TimeLines (BotCon) 2013 discussion

[Tigermegatron]

Personally,I think Botcon MW Starscream should have used the TFP Voyager Skyquake mold with a newer retooled Headsculpt. Botcon MW starscream should have got the voyager mold due to him being the 2nd biggest MW toy from the line.

[JediTricks]

If you have a lung infection, you definitely need to go to BotCon and open mouth kiss a few Hasbro reps. ("This is what you get for slipping on design and quality control!")

Thanks, no. It's not even likely contagious right now, not coughing up green stuff, it's just asthma.

I am just hoping that the rumoured Rain Maker set is just a rumour. (I had to think about buying blind bag Kreons yesterday, and even left a few behind. I cannot even justify thinking about BotCon exclusives right now.)

It is not a rumor, and they're not what was expected, one is Thundercracker, one is Sunstorm, and one is bright fuckin' purple.

http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-new ... ed-177847/

Looks nice, but not exactly the world's best fit for MW Starscream. Not that FunPub seems especially preoccupied with nitpicky little things like 'appropriateness'. They both turn into jets, right? Great!

Home run!

I seriously don't see the point of this, I have MW Starscream and yes there are canards and a general similarity to the front half of the vehicle, but that's it.

Not Prowl? That would have been marginally more interesting, but whatever.

Not Prowl, instead they bastardized the Mirage look from dark green to mint, and the white head doesn't work with this mold at all IMO, should have played up the helmet stripe.

Yeah, we saw this one coming too. And it's a good choice, since Electro was badly in need of a new toy that wasn't a pile of gold plastic dust at this point.

Mold fits, but damn is he baby-poop brown with some pastel neon.

So are these the Rainmakers, or what? I still think it's kind of a goofy choice, given that Acid Storm already had a toy based on this mold, though I guess the opportunity to get him in a 'cartoon accurate' color scheme along with his buddies (do they have names?) is pretty nice. I might see what this goes for on the secondary market, Seeker hoards are fun, and Seekers in neon colors are even better.

Yes, but not Acid Storm. The yellow one looks too much like Sunstorm, the blue one looks too much like Thundercracker, and the purple one looks too much like grape soda.

[Tigermegatron]

THREAD UPDATE: BBTS.com will be selling Titan Metroplex at Botcon on Friday for $150 each. the higher price is due to it being air shipped from China. http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-new ... ow-177854/ Various exclusives are in a display case.

[BWprowl]

Okay, saw the 'Rainmakers' set, and at first was about to be all 'Fuck FunPub!!' since I'm a firm believer that Sunstorm Was Not The Yellow Rainmaker, and they seemed to have went and done that anyway. But then on closer inspection, the name 'Rainmakers' seems to have been applied pretty damn arbitrarily to the set, since not only is Acid Storm (the guy who set the precedent for 'Rainmaker' toys) not amongst them, they aren't even close to the colors of the 'Rainmakers' who appeared in the show, and instead seem to just be based on random 'Generic Seeker' colors who appeared at various points in the show, Sunstorm being among them (the others being 'Bitstream' and 'Hotlink'; the latter is delicious when barbecued and topped off with mustard). So what-the-hell-ever, right?

The Seeker set looks to be going for $150-200 on eBay right now, I might be willing to take the 1/3 cost for Sunstorm if someone else wanted to go in and get the other two.

The mould works as well for Thundercracker and Skywarp as the original "Machine Wars" moulds did.

But it doesn't match or work well for the Machine Wars versions of Skywarp and Thundercracker, is what I'm saying. If you want to do a new interpretation of that look, a mold that looks...remotely like the one you're trying to emulate you would think would be somewhat of a priority. But, as the just-discussed 'Rainmakers' set demonstrates, FunPub really didn't seem to give a shit this year, even by their pathetically lax standards.

[Dominic]

From all accounts, this is "Rainmakers" in name only (if they are indeed actually called that). The guy on the right is clearly the purple Seeker from MTMTE (who I had previously named "Wasteland")

The purple guy is also the model for the "Decepticon clones" PVC figure pack about 10 years ago. I liked the idea of a troop builder, but did not much like the clones idea. (Roboclones is just stupid for so many reasons.)

It looks like this set is meant to represent the three guys who were guarding the roadwave at the beginning of "More than Meets the Eye". I think that the blue guy is lighter in person. (This is based on other pictures that I have seen.) Hasbro blew a chance to print money with this mould. I cannot blame Fun Publications for making this set. And, at this point, the mould looks too old for Hasbro to credibly use.

If I had the money, I would take any of those 3 guys. And, at least one of them changes colour between frames, which arguably justifies another recolour.

But, as the just-discussed 'Rainmakers' set demonstrates, FunPub really didn't seem to give a shit this year, even by their pathetically lax standards.

In theory, even if Fun Publications treats every possible colour scheme as a unique character, they could guarantee themselves at least one high-selling figure a year for the next decade or so. And, unless Hasbro comes out with a better mould, Fun Publications can likely just move on to the "Fall of Cybertron" Seeker mould. I am not a fan of it. But, it is popular enough to warrant at least a few recolours.

The yellow one looks too much like Sunstorm, the blue one looks too much like Thundercracker, and the purple one looks too much like grape soda.

Uh, the yellow one is Sunstorm. What is the problem with it looking like Sunstorm? The blue one is lighter than Thundercracker, and has different colour mapping. The purple one is in the colours it is supposed to be. And, they work on that mould.

Not Prowl, instead they bastardized the Mirage look from dark green to mint, and the white head doesn't work with this mold at all IMO, should have played up the helmet stripe.

I agree that they could have added a stripe. I think that the lighter green was to differentiate this Mirage from the 2006 pressing of the mould.

I really want this toy.


-Distribution focused Dom....

[BWprowl]

It looks like this set is meant to represent the three guys who were guarding the roadwave at the beginning of "More than Meets the Eye". I think that the blue guy is lighter in person. (This is based on other pictures that I have seen.) Hasbro blew a chance to print money with this mould. I cannot blame Fun Publications for making this set. And, at this point, the mould looks too old for Hasbro to credibly use.

Hasbro was still milking 'Cybertron' molds well into the second Movie line, let's not put anything past them, here.

In theory, even if Fun Publications treats every possible colour scheme as a unique character, they could guarantee themselves at least one high-selling figure a year for the next decade or so.

I still love how TransFans whine and bitch and complain when Hasbro does too many repaints, unless they're Seekers, in which case it's okay to repaint them and then they whine and bitch and complain that Hasbro's not doing enough of them. Viva '84!

Anyway, I'm still astounded that neither Hasbro, nor FunPub, nor Takara, nor e-Hobby has put the mold out as G2 Starscream. What's taking them on that one?

And, unless Hasbro comes out with a better mould, Fun Publications can likely just move on to the "Fall of Cybertron" Seeker mould. I am not a fan of it. But, it is popular enough to warrant at least a few recolours.

Thinking about it, given that this set of Seekers is seemingly supposed to represent a group of guys who showed up during the early, Cybertronian part of the premier episode, it would have made more sense to use the FoC mold. But that would've required FunPub thinking through their decision and going with something that actually worked.

[Shockwave]

Anyway, I'm still astounded that neither Hasbro, nor FunPub, nor Takara, nor e-Hobby has put the mold out as G2 Starscream. What's taking them on that one?

Especially given that they've already done G2 Ramjet.

[Onslaught Six]

I think JT's earlier bitching is due to confusion over the set being (perhaps mistakenly) labelled as "Rainmakers," when it's clearly not that. I don't think FunPub actually named them the "Rainmakers" as such.

[Shockwave]

Well I didn't go to Botcon, but my custom Breakdown did:

http://www.botcon.com/BotCon2013/webfil ... 0.JPG.html

[BWprowl]

I think JT's earlier bitching is due to confusion over the set being (perhaps mistakenly) labelled as "Rainmakers," when it's clearly not that. I don't think FunPub actually named them the "Rainmakers" as such.

Word up.