I've just took a look at HLJ to see how my preorder for Astrotrain is, and the product page says that it's discontinued. I have yet to receive a payment request from HLJ.

Should I be worried that my preorder will be canceled? I've sent an email to HLJ and am waiting for a reply, but I first wanted to check with those of you whom bought from HLJ and were in this sort of position like I am.

 

I hate to say it, but it looks like you'll not be getting Astrotrain from HLJ. Every time this has happened to me a couple of days later I get a "sorry" e-mail.  

I find this happens a lot if you don't pre-order really quickly; they tend to oversell their PO's and, if you came in late, you're likely to be one of the customers who've been oversold to.

I used to be a big advocate of HLJ but in recent years they've gone downhill in my opinion and the only reason I'm buying from them at the moment is because of the weak Pound and their ability to easily cancel a PO if the FX rate dips.

You're in luck though as Hobby Search has him in stock: LG40 Astrotrain (Completed) Tomy (TakaraTomy) Transformers Legends Transformers He's a bit more expensive but I find their postage rate is lower than HLJ so it should work out about the same.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I'm pretty sure that I preordered this a day or two after the preorder was made available. 

Thanks for the link, though. 

 

Has happened to me quite a few times. Recently with Arcee and the United Rumble/Frenzy pack. Ordered them the day they went up, people started getting payment requests and I got nothing, few days later I got the "we're sorry" email. From then on I usually preorder at least 1 of them at BBTS and if HLJ comes thru I cancel the preorder. There have been enough times though where I ended up having to keep the BBTS order.

 

That's why I stopped buying from them. Was the same with Arcee. Later they got new Arcees and had one for me, but I already bought her someplace else and cancelled then. Only masterpiece seems to work everytime.

 

Ah yes, I remember the Arcee and Rumble/Frenzy debacles.

Since this is the first time it happened to me, I was curious. Though your right about Masterpieces, I have yet to have any problems with them, or I should say the "only" problem I have is having the money to pay for them.

 

Bloody hell! HLJ just sent a payment request just after I purchased Astrotrain from someone else!  

Oh well, it's their loss. 

 

They screwed me on her, Windblade and Chromia. Was... not... impressed. So much so that I bailed and went to AmiAmi where I got a customs hit on every bloody packge for six months! Hobby Search are great, but for their cancellation policy.  

Well bugger me! Shows what I know, eh?!  

 

Same here. I noticed also that suddenly EVERY Japan package has to be retrieved from customs. I never made the connection it could've been because I changed from HLJ to amiami. Could this really be it? Also I never have to pay fees, yet I still won't get it delivered directly anymore. Which sucks.

 

Unfortunate, at least you have him now. Nothing worse than losing out although you pre-ordered.

 

I am thankful for that, but like I said, it's HLJ loss of sale.

I actually didn't have to pay that much more, after shipping and the exchange rate, it was just a couple dollars more. This was a much happier outcome.

 

It'd be nice if supply of TT Transformers wasn't so strained.

 

Space Choo Choo is in at BBTS! =^w^=

 

Welp, this one arrived earlier than expected.


This is my first experience with the mould and I'm digging more than I thought I would. The transformation is simple yet efficient and satisfying, I do prefer this kind of engineering that actually makes me want to transform my figures all the time (instead of the Third Party route that just makes me want to do it once and never again after it). The colours are definitely reminiscent of the G1 incarnation which has its pros and cons but the attention to detail is appreciated. The proportions are also really good and fitting for the character. I'm not too much of a fan of the weapons but there's a solution for that:


Here it is with the Perfect Effect Kingbat set which I think fits him really well and considering that most of my triple changers have extra weapons this set gives Astrotrain justice.

Overall, I don't think is an improvement over the Hasbro version since there aren't really more paint apps and there's a certain appeal in Hasbro's colour scheme (I mostly picked Takara's because of my familiarity with the cartoon version). That being said, is definitely better than the previous Henkei Deluxe version, not only because of the more appropriate Voyager size but also because of the proportions, less amount of useless kibble and more convincing alt modes (I'm even liking the train mode despite of my initial impressions).

This actually makes me want to try the other uses of the mould like Sentinel Prime, is simply a really fun toy.

 

Astrotrain pics

 

on HLJ, if you have pre-ordered, the release date comes, and it said discontinued, don't worry, it's just their way to say that all stocks are for pre-orders