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Ryan has updated the Convention & Club Exclusive toy galleries section with the addition to the Botcon 2007 Exclusive Classic Seekers. These 3 were included in the boxset, and finissh off the Classic Seekers (Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet were sold in retail). You can check out more than 80 images each of Thundercracker, Thrust and Dirge. Also be sure to check out Classic Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet

i cannot believe that hasbro has so screwed fans by making these (as ironic as that sounds), yes they are there to be had at a price but that means that favourite $10 seekers will never get to the stores, why these couldnt be released generally and the botcon exclusives be all clear/all black or something typically 'exclusive' is very annoying. I consider myself a (discerning) TF fan despite my meagre 70 or so toys, but i would have got these if they were available generally. continued below incase anybody pulls me up for whining here.....

microclone wrote:i cannot believe that hasbro has so screwed fans by making these

I've tried arguing politely, discussing the relevant issues of the release, and even encouraging people to get these when and while they could.

I think though, that the time for maturity is over.

I can't explain how happy I am to have a set of these. For the win, it's me and approximately 999 other fans!

My fiance sold her set of toys from the show. Talk about screwing some other hapless fan. They paid $450 for the three seekers. Don't blame Hasbro for any misery surrounding these toys, it's entirely my fault.

I still feel bad for the people that wanted to go to the con but couldn't go due to distance or expense. I won't feel bad for anyone who refused to put an order in for an Iacon package or who insists on bad mouthing the companies that gave us these opportunities.

in this case I feel that fans have been screwed.

Trust me, im not some rabid little G1 er all mad, the fact that i personally will not get these (due to high price of those that are out there and the future non availability of classics seekers in stores) doesnt bother me, not one bit, I would have had them had they been in stores, i wont search the ends of the earth for toys but will buy them if on a peg in front of me. The reason why i think this is a wretched release is that:

1) to get them you had/have to pay a considereble sum anyway (we are all guilty of having more money than sense anyway (theres a months food supply in that $450 tag-was that the price!!)
2)these are classic characters done as exclusives, ie much wanted pieces
3)and because of (2) they are (unlikely) to be seen at retail in this or even a similar classic incarnation.

now had they done a set of all chromed toys (for eg) as the exclusive that wouldnt be a disservice to fans as they would be exclusive type items in the traditional sense.

I'm not going to scream hasbrosucks (as an eg i am one of those who reckons the new animated series toys are going to rock) because I dont care as they are just toys but I can understand why this exclusive set (mainly for the seekers) is considered hitting fans under the belt. the real bummer is that aside from the g1 status, they are really nice toys anyway and awesome repaints unlike many exclusive toys. the classic seekers to my mind are an example of a perfect blend of g1 and new toys. A pushing 40 old skool diaclone fan and a 5 year old can both like these.

Those of you who got these have every right to be please as punch. I mean, you're what, one of a thousand or so who gets to complete their classics seeker set for perfectly reasonable price?

Hasbro truly is a generous toy company. I mean, as opposed to cutting costs logically and releasing the first classic seeker mold as a repaint so that we could at least have the 3 original seekers as half a complete set that most of us would have been happy with, they nixed thundercracker and invested more money into a new mold to give us ramjet. It makes perfect financial sense, especially if you plan on playing on the completist mentality of your target demographic, to spend that extra bit of money on that new mold so that you can release the remaining 3 as reasonably priced exclusives.

All of you know that the seeker set wouldn't have been in as much demand if we had gotten thundercracker, as opposed to ramjet, released to retail. And hasbro knew that too.

I really am sorry I couldn't afford them; especially after hasbro went to all this trouble to release them at a great price.

Starscream - Got him.
Skywarp - not available in Quebec. Smeg.
Ramjet - Got him, finally.
The Other Three - Ah, screw it.

I figure I'll just get another Starscream, paint him blue and see how that works out.

Releasing highly desirable figures as convention exclusives is probably one of the smartest moves that has ever been done for BotCon. No more made-up characters like MegaZarak and Catscan. Real tried and true characters that you just have to have to complete your collection. After years of people saying "meh" to the convention exclusives, I think it's absolutely brilliant that they released these as convention exclusives. Things like this will only help boost attendance at the convention. You have to go now in order to complete your collection. I think it's really, really smart of them to do this.

Like Counterpunch, I love my BotCon 2007 exclusives. They're awesome figures. And they're all that much more special because of how high in-demand these figures are.

Kudos to the convention folks for this decision. Thank you for finally giving me an exclusive after 14 years that people really want. That's the whole idea of an exclusive.

It's funny that it's cheaper to get the original 6 than these 6.. funny peculiar, not funny ha-ha. I'm not laughing.

microclone wrote:i cannot believe that hasbro has so screwed fans by making these (as ironic as that sounds), yes they are there to be had at a price but that means that favourite $10 seekers will never get to the stores, why these couldnt be released generally and the botcon exclusives be all clear/all black or something typically 'exclusive' is very annoying. I consider myself a (discerning) TF fan despite my meagre 70 or so toys, but i would have got these if they were available generally. continued below incase anybody pulls me up for whining here.....

in this case I feel that fans have been screwed.

Trust me, im not some rabid little G1 er all mad, the fact that i personally will not get these (due to high price of those that are out there and the future non availability of classics seekers in stores) doesnt bother me, not one bit, I would have had them had they been in stores, i wont search the ends of the earth for toys but will buy them if on a peg in front of me. The reason why i think this is a wretched release is that:

1) to get them you had/have to pay a considereble sum anyway (we are all guilty of having more money than sense anyway (theres a months food supply in that $450 tag-was that the price!!)
2)these are classic characters done as exclusives, ie much wanted pieces
3)and because of (2) they are (unlikely) to be seen at retail in this or even a similar classic incarnation.

now had they done a set of all chromed toys (for eg) as the exclusive that wouldnt be a disservice to fans as they would be exclusive type items in the traditional sense.

I'm not going to scream hasbrosucks (as an eg i am one of those who reckons the new animated series toys are going to rock) because I dont care as they are just toys but I can understand why this exclusive set (mainly for the seekers) is considered hitting fans under the belt. the real bummer is that aside from the g1 status, they are really nice toys anyway and awesome repaints unlike many exclusive toys. the classic seekers to my mind are an example of a perfect blend of g1 and new toys. A pushing 40 old skool diaclone fan and a 5 year old can both like these.

Aw man! I wish I could get those!! They are top of my wanted list. And i wish I could afford them too.

Nice looking work!

I seriously consider purchasing this set one of the single most intelligent things I've done in my TF collecting career. And to think--one could actually make up the $$ for purchasing the set by selling just Thundercracker on e-bay right now.

Anyone smell a similar Botcon '08 coming with Classics 2.0??

TFBuyer wrote:I seriously consider purchasing this set one of the single most intelligent things I've done in my TF collecting career. And to think--one could actually make up the $$ for purchasing the set by selling just Thundercracker on e-bay right now.

Anyone smell a similar Botcon '08 coming with Classics 2.0??

You know, I was worried about it happening again, but then after going to BotCon, all those fears went away.

The generousity of those Seibertron people there who were willing and able to pick up extra sets was just awesome.

So one way or another, I'll order the main set. If I can, or can't go, I'm sure one way or another the hook up will be there for attendee exclusives.

[Rant Mode: on]
The only thing I hate about this set is my inability of ever purchasing them, because I can't afford complete sets on a sit and by the time I have saved enough to get them (IF lucky) they would cost 10 what they cost today or would be completely sold out.

My only consolation is to download the pictures. You may beging posting pics of crtying babies as reply to my rant now, for all I care.
[Rant Mode: off]

seibertron.

id agree that making these a convention exclusive was a smart thing from the point of view of having a great set of toys as an exclusive, a great toy is a great toy. But as there are only 900 of them (is that correct??) it means that the majority of people who'd like to have bought the other 3 seekers as classics (and theres a good chance they would have bought them and there are likely 10's of thousands of those at a guesstimate) will never have the chance to get them (besides maybe they wouldnt have ever materialised anyway even if not exclusives). If you extrapolate it further and imagine a hasbro competition where the top prize was the 3 seekers and they only made one set (well one set that actually got given away) and then said and as this is a special prize we will never release classics seekers again, then i think everybody would be miffed, save the one with the prize. To my mind it can only be better when toys are on general release, then every kid and his dad can have one. I cannot see any advantage (relatively speaking) to 'wanted' exclusives outside of that from the point of view of collectors who manage to snag them or make money from them.

saying that i do feel only a tiny bit smug when i got an email from a friend in japan at wonderfest who asked did i want the black convoy at Y6500!! in hindsite im glad i said yes, I like it anyway.

The advantage of 'wanted' exclusives is that it drives footfall to the convention and brings in the money needed. The profits gained from these toys go some way to ensuring that the convention can continue and be improved upon. By having high-demand figures as exclusives, they can place a safe bet that they will sell enough to cover the cost of repainting / remolding the figures in the first place and even add some (all?) of the remainder to making next year's convention even better. Even though the figures are of a limited quantity, the convention itself is still open to everyone and surely giving people the chance to attend and purchase is a good thing.

I can't believe people are still complaining about this after months of it being public knowledge and after CB posted that sticky earlier in the year.

Leonardo wrote:The advantage of 'wanted' exclusives is that it drives footfall to the convention and brings in the money needed. The profits gained from these toys go some way to ensuring that the convention can continue and be improved upon. By having high-demand figures as exclusives, they can place a safe bet that they will sell enough to cover the cost of repainting / remolding the figures in the first place and even add some (all?) of the remainder to making next year's convention even better. Even though the figures are of a limited quantity, the convention itself is still open to everyone and surely giving people the chance to attend and purchase is a good thing.

I can't believe people are still complaining about this after months of it being public knowledge and after CB posted that sticky earlier in the year.

leonardo, i see your points and agree with you on the fact that the convention is technically open to all (despite logistic issues for the majority of the worlds fans!). Personally i wont lose any sleep over the fact that i dont have these toys and indeed for some reason i only now bothered to add to the thread, whatever the real pros and cons of this business are im sure there are more disgruntled people than happy ones over this.

overall (in closing) this wouldnt be such a bad thing if they werent what i see as THE DEFINITIVE versions of the seekers after gen 1 (and some of the best looking TF ever), if hasbro had repainted/retooled set of say energon starscream into the other seekers it would be less of an issue (and admittedly they would be less sought after but nice enough). as it stands I feel it would be as bad as making a trailer for classics prime as an exclusive, think how that would hurt!!

metalformer wrote:[Rant Mode: on]
The only thing I hate about this set is my inability of ever purchasing them, because I can't afford complete sets on a sit and by the time I have saved enough to get them (IF lucky) they would cost 10 what they cost today or would be completely sold out.

My only consolation is to download the pictures. You may beging posting pics of crtying babies as reply to my rant now, for all I care.
[Rant Mode: off]

No one is going to pick on you for an honest realization that you can't get the toys and are frustrated.

I couldn't get them last year. It sucked for me.

It is the irrational hating, bitching, and damning of Hasbro et al that bothers a lot of people.

microclone wrote:seibertron.

id agree that making these a convention exclusive was a smart thing from the point of view of having a great set of toys as an exclusive, a great toy is a great toy. But as there are only 900 of them (is that correct??) it means that the majority of people who'd like to have bought the other 3 seekers as classics (and theres a good chance they would have bought them and there are likely 10's of thousands of those at a guesstimate) will never have the chance to get them (besides maybe they wouldnt have ever materialised anyway even if not exclusives). If you extrapolate it further and imagine a hasbro competition where the top prize was the 3 seekers and they only made one set (well one set that actually got given away) and then said and as this is a special prize we will never release classics seekers again, then i think everybody would be miffed, save the one with the prize. To my mind it can only be better when toys are on general release, then every kid and his dad can have one. I cannot see any advantage (relatively speaking) to 'wanted' exclusives outside of that from the point of view of collectors who manage to snag them or make money from them.

saying that i do feel only a tiny bit smug when i got an email from a friend in japan at wonderfest who asked did i want the black convoy at Y6500!! in hindsite im glad i said yes, I like it anyway.

The problem with this theory/suggestion is that how to account for all of the exclusives in the past that they just couldn't sell? This is really the first time ever that the figures were must-have figures and guess what? They sold out. I'm pretty sure there are more than 999 of these figures available. I'm pretty sure there are 999 boxed sets but then there are a ton of loose sets as well. Either way, it's irrelevant how many there are because the demand seems greater than the supply, hence the high prices on eBay.

I think it's about time we've got some exclusives that are really worth a damn instead of guys like BotCon 2005 Dirge, Botcon 1995 Nightracer and the ridiculous Botcon (2002?) Cyclonus figure. Master Collector is giving us figures that we really want and that have been remolded, unlike Botcons prior to Master Collector's intervention.

Everyone bitched about Botcon 2005 Ratchet and Ironhide as well. Guess what? You know they're going to do something for Botcon 2008 as well that's going to get the fandom in a tizzy because the figure or figures aren't available at retail. Plan ahead. Save up your money. And just go to the dang convention so that you can get these figures.

When I hear the words "convention exclusive", I should be satisfied thinking that i've got something highly desirable that the general population does not have because I went to the convention. That's the whole idea behind convention exclusives. If you think we shouldn't get awesome exclusives like this in the future, then what's the point of having a convention exclusive? There were years in the past Botcons when they had rather crappy exclusives that people just didn't buy the exclusives because they weren't that great. There were years I went that I didn't buy the exclusives because I really didn't care for them that much. And now I can't wait to see what really awesome figures we'll be getting next year. These are exclusives I care about.

I do want you guys to know that I understand your frustrations. It would be great if these figures had been released at retail. But they weren't. They weren't going to be. And I'm sure had these 3 made it to retail, they would've been pegsitters long after the "fans" bought them. All parents will see is another jet that looks similar to the one their kid already has. It sucks, I know, but it is what it is. There's not a lot of sense wasting energy complaining about these exclusives because it's not going to change and I'm sure something similar will happen again in 2008, especially after the success of this year's convention exclusives.

Yep all the whining and bitching at Hasbro and FunPub for the toys is pointless.

Fact: Classics was done when all the figures were released.
Fact: FunPub wanted to do the other seekers since the molds were great
Fact: FunPub wanted to make a set that folks really wanted.
Fact: It was released for non-attendees and made as affoardable as FunPub could offer, Hasbro really couldn't dictate the price.
Fact: FunPub saw the procedes from the set and souvie sales not Hasbro.

Only reason we even see these figures is because FunPub trieds to get these things into the collectors hands. They had no idea the set would be as popular as it was. They've never sold out before the show. Ever. And this was even the largest run of toys we've seen yet.

I knew they were going to be great, I'd want them, and they would be hard to get, so I made sure if there was any TFs I wanted this year it was the 2007 set. I just wish I could have picked up a bagged set too seeing how well they are selling, I could have made the money back for both sets.

Yes it sucks you couldn't get it but blaming Hasbro and FunPub will only tick off people here.

lastly...

my core contention is that homage repaints like bumblebee, jetfire are fine, even grimlock could have been trypticon, but the 3 seekers are not simple homage fun 'add on' repaints, they are toys that should (ok, could)have been part of the core line, they are THE toys themselves, not a homage repaint. now if this is the only way any given piece can be realised then thats fine as anything is better than nothing. Hopefully though the same wont happen, imagine a nice prowl being retooled as a very nice smokescreen and being an exclusive, thats what I have an issue with, if he was recoloured into a little optimus for eg than thats the fun 'add on' part that nobody could really take offence to, but as smokescreen or streak, thats when people start complaining as if series 3 did become realised then smokescreen (from my example) wouldnt be one of the toys on the 'to make' list.

Oh God! I hope the BotCon 08 exclusives aren't Classics too. I vowed to collect every figure and that included going to BotCon myself. It was terribly expensive for me to do so. And although I've been saving money, I'd rather spend that money on something like a car or tuition.

UltraPrimal wrote:Oh God! I hope the BotCon 08 exclusives aren't Classics too. I vowed to collect every figure and that included going to BotCon myself. It was terribly expensive for me to do so. And although I've been saving money, I'd rather spend that money on something like a car or tuition.

That's what I was thinking at first, but after some more thought and the realization that getting the Iacon Package wasn't that big a deal....I can deal with more classics....

Maybe an exclusive Autobot set next year? Let's just see what Classics 2.0 brings first!

TFBuyer wrote:

UltraPrimal wrote:Oh God! I hope the BotCon 08 exclusives aren't Classics too. I vowed to collect every figure and that included going to BotCon myself. It was terribly expensive for me to do so. And although I've been saving money, I'd rather spend that money on something like a car or tuition.

That's what I was thinking at first, but after some more thought and the realization that getting the Iacon Package wasn't that big a deal....I can deal with more classics....

Maybe an exclusive Autobot set next year? Let's just see what Classics 2.0 brings first!

Sideswipe at retail, Sunstreaker at BotCon.

oh the fun times we will have!

Wow as usually Ryan took some awsome pictures. Keep up the great job.

Thanks.

(P.S.) I love my set of seekers Funpub did alright by me. Oh yeah the Bugbite figure is cool too!

Counterpunch wrote:

TFBuyer wrote:

UltraPrimal wrote:Oh God! I hope the BotCon 08 exclusives aren't Classics too. I vowed to collect every figure and that included going to BotCon myself. It was terribly expensive for me to do so. And although I've been saving money, I'd rather spend that money on something like a car or tuition.

That's what I was thinking at first, but after some more thought and the realization that getting the Iacon Package wasn't that big a deal....I can deal with more classics....

Maybe an exclusive Autobot set next year? Let's just see what Classics 2.0 brings first!

Sideswipe at retail, Sunstreaker at BotCon.

oh the fun times we will have!

MY GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!1


If we weren't already told that they were doing Sideswipe and Sunstreaker at retail, I would consider throttling you

I really don't want a bot set to be a con excl, cos then there would be very little chance of me getting the figures, and I would be truly heart-broken.

Although, with the way the classics releases are going, maybe we could see a non-combining Stunticon set?