Was thinking the same thing. Then it would just be a matter of paint for the doors and track down a light bar.

Still though. The head would be nice.

 

Still waiting for non-attendees package to show on the site... Any time frame available for those of us in the states who are working and can only check back infrequently?

 

Or who worked the previous night and would like to go to sleep?  

 

Haha if I went I'd just want the Vehicon

 

Non-attendee option please? Gonna have to step away from my computer for a couple of hours, really want this kit...

 

Non-Attendee Packs are likely to be tomorrow. I'm trying to get the best possible shipping rates as I can right now for the packs because of the inclusion of the Robot Manuel X toy.

Most couriers over here use strange international shipping rates if packaging goes above a certain size and because the toy is boxed, it means that unless I split the shipping of the pack in two, it may end up costing about £70 just to ship the Non-Attendee Pack to the US / Canada!

Don't worry though, we have set aside sets of the Bad Cop add-on kit and the Robot Manuel X toy specifically for Non-Attendees.

However, the kit is selling very quickly right now for attendees since it went on sale a few minutes ago!

Simon

 

So for the Non-attendees, would we be able to get just the upgrade kits seperately? Or at least the option?

 

I'm looking at offering two options for the Pack right now - one with the Bad Cop kit and one without but both will include Robot Manuel X as we know that there's been quite a large demand for this.

From our point of view, it's not practical to offer a wide range of options for the Non-Attendee Packs so we're basing the options purely on the quantity of items that we have available and to offer the best all-round package of convention items that we can this year.

 

...Except you and so many others conveniently ignore that the same "problem" that the PRID toy has, is the same problem the CGI models have. Unless you also dislike the CGI model which then I'll retract my statement.

However, the point of the PRID being good is that it looks like what the CGI model looks like. They look great for what they are...nameless infantry grunts. Looks like a brawler? Give me a break, man. I suppose if that's your deal then fine, but at least I'm pretty understanding of what the point of Prime Vehicons is supposed to be.

That being said, too bad this is a con custom exclusive. I'd love to re-purpose my FE Vehicon into something else that's not a Vehicon.

 

So there's no buying Bad Cop without also buying Robot Manuel X?

That'd save me having to wait up another night, I guess.

 

We always include a fully-autographed copy of the convention magazine as standard as part of our Non-Attendee Pack and obviously without taking too much time away from our guests, we're only able to get a limited number of these done. Because of this and other items that we include in the packs for everyone (and the fact that several items this year will be coming from different suppliers), the only practical option for us is include most items as standard.

The main thing for us as well is shipping. Offering too many options would be a logistical nightmare for us, both in preparing the ordering system initially and despatch afterwards. We have a very small team at Auto Assembly, even more so in the administrative side (all the paperwork / order processing / distribution is handled by myself and my wife) so the more we can simplify things the greater capacity we have in what we can handle!

I will be honest and say that if it wasn't for adopting a "fixed pack" approach, we wouldn't be able to offer the Non-Attendee Packs at all because of the extra time it would take us to deal with them.

Simon

 

Honestly the mech ideas figure is a good figure, and I'm sure someone will want it on the secondary market. Depending on the price of the total package I might still be down. Really only want the bad cop kit when it's all said and done...

 

They just posted it. and for those looking to just get the upgrade kit, you're out of luck. And it will run you about $180+ US for the pack.

Bunch of neat things though. But really prefer that upgrade kit. Oh well.. is what it is.

 

I'll be honest, I wish I could have offered these cheaper but the shipping is what has crippled us on these. From what I can tell, larger packages from a lot of couriers from the US seem to charge based purely on weight and the same applies within the UK but as soon as I try to ship outside of the UK for anything above a certain size then something called "volumetric weight" comes into play.

What this means is that couriers look at the size of packages and not just the weight and they assume how much a package might weigh because of how large it is. If the volumetric weight is then higher than the real weight, the shipping cost is based on the higher of the two figures. The whole package comes to about 1.3kg but according to the prices I looked at, the volumetric weight is over 4kg and that's how all the couriers (including the Royal Mail) wanted to charge us for.

I've been able to bring the cost down slightly by splitting the pack up to send Robot Manuel X separately (he's a boxed toy so he takes up a lot of space on his own!) and then the rest in a smaller packet but it's still frustrating for us having to do it that way.

 

Well as tempting as seeing what the head looks like firsthand (and to see if it does fit on BB's balljoint)...180 quid is way out of budget. Guess I really am sticking with Hailstorm's noggin.

 

Hahaha!

Also, Arcee's FE is a piece of shit compared to the PRID. (well, it's a POS regardless)

Just like the show.

Because Vehicons are TOTALLY like that.

 

I haven't seen many brawlers with car hoods hanging off their butt myself.

 

$229 usd?

 

Not sure what the current exchange rate works out at but as I've said before, we've been hit particularly hard this year with shipping costs as you can see in the difference between the UK and the International versions of the Packs.

The only way we could have made more savings would have been if Robot Manuel X was a loose toy rather than a boxed one. Frustratingly for us, it's not the weight of the toy that's causing the problems but more the size of the box it comes in as it's almost 12 inches long!

 

Crap. Really wanted the silver package upgrade kits. Wonder if there's any possibility of the kits getting a wider release down the line. But I guess that's hoping for too much; KFC would rather give us blue rhinos instead, heh.

The gold package is way too pricey for what this is, sadly.

As for the FE hate, Vehicon and Arcee may not be accurate to the show models but they're still very well made figures with higher quality plastic. As accurate as the RiD molds are, one thing I hate about them is the cheap-o plastic they're made out of (and nearly all of my 10 RiD Vehicons have hella loose ball joints right out of the package, necessitating the glue trick to tighten up the joints; otherwise posing them is a pain and they just do the splits and flop/fall over). Accuracy does not automatically mean a better figure, and sometimes an inaccurate toy is still a good toy.

So, who wants to join me in petitioning Reprolabels in making a police markings sticker sheet set for FE Vehicon?