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Studio lighting is key though, so regardless what monitor you're viewing pics from it will always be different when it's actually in hand.

Ugh, that troop builder pack is driving me nuts!

I want 1 Seeker to use as my voyager Thundercracker, since I never got one (didn't wait either of his recent voyager toys).

I don't really want an Allicon again, I have the retail and Bailiff release, and i really don't want another if I can help it.

I want 4 of the Cybertronian Troopers, 2 for each head sculpt, to flank my Jhiaxus in glorious G2 fashion!

I also want 4 of the Autotrooper, 2 to go to Animated and 2 to go to the G1 shelf.

At least the price basically gets you 3 deluxes and a free voyager!

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Ugh, that troop builder pack is driving me nuts!

I want 1 Seeker to use as my voyager Thundercracker, since I never got one (didn't wait either of his recent voyager toys).

I don't really want an Allicon again, I have the retail and Bailiff release, and i really don't want another if I can help it.

I want 4 of the Cybertronian Troopers, 2 for each head sculpt, to flank my Jhiaxus in glorious G2 fashion!

I also want 4 of the Autotrooper, 2 to go to Animated and 2 to go to the G1 shelf.

At least the price basically gets you 3 deluxes and a free voyager!

I’m with you. I want a lot of the Auto troopers. But I don’t need the others. I wonder what the prices of each will be when they are sold separately on eBay?

How come you didn’t want that earlier releases of Thundercracker?

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Ugh, that troop builder pack is driving me nuts!

I want 1 Seeker to use as my voyager Thundercracker, since I never got one (didn't wait either of his recent voyager toys).

I don't really want an Allicon again, I have the retail and Bailiff release, and i really don't want another if I can help it.

I want 4 of the Cybertronian Troopers, 2 for each head sculpt, to flank my Jhiaxus in glorious G2 fashion!

I also want 4 of the Autotrooper, 2 to go to Animated and 2 to go to the G1 shelf.

At least the price basically gets you 3 deluxes and a free voyager!

I think the price is why I got two packs even though one should be plenty. I imagine people will be breaking up this set in lots of different ways, so there will probably be some not-Thundercrackers floating around on eBay after release.

TK415 wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:Ugh, that troop builder pack is driving me nuts!

I want 1 Seeker to use as my voyager Thundercracker, since I never got one (didn't wait either of his recent voyager toys).

I don't really want an Allicon again, I have the retail and Bailiff release, and i really don't want another if I can help it.

I want 4 of the Cybertronian Troopers, 2 for each head sculpt, to flank my Jhiaxus in glorious G2 fashion!

I also want 4 of the Autotrooper, 2 to go to Animated and 2 to go to the G1 shelf.

At least the price basically gets you 3 deluxes and a free voyager!

I’m with you. I want a lot of the Auto troopers. But I don’t need the others. I wonder what the prices of each will be when they are sold separately on eBay?

How come you didn’t want that earlier releases of Thundercracker?

G2 and Animated: 2 of the universe I love the most.

I hope prices are decent, should be a lot of playground "hey let's swap!" going on.

To be honest, I don't like light blue TC. the CW leader had the nice dark blue, and a great headsculpt and wing pattern too, that more closely looked like IDW2005 TC, who is my favorite seeker.

Oh, that makes sense. Thanks for letting me know, I was curious. Classics was that dark blue as well

FWIW, Thundercracker's cartoon model colored him a bright, sunny sky blue:



And was made even brighter in episodes animated by AKOM:

Do they make more money this way?

Would they make more if they sold each troop builder separately?

TK415 wrote:Oh, that makes sense. Thanks for letting me know, I was curious. Classics was that dark blue as well

So too was the original toy:


Transformers G1 1984 Thundercracker Gallery

Transformers G1 1984 Thundercracker Gallery

TK415 wrote:Do they make more money this way?

Would they make more if they sold each troop builder separately?

I don't know. I too find this an odd way to do it. They've always done troop builders as two packs or single packs with multiple heads so that you build the troop you want. Instead of having to buy all troop builders at once.
I think for americans, this could work out with using facebook groups where you'd trade one for another.

william-james88 wrote:

TK415 wrote:Do they make more money this way?

Would they make more if they sold each troop builder separately?

I don't know. I too find this an odd way to do it. They've always done troop builders as two packs or single packs with multiple heads so that you build the troop you want. Instead of having to buy all troop builders at once.
I think for americans, this could work out with using facebook groups where you'd trade one for another.

I'd love a at least one Autorooper just to go with my Atari.
I'd trade all the rest.

TK415 wrote:Do they make more money this way?

Would they make more if they sold each troop builder separately?

In a vacuum, probably not, but if this gets designs made that otherwise don’t have a slot in a toy line, then maybe. And A Retailer might be afraid of “I don’t want to overorder on secondary characters” so this insures the toys all sell in the same ratio.

Looks like Target is max 2 but I would kinda like 3 of these. I wish the Seeker wasn’t so close to Thundercracker, I would have preferred the Aerospace Extermination Squad colors (maybe the Siege Mold on that) but I am not against MOAR SEEKERZ

Till-all-R1 wrote:Studio lighting is key though, so regardless what monitor you're viewing pics from it will always be different when it's actually in hand.

I made the point about the lighting earlier, but my point is I wouldn't be seeing purple if there wasn't purple in the picture. I think people expecting a Thundercracker substitute will be disappointed.

william-james88 wrote:

TK415 wrote:Do they make more money this way?

Would they make more if they sold each troop builder separately?

I don't know. I too find this an odd way to do it. They've always done troop builders as two packs or single packs with multiple heads so that you build the troop you want. Instead of having to buy all troop builders at once.
I think for americans, this could work out with using facebook groups where you'd trade one for another.

Somebody must be losing money since they're giving away a free Voyager in every box (or maybe a $2 Voyager). Target sets the prices so normally Hasbro doesn't have any reason to care, they get their wholesale unit price, but they're also stuck with that same price on Pulse. I can only imagine Target thinks they're going to sell a ton of these, makes me wonder how the production numbers compare to the last two four packs.

Emerje

In looking at the last two 4-packs versus this one, I'm thinking it may be good for troop builders with patience and access to a few Targets.

The first set had Fangry, the most desirable figure in all of the sets to me, plus Nemesis Primal and leopard bra Blackanachria, which were both pretty desirable. I did not see that set make it to clearance by me.

The second set had Goldbug as a poor man's netflix bee, and Ransack for G1 fans as the main draw, with Skywasp and toy color Scorponok just kind of fillers (not terrible, but not a big draw either). I did see that set make it to clearance at a few places.

This set has maybe a poor man's Thundercracker, and just troops. I really don't see a big draw on the set and fully expect them to go on clearance at some point.

So I pre-ordered 1 set on Target.com since I also had a $10 off $70 target circle deal, and will hope to wait for the rest. If I miss out, oh well, the wallt can use a break after 2 guardian robots. The troop building is killing me...

TF-fan kev777 wrote:In looking at the last two 4-packs versus this one, I'm thinking it may be good for troop builders with patience and access to a few Targets.

The first set had Fangry, the most desirable figure in all of the sets to me, plus Nemesis Primal and leopard bra Blackanachria, which were both pretty desirable. I did not see that set make it to clearance by me.

The second set had Goldbug as a poor man's netflix bee, and Ransack for G1 fans as the main draw, with Skywasp and toy color Scorponok just kind of fillers (not terrible, but not a big draw either). I did see that set make it to clearance at a few places.

This set has maybe a poor man's Thundercracker, and just troops. I really don't see a big draw on the set and fully expect them to go on clearance at some point.

So I pre-ordered 1 set on Target.com since I also had a $10 off $70 target circle deal, and will hope to wait for the rest. If I miss out, oh well, the wallt can use a break after 2 guardian robots. The troop building is killing me...

I think you're underselling the importance of the set's defining characteristic: selling multiples at a time for troops. You can move the same number of units to half as many buyers if many people buy two, some buy three, and a handful buy as many copies as they can get their hands on. I don't know if it'll go on clearance or not, though most Buzzworthy releases do, but I'm personally not going to bet on how well they'll sell, because there are always lots of factors that go into that.

Repaints are generally a cash cow for Hasbro anyways. The original molds are where the majority of spending on development, engineering, and design goes. They can reuse the molds with different color plastic and they may have been designing the head with the original figure with a thought toward this in the long run anyways.

First-Aid wrote:Repaints are generally a cash cow for Hasbro anyways. The original molds are where the majority of spending on development, engineering, and design goes. They can reuse the molds with different color plastic and they may have been designing the head with the original figure with a thought toward this in the long run anyways.

And this being a retailer exclusive, their entire production run is already bought and paid for.

There could have been money on the line and I would never have guessed that the second Legacy Animated figure after Prowl would be an Autotrooper. As much as I want to get it just for being an Animated figure though, it would be my 5th use of that mold, and I actively don't want the rest of the pack, so I guess that's a pass from me.

I really dig the troop builder pack. I like all of those molds so don't mind having more. I might consider getting two. Haven't had trouble finding the multi packs in store so I'm not worried about the sell outs online.

that Cybertronian Trooper is so inspired, I super love it!

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:that Cybertronian Trooper is so inspired, I super love it!

He's certainly more Skull Grin than Skullgrin!

Also, with the new pictures and that studio's lighting, Seeker is definitely more purple looking overall. He's Thundercraker-ish but not full on TC.

Till-all-R1 wrote:I like the deco of the Autotrooper, I just don't care for the mold they used, never like that whatever it's called. Cybertronian Ironhide sculpt. So if it had utilized something more unique or aesthetically more pleasing to look at I'd have considered it just for that and the Seeker.

It's the closest neo-G1 mold to the Animated Cybertron-mode Ironhide/Ratchet mold, though; there's not really another mold that would have suited.


For comparison.

Myself, I'd love to get the pack, although short of a windfall or being able to get art commissions I probably will end up missing out. A shame - I don't have Allicon, and the others would all be nice rank-fillers.

Still waiting on them to get to doing Horri-Bull already. The Skullcruncher mold is a perfect base for retooling into him.



Anyway, very much loving Origins Jazz. Has me looking forward to the recently-announced Origins Wheeljack.

Be nice if they would do an Origins Skywarp (in the vein of Legacy Soundwave), to make up for SIEGE Skywarp being a borderline unreleased toy.

Man, I wish Target.com would ship Origin Jazz already. What's the hold up? My local Target has already stocked them twice! If I hadn't gotten it with a coupon I would have canceled my order long ago.

Yeah, Hori-Bull would do well as a Skullcruncher retool, I said as much when Fangry was revealed. I think Repugnus would be a serviceable base for Squeezeplay.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:Man, I wish Target.com would ship Origin Jazz already. What's the hold up? My local Target has already stocked them twice! If I hadn't gotten it with a coupon I would have canceled my order long ago.

Geez! Hopefully he ships soon.

Emerje wrote:I think Repugnus would be a serviceable base for Squeezeplay.

Hmm. There, I don't know that I agree. While they made the Grotusque version of the mold work for Fangry despite the transformation differences, I'm not sure the same would hold true for turning the Repugnus version into Squeezeplay.






I can see a number of issues with using Repugnus as a base:
* His beast arms (while looking kinda similar at first glance) would not make for particularly good retooling into Squeezeplay's big, meaty claws.
** Their mounting points could be repurposed for his beast mode legs, but it still wouldn't be ideal because of the size of the joint and Repugnus' arm transformation
* Neither of those choices would resemble Squeezeplay's robot mode chest, so they'd have to turn the torso around and replace the existing back to compensate. Which, while G1 accurate, would render Repugnus' back already having a beast head hinge moot.
* Replacing Repugnus' beast arms with a chestplate and having the robot arms pull double-duty as the beast claws (while keeping the usual robot-feet-into-beast-legs setup of the base mold) would let them capitalize on the existing hinge, but still has tradeoffs:
** Barring going with a completely new back anyway, the upper back would be reliant on retaining Repugnus' swords to look right in beast mode.
** Both the robot mode and beast mode calves would have to be new tooling to look right (and even then, the robot calves would look off in beast mode)
** While having the robot arms double as the beast claws would be better than trying to retool Repugnus' beast arms for that purpose, they'd still end up on the small side. And I think the difference in looks vs. G1 would stick out worse than Fangry ending up with robotic beast arms.
** Similarly, I think Squeezeplay having the same robot and beast chests would stick out worse than it does on Fangry.


I think the Twinferno/Doublecross version of the mold might actually be a better bet. It's already set up to get the robot arms behind the back, and Doublecross' beast mode shoulder balls would be great mounting points for Squeezeplay's beast legs. The robot mode chest would also be hidden.
Going with the Doublecross version would need:
* Squeezeplay's beast mode legs in place of Doublecross' beast mode arms
* New robot arms (well, the upper arm could be re-used)
* New lower legs
* New chestplate
* New back to accommodate hinge for cobra-crab-thing head
* Cobra-crab-thing head
* Ideally, a tail/weapon piece (but then, so would going with the Repugnus version)
Which is significant retooling, but the Repugnus version of the mold would need that too even in the "best case" version outlined above, and I think it would go a lot smoother.

But hey, maybe they'll surprise us and Squeezeplay will be his own entire new mold in the mainline.