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-Kanrabat- wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:Meanwhile, I think I'll have no choice but to pay the big bucks for Defensor...

Just wait a bit, I am sure he will show up at walmart. You never saw him?

Nope. Same old wave 1 or 2 without any voyagers or the scouts that matter, meaning Grooves and Blackjack.

I saw Groove a few times, but Blackjack was never seen at walmart. I did find 1 at TRu once.

Wow, I wish my Toys R Us was so cheap. It looks like those older RID deluxe figures are under $16 USD and the new ones are under $17 USD yet all deluxes in the my store are $20 USD. Now they even have Devastator marked up by $20 instead of the original $10 markup it had. I'm really starting to miss KB Toys and the days when Walmart and Target actually stocked their shelves.

william-james88 wrote:Hey Carytheone, I was gonna give you some proof to back up our statements and while I do have it, something interesting came up. So Walmart has more Combiner Wars deluxes than RID Warrior figures:

All the WM's I hit in my travels, it's about 50/50 in the deluxe/warrior scene. But the mess of RID/AoE 1 steps take up the most space.

A bunch of TRU stuffs

Wow, those are some cool RID displays. I'm happy to see that line taking up a strong footing. I just finished up the series and enjoyed it quite a bit. Also, I rarely every see any of our local TRUs that well stocked. I don't own a Prime mold yet, so the Clash version may be the one.

william-james88 wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:Meanwhile, I think I'll have no choice but to pay the big bucks for Defensor...

Just wait a bit, I am sure he will show up at walmart. You never saw him?

Nope. Same old wave 1 or 2 without any voyagers or the scouts that matter, meaning Grooves and Blackjack.

I saw Groove a few times, but Blackjack was never seen at walmart. I did find 1 at TRu once.

I have yet to see the most recent CW legends waves at our WMs yet either. Target and TRU on the other hand has had both. I have found that our WMs are always super late to the party.

I've seen Defensor limbs here and there via both Target and WM's but the bulk of the pegs are still Menasor limbs. I have spotted the Hotspot/Cyclonus voyager wave at one TRU, but that one was way out of my normal hunting plains. I have spotted the RID Fixit/Overbite legions wave at local WM/TRU/Target. Distribution seems to be all over the place. We have yet to see the Clash of the Transformers redecos or the minicons. I think both have been spotted in Canada.

Got me? I've taken to the internet for figures I don't want to miss and I wait for retail for the fence straddlers.

Problem is they seem to have forgotten completely about CW products. At my place we have a Walmart and a TRU very close to each other and they are both loaded with RID products. They still have some wave 1 CW legends but wave 2/3 they almost never got any and the ones they got were mostly bought by scalpers. For CW deluxes and voyagers, Wave 1 they overstocked, wave 2 was ok, but wave 3 was on shelf for a very short time.

Is this temporary? Are we going to see some more wave 2/3 restock? RID seems to be targeted heavily toward kids. Give me back my G1s!

Thormind wrote:Problem is they seem to have forgotten completely about CW products.

Well the fourth panel of Autobot August was about Combiner Wars but it didnt work with the rest of the RID news and it was just 1/4 with 0 deluxes. I will post the pic later.

Thormind wrote:the ones they got were mostly bought by scalpers.

How do you know that?

Thormind wrote:RID seems to be targeted heavily toward kids. Give me back my G1s!

But G1 was targeted at little kids back then by selling toys of Optimus, Jazz, Bumblebee and Sideswipe, among others, based on a show that was on air. And what are they doing now? Targeting little kids by selling toys of Optimus, Jazz, Bumblebee and Sideswipe, among others, based on a show that is on air. So in a way, toysrus is keeping the good old G1 tradition alive And Hasbro wont stop saying that its all about getting new fans. For some kids out there, this is their G1 and I am glad TRU still sees TFs as an event worth promoting 30 years later.

carytheone wrote:Wow, those are some cool RID displays. I'm happy to see that line taking up a strong footing. I just finished up the series and enjoyed it quite a bit. Also, I rarely every see any of our local TRUs that well stocked. I don't own a Prime mold yet, so the Clash version may be the one.

Word of advice, while the paint apps on this prime (and the sideswipe) are Takara quality (hence why they seem right at home in japan), the mold really blows. The transformation is far too simplistic for the legs and you can clearly tell it is his robot legs in vehicle mode. And that is a shame because every other vehicle mode in this series rocks!!! Also, I really cant stand the lackluster articulation, there are only so many poses you can do. And his head doesnt snap up so it recedes whenever you touch it. I only paid 10$ for it and if it werent for the very nice paint apps, I would feel totally ripped off.

william-james88 wrote:

Thormind wrote:Problem is they seem to have forgotten completely about CW products.

Well the fourth panel of Autobot August was about Combiner Wars but it didnt work with the rest of the RID news and it was just 1/4 with 0 deluxes. I will post the pic later.

I was mostly referring to the store stocks. I know there are other waves comming. Close to where i live there seems to be a lot of people still waiting to get some wave 2/3 products.

william-james88 wrote:

Thormind wrote:the ones they got were mostly bought by scalpers.

How do you know that?

-Went to my TRU, there was no huffer/blackjack. The day after i go back and there was 4 huffer but all blackjacks were already sold. Went on kijiji.ca and on same day a reseller i know posted an offer for blackjacks at 20$ each.

-In my area there is no Leader Ultra Magnus left anywhere. Same reseller is offering them at 80$ a piece. It's the same thing for "G1" leader Megatron.

-You can go on ebay and search for "transformers Blackjack".

-There was this post, from the news frontpage, about legends skywarp: http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... arp/33579/

-Scalping of popular TF products has been a strong practice, especially in recent years. If you happen to have resellers in you area it's sometime a pain to get what you want. It's also harder for stores to stock properly.

william-james88 wrote:

Thormind wrote:RID seems to be targeted heavily toward kids. Give me back my G1s!

But G1 was targeted at little kids back then by selling toys of Optimus, Jazz, Bumblebee and Sideswipe, among others, based on a show that was on air. And what are they doing now? Targeting little kids by selling toys of Optimus, Jazz, Bumblebee and Sideswipe, among others, based on a show that is on air. So in a way, toysrus is keeping the good old G1 tradition alive And Hasbro wont stop saying that its all about getting new fans. For some kids out there, this is their G1 and I am glad TRU still sees TFs as an event worth promoting 30 years later.

I was just saying that to me RID products look to be aimed at a younger audience than the CW (G1 styled) line and that for this reason it was less appealing to me. I was also suggesting that there should be a balanced space for both CW and RID products on the shelves. Just a personnal opinion. I am well aware that i (and probably we ) am collecting toys that are normally meant for children.

In my last sentence i tried to be ironic. I said something is meant for kids and then i used a "childish" sentence... English is not my native language, maybe that part did not sound like i meant it to?

Thormind wrote:In my last sentence i tried to be ironic. I said something is meant for kids and then i used a "childish" sentence... English is not my native language, maybe that part did not sound like i meant it to?

No worries, as long as you didnt mind my reply. Thanks for answering my questions. WOW, that scalping is pretty bad. I havent seen ultra magnus either. And I only see Armada Megatron so that could be the reason why.

And sorry I didnt get your joke, I get it now While I also prefer combiner wars by a lot (I really dont like the RID molds, they are not engineered in a way to offer good mobility to the articulation), I really like how this RID line and this big marketing push reminds me of when I was a kid getting Beast Wars at TRU and the display was larger than life. I guess a toyline pushed by a show or film will always be more endorsed and while it is purely a marketing practice, its also quite nostalgic for me.

Actually what I find fun is that this marketing technique still works for us in a way. This show boasts some fun and new Decepticon designs and we are all thirsty for more toys.

"The promotion has nothing to do with discounted prices though."

LOL, of course not, it's TRU we're talking about!

GuyIncognito wrote:"The promotion has nothing to do with discounted prices though."

LOL, of course not, it's TRU we're talking about!

But still, it felt really weird writing the words "Promotion", which is indeed what this is, while knowing it had nothing to do with price.

william-james88 wrote:No worries, as long as you didnt mind my reply.

Not at all

william-james88 wrote: And I only see Armada Megatron so that could be the reason why.

You bet it is. This Megatron will be on ebay for a long time. We are already seeing him reselled at 100$ and he can still be found (sometime) at retail. Speculation at it's best (or worst).

I went to my Laval Walmart today. the TF section was a sad, sad, barren place. No matter the line...

-Kanrabat- wrote:I went to my Laval Walmart today. the TF section was a sad, sad, barren place. No matter the line...

WM Lasalle and Namur are like that as well. But the TRUs are just loaded with RID stuff. At both TRU they've put some CW products on the side of a cardboard RID display to make more place for the RIDs on the "eye level" shelves.

Thormind wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I went to my Laval Walmart today. the TF section was a sad, sad, barren place. No matter the line...

WM Lasalle and Namur are like that as well. But the TRUs are just loaded with RID stuff. At both TRU they've put some CW products on the side of a cardboard RID display to make more place for the RIDs on the "eye level" shelves.

Nice, all those pics I posted are from the Walmart and Toysrus near Namur.

william-james88 wrote:Word of advice, while the paint apps on this prime (and the sideswipe) are Takara quality (hence why they seem right at home in japan), the mold really blows. The transformation is far too simplistic for the legs and you can clearly tell it is his robot legs in vehicle mode. And that is a shame because every other vehicle mode in this series rocks!!! Also, I really cant stand the lackluster articulation, there are only so many poses you can do. And his head doesnt snap up so it recedes whenever you touch it.

I've seen and read enough to fully understand what I'm getting myself into. But those are the reasons I've held off. When the Clash decos make to my necknof the woods I will see how I fell about OP. I do plan to remove the screw that holds those plastic bits over his hands. I want to say peaugh has a video on that. Ah, he has the same droopy head syndrome as legends prime. Well I plan to just pose him all stoic looming behind bee anyway.

Thanks for the warning though.

william-james88 wrote:

Thormind wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:I went to my Laval Walmart today. the TF section was a sad, sad, barren place. No matter the line...

WM Lasalle and Namur are like that as well. But the TRUs are just loaded with RID stuff. At both TRU they've put some CW products on the side of a cardboard RID display to make more place for the RIDs on the "eye level" shelves.

Nice, all those pics I posted are from the Walmart and Toysrus near Namur.

Hehe, in recent weeks the 2 TRUs have been low on TF products, like they were not restocked properly. Then i go at Lasalle yesterday and boom, loaded with RIDs. I go to Namur tonight (looking for a CW Magnus) and exact same thing. I took the time to get a closer look (and touch) at the figures and i must say it's not just the mold thats bad. Paint app is all over the place and the plastic feels really cheap.

Funny thing is the other products you find in quantity at both places are Voyager Roadbuster and Skybyte. Two badly painted, poorly designed and built models they overstocked...

Both Walmart Lasalle and Namur had a lot of RIDs but it did not look like they were replacing the CW line. The space where they usually are were juste looking totally empty.

The 4 Huffer were seen at TRU Lasalle. I got lucky that day because i found 1 last Blackjack hidden in the closed sections on the top of the rows Only other Blackjack ive seen was at Toys on Fire but at a much higher price. Same thing for Groove, i bought the only one i ever saw at WM Namur.

Hey guys, about that Sideswipe. While there is a huge problem with the figure not tabbing together properly, I feel this is maybe one of the best transformations in the line. The vehicle integration is top notch and I love how his wheel wells flip to become cool shoulder pads. And the feet transformation is one of the all time best. It is a simple but smart play on orientation and counter-intuitive folding so that the bottom of the foot is actually the top of the back of the car. All in all, this is a pretty nifty take on a car transformer (as was Drift) and it is a real pity it is botched by the fact that the arms wont tab in robot mode.

william-james88 wrote:Hey guys, about that Sideswipe. While there is a huge problem with the figure not tabbing together properly, I feel this is maybe one of the best transformations in the line. The vehicle integration is top notch and I love how his wheel wells flip to become cool shoulder pads. And the feet transformation is one of the all time best. It is a simple but smart play on orientation and counter-intuitive folding so that the bottom of the foot is actually the top of the back of the car. All in all, this is a pretty nifty take on a car transformer (as was Drift) and it is a real pity it is botched by the fact that the arms wont tab in robot mode.

He really does have some cool stuff going on with his transformation. The feel really are brilliant. Its a shame about the shoulder peg issue. The ironic part is the same system holds in rock solid in vehicle mode. I've actually pulled one his arms clean off while transforming him back to a bot. I've studied it and I don't think even trying to sand any of the parts flush to allow for better pegging would help. I may put my eyes on it again though.

He is a fun figure and can pull off some neat poses if you are willing to work around his arms poppng out of place.

I feel that Steeljaw is a real stand out as well. I found him to be fun to transform and a bit more complex than most of the others. Also, hiw cool is that tail? Overall I've really enjoyed the line and the show.

carytheone wrote:
I feel that Steeljaw is a real stand out as well. I found him to be fun to transform and a bit more complex than most of the others. Also, hiw cool is that tail? Overall I've really enjoyed the line and the show.

I really like that tail. And I love how well it fits in alt mode. This is a really cool and interesting design. And yes, he complex. As complex as any other Generations toy on the shelves now or last year. This in no way feels dumbed down to me. What I dislike though is how restrictive his articulation is. There is a lot of bulk around him. I dont mind alt mode integration at all, but the loads of kibble everywhere makes him hard to move. I will wait for Jazz to see who the true standout is (so far it's Drift, Takara's of course)

carytheone wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Hey guys, about that Sideswipe. While there is a huge problem with the figure not tabbing together properly, I feel this is maybe one of the best transformations in the line. The vehicle integration is top notch and I love how his wheel wells flip to become cool shoulder pads. And the feet transformation is one of the all time best. It is a simple but smart play on orientation and counter-intuitive folding so that the bottom of the foot is actually the top of the back of the car. All in all, this is a pretty nifty take on a car transformer (as was Drift) and it is a real pity it is botched by the fact that the arms wont tab in robot mode.

He really does have some cool stuff going on with his transformation. The feel really are brilliant. Its a shame about the shoulder peg issue. The ironic part is the same system holds in rock solid in vehicle mode. I've actually pulled one his arms clean off while transforming him back to a bot. I've studied it and I don't think even trying to sand any of the parts flush to allow for better pegging would help. I may put my eyes on it again though.

He is a fun figure and can pull off some neat poses if you are willing to work around his arms poppng out of place.

I feel that Steeljaw is a real stand out as well. I found him to be fun to transform and a bit more complex than most of the others. Also, hiw cool is that tail? Overall I've really enjoyed the line and the show.

I think Sideswipe would be one of the standout figures in the line if it wasn't for the shoulder pegging issue and the fact that his chest doesn't quite clear his wheels in car mode.

I really haven't been unhappy with any of the figures I've gotten. Drift is awesome, Jazz only slightly less so (lame weapon aside), and Strongarm is a really solid figure. I'm still on the fence about picking up Bee, Grimlock, and Steeljaw. The issue with Grimlock's hands has given me some pause, and the lack of decent paint apps on Steeljaw and Bee (a weakness of the line overall) have held me back on those figures.

MrBlack wrote:
I really haven't been unhappy with any of the figures I've gotten. Drift is awesome, Jazz only slightly less so (lame weapon aside), and Strongarm is a really solid figure. I'm still on the fence about picking up Bee, Grimlock, and Steeljaw. The issue with Grimlock's hands has given me some pause, and the lack of decent paint apps on Steeljaw and Bee (a weakness of the line overall) have held me back on those figures.

I had the same opinion on the paint apps, so I opted to buy Takara for all of them. For some reason, Takara is considering them at a lower price point than Generations figures, which is great!

I wont be getting this Grimlock since Takara is making their voyager version based on the FOC mold (but completely redone).

william-james88 wrote:

MrBlack wrote:
I really haven't been unhappy with any of the figures I've gotten. Drift is awesome, Jazz only slightly less so (lame weapon aside), and Strongarm is a really solid figure. I'm still on the fence about picking up Bee, Grimlock, and Steeljaw. The issue with Grimlock's hands has given me some pause, and the lack of decent paint apps on Steeljaw and Bee (a weakness of the line overall) have held me back on those figures.

I had the same opinion on the paint apps, so I opted to buy Takara for all of them. For some reason, Takara is considering them at a lower price point than Generations figures, which is great!

I wont be getting this Grimlock since Takara is making their voyager version based on the FOC mold (but completely redone).

The Takara versions are superior, and I might invest there if I was very enthusiastic about the toyline. As it is, I'm picking up the figures that really interest me (the Legions and a handful of Warriors).

I am picking up the Takara Drift/Jazz two-pack for the old Lost Light shelf. If Jazz has a visor, he might end up alongside Optimus on a different shelf.

william-james88 wrote:I will wait for Jazz to see who the true standout is (so far it's Drift, Takara's of course)

I would say that as far as transformations go, Sideswipe and Steeljaw are the two standouts. I may be a little biased, but I like Jazz and think he is a solid, poseable figure with very little vehicle kibble in the way. His alt-mode is rock solid and just looks cool. I would say his transformation is a mix of simple and slightly more complex. I think you might be happy with him.

Like I say, It's always a good day when Jazz shows up at your house!

I would say as far as solid posable robots go, you can't go wrong with Drift and Jazz. Also, I like their duck feet.

Very quick question: has anyone tried customising (or digibashing) Drift from the RID line into Bludgeon?

Va'al wrote:Very quick question: has anyone tried customising (or digibashing) Drift from the RID line into Bludgeon?

I would totally do that. But first, I need to either buy a Takara Drift, or find another on sale.

Hey guys (and gals), I know there was backlash at this line in the way that it was simplified and not collector oriented. But I find the warriors just as complex/simple as the Combiner Wars deluxes. I totally get the lack of deco, but Takara fixes that (and doesnt cost an arm and a leg unlike the old days). I just find that these are no less complex than the other TFs on the market right now and dont find it much of an argument to avoid this line. A dislike for aesthetics or the show it is based on is completely understandable though.

What are your thoughts?