The Energon Pub

[Rijie]

Since we are still seeing such an influx of new people in the wonderful world of TF collecting, I am reading a lot of confusion as to what exactly constitutes the Movie "Premium Series", just now seeing mass release.

Some basic guidelines:

--Premium figures are repainted Movie cast figures, geared more towards collectors who wanted better-detail, better paint application, movie accuracy, etc. These, for the most part, will be the last figures to ship from the Movie line.

--Mass-release Premiums have silver highlights on the packaging, and new bios. Exclusive Premiums are packaged differently, depending on the store.

--The Movie line has already seen a plethora of repaints, mostly by the way of "Battle-Damaged" or G1-homage store exclusives, and the Allspark releases. I mention this because I see a lot of confusion regarding what actually qualifies as Premium, and what doesn't. Battle-Damaged Voyager Prime and Vardia Starscream are not part of the Premium series, but, other Exclusives, like Target Exclusive Deep Space Starscream, and Best Buy Exclusive Ratchet are part of the Premium set.

Confused? Well let me clear that up. Here's a comprehensive list of the Premiums, and where they are, or have been, available:

Leader:

Optimus Prime(Mass retail, just released in US.)
Megatron(Same.)

Voyager:

Ratchet(US Best Buy Exclusive, released last Nov/Dec, also saw release overseas.)
Megatron(Same as above.)
Optimus Prime("Robo-Vision" US Target Exclusive, released last year on street date.)
Ironhide(Mass Retail, just released in US.)
Blackout(Same.)
Starscream("Deep Space" US Target Exclusive, available late spring.)

Deluxe:

Concept Bumblebee(Mass retail, out this month.)
Barricade(Same.)
Jazz(Same.)

Brawl, Bonecrusher, or Skorponok will not be given the Premium treatment.

Anything not on the list simply qualifies as a promotion(Vardia Starscream/Lawson's BB) or just an Exclusive(Sam's Club BD Prime, Target BD Bumblebees.)

The Premium Series was initially intended to be made up solely of Exclusives, but that idea fell by the wayside, as Hasbro's time fell short.

Free free to discuss, add to the list, or correct me if needed.