The Energon Pub

News Credits: 5749 · Tue Mar 01, 2011 10:29 pm

YouTube reviewer peaugh has posted a review of TFCToy's super-deformed rendition of Optimus Prime PS-01 Primars. The figure appears to be roughly deluxe size and has a lot of nice little touches: removable face plate, movable eyebrows, LED light-up eyes, and more. Check out the video review below.

Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:25 pm

That little guy rocks! :APPLAUSE:

Tue Mar 01, 2011 11:47 pm

That's not bad at all actually!

What makes me laugh is that this little guy has swivel feet and a waist that rotates but Hasbro couldn't do it with deluxe Warpath.

News Credits: 187 · Wed Mar 02, 2011 12:04 am

He is so cute!! I must have him....uh *cough* I mean, thats fraggin sick dude!!

Wed Mar 02, 2011 2:59 am

He's so cute and "super- deformed!" :lol:

News Credits: 15 · Wed Mar 02, 2011 4:38 am

I am actually pretty impressed with this figure. Its pretty basic but its clearly had a lot of thought put into it. Plenty of detail and nice little touches. I was prepared to dismiss it as a novelty but I quite like it in the same way I like Disney's Prime/Mickey cross over.

I really must stop watching these reviews as half the fun of a new transformer is getting it in your hands and discovering its features for yourself. Video reviews tend to kill that and I feel I dont need to buy the figure myself, so they save me money which is a good thing for me but bad for the retailers.

News Credits: 2 · Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:40 am

This little figure is really awesome. However I am not sure yet if he is $60 awesome. I know there is a lot of overhead with making these custom short run toys but I wish there was a way that 3rd party Transformer makers could deliver a figure like this one more in the $30 price range.

News Credits: 15 · Wed Mar 02, 2011 10:41 am

whacko wrote:This little figure is really awesome. However I am not sure yet if he is $60 awesome. I know there is a lot of overhead with making these custom short run toys but I wish there was a way that 3rd party Transformer makers could deliver a figure like this one more in the $30 price range.

Agreed, I think these third parties are taking advantage somewhat.

News Credits: 187 · Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:30 am

Ravage XK wrote:
whacko wrote:This little figure is really awesome. However I am not sure yet if he is $60 awesome. I know there is a lot of overhead with making these custom short run toys but I wish there was a way that 3rd party Transformer makers could deliver a figure like this one more in the $30 price range.

Agreed, I think these third parties are taking advantage somewhat.

I'm not real clear on the costs for producing something like this, but I imagine it is considerable. The actually product manufactured and assembled in China most likely costs very little per unit. But the R & D and packaging, moulds, graphic artists etc, I'm sure they are not making $50 profit a figure or anything. Certainly they are making money, but I wonder how much is actual take home profit?

News Credits: 3 · Wed Mar 02, 2011 11:53 am

Ravage XK wrote:
whacko wrote:This little figure is really awesome. However I am not sure yet if he is $60 awesome. I know there is a lot of overhead with making these custom short run toys but I wish there was a way that 3rd party Transformer makers could deliver a figure like this one more in the $30 price range.

Agreed, I think these third parties are taking advantage somewhat.

Well, one question is how much are the 3rd parties actually charging per unit? All we know is the retailers are selling them for $60. For example, we know iGear charges $110 for Arcee and BBTS charges $140. If I had to guess, BBTS is getting some kind of wholesale discount and is paying less than $110 a piece for theirs...and I'm also gessing they're not getting dicked with the $17 shipping fee for each figure either so these guys appear to be making a healthy profit per fig. Anyhow, the point is...are they $30 a pop and the retailers just charge $60? Who knows?