MAFEX pricing, and Figma to a slightly lesser extent, has gotten completely out of control. I liked MPs too but there has been a marked shift in their pricing this past year that I just can't get behind. With Sunstreaker, there's this feeling that people are grandstanding. There's no way a 50% price hike produced more sales in a market that was already shouting from the rooftops about waiting for the KO over what an outrage the old prices were. Even TRU is playing perception games to make its so-so exclusives look hot.

 

They still do retroactive G1 characters. We did get Road Rage, Tigertrack, Clampdown, and NEW retros like Delta Magnus, Exhaust and Loudpedal. Even Bluestreak is a different character from Streak. In fact, prior to Sunstreaker’s release, Deepcover and a Black Ironhide are the only Diaclone inspired repaints we were missing. So with Sunstreaker, we now have four potential new Diaclone characters (well, 3 plus poor Deepcover).

 

Had the strangest thing happen with my package I got today. I ordered POTP Grimlock, Starscream, and Prime. When I took them out of the shipping box I noticed the card for Starscream was just sitting on the bubble wrap underneath my figure boxes. I inspected my Starscream. It still appeared to be factory sealed, but when I opened it, it's card was indeed missing. How it got outside of a sealed package is beyond me. Unless someone in the warehouse at BBTS was opening them up to get certain cards or the lot they had didn't get the card inside the boxes so Hasbro sent them some to just throw in the package if people ordered that figure?

 

I know they still do them. My point was that they sit. Blue Bluestreak, grail of grails for G1, survived a Black Friday sale for crying out loud.

Also, reading back about slow shipping, I wonder if both Amazon and free Chinese handout ePackets are getting priority over BBTS shipments...

 

MP-36: sells out in days

Diaclone redecos: can be still had at almost every online store

Shelf warming is not as cool as shell forming.

 

I'd probably buy a black Ironhide, provided it was priced like the other vans, but I don't fill up wish lists begging for it because I know it'd be an anchor around the neck of any shop that ordered it.

 

Yeah I ain't gonna die without black Ironhide, and there's that third party one for people who really must have him. And I sure as heck don't need AKOM Rod for his Targetmaster.

It kills me how some items are hot sellers and need restocked as soon as the first batch sells out (POTP Leaders) and then you have ones that keep their shelves toasty all year round. Want a Clampdown? We've got PLENTY of those left!

 

thats not at all surprising though

 

Bringing it back to actually BBTS talk... Not sure anyone else was waiting, but JJ-02 Jet Commander finally dropped in my PoL. Currently "Pending Payment" but hopefully that finishes up and is ready to ship tomorrow.

 

That's the OS KO retool of Superion, right?

Still odd that BBTS would sell a straight-up KO.

 

Yep that's the guy. Supposedly it is slightly different and so that is the excuse they use? Dunno, but I snagged him. Maybe BBTS will start dipping into murky KO waters because Hasbro seems to be screwing them on real TF.

Trying to scale up my combiners (for a reasonable price) to go with CW Devastator and better match MP. So far have KO OS Feral Rex, KO OS Warbotron, and now him. Someone needs to do KO OS Menasor and Computron! I think a KO OS Guardia is coming out slowly as well.

 

It's weird that I ordered a BTAS Talia al Ghul around 5PM and it shows as "payment processing" 9 hours later. I want to ship this whole lot of 9 figures before they decide my time limit for just Bulma is up!

 

I hear they're not so hard and fast on the 90 day rule, especially if there's something else you're waiting on that's coming soon.

 

out of curiosity what makes those ones so bad?

 

I'd never had one, but reports of QC problems, light-up features that didn't work and poor articulation put me off. Even at $200 a pop the Arcadia ones are the best available.

 

ah okay....are you talking the 30th anniversary ones from toynami?

i was interested in this series:

Robotech VF-1 Transformable Veritech Fighter Collection Volume 1 Rick Hunter

the price is good to me as i don't want/can't afford the top o the line $200 stuff.

but if the qc is that bad then i wouldn't bite at all but i'm not sure which you're talking about specifically

 

I read somewhere (can't remember which thread) that once your PoL reaches zero days, it just sits there. Apparently since people are used to 180 days rather than 90, they're not forcing you to ship at 90 yet. (It's hard to say when they'll surprise us by enforcing it....)

I bought all three MP 'Streaks. For some reason, I rank the blue guy third. Couldn't tell you why. I still rank him above Smokescreen, which I plan to sell (I would have preferred a toyetic MP-19minus), and Prowl, which I never bought. (Even back in the Hot Wheels days, I generally preferred black cars to white.)

Other oddities of my collection:
I plan to keep Road Rage and sell Tracks. He just doesn't look quite like the character to me for some reason. Road Rage doesn't have that baggage. I'm still considering buying Loudpedal.
I plan to keep Ratchet and Wheeljack. (Yes, they're white vehicles, but I really like the characters, all right?) I also am keeping Exhaust. (Hmm. He's white too. Nostalgia for the G1 toy missile launchers, maybe?)
I plan to keep Tigertrack and sell G2 Sideswipe. (The red plastic just looks cheap to me.) Possibly sell G1 Sideswipe as well. (He was never that stoic.)
Bought Grapple, might be interested in a green Roadhauler.
I wasn't interested in Inferno, but bought Artfire for some reason. (Prefer the transformation of the fire truck version of the mold to the crane version, but still don't want Inferno.)
I wasn't interested in Red Alert, and thought about Clampdown (even though he's white), but would prefer a Deep Cover.
Bought Sunsurge, Sentinel Blaze, and Sunstreaker. Hoping for red Sunstreaker, police Sunstreaker (yes, I know he would be white), and Shiny Badge (or whatever BadCube calls the police repaint -- and yes, again, white).

What can I say? I'm a fan. I'm not supposed to be consistent. *shrug*

 

You don't like white toys?

 

I can solve this one for you...

Sometimes if the card isn't taped to the plastic carrier it will fall to the back of the box on leaders and voyagers and can slide out past the tape on the side of the box flaps. Ive had it happen both to figures I was receiving in the mail and that I had boxed up for various reasons.

 

....You've got time. I still have Megatronia sitting in my PoL from last year. >.>