Over the Edge

So, I did it. I payed eBay scalper prices for TFP: FE Cliffjumper.

But Octavius, why would you pay 4x the MSRP for a retail deluxe? This isn't some Botcon exclusive we're talking about.

True, FE CJ is a retail deluxe. Problem is, he's not going to be a retail deluxe here - in the US. Cliffjumper, part of wave 1. 5 for the First Edition line, made it to Canada (and maybe a few other markets, not counting his Japanese Takara release). However, the fandom received word about a week and half ago that the remaining releases for the FE line were cancelled! Even online preorders through retailers like BBTS had to be cancelled since BBTS would never end up getting the shipments.

Obviously, this sucks. There wasn't much to the FE line, but we only ended up with three of its toys on American shelves - the deluxes Bumblebee, Arcee, and Starscream that I've detailed elsewhere. The remaining toys - Cliffjumper, the Eradicon drone, Terrorcon Cliffjumper, voyagers Optimus and Bulkhead, and the Optimus/Megatron Entertainment pack - will never see the inside of US store. In fact, Terrorcon CJ and the Eradicon will never be released, whereas the others did get out out in Canada.

I can live without most of these toys. The newer Powerizer version of Optimus is in most ways, to me, better than the FE voyager, and we've yet to see Powerizer Bulkhead, so he could also be better than his FE counterpart (as good a mold as that appears to be). I think the entertainment pack deluxes will still find their way into a US release, either still as a 2-pack (Optimus/Megatron 2-packs are popular with Hasbro; they've done many over the past several years) or as individual releases. The newer Eradicon mold is way better than the FE one, so no worries there. Terrorcon CJ would have been nice, but I can get on without it.

But regular CJ? He's leaps and bounds better than his newer TFP mainline mold. He has his flip-out tri-barrel arm cannons (some of the best arm cannons in TF history), his transformation is accurate/doesn't cheat, and his car mode isn't a smidgen bigger than RtS Windcharger. Also, he just looks better overall, particularly in bot mode. While Hasbro came out this week and said they're looking to get these FE molds released somehow (and BB and Starscream will be in another, different Entertainment Pack, so this hope is at least somewhat realistic), I decided to hedge my bets and go ahead and get this guy before he disappeared from the secondary market. Even if FE CJ does get US release, we don't know how long into the future that'll be, nor can we be sure that it'll feature the same deco or be easily attainable for a decent price (it could end up, like the Seacons reissue, a BBTS exclusive). And, honestly, even though Toyfair is in 2 days, we probably won't hear anything about this until Botcon at the earliest.

So, yeah. I paid like $44 for FE CJ. But, at least, that included shipping (which was like $15). I'm looking forward to getting him and adding him to the collection, and (sort of) hoping that he doesn't get released here in the US!

Alternatively...

So, I finally did my first Alternators mini-review: Dead End. I considered giving the alts their own page, but since they're pretty much pre-Classics and definitively G1 characters, I just threw them in with the other G1 lines.

Brawls out

Hoo boy! So, someone over at the Allspark posted scans of the newest issue of Game Informer, which has some pretty impressive news: We're getting a new Bruticus!

Yes, we saw Bruticus in the FoC trailer a few weeks back, and the new design for Vortex in an older issue of GI. However, I really didn't expect that we'd be getting all five WfC/FoC Combaticons and they would actually combine!
The only Combaticon of note in the previous WfC game was Brawl, who you can see below. He looks great, even if he has a bit of a backpack. Onslaught was also in the game, but only as one of those DLC or whatever characters. Still, both retain their designs from the first game in both FoC and in their new toys. Swindle, also seen below, is one of the completely new Combaticons, and while his head could be more G1-ish (it looks a bit like his Trailbreaker-intended Alternators head, really), he otherwise looks great, with an awesome Cybertronian take on a Jeep for his alt mode (I especially like his WfC Soundwave-like wheel hubs; good visual continuity, there). And, obviously, that's Bruticus' big noggin up above, looking awesome. It seems as though he won't have his own chest armor/unique chest configuration, as his torso matches Onslaught's, but it's not a big deal.

Other than Onslaught presumably being the same size as the other Combaticons (Generations is still all-deluxe, so far as we know), there isn't much to complain about here! There are still a lot of unknowns, but the idea that we're getting out first "real" combiner since G1 (yes, even the Energon combiners were a bit less "legit" than this, with their repaint limbs) is some awesome news.

Oh, and did I mention we also got Optimus and Shockwave confirmed for FoC toys, too (along with a whole host of new Prime toys we didn't know about)?

Drifting away...

So, I may not be able to get my hands on Botcon 2012 Shattered Glass Ultra Magnus and Soundwave (though I'm sure gonna try), I do definitely have a preorder for Shattered Glass Drift!

I haven't mentioned him yet here, but SG Drift is one of the Club's two 2012 exclusives. It's basically like a Botcon toy, except single-packed and you have to buy it from the club store online. Drift himself is a repaint of the original Drift toy from 2010, but now he also comes with the twin pistols that were made for the Blurr remold of Drift. He still includes all three swords, but I believe that when I have him on display, I'll leave the smaller swords in their scabbards and have him brandish his guns. It feels more appropriate for an evil version of G1 Drift, who's known for being s swordsbot. He's also $50.

So, how did I justify his cost to myself? After all, on top of the $40 I had to pay to renew my club membership, Drift's gonna cost me $90 before shipping. Here's what I did:

See, this year's free Club toy is a remold of Generations Wheeljack as Runamuck (the white battlecharger). I didn't really want him. Luckily, the other club exclusive alongside Drift is Runabout, the black battlecharger buddy of Runamuck, who he's a black repaint of. So, naturally, there's going to be a market for those people who want both the free Runamuck and the $54 Runabout. However, not everybody wants to join the club, and will buy these toys regardless secondhand from a club member such as myself. So, I ordered Runabout along with SG Drift, and when both of my battlechargers arrive, I'll be offloading them to someone else for at least the cost of Runabout alone, and hopefully a bit more, since my $40 for club membership will be partly wasted once Runamuck is gone. Either way, it'll more than pay for my SG Drift, which is all I'm really trying to do. Pics from the Club facebook page, by the way.

Ah, it's that time again...

Time for the beginning of a new Transformers main line, that is. Strangely, the Dark of the Moon franchise doesn't seem to have the commitment behind it that Revenge of the Fallen or even Transformers 2007) did, and the line is starting to peter out and give way to the Transformers: Prime mainline (sort of subtitled "Robots in Disguise"). The first wave of the Prime deluxes and voyagers have begun to show up at Toys R Us stores, though when I checked out on the closest ones to me the other night, it was a bust. Still, it's a good thing these toys are hitting shelves; we'll finally be getting a toyline for a franchise that began way back in October 2010 (if you count the Prime comic and ignore WFC, that is).

Unfortunately, this has been coupled with the very unfortunate news that the Transformers: Prime: First Edition mini-line has been cancelled. So, while I was lucky enough to get Arcee, Bumblebee, and Starscream, the remaining toys - Cliffjumper, Terrorcon Cliffjumper, the Eradicon, voyagers Optimus and Bulkhead, and the deluxe Optimus/Megatron Entertainment Pack - will apparently never reach US retail, at least in the forms we knew them. This wouldn't be a huge deal, since Optimus, the Eradicon, Cliffjumper, and Megatron are all getting more new molds in the TFP:RiD line, but Cliffjumper's new mold is worse in at least two major ways - he no longer has the converting hand cannons (now he's stuck with a gimpy "hammer"/gun) and his car-roof chest is now a fake part, with the real car roof ending up somewhere redundant. Also, Megatron's deluxe mold looked great and somewhat better than the new voyager in terms of back kibble. A lot of fans also dislike the new voyager Optimus at the expense of the FE version, but I believe I feel the opposite way, though I wouldn't have minded owning the older mold at least for the weapons. I will say that the newer deluxe Eradicon looks much better than the old one, but I wasn't really planning on buying that character outside of his legion class toy. The newer Bumblebee mold is a fair bit worse than the original, though I'll get it in its Hot Shot form. Bulkhead? He's getting a new CV Commander mold, which looks good, but we've not heard anything about him getting a new voyager, though I suppose it's inevitable. Deluxe Optimus is still available in his SDCC form on HTS, I think, though I may not want him at that higher price.

All hope is not lost, thankfully. One of the upcoming releases is a 2-pack of Starscream and Bumblebee (using the FE molds) along with some MECH human figurines. I guess we can only hope that the other toys (which, again, never saw US retail) get reissued somehow.

2011 Transformer of the Year...Finally

So, I finally got around to finalizing my 2011 Transformer of the Year! I only opened this guy up after I did the actual Best of 2011 post, so he may have other wise gone somewhere else on that list, but he's awesome enough that he deserves to be here in his own post.

So...drumroll........

The Basement Invasion 2011 Transformer of the Year is Transformers: Prime: First Edition Starscream!

Yeah, this guy is awesome. He really redefines what can be done with a deluxe jetformer. Yes, he has his kibble problems - his bottom half is all legs and his chestplate just aft of the cockpit. However, the legs (in jet mode) are headed up buy the F-16's intake and they occupy a space that actually exists on that airplane, so this isn't the traditional jetformer bottom kibble that we're all so used to. Also, the chestplate is a lot less of a big deal in person than I thought it would be, as the details do actually flow fairly well with the rest of the design. Perhaps the only real downside to the jet mode are the permanently deployed landing gear, though they are thankfully short.

Robot mode is where Starscream really shines. He does look pretty much like his on-screen counterpart, which itself is a sort of deadlier-looking version of Animated Starscream. His headsculpt is great with its smirk, and his articulation allows him to have some great, character-filled poses. Also, I love how the jet's exhaust actually forms the back-mounted jetpack as on the show. His hunched back doesn't hurt, either.

Love this guy; hope the voyager's at least as good.

More TF: Prime around the corner...

Ok, we're moving into Toyfair season! kind of like with Toyfair 2010, we've stumbled on some images for upcoming toys that will undoubtedly be part of Hasbro's Toyfair 2012 offering a few weeks earlier than expected. This time, it's from a catalog for Argos, the UK retailer, and they show some of the upcoming Transformers: Prime: Robots in Disguise and Cyberverse toys.

Just for your edification, the Transformers: Prime toyline has been a unique one. The TFP toys that were/are available at Toys R Us/HTS.com were the TFP: First Edition toys. Now, US TRUs have only gotten the first wave of TFP:FE deluxes (Bumblebee, Arcee, and Starscream) in, leaving still quite a few FE toys unreleased, such as voyagers Optimus and Bulkhead, the Entertainment Pack (with deluxes Optimus and Megatron, along w/DVD and human kid figurines), and deluxes Cliffjumper, Vehicon/Eradicon, and Terrorcon Cliffjumper. This would normally not be much cause for worry, but the newer, "actual" toyline for the show is already starting to hit shelves overseas and will soon here in the US. The problem is that the new line includes toys for the characters from the FE line, but the newer toys are all new molds or remolds. For example, TFP:RiD Bumblebee has a totally new upper body and two guns that can combine and be mounted on his engine block, something that FE BB can't do. RiD Cliffjumper is a totally new toy, and while he looks a bit more screen-accurate in bot mode, he does so at the expense of a non-cheating transformation, as his car roof-chest is a fake one. Also, while he includes a new weapon, he appears to lack the FE version's deployable arm cannons. There's a new Arcee coming, too, but we don't know what she's like yet. A new voyager Optimus has emerged, which (in the reverse of CJ's situation) now has a non-cheating transformation, though his new weapons look less accurate to the show. The Eradicon, too, has gotten a newer mold, that may or may not cheat less, but certainly ends up looking much cleaner in bot mode.

Anyway, here's a quick run down of my thoughts on these newer TFP toys, ripped from the Allspark boards:

Legion (blue): I guess this is Evac. Interesting that he got an energon weapon. I thought that he, at least, would get a proper "movie" release, seeing as how he's the centerpiece of the new movie-focused ride.

Legion (red): I guess this is DotM Mirage, which sucks. They couldn't even manage to give him a new mold for this smallest size class. At least he got something, I guess, and the energon weapon is at least a blade, so it's sort of appropriate. I'm sure he won't have a new head. I'll get him, regardless.

Drill Tank: This is friggin' great. Way better than anything I expected, and while I've been pretty impressed by all but the first images of the Star Hammer, this looks way more fun. Not sure why Knockout is included with it other than we're probably not getting a Miner Drone toy.

Voy. Megatron: No surprises here, but it certainly looks good. TFP Megatron's design is remarkably consistant across his three size classes, at least compared to the various versions of the movie Megatrons. I'm glad that it has the sword, as I would have been a bit disappointed if only the CV Commander had it (as great as that little mold looks).

New Eradicon: Looks way better than the FE mold, as that was the one FE toy I wasn't worried much about missing. This also makes me think that TFP RiD Arcee will be another new mold, or at least major remold like BB. I was going to only get the legion Eradicon, but it'll be hard to resist this version. Also, as a plus, if you do manage to find the FE version and want to army build, at least now all of your drones don't have to be exactly alike. However, I'll probably hold out for the jet mode Eradicon to get a toy.

Bluebee: Looks pretty cool. Assuming this is Hot Shot, I'll probably get it, as it's the new RiD remold of TFP BB and I prefer the FE version to be BB himself. Smart of them to homage Hot Shot's Cybertron color scheme, and it's kind of neat in a "full circle" sense, as both Classics Legends BB and SG Goldbug are Hot Shot redecos/remolds. Of course, you may want to buy it just to support more non-extraneous BB repaints...though I agree with the post asking for a Wasp scheme. When, Hasbro, when?