This figure blows me away and it's gotten me super excited.

 

I'd be OK with a delay until March, if we got a 'clean shiny version' out of it. Which actually, should "move the schedule up" instead of delay it, because having the factory NOT paint on the splatters/scratches/rust over the shiny red+blue bits should actually be quicker and easier.

 

Ah I see well that would make more sense to me. Although they could just include an alternate face plate or something.

 

The XM-Studios statue has painted metallic eyes over the lightup eyes, so it could be done with one head. However, the eyes light up beautifull here and dimmed would look "dead". Painted would look great dimmed, but would never look so crisp as in these pictures.

 

But if you're not actively "playing" with him or posing him or something then he will look dead on the shelf. You can't leave the LEDs on 24/7 so you have to compromise. With paint they can make him look alive all the time. It's just my preference. I might even paint over the eyes if they look bad enough while not lit.

 

Preorders are up at TCP and holy shit, $250+ for this thing.

 

Maybe I wasnt clear, or im reading this reply wrong.
The statue has lightup eyes behind the paint, so it works well in both cases.
I dont know how they did it, but either the lights turned on or off, the head looks good in both cases!

Hope this clears it up!

 

had a hunch it wasn't just TFSource. American economy is in serious trouble and this is yet another symptom...

 

Sounds like what Fanstoys did with their Omega Supreme. Beautiful metallic eyes that can still light up.

 

Or it's just way more expensive than we thought it would be? Most other 3P pricing has remained somewhat stable.

 

The price on NA vendors were likely dictated by TW's distribution arm... Hopefully, they'll lower the price. Otherwise, people will just buy from overseas.

 

Such a good sculpt, I think it’s probably one of the best I’ve seen.

I wonder if one of the designers just watches that Cybertron opening scene on repeat in the background to see if they miss something they haven’t added already.

 

tw had to do it to them

 

Oh neat! Thanks for explaining. That definitely seems like the best of both worlds.

 

Wouldn’t be funny if it’s not because of the economy but rather one site lists it at a high price and the others stupidly follow their pricing. Cause surprise surprise, 250+ is FAR higher than if we account for the tariffs. There’s more at play here and I dare say, these sites are greedy?

 

The most likely answer is that the cost for NA stores is much higher because the distributor is marking it up higher.

Isn't TW the company that won't let NA companies order directly with threat of no after-sales support?

 

A primer on 3P pricing and how it could have been cheaper:

Guaranteed to trigger people.

 

Who is Hung Ngo?

Bobby has a history of having 'expert guests' who are quickly demonstrated to have made things up.

 

But at the same time, hes had reliable people up there. He just had nocv on there in the htb toys review. Not trying to be rude just pointing this out.

When's the next tfcon, out of curiosity? Itd be nice for people to see up close for themselves to determine the quality