The originals... ok, not exactly, but the original named "The TransFormers" anyway. Take THAT, Diaclone! Generation 1, Generation 2 - Removable fists? Check. Unlicensed vehicle modes? Check. Kickass tape deck robot with transforming cassette minions? DOUBLE CHECK!!!
JediTricks wrote:Changed my mind and pulled the trigger with Anime Export. AmiAmi isn't a bad price, but the few bucks more and few bucks more shipping make a difference, and $44 now locks in the exchange rate.
I don't blame you, no reason to spend more money. I wasn't even familiar with Anime Export, AmiAmi's typically my go-to source for seeing when pre-orders are up (and already having an account with them with orders coming in pretty much every month means more reason to just get everything through them). That's a good point about the exchange rate too. Especially these days, with the rate as good as it is, I sometimes worry about ordering things too far in the future, and wondering what the price might *really* look like.
Not that I have pre-ordered Tracks (if it's almost too G1 for you, you know it's WAY too G1 for me!), I just find this an entertaining subject to talk about.
Man, we can all have a laugh at BBTS's prices, though.
Locking in the exchange rate is great for the early orders, but then like you said you have BBTS type places that just have fans paying through the nose because they missed out on those early orders - and that's what drives fans away from seeing these as fun figures rather than pedestal-queens that cost too much to think about, much less fiddle with. The irony is that at these prices, I can afford to take the risk because I know that if the figure isn't defective but I also don't love it, I can sell it and not lose money while someone else will still be getting a fantastic deal from me.
The funny part about Tracks is that the orange, the white, and the red are very G1, yet they so far have left out the most G1 part of all: the hood's screamin' chicken.
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
MP-26 has been revealed to be Roadrage. Roadrage will have a new head, and somewhat altered waist and upper-legs and has a gun modeled after the weapon the toy originally came with.
Anime Export landed my MP Tracks for a total of $59, including an extra $6 for rush shipping, and it came on time (except for the USPS requiring a signature when I wasn't here, so I had to go get it the next day in a huge rush), a good deal for MPs.
I'm not sure how I feel about Tracks, there are things I like and there are things that are a problem. Here's some of the thoughts...
Raoul is too small, like 65% what he should be, so the scale looks a little weird, but he looks decent overall.
Blaster alt mode is nifty and surprisingly well-painted. Out of scale with Raoul and too small to fit cleanly in Tracks' fingers, but feels right.
The black beam gun for flight mode is simple but smart, it's a separate panel that pops over the front license plate holder, the instructions in Japanese say to kinda hinge it in from the top first since that's where the clips are, and it holds.
The vehicle mode sculpt is pretty good, the only real complaint I have is that the open hood doesn't want to sit flush, but inside is a Cybertronian engine which is a good touch.
The figure's paint is nice, no real complaints.
The mirrors being on separate sprue trees is nice, there are 2 pairs of mirrors for breakage's sake and they are painted.
Transforming the first time is awful because the tabs holding the rear shell and front end together don't want to cooperate and the parts feel like they could fail first, though thankfully they don't.
The roof's autobot logo on red is a rotating panel, but you can't rotate it without transforming the cockpit enough to get his egotistical head out the way. Under the windshield are slots to house either the black beam gun or Blaster, but not at the same time, and again, you gotta transform the figure enough to move that cockpit. I don't think there's storage for the flight mode gun at all.
Transformation to flight mode is fiddly, it flips up fins in the back, lowers the missile launchers under the car as little jet engines I guess, folds out wings and the forearms as engines. The forearms tab into the side of the car, everything's pretty stable once you get this all back together. The wings are pretty long, moreso than the toy or cartoon versions.
Transformation to robot mode is very fiddly, there are some interesting ideas enough to keep me from disparaging it, but at the same time I would understand anybody who didn't like it, especially with tolerance issues causing floppy bits here and there, and a lot of parts in "holding pattern" transformations while other parts are moving. I hate how the backpack forms though, this doesn't succeed whatsoever.
Robot mode is somewhat satisfying, but I feel like this isn't quite a "masterpiece", there's not a great balance of detailing and smoothness, it's not as sharp as previous MPs (possibly due to manufacturing moved to Vietnam), the face looks off to me, and behind the shoulders is too hollow so much of the figure feels like it's not quite together, and from above it looks a touch wonky. I suspect this may not bug me as much later once I've transformed him a few times, but that backpack is just too far away from where it should be. The panel the head is on doesn't lock into place either, since there's nothing behind it, which also annoys.
I dunno, it's not a disaster but it's not a home run.
Oh, and a buddy of mine just told me his stand broke off in the figure's back already, I wasn't planning on using it anyway.
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?
So, I was fiddling with Tracks when I realized something weird... Tracks isn't a Corvette Stingray, despite the box explicitly saying he is. The C3 was the "Stingray" until 1976, but Tracks is undoubtedly a '80 - '82 Corvette, same generation but long after the "Stingray" name was dropped (the name wouldn't be picked up again until the '14 production car, although ROTF used the Stingray concept car for Sideswipe). The alt mode has a fastback rear deck/window design, as did its G1 toy counterpart, which for the C3 means it's a '78 or later, 2 years after the "Stingray" name was dropped. Furthermore, we can tell it's a '80-'82 because of the nose bumper shroud design.
Also, not sure this needs to be said, but the hood opens like the cartoon episode - from the front - rather than the actual Corvette which opened from the back.
See, that one's a camcorder, that one's a camera, that one's a phone, and they're doing "Speak no evil, See no evil, Hear no evil", get it?