The Energon Pub

A member of the TFW2005 message board, Icespark, found Masterpiece Prowl in the computer at his local Toys "R" Us store in Florida (no city mentioned) and shared his find with the people.

Here's what he had to say:

Icespark wrote:Masterpiece Prowl US release as TRU exclusive!
Hi all!

I did some digging, and found that the Masterpiece Prowl figure is going to be getting a US release. He should be a Toy'sR'Us exclusive. His original retail price is listed as $59.99. though, that's does not mean the price will not be changed. As it's just an inventory listing, there is no information on paint, or things like the Amazon exclusive extra parts.

My apologies if this post has any garbled formatting; I'm trying to upload this information from my phone. I'll edit this post later on tonight with Prowl's TRU item number!

Edit: The item number is 115253. Sorry, work beat me up pretty hard yesterday.

So, it seems that TRU/Hasbro are skipping the Lambo mold (probably couldn't obtain the license from Lamborghini, as it's quite pricey) and jumping right to the Datsun/Nissan
mold. There are no mentions of Blue/Silverstreak or Smokescreen at this time.

I personally called my local TRU (Erie, PA) and had it confirmed, it is indeed Masterpiece Prowl and he is priced at $59.99. She could not confirm a release date, however.

If we get any more info, we'll keep you updated.

You can see our full gallery of Prowl, here: http://www.seibertron.com/transformers- ... wl/3108/1/

Keep your optics tuned to Seibertron.com for the latest in news and updates, plus the best galleries around!

Oh my god!!!!!!! Yes!!!!

I suppose this is good news. At that price point though, he better come with twin missile launchers. If they were smart they release them in case assortments including Bluestreak and Smokescreen.

Meh! @ $59.99 it's cheaper to import it from Japan..

mooncake623 wrote:Meh! @ $59.99 it's cheaper to import it from Japan..

If you know where I can get them imported to the U.S. for less than $60 including shipping, please share!

I got a Takara Bluestreak because I got one through TFSource's Amazon storefront and was able to apply Amazon credit I had. If this is true about Prowl, I'll wait instead of importing.

On HLJ Wheeljack and Smokescreen are pennies over $50, slow shipping from japan is about $8.

Wonder if they will continue with the style of packaging found on Hasbro and Acid Storm for these little guys?

Great news for everyone who couldn't/ didn't import him.
Bad news for myself as this continues a long string of things I imported only to find out later they will be released domestically;

I suppose this is better than nothing, but I really would like to have seen domestic releases of the Countach mold, preferably Red Alert.

I'm wary of this, as Hasbro will likely wanna change the deco of an otherwise already-perfect figure into being something less than the level of perfection that it already has.

GuyIncognito wrote:

mooncake623 wrote:Meh! @ $59.99 it's cheaper to import it from Japan..

If you know where I can get them imported to the U.S. for less than $60 including shipping, please share!

I got a Takara Bluestreak because I got one through TFSource's Amazon storefront and was able to apply Amazon credit I had. If this is true about Prowl, I'll wait instead of importing.

http://www.anime-export.com/product/17656

here for wheeljack before it sold out. They had Pre-orders for a few weeks.

EDIT: For Prowl I don't mean you can do it now since Japanese retailers are all sold out. but when preorders first went up it can be had for less than $60 shipped.

jamesbenjamin wrote:On HLJ Wheeljack and Smokescreen are pennies over $50, slow shipping from japan is about $8.

HobbyLink Japan? They don't have either figure available, as far as I can tell. Unless I'm missing something, they don't really seem to have much in the way of Transformers at all.

What is the shipping like to the US from Anime Export? I assume they're in China.

Sabrblade wrote:I'm wary of this, as Hasbro will likely wanna change the deco of an otherwise already-perfect figure into being something less than the level of perfection that it already has.

If past domestic MPs are anything to go off of he'll probably have just a few extra paint or decal operations to make him more toy accurate than screen accurate.

Actually with that in mind now that I think about it, Red Alert would probably have a black helmet if he was released...

I posted this over on TFW as well, but I have to say there's no way that price is right. Either its a two-pack and the other figure's name was truncated in the computer listing (we all know that happens) or the price is just a placeholder.

All the Takara MPs that Hasbro has released have a price about 40% of the original price. MP10 was about $250 initially, showed up here for $100. Soundwave + tapes ran about $250, here he's $120. The seekers are $125, here they're $60-$75.

triKlops wrote:Bad news for myself as this continues a long string of things I imported only to find out later they will be released domestically;

Me too. I bit the bullet just a couple of days ago & placed an order for MP Prowl.

I guess I should cancel my preorder of MP Sideswipe.

This is NOT good news. At all.

TRU EXCLUSIVE GRIMLOCK: Never found at retail.

TRU EXCLUSIVE RODIMUS: Never found at retail.

TRU EXCLUSIVE OPTIMUS PRIME: Never found at retail.

TRU EXCLUSIVE SOUNDWAVE: Never found at retail. Had to BRIBE a TRU manager to get one.

See a pattern here? Only about 5% of us who want Prowl will be lucky enough to find MP Prowl. That includes BRIBING TRU managers.

Most of those who ARE lucky enough to find him will scalp him on eBay.

So, sorry. TRU EXCLUSIVE is BAD NEWS. May as well not release him at all.

I would not cancel SideSwipe. I am not sure he will be getting a US release.

For $60, I'd rather buy the Japanese one from BBTS and save myself the stress of finding it at TRU.

Still, I think this is good news. It shows Hasbro is willing to release the Autobot car Masterpiece toys.

Scrap! I finally broke and ordered the Takara releases from Captured Prey last night for Prowl and Bluestreak. I was afraid if I didn't get them now I wouldn't be able to afford them on the secondary market later. If these include extras or have cooler colors like how Hasbro's MP-10 did I am going to be seriously bummed. If they are just the same though, its worth the $10 more each I paid just to avoid the hassle and stress of dealing with TRU exclusives. Some days I think that store intentionally designs chaotic, impossible to find releases to keep people coming back to their stores over and over, hoping they will buy something else while they are there

jamesbenjamin wrote:I posted this over on TFW as well, but I have to say there's no way that price is right. Either its a two-pack and the other figure's name was truncated in the computer listing (we all know that happens) or the price is just a placeholder.

I agree with this assessment. If Prowl is packaged as a standalone at 59.99, it would be pretty sad to know that TRU MP Rodimus was the same price at retail. Hopefully Hasbro/TRU decided to drop the Sideswipe single in favor of a Sideswipe & Prowl 2-pack. The Soundwave & Cassettes bundle shows there's precedent for that (though with Soundwave, it admittedly made a tad more sense).

Even with a TRU release, though, I wouldn't overlook Takara's Prowl. With Rodimus, MP-10, Soundwave/cassettes, and the various Seekers, I have found the plastic quality and durability (not to mention paint apps) to be far superior on the Japanese versions compared to what Hasbro puts out. For me at least, the price differential is worth it given all that.

yeah theres no way its going to stay $60 its TRU after all, if it was walmart or target then sure but we all know TRU jacks the prices up so im going to say itll be $75. But in the off chance that it stays $60 ill probably wait til i get a 20% off coupon then pick it up, after MP Soundwave im not touching any MPs unless they are $50 or under. Wonder if he'll have any new accessories or if its just a straight up repackaging

megatronus wrote:

jamesbenjamin wrote:I posted this over on TFW as well, but I have to say there's no way that price is right. Either its a two-pack and the other figure's name was truncated in the computer listing (we all know that happens) or the price is just a placeholder.

I agree with this assessment. If Prowl is packaged as a standalone at 59.99, it would be pretty sad to know that TRU MP Rodimus was the same price at retail. Hopefully Hasbro/TRU decided to drop the Sideswipe single in favor of a Sideswipe & Prowl 2-pack. The Soundwave & Cassettes bundle shows there's precedent for that (though with Soundwave, it admittedly made a tad more sense).

Even with a TRU release, though, I wouldn't overlook Takara's Prowl. With Rodimus, MP-10, Soundwave/cassettes, and the various Seekers, I have found the plastic quality and durability (not to mention paint apps) to be far superior on the Japanese versions compared to what Hasbro puts out. For me at least, the price differential is worth it given all that.

This about sums it up...

Megatron Wolf wrote:yeah theres no way its going to stay $60 its TRU after all, if it was walmart or target then sure but we all know TRU jacks the prices up so im going to say itll be $75.

If MP Acid Storm is $75 at TRU, what makes you think the MP cars would be the same price?

megatronus wrote:

jamesbenjamin wrote:I posted this over on TFW as well, but I have to say there's no way that price is right. Either its a two-pack and the other figure's name was truncated in the computer listing (we all know that happens) or the price is just a placeholder.

I agree with this assessment. If Prowl is packaged as a standalone at 59.99, it would be pretty sad to know that TRU MP Rodimus was the same price at retail. Hopefully Hasbro/TRU decided to drop the Sideswipe single in favor of a Sideswipe & Prowl 2-pack.

I would have to disagree w/ both assessments. TRU has been no stranger to price inflation for its exclusives. Wasn't MP Acid Storm more expensive than MP Thundercracker, despite being released a mere 1 year apart?

Plus, I have yet to see any of TRU's MPs warm the shelves - they're gone quite quickly. TRU has every incentive to jack up prices.