Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

News Credits: 409 · by **Stormrider** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:48 pm

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:Am I the only one who'd buy the yellow ones just for the sake of yellow? As it is, I like the design of Hercules, but the price of Giant may win out in the end...

The yellow they used is very appealing.

I noticed the Japanese on the front of the box. So is Maketoys a Japanese company?

News Credits: 402 · by **Mkall** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:47 pm

Stormrider wrote:I noticed the Japanese on the front of the box. So is Maketoys a Japanese company?

That does seem to be the common belief

News Credits: 49 · by **Scaleface** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:03 pm

I will buy the white and red recolor.

by **Enygma177** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 1:33 am

Probably because I have a G2 Devastator sitting up on a shelf, I am really digging the yellow and am very anxious for this to show up on BBTS.

by **guarayakha** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:39 am

The yellow does contrast well with the purple and black. These would work great as Shattered Glass constructicons what with bulldozer's blue visor and the overall look of the design seems to be autobot-ish.

News Credits: 33 · by **Genocide G2.0** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:36 am

That box and those stickers make these look like very cheap everyday construction toys you can find in a pound shop

I know ill not be buying the green version of giant for the box art but come on the price of these fkas i expect more than a crappy white box

I hope those stickers arnt on the repaint if they are the first thing am doing is taking them off.

by **gothsaurus** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:38 am

I don't think the labels on the side — I think they're tampos — make them look cheap. BUT in the desire to make them look G1, I'd hope Reprolabels would make something to cover them. Too bad they're not an optional sticker. I can see a lot of people not wanting them.

Odd that these guys have the realistic "company" label on the side. Everything else has seemed really spot on G1 styling... where Hercules has deviated in a lot of ways in changing vehicle and other elements for a more modern and realistic design.

Honestly, I'm still torn between the two.

Maybe the green ones will lose the label? Cross your fingers.

News Credits: 2 · by **Requiem Prime** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:24 am

Does anyone else remember that they once had their names (literally what they turn into, which came off so fisher-price it hurt) scralled in those spots? They could have left it that way but decided to replace it with something mildly tasteful. Anyone else remember we already saw they made the change last month? While generic detailing is usually all fine and good (except for Wheeljack), I like the cute faux branding treatment and respect the forethought and effort that went into it when they could have easily took the deco they originally showed us and said "deal; we ain't going back".

Also, presentation only goes so far. We were into these things long before the box existed, so unless you're the sort who really enjoy keeping the boxes, what it comes in should be so low on the bitching scale you were looking for something to complain about. Yes, it says they take their hard work seriously, but having a really nice box used to be a nice bonus. So forgive me if I say a decent window box that follows their cute branding does the job WITHOUT looking like much of that $125 they want from me went into it vs the toy I wanted in the first place. If it gets to me intact and unspoiled, the box did it's damn job.

News Credits: 4 · by **craggy** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:54 pm

I mostly agree with Requiem here, and would like to add that it is nice to see a 3rd party company not simply delivering a faux-G1 style box.

News Credits: 402 · by **Mkall** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:17 pm

craggy wrote:I mostly agree with Requiem here, and would like to add that it is nice to see a 3rd party company not simply delivering a faux-G1 style box.

I was hoping for a little more after seeing their Battle Tanker box, but as many have said; I'm not getting this for the box.

News Credits: 409 · by **Stormrider** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 5:10 pm

craggy wrote:I mostly agree with Requiem here, and would like to add that it is nice to see a 3rd party company not simply delivering a faux-G1 style box.

I agree too. Also, wasn't it mentioned that the Green version will be one box set? They might change the design.

News Credits: 5 · by **zodconvoy** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:25 am

Enygma177 wrote:Probably because I have a G2 Devastator sitting up on a shelf, I am really digging the yellow and am very anxious for this to show up on BBTS.

alternator77 wrote:come on bbts get those preorders up already ive already got a pol so i dont want to go another route.

Yeah well, too bad.

Jessica@BBTS wrote:Hi Zod, I honestly am not sure but I am going to say probably not at this point.

--
Thanks!
Jessica
BBTS Customer Service Manager

That means that there is NO US distributor thus far. I'm starting to get concerned. Not concerned enough the get Hercules though...

News Credits: 402 · by **Mkall** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:26 am

zodconvoy wrote:That means that there is NO US distributor thus far. I'm starting to get concerned. Not concerned enough the get Hercules though...

That is disconcerting, but there are other retailers like RobotKingdom, ToyArena, TFSource, even AcesToyStore. Someone is bound to get them.

News Credits: 1 · by **Gauntlet101010** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:14 am

Even if they're $150 each, they come do in packages of two. Not quite as cheap as one would hope, but it's still cheaper than Herc.

I, of course, am more interested in that rumored green giftset and how much that baby will cost.

by **NTESHFT** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:20 pm

That's weird........ why would BBTS get Tanker, but not Giant?

News Credits: 2 · by **Requiem Prime** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 4:47 pm

I think BBTS would at least have a preorder up before other retailers start delivering. Thats when I'd start worrying.

News Credits: 198 · by **DevastaTTor** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 7:45 pm

headsortails wrote:That's weird........ why would BBTS get Tanker, but not Giant?

Tanker was slow to show up on standard vendor's sites. I'm not concerned at all that Giant, by far their most anticipated set, will show up for preorder soon.

by **Court Jester** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 9:22 pm

I called Joel in mid-October because I didn't want my emails to be lost in the flood of pre-holiday requests. At that point he was negotiating with MakeToys on Giant. Just as a reminder, this was well before the listing of presales for Battle Tanker. Take that however you want to take it. I'm willing to put myself out on a limb and say BBTS will dip their toes in for at least 500 units on an initial batch. If I'm wrong, it would be a waste of a huge market for the leading North American e-tailer of TF goods. Either way, I'll be jolly with my Green Giant - even if it means paddling on a make shift drift wood raft with a port-a-potty sail to Japan to get it.

by **Motorthing** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 12:52 pm

BBTS don't have Bomber and Hover in either - I got that from Kapow 2 weeks ago so it's very much "out"

As I've gotten Herc from Hong-kong for cheaper than BBTS I'm not going to worry too much but I agree that BBTS being on board gives the reassurance that there will be big numbers on a product, now I'm left worrying just how "limited" an edition this yellow version might turn out to be. It's disappeared right quick as a preorder on Kapow and the already pricey nature of these beasties doesn't need exagerating with scarcity.......

by **NTESHFT** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:18 pm

DevastaTTor wrote:
headsortails wrote:That's weird........ why would BBTS get Tanker, but not Giant?

Tanker was slow to show up on standard vendor's sites. I'm not concerned at all that Giant, by far their most anticipated set, will show up for preorder soon.

Let us hope so. Trying not to worry over this, but sometimes a nerd gets paranoid, you know......

News Credits: 3 · by **Kibble** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 3:58 pm

I don't know what determines what's over the line from an IP POV and what isn't, but we know BBTS isn't carrying that new 3P Megatron...maybe they consider this to cross that line as well. And how did they word it, something like too similar to a recently released HasTak product or something? Well, Encore Dev was just released a couple months ago...

Here's the response from BBTS on that Megs:

Crown on TFW2005 wrote:
This is the response I got from BBTS about Hegemon.

we will not be able to carry this one unfortunately - it is too similar to recently released trademarked items
--
Thanks!
Joel Boblit
BigBadToyStore.com - Toys, Action Figures, Vintage Toys, and Collectibles

by **Motorthing** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:16 pm

Kibble wrote:I don't know what determines what's over the line from an IP POV and what isn't, but we know BBTS isn't carrying that new 3P Megatron...maybe they consider this to cross that line as well. And how did they word it, something like too similar to a recently released HasTak product or something? Well, Encore Dev was just released a couple months ago...

And that would explain the TFC Neckbreaker all over the advertising for BBTS in certaim areas.....like the banner above? Giant in the current Yellow is a heck of a lot LESS like an encore Devy i would have thought.

I could understand BBTS looking nervously at the relationship they have with Hasbro and not wanting to cross the line....but maybe they just want to get rid of the few thou Herc bits they have in stock before putting a "rival" up. Crazy talk maybe....but 3rd Party stuff NEVER goes on clearance on the site (except poor old Sonicron-what did he do wrong?) so discuss.

I probably would get this set from BBTS as the POL postage I have built up to date would make it more cost effective than going elsewhere....so stock the damn thing Joel....I'll buy.

News Credits: 3 · by **Kibble** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:20 pm

But just to be clear...I'm only speculating. BBTS could put up Giant pre-orders tomorrow for all I know.

News Credits: 3 · by **metaphorge** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 6:31 am

At this point the only thing that could make me bite on this is if it's released in G2 orange or if it clearances for crazy cheap; I'm much more interested in duplicates of the Hercules set to display as individual vehicles and/or robots than a second updated Devastator mold.