbro then elected to dub and rename Robots In Disguise. If you've seen any of the Transtech concept drawings, you'd realise that RiD and Transtech had no relation what so ever. Also I wouldnt class it as a 'filler' line as such (filler lines dont have cartoons) just a very lazy line with the bare minimum of new toys and a very good choice of recycled toys.

Also, there are actully 3 factions in RiD, the Autobots (all vehicals, mostly new molds, although I think they used some of the more posable G2 and Machine Wars toys too as well as using an asortment of origanal G2 and all new Spychanger/Gobot molds), the Predacons (animals, almost all of whome are truly fugly, all either entirly new or new to Hasbro molds) and the Decepticons (all repaints of older toys, apart from Runination (G1 Bruticus) all were G2 or later designs) (although the two con factions are basicly on the same side).

It has to be said this line, due to its hit n miss and rather lazy set of toys (with no realy consistent design ethic due to being take fro mso many different lines), and due to the cartoon not fitting with the old (G1/BW/BM) or the new (A/E/C), isnt one of the more popular ones, but the cartoon is rather fun none the less and it does have some very good toys (Scourge, Ruination, Sideburn, Prowl, the trainbots, Prime and Magnus being my recomendations).

Welcome to Seibertron. I am one of those that got back into TF thanks to my rare Alt. Bluestreak....he is rare because of where the steering wheel is. His steering wheel is on the right hand side..




The Alternators are exact replicas of the car. As mentioned before they range in price from $30 to $90 depending on which one it is. The Binaltech are exactly the same but they are made of die-cast metal so they are a tad more expensive than the Alternators.

my collection is no where as crazy as coolpop's though.

Personally, although the BTs often have better paint apps, I prefere the Alts. The Die-cast parts of the BTs often make them very hard to pose, not to mention if you chip the paint it'll piss you off no end (my poor BT Battle Ravage seems to have suffered terribly thanks to excesive transformation and excessive moves to and from uni (yes, had I know, I wouldnt have taken him in the first place...).

Cascadia wrote:Welcome to Seibertron. I am one of those that got back into TF thanks to my rare Alt. Bluestreak....he is rare because of where the steering wheel is. His steering wheel is on the right hand side.

Well done you, wanna cookie?

Now if you had a complete set of G1 trainbots with boxes, then I'd be impressed (and shortly afterwards would have to find you and rob you )

*Shameless plug* I still need the rest of the G1 trainbots, if you see them on ebay, PM me please!

Redimus wrote:

JazZeke wrote:Welcome back to the fandom!

Robots in Disguise was a filler line between Beast Machines (the end of the Beast Era, when the toys generally had beast modes and the main factions were the Maximals and Predacons/Vehicons) and Armada. Originally a line called Transtech was intended after Beast Machines, but after the poor reception that BM received, it was scrapped in favor of going back to vehicle alt modes. So while they planned out Armada, the Robots in Disguise line was cobbled together, primary being repaints from all previous lines. Only about thirteen original molds were made for that line (Optimus, Ultra Magnus, the Car Brothers, Team Bullet Train, the Build Team, and Megatron).

Im pretty certain you're wrong about most of that.

It did come after BM, but was never intended to be Transtech.

Transtech was the Hasbro's sequal to BM. Meanwhile Takara made their own unrelated show called Car Robots, which Hasbro then elected to dub and rename Robots In Disguise. If you've seen any of the Transtech concept drawings, you'd realise that RiD and Transtech had no relation what so ever. Also I wouldnt class it as a 'filler' line as such (filler lines dont have cartoons) just a very lazy line with the bare minimum of new toys and a very good choice of recycled toys.

Sorry Red, but you're reading him wrong. He didn't say RID was intended to be Transtech.
Read it again, and you'll see he said that Transtech was planned to go after BM, but because BM didn't do well it was scrapped and RID was done instead.

I was extremely lucky to find that one. If I see anything...I will holler.

spiritofcat wrote:Sorry Red, but you're reading him wrong. He didn't say RID was intended to be Transtech.
Read it again, and you'll see he said that Transtech was planned to go after BM, but because BM didn't do well it was scrapped and RID was done instead.

Oh yeah... D'oh!

I blame tiredness.

DAMN YOU TIREDNESS!

Thanks for the welcome and info everyone!

- How many of the Autobot/realistic-car-alt-mode figures are there from the R.I.D. line? They look really nice and I might want to try and pick them up. I was inspired by the newest Classics 2.0 galleries which show the Alternators, Classics 2.0, G1, and what I am guessing is the R.I.D. version for both Prowl and Sunstreaker. Also what is a fair price for loose RID Sunstreaker, Prowl, and the like?

- Coolpop, The way my movie collection (as well as my entire collection) has kept growing beyond what I thought I originally wanted sounds alot like how your Alternators collection kept growing. My collection path went Movie line (pretty complete) ==> Masterpiece (got the ones I want) ==> Classics (complete) ==> Alternators (about half-way complete).

It was several months after the movie before I finally decided to get a Leader class Optimus Prime. After I took that first step back however, I was doomed! He was all I really intended to get at first, but I guess the fan in me never really died - it just went dormant for a very long time. Leader Prime was so awesome that I decided to get all the characters that appeared in the movie. Then I decided to get the figures from the video game, and then the figures that were kinda in the movie as vehicles, and then I decided I would get all the new molds, and then I figured what the heck I have almost all of them I might as well get the rest of the figures as well to have a complete line. However I drew the line on some of the repaints and the Walmart/ToysRUs/Target exclusives which I learned were repaints from older toy lines. While some of them had fairly realistic alt modes, their robot modes did not match the aesthetics of the alien-looking bot modes of the rest of the movie line.

Then I moved on to Masterpiece. I've got Megatron, 20th Prime (the one with chrome, not the DVD version), and Walmart Starscream (I prefer the G1 colors to MP-03).

Then I moved to Classics. At first I wasn't sure I wanted to collect all of them but they really grew on me. Having my favorite G1 characters with great posability just turned out to be too fun to resist. Plus with Classics 2.0 coming out, that was another incentive.

Lastly I have moved on to Alternators. At first I didn't think I would collect them because 1) all the alt modes were cars so most all of my fave Decepticons are missing from the line and 2) a full collection would be expensive to complete. Once I got past that though, the awesomeness of the car modes was just too much for me to resist. My goal right now is just to have a complete set of loose Alternators. I am actually glad that I haven't held a Binaltech, because I am sure that after having held the heavy, metallic, die-cast goodness, I would want a complete set of them, and that would be very bad for my wallet.

I am currently contemplating whether I want to replace my G1 collection. They are very beat-up and I don't even display them I just store them in a box. I think only nostalgia is causing me to contemplate it. But when I take them out and transform them I am reminded of how simple and non-articulated these old toys really were (especially after now having the movie/classics/alternators). Plus with all the loose parts you have to keep track of it's not as fun transforming them as I remembered. Still, I feel like getting a better condition Prime and Megatron at least to round out my overall collection.

Oddly, Animated is slowly growing on me. My initial reaction upon seeing the cartoon/toys was negative. But the alt modes have really begun to grow on me. Something about the clean, simple, yet stylish alt modes and slender well-articulated bot modes for most of the figures is appealing to me. I guess it's also because I am really digging the new series.

In terms of Alt vs. BT, that is up to you. The Alts. have their advantages so does the BT. Each side has its disadvantages too. My collection is half and half, in terms of the Alt/BT line. My other lines are movie, a little bit of RID and classics and G1.

A new pre-order for Alt Rodimus is available on BBTS.com for 49.99. With some effort you can find him a bit cheaper on eBay, but that's pretty much the going rate and from a more trustworthy source. Great mold...if you're interested in Rodimus check it out.

And as someone already posted, using the completed feature on eBay is very helpful to find the going rates. I'd just recommend being patient... I've got one of every mold bought MISB and I think Mirage and Prowl are the only ones I've had to pay over $35 for shipped, but it took checking eBay daily for 4 or 5 months. If you're looking to complete the line, though, you're going to have to spend more than 35 for a number of them.

Yes welcome, new guy buys the beer.

To sum up RID, what every one else said. Outside of a few new(and amazing) molds, the series is a collaboration of repaints from different series. Outside of Megatron and Bruticus(not Ruination) I've lately been wracking my head thrying to think of any other origional Con figures.

I guess I could count the Megatron Megabolt, but I'm not going to.

As for realistic bots, most of the recent series have has a futury type feel, so everything is kinda distorted. There are some good bots in the Cybertron line though. Downshift, ScatterShot(either version) and so on are fun.

If you want realistic though, look to G2, the cyberjets and basic cars wherent to far from the money.

But realy man you can only run that realistic thread for so long before you try a Maximal, then maybe a Predicon, oh and whats a Vehicon...

Before you know it you'll be living in an opium den of plastic thinking what do you need more, bots or food...

weverhat wrote:Thanks for the welcome and info everyone!

- How many of the Autobot/realistic-car-alt-mode figures are there from the R.I.D. line? They look really nice and I might want to try and pick them up. I was inspired by the newest Classics 2.0 galleries which show the Alternators, Classics 2.0, G1, and what I am guessing is the R.I.D. version for both Prowl and Sunstreaker. Also what is a fair price for loose RID Sunstreaker, Prowl, and the like?

The three car brothers, X-Brawn, Sideburn, and Prowl are the most realistic, with Prime being a reasonable version of a fire truck, Ultra Magnus a more futuristic-looking car transport, Scourge being an absolutely sweet tanker truck (a repaint of an old G2 figure, I believe), and various other characters being fairly accurate real-life representations: the train bots, build team, Skidz, Towline...all aren't bad figures. The RID Prowl and Sunstreaker you saw are and aren't RID. The G1 Prowl-resembling version was a recolor in the later Universe catch-all line, and is still a nice fig to have, as is the OTHER recolor of the mold for Universe, Red Alert. The Sunstreaker redeco, though, was a Botcon release, along with a red Sideswipe version of the same mold. Again, both nice to have. In addition, RID Sideburn was recolored for two Botcon releases (girls, no less!), Roulette and Shadowstriker. Fair price? Whatever you're willing to pay , but expect to spend more on the Sunstreaker or Sidewipe versions, as they're Botcon and limited releases.

weverhat wrote:Lastly I have moved on to Alternators. At first I didn't think I would collect them because 1) all the alt modes were cars so most all of my fave Decepticons are missing from the line and 2) a full collection would be expensive to complete. Once I got past that though, the awesomeness of the car modes was just too much for me to resist. My goal right now is just to have a complete set of loose Alternators. I am actually glad that I haven't held a Binaltech, because I am sure that after having held the heavy, metallic, die-cast goodness, I would want a complete set of them, and that would be very bad for my wallet.

A collector after my own heart. This was the one line I HAD to complete, and I was lucky enough to find all the releases at retail after I started. DO NOT consider yourself done unless you have at least one version of the Mirage mold (and Rodimus fits the mold perfectly), the Jazz/Shockblast mold, or the Hound mold (which I think you've already got one of). Expect to take a hit if you're going completist, though, especially for figures like Swerve and Camshaft, which saw seemingly limited and spotty release. Rumble and Ravage (the jag version) are also worthwhile simply because they're unique, but both were Wal-mart exclusives and sometimes a pain to find at decent prices anymore.

weverhat wrote:I am currently contemplating whether I want to replace my G1 collection. They are very beat-up and I don't even display them I just store them in a box. I think only nostalgia is causing me to contemplate it. But when I take them out and transform them I am reminded of how simple and non-articulated these old toys really were (especially after now having the movie/classics/alternators). Plus with all the loose parts you have to keep track of it's not as fun transforming them as I remembered. Still, I feel like getting a better condition Prime and Megatron at least to round out my overall collection.

Honestly, one of the most fulfilling things for me has been filling out my old G1 collection. I've replaced figures, repaired some figures, and added figures I never had the chance to get when I was a kid and just drooled over in the catalogues. The recent Sky Lynx reissue is a perfect example. But even worn figures might still have life. If you haven't already, check out http://www.reprolabels.com. Their reissued sticker sets for G1 figures sometimes make all the difference for an older TF.

weverhat wrote:Oddly, Animated is slowly growing on me. My initial reaction upon seeing the cartoon/toys was negative. But the alt modes have really begun to grow on me. Something about the clean, simple, yet stylish alt modes and slender well-articulated bot modes for most of the figures is appealing to me. I guess it's also because I am really digging the new series.

I couldn't have said that better myself--I may be getting all of these!

Good luck and welcome back!

Redimus wrote:Predacons (animals, almost all of whome are truly fugly, all either entirly new or new to Hasbro molds)[/color]

And that's were you're wrong again. All the Predacons aside from Megaton were repaints of beast Wars Transmetals II figures.

Those are pretty fair prices you're getting for the Alts. In my opinion the best alt is Mirage, he's massively fun to play with and looks incredible.

I haven't been buying toys for quite a while now though, I need to money to fund my guitars and accesories.. Someday I'll complete that Alt line... Someday.....

Cascadia wrote:Welcome to Seibertron. I am one of those that got back into TF thanks to my rare Alt. Bluestreak....he is rare because of where the steering wheel is. His steering wheel is on the right hand side..

Are you sure thats the rare one?????

Its my understanding that its the left sided steering wheel version thats the rare one.

The right sided ones were released first and were corrected soon after but I've been told that the production of left sided ones were very limited.

I myself bought 5 right sided ones and customized 3 of them into other bots.

When the figure was available I found plenty of right sided ones in stores but have only encountered 3 left sided ones.

sto_vo_kor_2000 wrote:

Cascadia wrote:Welcome to Seibertron. I am one of those that got back into TF thanks to my rare Alt. Bluestreak....he is rare because of where the steering wheel is. His steering wheel is on the right hand side..

Are you sure thats the rare one?????

Its my understanding that its the left sided steering wheel version thats the rare one.

The right sided ones were released first and were corrected soon after but I've been told that the production of left sided ones were very limited.

I myself bought 5 right sided ones and customized 3 of them into other bots.

When the figure was available I found plenty of right sided ones in stores but have only encountered 3 left sided ones.

Cassie was right I think, the RHD (Right Handed Drive) was a rarer one because after initial release, hasbro decided to switch it to LHD to better match familiarity of US market. I've read somewhere that RHD to LHD ratio is estimated at 1:3. However nowadays even at eBay the prices between RHD & LHD don't differ that much anymore.

*** EDITED 15 Minutes Later After Doing Some Research ***

OK I researched a bit online to backup the above statements, check out these two sites info:

http://www.binalternators.de/alternators_binaltech_case_assortments.html Please see Silverstreak's releases throughout the assortments.

http://www.tfw2005.com/resources/alternators-autobots-193/silverstreak-subaru-impreza-wrx-908/ Please see "Toy Variant" note on Silverstreak.

Cheers!

Coolpop

Thank you, coolpop, for backing me up with more information. sto_vo_kor_2000, either you got the figures when they were first released or you were very lucky to find 5 of them.



there is the difference....be sure to see the full picture to see the differences. However there is a glare in the set of pictures. I have a feeling that it is the only Alternator with a variant with a RHD. If you have trouble see the pictures, you can look at my Bluestreak/Silverstreak. This is not my BT version because it is very light in weight.

Cascadia wrote:Thank you, coolpop, for backing me up with more information. sto_vo_kor_2000, either you got the figures when they were first released or you were very lucky to find 5 of them.



there is the difference....be sure to see the full picture to see the differences. However there is a glare in the set of pictures. I have a feeling that it is the only Alternator with a variant with a RHD. If you have trouble see the pictures, you can look at my Bluestreak. This is not my BT version because it is very light in weight.

I considered myself lucky when I found the left sided ones.

Like I said I read somewhere that they didnt produce that many of the left sided ones.

Wish I could find that link.

And that last pic....is it of a custom???

Maybe in other places in the world, the left-hand version is rarer. But in the USA, the right-hand version is rare.

that is indeed a custom that is done by me. The figure has missile launchers too.

Cascadia wrote:Maybe in other places in the world, the left-hand version is rarer. But in the USA, the right-hand version is rare.

I live in up state NY as far as I know thats still in the USA But sometimes I wonder

But distrabution could have differed from state to state.

Cascadia wrote:that is indeed a custom that is done by me. The figure has missile launchers too.

I like it.