Thanks to a friend of mine, I finally got my Platinum Factor Micron from Yahoo! Japan Auctions. It was still kind of hard to burn $25 on one single Micron/Mini-Con even though I dig helicopters. I still believe this is one of the best (if not THE best) Micron/Mini-Con released thus far. After I bought the regular GF Micron Team release, I knew I had to have all of the various redecos of this mold. Platinum Factor stands in robot mode on my computer's CPU staring at me as I type. It was hard to tell from the small auction photos that the main body was cast of translucent clear plastic. I also didn't notice until I opened him up this morning that his head and the lower portion of his legs and feet were also cast in translucent plastic, this time yellow. Combined w/ the light brown plastic used for the thighs, arms and helicopter rotors (tail & blades) and the gold paint apps around the head dome make for a great looking redeco. I highly recommend this toy if you can find it for a decent price. Total, I spent $25 and now that I have him he's worth every penny. Hopefully the prices will continue to fall a bit on the other 2 Platinum Microns so I can complete my set.
What's the name of the last one? Was it released yet? I really like what I've seen of Factor and Element. They're not just another of Takara's usual, blah-looking all-gold repaints, but something cool and regal. The unique gold color scheme make them nice little display pieces on their own, not just another Micron to stick into a peg. They're cool exclusives that I really like, and would get all three if I was able.
Platinum Material It is being sold with Megalo Convoy at the end of September at Japanese TRU's, or so says Ryan at Fan-2-Fan (whom I believe). I'd love to get my hands on Platinum Material. He looks bad ass.
Makes sense (since I just saw the Takara site update news). All the Platinum members are from TRU as far as I know, which is always a good thing because TRU exclusives tend to be the least expensive and rare. On the other hand you have guys like Graviton from the Hellflame team, who can go for $60+ on his own because he was at a much smaller chain.