Feels like "Jingle all the way" TurboMan to me. Not just because of the pricing, but the concept sells you a dream while taking away your act of transformation.
So....No, I dont think this is a great direction for the Transformers brand.

 

Didn't the battlechargers already do that back in the 80s?

 

And the Jumpstarters only without batteries. Same with the Throttle bots.

 

I posted this in the Fanfest page and wanted to share it here as well.
I came to the show on Friday to get the Arc. As I said earlier, I have been waiting for this day for 37 years. Just when all the reveals we knew were going to happen were over and we thought perhaps an unboxing of the Arc was going to be shown, out of no where appears Jay and Silent Bob. (I’m a huge fan of Mallrats, Chasing Amy and Clerks). I see them holding what I thought may have been an update of the MPM BumbleBee Optimus and I thought; Wow, Hasbro did some pretty sweet upgrades to it. Then I see and hear what I have been waiting for for the past 3 years when we saw the clips of the self transforming Optimus from Asia. But this was better... much better. Controlled by voice, new paint, all those lights, added movements and speaks with Optimus Prime’s true voice (Thank you Peter Cullen). This was Amazing. Immediately, I put the Pulse Premium Membership in my cart to purchase this waiting for Jay or Silent Bob to say it’s available for preorder now. When they did, I thought maybe, just maybe, it would be available without membership and it was. Of course it was preorder immediately by me I just hope I am lucky enough to to be able to get #1/1000 (if it is limited to 1000).

My wife says she has only seen me this happy twice before in her life. On the day we got married and on the day my son was born.

Thank you Hasbro!

 

Is this not what we have been waiting 30+Years for. There are statutes of transformers that cost $3000 that do nothing. This to me is the next level in collecting also they should produce at least 1 each year alternating between autobot and decepticon. Nemesis prime or Megatron next.

 

Why aren’t you hired for Robosen?!

 

Lol. I preordered it even though I'm on the fence.

 

It's not taking away anything (other than limitng some articulation) just giving you options and more ways to interact with it. Yes someone can buy this and only use the preprogrammed moves and transformation but one can also buy a retail transformer, never transform it and just stand it on a shelf. Both scenarios involve little to no creativity and imagination. This just adds options. How would you feel if your ER Optimus can do everything it already does (including normal in hand tactile transforming and posing) and then on top of it you can program it to move and respond to voice commands. Best of both worlds.

 

Its great until it walks off your shelf and breaks lol

 

Yeah, I'd be very worried about both fragility, and longevity.

 

Robosen has the tech to bring this to life! Hasbro/Takara have the designers and resources. Perfect expensive marriage. The future is bright!

 

Similar to me. I think it expensive, (in that it’s more than I’m prepared to pay. I think it probably is fair value.) but it’s quite a bit lower than I imagined it would be.

 

Maybe I missed it, but are there any after sales service? Servo Robots can be quite a handful to care, and looking by the design and sleekness of it, internal wiring must've been nightmare. If this thing breaks, would be nice to have a service center to send this thing to for professional repair.

 

I have to admit, watching that video on Friday, Robosen Prime was pretty impressive. Also pleased that Hasbro went the extra mile to get Peter Cullen to provide the voice on this release. But while I was really interested in what I was seeing, and it was pretty amazing all the things he could do, I just couldn't pull the trigger on a $700 Optimus Prime. But admittedly, I am glad he pre-sold out so I don't even think of being somewhat tempted to pick him up later on.  

 

I really love the idea of it, but it feels like this is just step one of a really great idea. I'd wait for a few more versions down the line before taking the leap in. Like with iPad or tablets in general. I laughed at the idea of iPad, now I'm typing shit out with my thumbs on an Amazon fire 10 years later and its my go to internet tool.

 

I share your sentiment bro. I have been waiting all my life for this to happen.

 

They should have a warranty like all of their products. Use a CC that gives you and additional year (like Amex) to better protect your purchase.

 

It sold out!?!?

Damn.

I was on the fence, wondering about batteries. If it has an internal non-removable battery, that would suck.

Now I don't have to worry about it breaking!

 

Nope.

- Price would still be substantially higher. Some folks just want the cheaper more simple option retained.
- Would probably still be way bigger than I want it to be.
- Probably still has to sacrifice some sculpt detail and proportions to accomodate the electronics.

 

The preorder seems to still be up now. It does say built-in battery, so I'm guessing it's not removable. I think breakage and/or malfunctioning is a definite risk with something like this. So that's definitely something to consider before committing to a purchase. I think I am willing to take on the risk, but the good thing is that I should be able to cancel the preorder before at least August, so I got some time to think it over. If I decide I no longer want it, I can simply cancel the preorder.