The Energon Pub

News Credits: 6188 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:10 am

TRU.com have just listed the next two highly anticipated figures from the Masterpiece line: Acid Storm and Soundwave! The two figures are present on the site, but not available for purchase until July 18th; Acid Storm is priced at $74.99, Soundwave (including all cassettes, Megatron gun and other accessories) at $119.99.

News Credits: 15 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:22 am

I think I want both!

I already have the Takara Soundwave but even when the $s have been converted to £s this may be a reasonable way of obtaining all the cassettes plus a Soundwave for the office desk.

News Credits: 122 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:37 am

Come July 18th, TRU.com is gonna be a mad house.

:HEADHURTS:

Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:01 am

Ugh! I just don't know which Soundwave to get- Takara or Hasbro? Is eye coloring the only difference between these two??? If so, I'll go with Hasbro because with the cassettes included it is by far the better deal...and I can color in Soundwave's eyes. If I go the Takara route then I could easily be looking at $120+ more than the Hasbro version. That's a lot to pay for G1 accurate eye color. However, if there are other differences (build quality, etc) then I'm not sure which one to pickup.

Acid Storm is a definite buy. I don't why but I just like this figure. Definitely unique looking.

Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:39 am

Just like with MP-10 I'll be on this at 12AM to ensure I get one.

Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:49 am

how te hell do you preorder on TRU? i think i might want both as well.

News Credits: 6188 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:51 am

Doubledealer93 wrote:how te hell do you preorder on TRU? i think i might want both as well.

I don't think you can - it's all a matter of first come first served, unfortunately. :-?

News Credits: 122 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:54 am

Doubledealer93 wrote:how te hell do you preorder on TRU? i think i might want both as well.

You can't preorder. Have to wait for the ordering/add-to-cart functionality to go live on July 18th.

News Credits: 2 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:58 am

OMG I am going to waiting at 12am myself to get that sound wave!!!

SOOOOO GLAD I WAITED!!

Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:58 am

i definitely want soundwave....not sure when or even if the canadian toys r us will have this so i may have to spend the extra money to get him from the american site.

and i love that he has the megatron gun, because since he's the right size...i can put that baby in starscream's hand instead!!

and am i wrong or is his transformation just as easy and simple as the original toy? because as awesome as these masterpiece figures are, the ones i have (the original big Prime, Megatron and the 3 seekers) are just so complicated. lol

i think this will make a nice "congrats on being hired at work and not being agency anymore" present for myself.

Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:42 am

Posted by donxavier10 on July 1st, 2013 @ 9:01am EDT

Ugh! I just don't know which Soundwave to get- Takara or Hasbro? Is eye coloring the only difference between these two??? If so, I'll go with Hasbro because with the cassettes included it is by far the better deal...and I can color in Soundwave's eyes. If I go the Takara route then I could easily be looking at $120+ more than the Hasbro version. That's a lot to pay for G1 accurate eye color. However, if there are other differences (build quality, etc) then I'm not sure which one to pickup.

Actually the Hasbro Soundwave has G1 Accurate eye color. The G1 Soundwave toy had yellow eyes.

News Credits: 122 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:45 am

TreyTable wrote:
Posted by donxavier10 on July 1st, 2013 @ 9:01am EDT

Ugh! I just don't know which Soundwave to get- Takara or Hasbro? Is eye coloring the only difference between these two??? If so, I'll go with Hasbro because with the cassettes included it is by far the better deal...and I can color in Soundwave's eyes. If I go the Takara route then I could easily be looking at $120+ more than the Hasbro version. That's a lot to pay for G1 accurate eye color. However, if there are other differences (build quality, etc) then I'm not sure which one to pickup.

Actually the Hasbro Soundwave has G1 Accurate eye color. The G1 Soundwave toy had yellow eyes.

He's probably referring to the cartoon. Both are G1... just depends on whether you want toy or cartoon accuracy.

The red visor fits better with the Decepticon vibe, IMHO.

News Credits: 2 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:07 pm

IMO I think this is stupid and I don't recall this happening before honestly. Why would TRU do something like this? You don't wave a piece of food to a starving animal and not feed it unless your evil I suppose. This can only stir the madness even more and if that is their goal then congrats to you TRU. :APPLAUSE:

So how can they post it but not for sale or pre-order? I hope it's not a simple answer of "because they can". Can you imagine the zero hour til this thing goes on sale?

For those that stay up late regularly no problem but everyone else is gonna be doped up on coffee and energy drinks waiting to buy! :VEHI:

News Credits: 6188 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:37 pm

Nemesis Destron wrote:So how can they post it but not for sale or pre-order? I hope it's not a simple answer of "because they can". Can you imagine the zero hour til this thing goes on sale?

TRU does this constantly, and they're renowned among businesses for listing items not actually available. It's annoying, but it's toys. I'm sure people will survive.

Mon Jul 01, 2013 12:38 pm

Thank God this is happening after a pay day. So how does this work if I'm ordering from TRU's website? I've created an account and added it to my wish list but the site doesn't seem very user-friendly.

What is everyone's recommendations? Login at midnight 7/18 and pray my order goes through?

Mon Jul 01, 2013 1:45 pm

Soundwave was my very first Transformer back in ‘84 so I am DEFINATLEY getting this. Already got my TRU connection on the case (literally lol). :lol:

Those that know me best here in the forums will no doubt tell you that I can be a real hardcase when it comes to bitching about decisions being made at Hasbro and TFCC in general…but I want to take this opportunity to say something positive for a change regarding the TRU Soundwave. As soon as I figured out that MP-10 would be seeing a stateside release as a TRU exclusive, I had a feeling that that would soon be the case for most (if not all) future Takara Masterpiece figures. It just made sense, especially with the 30th anniversary coming up combined with how well the Matty MOTU (He-Man) line has done for that fan base of adult collectors. Anyway, sure enough Soundwave is announced as the next exclusive last year and then we find out that all 5 of the original ‘84 cassettes would be included (something that Takara didn’t seem to be polite enough to do). When they announced the extra cassettes, I thought to myself “Great, this will be a blatant cash grab and will no doubt cost a fortune.” But if this announcement on the MSRP is correct then it will be the same price as MP Optimus, and I think that is something to be commended for. My biggest complaint about this hobby lately has been the inconsitant and manipulative pricing that seems to be going on all across the board with every size/class figure line. I mean Toys R Us even raised the price of the remaining DOTM inventory to $16 to match the other newer deluxe class figure on the pegs, are you f’ing kidding me! At first I thought that was a mispriced error but nope, sure enough. That toyline is over 2 yrs old. I don’t mind paying a fair price for any product from any company but this price gouging for plastic is seriously becoming more than I can handle in this hobby, the most recent case being the Rain Maker seekers released over the weekend. The eBay prices for that and TFSS Scourge are just absurd. So kudos to Hasbro for keeping the price point for Soundwave at a reasonable and consistant level. I just hope they can manage to get more than two cases per store with this one. I noticed with MP Optimus last year that smaller cities only got two cases (4 figures total) but larger cities got a few times that amount. Yeah, I get it, demographics and all but if you don’t religiously check your store daily in person your just S.O.L. I’m thinking atleast 8 should be good for each store.

Now regarding Acidstorm…‘meh. I’ll pick him up IF I ever see him being liquidated. To me a Skywarp would have been a better choice even though he had a Wally World run several years ago, but he hasn’t been released stateside with the new MP seeker mold update which would be nice to buy off the shelf here. I just think a black versionn would sell better than puke green even to non TF customers. And that could have lead up to a 4th quarter 2014 release of MP Starscream updated mold. C’mon that would have made sense and you would have gotten a matching stateside seeker trio within 16 months or so. Just saying…

Mon Jul 01, 2013 1:48 pm

It's hard to believe this will sell out that fast... And if it does, it's even harder to believe Hasbro won't ship a second batch!

Again, this "unannounced-as-a-limited-run" strategy perplexes me: surely it's in Hasbro's best interests to overproduce versus underproduce, right? :???:

Anyway, I guess I'll try a midnight buy on Soundwave, as well, just in case.

But Thundercracker stuck around for such a long time, it makes me question how hard these will be to find! :roll:

News Credits: 122 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 2:05 pm

Metrosuplex wrote:Again, this "unannounced-as-a-limited-run" strategy perplexes me: surely it's in Hasbro's best interests to overproduce versus underproduce, right?

Unfortunately, what Hasbro produces is dictated by the retailers. Especially since Hasbro has been in such a tight spot financially, it's hard to imagine them overproducing and then just crossing their fingers - even if it is one of the most popular characters and best MPs ever. It's all dictated by TRU, so we have them to blame :grin:

News Credits: 251 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 3:18 pm

But... but... I just submitted my birthday list to my family just last night...

News Credits: 65 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 3:29 pm

Va'al wrote:TRU does this constantly, and they're renowned among businesses for listing items not actually available. It's annoying, but it's toys. I'm sure people will survive.

I don't know if I would say TRU is "renown" per se for that practice. They're more like, infamous.

At least we might avoid last year's riotting when the shipping dates for the Optimus Prime pre-orders kept getting pushed back, even as product starting appearing in brick and mortor stores.

Mon Jul 01, 2013 3:31 pm

Bouncy X wrote:i definitely want soundwave....not sure when or even if the canadian toys r us will have this so i may have to spend the extra money to get him from the american site.

and i love that he has the megatron gun, because since he's the right size...i can put that baby in starscream's hand instead!!

and am i wrong or is his transformation just as easy and simple as the original toy? because as awesome as these masterpiece figures are, the ones i have (the original big Prime, Megatron and the 3 seekers) are just so complicated. lol

i think this will make a nice "congrats on being hired at work and not being agency anymore" present for myself.

The transformation is essentially the same with some slight tweaks.

Mon Jul 01, 2013 3:36 pm

He looks ok and those 5 taps are big bonuses and increase the funability factor. To bad he only transformes into a box. If you ask me, the toy would have been much better if it had a real radio inside. Its kind of a waste of mp plastic for this mould. But I just might buy it.

News Credits: 251 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 3:43 pm

Eagleblaster wrote: If you ask me, the toy would have been much better if it had a real radio inside.

He's a cassette player, not a radio. You're thinking of Blaster, who doubled as a cassette player and a radio (whose original toy was actually designed to accomodate the necessary gizmos needed for a radio to work).

News Credits: 409 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:45 pm

Who and why did they come up with this paint deco? It looks ridiculous. How does florescent green camouflage work on a plane? I'm guessing it's useful when flying Mach 3 through a dense jungle.

News Credits: 251 · Mon Jul 01, 2013 8:02 pm

Stormrider wrote:Who and why did they come up with this paint deco? It looks ridiculous. How does florescent green camouflage work on a plane? I'm guessing it's useful when flying Mach 3 through a dense jungle.

They do that so it's hard to see when they're grounded. Militaries do it all the time. For example:

Here's another: