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JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Counterpoint: What separates Ultra Magnus, Rodimus Prime, PotP Optimus Prime from Siege Shockwave even though they all use the same figure + trailer armor gimmick?

I think the difference is in precedence. Ultra Magnus, Optimus Prime, and Ultra Magnus all have established alternate, smaller identities when they aren't either all "armored up" or "Primed" by the Matrix of Leadership. Shockwave was always just the base figure without the extra pieces tacked on. People who just want traditional Shockwave feel they have no use for the extra armor pieces, but will have to buy them anyway to get their ideal Shockwave. On the other hand, people complaining that Siege has too much G1 influence and should be more innovative should love the idea of a "powered up" version of Shockwave that they can customize with various additional parts.

A good counterpoint, though, to those that feel Shockwave's extra armor bits are "useless" and need to be relegated to the storage bin (or trash can), is that the entire line Deluxe through Leader class is engineered to be beefed up with various parts from the Deluxe Weaponizers. Think of Shockwave as coming with his own set of "Weaponizer" parts that can be mixed and matched on any other figure you want. Admittedly, they're obviously "Shockwave" themed parts, but they wouldn't look out of place on most of the Decepticon crew.

Wolfman Jake wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Counterpoint: What separates Ultra Magnus, Rodimus Prime, PotP Optimus Prime from Siege Shockwave even though they all use the same figure + trailer armor gimmick?

I think the difference is in precedence. Ultra Magnus, Optimus Prime, and Ultra Magnus all have established alternate, smaller identities when they aren't either all "armored up" or "Primed" by the Matrix of Leadership. Shockwave was always just the base figure without the extra pieces tacked on. People who just want traditional Shockwave feel they have no use for the extra armor pieces, but will have to buy them anyway to get their ideal Shockwave. On the other hand, people complaining that Siege has too much G1 influence and should be more innovative should love the idea of a "powered up" version of Shockwave that they can customize with various additional parts.

A good counterpoint, though, to those that feel Shockwave's extra armor bits are "useless" and need to be relegated to the storage bin (or trash can), is that the entire line Deluxe through Leader class is engineered to be beefed up with various parts from the Deluxe Weaponizers. Think of Shockwave as coming with his own set of "Weaponizer" parts that can be mixed and matched on any other figure you want. Admittedly, they're obviously "Shockwave" themed parts, but they wouldn't look out of place on most of the Decepticon crew.

I figured precedence was a factor. Would that still stand had Shockwave won that Prime poll (unlikely as it was)?

On a strictly personal note, I'm disappointed we don't have a Leader size Shockwave because I had all the other first year Decepticons in Leader size. Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp. Plus the Legends sized Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw were properly scaled (they went inside Soundwave after all). Even the upcoming Deluxe sized Reflector would've scaled with them.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Wolfman Jake wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Counterpoint: What separates Ultra Magnus, Rodimus Prime, PotP Optimus Prime from Siege Shockwave even though they all use the same figure + trailer armor gimmick?

I think the difference is in precedence. Ultra Magnus, Optimus Prime, and Ultra Magnus all have established alternate, smaller identities when they aren't either all "armored up" or "Primed" by the Matrix of Leadership.

I figured precedence was a factor. Would that still stand had Shockwave won that Prime poll (unlikely as it was)?

I disagree on precedence. Its more than that and more "in your face". Its how the product is presented to us and how we perceive value. You said it yourself, fans are buying Ultra Magnus, Rodimus Prime and Optimus Prime, all leader class/sized figures. They are not buying Orion Pax feat armour, small white prime feat armour or Hot rod feat armour. They are buying leader sized characters.

But with Shockwave, you are buying a voyager sized shockwave plus armour. What is presentd to you is a voyager sized transformer with a bunch of accessories. So its a very very different case than any of the previous leaders.

The best example this could be compared to is Sqweeks who is much smaller than any deluxe and comes with lots of accessories to make up for it (which ca either be used seperate or become a battle pack). And if we wonder why that went over well, its because this was a new character, a much lower price point and it did not seem random. There was order to it all.

And in reply to those saying the armour is included to make it look less like a gun, that is wrong since:
- The figure is still something on its own and will show so on the instructions
- the spaceship with bits doesnt look anyless of an upside dwn space gun than shockwave alone does
- the upside down not gun thing was first done with sixshot, anotehr elader figure who had no extra parts to "conceal" anything

Hasbro needed another bot for the leader price point but also wanted to stick to scale so they gave us a voyager sized shockwave with a bunch of accessories to customize the Decepticon mad scientist as we wish. Thats all there is to it.

Looks like shockwave has caught a case of "submarine mode syndrome"

RiddlerJ wrote:On a strictly personal note, I'm disappointed we don't have a Leader size Shockwave because I had all the other first year Decepticons in Leader size. Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp. Plus the Legends sized Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw were properly scaled (they went inside Soundwave after all). Even the upcoming Deluxe sized Reflector would've scaled with them.

It's definitely not the same thing, but maybe the Cyberverse Ultra class Shockwave will fill that role?

AcademyofDrX wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:On a strictly personal note, I'm disappointed we don't have a Leader size Shockwave because I had all the other first year Decepticons in Leader size. Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp. Plus the Legends sized Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw were properly scaled (they went inside Soundwave after all). Even the upcoming Deluxe sized Reflector would've scaled with them.

It's definitely not the same thing, but maybe the Cyberverse Ultra class Shockwave will fill that role?

That would not work, that cyberverse toy is just voyager scale, would probably be as big as this Seige toy (with no accessories)

I think it's impossible to make everyone happy with Leader class in Siege. Once people have Ultra Magnus in hand and realize he's only slightly taller than a Voyager fully armored they'll be a little more accepting of Shockwave being a Voyager with extra armor. I think we need to reset our expectations for what Leader class means in War for Cybertron now that bot mode scale is a big selling price for the line. We have expectations that Leader class will always mean big figures, but with WfC Leader class could be a Voyager-sized Roadbuster or Whirl with a bunch of extra armor and weapons. The third Leader mold in Siege could quite literally be anything.

Emerje

AcademyofDrX wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:On a strictly personal note, I'm disappointed we don't have a Leader size Shockwave because I had all the other first year Decepticons in Leader size. Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream, Thundercracker, Skywarp. Plus the Legends sized Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Laserbeak and Buzzsaw were properly scaled (they went inside Soundwave after all). Even the upcoming Deluxe sized Reflector would've scaled with them.

It's definitely not the same thing, but maybe the Cyberverse Ultra class Shockwave will fill that role?

The only thing that fits at that scale is Masterpiece Shockwave.

Thanks to Loopaza Mega Store, we have high resolution scans of the latest Figure King Magazine. This and Takara's PR Twitter account are the ways Takara shares the latest info and images for Transformers figures. This time we get our best look yet at the accessory portion of Masterpiece MP-44 Optimus Prime Ver 3, with a lot of attention given to the trailer. We also see how the jet pack interacts with both the trailer and MP Sideswipe, and we see an extra storage tray for unused accessories.

We also get a new reveal, with Golden Lagoon Soundwave. It is not the Masterpiece mold, but instead the original Titans Return/Legends mold being used. The price shown on Twitter is 10,000 Yen. The twitter post also included more images which we are sharing below.

It seems to me that many online stores are struggling to get rid of the original Golden Lagoon-themed toys (they are frequently offered at high discount prices, at least), yet here's another one.

Me: *Collects Soundwaves*

mentre83 wrote:It seems to me that many online stores are struggling to get rid of the original Golden Lagoon-themed toys (they are frequently offered at high discount prices, at least), yet here's another one.

Its unrelated because these are exclusives in Japan. Takara couldnt care less about toys sold in the US since BBTS didnt even get their stock from Takara.

mentre83 wrote:It seems to me that many online stores are struggling to get rid of the original Golden Lagoon-themed toys (they are frequently offered at high discount prices, at least), yet here's another one.

It’s probably more popular in Japan. Ya know, Takaras target audience? We’re just the extra icing on top to them

Jeez, another version of that cruddy over-large Titans Soundwave? Who'd wanna pay the extra cash for that if they own the original or the Bumblebee movie release especially when there's a much more scale-appropiate Soundwave in Siege that has better minions that don't all look like fold out tables?

May not be a fan of the G1 toon at all but that Prime really does do the best job of representing the character from it. It looks spot on. And far more accurate than the previous MP figures. Most of those configurations of the trailer look a bit tacky though (I kinda like the lil pod thingy being removed and carted about by Roller though for some reason). Some of those accessories are just goofy like the Starscream bit (reminds me of the fishing rod with MP Hot Rod, I hated that damn fishing rod, didn't fit in my accessory case at all). Trim it down or sell a version that's just Prime himself and it might be a more attactive price to collectors who don't want so much extra junk with him.

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Jeez, another version of that cruddy over-large Titans Soundwave? Who'd wanna pay the extra cash for that if they own the original or the Bumblebee movie release especially when there's a much more scale-appropiate Soundwave in Siege that has better minions that don't all look like fold out tables

Congratulations you’re not the target audience but there are people who collect gold repaints and people who like the TR figure just fine. Plenty of people have shared their collection of gold repaints

Randomhero wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Jeez, another version of that cruddy over-large Titans Soundwave? Who'd wanna pay the extra cash for that if they own the original or the Bumblebee movie release especially when there's a much more scale-appropiate Soundwave in Siege that has better minions that don't all look like fold out tables

Congratulations you’re not the target audience but there are people who collect gold repaints and people who like the TR figure just fine. Plenty of people have shared their collection of gold repaints

Hey I'm ok with gold repaints (is not my thing but some like the bling... didn't mean to rhyme) but it's just not a figure deserving of it with a terrible alt-mode and several big flaws in robot mode (they even messed up the ratio of the visor vs mouthplace, something that should have been real simple and results in him just looking kinda silly and not at all menacing like he should). Just think it's a really poor version of Soundwave. Not quite Titanium Soundwave levels of crud but far from the Masterpiece or even Siege versions.

MP44 officially has the best feature of any TF evah!

Carnivius_Prime wrote:I kinda like the lil pod thingy being removed and carted about by Roller though for some reason

As do I, a lot. Looks fun and silly

Carnivius_Prime wrote:

Randomhero wrote:

Carnivius_Prime wrote:Jeez, another version of that cruddy over-large Titans Soundwave? Who'd wanna pay the extra cash for that if they own the original or the Bumblebee movie release especially when there's a much more scale-appropiate Soundwave in Siege that has better minions that don't all look like fold out tables

Congratulations you’re not the target audience but there are people who collect gold repaints and people who like the TR figure just fine. Plenty of people have shared their collection of gold repaints

Hey I'm ok with gold repaints (is not my thing but some like the bling... didn't mean to rhyme) but it's just not a figure deserving of it with a terrible alt-mode and several big flaws in robot mode (they even messed up the ratio of the visor vs mouthplace, something that should have been real simple and results in him just looking kinda silly and not at all menacing like he should). Just think it's a really poor version of Soundwave. Not quite Titanium Soundwave levels of crud but far from the Masterpiece or even Siege versions.

It’s a recent mold and these lagoon sets while exclusive arnt that expensive. Takara went with that mold for that reason. They wanted to keep costs down on it and make it affordable like the others.

Already said this in the main Golden Lagoon toys thread, and I'll reiterate it here.

The TR mold gives us a solid gold disco nightclub for our Titan Masters, Prime Masters, Micromasters, BotBots, etc. to boogie down and shake their groove thing!

Randomhero wrote:It’s a recent mold and these lagoon sets while exclusive arnt that expensive. Takara went with that mold for that reason. They wanted to keep costs down on it and make it affordable like the others.

Oh well. Up to them. To me it's just a mold that shouldn't have existed in first place. When the early pics of Blaster were turning up in blurry images I had really hoped he'd be a voyager but was disappointed when he turned out to be a Leader class figure. I had wanted a decent Blaster in voyager scale (nope, I had the FoC version for a lil while but kinda hated it, especially the round disc minions and the lever used to push them out) to represent the badass Marvel comic version that fought Straxus (who ended up the other way by getting a much too small Deluxe figure after a couple decades of waiting for any at all). Guess third-party is the way to go for that but darn they're expensive. Is just a character I see no need for at that size in Generations scale. Much too large. But yeah you're right if folk wanna buy it, it's their money. Have a good weekend, sir.

I was gonna suggest the Linkin Park Soundwave, but that one uses the G1 mold:



Instead, let's go with the Year of the Goat one:


Transformers Platinum Edition Year of the Goat Soundwave Gallery

I actually really like the golden Soundwave. It reminds me of the Linkin Park one from a few years ago. I hope some Reprolabels, or something gets made for the Linkin Park logos so we can have an updated version of it. I know I’d buy them

Takara has a lot of Transformers exclusives that will be in collector's hands soon, if not already, and thus we have several images coming from various sources. We have all the images below and we will now breakdown what you are about to see:

Official Images of Movie The Best MB-Ex Arm Cannon Bumblebee which is a Toysrus Japan exclusive redeco of Age of Extinction deluxe Bumblebee with a new weapon. You can follow discussion regarding that toy here: viewtopic.php?t=107981&p=2006354#p2006354

Official Images of Studio Series SS-Ex Drift which is another Toysrus exclusive in Japan. It is the same exclusive redeco of TLK Drift which is exclusive to Entertainment Earth in the US. You can follow discussion regarding that toy here: viewtopic.php?t=110126&p=2006737#p2006737

In hand images of Encore Big Convoy, courtesy of Kamito Sakura on Twitter. This is a toy many are looking forward to. The original was exclusive to Japan, as is this release. You can follow discussion regarding that toy here: viewtopic.php?t=111631&p=2006459#p2006459

In package images, courtesy of Robot Kingdom, of the upcoming Monsterbot two pack from Takara. These are a Takaratomy Mall Exclusive in Japan and feature Transformers LG-EX Grotusque & Repugnus. They are the same toys already released in the US through Hasbro Toy Shop and Amazon. You can follow discussion regarding that toy here: viewtopic.php?t=101179&p=1977451#p1977451

I'd buy that Drift in a heartbeat if it wasn't for the head. Here's hoping for a retool...