The Energon Pub

I prefer being charge now as opposed to later because then I know it's been budgeted for rather than a bunch of preorders getting charge at the same time due to shipping issues, Granted that seems like a limited experience in 20/21 due to outside forces. Yet I can't help wonder it could become more common considering what's going on and just how dependent some Countries have become on others for goods instead of being more self reliant. I'm of the mind it could get worse before it ever get better.

For HasLab Unicron, I couldn't pay upfront since there was no way I could have afforded it during the preorder window. I needed to budget toward it over the course of the years between funding and shipping, so I went with TFSource who weren't going to charge me for it until shipping.

Sabrblade wrote:For HasLab Unicron, I couldn't pay upfront since there was no way I could have afforded it during the preorder window. I needed to budget toward it over the course of the years between funding and shipping, so I went with TFSource who weren't going to charge me for it until shipping.

I know some sites did that, with a non-refundable deposit (usually $50-100). I probably would have done the same in that case. $600 is a large chunk to dump into one item, but ultimately is was the lack of space, and soul searching "do I need this" that kept me away. But it is darn cool though. I can truly appreciate that others have it, and not feel like I missed out.

o.supreme wrote:Maybe making up for all the times past when items were 2 months late

Seriously though, I know it's tough, and there really is no win. Being late = frustration and postponed expectations. Being early can compromise a budget if you aren't expecting it.

I prefer to be charged right away for my purchase even if it's a pre order months away so as not to worry about it. But I know a lot of people don't want that either, and it's pretty split as to which companies charge up front, and which wait until they actually ship the item.

If I ever have to cancel you'll know which figures will be the most expensive and hard to find. That's my luck.

Emerje wrote:BBTS just notified me that Magnificus will be processing soon. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point when something is 2 months early. Maybe it's time for Hasbro to reevaluate their release date estimates, it's been a long time since anything hasn't been early online.

Emerje

Great. my January pre-order list has almost been cut by 75% now

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

Emerje wrote:BBTS just notified me that Magnificus will be processing soon. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point when something is 2 months early. Maybe it's time for Hasbro to reevaluate their release date estimates, it's been a long time since anything hasn't been early online.

Emerje

Great. my January pre-order list has almost been cut by 75% now

January is looking rather painful for me between 8 MOTU figures (mostly Masterverse), both the Scorponok and Black Zarak upgrade sets that I passed on the first time around, and far too many Japanese imports. At the time of ordering it wasn't expected to be an issue, but heating costs are nearly double what they were this time last year and there's not really anything I can do about that that I don't already do. Probably going to have to make some cancelations.

Emerje

Got Magnificus, first time with the mold. I like the headsculpt, it's nice. The black colors are pretty nice. The mold is a little plain, but I am glad I got it once. I think Magnificus is headed for the Diaclone crew, his fiction can support him joining up with them.

Yeah he looks pretty clean. I already have SS86 Perceptor, but I thought about getting Magnificus and slapping an Autobot symbol on him and pretending he's my comic Perceptor.

Bigbadtoystore has a preorder up for more Generations Selects God Neptune. So fans who didn't get him the first time have another chance to get him. The price is $250 and he should be coming out within the coming months.

Here is the link: https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/ ... rniadotcom

Product Description
The Transformers Generations Selects God Neptune is a combiner figure that features five different beast robots that combine into a human like robot form. The figure also includes blaster and sword weapons.

Yeah when a third party retailer all of a sudden gets an item in stock that's that's been gone for well over a year, that is always puzzling. Where did these come from?

I'dove it if they happened to find a shipping container with a few dozen Super Megatron's so I can get him for a decent price.

o.supreme wrote:Yeah when a third party retailer all of a sudden gets an item in stock that's that's been gone for well over a year, that is always puzzling. Where did these come from?

It's not just for Transformers. I collect Pullip dolls and many that were thought to be discontinued for years and were sold for a fortune on eBay suddenly got restocked in many stores at normal retail or even on sale!

LMAO! In no universe is that worth $250. PSYCHOS!!!

The quality of these Hasbro & Takara products are no better than the cheap crap you find in Ollie's or a dollar store.

Thank God I was finally able to break my addiction to this junk. I originally wanted this thing the 1st time around but stopped myself because of the stupid insane price. I have Piranacon & the quality is definitely not worth the insane rip-off prices these psychos are charging.

Worth and Value are all subjective. There are literally hundreds of Transformers items I dont think are worth the asking price, so I dont get them, but that dosen't mean they wont sell. If you look at the price of any TT Unite Warriors set on eBay, they demand quite a hefty price. I'm glad I got God Neptune at its initial price, and because YMMV, it actually holds together better than my copy of Selects King Poseidon. BBTS wouldn't offer it for $250, if they thought nobody would purchase it, there's little doubt that some will.

We died, only to be reborn.

OF UNICRON.

This reminds me. It's been a while since we heard about anything new for the Select line.

I was worried as well, but the recent interview on Toys R Russ YouTube channel gives me some hope. I would think that a Burning Primal/Flash Leo Prime set would be highly likely sooner or later.

o.supreme wrote:I was worried as well, but the recent interview on Toys R Russ YouTube channel gives me some hope. I would think that a Burning Primal/Flash Leo Prime set would be highly likely sooner or later.

I really hope we get a Black Leo Prime, my Panther demands it.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:I was worried as well, but the recent interview on Toys R Russ YouTube channel gives me some hope. I would think that a Burning Primal/Flash Leo Prime set would be highly likely sooner or later.

I really hope we get a Black Leo Prime, my Panther demands it.

Which color scheme, though, is the question. There have been multiple releases using the toy deco that was an inversion of the cartoon "Copy Convoy" deco, but said cartoon deco has never seen any release in toy form.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:I was worried as well, but the recent interview on Toys R Russ YouTube channel gives me some hope. I would think that a Burning Primal/Flash Leo Prime set would be highly likely sooner or later.

I really hope we get a Black Leo Prime, my Panther demands it.

We are getting a black Leo Prime in the main line.

I continue to be confused by this reoccurring concern that Selects is dying, especially when the line is at a point where we're getting a Selects Titan for 2 years in a row. Like I get that there's less frequent/numerous announcements, but when you look at what's actually in the announcements, the overall value/budget is on par with the year's prior, it's just being allocated differently.

In fact, out of curiosity, I threw together the math to see how consistent the numbers are, since I imagine Hasbro as a business may be looking at it similarly: If we assume the 2 Selects we have leaked for this year thus far aren't necessarily the only Selects for the year (which is still very likely considering the number of other exclusives that are still mysteries), then the only comparatively light/"bad" year for Selects so far was 2021 (the one that would have potentially/presumably been most impacted by the pandemic), and if those two are actually all there is for this year, then it makes 2021 less of an outlier.

Also, for comparison's sake and to preemptively counter the argument of "but the price increases skewed those numbers", if we adjust 2021-now back down to 2019/pre-price-increase prices, it comes out to be 2021 at $204, 2022 at $274, and 2023 so far at $180. That puts last year's Selects straight in the middle of 2019 and 2020, which debunks the potential thought that the price increases were the reason Legacy's Selects offerings were on par with Earthrise and Siege+PotP.

TL;DR (or if you just don't like math I guess): Selects is doing just fine, the fact that quantity is being traded for bigger-ticket offerings is skewing people's perceptions.

....all that aside, I wonder if we're gonna see Antagony and Packrat turn up in Selects sometime this year, since they were rumored last year at the same time as the Omega Sentinel that we all-but-know is now in this line (unless my theory of the next Walmart subline being beast-themed comes to pass, in which case I would predict Antagony to actually pop up there).

I would very much like Packrat
And Cryotek
And Armada Thundercracker/super starscream or whatever it's called

Can't think of anyone else. I wouldn't get antagony, Inferno is enough for me but I hope they make it for those that have been asking. It'd be a shame if they didn't

o.supreme wrote:I was worried as well, but the recent interview on Toys R Russ YouTube channel gives me some hope. I would think that a Burning Primal/Flash Leo Prime set would be highly likely sooner or later.

That would be a nice set, especially since for some reason Takara has not done a Flash Lio with the Mp mold yet despite having Buring Convoy already.

I am hoping for more of the old Botcon beast repaints, from the 3H years. Antagony, Shockaract (when we get Rampage), Cataclysm, maybe more of the Covenant...

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:

o.supreme wrote:I was worried as well, but the recent interview on Toys R Russ YouTube channel gives me some hope. I would think that a Burning Primal/Flash Leo Prime set would be highly likely sooner or later.

That would be a nice set, especially since for some reason Takara has not done a Flash Lio with the Mp mold yet despite having Buring Convoy already.

It still baffles me that Takara has never even released a toy version of Lio Convoy's green form from any Lio Convoy mold, since that was his final powered-up form in both BWII and Neo.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:I am hoping for more of the old Botcon beast repaints, from the 3H years. Antagony, Shockaract (when we get Rampage), Cataclysm, maybe more of the Covenant...

Glyph and Tap-Out too. They'd be easy reuses of the Bumblebee and Cliffjumper molds.