Some Power Of the Primes Figures Shipping With Two Prime Masters: Report
Sunday, December 24th, 2017 1:50PM CST
Categories: Toy News, Site ArticlesPosted by: Bronzewolf Views: 32,915
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Several Seibertronians from across the country and the world have run into this situation, ruling out that this factory error is a one off, or that it's location based in some way. In fact, one of our board members, Agamemnon, even madw a visual guide so you can tell if the copy you're thinking of picking up has two Prime Masters inside. You can find his photos below.
(Empty Shell)
(Full Shell)
(Empty Shell)
(Full Shell)
The way the Pretender shell should appear in package (well, the most common at this point, I guess) is the face won't be showing. There is also a gap between the legs
It's unknown how these errors are occuring, but there have been no reports of Micronus or Vector Primes shipping without any Prime Masters at all.
Several Seibertron board members have expressed interest in documenting this strange anomaly, so if you run into any Power of the Primes figure that includes two Prime Masters please leave a comment in the Energon Pub Forums below. There might be some information on your figure that could help us track down exactly what production lot run these errors are coming from!
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Posted by thedistinctroom on December 24th, 2017 @ 3:56pm CST
Posted by DeathReviews on December 24th, 2017 @ 4:09pm CST
Posted by Decepticon Stryker on December 24th, 2017 @ 4:19pm CST
DeathReviews wrote:Not only that, but some of the Prime Masters have been packed into the wrong 'boxes'. The display cards for Vector Prime were on Micronus' figure, and vice-verse, in at least one TRU, according to my minions...
You have minions? I want minions!
Anyway, this is something that'll probably never hit me seeing that only deluxes and legends have appeared in my area, and will most likely be fixed by the time they arrive...
Posted by Skritz on December 24th, 2017 @ 8:58pm CST
HOWEVER! Those Rob Liefeldian proportions? Those over the top bracer/arms and big boots? That tiny head? This mold would rock as Skyquake (maybe with some jet mode retooling?) or as a G2 Comic-inspired Jhiaxus. Now THAT, my friends, would really allow this mold to shine in my opinion:
Posted by Rated X on December 25th, 2017 @ 9:28am CST
Posted by Rated X on December 25th, 2017 @ 9:45am CST
Skritz wrote:Having messed around with Starscream I can safely say: this mold IS salvageable. But not as Starscream. Now while I intend to keep this guy in my collection until a better voyager or deluxe seeker mold exist (if it ever exist, who knows where Generations will go after PotP?!) and is available at retail
HOWEVER! Those Rob Liefeldian proportions? Those over the top bracer/arms and big boots? That tiny head? This mold would rock as Skyquake (maybe with some jet mode retooling?) or as a G2 Comic-inspired Jhiaxus. Now THAT, my friends, would really allow this mold to shine in my opinion:
Ive never really been in that toy accurate camp that wants voyager seekers. I like my troops to stand eye to eye when they go to war so the deluxe classics seeker mold is perfect for me. I find the POTP starscream to be hideous. If you give it a giant head it could easily pass off as "super deformed" and be sold in Japan to those people who buy weird figures. Surprisingly the mold isnt bad as Elita one. The skinny thighs with big legs look like those furry stripper boots. And since the upper arms are painted a different color she wont look like Popeye. It would be cool if 3rd partys find a way to remove the cockpit and wings and add some stuff that makes her look like a space car from the G1 cartoon. You only see the front so they would have a blank canvas to work with.
http://tfwiki.net/wiki/File:ElitaVehicle01.jpg
Posted by Skritz on December 25th, 2017 @ 11:33am CST
Rated X wrote:so the deluxe classics seeker mold is perfect for me.
Yes, maybe so, but that mold is functionally unobtainable for me given its age.
Posted by Rated X on December 25th, 2017 @ 12:39pm CST
Skritz wrote:Rated X wrote:so the deluxe classics seeker mold is perfect for me.
Yes, maybe so, but that mold is functionally unobtainable for me given its age.
Ebay is a great way to obtain older transformers. You should be able to get a good price on all the Hasbro deluxe seekers except Skywarp. He will cost a bit more because he was a TRU exclusive.
Posted by chuckdawg1999 on December 25th, 2017 @ 12:51pm CST
Rated X wrote:Skritz wrote:Rated X wrote:so the deluxe classics seeker mold is perfect for me.
Yes, maybe so, but that mold is functionally unobtainable for me given its age.
Ebay is a great way to obtain older transformers. You should be able to get a good price on all the Hasbro deluxe seekers except Skywarp. He will cost a bit more because he was a TRU exclusive.
Target exclusive with Ultra Magnus. The set was collecting dust until Fans Project came out with their Ultra Magnus armor.
Posted by william-james88 on December 25th, 2017 @ 12:53pm CST
Rated X wrote:Skritz wrote:Rated X wrote:so the deluxe classics seeker mold is perfect for me.
Yes, maybe so, but that mold is functionally unobtainable for me given its age.
Ebay is a great way to obtain older transformers. You should be able to get a good price on all the Hasbro deluxe seekers except Skywarp. He will cost a bit more because he was a TRU exclusive.
Man, skywarp was so pricey, I got a better deal by buying the takara version.
Posted by Skritz on December 25th, 2017 @ 9:19pm CST
Plus...man...are the three coneheads even available in the 'Classics Seekers' mold? Weren't a few Botcon exclusives?
Posted by Jelze Bunnycat on December 25th, 2017 @ 9:33pm CST
Skritz wrote:Honestly? If not for their small size, I'd otherwise would have bought the DX9 seekers and gotten all six 'main' seekers. Sadly them being more or less legends class doesn't really 'work' for me.
Plus...man...are the three coneheads even available in the 'Classics Seekers' mold? Weren't a few Botcon exclusives?
They sure are, in several varieties to boot. Here's a list for you to look into:
Classics
Ramjet
BotCon 2007
Dirge (straight redeco of Ramjet)
Thrust (newly tooled wings)
Henkei
Ramjet
Dirge (new wings)
Thrust (new wings, different from BotCon)
Generations
Dirge (using Henkei wings)
Thrust (using Henkei wings)
United
Seekers: Elites
The Classic and Generations ones were general US retail to boot!
Posted by william-james88 on December 25th, 2017 @ 10:40pm CST
Well, the upcoming Figure King magazine (number 239) sheds some light on that and clarifies that indeed what we are seeing is true and intended to be the very same toys. There will be three pages dedicated to Takara's Transformers and the Snakas blog reports that we will not only see the same Power of the Primes toys we have already seen (and which many of us already own) but it will also discuss the new path Takara is taking with figures being identical to Hasbro. The Snakas blog quotes the magazine to say that the companies are "unifying the world brands on an unprecedented scale".
This does confirm the fears many fans had, where Takara is choosing not to do their own take on Generations toys, unlike what has been the case with the Legends line so far. While the movie toys have already been very similar between brands in the past, having other lines be identical at the same time is indeed unprecedented.
This definitely confirms that both companies are looking at their own markets first and foremost an that issuing the same toys for both markets must be more beneficial than the added money of imports. Or at least, this is what would seem to be the case with such an unprecedented decision.
While it does mean that the same deco from Hasbro's Power of the Primes will also be seen in the Takara releases under the same toyline name (which so far excludes complete combiner teams), it does bring about the idea that maybe Takara is satisfied with the deco for their own market. Jazz for instance is a deluxe combiner which uses clear plastic and thus demands a lot more paint and the only combining deluxe to also need that was Groove which was a Takara design. So instead of seeing this as Takara lowering their standards for deco, it could be that this unified deco instead takes the Hasbro deco to higher stanards than before. What do you think? Let us know!
Takara
Hasbro
Posted by Hydrargyrus on December 25th, 2017 @ 10:50pm CST
Posted by ToaLeePrime on December 25th, 2017 @ 10:58pm CST
MagicDeath wrote:Please nobody freak out.
*entire site proceeds to freak out*
Posted by william-james88 on December 25th, 2017 @ 11:01pm CST
ToaLeePrime wrote:MagicDeath wrote:Please nobody freak out.
*entire site proceeds to freak out*
Haha, but seriously I have seen little to no complaining on this specific site
Posted by ScottyP on December 25th, 2017 @ 11:08pm CST
'85 and '86 G1 would like a wordwilliam-james88 wrote:While the movie toys have already been very similar between brands in the past, having other lines be identical at the same time is indeed unprecedented.
While this news sucks and reeks of non-ironic Total Brand Awareness, I don't think surprise is the right emotion
Posted by fenrir72 on December 25th, 2017 @ 11:08pm CST
Availability first then the added bling (which is the bonus). Though the "unification" for both sides of the Pacific might also mean that some cost cutting is indeed coming the way ( here's hoping its not an ominous sign for the future ).
Posted by Seibertron on December 25th, 2017 @ 11:15pm CST
Posted by lbock on December 25th, 2017 @ 11:18pm CST
Posted by RodimusRex on December 25th, 2017 @ 11:23pm CST
Hasbro making every deco based on the G1 toys was also silly. Compromise decos would be ideal, honestly.
And for certain figures, a "DX" premium version from Takara would be nice. And it would also be nice if Tribute/Platinum used those decos rather than employ the somewhat weird decos Platinum would sometimes choose to do. (Tribute's been pretty sensible. It was Platinum that sometimes did real headscratchers.)
Posted by william-james88 on December 25th, 2017 @ 11:46pm CST
ScottyP wrote:'85 and '86 G1 would like a wordwilliam-james88 wrote:While the movie toys have already been very similar between brands in the past, having other lines be identical at the same time is indeed unprecedented.
I think they meant since the changes between toys became a norm And since there have been more than just one line as well.
Seibertron wrote:I am beyond thrilled about this change. Amen.
I have always been intrigued and interested in this view point since you know so much more about the markets (and their history) than I do. Plus you have the points of view of both the consumer and seller. So, when you have a moment, please share your thoughts as to why this is such a sensible path to take, I would like to know more
Posted by Rated X on December 26th, 2017 @ 12:47am CST
Posted by Agent 53 on December 26th, 2017 @ 12:48am CST
Posted by Skritz on December 26th, 2017 @ 2:05am CST
I mean can't be as bad as the Toys R Us TLK version of Stealth Bomber Megatron. That thing I ended up regretting deeply simply because how small and flimsy it felt. But at least Starscream has bulk, fills a hole in my collection and can be a combiner torso! Or am I making excuses for what seemingly the entire fanbase has declared a crummy figure? Because he's still not the hottest mess in my collection, even counting all the Beast Wars stuff. ESPECIALLY when counting the Beast Wars stuff.
Looking at you Injector and Retrax.
Posted by Aimless Misfire on December 26th, 2017 @ 2:30am CST
But it makes me wonder about Blurr. Which version would we have gotten? The awesome Takara or that Hasbro abomination?
Posted by Cyberpath on December 26th, 2017 @ 2:32am CST
Posted by Carnivius_Prime on December 26th, 2017 @ 2:40am CST
Aimless Misfire wrote:I like this because I'm sick of spending more on the Takara figures. Now I only have to worry about Hasbro & save a ton of money.
But it makes me wonder about Blurr. Which version would we have gotten? The awesome Takara or that Hasbro abomination?
Going by the TLK line I would assume it would primarily be Hasbro's vision of the toy...since those toys are mostly the same in both Hasbro and Takara versions and show lack of screen-accurate paint apps particularly on Wave 1 Bee and Voyager Prime's robot mode. Though in some cases at least the Takara versions come with more accessories like W3 Bee's hammer and Hound's shield/truck-backthingy. Past movie lines have generally had the Takara version looking improved in some way regarding paint apps and such. We know Takara loves cartoon-accuracy though but then that's complicated in itself cos some of us fans like more detail the original toys had and some prefer total toon-look and at least with the majority of the toys we had a choice even if the toon-fans had to generally pay a bit more to import. I'm usually one for the detail but even I bought Legends Blurr over Hasbro's just cos that Takara colour scheme was frickin' gorgeous and Hasbro's was super-drab.
I can get behind the unifying but only if it results in truly the best product. But even so I just don't see much in quality in the PotP line to begin with. I would prefer that Takara WOULD try improve on those toys considerably.
Posted by Nemesis Destron on December 26th, 2017 @ 2:46am CST
BUT if there is no humor involved in this disturbing outcome then I think we deserve some form of understanding to all this....please???
I will now accept this bizzaro-like reality and still hope that all this maybe some kind of research project to see how this might affect sales...'nuff said.
Posted by hushed on December 26th, 2017 @ 2:56am CST
Bronzewolf wrote:It's unknown how these errors are occuring, but there have been no reports of Micronus or Vector Primes shipping without any Prime Masters at all.
Several Seibertron board members have expressed interest in documenting this strange anomaly, so if you run into any Power of the Primes figure that includes two Prime Masters please leave a comment in the Energon Pub Forums below. There might be some information on your figure that could help us track down exactly what production lot run these errors are coming from!
Possibly we can find the errors are on specific production dates?
For those who aren't familiar with how Hasbro dates products:
My MAGA Jazz is numbered 72341. The 7 represents 2017, and 234 represents the 234rd day of the year. The 1 is a fairly standard on nearly all of their products. I don't think anyone has ever been able to track down what the 1 signifies. There are rare examples of GI Joe figures from the 80s ending with a 2 or a 3.
Posted by RAR on December 26th, 2017 @ 3:00am CST
Skritz wrote:Does it make me a bad toy collector that I don't find PotP 'screamer as horrific as everyone else says? He's really not the figure I regretted the most buying at retail price when he came out.
I mean can't be as bad as the Toys R Us TLK version of Stealth Bomber Megatron. That thing I ended up regretting deeply simply because how small and flimsy it felt. But at least Starscream has bulk, fills a hole in my collection and can be a combiner torso! Or am I making excuses for what seemingly the entire fanbase has declared a crummy figure? Because he's still not the hottest mess in my collection, even counting all the Beast Wars stuff. ESPECIALLY when counting the Beast Wars stuff.
Looking at you Injector and Retrax.
Retrax is a bit iffy as he can't stand up well - but his action feature is at least creative. Injector I've always really liked and lamented that he wasn't offered in other colours - perhaps that is in part due to Beast Wars Neo's use of the mould - But I just like Fuzors in general.
I don't hate Starscream for his mould I have 2 objections
1) Elita-One has a way better body so why didn't they give him more of her's after all Starscream is supposed to be lithe.
2) The Stickers are poorly placed, cheesy in their details and of low quality. - If they'd been smaller and inset or on a optional sticker sheet I'd not even mention it - but now I have to ponder if I want to rip them all off & repaint the entire figure and possibly kit bash parts from an Elita One or not - which isn't really ideal.
Grimlock isn't much better he's just as horribly disproportionate as Starscream is ; But at least the stickers are more tastefully placed ; he's likely going to need a 3rd party tail extension to look anywhere near correct though in dino mode.
I really like the Legends - they are all pretty much terrific the Primemasters are adorable (though I wish they'd kept the belly screws for customising reasons)
The Deluxes are 'OK' in a sort of Combiner Wars like way ; as I said I actually like Elita-One's body design more than Starscream's though I would have preferred and entire team of females to combine with her rather than a mix of genders.
It's not the best line ever an perhaps the gimmick isn't ideal - Rodimus Prime needs killing with fire - but otherwise they are not hateful or anything like that - the Legends in particular are actually "Good".
Posted by RAR on December 26th, 2017 @ 3:33am CST
I don't object to stickers so much as I object to BAD STICKERS. the ones they had as bonus sheets worked just fine for example. Typticon's stickers though were not great and he really needed some additional paint (like on the decks and ramps & his companion character).
Perhaps they could look into the idea of using coloured plastic inserts instead of the paint it might have some durability benefits too especially when it comes time to make things like Scorponok.
Oh there is one slight problem I see though for Takara and that might mean they have to carry on making the giftsets (namely Hydra & Buster) so perhaps the biggest issue (the Voyagers bad decos) might not be an issue at all if they carry on making Unite Warriors giftsets anyway.
Posted by RAR on December 26th, 2017 @ 3:34am CST
Posted by xMXUx on December 26th, 2017 @ 4:41am CST
Carnivius_Prime wrote:I can get behind the unifying but only if it results in truly the best product. But even so I just don't see much in quality in the PotP line to begin with. I would prefer that Takara WOULD try improve on those toys considerably.
I agree with this 100%. They way PotP is looking right now, I'm really not interested. And I feel like some deco changes like Takara usually does would've gone a long way to improve these toys and make me interested in them
Posted by King Kuuga on December 26th, 2017 @ 6:00am CST
Posted by Va'al on December 26th, 2017 @ 6:56am CST
King Kuuga wrote:If the lines are going to be identical we may as well move all conversation into the Hasbro POTP thread.
Eventually! Give me time to sort out stuff.
Posted by Wolfman Jake on December 26th, 2017 @ 8:23am CST
My hope is that Takara doesn't just get steamrolled by Hasbro in this new "unified brand" venture. I would like Takara to be able to step in during the design process and say, "Hasbro, I know you want to do this as cheaply as possible, but if you cut your margins just slightly and do the figure THIS way instead, it'll be THAT much better of a product and a better consumer value."
So far, though, I'm not too worried with what we have already seen from Takara's initial PotP line-up. It consists of what is probably the best decoed of Hasbro's Wave 1 of the series. There really isn't anything to do to change Windcharger to make him more animation accurate. Beachcomber could maybe have the Autobot emblem on his robot mode chest and lose the emblem on his hood in vehicle mode, but that's really it. Slash is a new character, so her colors can't be compared to a G1 toy or cartoon model anyway. Jazz looks fine as is (minus "MAGA" eventually, I would hope). There's nothing really to "fix" with the Prime Masters. Optimus Prime looks nearly perfect except for gray hands. Same goes with Rodimus Prime, except again for a few tiny details (at least as colors go).
What we haven't seen so far from Takara for PotP is more telling, honestly. I want to know what they're planning to do with the PotP combiner teams. I've got a feeling we'll be pleasantly surprised.
Posted by BeePrime on December 26th, 2017 @ 9:14am CST
I'll miss the extra touches Takara seemed to put into their figures though, as I'm sure we all know Hasbro is not about to go that route.
Such a shame.
Posted by Asepticon on December 26th, 2017 @ 9:46am CST
Posted by stevo on December 26th, 2017 @ 9:55am CST
Posted by Sabrblade on December 26th, 2017 @ 9:56am CST
I suspect it's the latter since Takara's POTP toys look exactly like Hasbro's, cartoon-inaccurate decos and foil stickers and all.Asepticon wrote:Well if it means Hasbro will up their quality of paint and deco, then it's good news, but if Takara plans to downscale their deco and paint, then this does not bode well.
Posted by o.supreme on December 26th, 2017 @ 10:30am CST
william-james88 wrote:Jazz for instance is a deluxe combiner which uses clear plastic and thus demands a lot more paint and the only combining deluxe to also need that was Groove which was a Takara design. So instead of seeing this as Takara lowering their standards for deco, it could be that this unified deco instead takes the Hasbro deco to higher stanards than before. What do you think? Let us know!
This is what I was thinking. sort of a middle meeting between higher quality, and cost based approach. So toys will be of slightly higher quality than in the past, but be a little more expensive, which we are seeing with PotP. So there is some good. But there is also some bad in that we probably wont see any unique toys to come from . In the past it was always fun to speculate on how would modify certain characters, or release completely new ones that chose not too.
Still...while the toys remain *exactly the same*, I imagine the packaging will still need to be region specific, and may offer some alternatives.
Back in the original series, while toys were the same, Takara still released gift sets for Bruticus, Predaking, Abominus...etc. that North America never got. I'm still hoping we may get Unite Warrior styled gift sets for PotP Volcanicus, Abominus, perhaps some of the other voyagers as well. Even if the toys are exactly the same, I'd go for the packaging in this case, which should be less expensive overall I would think, with this announcement, maybe $120-$130 range to import?
Posted by Agamemnon on December 26th, 2017 @ 10:42am CST
hushed wrote:Bronzewolf wrote:It's unknown how these errors are occuring, but there have been no reports of Micronus or Vector Primes shipping without any Prime Masters at all.
Several Seibertron board members have expressed interest in documenting this strange anomaly, so if you run into any Power of the Primes figure that includes two Prime Masters please leave a comment in the Energon Pub Forums below. There might be some information on your figure that could help us track down exactly what production lot run these errors are coming from!
Possibly we can find the errors are on specific production dates?
For those who aren't familiar with how Hasbro dates products:
My MAGA Jazz is numbered 72341. The 7 represents 2017, and 234 represents the 234rd day of the year. The 1 is a fairly standard on nearly all of their products. I don't think anyone has ever been able to track down what the 1 signifies. There are rare examples of GI Joe figures from the 80s ending with a 2 or a 3.
If anyone wants to track them, my Vector Prime has a datecode of 72691.
(Back when I was a quality supervisor for a company that used date codes like this, we had much the same numbering system. If I remember correctly, that last number was the shift, or perhaps the run number. I would venture a guess that would be the case here too with a possible shift number. Or perhaps a running change to the mold would flip that number? Just thinking out loud with educated guesses...)
Posted by leokearon on December 26th, 2017 @ 10:53am CST
Swoop has appeared on SMYTHS Irish site, not in stock and so far the only POTP Deluxe but at least we know they will be €20, which as will the Voyagers is cheaper that Titans Return
Posted by Agamemnon on December 26th, 2017 @ 11:06am CST
Posted by D-Maximal_Primal on December 26th, 2017 @ 11:46am CST
Still no figures here, but I'm still trying to wait another week before I actively try to find them
Posted by o.supreme on December 26th, 2017 @ 11:58am CST
Posted by william-james88 on December 26th, 2017 @ 12:59pm CST
o.supreme wrote:Still...while the toys remain *exactly the same*, I imagine the packaging will still need to be region specific, and may offer some alternatives.
Back in the original series, while toys were the same, Takara still released gift sets for Bruticus, Predaking, Abominus...etc. that North America never got. I'm still hoping we may get Unite Warrior styled gift sets for PotP Volcanicus, Abominus, perhaps some of the other voyagers as well. Even if the toys are exactly the same, I'd go for the packaging in this case, which should be less expensive overall I would think, with this announcement, maybe $120-$130 range to import?
For the toys under their POTP line, I would expect the packaging to be identical, just like what they did with TLK. But yeah their combined teams could offer different packaging since it would be sold a s box set. Nice G1 callback
And your range is dead on, thats how much Takara's Superion was at BBTS whe he came out.
Agamemnon wrote:My wallet like this, as does my shelf space. But, I will echo others here and wish for Takara's positive influence on Hasbro to help up the mold detailing/design and potentially increase the quality of the decors (more/effective paint!)
Sabrblade wrote:I suspect it's the latter since Takara's POTP toys look exactly like Hasbro's, cartoon-inaccurate decos and foil stickers and all.Asepticon wrote:Well if it means Hasbro will up their quality of paint and deco, then it's good news, but if Takara plans to downscale their deco and paint, then this does not bode well.
About all this, I find that POTP is the best example we have an thus I am curious to know what you all think of it. Comparing to previous years, is the deco better than usual? As I said, Jazz was surprising since Hasbro rarely used clear plastic for their combiner limbs. And Swoop had that cartoon/diaclone accurate chest. So do you guys feel this is Hasbro stepping up their game? How do you find them compared to Titans Return Arcee or Grotusque which were supposed to be more premium in deco than the other Titans Return toys?
I ask because even if I own them all, I cant really tell. To me, CW Trailbreaker was as premium as any other Hasbro products I own but none of these compare to the deco on, say, Unite Warriors Roller.
Posted by william-james88 on December 26th, 2017 @ 1:06pm CST
Skritz wrote:Does it make me a bad toy collector that I don't find PotP 'screamer as horrific as everyone else says? He's really not the figure I regretted the most buying at retail price when he came out.
You are free to like anything you want. As long as you have a collection, you are a collector What makes us all good or bad is how we treat eachother, not the contents of our collection.
And yeah, I know what you mean about TLK deluxe megs, but believe it or not, thats probably the best version of that mold so far. It came from a really rough time in Transformers toys where plastic felt super cheap. And he was one of the better ones.
RAR wrote:the Legends in particular are actually "Good".
Yeah, they are the best toys of the line to me. While every other class has a gimmick to conform to, the Legends class simply advance the transformation technology. Its nice to simply have generations toys again. They all feel as good as the ROTF scouts of old.
Posted by Sabrblade on December 26th, 2017 @ 1:06pm CST
And that's the only thing cartoon-specific about Swoop's deco. The rest of it is toy-specific, making the blue chest stand out against all the deco's non-cartoon aspects, like the black robot helmet.william-james88 wrote:And Swoop had that cartoon/diaclone accurate chest.