Sentinel,is releasing a Titan sized Scorponok in 2014.

[Onslaught Six]

This would all be fixed if illegal trademark-and-copyright skewering knockoff companies hadn't started being called "third party" by major news sites. Bullshit.

[BWprowl]

I have no idea what those four pages of arguing were even about. Whether Sentinel could be technically labeled a '3rd Party' company? Whatever.

I think I might be the only person from this board that had even heard of Sentinel before now (their Nono just shipped out to me). On-the-rise figure maker that seems to mostly tackle Gainax characters/robots and more obscure stuff (don't think I wasn't tempted by their Blodia!), along with the usual assortment of statues from whatever they can license. Anyway, a giant, super-detailed, fully-articulated Scorponok is a neat idea, but for that price, I certainly don't need it.

Sidebar: Can I just say how excited I am about all these companies getting licenses to produce ancillary TF stuff? Between CM's Corps doing Minerva, Ginrai, and soon Daniel, and Sentinel here making hugeass Scorponoks just because they can, apparently, I'm interested in where the future of these ventures will take us. Frankly, I'd be far more down to buy a set of new Constructicons from some legit toymaker I already knew for producing exceptional Japanese robot figures with HasTak's blessing than I would be from some shady dudes from who-knows-where who steal manhole covers to melt into molds so they can cash in on the desperate nostalgia of nerds with tunnel-vision.

God knows this news is more interesting than "Hasbro's making a new Bumblebee!", at least.

[Sparky Prime]

I have no idea what those four pages of arguing were even about. Whether Sentinel could be technically labeled a '3rd Party' company? Whatever.

Not exactly. To sum it up, I suggested a reason this Scorponok figure might be so pricey and couldn't transform was because it is being produced by a 3rd party rather than by Takara-Tomy directly. And TM misunderstood what a 3rd party is, since he didn't believe something could be a licensed 3rd party.

[JediTricks]

*supermegaheaddesk!*

Anyway, the mystery meat is gone now, so a latecomer like myself will never know anyway.

[BWprowl]

Not exactly. To sum it up, I suggested a reason this Scorponok figure might be so pricey and couldn't transform was because it is being produced by a 3rd party rather than by Takara-Tomy directly. And TM misunderstood what a 3rd party is, since he didn't believe something could be a licensed 3rd party.

Ah, I gotcha. That's a fair point too, since these premium Japanese figures tend to be pricey. That Nono I bought is maybe a little bigger than Marvel Legends size, but cost over $50. But hey, you get what you pay for.

Anyway, the mystery meat is gone now, so a latecomer like myself will never know anyway.

A cursory Google search brought up images of the prototype. It looks nice so far, though it's clearly prioritizing for display over functionality (it has detachable heads, but no actual Headmaster action, they just swap out for different versions of the character model). Anyway, just because it's gone from BBTS doesn't mean it's gone forever. If it comes out (admittedly Sentinel can take their time on these things, I remember the gap from their Gurren Lagann being announced to finally being released being rather considerable) you should still be able to buy it at the usual places like AmiAmi and HLJ, probably for considerably cheaper than what BBTS was asking for it (look, I love BBTS and how easy they make it to get some stuff, but they fucking gouge prices, particularly on imports, and god help you if they're *exclusive* imports).