Very good point. I have had a rash of bad luck but I only import them, and return shipping costs are a non starter. I just resell at a loss and reorder hoping for the best. Stores like BBTS will replace QC products but its even worse shipping for us Canadians, so TakTom never gets to feel the pain of disgruntled and disappointed fans.

This will be my last AE purchase, and will go start up an Amazon JP account tonight.

 

i emailed AE as a test to see if they've flown the coop. thankfully they haven't.

 

Not really a down side, they're awesome, they just tend to crack and split over time.

Edit: Sorry, I am terrible at quoting. My response was an answer to why some don’t want rubber tires.

 

Damn, they do this every time. With Prowl, with Red Alert.
When the toon accurate versions come out, you realise how off the other versions were.
So I'll probably be getting this one and leave the old Wheeljack in car mode.

 

Yeah I didn’t mind the real car series either because well , we didn’t have the option for the actual toon accurate vehicle . With that option now available and seeing Takara can make them with no licensing issues , I’m totally on board with the + version . Granted the deco of the actual car is nice an all , but Wheeljack never sported that real life paint job in the toon.

 

I'm so excited for this guy I just went ahead and preordered a second copy. Decided I'm going to sell my original when the + release is out. The mold is fantastic, but for a guy who grew up loving Wheeljack on TV everyday but never owned the toy, the real real world deco of the og release only detracted from the Wheeljackiness of the figure.

 

Wheeljackiness  

 

The "+" refers to the added Wheeljackiness  

 

At this price I don't blame you brother!

 

Yeah, I knew I'd end up regretting it if I didn't get another at this price! My plan is to have doubles of the guys I consider the core of the og Autobot & Decepticon casts so I can have them as deskbots: Optimus, Ironhide, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, Jazz, Megatron, Soundwave/Laserbeak/Rumble/Ravage, Shockwave, & Starscream. If TT reissues Ratchet I might have to throw him in the group, too (TT reissue would be cheaper than the HA one). I'll hold off on two Starscreams until a v3 comes along, though  

Are you down for two WJ+'s, brother?

 

That makes a lot of sense. Honestly at times I'm tempted to cut down everybody to the core cast, except there aren't enough members yet! (totally agree about who you chose there)
I run a pretty tight ship already though, and don't really have any doubles yet except Bumblebee. MP-29+ is coming in and I'll probably keep the original MP-29, I'll probably keep 17 too even with 17+, but I do like things streamlined. I'm even starting to consider selling 12+ and 40. I don't think I can pass on MP-36+ though, especially since I'll have to get OP-3+, but maybe just those two would suffice for a toy-accurate collection? This is starting to clash with my 'minimalist' lifestlye haha

Only got two shelves and they're already starting to feel bloated. Clearly the right answer is to buy more shelves!!!

 

TT reissues Ironhide/Ratchet, do they keep the flat grey face paint, or like Magnus the reissues have more of a pearlescent grey? I thought about this yest r day fooling around with, TT has been known to do running changes in reissues.

 

I know the appeal of coins, but maybe the less stuff I have, the better.

 

It sounds like an opportunity for a KO coin.  

 

It's just dawning on me that this is coming without the toy-style launchers from Exhaust. With +Prowl coming with his launchers to help augment the toy look for the normal MP-17 (for those that didn't bother chasing down the Amazon JP launchers or 3P variations), that was appreciated, and something I wish was followed up with on with 20+ helping further the toy look of MP-20. Doesn't mean I don't want the 'toon launcher or the extra little things (I have the immobilizer from Exhaust, but it's nice to get the hypno-chip thing this time), just that I wish they threw in the toy launchers & missiles too for another true all-in-one release, and so I could slap those on MP-20.

 

MP-20+ doesn't come with the hypno-chip disruptor either...

 

Third-party companies to the rescue...?

 

Couldn't care less about the coin. Just as long as we get the figure.