Hasbro created a fork with Legends/Legion in 2011, when they introduced the DOTM Cyberverse play pattern with its Legion and Commander price points that continued under TF: Prime and Beast Hunters.

Non-movie figures continued as "Legends" with the Generations GDO assortment and the 2012 market six wave.

Then Fall of Cybertron introduced a new "Legends" price point with the data disc two-packs. Thrilling 30 introduced the "Legends" as we know them today, first as two-packs with weapon partner figures that were dropped with Combiner Wars.

AOE featured the first Legion assortment without the Cyberverse branding, followed by RID.

Technically, wave 3 was Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Grimlock, Cliffjumper, Ultra Magnus and Skywarp. Optimus, Bumblebee and Grimlock had different Hasbro product code numbers and UPC barcodes than their wave 1 and 2 predecessors even though the assortment number was the same.

(The RID re-releases in "Mini-Con Weaponizers" or "Combiner Force" packaging keep the same Hasbro product code numbers and UPC barcodes.)

 

Oh yes, the packaging is different, having gone from white to black borders, isn't it?

 

The two 2014 waves came in packaging mimicking then-concurrent AOE packaging, while the 2015 wave came in packaging mimicking then-concurrent Combiner Wars packaging.

 

Yeah, this can't happen soon enough. Even if it's, like, 75% repaints I'd snap them up. Do a blue Trailcutter and call it Skids? Bought. Done in red and called Ironhide? Bought. Smokescreen from Prowl mold? Bought twice if the plastic is blue instead of red. So many things could be done, I'm baffled they don't throw more through.

 

The point of these isn't "let's make G1 guy #27 available". The point of these is "Let's keep Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Starscream available at low-budget retailers".

 

EVERY line is for that, but there are always extra slots for other repaints.

 

This isn't a real "line" though, and I'd argue that the three release "waves" aren't actually "waves" of product. When Hasbro does a normal assortment it might be 5-6 waves in one year. These figures are one assortment of 3 figures that are available for 2 years. Then they change the packaging and maybe add Grimlock and that assortment is available for 2 years. Now they've changed the packaging again and lowered the price and just went back to the original three (presumably because Prime, SS, and BB sell better than the other names they've tried).

We know from the "dollar general" GI Joe line that Hasbro has a whole department that only caters to these super discount stores and their goal isn't to get stuff to us or make weird repaints, its to guarantee that even a super poor kid in a random rural town that only has a tiny drug store can still get an Optimus Prime figure.

Long story short: I'd love to see Glyph or maybe Blue prime out of these figures, but its probly not happening with this line. But if anyone wants SS, BB or Prime, they should be easy to get (again) for the next two years.

 

Case in point: Intertoys (a Dutch chain with stores in my region of Germany) has put the assortment on clearance about a year or two ago, and they still haven't got rid of Strafe.

Then again, the original three clogged shelves around here for ages.

 

Skywarp, Cliffjumper, and Ultra Magnus are proof positive that repaints alongside the big four are not out of the realm of possibility. Now a Microchange black Megatron from the pistol mold? That I don't see happening, no matter how much I beg.

 

FWIW, I got an email from Entertainment Earth about my preorder on these a few weeks back-

I noticed BBTS still has preorder - sold out status on their listing, but not sure if they also received a cancellation from Hasbro, can anyone who had an order there confirm if BBTS had to withdraw their preorders as well?

 

Drat!

Well, all our speculation was for naught.

 

RKillian in 3... 2... 1...

 

I preordered the set a while back and it moved from my preorders to my Pile of Loot on May 05 2017, so it seems that they got at least some in stock. Or perhaps it was an oversight, they never got them in, I was charged in error, and I'll be refunded once my Pile of Loot ships (which should be soon as my 180-day limit is rapidly approaching).

MIKE
engledogg

 

Well looks like I'm taking some sharpies to a few starscreams to complete my seekers...  

 

Are they that pricey on ebay? I can't imagine so. Both were done stateside AND in Japan, so it shouldn't be that hard for you.

 

I continue to watch for them.. not too many out there and some listings are for 4 times retail.. bigger fish to fry and what not.

 

I bought Starscream at Dollar General today. They had new stock up on the top shelf, no peg for them yet.

It was 5 bucks instead of 4 though.

Starscream is a pretty neat figure. I never saw him during the last run of these guys, so I was pleasantly surprised by his transformation being a little different.

 

I've listed mine several times at just over retail and no one has ever bought. Which figures are you looking for?

 

Mostly Thundercracker. Skywarp too, but he has shown up for more reasonable prices on ebay from time to time.

 

Thundercracker was not part of this series, but he was released three times (compared to Skywarp's once) in the US. He should still be fairly inexpensive.