Well there is no crystal ball that Hasbro can predict what will sell or not. The thing is that the TV shows and movies are big money to Hasbro. As collectors it would be nice to have some of the older characters in the Universe line. But we are a niche market. The target consumer is the people that watch the shows and the movies. It will be hard to sell a 8-10 year old kid a headmaster figure than a more familiar character from the TV or movie lines. Why do you think there is more Animated on the shelves. They are not shelf warming. They are being marketed and heavily pushed because of the exposure it is getting. When the new movie comes out you can guarantee that Hasbro and the retailers will keep the movie line stocked up.
Isn't Mirage the only figure actually missing his shoulder cannon, and is it really that big of a deal? As far as I know everyone who is supposed to have one does.
Side swipe/Red Alert are too. Hound sort of is. But you can just nick the gun from the two pack Prime.
Sideswipe, Red and Hound are either missing shoulder cannons or handguns, depending which option you go with. Mirage is missing any weapons, as I find he looks better if you leave his weapon in place when transformed to robot mode. By that measure, Hot Rod is missing a weapon as his gun looks better on Sideswipe's shoulder.
I'm not hardcore enough to care who has shoulder cannons and what not. They are toys and give me something to play with/search for in my spare time. deluxes are around ten bucks (now more with the recent price hike). Compare that to wresting figures which are ten bucks. Same mold over and over and over, with different head molds. And they don't transform or anything. People forget how much research and design goes into these. for 10 or even 13 bucks you get a heck of alot.
This. Simply because a figure is missing one stinking gun doesn't make or break that figure purchase to me. Heck, take Hound for instance. Sure, he's missing his gun, but instead of a little gun he comes with Ravage 2.0, who turns into a cassette (missing his missiles as well, but it's not like spares are never in short supply on ebay or something). I'd take Ravage over a gun anyday.
