The Energon Pub

Hi guys, I'm new, but I'm not. I used to post a ton around here from 2007-2008 under the names "Cormaster628", and "Galvatron628". Anyway I am looking for answers. I'm really confused about the Prime toys. I was looking forward to them coming out. And now the toys they are selling look like pure crap compared to the pictures I saw. And further more it seems I'm seeing those awesome toys on Amazon under the "first edition" banner, with extremely high price tags! Can someone shed some light on this for me? Yeah I know "search" but honestly I just don't feel like digging through a 1000 topics to figure this out.

Hasbro first intended to release a short series of First Edition toys, but that series only saw wide release in Canada and Asia (mostly Singapore), while the US only got a glimpse of the line at certain Toys 'R Us stores. Their rarity explains their high prices, but Hasbro has said they're looking into a re-release.

Later the Robots in Disguise line was released, which is now the standard. That's the line you'll find in all stores. It's abbreviated to "PRiD" to distinguish it from the 2001 line of the same name. It's often considered inferior to First Edition, just so you know.

They aren't really inferior IMO, they're just different. They're definitely more mass market then the FE's. There's nothing wrong with the RID versions, and in some ways they are superior to the FE ones. In general though, they tend to be simpler to transform and a little less detailed. The FE's are great too, but there's nothing wrong with the RID versions. You won't find the FE's in the stores really, so that's another factor. Most of the FE's are going for ~30 on the Deluxe's and ~60+ for the voyagers, so just keep that in mind. If you don't have ANY prime figures, I'd suggest just buying what you can find in stores and then buy the FE's if you happen to come across them for a decent price. I'm trying to find the voyagers now and it's mostly a pain finding them for a decent price.

Good luck!

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:It's often considered inferior to First Edition, just so you know.

Often, but not always!
A good example is the kibble-free Vehicon, and some tend to say Arcee is better in her PRiD mold; I don't have the figure, so I can't tell.

The PRiD line, being the standard, as JelZe pointed out, does include all the new figures coming out, with gems (in my opinion) such as Wheeljack and Soundwave.

In the end it's up to preference, and how much money you can spend on toys.

Like everybody mentioned, FE was a limited run last year. Here are the figures:

FE Deluxe
Bumblebee
Cliffjumper
Arcee
Starscream
Vehicon (Japan excusive)
Optimus/megatron 2 pack

FE Voyager
Prime
Bulkhead.

FEs now cost a bomb, and here are the ones worth hunting down:
Voyager Prime (It's prime, it looks way more badass than the PRID one)
Bulkhead (Looks way superior to PRID, sadly, it's not worth $100 to me at least)
Bumblebee (Yep, no automorph gimic here, better proportions too)
Starscream (Only if you care that much about scale. PRID Starscream is still great, just too big since it's a voyager to scale with the others)

As for the others:
Cliffjumper: PRID one is smaller, but more show accurate
Arcee: Colour might be a shade off, but it still works.
Vehicon: The PRID one actually has less kibble and sleeker like in its CG model.
Starscream: Again, PRID one passes, just abit too big as a voyager.

Thanks for the quick replies. Think my days of spending top dollar on transformers are over. But ive been collecting for quite some time and if I know hasbro, better toys will come later. Really my main beef with the store toys is poor color choices. So hopefully better painted ones are still to come.

cor-master wrote:Thanks for the quick replies. Think my days of spending top dollar on transformers are over. But ive been collecting for quite some time and if I know hasbro, better toys will come later. Really my main beef with the store toys is poor color choices. So hopefully better painted ones are still to come.

One more thing: unlike the past, TakaraTomy versions of PRiD have little to no paint. Instead they have stickers, the trade-off is that they come with Mini-Cons that you build yourself.

Worth noting, FE Bumblebee and the NYCC BB/Arcee two-pack are still available on Hasbro Toy Shop.

http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/transforme ... ST=NW&PG=1

http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/transforme ... ST=SO&PG=1

RAcast wrote:Worth noting, FE Bumblebee and the NYCC BB/Arcee two-pack are still available on Hasbro Toy Shop.

http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/transforme ... ST=NW&PG=1

http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/transforme ... ST=SO&PG=1

So is Optimus, albeit the deluxe size, not the voyager, but it costs as much as a voyager because it's a comic-con "exclusive"

http://www.hasbrotoyshop.com/transforme ... ST=SO&PG=1