there are videos on giant now. giant's the winner. you're right herc is all hype at this point. but if i'm going to spend that much, i wish i had better options. the size of giant is a huge turn-off. maketoys should have made him bigger but i guess the deluxe class toys into a combiner makes up for that. yeah giant's the winner. i might sell my exgraver and heavyload. if TFC lowers drops its price, i might complete it anyway.
Yeah, idk.. I'll definitely give Giant a look-see... But for me it's either one or the other... I like the largeness of Herc (while hating the price), and depending on size & detail of Giant once I see it, my feelings may change. In terms of collecting more than one of the same figure, it's very small for me. I buy (or try to at least) seekers & Rodimus stuff that comes out. Those are the only multiples of my collection, with the exception of the Optimus Primes that I personally like of course. I'm only missing a few Starscreams from having every mold of the character's name. I love combiners, however I have none in my collection because I've always been waiting for THAT definitive combiner Hasbro comes out with. However dependent on Giant's overall look & price point, I might have to go the 3rd party route for Devastator.
I think it's silly to be loyal to anything unconditionally. Every relationship should be mututally conditional; as long as party X, be it Hasbro/Takara/Fansproject/TFC/KOTOYS/your mom/etc., produces a quality product for a reasonable amount of money, I will remain a customer.
I think I can roll with this reasoning, because really, the only reason I have a few TakTom figures among my collection is due to really good deals on them (or them being gifts). By the same logic, I've considered getting the alternate Kup heads, because those are priced at something I can afford without a lot of hmming and hawing. I would gladly buy some third party product (Warbot Defender, I'm looking at you) if it was at a lower price. Most of my money would still go to Hasbro, but if anything that's a combination of lower prices and supporting the brand itself, not snubbing of third-party products, regardless of the nebulous legality.
in my case, i don't really buy into the brand "loyalty." i love robots, mechs, and the sort. i will gladly dive to so and so particular brand just to get that toy. i believe that's the case with most of the collectors here, we get what we like and want. of course pricing is an ultimate issue in which we must decide what things are worthwhile to get and those to just admire. fansproject insecticons? awesome as hell. spend the 50 for each? too much for my budget. the new devestator coming out, totaling to almost a couple hundred? total awesomeness, way out of my budget. in the end it all depends on the balance between price and the particular figure that we want. maybe we like to indulge ourselves and spend that ridiculous amount of money for something (like the fansproject stuff i have). sometimes we bring ourselves back to reality and go, yeah i'd like it but i can skip due to costs and wanting of that item. "loyalty" is a great word to stand by, but we're collectors. we collect what we want. of course this may devolve to the whole moral of KO's and cheaper pricing but i don't want to step into that territory. i believe in the idea that we collect what we like, and whoever happens to be producing that figure we will gradually move there.
