Hard disagree from me. I think painted on windows look awful. Maybe I'm in the minority but I would rather have a slightly more fragile figure if it means it won't have the dreadful cheap looking painted on windows

 

Or they could just do what they used to do, make the clear plastic be a separate piece instead of casting half the figure in it….

that’s generally the best solution for that.

 

I dislike the ease with which clear plastic will stress, crack and break, as well as how easily paint chips. So I'm on board with clear plastic windshields underneath plastic roofs.

 

I've been saying the same thing since forever.  

 

Clear plastic is for light-piping the eyes and "energon weapons", anything else (windshields especially) should be regular plastic with paint.

 

I also prefer clear plastic windshields.

 

Damn I don't look at this thread for a while and two fights break out.

 

1) This is not just something "they used to do" but stopped. Whether it's one translucent piece painted or a translucent piece behind an opaque plastic piece has always depended on the individual needs of the toy. You can find examples of both throughout the history of the line.

2) oh yeah always casting half the toy in translucent plastic, always definitely, this is a thing that happens

 

I'm not anti-transparent plastic like some people are, but I'm all for painted windows rather than the masses of transparent plastic some of these toys are getting. Most of the time, all a clear windshield does is make it obvious that the interior of the vehicle is robot parts.

 

To get back to some Haslab talk....what do you all make of the chances of the Sky Striker and the Rancor?

I've been keeping an eye on them. They have 8 and 7 days left respectively. The SS is pretty much stuck in the doldrum/stagnation phase. I’m relatively confident that it will get funded at the last minute, but it will be interesting to see how the FOMO orders pan out and how many tier goals it will hit.
The Rancor I’m less confident in. That final tier reveal announcement was a momentum killer. Over 300 orders were canceled in 4 days and it has yet to recover them. With just over 50% funded, that was a disaster, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it receive an extension a la Unicron.
Right now all the Haslab projects are lagging a bit. This might be a warning to them not to run three campaigns all at once—and during the holidays to boot.

 

Well...when Star Saber became the commander, Rodimus Prime was still technically alive and well flying around somewhere in space looking for a new Cybertron. And he took the Matrix with him...so, yeah, Star Saber never even got a chance to hold it, let alone retain it. Honestly, it was nice for TOEI to remove the Deus Ex Machina hanging around the franchise in terms of Vector Sigma and The Matrix...no more "get out of jail free" cards to play. Star Saber simply became leader because he's that awesome.

 

Honestly it is still too soon to tell. Galactus looked like it was going to fail 5 days before the deadline at 11,000 backers then BOOM, 32,000 backers a the finish line. Third Party retailers could help push them over the edge (maybe not GI Joe as I am not sure how a brand of super US soldiers does internationally). The Ghostbuster Proton Pack has been doing really well since it just passed the second stretch goal. The new movie really helped it keep a strong momentum from the start.

 

It also future-proofs against damage. I'd flip my lid if something caused paint damage on my Classics Optimus Prime's arm kibble because those two gigantic plates are painted transparent plastic...all for the sake of TWO TINY WINDOWS on each side.

Frankly, I think FOMO and scalpers are going to push the Rancor juuuuuuuust over the minimum since the actual toy sounds pretty dope (lets be honest, how many of us would have the Rancor eat Jar-Jar, Palpatine, or Greedo?), but yeah the stretch goals really don't add much value to the thing and make it feel like ALL the budget was spent on the Rancor when the most that can be offered is stuff that could easily be made off a 3D printer, a cardboard background ala Studio Series, and exclusive package variants of existing figures (because that Luke is going to get reused if they're remolding the head or whatever).

 

On an utterly and complete different note to all of that, what kind of jet is Saber, exactly?

Assuming that he has a real world equivalent.

 

He's a US-1984-Fiction-Al-J.Et model.

 

JP-1989, you mean  .

But yeah, like most late-G1 stuff, completely made up.

 

Looks like the Rancor is bouncing back. Up nearly 200 backers since yesterday.

 

They announced the rancor keeper as an add on to the base 9k

 

Ah, so Hasbro is doing damage control. They still haven't updated the webpage so I had no idea.

 

Yeah they announced it on Instagram at the very least. No prototype yet so I'm betting this is a very recent addition. Glad it's a base level and not a higher tier, definitely a better call