Transformers

[Ben]

I found the Classics line at TRU yesterday, during their buy 2 get 1 free sale. I picked up Rodimus, Starscream, and Astrotrain, leaving Bumblebee for another day.
I'm still undecided on Prime and Megatron.

I also saw the 20th Ann. Prime there. If it's going to be $90 for that one, I just as well get the Takara relase for a little bit more money.

[iFett]

Good score on the Classics!!

I'm holding off on Prime as well.  I never got him the first time around (due to the shortstacks) and now the US release has no chrome and a stupid talking base.  I'm just going to buy the Takara version that comes with the trailer.

[Ben]

The base doesn't sound anything like Prime either. Talk about disappointing.

[DoctorPadawan]

I actually shocked myself yesterday and today by buying the Classics Bumblebee, Rodimus, and Starscream at TRU.  I think it was more nostalgia than anything else, as the main reason I got Rodimus was because I never had Hot Rod as a kid and my Rodimus Prime was stolen when I took it to a friend's house. 

These are the first Transformers (other than the Boba and Jango Slave Is in the SW:TF line) I've bought or even had the urge to buy in almost 20 years.  I've had a bit of fun tinkering around with them, and I'm seriously considering buying the 20 dollar Optimus Prime just so I can have a semi-original lineup of the main characters in the old cartoon.  I like the fact that Megatron is a gun again, even if it is a corny looking sci-fi concept, but I'm on the fence about him right now.

How long is the Classics line supposed to last, and who else is going to be included from the original cartoons/comics?  Is this going to be a small subline that goes for a few months, or is it going to lead up to the movie toys?

[Ben]

It's supposed to be a filler until the movie line starts. There's an exclusive two-pack with Ultra Magnus and Skywarp coming to Target (repaints of Prime and Starscream), plus a $20 Jetfire. There's also the $10 Mirage and Grimlock coming quite soon.

I hope there's more, and it continues longer than Hasbro is saying it will. But after the movie, there's a new cartoon starting called TF: Heroes, and I assume that there will be a new line for that.

Edit- there's also Cliffjumper coming in Classics wave 2, which is a repaint of Bumblebee.

[Darth_Ennis]

I havent even seen these yet, but I am very anxious to get the whole slew of them. Pardon any puns, there is definately something classic about these. It makes me remember the TF's as they truly were.  Much more so than any of the modern lines.

Not that I have any negative thoughts about any of the current lines, they just never actually made me want to go out an buy them. These remind me of the ones that I grew up with.

And seeing what the Movie Transformers look like, I do not have very high hopes for any toyline based on them whatsoever. This may be my last chance to get real Tramsformers for quite some time.

[DoctorPadawan]

I havent even seen these yet, but I am very anxious to get the whole slew of them. Pardon any puns, there is definately something classic about these. It makes me remember the TF's as they truly were.  Much more so than any of the modern lines.

Not that I have any negative thoughts about any of the current lines, they just never actually made me want to go out an buy them. These remind me of the ones that I grew up with.

Thank you, DE, as you pretty much put my feelings about these into the words I couldn't find. 

I picked up Optimus Prime today on a TRU run, and I absolutely love it.  If this is going to be a finite line which concentrates on the main characters from the old cartoons and G1 stuff, I might have to collect all of them (at least the ones from those days).  As long as they don't go nuts with pointless repaints, I might be in this line for the short-long-haul. 

One question:  After digging around on the Hasbro website, I noticed that in addition to the Ultra Magnus/Skywarp pack, there is also a Wal-Mart exclusive Constructicons/Devastator box set coming early next year.  Unlike the TRU Soundwave, however, it looked like these were not based on the actual G1 toys, so I was curious as to whether they were newly designed or based on an older design from one of the post-G1 lines I'm not aware of. 

It's nice to be able to get characters I could never afford to get (or find) as a kid, and the TFs I've gotten these last couple of days have really brought back some happy memories of childhood for me.

[iFett]

DP: The Devastator giftset you speak of is a repainted repack of 5 TF Energon figures that were all sold individually.  They also made a newer version of Superion and Bruticus in that line.  Sorry to say though that the Classics line will end prior to the movies release, then there's a new line coming after that so I wouldn't expect this line to continue.  But hopefully Hasbro can crank out a lot more for us as we have 10 months to go before the preview movie toys come out.

I got my MP-04 Prime last week.  Worth every penny!  Even though I could have bought a few 20th Primes at the price I paid for him.  I'm holding off on MP-03 Screamer until they paint him correctly for a future release.  I'm sure we'll see all six seven (SunStorm) seekers eventually.  I don't count MP03 as Starscream as his paint scheme looks nothing like him.

EDIT - Glad to see some other Transformer fans on this site!!   

[DoctorPadawan]

DP: The Devastator giftset you speak of is a repainted repack of 5 TF Energon figures that were all sold individually. 

The picture I saw on the Hasbro site of Devastator looked pretty interesting, but my main fear is how well the character stays together (general sturdiness, etc) when he's totally assembled.  I had all five Predacons and Combaticons as a kid and while I liked Predaking's overall sturdiness, the Combaticons when assembled into Bruticus seemed kind of clunky.  For someone who is buying these purely for the nostalgia value (and hey, they're a lot of damn fun that makes me forget the misery of trying to find certain SW figures in this day and age), will this "new" Devastator hold up well to my not-so-scrutinous scrutiny?

I picked up Astrotrain and Megatron on Monday following a delightfully long trip to the doctor.  Astrotrain isn't as good as I had hoped (the train mode is really pushing it for the whole "Triple Changer" thing), but Megatron is actually very cool and a lot of fun.  Definitely a lot sturdier than the original G1 Megatron too. 

Have Grimlock, Mirage, or Jetfire shown up at retail yet? 

[iFett]

The old "clunky" combiners plugged into the main body via their heads.  The newer ones have octangular male/female connecting pieces built into the toy, but doesn't affect the head.  I only picked up Superion and he's been in storage for quite some time now.  He didn't hold together as strong as I thought he would.  The leg assembly was wanky and he would fall from time to time.  Oh, also the individual figure weapons "transforms" into the gestalt's hands and feet.  Sounds kind of strange, but it looks nice IMO as did the other two gestalts from Energon.  I'm looking forward to the Devestator repaint - If I can find him at WM that is.

Grimlock, Mirage, and Jetfire are part of the next wave even though Jetfire is a Voyager class ($20 toy) and the other two are deluxe ($10) price points.

[DrunkJedi]

I only picked up Superion and he's been in storage for quite some time now.  He didn't hold together as strong as I thought he would.  The leg assembly was wanky and he would fall from time to time.

I only have the torso and 1 arm for Devastator, but tried using the Superion bots to test the torso and he is a bit sturdier than Superion, but still has some problems.

[Ben]

Transformers movie preview toys!

Hm. There's a couple of plot points on the back of the cards, so I didn't post the pics here.

More pics here.

[DoctorPadawan]

I picked up the 20th Anniversary DVD Optimus today at WM.  At 70 dollars, it was a bit of a hit, but I suppose it's better than TRU's 90 bucks that they're charging.  As thrilled as I've been with the Classics line, I'm even more thrilled with this OP.

The only stupid part about it is the base not using Cullen's voice from the film, even though you'd think sound files of OP's lines are readily available somewhere.  It almost comes across as bad as the SW CommTech chips sounding like an emotionless Speak and Spell experiment.  Still, the base looks good, so I can't complain too much. 

Target also had two of these on the shelf at the same 69.99 price tag, so if you're not buying this because of TRU's 90 buck price, check out WM or Target for a bit lower price.

[iFett]

Transformers movie preview toys!

Hm. There's a couple of plot points on the back of the cards, so I didn't post the pics here.

More pics here.

Haven't read the plot points, but the bots look like **** IMO.  Looks like Beast Wars crap that I hate and never collected.  Yee-haw.  Get the move **** out of the way so we can get back to some real toys.

[Ben]

Thankfully, they're only protoforms, and only at the beginning of the movie. I imagine if those were the looks of Prime and Starscream for the entire movie, fans would hate this movie more than they already do.

I'm with you in already awaiting the end of the movie line.