The Energon Pub

What is your most recent Transformers toy you had "no choice" but to pay the very high secondary market price for?
Other than G1, of course.

-- What was the toy and how much was it?

-- Why did you didn't mind paying that price and why did you "had no choice" but to pay that price?

-- Was it worth it?

I'll talk about mine in the next post.
Please share yours!

-- What was the toy and how much was it?
SDCC 2018 exclusive PotP Throne of the Primes.
162$CAN shipped and taxed from Amazon.jp

-- Why did you didn't mind paying that price and why did you "had no choice" but to pay that price?
I stupidly slept on the wheel when the preorders of the thing went live. I never bought it when it was in stock. Now years later, it's wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy past paying regular leader price and I wanted it for a long time. But now that this big ape is worth double the original price shipped at the very minimum, I had no chouce but to finally bite the bullet.

-- Was it worth it?
Let's hope it will. I've yet to receive it but it should come quickly. I'm confident that I'll like it.

-Kanrabat- wrote:What is your most recent Transformers toy you had "no choice" but to pay the very high secondary market price for?

Generations Selects Overbite. $200 shipped from Japan

I wouldn't say I didn't mind, I paid the price very begrudgingly. Why? Because Hasbro f**king sucks for not rereleasing the ENTIRE Seacons team, only 4 f**king members! So to sort of complete Piranacon, I needed at least 1 more limb bot, and it was either Overbite or Tentakil at ridiculous prices, and for some reason Tentakil commands upwards of $300, so I went with the cheaper-but-still-crazy-high-priced option.

Right now, as much as I hate to say it, it wasn't worth it. Not because of the price, but because Overbite is a $hitty limb bot. Yeah, he was designed to be the gun, but he does have a limb mode as well. But it sucks. It's a floppy, unstable mess, either as an arm or a leg. It wouldn't have been worth it if he cost the original $35.

The only way to rectify this situation is to acquire Tentakil as well, making him the leg that he is supposed to be. It would also complete Piranacon's trident. This was a very $hitty distribution decision by Hasbro, and 1 of the few horrible experiences I've had as a collector, as well as a reason why Pulse is not my #1 choice for purchases, but rather a necessary option.

At this point, I'm probably going to just sell the 5 Seacons I have, and resign myself to just not having them. Too bad, because Abominus and Piranacon looked good on the shelf together.

Rodimus Prime wrote:I wouldn't say I didn't mind, I paid the price very begrudgingly. Why? Because Hasbro f**king sucks for not rereleasing the ENTIRE Seacons team, only 4 f**king members! So to sort of complete Piranacon, I needed at least 1 more limb bot, and it was either Overbite or Tentakil at ridiculous prices, and for some reason Tentakil commands upwards of $300, so I went with the cheaper-but-still-crazy-high-priced option.

Huh? I bought all 6 on Pulse. Some were listed late, but they did in fact sell all six.

Anyway, my own, ignoring all the 15+ year old stuff I recently got off Mandarake.

-- What was the toy and how much was it?
Siege Spy Patrol Second Unit Rumble and Ratbat, $20

-- Why did you didn't mind paying that price and why did you "had no choice" but to pay that price?
No regrets here. The set never showed up in my area and was rarely stocked online. The aftermarket price at the time was starting to get ridiculous thanks to the high demand and low supply. I was lucky enough to find a Chinese seller charging only $20 and free (sloooow) shipping which was substantially less than anyone else was charging on eBay. Of course I would have been happier to have bought it off Amazon or found it locally for $10 or less like the rest of the siege Micromasters, but I couldn't let that price get away.

-- Was it worth it?
I set a goal to complete the entire WFC line and I sure wasn't going to let $20 keep me from doing it, so yes, it was worth it.

Emerje

Rodimus Prime wrote:(Those damn Seacons!)

That whole mess made me go for the "Beast Wars" Select God Neptune boxset instead. Overall it cost less than HALF of all six Select Seacons. The combiner still have the typical flaws of your average CW combiner, but it ain't bad for the overall price. The only thing I regret from this Mandarake purchase is that the very high obligatory DHL shipping and the sureshot customs fees ruined the deal.

I also had to pay the high price to get the "G1" Beast Wars original from eBay but that one don't really count.

What was the toy and how much was it?

Kind of the opposite. Thankfully I got all the Gen Selects Combiners at pre order so I don't have to pay crazy prices. But...I did just recently get Gen Selects Star Convoy. About $140 USD after shipping on eBay

-- Why didn't you mind paying that price and, why did you "have no choice" but to pay that price?

I know it's not a great toy, but looking around at my collection...and with Haslab Victory Saber coming, I quickly realized this would be the only Autobot/Cybertron leader I don't have. Once I get VS I'm hoping to take some heroic leader group pics.


-- Was it worth it?

I'd say yes it was worth it. This was actually my first handling of a PotP leader based mold, as I never had any desire to get any of the ones that came out in 2018 (My son actually has the Throne version of Op Op, but I've never even handled it ). But it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, a fairly satisfying result.

Now naturally, I have to get Super Megatron as well. My gut told me I should have gotten it at release, and I had a chance, but hesitated because of other priorities. I am hopefully going to close the deal on one soon that isn't too insane of an aftermarket price.

Emerje wrote:

Rodimus Prime wrote:I wouldn't say I didn't mind, I paid the price very begrudgingly. Why? Because Hasbro f**king sucks for not rereleasing the ENTIRE Seacons team, only 4 f**king members! So to sort of complete Piranacon, I needed at least 1 more limb bot, and it was either Overbite or Tentakil at ridiculous prices, and for some reason Tentakil commands upwards of $300, so I went with the cheaper-but-still-crazy-high-priced option.

Huh? I bought all 6 on Pulse. Some were listed late, but they did in fact sell all six.

Not the 2nd time around. Hence why I said RErelease. They sold out too fast on the initial run, and when they came back in stock it was just 4 of them, without Tentakil and Overbite. I bought them, hoping and expecting that the other 2 would eventually be listed, but they never were. I checked daily for about 2 months. So if by listed late you mean over 2 months later than the first 4, then I guess I did miss them the 2nd time as well.

-Kanrabat-, as for God Neptune, my problems with getting that are the fact that I've never seen the series he was in, and I think the colors are really ugly.

Rodimus Prime wrote:-Kanrabat-, as for God Neptune, my problems with getting that are the fact that I've never seen the series he was in, and I think the colors are really ugly.

I've never seen the series either but I find the colors really beautiful.

Regardless, I'm a bit disappointed that they never figured out how to stiffen the legs joints of this combiner. He have to stand straight up and lean on the wall or he'll ragdoll like your dying GTA character.

A set of three Legends Insecticons for around $50 bought twice so it was about $100, maybe $150 for all six. Now that we're getting new ones at a size I like I want to give them a small force. I already have three, so this will give each one three smaller clones to boss around.

I shouldn't have hesitated when they were first released, but I wanted to be "responsible" and only get what I really want. Well, turns out I really wanted a force of Insecticons.

Regrets? None here. Once I have display space again and the two other Insecticons come out I can give them a nice setup.

Another one I nabbed at the end of last year was TF Crossovers Ghost Rider.



I passed on this guy at the time since, again, wanted to be "responsible" but have been looking for him at a decent price off ebay for years. I didn't have any place for him in my collection at the time, but the new Crossovers line has finally given me a reason to get him. I know he's not the best in terms of build quality, but he sure does have style.

Finally found him for, about, $80 after shipping.

regrets? None here! Like many of these crossover type figures he isn't the best as a TF, but he still has that style I like.

I didn't know a TF Ghostrider existed!
Looks freaking bad-ass!

The Toy: Siege Omega Supreme

The Price: Including EMS shipping from Mandarake, $315

I paid that price because I really wanted it and getting it from Japan, even with shipping, was still cheaper than eBay prices from the US.

Yes, it was totally worth it. I absolutely love it.

A bit of a oofff for Omega, but if you waited longer it would have been way worse.

I consider that even at 300$US, Siege Omega Supreme is well worth it indeed.

-Kanrabat- wrote:A bit of a oofff for Omega, but if you waited longer it would have been way worse.

I consider that even at 300$US, Siege Omega Supreme is well worth it indeed.

Yeah, looking at the prices of the other Titans, I’m not going to wait too long to pick up Scorponok. I got Black Zarak on the awesome Pulse sale, and The Ark is coming from BBTS on Friday. Ordered it when they had him for $135.

Takara Selects Super Megatron, had to pay 91 USD for it. No regrets.

william-james88 wrote:Takara Selects Super Megatron, had to pay 91 USD for it. No regrets.

From 90$can to 90$us, it could have been way worse.

I regret skipping him though.

william-james88 wrote:Takara Selects Super Megatron, had to pay 91 USD for it. No regrets.

May I ask where you happened to obtain it? There was a used one on eBay starting at $80 US. I went up to $100, but got outbid. I think it sold for around $120. I know at that point " what difference is $20", but even I have my limits. I'd like to get one for under $100 if possible, especially after paying almost $140 for Star Convoy.

o.supreme wrote:

william-james88 wrote:Takara Selects Super Megatron, had to pay 91 USD for it. No regrets.

May I ask where you happened to obtain it? There was a used one on eBay starting at $80 US. I went up to $100, but got outbid. I think it sold for around $120. I know at that point " what difference is $20", but even I have my limits. I'd like to get one for under $100 if possible, especially after paying almost $140 for Star Convoy.

I bought it off ebay last year mint in sealed box. It was just after it sold out at primary retailers. I definitely had FOMO, so I paid that extra fee for dealing with the secondary market with a pretty good idea that this toy would only go up later.

Ok, gotcha, I just thought with as often as you pick up items, it would be more recent.

Then again, you are pretty efficient at finding great prices, so it's probably not often you pay a higher amount.

o.supreme wrote:Ok, gotcha, I just thought with as often as you pick up items, it would be more recent.

Then again, you are pretty efficient at finding great prices, so it's probably not often you pay a higher amount.

If you're American (You're allowed to EMS), you can try your luck at Mandarake.
You never know what you may find.

o.supreme wrote:Ok, gotcha, I just thought with as often as you pick up items, it would be more recent.

Then again, you are pretty efficient at finding great prices, so it's probably not often you pay a higher amount.

This purchase was definitely an exception.

Assuming that "least expensive of the expensive" counts...

-- What was the toy and how much was it?
The toy was Selects Snaptrap/Turtler, for $73.80 shipped - $81.36 after taxes.

-- Why did you didn't mind paying that price and why did you "had no choice" but to pay that price?
I didn't mind as such because while it was steep, it was the cheapest listing and I didn't see things getting cheaper any time soon lol. And I wanted to at least start on getting the Seacons.

-- Was it worth it?
To be determined. But he's at least been fun to play with and use as a torso so far, although he does share Hun-Gurrr's less-than-ideal back-and-forth hip ratchets in that use (Another point against the people who STILL insist Hun-Gurrr is a Silverbolt retool - warping their minds into a pretzel to say things like they share the same "skeleton" - rather than an engineering clone, despite them not actually sharing parts: Silverbolt does have good firm hip rotation in torso mode)

Update on my earlier posts. I finally found a Tentakil I deemed an acceptable price so I got him and now the big beast is complete. He strikes a very foreboding presence and I'm glad I finally completed him. Even though Overbite makes an unwieldy gun, Tentakil is a very solid leg and King Poseidon stands very stable.

I'm now 1 step closer to completing my G1 combiner collection. I need Legacy Menasor and hopefully in a couple of years a better Bruticus comes down the line and I'll be done.