What's funny is there's a not insignificant number of people who simultaneously complain about the price of retail figures but then gladly gobble up the equally spendy kits to upgrade them anyway. And HasTak is VERY aware of these kits. I would assume it's also part of the reason they abandoned stickers after Prime Wars. They know ToyHax is already doing it and people who care go that route.

I wouldn't be shocked if, when having to make design decisions around their budget, they may consider how 3Ps could potentially supplement the figure. That way they can focus on staying in budget and delivering characters at the required price points.

 

Doesn't change the fact he was Leader and that the standard has fallen while prices skyrocket.

 

And that's exactly why I wrote "That was 8 years ago. It's 2023." in the first place.

 

People have been complaining about increasing prices for years and yet the line just chugs along without you. Sorry you got priced out, but general audiences don't seem to care and HasTak doesn't appear to be pivoting away from it any time soon. Many of us have adjusted our buying patterns as well, we just don't keep talking about it 8 years later.

 

I'm not the only one in this thread remarking that Scourge does not look like he's a toy worth $60, though.

 

I'm not talking about just you, though.

 

I'm honestly curious if general audiences have "just adjusted to" the new prices. The shrinking toys, constant price hikes, and scarcities of certain popular characters (i.e. Cosmos, VW Bee, tape player Soundwave) all strike me of trying to get one paying customer to cover for a couple drop outs...

 

You grossly overestimate the popularity of those three specific versions with general audiences.

 

King Samlock dropped some turntables and concept art of scourge!
Sam Smith - Hasbro ⚓️ on Instagram: "SS-101 TF7 Rise of the Beasts Scourge - Vehicle Mode Turntable"

Sam Smith - Hasbro ⚓️ on Instagram: "SS-101 TF7 Rise of the Beasts Scourge - Robot Turntable"

Sam Smith - Hasbro ⚓️ on Instagram: "SS-101 TF7 Rise of the Beasts Scourge “POWER IS PRIMAL”

Glad to finally have Scourge get an official reveal, along with having some great photography to show off some of the awesome light piping effects brought throughout this design. Scourge as a character was a lot of fun to work on and produced a number of challenges to overcome throughout the design process. Based on the artwork that we started this character from, there was a lot of emphasis on the use of a glowing orange energy that was emitting from the core of the engine block, grill and cab. (Think the furnace in the basement from the first Home Alone film, Terrifying!)

We tried to replicate this in the product with translucent orange plastic and we used a gradient fade to the grill to retain some subtlety to the vehicle mode. We also knew that we were going to have some alternate arms for Scourge. The concept art depicted a large bladed scythe that he would carry in his right hand, along with an arm cannon that would transform into a large grabber claw.

Kunihiro did an incredible job of establishing a complex design plan for the transformation, and solving for a number of the discrepancies between the vehicle and robot forms. Additionally Kunihiro came up with an awesome solution for the arm cannon to allow for a transformation to recreate the plow and barrels that sit on the back of the vehicle form.

For Scourge’s deco, we worked with a pretty dark and drab color palette. To help recreate some of the unique matte finishes, we sandblasted the vehicle molds to make it feel more worn and distressed. Once we had applied all of the base colors , we focused the remaining paint operations to applying weathering and secondary color pops with elements like the chains that are used throughout the robot and alt modes. Lastly, to avoid breaking the apocalyptic vibe that this whole design emanates, we assembled it with black pins and screw hardware. NOTE: I won’t be sharing full Screen to Toy asset breakdowns prior to the films release out of respect to our studio partnerships."

Mod edit: Mirrored images and a YouTube mirror of the CAD turnaround.

 

"complex design for the transformation"

Wow, he's not even trying to spin how bullshit this is.

 

I think this toy is very cool.

 

He is good, just not leader good to me. Will wait for a sale. Also the fact we got this post might encourage people to actually talk about the toy instead of interacting with the same entitled "not what I LIKE therefore I will ruin it for EVERYONE" crowd. Like y'all should move on.
That aside though, leaders cost around 74 euros here and just yeesh. At that point kinda wish they polished up his alt mode.

 

When you're this mad I strongly recommend logging off.

 

People bringing up CW Megatron? Looked great in tank mode but posed like garbage. The legs did almost nothing if you wanted him to actually stand. I will take a modern figure like Scourge here that has a TON more play with articulation any day.

 

Eh, I like him well enough, but I am probably biased since it was the first TF my daughter bought me for a present.

 

Noice, they really did a good job with this figure.

 

Liking the new pics and, as usual, Sam's post on Instagram was good!

An employee making a product sound/look good before it is released.

Groundbreaking concept, I know.

 

Sorry I'm not trying to insult to insult. I have CW Megatron and like him, but I appreciate the improvements a lot of modern figures have been making in articulation even with the price increases.

 

No worries.