The Energon Pub

Kurona wrote:So like, is anyone else kind of bothered by the sliiiiiight gap lines between Hot Rod's main body and his arms in vehicle mode? Especially when you open up the cockpit? It certainly doesn't ruin the figure for me, especially when overall this vehicle mode is absolutely beautiful; but it does take some points off and takes me out of it a little.

Wouldn't know, I'm waiting for the obvious repaint:

ThunderThruster wrote:Wouldn't know, I'm waiting for the obvious repaint:

Cant be that obvious, I have no clue who that is or what I am even looking at.

Anyways, Kurona I didnt know about the gap and I have had that toy for months. So I guess it doesnt bother me

william-james88 wrote:Is the $50 price for a leader class normal on amazon? I thought the MSRP for leaders in the US was $45.

*normal* price can vary anywhere between $40-$50 for a TR Leader in the U.S. I'm actually surprised this is amazon as well, and not a 3rd party selling through them, usually Amazon is a bit less expensive. But I'll be patient, usually the price comes down once its more readily available. I still haven't paid more than $43 for a leader class yet.

william-james88 wrote:Cant be that obvious, I have no clue who that is or what I am even looking at.

what I say to myself every time I read an issue of MTMTE/LL

o.supreme wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Is the $50 price for a leader class normal on amazon? I thought the MSRP for leaders in the US was $45.

*normal* price can vary anywhere between $40-$50 for a TR Leader in the U.S. I'm actually surprised this is amazon as well, and not a 3rd party selling through them, usually Amazon is a bit less expensive. But I'll be patient, usually the price comes down once its more readily available. I still haven't paid more than $43 for a leader class yet.

Stay strong O Supreme! I like that kind of reslience!

I havent paid more than $30 USD for a TR leader yet

william-james88 wrote:I havent paid more than $30 USD for a TR leader yet

ok Mr. Extreme Coupon...you want to let me in on your secret?... I mean

I got PM Prime & Blaster on Walmart.com Black Friday deal for around $32 each, Soundwave on HTS for around $40 (after discount code), Sixshot for just under $43 retail at Target after taxes. I suppose if you broke up the Velocitron set to its component parts, then yeah I paid about $45 for Quickswitch...

though as long as I got them for less than $45 USD (standard retail price average) I was doing good.

o.supreme wrote:

william-james88 wrote:I havent paid more than $30 USD for a TR leader yet

ok Mr. Extreme Coupon...you want to let me in on your secret?... I mean

I got PM Prime & Blaster on Walmart.com Black Friday deal for around $32 each, Soundwave on HTS for around $40 (after discount code), Sixshot for just under $43 retail at Target after taxes. I suppose if you broke up the Velocitron set to its component parts, then yeah I paid about $45 for Quickswitch...

though as long as I got them for less than $45 USD (standard retail price average) I was doing good.

He lives in Canada. That's his secret

william-james88 wrote:

ThunderThruster wrote:Wouldn't know, I'm waiting for the obvious repaint:

Cant be that obvious, I have no clue who that is or what I am even looking at.

Anyways, Kurona I didnt know about the gap and I have had that toy for months. So I guess it doesnt bother me

C'mon Mr News crew, even you can mouse over an image and see the title
G1 Pointblank
Or just read between the/my lines

OK Sir Cobotron?

ThunderThruster wrote:C'mon Mr News crew, even you can mouse over an image and see the title
G1 Pointblank
Or just read between the/my lines

If it makes you feel better I recognized him.
Although, they really only look similar in car mode.

Emerje

Happy and sad that Skyshadow is/was available but at this rate of availability, I fear Overlord (Hb/Takara) will only be able by Thanksgiving D@mn the upcoming movie line.........

Emerje wrote:

ThunderThruster wrote:C'mon Mr News crew, even you can mouse over an image and see the title
G1 Pointblank
Or just read between the/my lines

If it makes you feel better I recognized him.
Although, they really only look similar in car mode.

Emerje

I think it'd work as a major retool where the Robot Mode is reversed from Hot Rod's (given the car window/cockpit is on the front of Pointblank's robot mode), the spoiler is a new piece that detaches to become a weapon, and the shoulders go outwards rather than up. Again though, major retool; but I believe the whole retool-so-major-the-robot-mode-is-completely-reversed thing has actually been done before to clever effect... though this retool would also allow for the front bumper that becomes Hot Rod's chest to be done differently so that the vehicle mode would even more resemble Pointblank. Could actually work.

I'm actually starting to get really attached to this idea almost as much as Triggerhappy > Misfire so I decided to turn Hot Rod's body around with a little modification (something I do not recommend; popping his arms off the balljoints - and doing it a second time to turn him back - was VERY scary) and it's almost annoying how well this works out.



Like, beyond just the general shape (given it needs quite a bit of retooling), some of these details actually match up. The hood going behind his back (in fact, EVERYTHING going in the correct place aside from the shoulders going upwards instead of outwards), the shape of the feet and Hot Rod's knee-vents matching up with Pointblank's knee detailing; the shape of the cockpit window and even the part of that window that's solid instead of transparent (okay it isn't transparent on the original toy, but obviously the part that's supposed to be in fiction and if it was updated). This could actually work and happen.

fenrir72 wrote:Happy and sad that Skyshadow is/was available but at this rate of availability, I fear Overlord (Hb/Takara) will only be able by Thanksgiving D@mn the upcoming movie line.........

o.supreme wrote:

william-james88 wrote:I havent paid more than $30 USD for a TR leader yet

ok Mr. Extreme Coupon...you want to let me in on your secret?... I mean

I didnt mean to brag, but sure, here is my secret.

In Canada, Leaders are $60 CDN which is (for the moment) equal to about $45 USD, so the same price before this new hike that I found odd. Anyways, Toysrus in Canada gets a ton of leaders, a **** ton. I dont know why, but they do. So they often have some discount, similar to Target in the US and Leaders are usually %25-%30-%40 off. The Combine Wars leaders were even %50 off once. At %30, that makes them $30 USD. Hence what I wrote above. Plus, I can get rainchecks, which I have heard is also available in the US. So I usually wait till the lat day of the deal, when all the leaders are now sold out due to the deal, for a raincheck showing that the toys I want are no longer around. So I get it. And a raincheck is good for a long time, 3 months, the average wave cycle. So when a new wave comes in, I can pick up that leader for that same price by showing the raincheck. And then a month later there is a deal like that again and I just repeat the process. The raincheck I have right now is for leaders at $26 USD which is %40 off. And since there is no date on it, it will lat me through all of TR.

Plus, I can price match with Walmart, as you all can as well. And my Walmart had made a mistake on TR leader toys since they mixed em up with the CW leaders they were liquidating at $20 CDN. Obviously there were none left in stores, but online was still showing $20 for PMOP Prime. So I showed that to TRu and got a price match, meaning that I got Leader PMOP for $15 USD.

Of course, no raincheck for that since its a price match BUT there was a problem with my leader Prime, it was missing a wheel. Instead of returning it, I just bought another leader Prime for $15 USD and wrote to Hasbro about getting compensation for my missing wheel on my other one. They told me to ship them my defective leader prime and provided a shipping label. I did. They never got back to me for 5 months. I didnt care too much because I still had the other leader Prime I got for $15 USD and I knew they would come through eventually. I would write from time to time inquiring if they had leaders. This was during the holiday season and as you all remember, Hasbro had 0 leaders to give out. They still dont. So I never got a replacement PMOP. But they saw it had been months so they instead told me they would send a replacement of greater value. Which is great since, as you remember, that initial Prime was just $15 USD. So whatever, send me whatever you want. And they sent me G2 Menasor. Would have preferred VIctorion or anyone else aside from him since i already had him, but all was not lost. You can return gifts to TRU without a receipt. They dont care since they will give you back a gift card for the lowest amount the toy you return was ever sold at. So its free money for them since they make money off the difference for the times people bought a toy not on special and get refunded the discounted price of that toy. And yes, G2 Menasor was discounted, from $150 CDN to $100 CDN. So I said sure and I gave them my sealed Menasor box in exchange for a $115 CDN gift card (the $15 difference is the tax which they will also refund you).

So to sum it all up, for the initial cost of $20 ($15 USD) for a defective PMOP, I eventually traded it for a $100 gift card ($75 USD). Meaning that the cost of my leaders is the following:

Blaster for $30 USD
Soundwave for $26 USD
PMOP for $15 USD
And the next 3 leaders I buy from TRU (with my raincheck for that price I got soundwave for) will be covered on my $75 gift card that only cost me $15 USD. Meaning that Sixshot, BlackShadow AND Overlord, all 3, will have cost me a total of $15 USD meaning that they cost me $5 each.


Thats my secret.

william-james88 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:

william-james88 wrote:I havent paid more than $30 USD for a TR leader yet

ok Mr. Extreme Coupon...you want to let me in on your secret?... I mean

I didnt mean to brag, but sure, here is my secret.

In Canada, Leaders are $60 CDN which is (for the moment) equal to about $45 USD, so the same price before this new hike that I found odd. Anyways, Toysrus in Canada gets a ton of leaders, a **** ton. I dont know why, but they do. So they often have some discount, similar to Target in the US and Leaders are usually %25-%30-%40 off. The Combine Wars leaders were even %50 off once. At %30, that makes them $30 USD. Hence what I wrote above. Plus, I can get rainchecks, which I have heard is also available in the US. So I usually wait till the lat day of the deal, when all the leaders are now sold out due to the deal, for a raincheck showing that the toys I want are no longer around. So I get it. And a raincheck is good for a long time, 3 months, the average wave cycle. So when a new wave comes in, I can pick up that leader for that same price by showing the raincheck. And then a month later there is a deal like that again and I just repeat the process. The raincheck I have right now is for leaders at $26 USD which is %40 off. And since there is no date on it, it will lat me through all of TR.

Plus, I can price match with Walmart, as you all can as well. And my Walmart had made a mistake on TR leader toys since they mixed em up with the CW leaders they were liquidating at $20 CDN. Obviously there were none left in stores, but online was still showing $20 for PMOP Prime. So I showed that to TRu and got a price match, meaning that I got Leader PMOP for $15 USD.

Of course, no raincheck for that since its a price match BUT there was a problem with my leader Prime, it was missing a wheel. Instead of returning it, I just bought another leader Prime for $15 USD and wrote to Hasbro about getting compensation for my missing wheel on my other one. They told me to ship them my defective leader prime and provided a shipping label. I did. They never got back to me for 5 months. I didnt care too much because I still had the other leader Prime I got for $15 USD and I knew they would come through eventually. I would write from time to time inquiring if they had leaders. This was during the holiday season and as you all remember, Hasbro had 0 leaders to give out. They still dont. So I never got a replacement PMOP. But they saw it had been months so they instead told me they would send a replacement of greater value. Which is great since, as you remember, that initial Prime was just $15 USD. So whatever, send me whatever you want. And they sent me G2 Menasor. Would have preferred VIctorion or anyone else aside from him since i already had him, but all was not lost. You can return gifts to TRU without a receipt. They dont care since they will give you back a gift card for the lowest amount the toy you return was ever sold at. So its free money for them since they make money off the difference for the times people bought a toy not on special and get refunded the discounted price of that toy. And yes, G2 Menasor was discounted, from $150 CDN to $100 CDN. So I said sure and I gave them my sealed Menasor box in exchange for a $115 CDN gift card (the $15 difference is the tax which they will also refund you).

So to sum it all up, for the initial cost of $20 ($15 USD) for a defective PMOP, I eventually traded it for a $100 gift card ($75 USD). Meaning that the cost of my leaders is the following:

Blaster for $30 USD
Soundwave for $26 USD
PMOP for $15 USD
And the next 3 leaders I buy from TRU (with my raincheck for that price I got soundwave for) will be covered on my $75 gift card that only cost me $15 USD. Meaning that Sixshot, BlackShadow AND Overlord, all 3, will have cost me a total of $15 USD meaning that they cost me $5 each.


Thats my secret.

This is so much plotting and taking advantage of the system that you're basically a comic villain now. Did you save enough of those vouchers to get your evil lair yet?

In case anyone was wondering where their Hot Rods have Hot Gone:


Also, why Walgreens in my area are completely useless:

3 figures, none in the back, all from wave 1 or 2

ThunderThruster wrote:C'mon Mr News crew, even you can mouse over an image and see the title
G1 Pointblank
Or just read between the/my lines

Sorry Thunder thruster, it was the end of a long work day and I dont know who point blank is.
I did look it up though and I dont really see it. Its not obvious to me especially when his most distinctive characteristic are those pointy shoulders which the TR Hot Rod toy does not have

Kurona wrote:This is so much plotting and taking advantage of the system that you're basically a comic villain now. Did you save enough of those vouchers to get your evil lair yet?

No plotting, just patience. I didnt ask for an optimus with a broken wheel and any other leader would have done fine, but Hasbro had none. I was polite and it all worked out.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:In case anyone was wondering where their Hot Rods have Hot Gone:

Thats cool. Which store is that? And people in the US keep saying they dont find wave 3, but I see a ton there.

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:In case anyone was wondering where their Hot Rods have Hot Gone:

You better have bought those Triggerhappys and given them out to people in need.

william-james88 wrote:

D-Maximus_Prime wrote:In case anyone was wondering where their Hot Rods have Hot Gone:

Thats cool. Which store is that? And people in the US keep saying they dont find wave 3, but I see a ton there.

Walmart. Target was similar with 3 Rods and Triggers each but no others. TRU was bare, not even a price tag for the velocitron set. And Gamestop had nothing either, unlike some lucky TLK hunters.

So nothing to show for the day. I could've picked those up and happily will if someone or someone's are in need of Triggers or Rods

Yo Dawg, we heard you liked Titans Return Brawn. So we got a a pic of Titans Return Brawn holding Titans Return Brawn and Titans Return Brawn hooked up onto Titans Return Brawn. Xzibit jokes aside, here are some fun images of both Titans Return Brawns both the Legend class figure and the Titan Master figure interacting together. These are courtesy of fellow Seibertronian Logan who can take great shots and found smart ways to have them combine in vehicle mode to form a vehicle you don't want to mess with.

Enjoy!

D-Maximus_Prime wrote: And Gamestop had nothing either, unlike some lucky TLK hunters.

So far no one has been able to pick those up since Gamestop always refuses a sale when the street date comes up on their computers.

William, thanks really^^

Kurona wrote:I'm actually starting to get really attached to this idea almost as much as Triggerhappy > Misfire so I decided to turn Hot Rod's body around with a little modification (something I do not recommend; popping his arms off the balljoints - and doing it a second time to turn him back - was VERY scary) and it's almost annoying how well this works out.

I'll admit, that's not terrible. The entire top of the car mode is on a single joint that makes it super easy to swap out for something more accurate, or to just change the center part out for one with a way to make the spoiler section easier to detach. Probably wouldn't hurt to replace the arms with something more accurate and replace the portion of the lower legs with the pipes. Yeah, parts sharing with Hot Rod is definitely possible.

Not sure what they'd be able to do with Sureshot, not a lot of buggies in the line.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Kurona wrote:I'm actually starting to get really attached to this idea almost as much as Triggerhappy > Misfire so I decided to turn Hot Rod's body around with a little modification (something I do not recommend; popping his arms off the balljoints - and doing it a second time to turn him back - was VERY scary) and it's almost annoying how well this works out.

I'll admit, that's not terrible. The entire top of the car mode is on a single joint that makes it super easy to swap out for something more accurate, or to just change the center part out for one with a way to make the spoiler section easier to detach. Probably wouldn't hurt to replace the arms with something more accurate and replace the portion of the lower legs with the pipes. Yeah, parts sharing with Hot Rod is definitely possible.

Not sure what they'd be able to do with Sureshot, not a lot of buggies in the line.

Emerje

I had a similar idea, but involving a lot more swapping of parts. As for Sureshot: new mold, with Joyride as his retool. Problem solved