E

Except that would encourage people to go for the cheaper option, if it is available. I've supported HasTak where I can, with official carbots, etc, but I've gone for KOs of the seekers because the officials were overpriced for molds that were many years old at the time (and had issues that were not fixed in that time).
I'm definitely out on MP-44 at the price point (I already have MP-10 and I'm happy with that), but a similar figure at half the price would require more thought. (I'm probably still out but I would actually consider it)

 

Please stop peddling this FUD in product threads. If you want serious discussion, dig up one of the many, many previous threads that appear nearly once per week asking the same types of questions. These products are not KOs, they are not at any significant risk.

Back on topic: I hope FT releases Jabber soon. It's long overdue (was to be out ~December, 2018) and it's the last piece in the '86 Movie line-up for many of us. Tired of the delays at this point. Someone else mentioned giving up on completing the Movie cast and that's put the thought in my head that if Jabber doesn't come out soon, I might do the same and regain a full shelf's worth of space in the process. Mildly tempting, though I do like the look of most of the figures in the set, so I'm still holding out for Jabber. For now.

 

For sure we’ll know in May when maverick comes out and they have to tell us what follows. I’d rather have combiner limbs though. The 86 movie shelf has sailed considering no Tesla reissue in sight. ‍♂️

 

I was wondering why you were making such a big deal about Jabber not being out yet. When was he ever scheduled to be out in December 2018? Jabber was listed as Q2 2019 (which still has 2 more months) from the start. The post below has that info as of last October. I know my expectation (I didn't bother to quote the post since it is only a guess) from last April was April or May 2019. Obviously that won't hit since Maverick is next, but I have never seen anything expecting him to be out earlier than this.

 

Agreed, I don't know where all the is Dec 18 stuff has come from all my sources have said the same as you.

He's not late yet, he's on ft time, so not far away I hope. Should see him before the end of 2019. Do we think we might get a wheel and Wreck-Gar to complete the set?

 

It was around the Spring time last year when the first color images were shown, he was originally slated to be end of 2018, before the rest of their stuff slipped so badly he ended up in 2019 by default, and before a bunch of other things were revealed and several were placed ahead of him in line, including the Phoenix-X "repaint" and the combiner cores. When you say he was "listed as Q2 2019 from the start" you're referring to when the pre-orders finally went up many months after his color prototypes were shown, around October iirc.

It's fuzzy now, but I believe the order was going to be Springer, Arcee, Blurr, with Quietus and Hydra as unknowns as to when they would arrive (Hydra being another one that got delayed and reshuffled in the roadmap deck). Then they moved both of those in front of Jabber, and then announced a bunch of other figures, then moved the two combiner corebots ahead of Jabber, then Phoenix-X was announced, etc.

Suffice it to say, for those of us who were liking the original ordering that basically wrapped up the Movie Autobots before attention went elsewhere, it's been a rather frustrating string of delays.

 

There was digibashes last February which got reposted several times, but we did not see actual color images from FT until TFCon October 2018, post quoted below. I haven't reread through all 40+ pages, but I have never seen any speculation about him being out in 2018 at any point. Preorders went up 3 days after we saw it in color for the first time at the end of October. (TFCon post with first color images 10/27/2018, Preorders available post 10/30/2018).

Motormaster has jumped a lot of figures, but no other figures have jumped ahead of Blurr to this point that was not always before him.

I can say for 100% certainty that Blurr was never associated with Springer's release in any way as Springer was released in December 2017, Blurr was not even revealed as an upcoming product until the end of January 2018. Also Arcee came out just 3 months after the Blurr reveal. FT proved with Weirdwolf and Motormaster they could release in 5 - 6 months (if Blurr was to be next after Arcee), but that is very rare.

If you can find any post (not counting the first post which was updated to add them) before this post below with actual color pics please let me know.

 

Thanks for clarifying the timing of the color images. I'd originally written something different that didn't associate the color images with Springtime, but got confused when I looked back at some old posts and saw a color image (which in hindsight is just a digibash), so changed it to read how it does now, but it seems my original thinking was more correct. The color images came much later in the year. Regardless of the timing of the color photos, I'm referring to Jabber's anticipated timing from well before October.

The original lineup was Blurr coming after Arcee (and maybe Hoodlum, which I forgot about in my earlier post, although Hoodlum kind of came back to life suddenly iirc and may have been the first delay on Blurr but again it's fuzzy now), and if Blurr allegedly got delayed for slight rework (the many complaints about the codpiece and such). I don't know that you'll find an official statement to that effect, it may have been from private communications, but regardless, my disappointment with the Jabber delays are what they are because many other figures were announced later than Jabber, and then several were slotted in front of him by the time he eventually came up for pre-order, pushing him even further out.

Again, if you're talking in light of only October, 2018 onward, which is when the pre-orders eventually went up, well yes of course but I'm speaking of several months earlier, before FT announced their combiners.

 

reminds me of one of these

 

It takes me time to type up longer posts, especially when I'm looking things up, sorry it is based on posts that have been edited.

I searched for just "2018" in this thread and I expect I found what you are referring to (quoted below). It is a preorder listing from Show.Z. Honestly any release date given by Show.Z should be disregarded, basing your expectations on them is just begging for disappointment. They make up dates and have listed just about every single revealed FT figure with a placeholder Preorder (as opposed to only Maverick, Jabber, and the newly added Spoiler everywhere else). Just after FT Astrotrain was revealed at March 2019 TFCon they put up a preorder and on Facebook said "ETA July 2019" (there is a post in Roxxor's FT releases thread where ChromeMagnus screenshoted Show.Z's Facebook post). No matter how much some people may want it I don't think there is ANYONE who actually believes that Thomas will be out by this July (I'd be surprised if we see him in color before then). At least the Blurr one below was more reasonable than Astrotrain's.

As for "before FT announced their combiners"; Superion was first announced November 2017, Blurr January 2018. Unless your private communications let you know about Blurr's existence before everyone else it couldn't have been before FT announced their combiners. Menasor wasn't until the end of June 2018 though so you may have been thinking of that date (and we agree Motormaster jumped Blurr).

 

@Curium Thanks for the info. Show.Z is not my source but that is an additional point of reference and may have even been the reference point used when communicating with retailers and with JJ early last year regarding when Jabber would come out. He was expected after Rouge arrived (and then Hoodlum) but appeared to get pushed further and further back, both by the delays in their production throughout 2018 and by slotting in other figures ahead of it on the roadmap for various reasons. Like, even if they hadn't moved other products ahead of him, he would not have made that Nov, 2018 date because everything was months behind by that point.

Side note: It's been a long day and I probably shouldn't be typing about stuff that happened a year ago since so much of it is fuzzy even when I'm not this tired.   I regret saying before combiners were "announced" since I was equating that in my mind with "first prototypes shown". I am pretty sure they showed Blurr before their combiners, but I guess even that's incorrect. Regardless of the order in which things were shown, there was a reasonable expectation for Jabber to drop in 2018 when there was still several months left in the year.

 

A lot of your posts in the past do make more sense to me now with this context. I kept wondering why Jabber was sticking out to you since to me I saw no reason to expect him yet.

This is more for FT in general than this case in particular. In general while I may speculate on release time frames, I ignore any dates FT gives until after we see something in color. Even then I am a bit leery of them more than a month or 2 out. As much as I like FT's figures they have never been good with long term dates. They always seem to be very optimistic on their dates.

A good example is them saying they will do all the combiners in 3 - 4 years in the Superion thread. No one believes that for good reason. I do plan to wait until 3 - 4 years from this past week when Motormaster came out just to be generous instead of November 2017 when dalianjj said it (since 1.5 years of that has already passed). That would be releasing them all in 3-4 years time, that that I expect them to even with that generous definition.

 

How long did it take for the Dibots to come out?

 

The first one, Scoria, was announced November 2013 and the last one, Grinder, was released February 2017. (September 2017 if you want to count Cesium, Slag 2.0). That is 3 years 3 months. Keep in mind though that was back when FT was first starting up. They had literally 2 new molds released in 2014 and 3 new molds in 2015. They already have 2 out in 2019 and will surpass those number easily barring a disaster.

Roxxor created a thread that is keeping track of information like that, though it isn't complete yet.

FansToys release schedule (past/present)

 

I think it's pretty much safe to say than FT's next release will be either Maverick or Jabber. The question is when in Q2 2019 will it drop?

 

I think, last I saw, that Jabber is currently slated for August, which would be the middle of Q3.
That is if it isn't delayed.
Again.
Sucks.

 

that's alright, need a bit of recovery time after POing Phoenix, lol.

 

Yeah it feels like FT are trying to get to market with their combiners while they’re still hot. I would think they would try to get Maverick out first...?

 

I think we will see Maverick next month and Jabber the month after that likely. I would expect Spoiler to come next and then Chomp to finish the year. It really depends on what they show at TFCon to which ones are closer to completion.

 

Sounds likely. Maybe another Aerialbot as well! Gotta keep momentum up!