It would be cool if it were Thrust or Dirge since I didn't get the Botcon set, but I'm not holding out hopes.

 

True but at this point I don't bloody care!!! Just please tell me when it is coming out and how I can get my hands on it!!!! PLEASE!!!!

 

Do you really hate Fun Pub that much that you want to see one of the things that have helped make their Botcon successful damaged or destroyed? Maybe you are going to suggest a class action lawsuit against FP and Hasbro for Botcon seekers?

And Henkei and the Japanese market is significantly different than the American retail market. Even if they release all 6 seekers in henkei, it does not mean that it would have been a retail success in the US having 6 of the same figure on the shelves at the same time. That is a hard sell to retailers to pick that up, Especially since Classics 2.0 was not even a remote possibility at the time Classics was on the shelves. Classics 2.0 is in existence due to the success of the Movie line more than the marginal popularity of the classics line.

And this is gonna be a typo... Unlike the pair of exclusives that could be something, we know the retail D-04 is the white seeker.

 

Yeah I'm going with typo myself.

 

I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope this is Thrust. HE's my fav. decepticon jet, an d i was pissed that it was a botcon exclusive.

 

I just hope it is Thrust and Dirge

 

It'll be ramjet.

The FunPub Classics Thrust Wings can not be used, They own the molds to thrust's Volt wing design for that version, Now if Taktomy came up with a diffrent design and shape of wings as well as not using the cone head It wouldn't infringe on the Fun Pub design... Now what we do in terms of Cone swapping after we buy the figure is another matter.

 

Do you really hate Fun Pub that much that you want to see one of the things that have helped make their Botcon successful damaged or destroyed?

Botcon is successful because of the people involved, not because of one figure.

Why are you so defensive about this issue? Who cares if Japanese kids get figures in color schemes sort of like the ones in the Games of Deception set? If you don't like them, don't buy them. It's not as though they will be competing with Animated for shelf space. Americans have to go out of their way to purchase them.

 

I mean I understand a lot of people's points of views but, what a lot of people seem to forget is that these are corporations, they want to maximize their profits. And since I'm sure most Japanese weren't able to get a Botcon set, would it really be so far fetched that in order to get more people to buy their toys, they are willing to release these botcon exclusives in their country? Maybe it could be slightly different like some people said the wing design is copyrighted to FP so it could be Thrust with a weird wing design. Regardless, for all we know it could be an error on their part.

 

If HLJ have got the listing wrong, it wouldn't be the first time.

 

*hopes to be able to complete his Classics Seekers some way*  

That'd totally rock if what you suggested was done. From my vantage point, the people who invested in the Botcon set wouldn't feed snubbed, those who weren't able to shell out could be somewhat satisfied. WIN-WIN looks like.

QFT. Botcon is successful because it's . . . well, Botcon. To credit its success to one set of exclusive TFs is just minimizing what Botcon is.

 

Hope it's Thrust, that way I won't have to pay around 100$ for a Botcon Thrust - and after all, I think Takara is'nt forced by Hasbro's decision not to release the Botcon seekers. It'd be great if their did their own version, after all it's a minor remold for Ramjet - new wings only. Heck, they could make Dirge too with new wings instead of repainting Ramjet.

Remember, there must be a big following of the seekers in Japan, since not only did they repaint Robot Master Starscream into the black variant but also into Skywarp and TC. And, Takara took the risk of repainting a Masterpiece figure (Skywarp) which is a big risk with such a costy toy. Not only that, they also remolded the face for him - getting new wings for Thrust and Dirge would cost probably the same, so I can totally see it. And don't forget that takara imported the Anime Color MP Screamer from Hasbro, so in Japan, there must be a market for seekers...  

One can dream, at least... I'd rather pay the 25$ for one Heinkei then 300$ for the three Botcon seekers, anyway.

 

I've passed the idea on to a higher power   So maybe that will get the gears greased...

 

Man, imagine what'd happen if Thrust turned out to be Ramjet in Dirge's colors.

 

Ok...could have sworn I posted in this thread already. Anyways, I hope it's Thrust!! He was my favorite of the coneheads.

 

It was a BotCon exclusive, not a Hasbro exclusive.

Hasbro mostly cannot release Takara's exclusives or even their own products with very similar decos to Takara's exclusives. Aaron Archer himself said they wouldn't let Hasbro do a reissue Sunstorm. Later, Hasbro had to ditch the Street Speed Mini-Con team redecos from Energon Ultra Magnus because they were too similar to Takara's own Street Speed Team redecos from their Armada DVDs.

However, from observed releases, TakaraTomy can release Hasbro exclusives for some reason. They cannot release the specific molds used in the Botcon 2007 seekers set because Fun Publications owns the toolings that were used (and they've likely deteriorated into uselessness by now, anyway).

TakaraTomy is within their rights to create all new toolings and decos for Thundercracker, Thrust and Dirge, of course.

I doubt that it's solely Hasbro's decision to not release their own versions of the BotCon seekers, but a contractual agreement between them and Fun Publications. Remember, Hasbro was the contracter in this case, as Fun Pub paid for the development and design of those figures even though Hasbro owns the characters.

TakaraTomy never seems to abide by Hasbro's own exclusives anyway. But if they really want to do Thrust and co, they'll have to make their own toolings and deco layouts.

 

Well if it is Thrust, good for those who kept the faith and waited.

Personally I don't care, I've had my Botcon seekers on display for a year and, after selling my loose set, I pretty much got them for free too.

 

Awesome.  

. . . and I'd be totally happy with that. It still keeps those who invested in the Botcon set happy and still releases a product that will help meet some of the demand for these toys  

 

Hey everybody. I guess I'm the ONLY one that thought of shooting them an email about this. I just got the reply:

Hi Bret,

Yes, the item is actually Ramjet and not Thrust. Thanks for notifying us regarding the mistake!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Tsai
HobbyLink Japan
(www.hlj.com)

Now you know! And knowing is...well in this case the whole battle! You can start passing this around to all the other TF sites & clear up the confusion.

They also changed "Metro Flex" to "Metroplex". I bet when they saw my pre-order they were like WTF is a "Metro Flex"???   

 

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

And way to be the sharp knife in the drawer Noisemaze.