Upcoming Universe Figures First Look From BotCon

man...I can navigate the site. Is it because there are too many users? I keep getting a "database error".

Looking at the yellowish pic... it looks like whoever took the pic used a flash and that's playing with the color.

Oh, I understand that and I realize why they're doing it... and I'm sure it's the best move for them to make really. I'm just saying that I don't agree with the decision 100%, but than I don't work for the company either.

Like I said though... it is what it is and that's the way it is. I'm good.

Ah. Didn't know that. Guess in a sense it could be a double homage than like Acid Storm.

Eh, they can't. They released him through Botcon last year as an exclusive. If anyone wants a TC at this point your best bet is to pray that Takara does one for their Classics (Henkei) line or go online and get him on the aftermarket...

...I can't believe that almost a year later and the fandom is still morbidly bitter about this...

I have been getting that all day as well.

As for Acid Storm, I consider it a VERY nice olive branch that Hasbro has extended to those of us who weren't able to grab the Botcon seekers, and I'm not about to sit here and bitch about it. I actually think it's a great recolor, and I can't wait to put it up on my Classics shelf. I hope they do more!

Loving Galvatron.

I am NOT in love with Blaster, however. I appreciate the G1 coloring and all, but I didn't care for this mold as Soundwave either. It just doesn't fit into the "Classics" line well enough for me to purchase.

everyone filled with rage at the Universe Voyagers should remember that at Botcon last year we weren't even getting Voyager in Universe, so all these repaints are "extra/bonus"

really stocked with Blades and Dropshot (presuming he's desert tan and not the nasty yellow seen above) because Heavy load and Blaster were total crap repaints and had me worried about this segment. Both of them are fantastic molds and anyone who missed them in Cybertron is lucky to have another crack at them (Blades/evac is like on par with the best of the best TF molds IMO) and i don't believe either has ever been repainted, so it's not like it's the umpteenth time the molds are hitting the shelves like the LoCs.

and Acid Storm is pretty cool ~ i would have preferred flat green or better yet a realistic F-15 (maybe that would have been too close to the OG Starscream) or even Sunstorm, but i'm down for a new seeker for $10 ~ in retrospect, i think those paint aps would have looked a bit better on the Ramjet mold.

Actually, there's a third option, and is the option I've taken. That's the option to kitbash Thundercracker. I'm almost done with mine. All I really have to do now is wait till the end of this semester so I can dye certain parts black. If someone isn't up to kitbashing it themselves, they could always get someone to commision it for them. Here's hoping Dropshot is more tan than yellow. Both pictures seem to be off from the end product. The first one looks way too light, and the second one looks way too saturated. Not saying that the photagraphers suck or anything, just that from these pictures it looks like the set-up wasn't all that good for taking decent photos of the Toys (lighting or something could have been set up wonky).

They should just crank out a generic seeker with each new wave. seriously. I'll buy two of each.

Dropshot and Blades are tempting, but I think I might just have to stick to the new molds. I wouldn't want to display them with my Classics and my Cybertron shelf is already full to capacity. We'll see what happens.

Is it just me or does the seeker look like it's in a disco pose from the saturday night fever dvd cover?

I think Hasbro can still release a mass market Thundercracker provided that the deco is significantly different than the Botcon version.

Maybe they can release Dirge and Thrust too, provided all new wings are tooled for both.

Blades and Drop Shot are good for me, since I missed out on Cybertron versions of those molds. Even though they are in the Universe line, I will display these with my Cybertron figures, same thing I do with Big Daddy.

Like Action Master colors different? Whether intentional or not, Acid Rain is similar in appearance to G2 Starscream and (most likely intentionally) has a name as a homage to the G1 non-quite-canon Rainmakers. I doubt intentional repaints by Hasbro will get any closer to one of the sextet than something like this.

I doubt we'll EVER see a deco even close to G1 Thundercracker. IF Hasbro really wanted to include TC I could see them using the silver of the Cybertron figure...though I'd probably end up calling him Leader-1

And for the record I'd be ALL OVER an Action Master color TC

I am also holding out hope for RID HotSpot to go with Voyager Blades!

count me in for 3 of the seeker lol i got 2 repaints i need to do now if we can get agenaric conehead ill be happy

Acid Storm looks like crap. PASS.

But everyone else I want.

Lovin the universe lineup... no bot mode for Blades?

COMPLETE WIN

I just hope it can still use the RID Optimus mold, but find someway around the cancelled OFTCC mold(maybe new parts not used on either one?).

Some of us are bitter about it because the story at the time was they had no plans to continue the classics line so our chances at getting it at retail was nothing anyway. Anyone that's been a fan for over a year knew full well that was BS and not even a year later what do we have? A generic "classics" seeker. Hasbro LOVES to make repaints and the seekers should have NEVER been made into exclusives. IF they hadn't, chances are at least one of them would have been in the first wave of this new Universe line.

I think people have full right to be a little miffed.

What's everyone think the chances are that Takara will do Powerglide all red?

I love Acid Storm. Not only does he look cool, the fact that Hasbro did their best to come up with a retail Thundercracker that'd make everyone happy wins them points. He's clearly based off the unproduced G2 F-15 seeker that would have been G2 Thundercracker or G2 Skywarp with the army camo (I'll see if I can't find a pic of the proto somewhere), or MW 'Cracker (http://www.tfu.info/1997/Decepticon/...dercracker.htm). It fits making him Classics "realistic", decked out in Camoflaugue instead of bright blue, and the name and color changes will keep FP happy. I'm surprised they renamed him, given it's obvious who he's supposed to be, but maybe that's part of the deal with FP. I'm curious to read his bio, though.

Also, I wholeheartedly agree with the idea stated above about releasing a generic seeker in each wave.

I thought donations to TFW were to upgrade and pay for servers so that these "database errors" wouldn't happen. It seems to occur everytime there's some big news.

I welcome the new repaints of seekers, but I hope we don't get too many. Otherwise, it's time for a new jet mold.

well lol im plaing on making 2 of em in to sunstorm and thundercracker and now all i need is 2 coneheads and ill be happy

Oh yeah, you can definently do that too. And, with the Acid Storm coming out you can do it fairly cheaply at this point too... assuming you're good at kitbashing. Otherwise... people whom customize can be almost as expensive to deal with for commissions (understandably if they're good at it) as going to eBay for the Botcon stuff (though, not as expensive).

Ditto on Drop Shot. I'm thinking it's got a lot more to do with the lighting and the set-up being a little weird to get a good shot at him. The area just doesn't look flash friendly.

Ditto. Give me the orange and purple rainmaker. Sunstorm. The green guy whom showed up with Sunstorm. And than give me the lavander Seeker drones. I will be all over each one.

Maybe they can (I really don't know what their contractual agreement is with FP, but I'd assume that it would mean they couldn't do these characters in Classics now... otherwise FP needs to rethink how they negotiate), but Hasbro has said that they won't and they'll honor their exclusiveness. So, given that... it really doesn't matter if they can or not.

Yeah, any Universe Cybertron repaints I buy will be going on my Cybertron shelf just like my Movie Cybertron repaints from Target & Wal-Mart (and soon a couple from TRU!).

Actually, I don't know why, but I'd love to see some of the Classics figures repainted into Go-Bots... Starscream to Leader-One, Mirage to Crasher... it'd be awesome!

Yeah, I think a lot of people would. I'd pass though, but just because I think those colors are garish... still, it'd be a great seller.

THIS NEEDS TO BE!!!

To each his own. This long after the fact I think it's a waste of time and energy. At this point it's like the one Short Packed comic with the guy on his death bed...

THIS! Absolutely. Am I wrong in assuming that most of you who are loving this "Acid Storm" character already own BotCon/Classics Thundercracker?

Even if I had the BotCon set, I would see how this repaint is a bit of a slap to the face to those who could not obtain the seekers (be it money, exclusivity...whatever the reason). I don't mean to bring up the drama of last year's BotCon set, but this just seems like such an insult. Hasbro stated that they gave the Con organizers Thundercracker and the other seekers SPECIFICALLY because they didn't think any further repaints of the Starscream mold would sell at retail (and Classics was consdered "over" at that point). Okay, I get that. But a MADE UP green camo character/"never released G2 repaint deco" is considered more profitable than f'ing THUNDERCRACKER?! I know they dug themselves into a hole by making TC an exclusive, but to release this nobody as a repaint just further rubs salt in the wound.

Hmm...Yellow generic seeker gets retconned into Sunstorm, and now green generic seeker gets homaged in the form of Acidstorm. I'm sensing a trend here...

- Toylines are planned out months before fans ever see anything of it, and months and months before they arrive in stores.

- Classics was developed as filler after the Movie moved from November 2006 to July 2007. As Cybertron officially ended in October 2006, that meant an 6-7 month product gap that needed to be filled.

- By the time the last of the Classics toys would come out, the initial Movie toys would appear. This means Hasbro planned to end the Classics line BEFORE the Movie line would take over. There was nowhere else to fit more Classics toys. At the time, Hasbro had no intention of extending Classics.

- Hasbro decides to let Fun Pub make the rest of the seekers so they could be released somehow.

- Convention toys are made under contractural agreement. From what I understand, because the convention organiser pays for the design and production of the toys, Hasbro cannot just re-release the same toys at mass retail. They could probably do similar, yet different versions, however.

- Classics turns out to be successful, so Hasbro decides to make new Classics-style toys with the primary intention of having a 'realistic' style toyline to accompany Classics for customers used to the Movie toyline's realism. By now, the decision to make the BotCon seekers had already been made (likely in 2006).

Rubbing salt in the wound? Slap to the face? Oh, internet Mel-o-drama!

I don't have Botcon Thundercracker, and I quite like the idea of Acid Storm, and I look forward to any other generic seekers they can come up with, if any.

Because, this is line is Transformers Universe, you know, the line that was originally nothing but repaints? That is the whole point behind Universe, to sell repaints outside of the main line because it's a cheaper way to put toys on the shelves. But unlike the original line, these things are blatant, obvious and well thought out hommages to many obscure-yet-fun/wanted characters.

Of course there's also the fact that we already know of and have seen 7 brand new molds for this line, with more rumored to be on the horizon. But I guess they don't count.

Actually, this mold is a perfect fit for Blades. In G1 he was a rescue coptor in alt mode and in bot mode he was a fairly generic robot...just armed to the teeth. On the otherhand Whirl was a teched up Apache-esque combat coptor with an absurdly unique bot mode. If either of the two had to be an evac repaint I'm glad it was Blades because this means we may end up getting a new mold Whirl.

Also, I believe there is going to be a Legends Blades out of the Evac mold. There's a red helicoptor in the other Target Legends 5 pack.

1) Numerous people in this thread recognized him as a Rainmaker
2) There is a Classics Thundercracker.
3) Bad pic =/ lazy, especially when it's a damn near authentic military paint job.

As stated before, repaints don't take up any spot, these are all planned out long in advanced and I'm sure new molds always get priority.

http://www.tfu.info/1997/Decepticon/...dercracker.htm

I'd call it close enough.

I am very freaking excited over these new repaints, almost every single one of them. I have no doubts at all about picking up Blades, Dropshot, Acid Storm or the Legends Gestalt Leader 5 pack.

Shitstorm next?

jk

ahhh, this again?? won't you ever get tired of discussing the same stuff??

oh wait. i forgot this was a TFs board

when even someone who wholeheartedly agrees about how much it sucked that the seekers were botcon exclusives is completely tired of the same subject over and over you know it's already too much.

i'll just buy a couple of acid whatevas and repaint them as TC and sunstorm, easy as cake. another ramjet could become a custom dirge just as easily, thrust will be harder but even that one is possible to make

please please stop it already.

back on subject: still no pics of blades in bot mode?

ups double post (involuntary due to server error)

RID Hot Spot will be super sweet.

Ss:
The other one was blue; how about "Rainstorm"?

Now that people have mentioned Botcon Dirge and Thundercracker (I'm excepting Thrust because of his unique wings) I'm willing to bet a small and easily missed sum that Hasbro management is wishing they /hadn't/ licensed them out to Botcon, now that they've come back around and decided to make more Classics.

I like the camo guy, like I said. The Seeker styling is really neat, with the distinctive detailing and shoulder towers and big boots, and lots of unique schemes could look good on it. But Thundercracker already had that name recognition, what with using that name in Cybertron, and also Armada and 6Ti (both of which also used the colorscheme). Right now Hasbro could sell blocks of wood with Autobot logos, but based on past history, I bet they'd still rather have made this jet blue.

If this is the case, the good thing about it, for the people who weren't entirely happy with the Botcon jets' exclusivity, is that H. may be less likely to use major characters for convention exclusives. So the rain cloud isn't all acid, it does have a silver lining. This won't hamper my enjoyment of a camo Seeker, though.

Ss:
The other one was blue; how about "Rainstorm"?

Now that people have mentioned Botcon Dirge and Thundercracker (I'm excepting Thrust because of his unique wings) I'm willing to bet a small and easily missed sum that Hasbro management is wishing they /hadn't/ licensed them out to Botcon, now that they've come back around and decided to make more Classics.

I like the camo guy, like I said. The Seeker styling is really neat, with the distinctive detailing and shoulder towers and big boots, and lots of unique schemes could look good on it. But Thundercracker already had that name recognition, what with using that name in Cybertron, and also Armada and 6Ti (both of which also used the colorscheme). Right now Hasbro could sell blocks of wood with Autobot logos, but based on past history, I bet they'd still rather have made this jet blue.

If this is the case, the good thing about it, for the people who weren't entirely happy with the Botcon jets' exclusivity, is that H. may be less likely to use major characters for convention exclusives. So the rain cloud isn't all acid, it does have a silver lining. This won't hamper my enjoyment of a camo Seeker, though.

[Ed. - the board is acting up today, I hope this doesn't 2x post]

I'l be buying all espically....

Acid Storm.

I'll pick up a couple of Acid Storms, and try to repaint one into Thundercracker or get someone else to do it. There's no point in whining about the Botcon exclusives thing anymore because it isn't going to make a bit of difference.

The other repaints don't interest me, but I'm glad other people like them. I'll just pick up Ultra Silverbolt next year or whenever he comes out. Maybe this Universe line will do better than the last one.

How does that make up for anything? Not there they have anything to makeup for perse... well I can't wait to see what else they might have in store.

Hasbro says a lot of things. It's absolutely meaningless.

Which was hilariously short-sighted of them. They really truely believed they would never EVER make classics toys again. The result of that is them giving away pure gold by now having to refuse selling easy repaints and remolds at retail.

They utterly blew an opportunity to make tons of easy money because of short-sightedness(seriously? no classics ever ever again? really?). Acid Rain is the result of them scrambling to find a way to sell seeker repaints at retail now.

Really?

So just by selling this same toy in different colors hasbro could have made 'tons of easy money' from a few thousand fans?

Kids don't know or care about g1 thundercracker, I bet hasbro will do just fine.

And 'fans' aren't as important as the target audience - kids, who outnumber us.

So this is just a generic hasbro seeker, NOT the exclussive henkei we're waiting on?

<b>[*---Just say NO to the Botcon WAR---*]<b>

sorry accidental double post. ADMIN PLEASE DELETE THIS.

It just occured to me that Acid Storm has a paint scheme alot like RM Wingstun.
....I know what he'll be a classics representation of for me now

Considering that at the time, the toyline was merely made to plug in a hole in their product line and at the time, they did not know that Classics and then the Movie line would go on to be very successful (thus creating a larger market for Transformers products), it's not totally unreasonable for them to discount creating further Classics toys.

Besides, at the time, would 6 mostly identical planes from a toyline with no fiction have sold that well? Of course, now that Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet are long gone from pegs, Thundercracker, Thrust and Dirge could do fairly well, so long as they are seperated by several waves apart to avoid having all of them on pegs at the same time.

I'm actually happy that Hasbro is milking the classics ss mold. I say the more seekers the better.

So now where is my Sunstorm?

Yeah, kids never buy repaints

But you understand, it's not the timing that I argue. The big blunder is that they really thought they would never consider making any classics toys in their lifetime again, and then giving away what undoubtedly would've been easy money to FP.

Acid Storm is an automatic want. He has an awesome paint scheme and an awesome mold, and depending on some factors, a rather cool name. I am going to get all of the new molds.

WANT NOW!

I meant that some kids don't care what color or character the toy is.

Neat that we're getting a generic seeker (the colors aren't exactly what i would've wanted, but I can't argue; I've wanted generic seekers from that mold since I first saw it as Starscream). Heres hoping we get more of them.
I'm liking Dropshot; would've preferred him as an Autobot for a Flak update (even if the name is different) but whatever. This works too.
I would like to see the bot mode on Blades, but the vehicle mode looks nice.
Blaster... I still hate that mold.

you know what i'd really like for U. Thundercracker?

a new F-22 (or F-35) based voyager mold that succeeds were movie Starscream fails (jet having so much junk underneath/robot looking like an ape)

I love Acid Storm. I hope we get more generic Seekers in Universe. F Thundercracker. If you want him so bad, buy an Acid Storm and paint it blue.

Anybody know if that Blades Evac repaint has a blue face? I saw the bot-mode and it looks as if the entire head is red...

Or simply wait until takara/tomy releases their Thundercracker.

That's more or less what I'm waiting for.

i doubt they will.

where?