The Energon Pub

One day at Meijer I saw the very last Meister alternator, and after hanging around here I was curious about alternators. So I grabbed him. I haven't opened him yet as I'm still intrigued by my movie toys. Tonight, at a Walmart other then my usual, I found the one and only Sunstreaker they had in the clearance isle. They also had a couple Ricochets, but I passed him up. I haven't opened Sunstreaker yet either.

But I've really really been tempted to. Since I may not be able to get seconds on each, should I just break down and open them or leave them MISB? Like my movie toys, I have 3 open leader Primes and one in MISB, and I have 2 BB's open and one MISB. But since I may not find these guys again to get copies, do I dare open them just because I'm curious?

Also, is Ricochet any good, because there were a couple of him on clearance as well, so I could have my cake and eat it too with him.

Edit: I should note I really like the alternators for their car forms mostly. I think the scaled cars are great looking. Them turning into robots is a bonus feature. lol.

I haven't opened my Alts but in general I wait to open my TFs until I feel it is time. When you ask? Usually when I feel blue or I need something to cheer me up and relax a bit.

Personally I like the ALt forms forms more than the bot forms. Congrats finding some great Alts, I'd keep them MISB. If you end up changing your mind and don't want them lmk via PM.

Cheers.

Get Ricochet, because it is an awesome mold and Silverstreak and Smokescreen are not widely available.

Just curious how much your local Walmart is clearing the Alternators for?

One of my local Walmarts does it as low as $4.00.

Cheers!

coolpop wrote:Just curious how much your local Walmart is clearing the Alternators for?

One of my local Walmarts does it as low as $4.00.

Cheers!

Not nearly that good. I'm not familiar with his usual price, but they had him marked down to 19 bucks. Our Walmarts don't mark down much at all, we were talking about that as we walked through Clearance. My gf's store doesn't even have a Clearance. They did have two leader class Cybertron Metroplex's too.

I made a huge mistake one day. I passed up the blue Corvette, who was that? Tracks? He was the only one there, I had him in my hand and really wanted him, but I got something else instead. Never seen him again.

Okay, another question. Can you tell me more about Meister. Mine is the all white version, the Seibertron gallery calls him Binaltech Meister. Who came first?

Binaltech's are made of metal. They chip. Alternators are made of plastic. They don't look quite as realistic, but are still very good. Binaltech Meister is simply noting that it is a Binaltech, not an Alternator. I think the Binaltechs came out first.

Sportimus Prime wrote:Binaltech's are made of metal. They chip. Alternators are made of plastic. They don't look quite as realistic, but are still very good. Binaltech Meister is simply noting that it is a Binaltech, not an Alternator. I think the Binaltechs came out first.

So then are all plain white Meisters Binaltechs or did they make a plain white alternator version too? I'm a little confused now. I hadn't dreamed he could be metal inside that box. Now I'm even more curious about opening him...

there used to be a great resource site, but it went down; check out Ben's World for lots of info:
http://bwtf.com/alternators/
http://bwtf.com/binaltech/

anything that's sitting around these days is probably pretty common - especially simple recolors like Ricochet, Rollbar, and Sunstreaker; re-releases (Tracks, the Corvette, and Meister/Jazz, the white Mazda) are also fairly common. I'm still looking for some of them,, though, so if they're steeply discounted ($4!) PM me with what you can find

don't be confused!

they are separate lines and both lines have the robots in different colors (sometimes) like Tracks will be in yellow and blue, Jazz(meister) will be in red ad white.

So you might end up like the current situation where the original (Tracks) is still widely available in stores, bots made fromt that same mold (swerve) or those that are 95% identical (battle ravage) have become rare simply because they were produced less.


Check the list here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers:_Alternators

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List of Alternators

   1. Smokescreen - Subaru Impreza WRC
   2. Side Swipe - Dodge Viper
   3. Autobot Hound - Jeep Wrangler
   4. Silverstreak - Subaru Impreza WRX
   5. Autobot Tracks - Chevrolet Corvette C5 Z06
   6. Dead End - Dodge Viper
   7. Meister (aka Autobot Jazz) - Mazda RX-8
   8. Swindle - Jeep Wrangler
   9. Grimlock - Ford Mustang GT
  10. Windcharger - Honda S2000
  11. Battle Ravage - Chevrolet Corvette C5 Convertible
  12. Shockblast - Mazda RX-8
  13. Wheeljack - Ford Mustang GT
  14. Decepticharge - Honda S2000
  15. Swerve - Chevrolet Corvette C5 Z06
  16. Prowl - Acura RSX
  17. Autobot Skids - Scion xB
  18. Sunstreaker - Dodge Viper
  19. Rollbar - Jeep Wrangler
  20. Ricochet - Subaru Impreza WRX
  21. Optimus Prime - Dodge Ram SRT-10
  22. Mirage - Ford GT
  23. Autobot Camshaft - Acura RSX
  24. Nemesis Prime - Dodge Ram SRT-10 (SDCC 2006/Hasbro Toy Shop exclusive) (Labeled No. 24 on the box)
  25. Decepticon Rumble - Honda Civic Si (Labeled No. 24 on the box) (Wal-Mart exclusive)
  26. Ravage - Jaguar XK (Wal-Mart exclusive)
  27. Rodimus - Ford GT (SDCC 2007/Hasbro Toy Shop exclusive) (Labeled Rodimus Prime on the instruction sheet)

[edit] List of Binaltech

Binaltech figures are essentially a collector-oriented version of Alternators, featuring fully painted car bodies and die-cast metal parts, in comparison to Alternators, which are entirely plastic and generally have unpainted car bodies in order to keep costs down. Additionally, various Binaltech figures had repainted variants that Hasbro did not release.

   1. BT-01 Smokescreen - Subaru Impreza WRC 2003 (#7 & #8)
   2. BT-02 Lambor - Dodge Viper SRT-10
   3. BT-03 Streak - Subaru Impreza WRX
   4. BT-04 Hound - Jeep Wrangler
   5. BT-05 Dead End - Dodge Viper Competition Coupe
   6. BT-06 Tracks - Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (Millennium Yellow & LeMans Blue Metallic)
   7. BT-07 Smokescreen GT - Subaru Impreza WRC 2004 (#1 & #2)
   8. BT-08 Meister - Mazda RX-8 (Crystal White Pearl & Velocity Red Mica)
   9. BT-09 Swindle - Jeep Wrangler custom
  10. BT-10 Grimlock - Ford Mustang GT
  11. BT-11 Ravage - Chevrolet Corvette
  12. BT-12 Overdrive - Honda S2000
  13. BT-13 Laserwave - Mazda RX-8 Mazdaspeed Version
  14. BT-14 Wheeljack - Mustang GT Street Tuning
  15. BT-15 Prowl - Honda Integra Type-R (Patrol Type & Vivid Blue Pearl)
  16. BT-16 Skids - Toyota bB
  17. BT-17 Black Convoy - Dodge Ram SRT-10 (Wonderfest 2007/e-Hobby exclusive)
  18. BT-18 Rijie Electro-Disrupter Version - Ford GT (e-Hobby exclusive)

Binaltech Asterisk

   1. BTA-1 Alert meets Ai Kuruma - Subaru Impreza WRX Prefecture Police Type & Policewoman
   2. BTA-2 Sunstreaker meets Junko Shirakami - Dodge Viper GTS & Race Queen
   3. BTA-3 Broadblast meets Lumina Hoshi - Toyota bB TV Interview Vehicle & Scene News Reporter

Kiss Players

   1. Convoy x Melissa - Dodge Ram SRT-10
   2. Hot Rodimus x Syao Syao - Ford GT
   3. Autorooper x Atari - Mazda RX-8 Patrol Car

Kiss Players Figure Collection

This line varies from the Kiss Players as the vehicles are done in a miniature scale while the PVC girls have been scaled up

   1. Atari Hitotonari x Autorooper - Mazda RX-8 Patrol Car Micron


Well, I think I'm less enthusiastic now about Sunstreaker now knowing the difference. Plus at 19 bucks, it doesn't seem like a good deal in the clearance isle now. What the heck was he before?

Pontimax 01 wrote:Well, I think I'm less enthusiastic now about Sunstreaker now knowing the difference. Plus at 19 bucks, it doesn't seem like a good deal in the clearance isle now. What the heck was he before?

this is from the tfarchive.com link:

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18   Dodge Viper - Sunstreaker   6 Dead End   Sunstreaker (with "Junko" driver figure, without black stripes and with differently painted details)   81326 / 81328   $19.99   December 2005
OUT   

Well, so much for a deal at Walmart. I think they marked him down a grand 20 cents then.

No wonder they didn't put his original price on the clearance tag, they barely did anything.

Pontimax 01 wrote:Well, so much for a deal at Walmart. I think they marked him down a grand 20 cents then.

No wonder they didn't put his original price on the clearance tag, they barely did anything.

that's actually a typical "discount" strategy. but then, at this rate, I'd grab all the alternators I can get because you'll be happy you did when the stores are empty in a month or two.

Well, I figured after I got Meister for 17.xx at Meijer, and they had him listed on the clearance ticket as regular 26.99, that this must have been the same case. But it sounds like Sunstreaker doesn't list as high.

Edit: Just out of curiousity, what's Cybertron leader Metroplex's story? They had him discounted for 39.96 or so, about the price of a Movie Leader Prime.

Pontimax 01 wrote:But it sounds like Sunstreaker doesn't list as high.

nope, Sun is pretty common, best part is, he is available in Holland too at some chain stores while he isn't even officially released in Europe

The difference between plain white BT Meister and coloured Alt. Meister is that he's had labels from reprolebals.com applied. They do plenty of upgrade sets for Alt and BT toys.

Gaaar,
Doug

I may as well open Sunstreaker then it sounds like.

Pontimax 01 wrote:I may as well open Sunstreaker then it sounds like.

I've played with Swindle and Side Swipe so far and it'll either let you down or get you excited. transforming them and lining up the parts in car mode can be a bit of a challenge and if the bot mode let's you down you realize why you should've left them in their protective bubble in car mode

I love the Alternators. Sunstreaker is a bit on the chubby side in bot mode but he's still pretty cool. I love all 4 of my Alternators and don't regret opening any of them, including the SDCC Rodimus.