Botcon Thunderclash and 2009 box set sales update

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by G.B. Blackrock, Mar 30, 2009.

  1. Counterpunch?

    Counterpunch? Interior Renovator

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    Very nice. Continue to keep it classy.
     
  2. rhapsodyred99

    rhapsodyred99 Well-Known Member

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    Maybe this WHOLE SET is an april fools joke!

    one can hope :p 

    Frankly I LIKED 2005's set. Flareup, Flamewar had cool paint jobs, we got an Iron Hide and Ratchet that was a straight up homage to thier cartoon AND toy selves in G1. Deathsaurus was nifty as well.

    2006 was great pre beast BW characters was a great Idea. they took a few minutes of the first show and turned it into a whole set of toys, THAT is pure fan love right there.

    2007 Frankly i liked this set alot and have no sympathy for the people who say that you should not turn popular characters into high priced exclusives. Sur eit would have been nice if hasbro had made them, but at the time classics was pretty much dead, and Hasbro had no plans to make them, FP allowed us to see them, at the very least YEARS before Hasbro would have released them if at all.

    2008 was a great quirky concept that used interesting molds, and good fiction with cool colorschemes to pull it off. I had no issues with that set at all.

    2009....? Meh WTH? I mean even if the molds we have seen were the only ones FP had available, you have to ask yoourself how in the world they looked at those molds and came up with those characters. I like Scourge's head by far the best head of the lot, but making him sideways??? Then Kup being Red Alert with a crappy head?? How do you see Kup when you look at that mold?? I actually like Flack, his colors are more appealing to me than the several other repaints OF THE SAME MOLD already this year. The list goes on. this years set is crap compared to other sets. Granted that is my opinion, but I cannot see that changing once I have the figures in hand.

    Yes I said had the figures in Hand. This is my first Botcon, so I will be getting a set of the figures even if I think they are crap. I just hink they seriously missed the boat on this years set compared to other sets. In my opinion even 2005 was better than this one.
     
  3. butheadimus prime

    butheadimus prime Picard?

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    This set is total garbage period. I don't think its beyond FP to lie about the 87% to try to get some people that are on the fence to make the jump and buy. I believe the number is closer to 75% and I'm being generous. I am still disgusted by FP and HAsbro saying this is a east coast con and thats why NY comic con doesnt get exclusives yet the con is in Cali. The scalpers wont be selling these for the money they paid. I wonder if some idiot will actually put one of these at his booth for 500 or 600 like last year. The only one of these that I would consider is Scourge and definitely not for much money. People will be trying to sell these things forever. The ebay prices will be so funny at first.
     
  4. Alexander Quinn

    Alexander Quinn Well-Known Member

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    HA! Nice eye for detail! Evil Cybertronian Subliminal Messages! :) 
     
  5. G.B. Blackrock

    G.B. Blackrock Autobot Ally

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    You know, it's one thing to express one's opinion about the set. But that's tantamount accusing one of Hasbro's licenseholders of outright lying, and I think that should be out of bounds.
     
  6. transformers32

    transformers32 Well-Known Member

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    Once again are you going to botcon are you even getting the set? If not get the sand out of your vag and quit crying about it. Dont get it if you dont like it. Why would they need to or want to lie to us about how many that have been sold?
     
  7. Kickback

    Kickback @GeekWithChris Administrator News Staff

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    People are trying to claim that the BotCon sets aren't sold out and that Fun Publications is only bolstering their "sets sold" because those people are looking for some backing to their opinion.

    "I HATE THIS SET, IT CAN'T BE SOLD OUT, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! THEY'RE LYING!"

    I admit to not being a fan of this year's set, but I'm not planning to attend BotCon this year. My club membership expired and was never renewed. To a lot of you, that means I "have no right to bitch" ... but that's further from the truth.

    I'm the type of person that Fun Publications would want to get back in the club. The fan of over 20 years with a large collection who has attended a ton of conventions. If they only cater to the people that attend the show, they lose out. That's why you see Fun Pub at other conventions, promoting the show and the club. They make their money on getting people to be a member and going to the shows.

    But I'm getting off-topic.

    It is in my OPINION that this set was not their first choice. As Vangelus said in the very beginning of this thread, I can't wait to see the fiction to figure out what the hell ANY of these characters have to do with each other. This is the first set in forever that makes you scratch your head and go "Uh...what? Why him?". They're all no-name characters (save Kup and Scourge) from some of the most obscure points in the franchise's history.

    But if they couldn't pull it off, I don't think they would have gone forward with this. And who knows, maybe if there is a story behind all of this and a "This wasn't our first choice" type of thing, they could talk about it at BotCon this year. Or they may not. You never want to be negative about your own thing, or talk about "what could have been". The last thing you want to do is acknowledge the negative and then give the negative a blame.

    ie: "Our first choice was..." = an admission of negativity
    ie: "...but due to the molds Hasbro allowed us to use..." = blame on Hasbro
    ie: "...and TakaraTomy's interesting factory operations..." = blame on TakaraTomy
    ie: "...this is the best we could do and we think we did a good job." = pity us!

    You just don't do it.
     
  8. airfox

    airfox TF: Cybertronian Wars!

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    Sounds eerily familiar*. :p 

    * As in one of the reasons I believe caused 3H to loose the license.

    -airfox
     
  9. Hiro Prime

    Hiro Prime Cybertronian Guru Veteran

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    Why should it be out of bounds? It isn't like past licenseholders have never lied to the fans before. (koff3Hkoff) If memory serves, it was the fans on this board that cast the spotlight on those lies and exposed the fact that Glen was running OTFCC into the ground at fan's expense.

    Now I'm not saying that FP is doing anything like this, but as Kickback stated above this post, They aren't gonna say anything but positive things in order to promote the show and the set. Do I personally believe they sold 87% of the sets? Sure. But, I don't believe that this set was something that they have been planning for over a year for the big 25th Anniversary con.

    If it is, then I think they need some new blood on the Botcon council.
     
  10. G.B. Blackrock

    G.B. Blackrock Autobot Ally

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    If the accusation is coupled with any evidence to back it up, I retract my concern. As it is, FP deserves more respect than that.

    I'm not quite sure what Kickback was getting at in mentioning the folks suggesting that the 87% is less than honest. It's one thing to acknowledge that they, inevitably, will put a positive spin on things. Saying "87% sold out" isn't spin, though. It's a verifiable (or, perhaps more to the point, falsifiable) statement. If it isn't true, then FP is lying. They don't have to tell us "87%" if that isn't true. They can say whatever number they like, or nothing at all.

    There have been other statements suggesting that FP was either saying certain numbers, or withholding such numbers, in an effort to boost sales. I may or may not disagree with such statements, but those are fine.

    To accuse them of actually lying? That's just not cool. You say something like that, you'd better be ready to back it up.
     
  11. airfox

    airfox TF: Cybertronian Wars!

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    I don't think memory serves... :p 

    IIRC, 3H wasn't outright lying, but putting a positive spin on things. For instance, when rumors of Sentinel Maximus not being at the show began circulating, their reply was something like "everyone who ordered will get the toy" omitting the "at the show" on the reply.

    -airfox
     
  12. bradforj

    bradforj Well-Known Member

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    This is what I've been saying. If you're on the council and good ideas got shot down, then admit it. If you are on the council and enthusiastically promoted the production of this abomination, then step down.
     
  13. Laser_Optimus

    Laser_Optimus Currently no longer giving a shit about the MCU. TFW2005 Supporter

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    That certainly is true. However, it was the fandom, in a way, that brought these things to light (or at least made enough of a stink that Hasbro revoked 3H's license, or should I say Glenn's license as the Hartmen's really weren't part of OTFCC, and ended up having to finish the distribution of Sentinel Maximus on their own).

    I do have to agree with G.B. though, suggesting that they may be padding the numbers is one thing, however, saying that the information that they have given out is outright lies is a little much. Though, I don't ever expect them to come out and say that a set is selling poorly... I'd actually expect them to say nothing at all really if the set were doing so bad that they would even need to consider engaging in outright lies to the fandom to get more sales from people whom were on the fence. IE: I don't think that's what's happening here.

    Now, are they padding the numbers? Don't know... it's not something I can verify nor would I even attempt to try (numbers are probably more G.B.'s thing, from what I've seen, and he probably doesn't have access to anymore then anyone else has at the moment not 'being on the inside'). However, again I have to say that this probably isn't the case. I would say that's it's probably close to the truth as there are plenty of factors involved. a) As much as fans hate this concept... there are a ton of people with whom don't post regularly or at all on these message boards (but they do buy up exclusives and the like) & b) there's also a large group that are fine with buying the sets site unseen and may feel that, as they are going to the convention, that they may as well have the set.

    There's also the question of how many are actually going to Primus Packages and how many are Iacon packages as they seem to have got to all the people on the Iacon waiting list at this point. Either way though... the set is selling out and there really isn't any reason to say that they are willing to lie.
     
  14. llamatron

    llamatron OFFICIAL MMC REP TFW2005 Supporter

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    Someone once mentioned that this set would be awesome if it was about an old aged Kup telling one of his war stories from back in the day - however being old his memory isn't the best so it is essentially a made up nonsensical tale, featuring a mess of characters that shouldn't exist at the same time. That would be awesome and a perfect way to give us a cool variety of different dudes (fitting in nicely with the 25th anniversary). However it looks like what we are getting is going to be a lot lamer.

    I want to like it. I'm about as big a fan of Euro-G1 as you can be. But all the figures in the boxed set are just completely underwhelming and none of them seem to live up to their potential.
     
  15. T16skyhopp

    T16skyhopp Well-Known Member

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    That kind of fiction would be even more awesome than the campy April fools page from last year's comic, and even more disappointing if it turned out to not be real.
     
  16. Hiro Prime

    Hiro Prime Cybertronian Guru Veteran

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    I believe my memory serves me pretty well considering I was one of the fans who PAID for a PVC Skywarp and never got it. And that is just one example I can point out. There are many more.
     
  17. Prime Aspect

    Prime Aspect Visual Synthesis Engineer

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    I just realized something that I haven't seen posted elsewhere.

    The figures that are getting new heads (Kup, Scourge, Flak) use molds that have had the most recent repaints (Ratbat, Overload and that guy from the movie continuity I didn't buy), and the ones with the old heads haven't had repaints in a while. I know that Flak would seem really pointless to me without the new head, since I have CD Scattorshot and Overload, but Thunderclash is acceptable since neither of the previous incarnations were used in the Classics/Universe Classics/Movie toy lines.

    It was a very shrewd choice "given the molds available" (to paraphrase Pete) as to which ones got the new heads. Plus, Scourge is IMO in the running for best Botcon figure ever. While I will be looking to sell most of my extra bagged set, it would take something special (like trading for a hopeful "sweeps" repaint of Scourge) to make me part with my second Scourge.
     
  18. Prime Aspect

    Prime Aspect Visual Synthesis Engineer

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    The gag pages were fine as a joke, but I think more people would be turned off by a set whose whole purpose was to mock Transformers than there would be people who bought it because of the joke.

    Good fiction can definitely help figures, though. The reveal in the club mag of 2007's Alpha Trion as being from the Shatteredverse and insane and evil made me finally pick one up on eBay since the character was so cool. But hey, I'm one of those who like my TFs to be taken seriously (which is why I can't support Animated)
     
  19. T16skyhopp

    T16skyhopp Well-Known Member

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    Interesting. I like silly things though (Killer Moth is the best DCUC toy and always will be) and the joke comic from 08 was way too awesome. IMO animated is actually plenty serious also while still being an acceptable and entertaining kids show. Especially this season so far >>.

    But yeah, I'm all for gag stuff. Especially as con exclusives, so it keeps it out of the main line. I'd totally kill for dementia ridden Kup to tell crazy war stories.
     
  20. Jaguaratron

    Jaguaratron Well-Known Member

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    You cant call one on one side to back it up without calling on the other, unless FP wanna open up their books people are entitled to voice their suspicions, I beleive americans have a whole ammendment to freedom of speech and can call BS wherever they like. We get you have a huge hard on for them, thats your opinion and you are entitled to it.

    As for me, I think the set is close to being worth the money, "Thunderclash" is a hideous mold made worse (didnt think that was possible) "Scourge" isnt using a great base model and the head doesnt go with the rest of the design and "Kups" head looks INCREDIBLY cheaply made and ass-tastic. "Landshark" is a OK mild with a bad colour scheme and Flak looks OK.