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United Artfire denied by E-Hobby & Takara-Tomy

Posted on 06-25-2012 at 07:31 AM by Sol Fury under Japanese Transformers

In an interesting turn of events, the existance of a United Artfire, a mass release version of the Million Publishing exclusive Classics-style Artfire, has been denied by both Takara-Tomy and by Hydra, who works with E-Hobby.

Posting on the Allspark forums, Hydra stated that:

I don't know who decided that the supposed regular release of Artfire would only have one Targetmaster, but there is no regular release of Artfire coming. Million posted it on their Twitter account on the 21st, calling it out as a false rumor. I heard the same thing directly from TT staff, so you can safely assume that there is no normal version of Artfire on the way.

Takara-Tomy also tweeted a similar denial on their own Twitter account (translation by 2005 Boards member Ricochet):

There's no domestic/foreign release of UN Artfire except TF Generations 2012 book exclusive, I heard

By all accounts it is beginning to sound like the reports of a UN-32 Artfire might be a phantom listing. Keep it TFW2005 for more updates on this bizarre turn of events as the situation unravels further.

Picture attached to this story - a rather painful looking alternate Targetmaster configuration for the Million Publishing Artfire, shared on the Planet Iacon Facebook group.

Discuss on the Boards!

Views: 3,552 / Credit: Nevermore, Ricochet, Cheem the Rup of the 2005 Boards!

DISCUSSION: (Jump To This Thread On The Boards)

Maniac23

eh...........whit?! Why you do dis Takara?

Shockwave9227

I'll wait for pics to be sure that I'm glad that I didn't preorder the Generations exclusive Artfire.

Lbsammills51

Hmmm...I'm thinking 1. A slightly different deco, 2. One or no Targetmasters included (specifically the PCC one being left out) or 3. Both.

Interesting though, especially since Stepper hasn't received a United release. I wonder too if this does portend more non-FOC Classics figures in a once-again resurrected United line (rather than just calling it something else)?

Grimlock_13

I just saw that as well. I'll wait for pictures to decide whether or not to go with the Generations exclusive or United. I love what we've already seen, I don't know how a United release could top it.

Omegax80

Oh my. Maybe Stepper and Artfire will be part of the United line? Wonder what the differences will be... maybe now I can afford them too!!

Steroid Prime

it may not top it but its half the price

Orodruin

Roughly half the price. It better damn well be a different mold or anyone who did a pre-paid pre-order for the Exclusive (like me) will be PISSED.

jasonw

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orodruin

Roughly half the price. It better damn well be a different mold or anyone who did a pre-paid pre-order for the Exclusive (like me) will be PISSED.

It's a mistake and it's meant to say ENCORE Artfire...

You can always hope...

Chaos Muffin

A classics Fartfire would be cool.

Omegax80

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orodruin

Roughly half the price. It better damn well be a different mold or anyone who did a pre-paid pre-order for the Exclusive (like me) will be PISSED.

Cancel the pre-order when images come out.

If it is the Inferno mold, I'm buying. Not a fan of Grapple's giant crane.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonw

It's a mistake and it's meant to say ENCORE Artfire...

You can always hope...

Wow. That would be really cool.

Orodruin

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonw

It's a mistake and it's meant to say ENCORE Artfire...

You can always hope...

I doubt that's it, but that would make me extremely happy. Never understood why they didn't do that back during the book style reissue days.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Omegax80

Cancel the pre-order when images come out.

Not sure if the place I ordered allows that since it's pre-paid. Wait and see though, I'm not going to rage yet. Not til I have to.

miscreant

Is there any chance there are some very crossed wires, and the Hasbro Asia Hot Spot repaint is being shuffled into United?

shibamura_prime

If this is true, it's a strange move to announce this when the Million Publications version isn't even out yet. Stuff like this makes it harder and harder for me to get excited over releases anymore.

Optimus Prime

Kind of a strange move...if it's pretty much the same as the Million Publishing one (Inferno mold, perhaps) then buying this over the "exclusive" Artfire is a no-brainer.

Automorpher

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonw

It's a mistake and it's meant to say ENCORE Artfire...

YESSS!

process

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonw

It's a mistake and it's meant to say ENCORE Artfire...

You can always hope...

Although that doesn't explain the number. Encore is only up to 23 I believe, while United is at 31.

MagnusPrimal

Awesome. Good news for those who won't pay the crazy-expensive exclusive prices!

phoenix88

intrigued. will wait for photos

supervir2

Quote:

Originally Posted by miscreant

Is there any chance there are some very crossed wires, and the Hasbro Asia Hot Spot repaint is being shuffled into United?

this was my question

Saundowaivu

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh... I just got screwed over didn't I?

Star Saber

Damn, if this is indeed a regular United release of the same mold, it's going to suck bad. I already paid for the MP one.

ScottyP

Quote:

Originally Posted by jasonw

It's a mistake and it's meant to say ENCORE Artfire...

You can always hope...

That would be excellent. To the most awesome degree of tubular.

Alejandro27

Question for you that preordered? Can't you cancel the order? The Million exclusive is months away and you haven't paid yet right?

StayingInTheBox

I really can't bring myself to believe Takara would do this. As much as I would LOVE to spend less money, I don't see these being the same mold.

Powersa

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaos Muffin

A classics Fartfire would be cool.

Fartfire? That I'd stay away from.

Anguirus

Well that's kind of interesting. So, possibly stepping on Million Publishing's toes (perhaps they thought their retooling was just too good to waste), but at least as weird is that we are hearing about this ONE guy as opposed to a wave of United coming out.

bossprime

I'm guessing that this artfire might not have the ladder or two microns that the million publishing one comes with. But anyways this is going to free up money for the hasbro Asia exclusives like swerve and Hotspot.

Star Saber

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anguirus

Yeah definitely fits an Encore release more.

BScorpinok75

What? How long before the know specifics on this. I was considering cancelation of the other anyway due to budget constraints. So this if its the same mould with one Targetmaster would be sweeter than two scoops of butter pecans on a pair of perky tits!

PikaManiac

It does make sense if this is an Encore release instead because there could be a typo on 32 and they actually meant 23 instead. Since the next Encore number is 23 (From my understanding, Sixshot is an exclusive and not part of the Encore toy line.).

If not... ah well, we did get 2 United Kup and Scourge. Wad can ya do?

opt1musaber

Lucky I didn't pre-order yet

Superquad7

Either a United toy or an Encore toy would be very cool. Both would save me some custom work.

dragon516

well this screws me a bit. I paid already for my middleman to buy it since they need to front the money now. Anybody else who paid big bucks for the middleman had to pay up front I would think because of the mail order thing. This may include retailers too.

Sidecutter

I think we all need to settle down and wait to see what this really is. I don't think there's any way Takara is going to blow their big exclusive release like this, it would simply be unprecedented. I'm almost positive we have here what a few posters have suggested - a solicitation screw-up labeling Encore #23 as United #32.

Cadbane

Can we have a non exclusive Stepper as well Tomy?

bossprime

I looked on tfwiki and the last united figure was beast megatron and he was numbered 31 and this artfire is 32.

gothsaurus

here's hoping it's Encore. Besides not wanting TWO classics Artfires, I HAVE been waiting for a reissue ... and with the hype of the Million Pub one, I think they'd sell well.

barrelks

This is going to be interesting. If there are significant differences, the classics completionist whore in me will probably force me to buy them both. Can't wait to see how this plays out.

process

BBTS up now too: UN-32 Artfire - Transformers 2010 - 2012 Transformers Transformers United

Cal

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orodruin

Roughly half the price. It better damn well be a different mold or anyone who did a pre-paid pre-order for the Exclusive (like me) will be PISSED.

With any luck, United Artfire will make exclusive Artfire look like a piece of crap.

But seriously, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this, considering Hasbro essentially did the same thing with Timelines/Generations Thundercracker.

Blitz.

I could see the Power Core guy being left out since traditionally they were limited run items for takara.

But yeah interesting news.

Maybe they will make Artfire I 100% repaint of inferno rather then mixing and matching grapple parts?

bithomas

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cal

With any luck, United Artfire will make exclusive Artfire look like a piece of crap.

But seriously, I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this, considering Hasbro essentially did the same thing with Timelines/Generations Thundercracker.

Hasbro didn't quite do "the same thing" - the Generations release came almost 5 years after the BotCon Release. Assuming this does end up being a United release rather than an Encore release, this would be a mass release of Artfire at roughly the same time as the exclusive release.

General Tekno

Making Artfire just an Inferno repaint without the ladder would actually go a long way to making the exclusive valuable, I'd say.

Super_Megatron

Will need to see pics of the final products before I decide which version to get.

Takara, please reissue G1 Artfire!

miscreant

People are getting ahead of themselves here.

Lack of additional United solicitations, the fact any other forthcoming United solicitations we know about are PCC repaints, plus the *odds* that Takara wouldn't shoot themsleves in the foot like this (?)...indicate that something is amiss here.

Encore Artfire seems a viable alternate suggestion, right now.

crasis

WHOA. Double Artfire all the way. So intense.

PikaManiac

Quote:

Originally Posted by miscreant

BBTS got theirs up.

miscreant

Quote:

Originally Posted by PikaManiac

BBTS got theirs up.

BBTS also listed MP Alert as 12A.

One dealer jumps on it, another follows suit.

We have no evidence of anything yet.

03Mach1