Clench is a good toy. Pyro/Spark is a piece of crap. The colors are ugly and the plastic quality is terrible. I could almost accept it as a mass release or store exclusive. But, as a convention toy, (working out to be ~$75) it inexcusable. If I could afford to, I would have given you a discount. (Check your email for a shipping update by the way.)Here's the thing: I like Clench and Pyro's original toys. They look cool. But there's almost no way I'll ever be able to afford the originals, especially in the shape I'd want them in, and they're unlikely to ever get reissued. They're also obscure enough that the chances of them ever getting a figure in the mainline or a subline like Generations is pretty slim.
And sure--they're just remoulds or repaints of toys I already own. But I like those toys, too, and they're well done homages. They're good toys, and I wanted them.
I can see what JT is saying. The BC toys are wholly unlike the original European toys from the early 90s. Pyro/Spark's only meaningful appearance is in "Last Stand of the Wreckers", and that uses the original toy as a character model. Clench has appeared all of.....no place at all....ever.
But, this year's BotCon exclusives are based on obscure European/G2 toys, and people went nuts for the set. That said, the originals are rare and stupidly expensive.
Quoted for truth.
There's no reason this figure couldn't have been done at retail except Hasbro didn't feel like it, and now fans get gouged on an exclusive that would have likely been delivered better had it been a mainline.
This is arguably worse than ThunderGate. This is a mould that was pretty much made to be recoloured over and over and over and over again. (See my [urlwww.myspace.com/dominionhub] blog [/url] for evidence of this.) The fandom was clearly interested in an official DoubleSpy figure, as evidenced by the sheer number of custom figures produced.
Impossible to predict unless you took a look at how previous Botcon and OTFCC exclusives have come out in the past. If enough fans stopped putting up with that shit, it wouldn't keep happening. They enable, and it keeps happening, which makes the fans look like suckers, and that's not fair, they're just having their desperation preyed upon.
Ah, now this feels right. I disagree with you and have no idea where to begin. (
There have been some good club and convention toys. There have been plenty. That Astrotrain figure from ’07 is da bom. Like it or go to hell. The fact that thing is just sitting there, year after year, getting discounted, never ceases to amaze me. As biased as I am against the Airrazor figure from ’07, it is not a bad toy either.
I do not recall hearing anything bad about this year’s SG Cyclonus.
The problems with PCP are…..just amazing. The head sculpt was poorly planned. The faction sigils look like something one would see on a knock-off. (That is something so basic I would just assume it would be done right, and never considered it being done so wrongly.)
I am not going to blame Fun Publications for selling toys that people want. Nobody is forced to buy convention or club exclusives. There is no desperation to be exploited. I *wish* I was in a position to be desperate about toys, as that would mean I could afford to make toys that much a priority. And, if I was desperate enough for toys that I could be exploited, I would really have little enough to complain about.
Yeah, and I still love this damned mould.Yes, and now it's an especially expensive one considering that was a $10 mold when it came out 2 years ago.
Actually, if we break it down and average things out, PCP did not cost me that much.
Okay, lets do this. Lets assume $12 a copy, with occasional rounding up to account for taxes and paint (on the customs).
-Sunstreaker: $12
- Sideswipe: $12
-G2 Sideswipe (custom): $14
-Henkei Red Alert: $35
-US Red Alert: $12
-Clampdown: $14
-Police Sunstreaker: $14
-Deep Cover: $14
-Tiger Track: $12
-Spinout: $12
-Punch/Counterpunch (fan club) : $80
-Punch Counterpunch (custom that I gave to my cousin): $15
-Breakdown: $45
-Micron Rampage (coming soonish)
Lets call this….$300.
Divided by 12…..okay that works out to $25 per toy. Considering that there are 2 exclusives in there, $25 each is not so bad.
Dom
-of course, getting an official G2 Sideswipe would really punch things up.
