Ironhide is four stops away according to the map Amazon sent me.  

 

Boom baby!

 

Awesome!

 

Don't get mine until Wednesday.  
But congrats to you dude!  

 

The funny thing is that I'm more than happy with my Siege Ironhide, but there's finally a decent van mode transformation, so I just had to grab him and the future Ratchet as well.

Of course it helps that Ironhide didn't cost me a cent, otherwise I would've waited for him to go on sale before grabbing him.  

 

Can't wait for the inevitable Ratchet either.
I still had rewards point left so I ended up only paying $10.67 for my Ironhide.  

 

I'm saving rewards points to finally get Legacy Metroplex.

Between what I have saved up, plus the inevitable Black Friday sales next month, I should finally be able to get him free as well. 

 

Cool.  

 

Good news: we got listings for Ratchet coming some time next year  

 

I interpret that as he's not selling well, so they raised the price for the inevitable "50+% off the normal price" game they play to make it seem like you're getting a deal when he down to $25 or so.

 

Got the GI Joe Awe Striker / Bumblebee in today from Amazon, I wasn't expecting it until January, but a nice surprise.

 

Awwww Bee-Yeah!

Haven’t transformed him yet, but I can already tell the vehicle mode will be awesome.

Legs are a little floppy, and the chest out of box might seem like it doesn’t peg in at first, but it is actually super secure with two latch points instead of what I thought was just one.

Weird having a figure first before having a usual YouTube video to go straight to for transformation, lol.  



Edit:
Transformation pretty intuitive, vehicle is absolutely amazing if you had Joe vehicles before. Everything pegs in nicely and the mode feels solid.  

Last time I referred to paper instructions was like 2009, lol! Not too painful.  

 

The vehicle mode on AweBee is the whole raison d'etre in my opinion. This is a good facsimile of the original and often reissued Joe buggy, with all the sets, pegs, details and prints. The back has a yellow detail but other than that it's nearly the same.

 

Transformation is mostly simple and intuitive, no surprises. Like it was noted the chest has two connection points and needs both. Compact the chest and back and when both are engaged it's nice and solid. Will need to tighten a couple of joints, the hips and shoulders are loose. You can use a couple of 5mm connection points for a shoulder gun effect or to add an accessory that stores on the back of the vehicle mode.

Figure interaction is okay, I have not opened the Stalker figure but it looks okay, plain but serviceable. Lots of legroom for use with 25th series figures. In bot mode the back platform is a bit too high up for my taste, but moving the roll cage around may give you some better figure options.

As a Joe fan and TF fan I think this is a very good effort. I think it should have been Hound perhaps but understand why they went with Bee.

 

How's the quality?

 

Core Laserbeak shipped and will be here tomorrow

 

I say good. Similar feel and plastic to HISS Megatron and/or equal to or better to the 3.75 Retro G.I.Joe vehicles. Doesn't feel flimsy or cheap to me. It literally feels like your 1:1 AWE Striker from childhood... but transforms (and denser/heavier).

Side note, I left Stalker on card, but I had a retro Grunt figure I was going to use for the driver/Human alliance partner, but... the arm snapped off when I unboxed him today.  

Until I get a replacement (I'll be sure to dip him in hot water before trying to move the joints), some Autobots stepped up!  

 

Heh, mine arrived in a box instead of bubble bag as well, although anyone looking at the product wouldn't think so. No air-pouch fillers or anything and the bottom left part of the box looks like someone stepped on it before packing it. Good thing I don't care about the box, although it looks like the backdrop took the brunt of the damage and it was actually a pretty nice one to possibly keep. I'll have to think about it (if it's worth the hassle to exchange).

 

Yeah, those last wave of Walmart Retro figures are garbage. They ALL break in the packaging.

 

Whoo!! Ironhide shipped around midnight and he'll be here a day earlier than originally expected!