Asia market exclusives

[Dominic]

Most of the moulds used are CHUG, but there are some movie moulds as well. For the moment, this thread probably makes the most sense in this forum.

http://www.allspark.com/content/view/10271/20/

The Legends all look good. I might actually make an exception to my "cut back on toys" rule for Thundercracker and Bluestreak.

Swerve and Wheelie are tempting. And, they look like they have new heads. Price will probably deter me on these however.

The Voyager Megatron (based on RotF Bludgeon) and Hotspot are sorely tempting. If the Hotspot used the Grapple mould, I would be more likely to buy it.


Dom
-probably getting Thundercracker and Bluestreak.

[BWprowl]

Oh cool, I read about these back when they were mentioned at that Asian Toyfair/convention thing, but all we had were names and alleged concept molds (and honestly, a lot of them sounded kind of crazy at the time) so I didn't concern myself with making a thread or anything. Nice to see that these are actually happening, even if I'm still not sure what 'Asian Market exclusive' denotes. Russia? China? Japan? I presume there'll be pre-orders open on BBTS and the like eventually, so I'll probably just go that route to get what I want.

Legends I'm kinda neutral on, though them actually coming with guns is pretty cool. Also, Motormaster's new name of 'Motorbreath' amuses me greatly. All of these are pretty easily skipped for me though.

The Basics look cooler. Sandstorm and Dead End I can take or leave, but Breacher's a terrific mold and putting it in green works well enough. Laserbeak is sex and I need him in my life. The Skystalker mold is one of my favorites in recent memory (I have both him and Sunspot), and black/red/silver is a color scheme that it is way too easy to make work well. If nothing else, this is the one toy from the assortment I *will* be ordering. (PS: You can also finangle a decently cute little bird mode out of the Skystalker mold, so making him more Laserbeak-y is possible if you like).

Does that Tomahawk Springer repaint come with a new *sword*? That's nuts, and might be enough to make me buy it. It's not half as out-of-nowhere as Wheelie from Jazz though. With a slingshot! Holy hell, I think Scourge is going to need this toy, and I'm kind of interested myself. Swerve is...Swerve and Cliffjumper is...weird. Not sure how I feel about TFPrime toys getting redone as their G1 counterparts, particularly here where there's very little difference color or even mold-wise between the two guys, and the body doesn't really suit G1 Cliffjumper that well anyway. Seems like the half-assed sort of kitbash where someone would just stick a WfC Cliffjumper head on a TFPrime Cliff body and call it good. Adding insult to strangeness, that appears to be the insanely hard-to-come-by First Edition Cliffjumper mold.

I'm happy to see both HFTD Highbrow get repainted and for a G2 guy to get the homage. I love that mold and that color scheme sings to me, so I may go for that one. Hot Spot less so, even if I do love that mold, I'm not really wild about it in blue for some reason (maybe if he was lighter in color or had more of Hot Spot's signature red bits?). Bludgeon-as-Megatron is an even dicier proposition; that mold's explicit designing as Bludgeon really hurts any efforts to repaint it as other characters (it just barely makes it as Banzaitron). Brawn's the one I'm actually interested in, since I hear the FE Bulkhead mold is really good, but I'm not crazy about TFPrime Bulkhead as a character. Not that I have any more attachment to Brawn, mind you, but as least the color scheme on this one is fairly interesting.

Really, it's all going to come down to how easy these things are to get ahold of and how expensive they are. I definitely have to get Laserbeak though, at least.

If the Hotspot used the Grapple mould, I would be more likely to buy it.

Bwuh? You know Hot Spot's generally supposed to be a fire truck, right? It's like, central to his function, even. Cranes aren't generally thought of as 'rescue' vehicles, y'know?

[Dominic]

I was thinking more about the hands and arms on Grapple. Either way, I am still considering it.

Were that toy likely to be cheaper, I would buy an extra to customize a proper Pyro/Spark from.


Dom
-wishing that the file cards were readable.

[138 Scourge]

It's not half as out-of-nowhere as Wheelie from Jazz though. With a slingshot! Holy hell, I think Scourge is going to need this toy, and I'm kind of interested myself.

Man, I don't even know what to think. On the one hand, I like Wheelie being a little dude, but on the other, that's a good mold, the new head looks cool, and friggin' slingshot. Yeah, I might need to get Wheelie. And Springer, too, because I've been wanting a Classicsy Springer and that'd do just nicely.

Laserbeak and Hoist look really cool, too. I really dig both of those molds (especially the Sunspot mold, that thing's amazing), but I don't know if I'll spring for those two.

And hey, lookit that! Swerve's a truck again! I was halfway convinced (based on absolutely nothing) that if there was a Swerve, he'd be a Tracks repaint, since he's been a Corvette for awhile now.

[Onslaught Six]

and Cliffjumper is...weird. Not sure how I feel about TFPrime toys getting redone as their G1 counterparts, particularly here where there's very little difference color or even mold-wise between the two guys, and the body doesn't really suit G1 Cliffjumper that well anyway. Seems like the half-assed sort of kitbash where someone would just stick a WfC Cliffjumper head on a TFPrime Cliff body and call it good. Adding insult to strangeness, that appears to be the insanely hard-to-come-by First Edition Cliffjumper mold.

How do we know that he's intended to be "G1" Cliffjumper? Besides a continuity-neutral head?

[BWprowl]

How do we know that he's intended to be "G1" Cliffjumper? Besides a continuity-neutral head?

Fair point, though that raises the question of...who exactly he is supposed to be. Basically means it's no one specific, just the same FE Cliffjumper toy with a new, more G1-ish head. Kinda like how all the 'new' Swerves before this accompanying one weren't any Swerve in particular.

[Onslaught Six]

That's the thing, I think Hasbro had only really planned out those "Movie Trilogy" exclusives and to maybe get a few new moulds out until Prime could take over proper or something, and then Generations would take over in the fall (as it always does in off-movie years) but then DOTM tanked, they squeezed down the product they were releasing, but Asia wanted More Shit, so they hurried up and came up with the most batshit things they could think of. (Why these guys get budget for new heads and weapons when GI Joe is cutting vehicle drivers down to five POA is beyond me.)

[BWprowl]

That's the thing, I think Hasbro had only really planned out those "Movie Trilogy" exclusives and to maybe get a few new moulds out until Prime could take over proper or something, and then Generations would take over in the fall (as it always does in off-movie years) but then DOTM tanked, they squeezed down the product they were releasing, but Asia wanted More Shit, so they hurried up and came up with the most batshit things they could think of. (Why these guys get budget for new heads and weapons when GI Joe is cutting vehicle drivers down to five POA is beyond me.)

Yeah, I agree that these things are pretty crazy (like I said, I didn't even post about it when they were first announced since I honestly didn't believe half of them would happen). This is the sort of crazy, headswap-heavy, partial remolding nonsense you see doofuses suggest in threads on bigger forums. Jazz as Wheelie? Springer out of Tomahawk with a random new sword? Bludgeon as Megatron? Cliffjumper with G1 head? Bulkhead as Brawn? These feel like weird customs that would turn up somewhere. And I actually want to buy some of them!

I think Swerve is the only thing there that seems like it was actually intended to happen at some point.

To answer your last question there, it's because TF is still a cash-cow for Hasbro, while Joe's been writhing around for some time now (and that Retaliation delay is NOT going to help matters).

[Tigermegatron]

It should come as no surprise to everyone. the overseas sellers are gonna scalp the heck out of these like they did with the TFP FE figures. all these things are gonna easily scalp for three to four plus times their original retail value.

I'm only interested in the G-2 Megatron that's using the HFTD Voyager Bludgeon toy mold. but i'm only interested in buying this for around $20 to $35. I don't love this enough to pay tripple nor over $100 for this.

my solid guesses are the shipping fees will be extremly high & un-fair.

[Dominic]

How can shipping fees be "unfair"?

Shipping stuff costs money. Dealers do not make money on shipping fees. If anything, they would like to see those fees reduced as well. Shipping fees increase the prices of goods, making those good less attractive to customers while adding nothing to the seller's bottom line.

That said, we can probably expect the base priced of these figures to be ruinous, even before shipping. "Exclusive" or "import" tends to be bad enough as an either/or question. If previous experience is anything to go by, the deluxes could sell for something in the neighborhood of $80-$100 before shipping. (I am basing that number on the prices for things like clear Mirage or Ghost Starscream.) The shipping from a dealer like BBTS will only be ~$15, likely lower, depending on exactly what somebody orders. .

Fuh Publications working with eHobby is not going to have any effect here because there are (if I understand this correctly) no eHobby exclusives. And, even if they were, Fun Publications would likely be greedy enough in their pricing to make buying from them an even worse proposition. (I am honestly less bothered by Fun Publications being greedy than their attitude about it.)


Dom
-still remembers them offering "deals" on Bayformer Voyagers in '07 that were only a little higher than retail if somebody bought more than one case of toys.