The Energon Pub

[Wolfman Jake]

My goodness, the last few pages has been loaded with good stuff! I am digging the back story, and the fact that G1, Armada, Prime and IDW are all in there is amazing.

Question: When you pre-order from BBTS, does the charge come out upon ordering, or does it wait until it goes to ship to take your money? Cause I am looking at this pre-order and struggling not to hit the button

bbts charges you upon getting the merch in their warehouse, tfsource takes your money up front, but you get free shipping and reward points.

Der, I just scrolled down and saw the thing about charging your card! And Did I hear right earlier that BBTS does free shipping for orders of Galvatronus's price?

No, that's tfsource, bbts never has never done free shipping to my knowledge.

Well damn

You can make an account at TFSource (it's free to do so) and instead of preordering the item, add it to your "stack." You won't be charged for any items in your stack until they come in stock, AND you can cancel a stack item at any time before they come in stock with NO penalties. I'm not trying to shill for TFSource, though I've been happy with their business for the past few years. I just want to make sure fans have the right information about their choices in online stores.

So thanks to his limbs, Grand Galvatron has Phantom Limb, Wandering Syndrome, and Dead Leg. Sounds miserable.

And his left arm is cursed.

[steals_your_goats]

Yeah, except that, instead of getting the decepti-jets, we got another set of dumb 's, they could have made skylynx onslaughts wavemate and made a combiner the final one to even out the teams a little...]

Actually once combiner wars/unite warriors is over we'll have more decepticon combiners than we will autobots.

Superion
G2 Superion
Defensor
Optimus Maximus
Sky Reign
Victorion
Computron (rumored)

Menasor
G2 Menasor
Bruticus
G2 Bruticus
Devastator
Thunder Mayhem
Predacus
Galvatronus (if you use the extra members)
Grand Galvatron
Liokaiser (rumored)

[Dr. Caelus]

So thanks to his limbs, Grand Galvatron has Phantom Limb, Wandering Syndrome, and Dead Leg. Sounds miserable.

And his left arm is cursed.

I just keep thinking, of Christian Kane and his EVIL HAND! issues in the Angel TV series.

[Sigmus Prime]

This is an absolutely beautiful set.

As a fan of the character since seeing him for the first time in the Target: 2006 graphic novel, Cyclonus is amazing, just amazing. I already enjoyed the CW mold, but in my eyes this paint scheme makes the Hasbro version look like garbage. It's gorgeous! The remolding of the weapon barrel in orange translucent plastic for the combined mode is genius, and a perfect move. Definitely my favorite figure of the set. Hasbro's version may be going up on eBay soon...

Ghost Starscream is really neat, and I love seeing it. He stands out as really unique with its see-through plastic, and I love the new head sculpt, though I do wish he had some form of null rays on his arms. Maybe if more Seekers are made? Just a nitpick. Either way, I have an appreciation for figures made of clear plastic, and so this one makes me smile.

Armada Thrust is SWEET. I've admittedly not made it through very much of Armada, though I plan to catch up someday; however, I do enjoy the characters, and I'm glad to see more of them getting a chance in the Generations line. I feel that some folks will be hunting this set down just to have another Gen Armada fig, and I don't blame them. While I wish a bit more remolding had been done in robot mode - and that his face was face-plated - Thrust is definitely better than his original toy, even just as a remold, and I'm glad he's here.

Zombie War Breakdown is a big throwback for me, given my love for the Prime series and its respective characters. I almost didn't realize that he has the same head as Offroad - the paint made it seem like a brand new sculpt! Speaking of, the paint details while minimal are perfect, and despite being a straight-up repaint of Offroad aside from the head, I feel he looks enough like Prime Breakdown to stand as his own figure. I do wish there was more remolding, specifically to make him look less skinny. But that's my only complaint. TF: Prime FTW!

And then there's Wandering Roller. While I love the color scheme and use of the mold - though wishing there was a different head sculpt for him - I'm not as big a fan of the IDW-verse as I used to be, and so the general character isn't a totally appealing factor. HOWEVER, I absolutely adore the backstory Takara has given the character in this set, and it makes the figure immediately worth it for me (aside from the already-appealing mold, of course). Definitely like him, and while he's probably my least favorite that's not saying much, given how much I like this set.

Combined mode is fantastic. No other words. The arm cannon idea is, again, genius, though one wishes it could be a bit bigger of a weapon. The Grand Galvatron torso mode is wonderfully G1 and I love the paint on the chest, though the translucent crown seems a bit strange to me (not complaining about it, though). I think it would've been twice as cool if the abs were chromed out; but again, not complaining! Overall, it's awesomely awesome, and I definitely need it. Of all the UW sets, in fact, this is the one I feel I need the most, with UW Grand Convoy following closely.


So, those are my thoughts. I wonder how long this will be in-stock once available online for US buyers? Because it's going to take me a loooong time to save up for it. It'll be worth it, though!

[Shockwave7]

Neat. But isn't that clear plastic supposed to be kind of brittle?

[Wolfman Jake]

Yeah, except that, instead of getting the decepti-jets, we got another set of dumb 's, they could have made skylynx onslaughts wavemate and made a combiner the final one to even out the teams a little...]

Actually once combiner wars/unite warriors is over we'll have more decepticon combiners than we will autobots.

Superion
G2 Superion
Defensor
Optimus Maximus
Sky Reign
Victorion
Computron (rumored)

Menasor
G2 Menasor
Bruticus
G2 Bruticus
Devastator
Thunder Mayhem
Predacus
Galvatronus (if you use the extra members)
Grand Galvatron
Liokaiser (rumored)

There are some flaws in your list. For one, I don't think there's much weight to the Liokaiser rumor, sorry. Second, you duplicate some of the Decepticon combiners between the Hasbro and Takara versions, like with Galvatronus vs. Grand Galvatron, but you fail to do such with the Autobots (for instance, Ultra Prime vs. Optimus Maximus vs. Convoy Grand Prime). Finally, I wouldn't be surprised to have some version of G2 Defensor down the line as well.

[steals_your_goats]

Yeah, except that, instead of getting the decepti-jets, we got another set of dumb 's, they could have made skylynx onslaughts wavemate and made a combiner the final one to even out the teams a little...]

Actually once combiner wars/unite warriors is over we'll have more decepticon combiners than we will autobots.

Superion
G2 Superion
Defensor
Optimus Maximus
Sky Reign
Victorion
Computron (rumored)

Menasor
G2 Menasor
Bruticus
G2 Bruticus
Devastator
Thunder Mayhem
Predacus
Galvatronus (if you use the extra members)
Grand Galvatron
Liokaiser (rumored)

There are some flaws in your list. For one, I don't think there's much weight to the Liokaiser rumor, sorry. Second, you duplicate some of the Decepticon combiners between the Hasbro and Takara versions, like with Galvatronus vs. Grand Galvatron, but you fail to do such with the Autobots (for instance, Ultra Prime vs. Optimus Maximus vs. Convoy Grand Prime). Finally, I wouldn't be surprised to have some version of G2 Defensor down the line as well.

Different limbs different combiner. Hasbro Galvatronus can use any limbs ( mine uses rook, blast off, off-road, and alpha bravo) where as grand Galvatron uses different characters unlike the primes.
Even if you take those off and add g2 Defensor it's still even. Point is it's not as uneven as some people think

[Hellscream9999]

Yeah, except that, instead of getting the decepti-jets, we got another set of dumb 's, they could have made skylynx onslaughts wavemate and made a combiner the final one to even out the teams a little...]

Actually once combiner wars/unite warriors is over we'll have more decepticon combiners than we will autobots.

Superion
G2 Superion
Defensor
Optimus Maximus
Sky Reign
Victorion
Computron (rumored)

Menasor
G2 Menasor
Bruticus
G2 Bruticus
Devastator
Thunder Mayhem
Predacus
Galvatronus (if you use the extra members)
Grand Galvatron
Liokaiser (rumored)

There are some flaws in your list. For one, I don't think there's much weight to the Liokaiser rumor, sorry. Second, you duplicate some of the Decepticon combiners between the Hasbro and Takara versions, like with Galvatronus vs. Grand Galvatron, but you fail to do such with the Autobots (for instance, Ultra Prime vs. Optimus Maximus vs. Convoy Grand Prime). Finally, I wouldn't be surprised to have some version of G2 Defensor down the line as well.

Different limbs different combiner. Hasbro Galvatronus can use any limbs ( mine uses rook, blast off, off-road, and alpha bravo) where as grand Galvatron uses different characters unlike the primes.
Even if you take those off and add g2 Defensor it's still even. Point is it's not as uneven as some people think

Overly expensive exclusives, repaints, and titans don't count. I'm talking average-joe-salary retail. For the main releases of the cw line, they are extremely heavy; all I wanted were some seeker limbs to scramble onto my combiners, that's not too much to ask, right?

[steals_your_goats]

Yeah, except that, instead of getting the decepti-jets, we got another set of dumb 's, they could have made skylynx onslaughts wavemate and made a combiner the final one to even out the teams a little...]

Actually once combiner wars/unite warriors is over we'll have more decepticon combiners than we will autobots.

Superion
G2 Superion
Defensor
Optimus Maximus
Sky Reign
Victorion
Computron (rumored)

Menasor
G2 Menasor
Bruticus
G2 Bruticus
Devastator
Thunder Mayhem
Predacus
Galvatronus (if you use the extra members)
Grand Galvatron
Liokaiser (rumored)

There are some flaws in your list. For one, I don't think there's much weight to the Liokaiser rumor, sorry. Second, you duplicate some of the Decepticon combiners between the Hasbro and Takara versions, like with Galvatronus vs. Grand Galvatron, but you fail to do such with the Autobots (for instance, Ultra Prime vs. Optimus Maximus vs. Convoy Grand Prime). Finally, I wouldn't be surprised to have some version of G2 Defensor down the line as well.

Different limbs different combiner. Hasbro Galvatronus can use any limbs ( mine uses rook, blast off, off-road, and alpha bravo) where as grand Galvatron uses different characters unlike the primes.
Even if you take those off and add g2 Defensor it's still even. Point is it's not as uneven as some people think

Overly expensive exclusives, repaints, and titans don't count. I'm talking average-joe-salary retail. For the main releases of the cw line, they are extremely heavy; all I wanted were some seeker limbs to scramble onto my combiners, that's not too much to ask, right?

Combiners are combiners so technically they would all count. And you can't dismiss the g2 repaints and then ask for seeker repaints it's the same principal.

[munkimus prime]

Wait Grand Galvatron is Cyclonus, Ghost Starscream, A Zombie Prime Breakdown, Armada Thrust and Roller.

That's a crazy mix of robots that combiner has but I kind of like it and want it at the same time.

[Dr. Caelus]

Combiners are combiners so technically they would all count. And you can't dismiss the g2 repaints and then ask for seeker repaints it's the same principal.

I would dismiss the G2 repaints on the grounds that the same characters are being counted more than once. For Americans collecting unique characters, and people who cannot afford club exclusives, the Bots have a major lead:



6/6 Victorion
7/6 Superion (G1 or G2)
6/6 Defensor
6/6 Optimus Maximus (Red or White)
5/5 Sky Reign
1/5 Betatron




6/6 Devastator (Mass Release or SDCC)
7/6 Menasor (G1 or G2)
6/6 Bruticus (G1 or G2)
1/5 Galvatronus

The Cons close the gap if you count the exclusives (Mayhem and Predacus), but otherwise they're left behind in the U.S. Many of the classic Decepticon combiners are off the table, of course, because Piranacon, Predaking, Abominus, and Monstructor all have beast-based alternate modes, but a seeker combiner available at mass retail, repainted from Superion, would have narrowed the gap some.

[Wolfman Jake]

Different limbs different combiner. Hasbro Galvatronus can use any limbs ( mine uses rook, blast off, off-road, and alpha bravo) where as grand Galvatron uses different characters unlike the primes.
Even if you take those off and add g2 Defensor it's still even. Point is it's not as uneven as some people think

Ultra Prime is not the same as Optimus Maximus. Ultra Prime is a red torso that can combine with ANY set of four limbs. Optimus Maximus is a white torso that combines specifically with Sunstreaker, Mirage, Prowl, and Ironhide (and sometimes Hot Rod/Rodimus too). Convoy Grand Prime is very similar to Optimus Maximus, but uses the red version of Optimus Prime as the torso instead of the white one with the remolded combiner head. Also, while "Computron" is still rumored, "Betatron" isn't. We know the latter is coming. It's Scattorshot with any set of four limbs, as opposed to Computron, who are the complete Technobots team. Sabr will back me up on this, if he pokes his head in this thread sometime soon. Also, you forgot about Grand Scourge, who is similar to Ultra Prime and Galvatronus in that he has no preferred set of limbs.

[Gunmetal]

Combiners are combiners so technically they would all count. And you can't dismiss the g2 repaints and then ask for seeker repaints it's the same principal.

I would dismiss the G2 repaints on the grounds that the same characters are being counted more than once. For Americans collecting unique characters, and people who cannot afford club exclusives, the Bots have a major lead:



6/6 Victorion
7/6 Superion (G1 or G2)
6/6 Defensor
6/6 Optimus Maximus (Red or White)
5/5 Sky Reign
1/5 Betatron




6/6 Devastator (Mass Release or SDCC)
7/6 Menasor (G1 or G2)
6/6 Bruticus (G1 or G2)
1/5 Galvatronus

The Cons close the gap if you count the exclusives (Mayhem and Predacus), but otherwise they're left behind in the U.S. Many of the classic Decepticon combiners are off the table, of course, because Piranacon, Predaking, Abominus, and Monstructor all have beast-based alternate modes, but a seeker combiner available at mass retail, repainted from Superion, would have narrowed the gap some.

I'm not necessarily saying that it's unfair to include Victorion but not the Club exclusives, but that's a pretty arbitrary distinction.

Also, assuming that voyagers are each worth two deluxes in size, then Devastator is worth two combiners on his own.

Regardless, any ratio between 2:1 and 1:1 (and this is any way you slice it) is par for the course since 1984. Autobots have always sold better; HasTak would be nuts not to release more.

EDIT: Wait, are we complaining about not enough Decepticon combiners on a thread where the latest news is the reveal of a new Decepticon combiner?

[fenrir72]

Also in what previous fiction did Cyclonus and Galvatron die ?

The Headmasters anime IIRC.

Technically, Old psycho Galvatron got a subzero bath. How dead was he no is sure. He was reformatted into Super Megatron in Battlestars.

Cyclonus never "died" in "Headmasters" He was involved in the Lemuria base to create that super doohickey to destroy Earth and drain the resulting energy for their nefarious purposes.

The Bio indicates that Cyclonus got possessed.

Also, has anyone noticed that this Galvatronus is colored as the default G1 Galvatron toy? This motif is now designated as one for Galvatron II in the Japan G1 universe.

[steals_your_goats]

Different limbs different combiner. Hasbro Galvatronus can use any limbs ( mine uses rook, blast off, off-road, and alpha bravo) where as grand Galvatron uses different characters unlike the primes.
Even if you take those off and add g2 Defensor it's still even. Point is it's not as uneven as some people think

Ultra Prime is not the same as Optimus Maximus. Ultra Prime is a red torso that can combine with ANY set of four limbs. Optimus Maximus is a white torso that combines specifically with Sunstreaker, Mirage, Prowl, and Ironhide (and sometimes Hot Rod/Rodimus too). Convoy Grand Prime is very similar to Optimus Maximus, but uses the red version of Optimus Prime as the torso instead of the white one with the remolded combiner head. Also, while "Computron" is still rumored, "Betatron" isn't. We know the latter is coming. It's Scattorshot with any set of four limbs, as opposed to Computron, who are the complete Technobots team. Sabr will back me up on this, if he pokes his head in this thread sometime soon. Also, you forgot about Grand Scourge, who is similar to Ultra Prime and Galvatronus in that he has no preferred set of limbs.

I'm talking about full combiner teams not just torsos, and I don't think it would be fair to count Betatron, grand scourge and the like because they have no limbs without having to have duplicates. All of the combiners I listed above do not reuse any characters they are full teams with their own characters the exception.

[fenrir72]

I am not convinced this is IDW roller. It fits his color scheme in robot mode but that may be more of an homage. This is how his bio translates to:

And separated from one's fellow during the battle, the original Autobot warrior who was wandering Between dimension.
The transformation to Roku-rin armored vehicles.
I continued to wait for the relief of alone fellow he was torn absolute lonely soul.
He was considered to be abandoned to the trust to have the fellow is dominated by despair and guilt, leading to soon have a strong grudge energy.
It has been summoned to this world sensed the energy to Unicron.
It had lost some of the stored by long wandering, we are holding a particularly strong hatred against the convoy commander is a symbol of Cybertron.

This hints far more at G1 roller, especially since they use the word "Original". The way I read it, he was lost to his autobot brethren when Optimus died in he movie and was stuck lost in all dimensions, abadonned. Then he turned into an armoured vehicle. G1 (show) Roller does have the same colout scheme as the vehicle mode he has here.



I think he is angry at optimus for having let himself get killed, leaving Roller stranded across dimensions. And in Any case they mention him being angry at Prime (convoy) and not Orion Pax. Orion became Optimus way later so this bio doesnt line up at all with IDW.

I believe that this combiner is very similar to the Most Wanted theme of last year's Botcon with a bunch of randomness and dimension hopping with the fiction made up just to accompany some interesting toys.

This Roller being "Roller" from the G1 show is tenous at least. Why? When G1 Convoy was resurrected in Battlestars, we got this in the package: nice and loyal Roller.

The Roller in this Galvatronus is most likely drawn from the convoluted IDW storyline.

[Hellscream9999]

I'm not necessarily saying that it's unfair to include Victorion but not the Club exclusives, but that's a pretty arbitrary distinction.

Also, assuming that voyagers are each worth two deluxes in size, then Devastator is worth two combiners on his own.

Regardless, any ratio between 2:1 and 1:1 (and this is any way you slice it) is par for the course since 1984. Autobots have always sold better; HasTak would be nuts not to release more.

Well, there is a difference of about $200 between paying for the full sub. service and getting the Victorion set, she's priced at approximately what a full combiner would cost at retail ~$100, plus a little extra for all the new parts included.

The problem here is that, every other company that utilize's the tf franchise can pull a new combiner out of their butts, but hasbro can't/won't; if we're going by retail, scramble city, unique combiners (a nice, general standard set of rules) you could get 2 combiners out of the limbs given, versus, the 4-5 combiners you can get, all they have to do, is release 4 seeker limbs, and I'd be happy, just enough to scramble up my 's

[Wolfman Jake]

Different limbs different combiner. Hasbro Galvatronus can use any limbs ( mine uses rook, blast off, off-road, and alpha bravo) where as grand Galvatron uses different characters unlike the primes.
Even if you take those off and add g2 Defensor it's still even. Point is it's not as uneven as some people think

Ultra Prime is not the same as Optimus Maximus. Ultra Prime is a red torso that can combine with ANY set of four limbs. Optimus Maximus is a white torso that combines specifically with Sunstreaker, Mirage, Prowl, and Ironhide (and sometimes Hot Rod/Rodimus too). Convoy Grand Prime is very similar to Optimus Maximus, but uses the red version of Optimus Prime as the torso instead of the white one with the remolded combiner head. Also, while "Computron" is still rumored, "Betatron" isn't. We know the latter is coming. It's Scattorshot with any set of four limbs, as opposed to Computron, who are the complete Technobots team. Sabr will back me up on this, if he pokes his head in this thread sometime soon. Also, you forgot about Grand Scourge, who is similar to Ultra Prime and Galvatronus in that he has no preferred set of limbs.

I'm talking about full combiner teams not just torsos, and I don't think it would be fair to count Betatron, grand scourge and the like because they have no limbs without having to have duplicates. All of the combiners I listed above do not reuse any characters they are full teams with their own characters the exception.

Then, again, why are you trying to shoehorn Galvatronus in your Decepticon line up? He has no team members either. Yeah, you can put a squad together out of the "extra" characters we have so far, though we don't yet have four of them (nor will we at this point), but why does Galvatronus get to snatch them up and not Ultra Prime, or Grand Scourge? You can't just arbitrarily pick one of the teamless torsos to get the leftovers.

[steals_your_goats]

Different limbs different combiner. Hasbro Galvatronus can use any limbs ( mine uses rook, blast off, off-road, and alpha bravo) where as grand Galvatron uses different characters unlike the primes.
Even if you take those off and add g2 Defensor it's still even. Point is it's not as uneven as some people think

Ultra Prime is not the same as Optimus Maximus. Ultra Prime is a red torso that can combine with ANY set of four limbs. Optimus Maximus is a white torso that combines specifically with Sunstreaker, Mirage, Prowl, and Ironhide (and sometimes Hot Rod/Rodimus too). Convoy Grand Prime is very similar to Optimus Maximus, but uses the red version of Optimus Prime as the torso instead of the white one with the remolded combiner head. Also, while "Computron" is still rumored, "Betatron" isn't. We know the latter is coming. It's Scattorshot with any set of four limbs, as opposed to Computron, who are the complete Technobots team. Sabr will back me up on this, if he pokes his head in this thread sometime soon. Also, you forgot about Grand Scourge, who is similar to Ultra Prime and Galvatronus in that he has no preferred set of limbs.

I'm talking about full combiner teams not just torsos, and I don't think it would be fair to count Betatron, grand scourge and the like because they have no limbs without having to have duplicates. All of the combiners I listed above do not reuse any characters they are full teams with their own characters the exception.

Then, again, why are you trying to shoehorn Galvatronus in your Decepticon line up? He has no team members either. Yeah, you can put a squad together out of the "extra" characters we have so far, though we don't yet have four of them (nor will we at this point), but why does Galvatronus get to snatch them up and not Ultra Prime, or Grand Scourge? You can't just arbitrarily pick one of the teamless torsos to get the leftovers.

Then put the limbs on whoever the hell you want. Jesus that's point of scramble city isn't it? Regardless the decepticons aren't as outnumbered as everyone is making them out to be. Sure two of them are exclusives and one is up for the person to decide but there are still options that everyone has some degree of access too.

[padfoo]

I love the color scheme on Cyclonus!

[Dr. Caelus]

I'm not necessarily saying that it's unfair to include Victorion but not the Club exclusives, but that's a pretty arbitrary distinction.

Well, there is a difference of about $200 between paying for the full sub. service and getting the Victorion set, she's priced at approximately what a full combiner would cost at retail ~$100, plus a little extra for all the new parts included.

Exactly. Store and online exclusives aren't too bad - a bit of a pain - but when you start having to put down money before you can have the privilege of being able to purchase something, you're off into an area of collecting that might as well not even exist for some of us.

I thought I'd actually make it to Botcon this year because we sort of bumped up the economic bracket a little and it's actually within driving distance, but I started adding up the costs, and nope - it's still in the realm of too rich for us.

[Hellscream9999]

I'm not necessarily saying that it's unfair to include Victorion but not the Club exclusives, but that's a pretty arbitrary distinction.

Well, there is a difference of about $200 between paying for the full sub. service and getting the Victorion set, she's priced at approximately what a full combiner would cost at retail ~$100, plus a little extra for all the new parts included.

Exactly. Store and online exclusives aren't too bad - a bit of a pain - but when you start having to put down money before you can have the privilege of being able to purchase something, you're off into an area of collecting that might as well not even exist for some of us.

Exactly, I don't mind the idea of paying $350 for a set of figures - I won't, but I would if I had the money - but paying to buy the figures, that's unacceptable, and to just throw them and imported figures in with casual retail figures, and say 'oh the teams are even, just buy the TT, tfss, and botcon teams', you just can't do that, it's lumping apples, cats, and cars into the same category and saying they are approximately equivalent

I thought I'd actually make it to Botcon this year because we sort of bumped up the economic bracket a little and it's actually within driving distance, but I started adding up the costs, and nope - it's still in the realm of too rich for us.

Don't worry, if you do go, the attendee figures might/will still be available and pretty cool to get

[william-james88]

Neat. But isn't that clear plastic supposed to be kind of brittle?

Not always. My power core combiner minicons feel as solid as ever but my MP ghost Starscream wasnt very durable. However, the clear plastic takara has been using in it's most recent Microman toys is really solid and if it is made of that same plastic than I have no worries. And in any case, the new legends shockwave is also full of clear plastic (a lot of it is painted over) so here is hoping for all of us that clear plastic is better than it used to be.

Hasbro's version may be going up on eBay soon...

At least wait till he is sold out (and for this set to come out) because right now that toy is worth very little. He goes for 15$ MISB on e-bay right now.

[url]So, those are my thoughts. I wonder how long this will be in-stock once available online for US buyers? Because it's going to take me a loooong time to save up for it. It'll be worth it, though![/quote]

BBTS and other places confirm their orders 3 months before an item is released (an assumption based on ordering through diamond distributor, it might be wrong) so the preorder would be open for at least till January, so 2 months. Once he is released in April though, its the wild west and he could last a week or several months. Though so many new figures decos and features, I would say this is the most coveted of Takara's UW releases so far simply because there is no Hasbro equivalent.

I find it interesting that the release date for this one is so far out. Prime is coming out in January right? So there's a 3 month gap between releases. That also makes me wonder what else they'll be doing. We know Bruticus is coming but that probably won't be until June at the earliest. So will they stop there and not release sky reign, Victorion and Computron since titans return will be starting by summer of next year? Or will unite warriors continue to run and titans return will take over the legends series? Anyone have any thoughts?

3 month gaps make sense, it divides the year into 4, for 4 combiners. This year also had 4 combiners and I think next year will as well. We already know the 4 of them: Grand Convoy Prime, Grand Galvatron, Bruticus and Sky Reign. The way Takara has done it, every single combiner component is a new sculpt or has a new head. So in the end they will have 8 full combiners with absolutely no redecos with the exception (maybe) of smokescreen.

So how long until somebody does a regular Starscream?

I think they aced it 10 years ago. We haven't had a voyager megs either since then, nor a deluxe hot rod ect.


Transformers Henkei Megatron Gallery

The answer Hasbro would give you is: arent you happy with all the starscreams we have given you like Legends, FOC deluxe, Leader AND MP? And our answer would collectively be no.

I think instead what is really nuts is how we havent gotten a decent Shockwave or Soundwave yet.

Who is sky lynx's wavemate? Have there been rumors, is it the alt color onslaught, is it a cool, evil version of sky lynx, is it another scattershot that doesn't look like computron in torso mode

The smart money is on Onslaught with a different coloured chest.

[Sigmus Prime]

Hasbro's version may be going up on eBay soon...

At least wait till he is sold out (and for this set to come out) because right now that toy is worth very little. He goes for 15$ MISB on e-bay right now.

[url]So, those are my thoughts. I wonder how long this will be in-stock once available online for US buyers? Because it's going to take me a loooong time to save up for it. It'll be worth it, though!

BBTS and other places confirm their orders 3 months before an item is released (an assumption based on ordering through diamond distributor, it might be wrong) so the preorder would be open for at least till January, so 2 months. Once he is released in April though, its the wild west and he could last a week or several months. Though so many new figures decos and features, I would say this is the most coveted of Takara's UW releases so far simply because there is no Hasbro equivalent.

Yeah, no worries; I only plan on selling him after I've saved enough for the set (or near the end of saving, to break the ground I need).

But yeah, I was thinking the same, unfortunately; he's probably going to be selling out pretty quickly. In which case, I should probably plan ahead for aftermarket prices.

[LOST Cybertronian]

While I applaud Takara for trying to give Grand Galvatron his arm cannon with what they had to work with, it doesn't look very imposing. I am sure somebody is salivating and already hard at work on a proper combiner sized arm cannon.