What if multiple locations report corroborating anecdotal evidence? Should it be immediately dismissed?
Nothing should be immediately dismissed, whether you think something is shelf-warming or not. Multiple corroborating locations is a good start towards determining if something is a poor seller, but there are a lot of other things that should be considered, such as case quantity, release in multiple waves, etc. One could make an argument that Siege Shockwave was/is a shelf-warmer for example. But is it because it’s a poor seller, or because it was released in both waves? First with Ultra Magnus then again with Galaxy Prime. Here in Vegas, he was near impossible to find in the first wave. But after he was rereleased, he’s sat around and is still on shelves today. So, is he a bad seller, or are Hasbro just bad at distribution?
Aaaargh! Why did I dip my toes ino the endless rabitt hole of 3rd Party figures and OSKO's!? Too many choices, and not enough space or money! Yarrrrrrgh!
I dont mess around with store exclusives so i generally pick up every single one that i want and the only times i don't are when most of the fandom doesnt like or just isn't popular, like that siege magnus he shelfwarmed in a few places and i got it for $35, im planning the same thing with the autobot deluxes Better to be save than sorry
Last year when I was working on clearing my collection I couldn't get anyone to buy my stuff. A year on I decided I didn't want to sell them anymore, all of a sudden 3-5 people are all coming up to me with offers and asking if it's still in stock 13-14 years of memories from childhood just ain't worth selling off for $20-25 IMO, but what else would they be if not eating dust? GOD the dilemma!!!
Yes!!! After a very timely heads up from a very considerate tfw community member, the hunt for the Seeker 2 Pack is finally OVER!!! Had one of the most successful thrilling hunts of my life, and I got to say the Seekers are freaking amazing, and they feel so good in hand! Happy hunting, and Good Luck!!!
I feel like I can't win. I don't even like soundwave, but a Megatron without a soundwave is like a Megatron without a starscream. So then I'm like "okay, pick a soundwave." But a soundwave without all of his amazing little friends is like having a single superman figure and saying you've got the whole justice league. Titans return is too big for my prefered Megatron, and he lacks ratbat in that set. Videogame soundwave has all his dudes across two voyagers and two legion packs, but the gimmick and transformations are too finicky. Siege just had too poor distribution for me to even give a crap. So I've been assembling a team soundwave from across many lines, the toys falling into the deluxe-ish size class. And I thought I'd be good. Then the deluxe ratbat (standoff beneath the streets) i get has a tight waist joint that pops the ball joint legs off every time. He's a ballin figure, but now I guess I gotta choose between robot or alt mode. Maybe I should collect the Japanese continuity. Headmasters is easier to collect these days after titans return.
Yeah, but if he doesn't come in a generations selects gift set with all his little dudes, then I'm basically sitting earthrise and part 3 out. Maybe longer after that, even. And I mean ALL his little dudes, or at least til the 86 movie. The lack of buzzsaw is what got me started going for aftermarket deluxes to begin with.
RotD: When Studio Series started out, based on Rampage, Long Haul, Mixmaster, and Scrapmetal I was excited that we were getting such accurate representations in both robot and vehicle mode for the Constructicons. Then it seems like they just said "fuck it" for Scavenger, Overload, and Scrapper. Scrapper's vehicle mode in particular is hot garbage.
Bit of an update: with the most minute of plastic shaving, I can now transform deluxe ratbat's waist with less me seething and worry. Goes to show I should really explore more courses of action before sounding off, and for that I apologize to anyone reading my rants.
So, I was reorganizing some of my shelves, the Aligned stuff. I decided to recombine my Wreckers back into Fall of Cybertron Ruination, the head-swaps of Bruticus. It'll get me some shelf space. It's been a while... And I had forgotten how much I fucking HATE this combiner team. I swear, taking into account when it was designed and manufactured, I think this might be the worst combiner of them all. All five of them feel so damned hollow and unfinished. I swear it's like they stopped working and then someone just sent the designs off to the plant or something. Roadbuster has no back! He's backless! I mean, is he like a Sontaran, where he never retreats? Topspin's shoulders are ginormous caverns you could have a baseball game in! Impactor, again, no back! And he's gotta have some of the iworst arms on a modern toy! They're spindly little sticks! I think the only ones worse for a Deluxe-class toy that I own are Airachnid's! And Ruination... Ruination. Brilliant idea having the torso be a Deluxe-class, fellows! I think that's the sarcasm font? Anyway, yeah. It's gangly, misproportioned. I loathe the connector ports, they feel so damned cheap for some reason. Getting the limbs connected feels a bit scary, having to force them in. He's got trouble standing and just... Looking back, no wonder I went third-party for combiners, if this piece of shit was what Hasbro was putting out! And the capper, the finale... all five of these characters have had infinitely-better toys made for them since. So, yeah. Pardon me for this. I just had to get it out. Carry on, folks. Carry on.
Which deluxe Ratbat? The Gen Scourge repaint or the Cybertron Sideways repaint? They're the only two I can think of/
Sideways repaint. Nothing against the scourge repaint, I just got a better deal for the sideways one.
Why is it that Hasbro doesn't want to use the term "transform" any more. It's been change to "covert" and "conversion". I didn't sign up for Optimus to say "Autobots, convert and roll out!" I wonder who owns the "Convertors" toy trademark now. Maybe they should come back and use "transform" if Hasbro isn't.
IIRC it's because if they use it as a verb, it dilutes their trademark on the term "Transformers" as a whole. If "transforming" is just a generic verb describing what toy robots do, which is what frequent use on Hasbro's part would imply, then any company can make "Transformers".
I feel your pain, man. The FoC figures are known for their dip in quality compared to the rest of the Generations line.
I've found the easiest way to work around that mindset is to keep in mind how much crap changes in all continuities. Just look at Batman. Ask anyone who their Batman is and you'll get a completely different answer based on what their childhood was. An Adam West fan's perfect picture of Batman could have Bruce Lee busting heads with him, a Kevin Conroy fan's ideal might be against Mr. Freeze, while a vintage Super Friends fan might just want Batman hanging out with Scooby Doo. If you don't like Soundwave, stay the hell away from Soundwave. Megatron has returned plenty of times without that tape deck. You'll just end up selling not only Soundwave, but all of those cassette minions you've picked up along the way.
