Lmao fair enough. He's in really good shape but I guess I probably shouldn't do that anyway. I want to paint it myself but I don't trust myself to paint around the eyes and I'm not sure how to take the head apart considering there's no screw

 

So just like CHUG, for the WFC line it will be called SEK, or SERK.

 

That’s way too broad of a generalization. Most fans I’ve read comments from vastly prefer the articulation of SIEGE Starscream and wonder why it wasn’t carried over to Earthrise Starscream. I’m 1 of them with the added wish for retractable landing gear. It’s a compromised Seeker mold in my eyes and the greatest disappointment is that it was literally just a few steps shy of being a definitive mainline G1 Seeker mold. It just needed SIEGE Seeker articulation and retractable landing gear.

Might be downplayed as an excessive request but I don’t have to like everything and for someone who’s been waiting for something like this for the better part of the last 30 years....not an excessive request at all when the figure itself is so close.

 

funny how u mention the er seekers. i personally prefer the siege seeker robot mode and keep er seekers only in jet mode. the lack of a waist swivel on er seekers is very disappointing.

it just shows that we all value certain aspects of a figure more than others. for me, i really value articulation of a figure since i like doing stop motion and photographing dynamic poses.

 

Trouble is, we have been getting almost every figure that's "so close"... look at my signature, I'm technically stating that very thing every time I post by having it there.

That said, there's a few figures that are NOT that close, but have a certain design aspect that does get people believing that they are... then again, if we've been "fed" mediocre stuff for a while with some gems hidden now and then, but when Hasbro comes out with an half-baked figure and you have fans ranting like it's the second coming and aren't being truly objective... well, that gives the power to Hasbro to do whatever, but will pass it off as "listening and giving what we want"... and the reality is that they are, but half-cooked, "could be better" missing accessories, basically, we get figures that we do appreciate, but that includes a LOT of cutting corners and increased prices.

The worst part of this, are those that defend Hasbro's practices instead of praising the good stuff, but being firm on the bad, and that gives Hasbro the support they need to continue doing this "give and take" with their lines... they'll do a few that are quite good, then slip a few that are just mediocre.

To me, ER seekers are nothing more than cheap oversized rehashes of the classics with a few changes, and people are going for it... as I said, I'm hoping that a better version of seekers that doesn't have all the flaws it has, does get made... but until then, not much can be done aside 3rd parties stuff.

Sad thing is... Hasbro can do better, they have in the past, and some figure prove that they could if they chose to.

That said, these are toys, but it is still a billion dollar industry that at this point, the adult collectors are a serious part of.

If you've even read my posts, you'd know that the ER seekers are garbage to me, proven by a list of the flaws that I posted a good week or two ago, and all I got was condescending comments from one member in particular, which had a following, which showed that it was pointless to provide unbiased engineering information/comparison of any figure because "it comes with a new hat" is what some people follow.

And, well.. for articulation, I'm making a comic book with my figures (link in my signature)... trust me, articulation is VERY important to me. Haven't you seen my pictures?

But my point was that so many that are loving their ER seekers have been going "la-la-la waist rotation is completely not important", and now, you mention that "heck, an old figure is actually better than a new one, but that old one's main cons is missing this waist rotation (and ankle tilt)" and you get..."nah the new one is better because it doesn't lack those two things"... regardless if the new one lacks design, paint, and many other things... somehow, those things don't matter.

Just like the ER seekers lacking so much articulation, is a brick, looks unfinished, etc. we get "it's an F15!, it's all I've ever wanted"...

It just makes my brain rattle.. and yes, not everyone has the same tastes, but this is about engineering and actual development. Both Arcee and the seekers could have been designed over a weekend, as opposed to almost all the new molds of the other figures in Siege and several of the ER ones that are actually well done.

 

I think you’re still broadly generalizing, there’s still a good chunk of fans who are passing on ER Starscream due to preferring SIEGE Starscream. Someone even made a thread in the feedback/review section comparing the 2. From all the discussion I’ve read(apart from my opinion of the figure), Earthrise Starscream is a mixed bag. I don’t blame fans who like this, I blame Hasbro and Takara, they’re the ones who made the decision to design it that way, not the fans who proudly defend it. We knew cost cutting would take place this year but just didn’t know where. With the Seekers and some other figures turning out the way they did, I guess we found our answer. The decision not to carry over SIEGE Starscream’s strengths to Earthrise stings because it doesn’t seem likely that Hasbro will revisit it to add what’s missing.

It annoys you when someone broadly generalizes a portion of the fandom and you’re actually doing the same thing here. What I’m trying to point out is that you’re not the only one that sees Earthrise Starscream as lacking in some ways. The way I see it, a few small changes could’ve made it a lot better, same thing goes for Earthrise Prime. You obviously know that newer doesn’t necessarily mean better. You’re not alone in how you feel and we can’t control that, I just think you’re being too broad in your generalizations, not realizing a good number of us actually agree with you in some ways.

 

If I remember correctly, Warden did address this and said that they did originally design waist articulation for Earthrise Starscream but it turned out poorly so they dropped it. And given the way he transforms and forms the chest versus the Siege version I can see why there was trouble adding it in, so I forgive them at least here. The lack of wrist swivel however that might have just been cost cutting, but in the end I personally forgive it, too. The end product is still a good looking Starscream as well as Thundercracker and Skywarp: All look nice.

But as far as what's important versus what's not, sometimes it's just a case by case basis, and while a seeker can be missing waist rotation and be fine without it the same just might not be true for Arcee and her figure is better for having it. May be hypocritical, but that's just how it is when judging toys at retail.

 

I don't understand why your hangup in trying to correct me here, I've stated that the people I've referenced are the ones that are locked into the ER seekers being their holy grail for the seekers mold. I am not generalizing, I've never referenced anyone other than "those that love the ER mold and hate the Siege one" (in more or less words). Maybe that didn't come off clearly enough, so let me just state it here once and for all, when I was talking about those who love the ER mold, I am talking about the group of members and fans that love the ER mold, and not those that just enjoy it, those that regret getting it, those that aren't impressed by it, those that do not like it, and those that hate it.

I've also explained that when I tried to demonstrate the pros and cons of both figures, and why I see the ER version as flawed and that I was hoping that a new version without the issues that the ER has, will happen in the next year or so, I was ridiculed by another member, and it was encouraged/supported by others... where were all these "good numbers" that day? I saw only a very few.

As this is an Earthrise thread, I want to avoid getting back into this pointless debate... I've stated my opinion enough times in details, and now will only do a mention of my view of the ER version in passing in relation to the discussion.

And to be clear: I don't "hate" any figure, for the ER seeker mold, I consider it a lazy, very limited re-hash of an older design that is less then the original design, and a similar scenario than we now have with Smokescreen and Arcee, where an older version is superior in almost every way. Should anyone offer me these figures, I would either give them away to someone that would appreciate them more than I even would, or chuck them in a storage bin and forget about them, except for Arcee that I would customize the hell out of it to try and salvage it a bit.

To be honest, any figure is always improved by having more articulation than less.

But it's also a question of balance, as per Arcee, the ER's pros over the 30th are the waist and feet articulation. Her cons are everything else, her design, her transformation, her paint, and so on.

With today's technology, there's absolutely no reason for any figure to look like and be engineered this poorly, and costs have been immensely reduced, and for a billion dollar market, a billion dollar company, using the "cost cutting" excuse is extremely poor, when such costs are a few extra pennies for figures that have jumped quite a bit in price. For the quick version, just read my signature... "enough with the "good enough" already".

The only good thing here is that I'm really starting to skip on new figures (so spending less) and going back and getting the older better versions as prices allows.

 

I don't know why, but I feel, other than Jetfire which is a work of art, that Spinister is the best figure of the Siege/Earthrise releases so far.
carry on...

 

Optimus too if not for the cheapness of Hb (the weapons pack this October being the testament to that)would also be a great figure. WJ, underrated cheaper masterpiece version. awesomeness. Even Ironworks is surprisingly good!

CJ, hands down, mini masterpiece BB only cheaper.

As for Hoist? Awesome but still prefer Tb.

 

On the paint, I agree with you by infinity. Hb/Takara is doing a great injustice to the figure with that scimping plain jane colors.

 

If this is true, neat. That extra silver paint would go a long way in making up for switching the toy-accurate blue face/yellows eyes to toy-accurate blue face/blue eyes that vanish into it.

And in regards to swapping out the old version for the variation . . . why not keep both and treat the 1st one as an Optimus clone/copy?

 

Apparently the promotional posters for the Netflix show have Cybertronian writing that, when combined, spell out "Kingdom".

Cryptic, no?

 

What paint are we talking about here?
I missed the initial posting.

 

I saw a reddit post the other day and two seperate people claimed to see Earthrise Optimus at Target with a new silver paint job on his face around his eyes. Still waiting for anyone to confirm it. I'm slightly worried it was just a siege head swap but in that case someone traded for a worse head imo.

Also should mention neither thought to take a picture, and because Target has a street date lock right now, neither person bought one.

 

Wait, what? I bought ER Optimus from the Target website more than a month ago.

 

The in-store system is all messed up. For whatever reason Dealer is street dated, but it's caught up all the other leaders in the line.

 

Yeah and he was in stock to order last night as well.

For you and anyone else out of the loop, Target has a September 1st street date for Doubledealer, and because they use the same item number for all Leader class figures, they are all locked until then. So even though they've been selling Siege Shockwave since last year and Earthrise Optimus for the past few months, now they aren't selling either until September or if by some stroke of luck someone fixes the lock in their system. Super frustrating because I have a bonus coming up and planned to finally pick up Optimus this friday.

 

Oh wow, I hadn't heard of that. Sorry to hear.

I ran into that BS a few years back when I was going to buy the Star Wars Galactic Heroes Ghost from Rebels for my son. They wouldn't let me buy it at the front register, so I ended up just never buying one.

 

I remember when I was a kid, Walmart refused to sell my dad Spiderman 3 toys that my brother and I had picked out. I understand street dates for certain items, but on toys it's just a bit overboard to me. It's bad enough for collectors like most of us here, especially when we have a figure in hand, but most people forget to think about the kids too. Imagine being the employee or manager that has to refuse selling a toy to a parent, while their child is present and very upset that they can't get what they want by no fault of their own.

Street dates on toys suck for everyone. There's not even a good reason to have them.

Also apologies for steering off topic.