Im in that exact situation with Collectable Kingdoms at the moment. Preordered Rodimus just as they were receiving their shipment, but didnt get fulfilled from that shipment so 2 months later im still waiting. But then i got my Rainmakers from them ages ago, while the same order at IDT isnt due till November.

I guess its pot luck anywhere at the moment, although i do wonder if their location in the Channel Islands adds extra potential for delays?

 

Yup, still waiting on Rodimus with Sonner and only today have C. Den shipped my Kingdom Core Class wave 2.

Meanwhile GNT finally got the MOTU deluxes that were holding back a Gigawatt ffs...

 

Near-full set of G1 dinobots in Leicester Old And Vintage today. Very rare to see Swoop so I'd guess he's going for quite a bit.

Also a pre-TF deluxe insecticon by the looks of it. Curious stuff.

 

 
Good morning folks!

Foggy start...


Also this guy arrived!

 

Wow!
These look beautiful, great work Ash!  

 

Talking of rare, that's a freaking Omnibot (Camshaft) next to Swoop.

 

Bowling ball complete!

it really did take a long time! but was fun and interesting and not the ballache i was expecting. did get a bit frustrating as i couldnt seem to get the 2nd arm away as easily as the 1st one, but overall it was a good time. they have clearly refined it from the original version as various clips that people said just wouldnt go in were fine for me. shout out to ShowZ for excellent packaging, fast shipping and no customs, and to those who pointed me in that direction.

 

much cooler than Rhinox  


its HFTD Backstop!

 

Gremlins and Gremlins 2: The New Batch Figure Reissues From NECA

Awesome, I missed these originally. Though I can't help wondering what they'll cost these days.

 

Regarding Collectible Kingdoms I gather their stock is import stock, as I've had 2 orders with them. SS86 Grimlock which arrived later than other UK suppliers and SS86 Sl(a)ug which arrived BEFORE other UK suppliers, so I guess it depends on the specific figure? That said, I have no issue with ordering from them again, nice guys!

 

Huh, I hadn't spotted that. They also have a few Turbomasters, Stalker, a somewhat battered G2 Jazz, a boxed Japanese G2 Laser Optimus for £100, loose sets of Micromaster teams for £20... They get good stuff in, but there was nothing I was after this time.

 

I like how the second Slag is peaking out from behind that carded set  

Oh god his face is so goofy I love it   and wow, asymmetrical transformation, you don't see that often!

So I was just thinking from looking at my Energon Omega, it's kind of interesting how with the UT toys you can see the transition period between G1 Toy styled blockier, solid colour plastic but also starting to see the more detailed, greeblier look more modern Generations figs tend to have. Of course between the two UT figs I now own we see that was not universal as Vector Prime has insane amounts of detail with all the cogs and stuff and in comparison to Omega he's got a more muted colourscheme. I just find it interesting to see from a Toy Evolution standpoint. I know in the past when looking at pics of UT toys, particularly of your Optimi and like them looking like an evolution of G1 toys and designs with something extra. To be honest I'd like to see more evolution again with Transformers rather than iterating the G1 designs over and over. Hopefully we may be heading that direction as we're getting close to having updated versions of the G1 styled character designs.

Something that would be interesting actually would be toys using the Evergreen designs but not the hyper stylized Cyberverse look. We've not seen the base concepts for all of the Evergreen designs but there are a few on TFWiki which have that interesting element of not just being the G1 designs but being amalgams of iconic elements of a character from various versions of the character.

 

Very pleased to see GTA remasters, GTA 3 is basically unplayable by todays standard even though the story and humour is still decent, Vice City is clunky but better (Vice City Stories being a hidden gem from the series with lots of Phil Collins voice-acting throughout and I bet that never gets a remaster). Would like to play GTA 4 again so hoping that gets an update.

I have played through GTA V half a dozen times on three formats so I'm not surprised it is still selling well for them, it's a stunning game with insane amounts of free DLC.

 

Thanks once more, Boabie. I feared that was lost forever!

Also, I’d like the community to recognise my ability to get an unreserved seat on a manic train (13:07 Leeds to Mancs) and maybe chip in for some sort of little medal. Thanks in advance.

 

Hadn't heard of these before, I certainly like the artwork...



And blue Bats is the shizzle.

 

UT stuff was really odd. It was a step backwards to a more G1 look/feel with Armada, which was a bit controversial at the time - in the wake of BW/BM/RiD they seemed very clunky. Energon managed to be better but hampered itself quite badly with the combining gimmick, which is probably why it's the least fondly remembered. As you can see with Omega though, it really was a srep towards what we got with Cybertron, which is pretty much where all of the modern Generations stuff got started.

The best part of it all though was seeing the new characters/designs showing up. I like to point out that Cybertron was the last time we saw a truly innovative mainline that really felt like it was driving things in a new direction. It was derailed somewhat by the arrival of the Bayverse stuff, and I often wonder where the line might have gone if that hadn't happened.

 

Cheers dude its a real obsession/ labour of love at this point combined with the stars aligning in terms of being able to source all the components. More excited and focused on these than I have been on figures in a good while.

Not wanting any of this kingdom wave has given me a good bit of wiggle room.

 

Thanks, nice to see opinions from people more familiar with the lines than I am as it fell during my 'Dark Age' to borrow a LEGO fandom term between the end of Beast Wars and me getting back into Transformers again  

Yeah. Seeing new takes on familiar characters as well as genuinely NEW characters turn up, even if they might be a bit similar to an existing character, is great. As I say it would be great to see more evolution going forward. One area the Bayverse stuff has shined somewhat, at least in the toys and to some degree conceptually, has been with the genuinely NEW characters, as opposed to sticking familiar names on characters with little resemblance to the core qualities those characters have. Like Nitro Zeus, never seen the film but I really like his toy and TBH he feels like a far better Realistic Seeker than Starscream the Space Dorito for example. Or Lockdown, or that guy with the green longcoat look (I've no idea of his name) or in the Knightverse side of things, Shatter and Dropkick I quite liked for their whole hunter dynamic they had going on. TBH if IDW had continued I would have quite liked to have seen versions of them turn up  

Heck, some of the 'In Name Only' Bayverse characters would be pretty good as separate characters. Old Man Jetfire as a crotchety old Decepticon was a pretty fun concept IMO.

But yeah, Hasbro are playing it a bit safe in the mainline at the moment :-/

Edit: Something I've said before, when rewatching Beast Wars was I liked how it had things moving on from the same old basics of Decepticons vs Autobots,new generations of bots. New leaders, as even with Optimus and Megatron while they had familiar names they were quite different from their namesakes. Primal was less the self confidant big good than Prime was and while he grew into a war leader he was still mostly a space captain thrown into extreme circumstances. And compared to his G1 namesake Megatron was far more scheming and manipulative with long term goals and plans which more often than not came very close to succeeding and failed not because of his own ineptitude but because of Maximals going above and beyond to stop him, rather than just showing up.

TBH one of the reasons I keep meaning to look into JG1 is that they DID go beyond more with new leaders etc. It's one of the reasons I was intrigued by IDW and why I started reading it at a point AFTER the war had ended as at the time that felt more interesting to me than reading another take on the war.

Ah I'm rambling again   hopefully there's something coherent in there x)

 

It seems to be that although they have their only so many reuses of a mould policy at the minute, that doesn't apply to slight retools. I think I am a little jaded by the Cybertron mode release followed by a potential earth mode (but they wont guarantee an earth mode you you need to buy the cybertron version first).

Even though I am firmly in the G1 camp, I really don't mind other releases (it gives my wallet a break) and it also allows others to enjoy the hobby.

 

Thanks for saying that and don't get me wrong, I'm happy for G1 fans to get their stuff. I'm not one of those fans of something who comes along in a later installment and is all "THIS IS OUR THING NOW!", I just feel like for a franchise about change it sometimes feels like Hasbro are a bit reluctant to fully explore that   and thing is, they've got so many various lines now I don't think it'd be as big as a gamble to try something new as it was with Beast Wars when it was an all or nothing gamble with the very future of the franchise.
Like if they try something new with the Generations Mainline, they've still got Studio Series ticking along and Masterpiece every so often and whatever the current cartoon tie-in line may be and movie toys in the next few years for Rise of Beasts or whatever.