The Energon Pub

[william-james88]

I still think Blast off & Groove will get a separate release much like Wildrider & Slingshot. Too much money to be made to ignore it.

On the other hand, people said the same thing about Prime War Breakdown, Gaia Unicron, and Jet Vehicon.

But they aren't GEEWUN. In the game of Transformers you GEEWUN or you shelfwarm.

Tell that to the shelfwarming Optimus Maximus limbs that are more GEEWUN than all the other CW limbs.

Ah, but they were never combiners in the cartoon you see. Hence the shelfwarming.

What you are saying assumes that kids and their parents are full aware of who combined in the cartoon and who didnt. I dont think that is the case.

[Emerje]

But then why was defensor an exclusive?

Maybe they saw the demand for Defensor and realised they could sell a ton more if they don't make it exclusive?

No. Firstly, Defensor was not an exclusive everywhere, just an exclusive in japan. There are thousands of Defensors out there and he is still readily available everywhere... but for a price.

That's like saying SDCC exclusives aren't exclusives because you can buy them from Hasbro Toy Shop and scalpers. The only store that sells Defensor (and Convoy Grand Prime and Grand Galvatron) in Japan is the Takara Tomy Mall. They charge the same price as the regular retail figures, but only ship within Japan so importers have to pay full price (15,000JPY or about US$128) plus tax (8% so 16,200 or about US$139) plus shipping so we end up paying US$160 or so to get them (more if the store doesn't offer free shipping). I don't know exactly how the coin system works in Asia, but even with the coin Robot Kingdom is calling these TTM Exclusives and they are definitely not sold at mass retail. Transformers Asia says the coin releases are only sold at "selected stores in Asia" which would also indicate exclusivity even if shared.

With the Combaticons not being exclusives we can get the retailer discounts that we can't from the TTM exclusives. Now instead of paying US$160 we're closer to US$96. That's what makes them being non-exclusive so much better for us.

Emerje

[DedicatedGhostArt]

Makes sense. Emerje has a point.

[william-james88]

But then why was defensor an exclusive?

Maybe they saw the demand for Defensor and realised they could sell a ton more if they don't make it exclusive?

No. Firstly, Defensor was not an exclusive everywhere, just an exclusive in japan. There are thousands of Defensors out there and he is still readily available everywhere... but for a price.

That's like saying SDCC exclusives aren't exclusives because you can buy them from Hasbro Toy Shop and scalpers. The only store that sells Defensor (and Convoy Grand Prime and Grand Galvatron) in Japan is the Takara Tomy Mall. They charge the same price as the regular retail figures, but only ship within Japan so importers have to pay full price (15,000JPY or about US$128) plus tax (8% so 16,200 or about US$139) plus shipping so we end up paying US$160 or so to get them (more if the store doesn't offer free shipping). I don't know exactly how the coin system works in Asia, but even with the coin Robot Kingdom is calling these TTM Exclusives and they are definitely not sold at mass retail. Transformers Asia says the coin releases are only sold at "selected stores in Asia" which would also indicate exclusivity even if shared.

With the Combaticons not being exclusives we can get the retailer discounts that we can't from the TTM exclusives. Now instead of paying US$160 we're closer to US$96. That's what makes them being non-exclusive so much better for us.

Emerje

Hyperbole will get you nowhere Emerge, comparing what I wrote to scalpers doesnt help the conversation.

There are TWO versions of these TTMall exclusives, and as the transformers reporter for tomopop you should be aware of this. And being available in more than on place (as you confirmed) mkes it no longer a srict TTMall exclusive. While one may have a limit of 2000, the other, from Hasbro Asia, does not. This is what I was trying to say, maybe I was not clear.

Here is proof: for legal reasons, this is what TFSoure says about Ramjet, a supposed "ttmall exclusive":

This highly sought after masterpiece brings the popular seeker Ramjet to the Takara Tomy lineup with an all new color scheme and exclusive to TakaraTomy Mall! This is the Asian market release of this product

Notice their wording. There are 2 SEPERATE releases/versions, automatically making this figure no longer exclusive.

A true TTMall exclusive would mean that the ONLY place to get your copy would be from TTMall. But that isnt true. Thats just he only place you can get it in japan. And they use that slogan willy nilly to trick buyers into thinking it is more limited. TTMall tells you how many units it is limited to while Hasbro Asia does not.

Hasbro Asia produces as many units as they want snd sell it throughout the world at all online outlets.

SO the figure no logner becomes exclusive in a worldwide context (while still being only at one retailer in Japan). And thus I repeat what I say:

No. Firstly, Defensor was not an exclusive everywhere, just an exclusive in japan. There are thousands of Defensors out there and he is still readily available everywhere... but for a price.

And that price, is the Hasbro Asia price. A price which was confirmed by an exec to be based on the demand of asian collectors and not the manufacturing cost of the product. And the legal writing confirms that it is a seperate release that has no alloted limited number of units.

The only thing exclusive about a TTMall release, is the price since only in Japan can you get the actual Japan release which doesnt come witha coin but comes with a cheaper price.

[King Kuuga]

Also added to the set, compared to the Hasbro version, is a bigger rotor for Vortex (who still otherwise looks like an Alpha Bravo repaint). Check it out below, and start waiting as the set is due for release in June!

Well of course he's still an AB redeco, because AB was just Vortex pretending to be an Autobot anyway. The mold was clearly Vortex's from the beginning and we shouldn't be surprised to see him use it.

[Va'al]

No surprise, just pointing out what the mold is.

[fenrir72]

I have faith Blast Off will look a lot better than these blurry pics. Even if it isn't perfect, it's still 1000% improvement over a Slingshot dunked in dookie dye.

As expected, you are all still eating it up, even if it looks like utter trash.

It's just blurry pics and you base your decision/statement on blurry pics? How you know its trash?

But if you are already biased for a certain toyline or product, guess there's no convincing you to not snipe without basis. A pity you won't have the opportunity to enjoy the next mold.

Btw TT gets a 4 out of 5 in effort.

1. New mold for Blastoff
2. At least a bit of a retool for the rotor blades of Vortex ( wished it were a new body for the copter)plus incorporating them as a melee weapon like that in Car Robots.

[no-one]

EDIT: Off topic, but I just noticed that it's been exactly a year since I joined the Seibertron forums! Been a pretty good year.

Congrats

Tell that to the shelfwarming Optimus Maximus limbs that are more GEEWUN than all the other CW limbs.

Not in my stomping grounds (and I have a fairly large radius at that). At first they blew out as fast as they hit pegs. The following weeks/months later you would have been able to pick them up here and there, but they never warmed any pegs.

Breakdown is the one i fid unforgiveable, especially for the reason they gave: that he is between classes.

This is neither here nor there, but I find this mold to be overrated. FE Bulkhead is more impressive.

Anyway, now to bidness

It looks to me that instead of a backpack, Blast Off has a chest pack. There is a big honking nosecone in combined mode and it has to go somewhere. It's hard to tell in that tiny grainy pic, but it looks like it just folds forward. Kinda like the fan mode for CW Mirage.

Four rotors on Vortex's alt mode and arm mode looks great, not so much in bot mode. Leg mode sounds really bad. I wonder if they all can fold like the two blade versions. I like how the blades just fold away. With four just folding away really won't solve the issue, unless each pair can rotate past each other then fold up the normal way.

Only time will tell. Cool to finally get confirmation of the new mold and mold changes though. Hasbro's Bruts is a great set, I'm sure Tak's will be too.

[Randomhero]

If anything, colorwise, is to be taken from this image, we can see that Bruticus's chestplate is in dark colors, and his feet pieces appear to be molded in separate colors.

It doesn't, if you look at the individual bots and Bruticus none of he greys match. Individual blast off is darker grey than limb blast off.limb vortex is lighter than individual vortex. The greys are all over the place. It's not just an image of Bruticus with the saturation lowered to zero

[william-james88]

With the Combaticons not being exclusives we can get the retailer discounts that we can't from the TTM exclusives. Now instead of paying US$160 we're closer to US$96. That's what makes them being non-exclusive so much better for us.

There is much more to it than that. By them not being exclusives, that means that an international seller is not confined to getting the Hasbro Asia version, which as I stated above always costs more (just compare TT's wheeljack to the Hasbro asia vesion, one is 10% more than the other). But not just that, the fact that they arent exclusives means anyone not living in a country which has a site like BBTS selling in their currency can now buy directly from japan. And that avoids you a huge fee rather than buying from a site like BBTS which already includes the import costs to then ship it to somewhere international.

Also, I do want to point this out in case someone miscontruse what you wrote, but while the discount on Japan retailers (that are not TTMall) is of course lower than the MSRP, it is made to match how much these toys go for at retail. Our japan correspondent has reported countless times that at Japan brick and mortar retail, he spends the same amount he<d spend if he bought them at these online retailers. Which makes sense, those online retailers also cater to japan so their prices would be around the price at retail (just like BBTS and TFSource are ball park what Walmart and Target charge).

Here's the evidence of actual retail prices in Japan: takara-tomy-transformers-adventure-line-tav-ted-misc--t102946s2300.php#p1751217

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=102946&p=1737671&hilit=matt+in+japan#p1737671

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=102946&p=1703944&hilit=matt+in+japan#p1703758

Toysrus charges closer to MSRP though (but would that surprise you ).

You know, this pricing, exclusives and Hasbro Asia stuff could make for a good article on your site, don't you think? I'd read it!

[william-james88]

If anything, colorwise, is to be taken from this image, we can see that Bruticus's chestplate is in dark colors, and his feet pieces appear to be molded in separate colors.

It doesn't, if you look at the individual bots and Bruticus none of he greys match. Individual blast off is darker grey than limb blast off.limb vortex is lighter than individual vortex. The greys are all over the place. It's not just an image of Bruticus with the saturation lowered to zero

I think its too early to judge for the colours and for the layout because it looks to me that the Bruticus being used here is the Hasbro Stand In (could be wrong). Takara keeps doing that for their proto shots, I dont know why.

[Blastback]

Need a better picture. Still, I'll probably go with this over Hasbro's version. The headsculpts have always been a major sticking point for me.

Also, just got Unite Warriors Devastator. Hot Damn. Still hate Long Haul's proportions, but I can't bring myself to complain.

[Randomhero]

If anything, colorwise, is to be taken from this image, we can see that Bruticus's chestplate is in dark colors, and his feet pieces appear to be molded in separate colors.

It doesn't, if you look at the individual bots and Bruticus none of he greys match. Individual blast off is darker grey than limb blast off.limb vortex is lighter than individual vortex. The greys are all over the place. It's not just an image of Bruticus with the saturation lowered to zero

I think its too early to judge for the colours and for the layout because it looks to me that the Bruticus being used here is the Hasbro Stand In (could be wrong). Takara keeps doing that for their proto shots, I dont know why.

I think you're right. I was thinking that too, that this is the hasbro version with some photoshopped layers on it. I doubt takaras will have the black head and maybe it's just me but it looks like blastoff is just photoshopped on the torso and while the image is blurry it kinda looked like blades' deco instead of vortex. My eyes might be tricking me on that one.

[alexison]

I still think Blast off & Groove will get a separate release much like Wildrider & Slingshot. Too much money to be made to ignore it.

On the other hand, people said the same thing about Prime War Breakdown, Gaia Unicron, and Jet Vehicon.

Also RID Leader Optimus, RID Voyager Grimlock, Prime Ironhide, Prime AND Tank Fenzy/Rumble, Senator Ratbat, Animated Blackout and on and on and on.

But yeah, of all of them, Breakdown is the one i fid unforgiveable, especially for the reason they gave: that he is between classes.

I'd argue none of those examples have the draw that Blast off & Groove do to finish these combiners. People were freaking out to get Slingshot & Wildrider. There was a freaking launch time with people refreshing pages like they were going out of style. Groove & Blastoff as a shuttle would do much the same.

[King Kuuga]

Also, just got Unite Warriors Devastator. Hot Damn. Still hate Long Haul's proportions, but I can't bring myself to complain.

Ain't he something? Honestly I dig Long Haul's proportions. We'd never get something like this outside the box set, and it's easy for me to mentally see him as The Muscle. (I don't know much about their personalities)

[Hellscream9999]

I still think Blast off & Groove will get a separate release much like Wildrider & Slingshot. Too much money to be made to ignore it.

On the other hand, people said the same thing about Prime War Breakdown, Gaia Unicron, and Jet Vehicon.

Also RID Leader Optimus, RID Voyager Grimlock, Prime Ironhide, Prime AND Tank Fenzy/Rumble, Senator Ratbat, Animated Blackout and on and on and on.

But yeah, of all of them, Breakdown is the one i fid unforgiveable, especially for the reason they gave: that he is between classes.

I'd argue none of those examples have the draw that Blast off & Groove do to finish these combiners. People were freaking out to get Slingshot & Wildrider. There was a freaking launch time with people refreshing pages like they were going out of style. Groove & Blastoff as a shuttle would do much the same.

This, they may not be exactly like TT's (lack of clear plastic maybe?) but I really and truly doubt that hasbro would miss out on this opportunity to make such money, especially since they seem to be using the mold for afterburner anyways.

If this doesn't happen, I will be blown away like you wouldn't beleive

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Found this via Optibotimus:

[Deadput]

Twitter user has a better pic of Blast Off




https://twitter.com/nakigao_san


Warning could be some nsfw pictures in there (since there are anime pictures of half naked chicks)




In my opinion I don't really like how the chest is giant although it is cool with the peg being on his back instead of his chest.


Also in regards to my previous comment i don't mean that Takara is literately stealing our money it was more like a joke.

[Deadput]

Found this via Optibotimus:

Curse my slow typing I'm already ninja'ed

[Burn]

That chest looks ... odd.

[fenrir72]

Found this via Optibotimus:

For something that looks like "utter trash" looks surprisingly good!

[Agamemnon]

Hrm....might need to see some paint before I cancel my pre-order...

[Deadput]

For something that looks like "utter trash" looks surprisingly good!

Shuttle mode looks bad though.



Feet and chest are large too or at least disproportionate with his arms and thighs.


Not saying it looks awful but I'm pointing out flaws (or at least personal flaws)

[no-one]

Well cool cool. Looks like the nosecone does fold up onto his chest. BO also has some rook type blaster peg some stuff in here hands and a unique hand/foot/gun. Is there anything significant to the design of that hand/foot? it kinda looks like he is "rocking out"!

[D-Maximal_Primal]

Seibertronians: thanks to Twitter User @Nakigao_san we now have a better image of Unite Warriors Blastoff! This is a new mold, and features an interesting transformation where the combiner peg ends up on his back. Check out the image mirrored below, and sound off in the comments section on how you feel about this new mold Takara has created.