It all started with a complaint that Power of the Primes voyager Grimlock doesn't come with is iconic sword and gun. So I made the following reply that began an interesting conversation:
Bradimus wrote:Back when Matchbox Voltron first came out as separate lion packs (I think Black Lion came alone and they sold the other 4 as 2 packs at the very beginning) the sword and shield were not included. Matchbox realized their mistake and sold the sword and shield in a separate package (which my friends and a family were unaware of so I never got that package but don't be sad because I did get one of the massive boxed sets with all the weapons for my birthday in '88 I think).
I bring this up because if the weapons inclusion or lack there of is tied to how they budget, wouldn't offering a special weapons pack for a character like Grimlock that included his G1 style sword and gun and the Volcanicus sword make the same sense as Matchbox selling Voltron's sword and shield initially as a separate weapons pack back in the day?
I could totally understand not wanting to sell a weapons upgrade in stores but this is where online exclusives with HTS and Amazon and maybe stores like BBTS (I don't know who would be best for both the states and international customers so please bear with me) would help us buy instead of third party releases for basic stuff.
Further more, could could also use this outlet to offer other options like much wanted alternate heads and the new matching hand and foot sets that could be used with CW gestalts. The market is there if they want to pounce on it, they just need to figure out the best outlet(s) to offer these upgrades instead of giving up and forcing us to buy from third parties when we could be supporting .
Jelze helped out by breaking down the different hands and feet we currently know of:
JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:More than 3 total, but indeed 3 of each type:
Hand Armor
- Engine (Dreadwind, Darkwing)
- Bestial (Dinobots, Terrorcons)
- Booster (Jazz, Moonracer)
Foot Armor
- Dino (Grimlock)
- Seeker (Starscream, Elita-1)
- Monster (Hun-Gurrr, reused for Inferno)
Selling the hands standalone wouldn't be that much of a problem since they don't seem to be gang-molded with any figure like they were with CW, but the feet I'm not too sure of. It can be done tho.
For me, I would gladly purchase a set of Seeker feet for my Superion and 2 sets of Engine hands (one for heel spurs) and one for hands. I'd also probably purchase another set of Bestial hands to give Volcanicus heel spurs. Not that I think they need them, but if the price is right why not complete the look?
This would also allow the CW toys to join in on the new action with backwards compatibility, which makes for more play options.
As for weapons packs, I'd love for to offer a sword and gun set for the deluxe Dinobots so I can purchase 2 sets and give each of my Dinobots a sword and a gun like they are supposed to have.
Then there is Grimlock, who started this whole conversation. I'd love a weapons accessory pack with his iconic double barreled gun and a sword that can extend for combined mode.
But enough about what I want, what do you think? Should offer accessory packs online to allow us to support them instead of 3rd parties, to complete toys that due to budget could not have certain key accessories (like a gun and sword for deluxe Dinobots and no iconic weapons for Grimlock) and to allow us to make the previous combiners compatible with the current line while also allowing us to add extra hands to mix and match the styles of hands and feet we want and to allow all combiners to have heel spurs?
And I'm sure there are some other doable ideas I haven't listed but this is just obvious to me right now and knows what the future with bring.