Yeah, all the Ebay listings I see right now are pre-orders, it looks like. It's been pushed back frequently throughout the month, so going theory is that it is Soon(TM) for Blades, but Soon(TM) is rather open to interpretation.

 

TCP has moved Copter on their calendar from today (Sep. 5) to next Thursday (Sep. 13). TCP's calendar must always be taken with a grain of salt but the fact that they only bumped it by one week makes me hopeful they have good reason to think he is on his way. I've been checking eBay daily for listings but as of today still nothing. I'm waiting for a flash sale to get him - the days when I pay $100 for a limb bot are long past - but I'm still anxious to see him released.

 

I imagine once the individual bots are all out GT will release a boxed set?

Are sets generally cheaper than the individual bots together or around the same price?

 

Not necessarily. Transformmission i.e. GT by another name didn't realize a box set for their Menasor. I can see these guys selling a box set for the Guard City version, but not for Defensor.

 

I actually can't think of many "official" combiner sets off the top of my head, meaning a pre-packaged set from the manufacturer. I think retailers will sometimes sell as a bundle but that's an informal set, and usually not much of a discount. Anyway, I wouldn't count on a box set being available, and I don't know what GT's track record is on re-issues. As they are a relatively minor player in the 3P scene and this set seems to be flying a bit under the radar, I plan on buying each figure during the nearest flash sale as they are released.

 

They’ve postponed it roughly 39 times

 

ShowZ says end of September and it's only an estimate. Guess who I trust more?

 

Well it's all only estimates. All I'm saying is that usually when TCP bumps something they do it a month at a time, so I'm hoping that a one-week bump means they've had word to expect a shipment. It's not gospel or anything. It's not super accurate but it's not just random either. No matter what, I won't be surprised if this is the last Protectobot we get out of GT this year. Disappointed, but not surprised.

 

I don’t think this is accurate. I’ve been keeping tabs on this fella and he’s had one or two week bumps constantly

 

These look amazing in bot and alt mode.. tempted.

But... another set which is comparable to TW, Zeta and (seemingly) DX9/XTB/FT size will no doubt be along. And I'd like one defensor for individual and combined modes, not double dipping on this guy... 

 

Not only that. For FT Arcee and a bunch of other things. Their calendar used to be quite accurate, but I guess nowadays companies are like "we'll release when we are ready"

 

The Gravity Builder G1 add-on set arrived today, so copter must be next, and imminent.

 

I haven't kept close tabs on Copter until...well, pretty much now, so I can't say. If they've been bumping him week to week, I'll just stand corrected. I think he'd been sitting in September for a while though. I don't consult TCP's calendar much anymore since it is just a "serving suggestion" but my experience back in the days when I was frequenting it was that they would typically bump things about a month at a time from whatever their initial estimate was, and stuff that was announced that they had no idea about would get put in late December, like Hoodlum, who's been living there on a more or less permanent basis. I know right now, for example, XTB Flipout had been on their calendar for the week or so after Copter, but now he's pushed to October; XTB Savant was set for the same day as Hoodlum, and now he's set September 28. I may be mistaken that there's anything behind that but I'm assuming, even if those dates are wrong - which they probably are! - they're not arbitrary. Anyway, I think everyone knows by now that TCP's calendar is at best an educated guess and nothing is really in until it's IN.

 

Or it could be the T Beast. Hard to tell.

 

We've only seen renders of Red Bull so far, but there have been pictures of complete Copter figures for a while now.

 

Sept 13 and no Copter release imminent. This is my shocked face. TFS says December, Robot Kingdom says October, and GT, as always, says nothing. Streetwise was released like February 5. This is beyond annoying.

 

I'm not surprised either. No 3p that I'm aware of is particularly communicative about release dates until a drop is imminent, but I agree that this is a very long gap between releases. It's especially infuriating because Copter has seemed more or less done, with colored shots floating around forever. Looks like they stopped to milk their Gravity Builder mold a bit instead of forging ahead on these. Considering that for now they have no competitors whatsoever for MP Protectobots, you'd think they'd push to take advantage of that before some other 3P decides to step in.

 

GT's figures are my personal favorite from any company, but they have never been any good at communication going back to the Warbotron days. They might be the worst (excluding tiny companies with ~2-3 releases or less) which is not exactly easy with how bad companies like FansProject and UT/DX9 are.

 

I am still on board for this guy, but i just shrug when the date is pushed back. Maybe I'll go grab Calidus and maybe Boreas in the meantime.

 

Sarge just came in from the last ebay flash sale and I have to say, he is my second favorite car bot behind Downbeat.

Articulation is great, transformation is neat without being overly complex, and he looks great! The plastic feels different than what I am used to and I could go for a couple of splashes of color in bot mode, but overall I am excited for the rest of the set!