Henkei Dirge and Thrust pics

So, based on your comments in your previous post, Hasbro should not have released Dirge, Thrust, and Thundercracker at retail because they would have been "pegwarming trash." And yet releasing more of the rainmakers at retail would make good business sense? In what world are the rainmakers more economically feasible than Thrust, Dirge, and TC?

I remember in 1985, I was eight years old, and I saw Dirge and Thrust on the shelf and thought to myself, "MORE Starscream repaints? What's the point?"

Sounds more like your memory's not all that great to me. I sure remember complaints about the stripes and especially the unpainted face at the time, though it was a complaint that didn't have the longevity of Botcon '07 animosity. Henkei and the upcoming Universe repaint took pretty much all the edge off soon after. This Thrust and Dirge won't kill the "how dare those bastards!", but it will take some edge off by clearing out the folks who were willing to pay an online exclusive premium price, but not an Ebay exclusive premium price.

When Classics 1.0 had 2 waves, 6 of the same mold on the shelfs would have been pegwarming trash as classics 1.0 were not that popular and often rotted on the shelves. RAMJET was pegwarming trash. He was. he warmed pegs while grimlock and Mirage sold out and were shortpacked. So did it really make sense to make 2 more repaints of RAMJET to be released at the same time or close to the same time? This is a fact supported by hasbro's own qualitative research and been said at Botcon.

The movie changed all that and grew the franchise. The need for a realistic vehicle filler line was unexpected which gave an opportunity for re-use of the classic 1.0 molds. And by that time Hasbro had decided not to re-release the exclusives and move on to other designs.

Before: the franchise couldn't support that many characters and classics was a dead line

After: They needed realistic alt mode filler to continue the movie popularity and it could support molds that had been off the shelf for 2 years.

Why do people try to pretend the situation was anything different?

The network will feature content from Hasbro's rich portfolio of entertainment and educational properties, and content from Discovery's extensive library of award-winning children's educational programming, as well as programming from third-party producers. There will be no "Transformers: Buckets of Blood".

Nkelsch I do not agree with some of your posts but this one is dead on. I am planning on getting both of these exclusives & I have the 07 botcon set. This is what I heard from Hasbro as well as to why Thundercracker, Thrust & Dirge did not get a retail release.
Thanks!

Nope. They'll still whinge just as loudly.

Mirage was a bigger sitter than Ramjet. Cliffjumper and Mirage were the biggest sitters for the line. Mirage was never shortpacked, Grimlock was in the wave he first appeared in. Mirage shipped longer than Grimlock (because Grimlock wasn't in all Wave 2 cases), Ramjet, and Cliffjumper (but was not as big a shelf warmer as CJ).

Randy

thats true CJ was all over for along time

Classics 1 was 3 waves:

1: Rodimus, Bumblebee, Starscream & Astrotrain
2: Grimlock & Mirage
3: Cliffjumper & Ramjet

Yes, and Grimlock did not initially ship in Wave 2. As the first cases contained Mirage but no Grimlocks. Not long after, Grimlock shipped with Mirage in Wave 2.

Randy