Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

chuckdawg1999 wrote:I doubt that the orders from stores like Robot Kingdom and BBTS pushed Unicron over the required order goal. Nobody but the individual backers should be getting this.

It might not have been those two retailers specifically, but I'm pretty sure that's exactly what happened from what I've heard various retailers saying based on their order numbers. They gambled hugely, we all got Unicron, and their gamble will turn into a payday for them since a lot of people didn't order it for $600 but are now willing to pay $1,500. Go figure.

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I wonder if we'll get a Primus/Cybertron eventually. Or is he not a high-enough profile character?

This is more than likely just a one-off. Most franchises don't get multiple crowdfunded items of this high-end price.

If HasLab can do Star Wars twice then I don't see why they can't do Transformers twice.

Star Wars is a much bigger property than Transformers.

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I wonder if we'll get a Primus/Cybertron eventually. Or is he not a high-enough profile character?

This is more than likely just a one-off. Most franchises don't get multiple crowdfunded items of this high-end price.

If HasLab can do Star Wars twice then I don't see why they can't do Transformers twice.

Star Wars is a much bigger property than Transformers.

Transformers is plenty big enough. I'm sure we'll get another HasLab exclusive later down the road. Personally, I'm rooting for HasLab Devcon.

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I wonder if we'll get a Primus/Cybertron eventually. Or is he not a high-enough profile character?

This is more than likely just a one-off. Most franchises don't get multiple crowdfunded items of this high-end price.

If HasLab can do Star Wars twice then I don't see why they can't do Transformers twice.

Star Wars is a much bigger property than Transformers.

A bigger property that Hasbro has to pay out the nose to license, they can do whatever they want with Transformers for free.

Emerje

Something on a smaller scale, sure.

But another $600 giant? Y'all really wanna play this game a second time?

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I wonder if we'll get a Primus/Cybertron eventually. Or is he not a high-enough profile character?

This is more than likely just a one-off. Most franchises don't get multiple crowdfunded items of this high-end price.

If HasLab can do Star Wars twice then I don't see why they can't do Transformers twice.

Star Wars is a much bigger property than Transformers.

A bigger property that Hasbro has to pay out the nose to license, they can do whatever they want with Transformers for free.

Emerje

Not necessarily. Pretty sure the "manufactured under license from TOMY Company, Ltd." doesn't mean entirely "free". I'm sure there are strings attached, though much better than licensing Star Wars toys from Lucasfilm/Disney.

Sabrblade wrote:Something on a smaller scale, sure.

But another $600 giant? Y'all really wanna play this game a second time?

You've changed what you're saying. No, I don't think we'll get another $600 toy any time soon. A smaller HasLab Transformers toy? Maybe if we're lucky. Lots they can do before a Divorce Class II Primus.

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I wonder if we'll get a Primus/Cybertron eventually. Or is he not a high-enough profile character?

This is more than likely just a one-off. Most franchises don't get multiple crowdfunded items of this high-end price.

If HasLab can do Star Wars twice then I don't see why they can't do Transformers twice.

Star Wars is a much bigger property than Transformers.

A bigger property that Hasbro has to pay out the nose to license, they can do whatever they want with Transformers for free.

Emerje

As stated before, the brand is de jure owned by TakaraTomy believe it or not but Hasbro is putting in most of the design work. Comparing it to Star Wars is kinda comparing apples and oranges, as Star Wars is a movie franchise first and foremost, plus the fans are of a different caliber. Hell, they have an official Jedi religion in Australia, only Star Trek's Klingon language could top that. What do we have?

Seibertron wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Something on a smaller scale, sure.

But another $600 giant? Y'all really wanna play this game a second time?

You've changed what you're saying. No, I don't think we'll get another $600 toy any time soon. A smaller HasLab Transformers toy? Maybe if we're lucky. Lots they can do before a Divorce Class II Primus.

The original inquiry was asking about another Unicron-sized figure. That's what I was referring to. Something of that enormity doesn't seem likely to happen again.

Sabrblade wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Something on a smaller scale, sure.

But another $600 giant? Y'all really wanna play this game a second time?

You've changed what you're saying. No, I don't think we'll get another $600 toy any time soon. A smaller HasLab Transformers toy? Maybe if we're lucky. Lots they can do before a Divorce Class II Primus.

The original inquiry was asking about another Unicron-sized figure. That's what I was referring to. Something of that enormity doesn't seem likely to happen again.

Ack. Sorry. I even quoted your comment about "something on a smaller scale, sure." Sorry Sabrblade.

Of course, thinking more about it, something on a smaller scale might beg the question of why not just putting it in one of the many normal lines or releasing it as a normal retailer exclusive.

To use the Devcon example, why wouldn't they make a new Devcon at, say, Deluxe or Voyager class and just put it in either a mass retail Generations line or as a retailer exclusive (e.g. - Amazon, Hasbro Pulse, etc.)? Why would it take the likes of HasLab to release such a normal-sized figure?

Seibertron wrote:... but again, we shouldn't be having to customize a $600 figure. Or maybe Hasbro will offer up a fix for this since we all spent a lot of money on this.

"Having to"

Sabrblade wrote:Of course, thinking more about it, something on a smaller scale might beg the question of why not just putting it in one of the many normal lines or releasing it as a normal retailer exclusive.

To use the Devcon example, why wouldn't they make a new Devcon at, say, Deluxe or Voyager class and just put it in either a mass retail Generations line or as a retailer exclusive (e.g. - Amazon, Hasbro Pulse, etc.)? Why would it take the likes of HasLab to release such a normal-sized figure?

I was exaggerating and agree with u. Just looking for something special.

Seibertron wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Of course, thinking more about it, something on a smaller scale might beg the question of why not just putting it in one of the many normal lines or releasing it as a normal retailer exclusive.

To use the Devcon example, why wouldn't they make a new Devcon at, say, Deluxe or Voyager class and just put it in either a mass retail Generations line or as a retailer exclusive (e.g. - Amazon, Hasbro Pulse, etc.)? Why would it take the likes of HasLab to release such a normal-sized figure?

I was exaggerating and agree with u. Just looking for something special.

(checks the vid) The lower teeth aren't painted? Geez. I guess it to match the faceless head, but come on, guys. If this were 3P I'd have expected it to be painted. I don't think I want to sharpie my $600 Transformer. I'll sticker it, though.

I don't think Primus would be worth it. Not to me, at least. As a character he's not nearly as important. Not every TF needs a rival.

I said it before and I'll say it again: I'd be interested in mass production of the G1 Unicron Prototype. Not for the same amount of money, but I'd back it. If they needed to add more, they could finish the G1 Arcee prototype (with the same inaccurate colors) so people could have a complete G1 movie cast in G1 form. It may be the same character, but it fills a totally different niche and is a real piece of history. I don't think it'd ever happen, though.

I hope that there is a plain outer box to this so the couriers don't smash that printed one up!

Now, a TakaraTomy Generations Selects redeco of Commander class Rodimus Prime as Primus, that would be golden.

Hooooooo boy this is uh...well, I'm sure glad I didn't back this thing.

I was already skeptical from the original campaign for reasons I won't bother repeating in detail (TLDR: amateurish looking shellformery backpacky transformation) but having seen the changes to the production version, notably the blue maw (inb4 CWC comparisons), the unpainted lower teeth, the visibile screwholes on the front where they literally just made two of the same arm, the inhalable-class Rodimus and Galvatron being even more useless and low effort than they already were, the unpainted inner fingers, etc etc etc, yeah I'm glad I kept my £500. The maw is particularly sad because the thing this really had going for it was the pretty impressive planet mode...and they screwed it up with an entirely pointless change.

I hope anyone that backed it is happy with it. Because from where I'm standing this looks like a complete disaster.

As someone who did actually want and buy the figure, none of the complaints I've seen so far have remotely diminished my interest. I do not know why there were minor paint changes, but since my job isn't manufacturing, selling, and distributing toys, I'm not going to pretend I know better than Hasbro.

The internet was practically invented for complaining, so I'm not going to stand in judgement. If anyone genuinely feels cheated that the product isn't worth the $600 they've committed for it, I'll be happy to pay you that amount to take it off your hands, and you won't have to feel disappointed anymore.

Sad that even something like this could end up with paint shortages and mold layout limits. Maybe this will be a case of flawed early examples and the rest of the run was tweaked, but doesn't seem likely.

I kinda have mixed feelings about the blue parts of the maw - on the one hand, it's absolutely inaccurate. On the other hand, it does prevent the area from looking like an orange blob.

I understand why they did the shellformer thing - trying to do the finalized robot mode design and have it transform into a spherical planet demands a compromise of some form or other, whether it be that or the pods and shell-wings the Armada mold has. Especially if you want the planet to look complete. Unicron's finalized robot mode from the movie is just THAT badly cheated.
The shell pieces look to be less in the way the ones Armada Unicron has on his back, so that's a definite plus IMO.

The wing integration looks good, still, and there's still that very nice planet mode stand.

I'm still satisfied with the Armada mold, myself. But that's definitely a case of me settling for "Good enough" - there are some definite design superiorities to this one.

Regarding the idea of a Planet-class Primus... I honestly don't see that as being likely to happen. But if they do do it, it'd be a lot more straightforward to develop and would not have to resort to shellforming to capture the screen design. Because, well, the major appearance of Primus-as-Cybertron in robot mode is in Transformers: Cybertron. And thus, it would basically be an enhanced upscale of the 2006 Supreme-class toy.
Wonder if they'd use miniatures of the colony ships as incentive pieces. Or include a cardboard version Cybertron's version of the Ark.

Seibertron wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I wonder if we'll get a Primus/Cybertron eventually. Or is he not a high-enough profile character?

This is more than likely just a one-off. Most franchises don't get multiple crowdfunded items of this high-end price.

If HasLab can do Star Wars twice then I don't see why they can't do Transformers twice.

Star Wars is a much bigger property than Transformers.

A bigger property that Hasbro has to pay out the nose to license, they can do whatever they want with Transformers for free.

Emerje

Not necessarily. Pretty sure the "manufactured under license from TOMY Company, Ltd." doesn't mean entirely "free". I'm sure there are strings attached, though much better than licensing Star Wars toys from Lucasfilm/Disney.

I'm guessing the trade off is that Takara Tomy gets to use Hasbro's trademarks. I doubt there's much in the way of rights money being passed between the two. Seems like something we would have heard about during one of their investors meetings. Might be a question worth asking at some point.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

Seibertron wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Emerje wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I wonder if we'll get a Primus/Cybertron eventually. Or is he not a high-enough profile character?

This is more than likely just a one-off. Most franchises don't get multiple crowdfunded items of this high-end price.

If HasLab can do Star Wars twice then I don't see why they can't do Transformers twice.

Star Wars is a much bigger property than Transformers.

A bigger property that Hasbro has to pay out the nose to license, they can do whatever they want with Transformers for free.

Emerje

Not necessarily. Pretty sure the "manufactured under license from TOMY Company, Ltd." doesn't mean entirely "free". I'm sure there are strings attached, though much better than licensing Star Wars toys from Lucasfilm/Disney.

I'm guessing the trade off is that Takara Tomy gets to use Hasbro's trademarks. I doubt there's much in the way of rights money being passed between the two. Seems like something we would have heard about during one of their investors meetings. Might be a question worth asking at some point.

Emerje

More like gets to use whatever molds Hasbro commissions, due to how copyright law works (that's how we got the Sky Lynx reissue). See my previous post for the Star Wars bit.

Well, actually, we got the Sky Lynx reissue because Toybox (who Hasbro licensed it from) so happened to have subcontracted making the Mechabot-1 and Shuttle Dinosaur molds to Tomy, and so Tomy retained possession of them. And they were rediscovered during a warehouse inventory.

Can't wait to see the ridiculous secondary market valuation for this figure.

ZeldaTheSwordsman wrote:Well, actually, we got the Sky Lynx reissue because Toybox (who Hasbro licensed it from) so happened to have subcontracted making the Mechabot-1 and Shuttle Dinosaur molds to Tomy, and so Tomy retained possession of them. And they were rediscovered during a warehouse inventory.

Exactly my point. Copyright defaulted to Tomy, then TakaraTomy upon merger.