If I have any hesitation to buying a TF, I won't until I am more sure. Regretting not buying it to me is worse than buying it and then regretting it. At least I will have been able to save for something else instead of plinking down money on something I was never really sold on in the first place. I am currently holding off on buying SS86 Slag because the money can be used to start putting together Planet X dinos if I decide to commit to that expense.

 

He that is without grammatical error among you, let him cast the first punctuational stone…

In professional correspondence and school work, I’m as insistent on proper English language usage as anyone. However, this is a toy forum, a worldwide one at that. We have no idea the age of some posters, what their first language is, or anything else about them. We may not all be as educated, eloquent, or simply pedantic as others among our Transformers loving brethren but that’s no reason to make this forum be anything less than what it was intended to be: innocent fun.

Instead of taking the grammatical highroad, help the guy (I’m assuming) make a choice on whether or not to purchase the dang toy or not. You’re free to make the post helping him be a shining city on a punctuation hill, a model for us all to follow.

 

It’s one thing to demand perfect punctuation and grammar on a message board and another to use none. At all. IMHO.

 

I'm at a point where I do not care about grammar at all and write things out as I think it.


At that point too where I'm tired of folks grumbling about that and simply move along.

 

Just be aware that a lot of people said metroplex wasn't worth it when he came out. That cw computron wasn't worth $100 when it came out. That siege jetfire wasn't worth $80. Unicron for $600. Etc.

If you decide to not get it that's fine but keep in mind that if you change your mind later it'll cost you. Sure, some may show up at discount at some point but only a handful of people will benefit.

 

Hopefully I'll get my Gift Card next week and can snag the Ark and then at last not have to think about that, that's one thing that always pops up in my mind about these Titans thinking one can find em clearance but with things as they are I don't go out shopping a lot.

Just crazy to me how much I'm going back and fourth over the Ark.

It looks really cool.

-Should have been a Playset instead of a Transforming Robot but still an awesome looking Titan the more I look over the photos in this thread

 

My opinions on those molds hasn't changed (and in all probability won't) but, videriant is right and, the late tax on this will be every bit as brutal was on overwhelmingly popular Titans that wound up on clearance and were gobbled up. This is only the second time that a legitimate toy of The Ark has been made (the first being deluxe Cybertron Unicron which is now Bludgeon for me or maybe it's a mass shifting part of Unicron's immune/defense system).

In the end, I think a lot of people might end up regretting skipping it like they did with Armada Unicron (or any of the numerous repaints/retools) and Cybertron Primus (which I will never not have mixed feelings on but, Cybertron is Cybertron and it's still literally the only Cybertron toy).

I have definitely regretted skipping some items in the past and The Ark would have 100% been in my list of regrets and there was too much risk involved for me to wait on a price drop and/or clearance. Even if I'm wrong though and retailers couldn't give it away for free, I would still be fine with what I paid ($167.78 with tax & shipped) for my pre-order (which is still a pre-order).

If you're reading this and don't agree, that is 100% valid and I have no intention of trying to make anyone think that it's not nor am I trying to pitch you on a purchase of The Ark. I just wanted to share some more of my thought process on my purchase as videriant made some interesting points.

 

I grew tired of "the hunt" somewhere between Energon and Cybertron. I just wasn't interested in constantly walking into each and every store hoping to find something new nor what I was faster (or worse wanting to but not being able to do so because I wasn't driving). Thankfully, online availability has substantially increased since then and paint apps aren't anywhere near as RNG sloppy as they used to be.

As both a shopper and someone that has extensive experience in retail, there are a substantial amount of people that watch certain IPs like a hawk even if they aren't intending to clear out everything they possibly can in order to create a false shortage and bleed someone dry online. Clearance/closeout stores like KB Toys (which obviously no longer exists), T.J. Maxx, Ross, Ollie's, etc. are watched even more closely because they are a good source for people that missed out as well as people looking to increase their absurd profit margins even higher.

For me, none of it is worth the time, hassle, frustration, nor the risk (of missing out completely). In hindsight, it was never worth it but I couldn't see that back in the day. 2020 only solidified the fact that I had absolutely no interest in going back to "the hunt" ever.

In addition to all of that, there are people that need to purchase at a discount or they are simply never going to be able to afford it. I would much rather pay MSRP (or close to it or during a normal sale) than actively contribute to further reducing the stock levels of closeout/clearance merchandise for that part of the population just so that I can save "x" amount of dollars.

 

While it's bad to let FOMO make your decisions, just keep in mind that there's no guarantee of the price going DOWN but there is a reasonable guarantee of you having to pay MORE at some point later on if you wait. You might find it discounted, but if you don't, you'll pay over 200 unless you get one used from someone in a lucky strike.

 

For me, the Ark as it is, was never worth it. So if it wasn't worth it at MSRP, then it certainly won't be worth it to me for $200 down the road. It's worth sub $100 in my eyes and if it ever clearances down to that I might pick it up. But if not, no biggie.

Jetfire on the other hand, worth it at MSRP in my eyes. I could have got him for $65 in 2019 during a Target sale. I passed and regretted it. I was willing to pay $100+ for him but finally bit for $80 shipped from Zavvi.us.

 

I did the same thing with Best Buy (it was some random student deal promotion but, I don't recall when). I was trying to decide between it and FT Phoenix (they both do things I like and things that I don't) but ultimately they both felt like placeholders for me so I skipped them. I missed out completely but, like you I wasn't completely sold on something at MSRP so I'm certainly not going to pay a late tax. Skyfire will either get a reissue or another toy at some point so it's not anything that I regret (well 99.9% of the time lol).

 

Fyi, jetfire (and omega supreme and scorponok) already got reissued the past year. Nobody knows if this will be a regular thing for Hasbro or just because of the release of the Netflix series. But then, devastator also got a small reissue. Predaking too?

As others have said, everybody have a different cutoff point between FOMO versus regret and anger at the late tax. Read all our viewpoints and judge for yourself where you fall and also how much effort you want to put into the hobby.

here's what I know from my examples. But when I'm not out of the country i watch for deals like crazy. I'm not your average casual collector.
Metroplex I think was available for a long time. Was he the one that was sent to costco? No idea what his aftermarket is now. My guess is double. I think a few also ended up at ross?
trypticon was also available for a long time. And showed up at ollies for extremely cheap. But of course not everybody has an ollies.
Both cw g2 menasor and superion showed up at ross for I think $50. They go for over $200 now but less than $200 at the beginning of the year. They also showed up at marshalls. I think marshalls is also the one that got a few g2 bruticus? He's now going for almost 300.
Victorion, computron and liokaiser also sat around for months. If you watched sales you could have gotten the first two from target online for 70-80. Liokaiser was an ee exclusive and I think I got mine during a black Friday 20% Off deal. Aftermarket about $300 now.
Unicorn is a different beast since he's crowdfunded but a lot off people waffled and missed out.
siege jetfire is the better example since he's recent within the past two years. Retail $80. As others have said many passed on him even at $65. But when he sold out he was going for $150 before the reissue. And now, even with the reissue late last year\early this year he's climbing back to $150. Even with the yellowing reports.
Sky lynx is faithful to G1. He's not a great figure for $80 (or even $56) but if you must have the most g1 sky lynx i wouldn't wait to long. I can see his price climbing like jetfire did.

i'd you don't want the ark then you don't want it. If you kinda want it and If it was normal times I'd advise waiting to see if there is a 20% deal and get the ark for around 130 but with covid worldwide i think the retailers will struggle to fill shelves this holiday season and have less sales. Easter and summer this year was already slower than normal.

 

I'm going to get the Ark this week, I think found a display spot for it on the floor displayed upright in front of the main bookshelf display so now that the main issue for this item has been solved as to where it would be put now just patiently waiting till I get my Gift Card I get for my Birthday and if anything it will cut it down to say $110 at least so overall that's the best route for me to get the Ark.

 

Not mint availabe for $127, expected sometime in October.

Transformers War for Cybertron Kingdom Autobot Ark, Not Mint

You've got to move fast in this hobby.

 

Got things worked out to get the Ark off Amazon using my Birthday Gift Card if all goes well could have the Ark in hand by the weekend.

I'm excited, I figure that's a good figure to get for this year's Birthday and feels like the more expensive figures would be best saved for this occasion.

 

All Right!

I got a $100 Gift Card for my Birthday and used that on the Ark and ended up paying only $72 for the Ark!


SCORE.

So the Ark will be in hand by the weekend.

 

I'm really happy with the Ark and consider it an Ark/Mainframe set. The Teletraan-1 mode is excellent to have after all this time! And the more core class figures they release, the more playability the Ark will have as well!

 

Feels like the more I look over the Ark the more it's appealing especially Teletraan-1 which is a super cool thing to have so feels like it's a solid buy to me after going over the photos here in the Thread so TFW has helped me to decide on getting it plus when I get a Gift Card using that for something like a Titan sounds like a perfect thing to use that money for.

Now if I get another Gift Card on Christmas might go for getting Scorponok or Omega Supreme if I can find those two by then [Omega may be a Must Get now that the Ark will be here]

 

Personally, I'm only buying it because I can get staff discount on it at the comic shop I used to work in. There's no way I'd pay full price for it.

 

Just got mine in. Haven't opened it yet though. I'm still really bummed about the fact that at it's size it isn't a Core playset. Bought all the Core figures to display with it. May just off all of them with it one day since they're all unopened. Who knows. I do like the deluxe figure's design. I like that the Last Autobot looks like a Transformers version of the Mata Nui body from the end of Bionicle. Don't know how many noticed that. But I guess thinking of it as Mata Nui is kind of keeping it around for now. And being a super expensive set of Beast Wars accessories lol