M'Kyuun

Hopefully. Looking at Showz's entries right now, they show Scavenger and Bonecrusher for sale as a team with actual product pics, and then listings for the other two teams with only the combined Devy render. Judging by the render, NA's Devastator uses a pretty extensive frame to form and give shape to the upper torso including the shoulders, as well as the waist, thighs, and knees. The combined form is a bit too lanky looking to my eyes. looking at Magic square's take, I like the stockier proportions of their Devastator better. Too, looking at the arms, the vehicle modes hide the bot joints better and just, to my eyes, seem better designed. I also like how Long Haul's truck grill is unobscured by an add-on as the NA's appears to be, and Long Haul also appears to attach to the separate waist piece (which seems to be the common trend following Toy World's example). MS' combiner knee mechanics are much better implemented and complimentary without the additional extension of the NA. About the only thing I don't like is the little toe on Mixmaster, but that's how he was drawn in the toon, so it's canon. If they make it so it can fold away, that'd be fantastic- toon or toy look depending on your preference. One thing I don't like is that MS' Scrapper has faux wheels on his shoulder; the real ones likely fold into his chest. Ah, Cartoon accuracy Sigh. I hope both of these get early show and tell vids; if I get a legends Devy, I only want one, so I want to make the most informed decision I can, but for right now, I'm leaning hard towards MS.

The Choro-Q based G1 alt modes are really the draw for me to want these guys. The price is a bit high for such small figs, and it does suck that they're being released in a two-pack rather than individually. As small as they are, though, like you say, the seamed chest piece doesn't really look bad at all from any kind of distance. Both it and Magic Square's Cliffjumpers look good- very similar and appropriate silhouettes.

Concerning the general civility of discourse here, I agree. Kudos to Shawn, Graham, Mods, and the the membership, who keep it so. We're not immune to bad apples, but most have met the business end of a boot when their bad behavior showed no signs of abating. After the toxic and often vulgar atmosphere which often permeates the TFW boards, this place is a breath of fresh air. Takara's takes on Starscream and Arcee didn't appeal to me, but unlike a lot of fans, I don't take it personally if you like something that I don't. I hope both exceed your expectations, and bring you joy. If they follow suit with the last few releases, the articulation, and thus posing options, promises to be excellent. Feel free to share a photo or two.

That's my Animated holy grail right there, the one that got away. I keep hoping they'll do a rerelease b/ c the aftermarket for this guy is insane. Ok cool, glad I wasn't totally off base, but I appreciate the clarification and will bear it in mind if ever I use this again as an example of a respectful differing of opinions. I'm right there with you on the Bayverse designs, though. I'll add a few reasons of my own for why I don't like them: unlike the G1 toys, which carried over many elements of the alt modes into bot form by mechanical necessity, Bayformers are entirely an artistic product completely untethered from mechanical reality. The alt modes are chipped and chopped into infinitesimal pieces, bent and warped into various shapes incompatible with the alt mode, tires are broken up into pieces, and all these things are then placed at whim without any regard to realistic functionality or actual placement relative to the alt mode upon a skeletal frame without regard as to how said bits and pieces would be mechanically moved or held in place. Moreover, the breaking up of all those car bits would make the car itself look like a rolling puzzle for all the seams, and the integrity of the alt mode would be dubious at best for the question of how all those parts are even being held in place, as it would take millions of small linkages to hold every little bit and piece in position. The argument for their realism is laughable at best, especially if you've ever done any mechanical work on a vehicle. Too, having grown up with G1, Bay's Transformers looked nothing the sort: they were skeletal, shardy, ugly things that oft had the alt mode so shredded and whimsically placed over the bot frame that even telling what they were supposed to turn into was difficult. One of the salient features of G1 Transformers is that one can look at just about any character in bot mode and know what it's going to transform into b/c many of the alt mode features carry over by mechanical necessity. To me, that is and should always be a defining characteristic of the toys and the brand. I'd be down with that, similar to what they did with both Generations Lugnut and RotF Lockdown:

You're not being contrarian at all. My point, poorly worded, was that there certainly are famous and wealthy people who happen to be nerdy and like to buy toys and such of whatever franchise(s) tickle their fancies. Rereading what I wrote, it doesn't come across. And yeah, where ebay was the place to find good deals on various things 20-30 years ago, it has since become a haven for greedy resellers looking to take max advantage of fans' desires to collect things, especially those that saw limited runs, are retired, or just remain very popular over time. Personally, I don't spend enough time on there to discern the good from bad sellers, and though I have used it on a few occasions, I tend to avoid it as the last option. As to your having missed out on Animated, I'm truly sorry to hear that. Animated was, and remains, one of those divisive shows among fans, much like Beast Wars before it. The animation style tended to sour a lot of fans on it, but the storytelling, the writing, and the voice talent made for a great Transformers show packed with a lot of G1 love. The toys, IMHO, were well done considering the extremely toonish and stylized art direction of the animation. Again, the fandom has varying opinions. Keeping it close to home, Animated remains one of my favorite shows and toylines within the Transformers brand, but @mikeszekely doesn't care for the toys, as he doesn't feel there was good translation. Correct me if I'm wrong, Mike. I'm inclined to believe that Hasbro is reluctant to revisit Animated, as well, as they completely ignored its ten year anniversary, and AFAIK, have never done any toy rereleases since the show ended prematurely in 2009, minus its planned fourth season. I don't hold much hope for any official releases any time soon, unless they get a change in management at Hasbro who's a big fan of the show/toys and can do something about it.

+1 The legends scaling helps a lot for reducing weight, so those joints will likely hold up over time. They obviously went the Toy World direction, with a big separate waist and thigh section, which is fine, as it gives the combined form the requisite strength and articulation one would expect from a modern fig, and that likely wouldn't be possible if trying to use Long Haul, who appears to have his G1 transformation. I'm trying not to delve too deep into the legends Pit of No return, but if the individual Constructicons are all as good as Scavenger and Bonecrusher, I'm likely in for a set. A notable exception from New Age's usual design MO is the extensive use of pinned joints in lieu of their usual ball joints. That'll make @mikeszekely happy.

Fair point. While the TF fandom is large, it doesn't hold a candle to sports, music, or highly popular tv show fandoms like GoT or Walking Dead. But, there is an audience, as we've seen from the different guest stars on some of the Pulse presentations. Who would have thought someone like Taboo from Black-eyed Peas would be such a fan? I'm sure he's not the only rock star, or celebrity, or pro sports person who's into Transformers. I think it's folks like these, with ample financial resources and very busy lives, who may not have an awareness of everything going on in the TF toy world, that are targeted by these uber-greedy resellers. That's an untested theory, but really, I think it's a simple matter of blind greed on the part of the seller in the hopes that someone, anyone will bite and they'll make a big payday. I would hope by this point, however, that most folks who have any internet presence whatsoever and just a general awareness of the abject scumminess of the majority of humanity, would know that ebay has become one of the main platforms for exuberant overpricing of anything considered collectible. It's not, but I think you answered your own question as to why so much stuff resells for extremely high prices- scarcity, and demand. And people with deep enough pockets who'll shell. I don't frequent ebay much, due to the high prices, but sometimes I come across an ebay auction if I'm looking up a particular toy. Case in point, I'd love to get my hands on an Animated Blackout, but the secondary market prices soar well beyond what the toy is actually worth and what I'm willing to pay. So I continue to hope Hasbro will do a rerelease at some point like they did for the Flying Vehicon and Breakdown. They seem to have distanced themselves from Animated, for whatever reason, so I'm not holding my breath. But as time rolls on, and the scarcity of retired toy lines increase (check out the LEGO secondary market sometime-yeesh!), somewhere at some point, a fan, collector, or investor is going to pay the high asking price for these things out of love for the thing itself, or as a potential investment to make even more money from it. True enough. But there may be TF fans who aren't a part of the community, for whatever reasons, or who rarely if ever check forums for folks selling stuff (guilty). I've probably missed out on opportunities, but I seldom check forums for folks selling stuff. At that point, BBTS and the like, as well as ebay, become the most prominent options. And those of us with lots of disposable income and no desire to wait for a deal will just buy the thing b/c they can. Interesting change they made to the upper body transformation, but not enough to make me shell for this. I was hoping for a Kingdom Mirage that was much closer to the G1 transformation. I have the Siege toy, but the Classics fig is still my favorite.

I bought a copy, but I agree. It's way overpriced for what it offers, and doesn't. I got it b/c it's something unique within the official line, and G1 Unicron toys have been few and far between. It's value is more in in its uniqueness than in the physical toy itself, and because of the special nature of its having come about, it's only ever going to appreciate in value, so long as there are G1 fans, or fans of unique limited-run toys.

Only the book keepers at Hasbro know for sure. I consider the situation from the POV that the target audience for these are kids, which undoubtedly make up the lion's share of Transformers consumption. There's a similar argument for LEGO consumption, but ultimately for both brands, kids are the primary consumer. That said, I doubt that kids care as much about the use of 'cheats' or alternative methods rather than actual mechanical means to achieve transformation. The adult fan base cares, but, as much as some would like to believe it, we're neither the target audience nor the major consumer. To that end, I'm inclined to opine that the cheat-laden transformations of the Bayverse figs had less of an impact on sales than whether or not the characters themselves appealed to kids onscreen or aesthetically as a toy. Most kids aren't really assessing the mechanical honesty of the transformation- if it looks cool, they'll buy it. It doesn't hurt that Bay chose beautiful cars for his films, which results in a nice two-fer if the bot mode is equally appealing. On a personal note, Transformers came out when I was 13, and after seeing commercials for these things for months, I was dying to get my hands on the toys. When they finally appeared in stores, I chose Prowl, primarily b/c the artwork of his bot mode on the box spoke to me more than the actual product shots, and his design sang to my soul (still does). Extricating him from his box in the car on the way home and transforming him, I was met with an overwhelming sense of disappointment. It didn't look like the art, and it most certainly didn't move as depicted on the boxart and in the toon. At thirteen, I knew that the mechanical reality didn't match the advertisement, so to speak. I went on to buy any number of G1 Transformers after that, and was generally met with the same sense of disappointment with every one, although they still had their charm. I wouldn't get the Prowl I wanted that day in the car until 29 years later with the release of MP Prowl. I assume the same thing happens with kids today: the younger kids (TFs are suggested for kids 5 and up) are far less concerned with actual mechanics and more with looks and the appeal of the character, whilst the older kids likely care about both. And some of those kids, despite knowing that the transformations are cheats (on Bayformers specifically, although the phenomenon is certainly not isolated to that particular line- look no further than WFC Arcee, Runabout, Tracks, & Hot Rod, just to name a few), like me, continue to buy them regardless, in spite of some possible disillusionment. Succinctly put, I respectfully disagree with your view that the 'creative' solutions employed in the face of impossible transformations "hurt the mass-market appeal" when considering the entirety of the target audience, and the likelihood of said audience to overlook that disparity in lieu of other more appealing factors. I'm outside that target audience, but I'm one of those that overlooked the 'dishonesty' of the transformation, and enjoyed the still oft challenging engineering that Takara employed in many of the Bayverse figs. With all the fan reviews of these things that can be found on Youtube and such, I'm not alone. Kinda getting a bit off topic. I would have thought, having finally secured the ability to market their wares here in the West, BW and Bandai would have taken swift action to get product on shelves, but neither products nor shows seem to be forthcoming. After all the haggling to secure an agreement with HG, I hope they haven't lost interest. At the very least, get some good subbed anime out there, or better, good dubs for broader appeal to set the stage for toys and other merch.

I respectfully disagree. I'm not, nor have ever been, a fan of the Bayverse aesthetic. I've been fairly outspoken in my criticism of those designs over the years, as mechanically, they make no sense, and are pure CG fantasy. However, I'll make the argument all day and night that Bay's films put Transformers back into public consciousness in a very successful and lucrative fashion globally. Bayverse resuscitated a declining franchise, which paved the way for shows like Animated and Prime, and also inadvertently open the gateway for a spike in G1 popularity via the little pre-live action film toyline called Classics. If there had been no live-action film in '07, there wouldn't have been a need for a filler line, so Classics may not have happened without Bayverse. That'd be a great question to pose to Hasbro at a panel. I certainly don't think they ever intended Classics to blow up like it did, spawning the last 14 years of what we know as CHUG, or Generations as a collective term. As to the Bayverse toys, despite my adverse opinion of the aesthetic, I've bought many Bayverse toys over the years, and my impression of the majority has been that they were ingenious in their engineering, especially the toys between RotF and TF: Prime. I distinctly remember the complexity of the toys becoming a common complaint to Hasbro, which led to a subsequent over-simplification in the toys that lasted for a number of years until we started seeing an overall advancement in engineering with Titans Return. But during the Bay period, we got gems like RotF leader Prime, figs like Breacher, which at scout class (basically legends), is an incredibly complex fig for its size. There are a lot of examples of complex figs if you roam the toy galleries. Were they all amazing?- no. Every line has its turds, and there were plenty throughout the Bayverse period. But there were, in my experience, far more figs with some ingenuity behind them than not. As to the use of panels to effect some elements of transformation among the Bayverse figs, it's important to point out that panel-forming is prevalent among just about every TF line, and second, Takara were dealing for the first time with impossible transformations, working backwards from obviously mechanically unfeasible artistic confabulations, and there was no choice but to cheat many of the designs. How else were they going to do it? Honestly, for the most part, it's an incredible feat of creativity and ingenuity on Takara's part to take these nonsensical designs and translate them into a working toy that at least has some semblance to their onscreen likenesses. Obviously some were closer to home than others, but given their history creating very blocky robots, often designing the actual working protos from wood, to suddenly having these complex designs with thousands of parts strewn throughout, panels breaking up at odd and irregular angles, car parts appearing in incongruent and illogical places on the robot mode relative to their placement in vehicle mode, I think they did ok. The challenges posed by these designs led to Takara's really stretching their creative wings, and out of that we got the Animated and Prime toys which both departed greatly from the old blocky bot look of the 80s. Special mention to Alex Kubalsky, the only non-Japanese designer to ever work for Takara, whose design aesthetic had a tendency towards curved and non-blocky transforming models, helped steer the overall design approach at Takara when the Classics and '07 live action Transformers film toys were being developed. Although he hasn't worked at Takara for nearly a decade now, his influence continues to reverberate in the toys that have come since All this said, I think it's easy to generalize and denigrate the toys of the Bayverse era as one thing or another, but in doing so, I think a great disservice is done. I have mostly good memories of messing with the many toys I bought during that time. I also recall being incredibly frustrated with some of them, too, for their extreme complexity. I sometimes wondered, if I, an aircraft mechanic and lifelong fan of transforming toys, was having this much difficulty transforming this toy, how the hell was a kid in the target age range of 5- 14ish going to figure it out? RotF Blazemaster comes to mind as one of those PITA transformations. This got a bit long-winded, but I hope I at least gave you some food for thought, as it were. If you take the time to peruse the toy galleries or look at old toy reviews, you may come away with a different perspective. IMHO, there were some neat toys to come out during the Bay era and after and, though I vehemently abhor the films and the Bayformer aesthetic, I've no regrets adding many of those toys to my collection.

M.A.R.S. Converters- yep, that's them! If I had more space for odd stuff, I probably would have picked one or two of them up just because. They don't look like bad toys, but with all the other stuff I collect, esp LEGO, space is ever more at a premium and I have to be choosy. That's an incredible job converting the Converter into Leader-1- mad skilz! Keep hoping- as much as one would think the Transformers live action films would have been a catalyst for increasing interest in the transforming toy market among toy companies, oddly it just didn't happen. If ever there was going to be an 80s-like resurgence of transforming toys, I thought that'd be it, but sadly, no. I'm not sure any other similar franchise, except Gobots, would ever reach such a wide audience in the US. Unfortunately the rights to Gobots is owned by Hasbro, but they don't have the license to produce Machine Robo stuff, hence the lack of a Gobots line. I'm not sure they'd put out a Gobots line if they could, though, so protective and nurturing are they of Transformers. It was nice to have Voltron toys on the shelves for a few years, but I wish they'd contracted with a company that makes higher quality stuff. Too, it would have been lovely had Bandai USA decided to ride the wave of popularity in the West and release their DX Voltron in the Americas. Even LEGO put out a Voltron set! Didn't happen, though. To that end, I doubt that Macross, if it gains any sort of traction here in the US, will ever enjoy even a fraction of the popularity of Transformers, although I hope that it will gain enough to make Bandai believe there's a market for their Macross merch, fanning the flame for model companies to follow suit. Who knows, it may be the thing that inspires some young entrepreneur with a penchant for crafting to come up with some new transforming idea. Look at what 52Toys in China are doing with their Beast/MegaBox toys, or Big Firebird, or TFC toys with their Craft series of transforming real world Chinese military vehicles. We need that sort of spirit here in the US to put transforming toys back in the public consciousness, and on shelves, and in specialty stores. I hope it happens.

Which is why Bandai needs to recognize both the desire for more transforming bots and the void that all those beautiful Macross Valkyries could fill. A few years ago, Wally carried these large (approx leader or commander scaled) transforming cars. I never bought one, but they looked fairly poseable and the car modes looked good. They were a bit cheaper than their Transformer shelf mates, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about them, having looked at one or two in the store before putting them back. I don't remember what they were called, but I believe they, like most stuff, were made in China. Doesn't really narrow things down much, I know. Beyond those toys, which I haven't seen on the shelves in probably a couple of years now, there really isn't anything comparable to Transformers. Thanks to Netflix, we had Voltron stuff a few years ago, although, admittedly, Playmates quality was just so-so. The only other domestic transforming stuff that I can think of is the Power Ranger stuff, which I've never been into. The 80s was a golden era of transforming robot bliss; it's just a shame that toy technology was so abysmally poor back then. Imagine if we'd had today's levels of engineering 37 years ago. Brings a tear. With all the resurgence of 80s stuff, it's a huge miss that transforming toys haven't ridden that wave here in the States. I am glad, however, that Japanese and Chinese companies are still pumping out updates to old 80s transforming stuff like the Garlands, the Legioss/Ride Armors, and Voltron, just to name a few. It'd be wonderful to see that stuff on shelves here as well as seeing a burgeoning domestic introduction of more transforming mecha IPs. I keep hoping.

Understandable, and commendable. For figs that I'm especially anticipating, I do the same, as I want the entire experience to be a surprise and uncolored by someone else's, even my own early, opinions. It's one thing to judge something from images on a screen, but sometimes the feel of the thing in your hands, or experiencing the transformation for the first time, makes a huge difference, good or bad, in one's final opinion. Where do these guys get their early copies, indeed? I'm inclined to think there's a fair bit of smuggling going on from the factories, and lots of palms greased to look the other way. I imagine it's a fairly common practice in a lot of places where wages are low, hours are long, the work tedious, and scruples are few in the face of a few extra bucks. Tracks has the lines in his wings, but it's not a natter of my being able to paint them as much as I shouldn't have to. The Firebird flame on the hood is only painted red, and looks off without the yellow outline. That would be a tad bit tougher to hand paint, especially with my lack of talent. I'm sure Toyhax will have a sticker sheet for this guy, but honestly, I'm not interested in spending any more on it. I'll probably paint the wings, but the rest will stay as-is.

Clever engineering and a very faithful likeness to his Movie look. All that's missing is Eric Idle. Maybe it's selective blindness, but I never really noticed the nipple guns before. They're hard to ignore on this guy, and Kremzeek draws attention to them several times. Not sure what Floro Dery was thinking, or how those things got past censors, but here we are. Realized this hadn't been posted yet. Kind of a mixed bag, this one. Nearly the entire car shell is made of translucent plastic, which often doesn't bode well for long term durability. Seems an odd choice when opaque plastic with painted windows would have offered more durability with an acceptable concession. Disappointingly, there's no paint on his wings, which is one of those eye-catching characteristics of Tracks- When good enough is too good...Hasbro. He also has a faux chest; not sure why they couldn't make the actual car roof work when they've done it for both the MP and the previous Reveal the Shield toys. Anyway, as a result of having both the car roof and aft fender section on his back, the backpack is notable. I wish they could have folded his cannons away like they do on the MP, but at least they managed to get the tail stabilizers to fold. He does have his flying car mode, which is kinda obligatory. I always wished his front tires would fold in at an angle to complete the look, as their staying straight always looked funny to me, but that's how the original toy was, and how he was subsequently drawn in the toon, so we're minus a feature that, IMHO, would have looked cool and apropos. The shin transforming mechanism is poor and barely pegs in, which will likely result in severe floppiness over time. The waist flap is a single piece, which I abhor, as it ruins the look of the figure if just one leg is posed at an extreme angle. The forearms are hollow. The feet peg onto ball joints jutting from the inside fender, and the bit of open space over the feet make the legs look like they're floating over the feet rather than having a firm attachment. The good: the car mode looks great, the flying car mode is effective, the face sculpt and paint looks great (on Kremzeek's copy, anyway), and in bot mode it captures the look of Tracks very well. It's a shame that the build quality seems to be lacking, as they've otherwise done a really good job of capturing the essential elements of G1 Tracks. Guess time will tell how well the actual fig holds up.

I'm glad that Miyatake-san is ok, but the loss of both his wife and home is profound. Along with the support of his many fans, I hope he has strong support from his family and friends. That's a lot of loss all at once. My heart goes out to him.

I also watched it. I thought it it was a good mix of quirky to thought-provoking. The last ep, Drowned Giant, was interesting- I could see things happening that way if such a thing actually occurred. If nothing else, it was more a study of human behavior with the subject a MacGuffin around which to build the storyteller's insights. Honestly, I think he let humanity off easy. Snow in the Desert was one of those that gives just enough info in an engaging way that makes you want more. They could build a cool series around this ep, I think. Combine it with the world of Lucky 13 from the first season, and maybe Life Hutch from second, and you'd have a good start on an interesting world in which to tell some cool stories. The most striking thing about this season is its brevity; the first season had 18 eps, and S2 only 8. S1 had more room to explore deeper and more dramatic ideas, with little bits of quirkiness in between. S2 had more quirk than profundity. Hopefully, there'll be a season three, and now that we're emerging from the pandemic, it'll get another 18 eps with more profound musings as in the first season. I could do with more stuff in the vein of Zima Blue, Beyond the Aquila Rift, Good Hunting, and Lucky 13. These are all closed stories, but the worlds they depict draw you in and make you want more.

IMHO, Highlander was a unique film that needs no reboot, and no further sequels. I didn't care for the series, either. Let it go. Do something original. What happened in Hollywood to virtually stifle all creativity and originality? It's sad when they're still mining 30+ year old properties for movies today instead of creating new properties for the next couple of generations to work off of. Likewise with The Crow. First film was great- everything after, meh.

Quite the collection. That BIG prime is like, Wow.

While a well done live action movie has the potential to do for Macross what the Bayverse did for Transformers, the quality of such a film depends on who they hire to write, direct, and star in it. If they go low on production, it likely won't do well. Even a well known lead actor won't save a movie; consider Ghost in the Shell. Too, as a Macross fan, I'm not crazy about the changes they made to the story, especially the nature of the Protoculture, nor the addition of Mospeada and Southern Cross. I'm just not, nor shall I ever be, a Robotech fan. Personally, if I was going to try to raise awareness of a property like Macross which has an established body of work, I'd get some good dubs made and introduce them on a far reaching streaming service, or services. Heck, if possible, I'd work out a deal with Cartoon Network to show Frontier over a period of several weekends at good time slots just to get one of the modern , and IMHO, better quality, series out there to generate attention and bait the hook, as it were, to create interest in the franchise as a whole. Along with that, maybe produce some in-between commentary showing off toys, talking about the music production, the process of creating some of the valk scenes- stuff that serves to further pique interest and make people want more. Judging by the enduring popularity of Transformers, there's certainly a market for transforming robots here in the Americas; you couldn't turn around without seeing some sort of transforming robot back in the 80's, but along the way, Hasbro locked it up and Transformers is the only domestic game in town today. From a marketing perspective, I'd want to foot-stomp the availability of these awesome Macross transforming jets in the American marketplace as much as possible. Furthermore, Transformers isn't exactly known for good transforming jets, so a series of realistic and kibble free transforming jets would encounter little competition from Hasbro, unless they really stepped up their game. I'm sure they wouldn't like having another transforming product on the market, but I don't know that they'd have any legal recourse to stop the marketing of Macross valks here in the Americas. Personally, along with Transformers and Macross valks, I'd love to see a resurgence of transforming robot popularity here in the US.

Yep. I think putting Timm in ultimate control is the best move they can make. He's more than proven he knows Batman inside and out, can craft a good story, and has an amazing eye for the details that make the world of Gotham feel real, gritty, and believable. To not give him lead would be an enormous waste of his experience.

I should concentrate my collection, or pare it down, but my attachment is such that I'd have a very difficult time deciding what goes and what stays. There'd be far more of the latter than the former. My pack-rat tendencies and sentimentality towards my toys make getting rid of anything nigh unthinkable. I've always been choosy about what toys I pick up, though, and I rarely feel like I need to get every repaint; generally, one copy of a mold is good enough, unless it's first season- then I want the full roster. Even with that I'm still choosy, though. My MP first season still has holes, but oddly, I don't feel as strong a need to complete it, so I continue to pick and choose figs that I like to slowly fill it out. CHUG is by far my largest TF collection, and at this point, my focal point, so I'm more apt to pick up figs as we go along. I'm hoping that the next line will offer the remaining first season minibots in deluxe scale to go along with WFC Cliffy, Bee, and Huffer. Oh yeah, and the rumored deluxe Insecticons. And, hopefully, a voyager scaled set of Constructicons that prove to be vast improvements on the lackluster (I'm being kind) CW versions. I think that would do nicely to round out the first season with all modern takes in proper scale. Since there are no third party CHUG scale takers, for better or worse, in Hasbro I trust.

Ha, funny you mention the t-shirts, as I was contemplating buying one, but I couldn't find the new ones they were touting in the vid this morning, so I just got Gnaw and Wreck-gar. But yeah, $45 is a bit too steep. That's like convention pricing, where you're paying experience tax for everything. If they were like $25, that'd be more reasonable-still high, but reasonable.

Amazon.com: Transformers Toys Studio Series 86-07 Leader Class The The Movie 1986 Dinobot Slug Action Figures, Ages 8 and Up, 8.5-inch: Toys & Games Got it thru Amazon- there's a 3 dollar markup, but free shipping.

I was putting in my order on Pulse, and it wasn't accepting the promo code "I still function" that they gave us in the vid. Well, in the time it took me to go back and look it up and then try several times, Slag sold out and he was removed from my cart. Grrrr! So, to put it in perspective, Slag sold out within about 17 minutes of availability on Pulse. Not quite Macross 'midnight madness', but pretty damned close for a mass retail fig. Crazy.