Hope this belongs in the right forum... Anyway, I've noticed how there have been no leaked-out pics of the new Cybertron basics, Shortround (the new hovercraft) and Repugnus (autobot repaint of Undermine). They are scheduled to be released in April, and new toys usually start showing up in stores a few weeks before the scheduled date, but the most we've seen of them has been their stock photos from the Hasbro site and their being displayed at Toyfair last month. Usually, other sources (like that eBay seller.. SPX toys... or something?) get the final product months before we see them in stores (for example, Skywarp, Cannonball, the new LoC toys, Soundwave and Soundblaster), but why has there been nothing of Shortround and/or Repugnus yet? These are probably my two most favourite basics to come out in a long time I wonder if this is because of Hasbro being more vigilant when it comes to leaked out prototypes... what do you think?
number 1, there was a proto pic of shortround. number 2, since repugnus is a straight up repaint, whats the point of leaked protos?
we have pictures here on the boards of both figures, hasbro showed them off just before Toyfair, so we've not only seen prototype pictures of Shortround, but some of us have seen the actual figures. Andy
There's been a severe lack of proto pics in quite a while now. First eBay auctions were dwindling down, with SPX being the alst to offer stuff, and the only new stuff came from Chinese sites (sellers such as tffans, EasyNet or Yang Yang). And now it seems those leaks have also dried out. The only new stuff EasyNet got in over a month were the Titaniums. Looks like the rumors of Hasbro jacking up their security are true.
Well if the leaks are getting plugged then I guess we can rely on the Collectors Club magazine or the official site for pics of upcoming products. Ahahahahahahah.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! This is also effecting the GI Joe community as well, wave 4 DTC is due in a couple months, be we only got our first glimpse of the figures through Toy Fair
I've been talking to a guy who owns the TF shop I go to in Shanghai who's sold a lot of prototypes in the past and he says Hasbro has definitely cracked down on security... The last proto he sold was Primus which got him in trouble with eBay... According to him, Hasbro contacted eBay and had the auction pulled and his account revoked... He can barely get his hands on ANY prototypes or test shots anymore... But interesting enough, we talked about BT and he told me he's expecting a new BT mold next month... 'Course I'm not gonna hold my breath but I'm thinking Mirage??? He says it's definitely not Ginrai... And hopefully this means BT is going to pick up again...
Looks like things are going to become more and more like the old days, when the only way to find out when new toys were coming out was to go to the store and see them there!
The complete lack of new stuff being leaked these past few months is whats killed my interest in Transformers. The wait between new stuff is too long, and the fan club members get way too precious and bitchy if someone releases pics from their little magazine. Its just not fun anymore and combined with shoddy Aussie distribution this time out, my hearts just not in it.
Yeah it does suck that we don't get exciting news like we used to... As for the fan club, I can see why they get upset since they pay a lot for it... I'm not a member since I didn't think it was worth the time and money since I only wanted to see the pics... And since our favorite site for exclusive pics is rather dependable, I see no point in my being a member... But yeah, if Hasbro themselves simply UPDATED their damned website in a TIMELY manner with up to date news and pics, my personal interest would still be high...
Riiiiiight. Still, at the risk of sounding conspiracy-theory wacko, that'd go a long way towards explaining why Hasbro A) continues to endorse the Collectors Club, despite, well, see any thread in TF:GD and B) is cracking down on the leaks. You know, if the two were actually related.
He does know the difference between BT and Alternators? Y'know, proto sellers have a tendency to advertize, say, Cybertron Cannonball as "GALAXY FORCE FASTAID REPAINT" and somesuch.
Wow, I just posted this thread about leaked prototypes and voila! In the past few days we've seen more pics of Cannonball, and Transfan2 has just posted a mini gallery of the toy. But Cannonball [and Skywarp, to a lesser extent] seem to be the only new toys surfacing... I'm still holding out for some good new pics of Shortround, Repugnus and the rest, but it really does seem like Hasbro's been cracking down on the sale of prototypes via eBay and other outside sources... ... which sucks, because I don't mind WAITING for a toy to hit stores, but I like having pics to keep me interested until the figures hit retail.
