Fan-backed Hasbro project: Unicron

[Paulbot]

Transformers fans may be mere humans, inhabiting a miniscule planet hardly worth consuming, but they are some of the most passionate fans out there. That’s why HASLAB, the Hasbro Pulse crowdsourcing platform, is the place to awaken such a massive project.

Introducing the first ever Transformers HASLAB project: Transformers War For Cybertron Unicron.

Join us in a historic opportunity to celebrate the legendary Unicron with a figure whose features, detail, and scale are worthy of his gigantic legacy.

This campaign will move into production when it reaches its minimum goal of 8,000 backers. All support must be received by 11:59 PM EST on August 31, 2019. If the campaign is successful your payment method will be charged on August 31, 2019. Orders are estimated to ship in early 2021.



https://i.imgur.com/k5BdSvkl.jpg

Oh boy

Check this out

https://hasbropulse.com/products/transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron


The gigantic Unicron would be our largest converting Transformers figure ever created, taking the title from our previous record-holder, Fortress Maximus.

In his immense robot mode, this version of Unicron will be over 27-inches (685.8 mm) tall and has more than 50 points of articulation.

He converts into a terrifying planet mode that will be a stunning 30-inches (762.0 mm) in diameter. The planet mode features the iconic planet-eating jaws, geared to open so Unicron can devour unassuming worlds. The planet mode also features a series of posable planetary rings.

The massive planet mode sits on a custom stand (included) to support the approximate weight of 19lb of the Lord of Chaos.


So this will basically be Masterpiece Unicron

https://i.imgur.com/jgMUepyl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/kQlSZApl.jpg

[reillyd]

Does anyone know of an Australian retailer participating? I bought the barge for Jabba but it cost me a ton of dough reshipping - almost as much as the toy. But for the recent Super7 Skull Mountain, an Australian store offered to carry them. I would be tempted to even buy two - one for planet mode, one for the robot. I could cheat and get by with Armada Unicron, but the planet mode was fugly

[Paulbot]

Does anyone know of an Australian retailer participating? I bought the barge for Jabba but it cost me a ton of dough reshipping - almost as much as the toy. But for the recent Super7 Skull Mountain, an Australian store offered to carry them.
Looks like this has ony just been announced in the last 30mins so too early to know. A local seller would be great!

[SharkyMcShark]

$1076 at time of writing (575USD).

Can't really argue with that give the size and weight. Looks amazing.

I'm glad that they've done this as the first option for Pulse. To me it's more unique than the other obvious candidate, MP scale Devastator.

[Paulbot]

Given the backing is currently only available to US and Canada, I have a feeling this figure could get a Japanese release as MP50 - would be a fitting toy to be assigned that number and a high price compared even to the new Convoy could be done.

[Other]

$1076 at time of writing (575USD).

Can't really argue with that give the size and weight. Looks amazing.

I'm glad that they've done this as the first option for Pulse. To me it's more unique than the other obvious candidate, MP scale Devastator.

$818AUD
https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=575&From=USD&To=AUD

[hYpNoS]

We don't have any large scale reputable retailers to work with that would ever dream to carry this...

I'd pay 2k from myer if they ever had it though, alas I have no choice but to pass based on our choices, damnit haslab you know you'll get that money if you allowed international shipping.

[danny-boy]

Yeah that is MP Unicron alright. I?d have no problem backing this if it were available to us.

[Bidoofdude]

Gotta say I saw something like this coming. I’m down for sure, but shipping will kill. Early 2021 is AGES away too, so maybe Takara will do something we can buy.

Maybe we should ask Hasbro Australia what they know?

[tinyJazz]

Oh wow this looks amazing! He has moveable teeth and eyes! What! Idk much about SW collecting but this is way cooler than the barge.
Thankfully I only collect Autobots so it’s not for me, haha. I still have to work out where I’m gonna put Omega.

[i_amtrunks]

Asking Hasbro AU would likely be a waste of time, they don?t even know what stock they have in the country let alone what an affiliate Hasbro is up to...

It?s an awesome looking toy that I can not imagine will not sell 8000 units and the aftermarket prices will be insane. I reckon this will go straight into many ?holy grail? lists.

Might be cheaper to buy one, fly to the USA to pick up and bring home in a carry on small suitcase (if it fits) rather than try and get it reshipped home!

[Shirokaze]

Oh wow, didn't think I'd wake up to this :eek:

[SharkyMcShark]

$818AUD
https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=575&From=USD&To=AUD

In my snoozy haze last night I have a recollection of putting in GBP. Thanks for catching that.

[KELPIE]

Yup, I want two.

Alas, I cannot have any.

The way collectors (US collectors especially) generally baulk at pricing, restricting this to North America specifically will hinder its ability to get to 8000... I mean, 8000 is a LOT.

Also, in crowd funding worlds you get most of your backers in the first couple days and this isn't even at 1k yet.

I also want the Cookie Monster (https://hasbropulse.com/products/cookie-monster) and was gearing up for a month of instant noodles. I just don't get why multinationals don't realise how small the world is and that it's now a global economy. I guess until someone gives me a hot tip on how to get these I (we?) will miss out :(

Anyway, on to the figure itself, it's awesome. I'm not sure where it would go but I'm sure it would look impressive in most collections.

[Sinnertwin]

Great looking figure. If I had the change to blow I'd back it.

[Trent]

Griff, could we ask Hasbro Aus to act as an intermediary in this for any Australian fans that want to purchase?

[Handsprime]

Don't know why everyone is commenting "Oh would Hasbro Australia stock this and where" when it hasn't even hit the 8,000 backers yet. Probably too early to ask questions on this in case the figure doesn't hit it's 8,000 backers.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

Looks cool. Shame I'm Australian and poor instead of American and rich.

[SharkyMcShark]

Don't know why everyone is commenting "Oh would Hasbro Australia stock this and where" when it hasn't even hit the 8,000 backers yet. Probably too early to ask questions on this in case the figure doesn't hit it's 8,000 backers.

Part of the issue is that, as I understand it, backing is only open to Americans at the moment. People are looking for any way for non USA people to show support.

[Batfan007]

!!FAIR WARNING FOR ANYONE CONSIDERING BACKING THIS PROJECT!!!

not a joke, ignore at the peril of your wallet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExuCjYlyOAg&t=173s&fbclid=IwAR0rEmJbXtG70sS36AHPg0Ya2p0KjtoOTlMwNz664 I8eZM3CaGaiBkhdo3k

Note the previous HASLAB project was not shippable from the USA, even with freight forwarding companies. And also that Hasbro can (and did) change the dimensions of the listed item when it came to their previous project for Haslab.

One Aussie guy lost his money on it, so watch this video and think carefully before throwing money away, as Hasbro will happily take that money while not giving a flip that it wont be shippable.

[DaptoDog]

I really want this. If I could I would have it shipped to my MYUS shipping address, it would only cost ~$120 to have it shipped here. But alas I assume they won't accept an Australian card for payment?

[Trent]

Don't know why everyone is commenting "Oh would Hasbro Australia stock this and where" when it hasn't even hit the 8,000 backers yet. Probably too early to ask questions on this in case the figure doesn't hit it's 8,000 backers.

It’s called planning.

Also, if it were opened to other regions of the world, it would be a lot easier to hit 8000 ;)

[DELTAprime]

With the previous HasLab product The Khetanna they did end up selling a small number of it on ebay and shipped it internationally. That's probably the best hope to get one of these in Australia.

I'd love to get this if it was a general retail release, but the US only nature and the fact they want a huge amount of money to be given in only a couple of weeks means I'm going to have to wait for another Unicron figure.

[Miss Kitty Fantastico]

That's weird, I've kind of been assuming this whole time that War for Cybertron was a prequel, leading up to launching the Ark. I mean yes it's got Ultra Magnus and co. but it's easy to assume they were around but missed the boat to Earth, and were busy somewhere else when everyone woke up in the 80s. Was Unicron around back then? Like maybe they used to send him a pizza every now and then to keep him happy, but that was Starscream's job and he forgot to delegate to anyone before he left, so the poor dude's just been waiting out on the edge of the galaxy getting progressively hungrier and more annoyed for four million years until he's finally lost his temper.

[DELTAprime]

That's weird, I've kind of been assuming this whole time that War for Cybertron was a prequel, leading up to launching the Ark. I mean yes it's got Ultra Magnus and co. but it's easy to assume they were around but missed the boat to Earth, and were busy somewhere else when everyone woke up in the 80s. Was Unicron around back then? Like maybe they used to send him a pizza every now and then to keep him happy, but that was Starscream's job and he forgot to delegate to anyone before he left, so the poor dude's just been waiting out on the edge of the galaxy getting progressively hungrier and more annoyed for four million years until he's finally lost his temper.

WFC Siege as with the rest of Generations is G1 inspired, not actual G1. Transformers is a multiverse when it comes to its continuity, not a singular universe.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I have a cousin who lives in NYC I can ship it to. Could be tempting to send it her way...

[griffin]

I'll certainly be asking Hasbro Australia about this, but logistically it would be unlikely, as Hasbro America want the money as soon as the reservation period ends (August 31st), which means, if Hasbro Australia were to play middle-man on these, they would need to take your money (somehow), and then be liable to Australian Consumer Laws (like refunds, which would have to come out of their pocket because the money would have been sent onto America).
Then you have the whole shipping procedure, that Hasbro Australia probably would have to outsource.
This probably should have been done through Amazon, which has branches in many countries, or can service many countries they aren't in... and they would then be the ones who would ship the items once they are produced (buuut, the price would be 30-40% more for the toy if sold through a retailer - Hasbro America are probably wanting to sell this themselves, to give this a better chance of reaching minimum numbers - a US$575 price from them would be at least US$900 if sold to a retailer first).

I think we just have to wait and hope that there are at least 8,000 seriously dedicated Transformers fans in America and Canada who have US$575 within 6 weeks, to warrant extras being made and then sold off to non-Americans (some how). (the big Transformers conventions only manage to get about 5,000 people willing and ABLE to splash out this much money to attend a dedicated event, not to mention, Unicron isn't a contemporary "iconic" character, so a toy of this price won't appeal to too many newer fans of the last decade, since TFPrime and the Live Action Movies... and there aren't a lot of us left who grew up with this character in the 1980s)

It's a bit of a catch-22 though... the non-Nth-Americans like us will only get a chance at buying this if they reach their 8,000 target in Nth America, but I'm pretty sure it would need the non-Nth-American fans to reach that goal. They would get a couple thousand in Japan and a couple thousand in the Hasbro Asia countries, a couple hundred in Australia and each of the main European countries... if they barely make it to halfway with their goal, they MUST find a way to take reservations from non-Nth-Americans, or else no one will get one. (they've certainly spent a lot of time and money already producing a prototype, as the fully coloured images are not a computer generated image - the factory tooling is the most expensive expense, but those images suggest that this is something they've already spent a lot of money on)

I love the size of it though... probably on-par with cost-to-volume of Fortress Maximus, taking into account the lower production run.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2019/071604.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2019/071605.jpg

Lots of screen caps (and links to the video and images), including the two images above, from TFW here (https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/07/15/haslab-war-for-cybertron-unicron-crowdfunding-revealed-391400).

Did they show the back of the robot or planet mode at all?
If not... should we be worried that it has some kibble or issues that they are hiding?


Again... it's one of those rare occasions when I wished I lived in America. :p

[DELTAprime]

I guess there's nothing preventing them from doing a limited retail run of Unicron if the campaign is successful.

Thing is I just don't know if they will meet the 8000 backer goal if they don't open it up internationally somehow. Star Wars has a much larger fan base than Transformers and they only managed to get 8810 backers of a much cheaper toy.

[Paulbot]

Did they show the back of the robot or planet mode at all?
If not... should we be worried that it has some

You can see in the close up shots of the head that there’s a fair bit of planet folded up on his back. Also on his calves but I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

[danny-boy]

not sure if posted;

If the requirements are met, the massive Unicron will be available beginning in 2021 for a price of $574.99 USD. Hasbro said if the figure gets funded, it "will be looking at ways make this item available internationally," which is fantastic news for Transformers fans outside the US.

https://m.au.ign.com/articles/2019/07/15/hasbro-reveals-transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron-its-biggest-transformer-figure-ever

[griffin]

You can see in the close up shots of the head that there’s a fair bit of planet folded up on his back. Also on his calves but I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

I saw the leg panels... and I know how difficult it is to have a spherical Transformers toy turn into a biped without too much kibble. Just look at the first few attempts (and toy) of a planet Unicron toy... either they looked like a ball with legs in robot mode (unproduced prototypes in the 80s), or half a planet in planet mode (Armada toy)... or have half a planet on their back (Star Wars TFs Death Star).
You can see on the close up images of the planet mode, it has a lot of small panels... and judging by the hinges on the panels at the back of the legs, there looks like a lot of it layers up on itself like a folded up road map.

Funny thing is... even though I think the recent expensive Japanese Masterpiece toys haven't been worth their price, this one feels worth it due to the size and detail... and lack of redundant accessories that have just a single display usage.
That said, I'd love to have some in-scale items like the two Autobot ships and a Galvatron figurine from the 1986 movie, to play out the final battle at the end of the movie.

[DELTAprime]

not sure if posted;

If the requirements are met, the massive Unicron will be available beginning in 2021 for a price of $574.99 USD. Hasbro said if the figure gets funded, it "will be looking at ways make this item available internationally," which is fantastic news for Transformers fans outside the US.

https://m.au.ign.com/articles/2019/07/15/hasbro-reveals-transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron-its-biggest-transformer-figure-ever

Thank you for finding that. I certainly would get him if Hasbro AU made him available here and gave me time to save up for him.

[Sinnertwin]

Nek minit
Hasbro AU will import Unicron
$1300
Bwoaaaahhh
WhY sO ExPenSiV?

[doublespy]

As awesome as this looks, I too feel that the nature of Hasbro Pulse not willing to ship outside of NA just might stop this from happening. A lot of American collectors I know are quite price sensitive and to be fair $575 US is a lot of money over there.

On the flip side, minimum of 8000 units equal to $4.6m US. Surely the designer team gets a fat bonus if this does go ahead. John Warden might have to sell this baby even harder than he already had been at the upcoming cons like SDCC lol.

[KELPIE]

That's weird, I've kind of been assuming this whole time that War for Cybertron was a prequel, leading up to launching the Ark. I mean yes it's got Ultra Magnus and co. but it's easy to assume they were around but missed the boat to Earth, and were busy somewhere else when everyone woke up in the 80s. Was Unicron around back then? Like maybe they used to send him a pizza every now and then to keep him happy, but that was Starscream's job and he forgot to delegate to anyone before he left, so the poor dude's just been waiting out on the edge of the galaxy getting progressively hungrier and more annoyed for four million years until he's finally lost his temper.
Haha, couldn't get his Pizza so he started eating planets.

Yeah, this doesn't fit in with any story so don't stress and likewise, to answer your question as to when Unicron started to hang around, depends on which continuity... best not to think about it and just enjoy that there's an awesome toy (hopefully) on the way.


It's a bit of a catch-22 though... the non-Nth-Americans like us will only get a chance at buying this if they reach their 8,000 target in Nth America, but I'm pretty sure it would need the non-Nth-American fans to reach that goal. They would get a couple thousand in Japan and a couple thousand in the Hasbro Asia countries, a couple hundred in Australia and each of the main European countries... if they barely make it to halfway with their goal, they MUST find a way to take reservations from non-Nth-Americans, or else no one will get one. (they've certainly spent a lot of time and money already producing a prototype, as the fully coloured images are not a computer generated image - the factory tooling is the most expensive expense, but those images suggest that this is something they've already spent a lot of money on)

Did they show the back of the robot or planet mode at all?
If not... should we be worried that it has some kibble or issues that they are hiding?


Again... it's one of those rare occasions when I wished I lived in America. :p
I'm with you Griff, grave doubts on them hitting 8k without help from outside Nth America. Lets not sugarcoat it, a lot of American collectors are minimum wage earners which for the record, earn far less than Australian minimum wage earners. Just collecting a full wave stretches the budget. It would be tough, heck irresponsible for them to back this.

They haven't shown the back but one has to assume that there is a heap of folded up panels back there and probably even the planet mouth? I imagine he'll be at SDCC so we'll get lots of photo's from all angles through that.

Someone on TFW said the leg panelling reminded them of MP Bee v2 which makes sense.




not sure if posted;

If the requirements are met, the massive Unicron will be available beginning in 2021 for a price of $574.99 USD. Hasbro said if the figure gets funded, it "will be looking at ways make this item available internationally," which is fantastic news for Transformers fans outside the US.

https://m.au.ign.com/articles/2019/07/15/hasbro-reveals-transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron-its-biggest-transformer-figure-ever
That doesn't sound promising or hopeful at all to me. Nor does the option of eBay. Ebay has the worst shipping rates going around and who knows how many will be made available for the rest of the world.

They are the largest toy company in the world - Independent toy company's can crowdsource and ship internationally, not sure why Hasbro can't? I mean they are shipping to Hawaii... not much different to fly/boat it a little further. Heck, the TF statues are larger and heavier than this and they ship to Australia just fine. Then of course as mentioned above, the risk this doesn't fund without us.

Still, over 1k is promising however as mentioned earlier, most of the backers come in the first 48 hours with a surge at the end. If this was to fund I'd expect to be nearly at 3k this time tomorrow. All that said, Hasbro will have SDCC as a great platform to push this.

[philby]

When I saw the first pic of robot mode I honestly thought this was an OS KO of the previous Unicron figure 😁

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah, pass. I'll stick with my $145 Armada Unicron toy, thanks.
https://i.ibb.co/6bpzXsN/unicron-primus01.jpg
As someone said on the FB group, Siege Unicron does look nice, but not $800 nice (before shipping!)

[shockNwave]

Yeah, pass. I'll stick with my $145 Armada Unicron toy, thanks.
https://i.ibb.co/6bpzXsN/unicron-primus01.jpg
As someone said on the FB group, Siege Unicron does look nice, but not $800 nice (before shipping!)

I'm an owner of the black Unicron (Energon) and I've always viewed that as the perfect color scheme for Unicron's character even when I'm confronted with an unbelievably epic (although traditional color scheme) MP Unicron. Apart from that, the $800 price tag is very off putting.

[DaptoDog]

The project looks to be struggling already, you would expect more momentum in the number of backers (only about 15% there). Hopefully they open this up to international buyers and/or it gets an SDCC bump otherwise I'm concerned it won't get up.

[DELTAprime]

The project looks to be struggling already, you would expect more momentum in the number of backers (only about 15% there). Hopefully they open this up to international buyers and/or it gets an SDCC bump otherwise I'm concerned it won't get up.

The Khetanna struggled until the last week or so of the campaign then they added thousands of orders. Some people probably waited till they had the money saved up, others probably waited to see if it was going to succeed before committing.

[reillyd]

!!FAIR WARNING FOR ANYONE CONSIDERING BACKING THIS PROJECT!!!

not a joke, ignore at the peril of your wallet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExuCjYlyOAg&t=173s&fbclid=IwAR0rEmJbXtG70sS36AHPg0Ya2p0KjtoOTlMwNz664 I8eZM3CaGaiBkhdo3k

Note the previous HASLAB project was not shippable from the USA, even with freight forwarding companies. And also that Hasbro can (and did) change the dimensions of the listed item when it came to their previous project for Haslab.

One Aussie guy lost his money on it, so watch this video and think carefully before throwing money away, as Hasbro will happily take that money while not giving a flip that it wont be shippable.


No it was very ship-able, and shipito were a dream to deal with. But being oversize only FedEx could carry it and with volumetric shipping it was about 600 us PLUS ##$$@W GST on that.

But there is always a way to ship if you use a reliable freight forwarder. They were even apologetic about the cost and threw in extra shipping protection around the Hasbro mailer.

[DaptoDog]

No it was very ship-able, and shipito were a dream to deal with. But being oversize only FedEx could carry it and with volumetric shipping it was about 600 us PLUS ##$$@W GST on that.

But there is always a way to ship if you use a reliable freight forwarder. They were even apologetic about the cost and threw in extra shipping protection around the Hasbro mailer.

Importantly, MyUS uses weight rather than the volumetric method to determine the shipping cost. So I would just need to check their dimension limits if I chose to and was permitted by Hasbro to order.

[GoktimusPrime]

Here's something I found asking myself... even if I were to get this toy... what would I do with it? :/ It's a toy that's too big and heavy to really play with as an action figure. Heck, even toys like Fortress Maximus are too big to be action figures - they're more like transforming play sets for other Transformers (and Cerebros exists so that you do have an action figure). Even Armada Unicron is interactive with Mini-Cons. What would I do with this toy? :confused: Because if I can't play with it then it's essentially going to be an over-glorified paperweight.

[Trent]

From the Takara Tomy Transformers website:

https://i.imgur.com/rSMzQ4B.jpg

[Sinnertwin]

^That looks promising for anyone who isn't American or Canadian
Or they've finally woken up and thought we may move a few more units if it's available for the rest of the world

[Deano85]

Don't know if you guys have watched this episode of Retro Blasting about the sail barge. That thing was huge.

The American presenter ended up taking the barge to the guy that bought it in Australia. watch them opening it at 10:45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgy_NonMRI8

[Trent]

Does that guy always look like he’s a bad haircut away from necking himself or does he just save that level of depression for Star Wars?

[llamatron]

Very very cool, especially that planet mode with the mouth gimmick! I imagine they'll be revealing little extras along the way like some tiny scaled figs (Galvatron?), or a swappable broken eye?

I seriously doubt this thing can genuinely sell 8000 units direct to consumers (no retailers) in North America. But I would bet heavily that it's going ahead no matter what and the target is purely there to help encourage sales and lock in as many orders as possible. Hasbro are in total control of the platform, they will just flip that number past 8000 on the last day if they need to.

[hYpNoS]

Very very cool, especially that planet mode with the mouth gimmick! I imagine they'll be revealing little extras along the way like some tiny scaled figs (Galvatron?), or a swappable broken eye?

I seriously doubt this thing can genuinely sell 8000 units direct to consumers (no retailers) in North America. But I would bet heavily that it's going ahead no matter what and the target is purely there to help encourage sales and lock in as many orders as possible. Hasbro are in total control of the platform, they will just flip that number past 8000 on the last day if they need to.

...they could but isn't the point of the minimum number of backers to mean this venture will be profitable?

Better off wasting money in RnD and reusing it somewhere later on than having a few units sitting around rotting, even being used as prizes or something its lost money, granted within 10 or so could be worth it but if that number is over 1000 short...bad move to me

[Jellico]

I have mixed feelings about opening it up on TTM. On one hand it will increase the chances of getting to 8000 and Japanese fans will buy anything. OTOH if Gok is having trouble storing it God knows where you could keep it in a Japanese house?

[Dimi194]

Here's something I found asking myself... even if I were to get this toy... what would I do with it? :/ It's a toy that's too big and heavy to really play with as an action figure. Heck, even toys like Fortress Maximus are too big to be action figures - they're more like transforming play sets for other Transformers (and Cerebros exists so that you do have an action figure). Even Armada Unicron is interactive with Mini-Cons. What would I do with this toy? :confused: Because if I can't play with it then it's essentially going to be an over-glorified paperweight.

This is why I've stopped buying the Titan class figures :P

[KELPIE]

What would I do with this toy? :confused: Because if I can't play with it then it's essentially going to be an over-glorified paperweight.

I still hate this line of thought Gok.

We've debated this in the past, at any one time 95% of your collection are paperweights.

However each to their own. But personally I think he'll look great on a shelf with the rest of the collection.

[Trent]

OTOH if Gok is having trouble storing it God knows where you could keep it in a Japanese house?

This point doesn’t really make any sense.

[BigTransformerTrev]

It's been amazing to see the frenzied discussion this figure announcement has caused. Here on OzF it's been pretty on-point and respectful, but on many overseas fan sites and on FB people are going nuts!

One new figure announced and the entire international fandom has lost it's collective friggin mind and gone to war with itself! If the online chatboards were a real-life pub there would have been dozens of punch-ups and at least one stabbing by now! :eek::D

Ironically for me, space is the least of my concerns. With the new TF shed I'd have plenty of space to display it, but primarily because of the shed I don't have the funds to buy it, even if I could somehow purchase it and get it shipped to Australia. :rolleyes:

[Tha_Phantom]

It's been amazing to see the frenzied discussion this figure announcement has caused. Here on OzF it's been pretty on-point and respectful, but on many overseas fan sites and on FB people are going nuts!

One new figure announced and the entire international fandom has lost it's collective friggin mind and gone to war with itself! If the online chatboards were a real-life pub there would have been dozens of punch-ups and at least one stabbing by now! :eek::D

Too true mate. It's embarrassing to read some of the things being said.

[Sinnertwin]

There's a special place waiting for people like that :)

[Raider]

Don't know if you guys have watched this episode of Retro Blasting about the sail barge. That thing was huge.

The American presenter ended up taking the barge to the guy that bought it in Australia. watch them opening it at 10:45

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sgy_NonMRI8

Wow. Not into the Star Wars toy scene so had no idea about the Barge. What the Youtuber did though was pretty cool. A lot of people would have probably just taken the "donation" and that would be it. Thanks for sharing that.




Ironically for me, space is the least of my concerns. With the new TF shed I'd have plenty of space to display it, but primarily because of the shed I don't have the funds to buy it, even if I could somehow purchase it and get it shipped to Australia. :rolleyes:

Yes yes you are getting an awesome shed to display your whole collection. Stop bragging about it all the time. I am getting more and more jealous! :p

I am going to remain positive and hope that there will be a way that I will get this glorious bot into my collection. It may not be for everyone but I always wanted a HUGE Unicron as a kid. I used to make up stories about how big it would be and how I would interact with it. I remember once telling a kid (when we were like 8) that there was a Unicron toy but that it was the size of a room. This just feels like it is bringing that story to life.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Yes yes you are getting an awesome shed to display your whole collection. Stop bragging about it all the time. I am getting more and more jealous! :p


And right there you've put your finger on the only reason I continually bring it up :D

[GoktimusPrime]

I still hate this line of thought Gok.

We've debated this in the past, at any one time 95% of your collection are paperweights.
Mathematically speaking I only need to play with 6 toys a day to go through my whole collection in a year (and I often play with more toys than that), but I take your point that the other toys would remain unplayed with on any given day. But that's due to the fact that we have large collections due to collecting these things for 3.5 decades. :) Every toy that I get is thoroughly played with and even after I shelve them they continue to cycle through being played with afterwards. This Unicron would be a toy that, if I bought it, I cannot imagine ever playing with it. My toys were purchased with the intention of being played with and I try to play with them when I can - they have incidentally become paperweights but would at least be played with roughly once a year. A Unicron of this size and weight is a toy that I don't think that I could ever play with. At most I might fiddle with it once in a blue moon but I don't think that I would ever play with it. Sure, I could take some mad photos of it and with digital cheating even make it to scale with other toys (see example below). But beyond that? I dunno.

And the price is a big thing. Including postage this toy would clock around a grand. That's how much I spend on Transformers in half a year. So for me to buy this toy would mean that I would sacrifice 6 months' worth of TF buying. That's a whole lot of other toys to miss out on just to get one toy.


However each to their own. But personally I think he'll look great on a shelf with the rest of the collection.
Absolutely. I'm only talking about my own circumstances. If other people can justify spending money on this toy, and if they have the space to display it, and they are able to play with it - then hey, more power to them. :) I can vicariously enjoy this toy through them. :p


This is why I've stopped buying the Titan class figures :P
Titan Class is about the biggest that I can get with what I consider to be still playable figures, although admittedly they're not easy!


This point doesn't really make any sense.
I think what Jellico means is that:
* Most Japanese homes are small/compact (Japan has more than 5 times Australia's population in a country that's roughly the size of New Zealand)
* Many Japanese collectors keep their toys in box, even if it's loose in box. This is because Japan has a lot of seismic activity so keeping toys in their packaging protects them if they fall off shelves.
So as much as we Western fans might have difficulty finding space for our toys it can be even trickier for Japanese fans, making this toy potentially less appealing for Japanese fans.

[griffin]

The SDCC Hasbro display preview of Unicron in both modes and finally some images of the back of both modes...
https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/07/17/san-diego-comic-con-2019-preview-night-hasbro-booth-unicron-391551

[Sinnertwin]

Unleash the backpack & leg folds comments!

[Paulbot]

The back is better than I expected. I do want to try and get this.

[Miss Kitty Fantastico]

He's so far out of my price range he may as well be made of solid gold and come with a manservant to transform him for you, but I'm really looking forward to the youtube videos. Coming into Siege semi-cold with very limited exposure to modern Transformers I've been really impressed by the engineering in some of their transformations, but if this guy legit unfolds into his planet form, rather than having all those shell bits detach and reattach, that'll be quite a thing to watch.

Although it's got me thinking, since the whole thing is essentially a shell around the robot (barring I assume the back of his torso being the bit with the mouth mechanism?), now whenever I see him in planet mode I'm going to be imagining robot Unicron crammed into it like it's a giant pokeball.

[Raider]

The back is better than I expected. I do want to try and get this.

I agree. I know it's not perfect but it looks pretty clean. The legs, well what else can you really do on something that is a sphere in alt mode!

[reillyd]

To those who are worried about where to store or display it, can I share a solution that works well for me? I'd always kept toys at home, but I started bringing a few to work to have on my desk. Other people showed off their eccentricities and I thought why shouldn't i? Half of me expected judgment, and I was actually surprised at how many people LIKED them. And how many students would pick them up and play with them.

Then I realised, I have a HUGE office with lots of unused shelving. It fits most of my new toy purchases, and then I eventually bring them home when I need room. But it could totally fit me a Unicron.

If you have a secure employment and casual workplace, just use THEIR space to supplement your own! Simples!
Also, for those with shed envy, consider just HOW much you'd be willing to pay out for a new cool toy .... and if you're interested in Unicron, its big bucks. So look into external storage sheds if you don't have room/space to build one at home or are renting. It's not going to be affordable for everyone, but people who were even tempted at Unicron - you might be able to find one more affordable than you'd expect.

Not that I want to be an enabler, lol

[UltraMarginal]

I seriously doubt this thing can genuinely sell 8000 units direct to consumers (no retailers) in North America. But I would bet heavily that it's going ahead no matter what and the target is purely there to help encourage sales and lock in as many orders as possible. Hasbro are in total control of the platform, they will just flip that number past 8000 on the last day if they need to.

I think you're right, I'm getting a feeling that this 'crowd funding' is just another tool to engage the fans. They have put in so much work and development to this already, there must be some kind of mould already created, maybe even a soft aluminium or silicon mould. Close up shots don't show any striations like you might expect from 3D printed parts. even if it's just the visible parts of each mode, that's still most of it. Yes there's probably a fair amount of NRE (Non recurring Engineering ) left to perform, to clean it up from a transformation perspective but to not proceed with this now would be a massive investment loss for Hasbro and Takara. Especially that the fine print does say that they will be looking for other avenues to distribute to the rest of the world once funded.

I love it, looking at the entire figure, the back is very well layered and the legs are wrapped by a part on the heel that will/should help lock all the folded panels in place. I was wondering early on if they could have fit more of the panelling/shell into the backs of the legs but in retrospect that would mean they would have to fold up much more leading to smaller parts and a more fiddley transformation. and more likelihood of manufacturing errors.

I really want to get it, I have enough saved up, I just have to figure out if I want to fork out the dosh to import it from the states in some convoluted manner or wait and hope it gets released here or accessibly in Asia.
I also currently have no idea here I'm going to display it. but that's a third world problem.

[Lint]

Unleash the backpack & leg folds comments!

Actually upon closer inspection the face is bothering me more than anything :p. I prefer the cold passive expression for Unicron and every shot I've seen he's got his cheap halloween chompers out.

[griffin]

I think you're right, I'm getting a feeling that this 'crowd funding' is just another tool to engage the fans. They have put in so much work and development to this already, there must be some kind of mould already created, maybe even a soft aluminium or silicon mould. Close up shots don't show any striations like you might expect from 3D printed parts. even if it's just the visible parts of each mode, that's still most of it. Yes there's probably a fair amount of NRE (Non recurring Engineering ) left to perform, to clean it up from a transformation perspective but to not proceed with this now would be a massive investment loss for Hasbro and Takara. Especially that the fine print does say that they will be looking for other avenues to distribute to the rest of the world once funded.


I agree with this sentiment, as I think they probably wanted to see just how much support there would be by the really obsessed people who want a (realistic) Unicron toy, could afford this at short notice... and if they got above a certain amount (which their bean-counters would already have designated), they would still go ahead with it. I think the Japanese listing will help get the numbers they need, and it should mean Hasbro HK should be offering it somehow as well, as they have a significant customer base as well (big enough to support BOTH Hasbro and TakaraTomy toys in their countries).
And since this would be a once-only toy (until probably the 50th anniversary) because this release will take out most of the people willing and able to afford a toy like this of a character that will only appeal to certain eras of the fandom, they are going to need to make sure this one production run pays for the entire process, and makes a bit on the side. My guess is maybe reaching six or seven thousand backers they will go ahead and produce their minimum number, and then sell off the rest to those who were able to save up their money during the 20 months it took to release it (or keep pre-selling it during that time until the total number are sold).

[Raider]

(or keep pre-selling it during that time until the total number are sold).

My money is on this. As UM points out, the cost of engineering already spent would be huge. They will not want to pack this in. Once they get an idea of US demand and then international demand, they will likely go ahead with this and allow for pre-orders to keep going.

[Sinnertwin]

Is it really *that* much though?
I've seen the video, and it's a bunch of clever nerdbombers drawing up the plans with CAD files or whatever and then transferring that into 3d forms. It's not like the 80's were they carved everything out of wood and prayed it worked. Unless they're charging 10K per hour to drag a mouse around, I dunno?

[GoktimusPrime]

Actually upon closer inspection the face is bothering me more than anything :p. I prefer the cold passive expression for Unicron and every shot I've seen he's got his cheap halloween chompers out.
^agreed! I honestly prefer the look on Armada Unicron

https://i.ibb.co/bs6BTGm/meme-unicronjaws.jpg

[danny-boy]

The mouth can close can?t it?

I used to own the Takara 2010 edition. There?s no comparing the two, this is a true masterpiece.

As much as I love the look of the robot mode, I?ll be displaying mine in planet mode ( if it gets the go ahead and we get a chance to purchase) They absolutely nailed it.

[UltraMarginal]

Is it really *that* much though?
I've seen the video, and it's a bunch of clever nerdbombers drawing up the plans with CAD files or whatever and then transferring that into 3d forms. It's not like the 80's were they carved everything out of wood and prayed it worked. Unless they're charging 10K per hour to drag a mouse around, I dunno?

oh yea, NRE is often the biggest cost in a design.
imagine, you've got one primary design lead who does a lot of the broad strokes heavy lifting, rough transformation scheme, then maybe 4 or 5 junior engineers working on the details (specific size of every hinge, fastener, type of fastener, the assembly process has to be laid out piece by piece to make sure it can actually be manufactured, how thin can pieces be before they're not strong enough, or how thick can pieces be before they don't fit in or through a space in the transformation, there are people working on the colour scheme, surface detailing, gimmick/mechanisms and all of this needs to be reviewed at some point to make sure no horrible mistakes have been made before going to prototype, someone going over the design to make sure it meets all the safety standard and requirements everywhere it is going to be sold.)

so maybe a month of time for a lead at $100 an hour
a month or two of time for 10 -15 other engineers, artists, safety engineers etc. at say $60 an hour
160 x 100 + 12.5(380 x 60) = 301000

of course this is a really rough uneducated guess, not knowing what sort of wages they're paying people in japan and the states, it could easily be twice that for something complex like Unicron or a Movie MP.
then there's marketing, artwork blah blah blah that they do for all their promotions, I'm sure that hooks into the company budget.
I wouldn't be surprised if they hadn't already sunk close to a million in to this.

[DELTAprime]

Not to mention the price of the moulds. Moulds are not cheap to create or maintain. Unicron will easily be a six-figure cost for the mould.

[Lint]

The mouth can close can?t it?

I've seen a shot where the mouth is more closed and the teeth are gnashed together but still very much showing. It'd be nice to have the mouth hide the teeth completely but from the pics I've seen I doubt this is the case.


As much as I love the look of the robot mode, I?ll be displaying mine in planet mode ( if it gets the go ahead and we get a chance to purchase) They absolutely nailed it.

I'd do the same thing. It appears to be the mode that the entire transformation is based around, much like Darth Vader/Death Star.

[Trent]

Not to mention the price of the moulds. Moulds are not cheap to create or maintain. Unicron will easily be a six-figure cost for the mould.

Remember Aaron Archer said the moulds alone for Generations Metroplex cost $300K USD. Taking into account the massive size difference and parts count, as well as the increased production costs in 2019, UMs estimate of $1M USD for production seems to be quite reasonable (and they haven’t even cut the moulds yet).

[DELTAprime]

Remember Aaron Archer said the moulds alone for Generations Metroplex cost $300K USD. Taking into account the massive size difference and parts count, as well as the increased production costs in 2019, UMs estimate of $1M USD for production seems to be quite reasonable (and they haven’t even cut the moulds yet).

I was being, shall we say, very conservative thinking maybe 400K for the moulds:eek:. Honestly, if they can get retailers to sell him I bet we will see Unicron available many times over the coming years in order to pay for R&D and tooling.

Anyway here are a bunch of videos of said Eater of Worlds on TFW. https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/07/18/san-diego-comic-con-2019-war-for-cybertron-unicron-gray-prototype-videos-392410

[danny-boy]

I've seen a shot where the mouth is more closed and the teeth are gnashed together but still very much showing. It'd be nice to have the mouth hide the teeth completely but from the pics I've seen I doubt this is the case.
.

The video linked above shows the mouth closed without the teeth showing or maybe a little. Hard to tell if that?s fully closed but looks much better. This is the greatest transformer ever made. These clips have left me speechless.


Anyway here are a bunch of videos of said Eater of Worlds on TFW. https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/07/18/san-diego-comic-con-2019-war-for-cybertron-unicron-gray-prototype-videos-392410

Absolutely amazing. Simply stunning.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I agree with this sentiment, as I think they probably wanted to see just how much support there would be by the really obsessed people who want a (realistic) Unicron toy, could afford this at short notice... and if they got above a certain amount (which their bean-counters would already have designated), they would still go ahead with it. I think the Japanese listing will help get the numbers they need, and it should mean Hasbro HK should be offering it somehow as well, as they have a significant customer base as well (big enough to support BOTH Hasbro and TakaraTomy toys in their countries).
And since this would be a once-only toy (until probably the 50th anniversary) because this release will take out most of the people willing and able to afford a toy like this of a character that will only appeal to certain eras of the fandom, they are going to need to make sure this one production run pays for the entire process, and makes a bit on the side. My guess is maybe reaching six or seven thousand backers they will go ahead and produce their minimum number, and then sell off the rest to those who were able to save up their money during the 20 months it took to release it (or keep pre-selling it during that time until the total number are sold).

What I don’t understand which someone can perhaps explain to me, is why producing only a certain amount and charging near $600US would be preferable to the companies rather than mass-producing it and charging a lower price.

I mean, this is yes the biggest official TF toy ever produced to my knowledge, but it’s not gigantic in the grand scheme of plastic toys. And plastic and screws only cost so much. And this is a figure I could see a massive proportion of the fandom and even toy collectors in general wanting. So if the main cost is the design, why not mass-produce the hell out of it, stick on a more realistic price tag and make it available worldwide?

[Sinnertwin]

Then you'd kill the exclusive nature of it.
You can't have the common man owning one when you can make twice as much $$$.
Just look at all of the previous MP repaints for instance like SW and TC. R & D done, moulds ready, all they did was change paint and printed new boxes and booklets.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Then you'd kill the exclusive nature of it.
You can't have the common man owning one when you can make twice as much $$$.
Just look at all of the previous MP repaints for instance like SW and TC. R & D done, moulds ready, all they did was change paint and printed new boxes and booklets.


But that’s the thing - aren’t they better off making a good profit off each of a million toys rather than a high profit off each of ten thousand? Wouldn’t it equate to more profit overall by going the mass-production route?

I can understand having exclusive limited-edition repaints of a pre-existing and used mould, but if this is the only use of the mould why not milk it for all it’s worth?

[Sinnertwin]

I don't think that Hasbro have that much confidence in themselves to adopt the Kmart low cost high volume model with this thing, which is why I think they've gone high cost low turnover.

On the other hand, if you were to make 16,000 to drop the price to say $290, how many would they be able to move? It had less than 2k backers at $585 & I don't see 14,000 people jumping in at a lower price point.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I don't think that Hasbro have that much confidence in themselves to adopt the Kmart low cost high volume model with this thing, which is why I think they've gone high cost low turnover.

On the other hand, if you were to make 16,000 to drop the price to say $290, how many would they be able to move? It had less than 2k backers at $585 & I don't see 14,000 people jumping in at a lower price point.

At half the price? I would! I can’t justify the current price (+ postage) to my missus, but I probably could at half the price (with a significant amount of grovelling that is ;))

[Soundwarp]

I will own that!

[Sinnertwin]

At half the price? I would! I can’t justify the current price (+ postage) to my missus, but I probably could at half the price (with a significant amount of grovelling that is ;))

Only concern on Hasbro's part there is finding another 15,998 people to buy the rest of them :p

[griffin]

What I don’t understand which someone can perhaps explain to me, is why producing only a certain amount and charging near $600US would be preferable to the companies rather than mass-producing it and charging a lower price.

I mean, this is yes the biggest official TF toy ever produced to my knowledge, but it’s not gigantic in the grand scheme of plastic toys. And plastic and screws only cost so much. And this is a figure I could see a massive proportion of the fandom and even toy collectors in general wanting. So if the main cost is the design, why not mass-produce the hell out of it, stick on a more realistic price tag and make it available worldwide?

I'm hoping that Hasbro America comes to it's senses and allocates stock to other countries, including ours, but the massive size of this toy would never be profitable to Hasbro if they tried to sell it through retailers and online stores just to get the production numbers up.

With Hasbro selling these, it cuts the price by about 35-40% as retailers and online stores mark up by the usual* 50-60% (or more to cover the risk of a more expensive item)... plus the extra expense of shipping to the retailer/online store from Hasbro, before it is then shipped to the customers.
(the "usual" 50-60% markup is taken from wholesale price listings I have been sent in the past, which follows most retailing markups, having the wholesale price being a little under 2-3rds of the retail price)

As such, a US$575 toy from Hasbro would need to be sold to retailers and online stores for less than US$345 (which would include shipping to the retailers, as the US$575 price includes shipping to customers from Hasbro). So for online stores to sell one and add on shipping to their customer, it would need to be even cheaper than US$345 from Hasbro to come to less than US$575 (including shipping) from an online store. And to get to a cheaper price at retail or online store, you just have see that Hasbro would have to sell it for significantly less than US$345 in order for a retailer or online store to sell it for significantly less than US$575.
I think it would need to be at least half the current price for a significant number of people to buy it for a more general release, but then Hasbro probably wouldn't be able to produce it at a profit.
I imagine that these would be the things that their accountants would be working out beforehand, in order to determine what is a minimum price to make it profitable and then adjust the price up according to how many people would be expected to buy one - if their bosses say that they need to raise at least US$4.6 million before it goes ahead, and lets say that it would cost them at least US$400 per unit to produce to cover all expenses and minimum profit (this is not the actual figure, but I'm just using it as an example, based on MP-44 Optimus having an estimated US$260 wholesale price for it to be US$440 at Ent-Earth, and Unicron is a lot bigger), then they would have needed to sell 11,600 units at that price to raise the same amount. Maybe they assumed that number was too big a goal to reach at that price, so reduced it down to a goal of 8,000 backers, which raises each unit to needing US$575 to make it happen.
(if my estimate for a wholesale price of US$260 for MP-44 is close, it would make it really unlikely that Hasbro could produce Unicron to sell to retailers for less than US$400, which would then mean a retail price of over US$600 - my guess is that people at Hasbro worked this out, and realised that to make it more affordable to fans, they would need to sell it themselves)

[danny-boy]

Exclusive interview with John Warden. Pretty much confirms this is a Masterpiece Unicron. Also the teeth can be shown or hidden.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ISQKvz5o4b4

[DELTAprime]

I'm hoping that Hasbro America comes to it's senses and allocates stock to other countries, including ours, but the massive size of this toy would never be profitable to Hasbro if they tried to sell it through retailers and online stores just to get the production numbers up.

~snip~


If Lego can sell the UCS Millenium Falcon globally, and at retail, then really Hasbro should be able to sell Unicron in the same manner. Have you ever held that box? It's not small or light.

[Other]

That's not really a good comparison, Lego has been selling direct to consumers all around the world for coming up on nearly two decades now which is huge amount of time to work out how to do it best, Hasbro's been doing it consistently for like one or two this go around and only in two countries in North America. That UCS Falcon is also made from dozens of mass produced preexisting parts massively reducing development risk. It's also a big 'status symbol' product that brings together two of the most well known and beloved brands to exist, it's a safe bet for retailers. This new Unicron is real fancy but in the eyes of the world he just doesn't compare

[Sinnertwin]

I was thinking on my jog tonight, if you're a silly billy like me paying half a grand for another MP Optimus, value wise Unicron is much better. YMMV

[Sinnertwin]

BBTS have also opened up their preorders for him at $775.
I expect other stores to jump aboard soon to boost backing.

[griffin]

Obviously for those outside america, or those in america who miss the cut off... but the hasbro pulse site says limit of 5 which seems stupid for preventing online stores from buying up a heap to then sell off with a payment plan... which I'd go for if it wasn't too much more.

[Sinnertwin]

Im beginning to think that this project will go ahead regardless if BBTS are offering up to 10 units per customer per preorder.

[DELTAprime]

Obviously for those outside america, or those in america who miss the cut off... but the hasbro pulse site says limit of 5 which seems stupid for preventing online stores from buying up a heap to then sell off with a payment plan... which I'd go for if it wasn't too much more.

I noticed the 5 Unicron limit. It actually says "5 per transaction". So if BBTS wanted to buy 50 Unicrons it sounds like they would just need to place 10 orders.

I'm actually considering ordering him from BBTS.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I'm hoping that Hasbro America comes to it's senses and allocates stock to other countries, including ours, but the massive size of this toy would never be profitable to Hasbro if they tried to sell it through retailers and online stores just to get the production numbers up.

With Hasbro selling these, it cuts the price by about 35-40% as retailers and online stores mark up by the usual* 50-60% (or more to cover the risk of a more expensive item)... plus the extra expense of shipping to the retailer/online store from Hasbro, before it is then shipped to the customers.
(the "usual" 50-60% markup is taken from wholesale price listings I have been sent in the past, which follows most retailing markups, having the wholesale price being a little under 2-3rds of the retail price)

As such, a US$575 toy from Hasbro would need to be sold to retailers and online stores for less than US$345 (which would include shipping to the retailers, as the US$575 price includes shipping to customers from Hasbro). So for online stores to sell one and add on shipping to their customer, it would need to be even cheaper than US$345 from Hasbro to come to less than US$575 (including shipping) from an online store. And to get to a cheaper price at retail or online store, you just have see that Hasbro would have to sell it for significantly less than US$345 in order for a retailer or online store to sell it for significantly less than US$575.
I think it would need to be at least half the current price for a significant number of people to buy it for a more general release, but then Hasbro probably wouldn't be able to produce it at a profit.
I imagine that these would be the things that their accountants would be working out beforehand, in order to determine what is a minimum price to make it profitable and then adjust the price up according to how many people would be expected to buy one - if their bosses say that they need to raise at least US$4.6 million before it goes ahead, and lets say that it would cost them at least US$400 per unit to produce to cover all expenses and minimum profit (this is not the actual figure, but I'm just using it as an example, based on MP-44 Optimus having an estimated US$260 wholesale price for it to be US$440 at Ent-Earth, and Unicron is a lot bigger), then they would have needed to sell 11,600 units at that price to raise the same amount. Maybe they assumed that number was too big a goal to reach at that price, so reduced it down to a goal of 8,000 backers, which raises each unit to needing US$575 to make it happen.
(if my estimate for a wholesale price of US$260 for MP-44 is close, it would make it really unlikely that Hasbro could produce Unicron to sell to retailers for less than US$400, which would then mean a retail price of over US$600 - my guess is that people at Hasbro worked this out, and realised that to make it more affordable to fans, they would need to sell it themselves

Thank you for that explanation :)


BBTS have also opened up their preorders for him at $775.
I expect other stores to jump aboard soon to boost backing.


Obviously for those outside america, or those in america who miss the cut off... but the hasbro pulse site says limit of 5 which seems stupid for preventing online stores from buying up a heap to then sell off with a payment plan... which I'd go for if it wasn't too much more.

Yes if only there was a lay-by option with the online retailers where you could pay off a certain amount each month. I can't justify shelling out so much in one go but if I could pay off $100 a month then I could swing it. I wonder if BBTS would be open to the proposition.

[DELTAprime]

Yes if only there was a lay-by option with the online retailers where you could pay off a certain amount each month. I can't justify shelling out so much in one go but if I could pay off $100 a month then I could swing it. I wonder if BBTS would be open to the proposition.

Just do what I do when there's no lay-buy, set up a free savings account with your bank and put however much you feel is right into that account each week/fortnight/month until you reach your goal. After you've paid for the super expensive item you want, close off that account.

[Borgeman]

Ultimately the dollar amount isn't the crucial hurdle, but rather how to get it here. BBTS estimate around a $400 shipping cost, but it's likely to be more.
It's likely Unicron will be boxed in planet mode with the rings detached, so based on planet diameter of roughly 15 inches (30 inch dimensions of the planet with rings, based off imagery the rings account for half the total diameter) a safe estimated box size will be a 20inch cube, or roughly 50cm cubed.

USPS quotes me a tick under $500usd.
Using shipito's calc gave me options between $300-$400usd.

Long story short, plenty more cash on top.

[DaptoDog]

I really want this. If I could I would have it shipped to my MYUS shipping address, it would only cost ~$120 to have it shipped here. But alas I assume they won't accept an Australian card for payment?


Ultimately the dollar amount isn't the crucial hurdle, but rather how to get it here. BBTS estimate around a $400 shipping cost, but it's likely to be more.
It's likely Unicron will be boxed in planet mode with the rings detached, so based on planet diameter of roughly 15 inches (30 inch dimensions of the planet with rings, based off imagery the rings account for half the total diameter) a safe estimated box size will be a 20inch cube, or roughly 50cm cubed.

USPS quotes me a tick under $500usd.
Using shipito's calc gave me options between $300-$400usd.

Long story short, plenty more cash on top.

I've checked the terms of the MyUS shipping rates based on weight. They specify their rates "excludes oversized shipments and palletized shipments with linear dimensions greater than 80 inches (203 cm).​".

Linear dimensions simply means to add the length, width and depth of the package. So taking Borgeman's assumptions of a 20 inch cube would give 60 inch linear dimensions, well within the 80 inch limit and therefore giving us some leeway on the dimensions.

Then it all comes down to weight. We know that Unicron has a weight of 19 pounds. So if we very conservatively assume a packaged weight of 30 pounds, it gives a shipping cost of US$143 using Fedex Economy. But I'm a member and pay with Amex, which gives me a 30% discount off this rate. Therefore given the current A$ is 0.70, my estimated cost is A$143, way cheaper than BBTS and Shipito that base their charges on volumetric weight.

You can test this for yourself at https://www.myus.com/pricing/

The only risk I can see is if MyUS changes their policy and moves to volumetric weight at some point before this is released in 2021.

[philby]

How is BBTS offering pre orders on something which is not even potentially being made?

[BigTransformerTrev]

Just do what I do when there's no lay-buy, set up a free savings account with your bank and put however much you feel is right into that account each week/fortnight/month until you reach your goal. After you've paid for the super expensive item you want, close off that account.

That works, so long as the item is still available after you’ve done all that saving. Given his cost Unicron might well be I guess (if he gets made)

It’s why I missed out on G1 Scorponok as a kid, hadn’t heard of lay-bys so simply saved my pocket money for months and when I went in he’d been sold :(

[hYpNoS]

Depends on how bbts is doing it, wasn't there a rumor during botcon they sent multiple people to get those botcon exclusives?

Why not have multiple agents buy up?

[Trent]

The limit is 5 per transaction. So just keep ordering in lots of 5. Spend half an hour doing that and you’d have 100. Someone on TFW was saying today that was exactly how it worked for the Khetanna and that is how some online stores had a few to sell.

[Borgeman]

I've checked the terms of the MyUS shipping rates based on weight. They specify their rates "excludes oversized shipments and palletized shipments with linear dimensions greater than 80 inches (203 cm).?".

Linear dimensions simply means to add the length, width and depth of the package. So taking Borgeman's assumptions of a 20 inch cube would give 60 inch linear dimensions, well within the 80 inch limit and therefore giving us some leeway on the dimensions.

Then it all comes down to weight. We know that Unicron has a weight of 19 pounds. So if we very conservatively assume a packaged weight of 30 pounds, it gives a shipping cost of US$143 using Fedex Economy. But I'm a member and pay with Amex, which gives me a 30% discount off this rate. Therefore given the current A$ is 0.70, my estimated cost is A$143, way cheaper than BBTS and Shipito that base their charges on volumetric weight.

You can test this for yourself at https://www.myus.com/pricing/

The only risk I can see is if MyUS changes their policy and moves to volumetric weight at some point before this is released in 2021.

Yeah, if you can secure a weight based shipping that instantly becomes tolerable, because the killer is the volumetric size of the box.

If all else fails, I'll speak to some family I have in Toronto, and ship it to them, while simultaneously planning a USA/Canada holiday, and bring it back with me.
The one benefit of a 2021 release is we'd have all that time to concoct a financially viable plan for shipping.

[griffin]

I can understand why they want this out in 2021 (the 35th anniversary of the movie that introduced Unicron) and that's probably why they have such a short pre-order period because they are short on time to have it produced... but I'd rather have it delayed 6 months and maybe come out at the end of 2021 or early 2022, just to guarantee it happening by allowing us to have a six month payment plan and sold through other Hasbro branches.
We've waited 35 years for a mostly accurate Unicron toy, we can wait another 6 months.

[BigTransformerTrev]

The limit is 5 per transaction. So just keep ordering in lots of 5. Spend half an hour doing that and you’d have 100. Someone on TFW was saying today that was exactly how it worked for the Khetanna and that is how some online stores had a few to sell.

Anyone got the capital to do that? We could have them shipped en’masse and flog’em in Aus :D

[philby]

Depends on how bbts is doing it, wasn't there a rumor during botcon they sent multiple people to get those botcon exclusives?

Why not have multiple agents buy up?


The limit is 5 per transaction. So just keep ordering in lots of 5. Spend half an hour doing that and you’d have 100. Someone on TFW was saying today that was exactly how it worked for the Khetanna and that is how some online stores had a few to sell.

ah ok
so BBTS has people setup as "backers" to order and then they can sell those figures on later?

[danny-boy]

Currently at 1817. This isn?t going to reach 8000. They need to open international orders to get anything remotely close to 8000.

[DaptoDog]

Currently at 1817. This isn?t going to reach 8000. They need to open international orders to get anything remotely close to 8000.

It's added about 600 backers in a week. If continues at that rate for the next 5 weeks we'll be at just under 5,000 with a few days to go. Add in Japan backing through Takara Tomy Mall and a big final push and it should hopefully get there. I'd say it's more than likely going to go ahead as long as it gets close enough to the 8,000 target. Perhaps they'll extend it for another few weeks so it gets over the line?

[MayzaPrime]

Has anyone here ordered one?

[griffin]

It's added about 600 backers in a week. If continues at that rate for the next 5 weeks we'll be at just under 5,000 with a few days to go. Add in Japan backing through Takara Tomy Mall and a big final push and it should hopefully get there. I'd say it's more than likely going to go ahead as long as it gets close enough to the 8,000 target. Perhaps they'll extend it for another few weeks so it gets over the line?

I don't know... most of those 600 are probably thanks to the big promotion of it at SDCC and the various videos of it at the event. There isn't likely to be any big events before the end of next month to convince people who don't already know of this item and have already decided if they can afford it. I think the last week will have a surge from people who know that they can pay for it, but if they give us the Japanese numbers, it will be worth seeing what their first week numbers are, as they need to out-pace the American backers if this has a chance of getting anywhere near 8000.

[griffin]

Has anyone here ordered one?

Fatbot on one of our facebook pages (https://www.facebook.com/groups/763300077103066/?ref=group_header) (you'll need to sign up if you aren't already on that page) was offering the services of someone he knows in America, and had 2 or 3 takers.

[danny-boy]

It's added about 600 backers in a week. If continues at that rate for the next 5 weeks we'll be at just under 5,000 with a few days to go. Add in Japan backing through Takara Tomy Mall and a big final push and it should hopefully get there. I'd say it's more than likely going to go ahead as long as it gets close enough to the 8,000 target. Perhaps they'll extend it for another few weeks so it gets over the line?

I can?t see 600 backers a week continuing for the duration of the window. It?s now at 1820....that?s only 3 more backers since I wrote my post earlier today. Most people that want it and can afford it have already backed it. I can only see it trickling over 2000 over the next week or two, and maybe eventually settling between 3000-4000, but I feel I?m being a bit optimistic there. I?d love to be wrong but I don?t see this gaining any momentum at all.

[BigTransformerTrev]

I must admit, I was watching a video by a designer tonight and the figure is truly a beauty to behold. Hell, if I was rich enough I’d buy two to display in both modes! And if it was available here with a payment plan I’d certainly at least get one. But with this timeframe and the cost of shipping it’s beyond my financial means and fear it may prove that way to too many fans for them to reach the needed preorder target. We shall see

[DaptoDog]

I can?t see 600 backers a week continuing for the duration of the window. It?s now at 1820....that?s only 3 more backers since I wrote my post earlier today. Most people that want it and can afford it have already backed it. I can only see it trickling over 2000 over the next week or two, and maybe eventually settling between 3000-4000, but I feel I?m being a bit optimistic there. I?d love to be wrong but I don?t see this gaining any momentum at all.

Well to be fair most of America was asleep since your last count! :D If it breaks through 1,900 by tomorrow I'd say it's keeping pace. We also have to remember that many people don't want to plonk down that cash only to have it returned 6 weeks later so they are just sitting on their hands until the end when there will be a rush. Whether that's enough to get Hasbro to commit, we'll just have to see.

[griffin]

They don't get charged until August 31st (if it goes ahead), so I can also imagine a lot of people dropping out in the last week if they signed up thinking that they could scrounge up the money, but then failed to get enough and cancel at the last minute.

[DELTAprime]

They don't get charged until August 31st (if it goes ahead), so I can also imagine a lot of people dropping out in the last week if they signed up thinking that they could scrounge up the money, but then failed to get enough and cancel at the last minute.

I kept an eye on the Kehtana. It gained momentum towards the end of the campaign. Either people were waiting till they actually had the money in hand to back it, or Hasbro was fudging the number.:eek:

I'm seriously considering using some savings to preorder from BBTS.

[DaptoDog]

They don't get charged until August 31st (if it goes ahead), so I can also imagine a lot of people dropping out in the last week if they signed up thinking that they could scrounge up the money, but then failed to get enough and cancel at the last minute.


Sorry my bad, I forgot they are not charged straight away.


I kept an eye on the Kehtana. It gained momentum towards the end of the campaign. Either people were waiting till they actually had the money in hand to back it, or Hasbro was fudging the number.:eek:

Yep that's the best comp we have.

[SharkyMcShark]

I am with danny on this. I can't see this reaching 8000.

[Lint]

I am with danny on this. I can't see this reaching 8000.

If it does fail HasLab should post up a video of the prototype being blown up mythbusters style to the tune of Orson Welles' voiceover "Destiny... you cannot destroy my... DestineaAHH!"

[UltraMarginal]

Exclusive interview with John Warden. Pretty much confirms this is a Masterpiece Unicron. Also the teeth can be shown or hidden.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ISQKvz5o4b4

I was going to post this up but you beat me to it, this is a really interesting interview.


I've checked the terms of the MyUS shipping rates based on weight. They specify their rates "excludes oversized shipments and palletized shipments with linear dimensions greater than 80 inches (203 cm).​".

Linear dimensions simply means to add the length, width and depth of the package. So taking Borgeman's assumptions of a 20 inch cube would give 60 inch linear dimensions, well within the 80 inch limit and therefore giving us some leeway on the dimensions.

Then it all comes down to weight. We know that Unicron has a weight of 19 pounds. So if we very conservatively assume a packaged weight of 30 pounds, it gives a shipping cost of US$143 using Fedex Economy. But I'm a member and pay with Amex, which gives me a 30% discount off this rate. Therefore given the current A$ is 0.70, my estimated cost is A$143, way cheaper than BBTS and Shipito that base their charges on volumetric weight.

You can test this for yourself at https://www.myus.com/pricing/

The only risk I can see is if MyUS changes their policy and moves to volumetric weight at some point before this is released in 2021.

So I've checked MyUS, I agree their rates are very competitive, is there a reason you didn't choose the budget economy option?it's another $US 16 cheaper and only a potentially 2 days slower.

they all seem to have similar details, it's not like you're going to consolidate something with Unicron :D

Do you know what the 'Postal Clearance not Included' means? it seems to be the same for all their shipping items, does that mean we have to broker it ourselves when it comes into the country?

[DaptoDog]

So I've checked MyUS, I agree their rates are very competitive, is there a reason you didn't choose the budget economy option?it's another $US 16 cheaper and only a potentially 2 days slower.

they all seem to have similar details, it's not like you're going to consolidate something with Unicron :D

Do you know what the 'Postal Clearance not Included' means? it seems to be the same for all their shipping items, does that mean we have to broker it ourselves when it comes into the country?

I select FedEx (either Economy or Express) because they've been super reliable for dozens of shipments from MyUS. I've gotten to a first name basis with our FedEx delivery guy and he always calls me to check if we want the package left when we are not home. He's even popped back at the end of the day to drop them off on occasion. The budget economy option is slower and doesn't state who they use to ship. I prefer certainty, particularly on such a high value item.

Got no idea what that term refers to but we've never had any issues with receiving packages so I wouldn't worry about it. Might be something to do with customs but they collect GST so it won't get held up. Also their postcode has 0 US sales tax applied so you won't get charged that on top of GST.

The MyUS membership has a US$60 annual fee but it is waived for two years if you use either the Amex offer or Visa offer. Just google MyUS Amex offer or Visa offer and you will find the links.

[fatbot]

Another way of doing it is to preorder with TFSOURCE, you’re paying a $200 premium for it, but it does give you nearly 2 years to come up with the money. Plus it is free domestic shipping to your remailer, with no deposit required to secure the toy.

[tinyJazz]

Very convenient of BBTS to take preorders.



Do you know what the 'Postal Clearance not Included' means? it seems to be the same for all their shipping items, does that mean we have to broker it ourselves when it comes into the country?

Maybe it’s this? From shopmates terms : “Items valued over $2,500 USD will be subject to an additional customs clearance procedure in the USA” you need a Shipper’s Export Declaration Form (SED) to complete.

Or, you’re right and it does mean import duties in Aus. I know from experience DHL will actually handle all the paperwork and just invoice you the cost.

Might be best to email their customer service for a clear answer. :p

[DaptoDog]

Very convenient of BBTS to take preorders.



Maybe it’s this? From shopmates terms : “Items valued over $2,500 USD will be subject to an additional customs clearance procedure in the USA” you need a Shipper’s Export Declaration Form (SED) to complete.

Or, you’re right and it does mean import duties in Aus. I know from experience DHL will actually handle all the paperwork and just invoice you the cost.

Might be best to email their customer service for a clear answer. :p

This will have a value less than $1,000 and GST is collected by the forwarder (MyUS) so I don't see any issues in either scenario. Again I've never had any customs clearance issues on my shipments.

[UltraMarginal]

Well, if another opportunity doesn't present itself before this dealio finishes I think I'll be going the MyUS method, it's definitely a reasonable option and saves me hassling my US mate with a monstrosity at no savings to me.

I was thinking I could give him the cash to have it as extra checked baggage on a return flight from the States to AU, which he does most Christmases but it's still US$175 for the privilege assuming he flies Qantas.

[Borgeman]

but it's still US$175 for the privilege assuming he flies Qantas.

I had a brief look at Qantas' site regarding this very thing, but couldn't determine how it would be classified/priced.
What did you use as the determining marker?

[shockNwave]

If this Unicron had come out around the time of the first two Bayverse movies (when love for Transformers was at such a high and Bay was yet to truly damage the brand) would it have been easy to reach the 8000 mark?

[griffin]

If this Unicron had come out around the time of the first two Bayverse movies (when love for Transformers was at such a high and Bay was yet to truly damage the brand) would it have been easy to reach the 8000 mark?

I doubt it. The new surge of fans for the Bayverse Movies wouldn't have known much or anything about Unicron, as he isn't one of the repeated, standard elements like Optimus and Megatron. Unicron was only introduced in the Bayverse movies in the 5th one in 2017, so if the 6th movie had continued on and featured Unicron, then it would have had more interest from all of those (new) Movie fans who would have bought anything from the Movies (like those various $500-$1000 movie statues).

[DaptoDog]

I can?t see 600 backers a week continuing for the duration of the window. It?s now at 1820....that?s only 3 more backers since I wrote my post earlier today. Most people that want it and can afford it have already backed it. I can only see it trickling over 2000 over the next week or two, and maybe eventually settling between 3000-4000, but I feel I?m being a bit optimistic there. I?d love to be wrong but I don?t see this gaining any momentum at all.


Well to be fair most of America was asleep since your last count! :D If it breaks through 1,900 by tomorrow I'd say it's keeping pace. We also have to remember that many people don't want to plonk down that cash only to have it returned 6 weeks later so they are just sitting on their hands until the end when there will be a rush. Whether that's enough to get Hasbro to commit, we'll just have to see.

Total backers got to 1,889 today, just a little shy of my 1,900 target. So I'd say it's ticking over just fine.

Figure King scans just out in Japan, massive spread for Unicron. Pictures look glorious, if only I could read Japanese! I reckon Japan is good for at least 1,500-2,000 backers given the popularity of high-end collectibles in Japan and the relative population of Japan to the US.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/figure-king-258-scans-featuring-haslab-unicron-and-more.1178410/

In terms of options of where to order, here's how I see it currently.

Option A

Buy direct from Hasbro at cost of US$575 (A$825)
Resend from MyUS forwarder at estimated cost of ~ A$145 (factoring in Amex discount, assuming ~30lbs total shipping weight)
Add 10% GST at cost of A$97
Total Estimate = A$1,063

Option B

Buy direct from Hasbro at cost of US$575 (A$825)
Have it shipped to family/friend in the US. Have to pay sales tax depending on their state and then work out how to get it to Australia
Total Estimate = ?

Option C

Pre-order from TFSource or BBTS at cost of US$775 (A$1,112)
Resend from MyUS forwarder at estimated cost of ~ A$145 (factoring in Amex discount, assuming ~30lbs total shipping weight)
Add 10% GST at cost of A$126
Total Estimate = A$1,383

Other Options


Order through Takara Tomy Mall once it gets listed this weekend but likely to be priced higher than US and still expensive to ship (given most forwarders will use volumetric weight to determine shipping cost)

Wait to see if Hasbro Australia is going to get stock. But if this is not announced before 31 August and then doesn't happen you risk having to pay large mark-ups on ebay etc on release


I'm waiting till near the close date to see if the local option presents itself but otherwise will be going with Option A.

[danny-boy]

Total backers got to 1,889 today, just a little shy of my 1,900 target. So I'd say it's ticking over just fine.

Figure King scans just out in Japan, massive spread for Unicron. Pictures look glorious, if only I could read Japanese! I reckon Japan is good for at least 1,500-2,000 backers given the popularity of high-end collectibles in Japan and the relative population of Japan to the US.

https://www.tfw2005.com/boards/threads/figure-king-258-scans-featuring-haslab-unicron-and-more.1178410/

In terms of options of where to order, here's how I see it currently.

Option A

Buy direct from Hasbro at cost of US$575 (A$825)
Resend from MyUS forwarder at estimated cost of ~ A$145 (factoring in Amex discount, assuming ~30lbs total shipping weight)
Add 10% GST at cost of A$97
Total Estimate = A$1,063

Option B

Buy direct from Hasbro at cost of US$575 (A$825)
Have it shipped to family/friend in the US. Have to pay sales tax depending on their state and then work out how to get it to Australia
Total Estimate = ?

Option C

Pre-order from TFSource or BBTS at cost of US$775 (A$1,112)
Resend from MyUS forwarder at estimated cost of ~ A$145 (factoring in Amex discount, assuming ~30lbs total shipping weight)
Add 10% GST at cost of A$126
Total Estimate = A$1,383

Other Options


Order through Takara Tomy Mall once it gets listed this weekend but likely to be priced higher than US and still expensive to ship (given most forwarders will use volumetric weight to determine shipping cost)

Wait to see if Hasbro Australia is going to get stock. But if this is not announced before 31 August and then doesn't happen you risk having to pay large mark-ups on ebay etc on release


I'm waiting till near the close date to see if the local option presents itself but otherwise will be going with Option A.

Since my original post it?s gone from 1817 to 1919. An additional 100 backers in 2 whole days doesn?t instil a lot of confidence. Although TT Mall has gone up which should help the numbers.

I?m also waiting to see if another option opens up. Honestly hoping for international orders to open up.

[Sinnertwin]

Y'all need to stop stressing about numbers.
It's getting made, 1000 or 8000, wont matter in the end.

[Trent]

Up on TT Mall (https://takaratomymall.jp/shop/g/g8000000001310/?mm190726tf). 75,600 Yen. Over $1K aud.

[DaptoDog]

Y'all need to stop stressing about numbers.
It's getting made, 1000 or 8000, wont matter in the end.

Yep.


Up on TT Mall (https://takaratomymall.jp/shop/g/g8000000001310/?mm190726tf). 75,600 Yen. Over $1K aud.

More expensive than the US price as expected. But should be well supported by Japanese collectors. So now we wait for Hasbro Australia to show their hand.

[Trent]

I'll certainly be asking Hasbro Australia about this, but logistically it would be unlikely, as Hasbro America want the money as soon as the reservation period ends (August 31st), which means, if Hasbro Australia were to play middle-man on these, they would need to take your money (somehow), and then be liable to Australian Consumer Laws (like refunds, which would have to come out of their pocket because the money would have been sent onto America).
Then you have the whole shipping procedure, that Hasbro Australia probably would have to outsource.
This probably should have been done through Amazon, which has branches in many countries, or can service many countries they aren't in... and they would then be the ones who would ship the items once they are produced (buuut, the price would be 30-40% more for the toy if sold through a retailer - Hasbro America are probably wanting to sell this themselves, to give this a better chance of reaching minimum numbers - a US$575 price from them would be at least US$900 if sold to a retailer first).

I think we just have to wait and hope that there are at least 8,000 seriously dedicated Transformers fans in America and Canada who have US$575 within 6 weeks, to warrant extras being made and then sold off to non-Americans (some how). (the big Transformers conventions only manage to get about 5,000 people willing and ABLE to splash out this much money to attend a dedicated event, not to mention, Unicron isn't a contemporary "iconic" character, so a toy of this price won't appeal to too many newer fans of the last decade, since TFPrime and the Live Action Movies... and there aren't a lot of us left who grew up with this character in the 1980s)

It's a bit of a catch-22 though... the non-Nth-Americans like us will only get a chance at buying this if they reach their 8,000 target in Nth America, but I'm pretty sure it would need the non-Nth-American fans to reach that goal. They would get a couple thousand in Japan and a couple thousand in the Hasbro Asia countries, a couple hundred in Australia and each of the main European countries... if they barely make it to halfway with their goal, they MUST find a way to take reservations from non-Nth-Americans, or else no one will get one. (they've certainly spent a lot of time and money already producing a prototype, as the fully coloured images are not a computer generated image - the factory tooling is the most expensive expense, but those images suggest that this is something they've already spent a lot of money on)

I love the size of it though... probably on-par with cost-to-volume of Fortress Maximus, taking into account the lower production run.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2019/071604.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2019/071605.jpg

Lots of screen caps (and links to the video and images), including the two images above, from TFW here (https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/07/15/haslab-war-for-cybertron-unicron-crowdfunding-revealed-391400).

Did they show the back of the robot or planet mode at all?
If not... should we be worried that it has some kibble or issues that they are hiding?


Again... it's one of those rare occasions when I wished I lived in America. :p

Have you received a response from Hasbro Aus yet Griffman?

[UltraMarginal]

I had a brief look at Qantas' site regarding this very thing, but couldn't determine how it would be classified/priced.
What did you use as the determining marker?

When I was in the states I used a box as my second return suitcase, it was full to the brim with transformers and clothing. It was exactly the limiting dimensions of an extra suitcase.
I have made the assumption that the length/width/height of the Unicron is going to essentially be a cube and fit inside their volumetric limit as an extra bag. it kind of needs to otherwise it'll be too hard for Hasbro to ship around the states. It should be as easy to handle as a suitcase and assuming 30lbs, should be well within the 23kg max weight for luggage.
either way MyUS seems to be the better value proposition.

[Borgeman]

.
either way MyUS seems to be the better value proposition.
Righto. Since the devil is tempting me to buy two, Imight genuinely plan a trip around its release and thus hedge my bets and do one in each style, hedge my bets so to speak

[Dan]

Assorted thoughts from someone who will never own this obscenity size-class toy... :)

- If I did get it I would also want to acquire a ton of micromasters (including transports and bases) to display with him. Masterpiece toys would only make Unicron seem small to me.

- The thing looks amazing (and as an aside it reminds me how beautiful spheres are somehow). I consider its cost reasonable (far more so than selling deluxe class toys for $40) even though I will never spend that much on a toy.

- Some are discussing the pros and cons of 'small production run at high unit price or vice-versa' and it got me wondering this - how cool would it be to have an organizational model (such as crowd-funding) that allows only those who want a product to have it made for them so that we eliminate the resource wastage of shelf-warmers.

- I am not remotely fazed by its kibble. I'm okay with some kibble as a rule - indeed I feel that some kibble helps distinguish Transformers from just any old toy robots. What does bug me however is that he has both robot head-horns and planet pincers. I have always assumed from the 1986 movie that those were supposed to be the same components and I dislike faux-parts.

- I will enjoy watching this toy reviewed on YouTube. It is like vicariously playing with a toy. However I was also recently thinking that what we need is toy libraries or hands-on museums for post-pubescent collectors to visit. I guess that's what cons and the like are for however...

[DELTAprime]

Honestly. I don't think I'd trust MyUS or any other reshipper with Unicron. It's just too far out of my comfort zone. I even didn't really trust AusPost reshipping service to ship me a couple of exclusive Deluxe figures from TRU. It might cost me an arm and a leg but if nothing local comes up I'll just use BBTS's shipping.

[Sinnertwin]

Honestly. I don't think I'd trust MyUS or any other reshipper with Unicron. It's just too far out of my comfort zone. I even didn't really trust AusPost reshipping service to ship me a couple of exclusive Deluxe figures from TRU. It might cost me an arm and a leg but if nothing local comes up I'll just use BBTS's shipping.

BBTS estimate it's shipping at a measly $404 USD
You sure you want to go with them? :p

[DaptoDog]

Honestly. I don't think I'd trust MyUS or any other reshipper with Unicron. It's just too far out of my comfort zone. I even didn't really trust AusPost reshipping service to ship me a couple of exclusive Deluxe figures from TRU. It might cost me an arm and a leg but if nothing local comes up I'll just use BBTS's shipping.


BBTS estimate it's shipping at a measly $404 USD
You sure you want to go with them? :p

To follow on from Sinnertwin, the total estimated cost with BBTS assuming that shipping quote is accurate would be ~A$1,850 including GST. That's something like $800 more than the cost I estimated with buying it direct and going with the MyUS route!

I'm not always happy with how MyUS packs items when we consolidate but in cases where you don't consolidate (you wouldn't consolidate anything with Unicron) they just use the original shipping box and ship it as is. My wife has ordered many high end Disney collectibles this way and never had anything lost or damaged. You can also insure the shipment from MyUS to Australia for US$2 per US$100 of item value (ie US$12 for Unicron's US$575 value) for peace of mind.

In the end it's totally up to you but you will certainly be paying a lot extra.

[fatbot]

Robot kingdom is doing it for $US 585 with a $us175 deposit. The gods only know what it’ll cost to ship over here from Hong Kong, but I reckon it’ll be cheaper then from the states.

I think I’ll go though Robot Kingdom & ask Herioc Decepticon if I can have it sent to his place.

http://www.robotkingdom.com/e6830.html

[DaptoDog]

Robot kingdom is doing it for $US 585 with a $us175 deposit. The gods only know what it’ll cost to ship over here from Hong Kong, but I reckon it’ll be cheaper then from the states.

I think I’ll go though Robot Kingdom & ask Herioc Decepticon if I can have it sent to his place.

http://www.robotkingdom.com/e6830.html

That sounds like it could be a viable alternative. It's out of stock but I assume that's because they haven't finalised the listing. It says they are providing an estimated shipping cost for international orders by next week, will be keeping an eye on it. If it's close to the estimated cost of using a forwarder like MyUS then it's probably better going with Robot Kingdom since you don't have to pay it all upfront. :)

[griffin]

Timed with the TakaraTomyMall listing (https://takaratomymall.jp/shop/g/g8000000001310/?mm190726tf) (which also has a cut-off date of end of August), the Unicron toy has featured heavily in the Japanese Hobby Magazine Figure King (https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/07/25/figure-king-no-258-scans-war-for-cybertron-unicron-prototype-images-extras-siege-wave-10-omega-supreme-mirage-35th-anniversary-convoy-optimus-prime-set-mp-smokescreen-3a-dlx-o-392849), with 9 pages on the whole project, including a nice page showing previous failed attempts and the Armada Unicron toy.

It's noted (https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/07/25/takara-tomy-mall-new-war-for-cybertron-unicron-pre-orders-392905) that the Japanese listing doesn't clearly say if their pre-order numbers are included in Hasbro's 8,000, or if their orders will only go ahead if Hasbro gets their numbers.


Robot kingdom is doing it for $US 585 with a $us175 deposit. The gods only know what it’ll cost to ship over here from Hong Kong, but I reckon it’ll be cheaper then from the states.

I think I’ll go though Robot Kingdom & ask Herioc Decepticon if I can have it sent to his place.

http://www.robotkingdom.com/e6830.html

I wonder how they can get it so cheaply, to make their usual profit margin, and still have it only cost US$10 more than the US release price (they can't be getting it from America without it being US$575 PLUS shipping to HK PLUS RK's profit margin). They must be getting it from Hasbro HK, which means that we should be able to as well.


Have you received a response from Hasbro Aus yet Griffman?

No reply yet.

[Sinnertwin]

RK better send me some movie cards if I place an order with them

[G1Optimal]

Found this while browsing youtube, from unicron.com
Haslab Unicron Exclusive Interview w/ John Warden

https://youtu.be/ISQKvz5o4b4

[loophole]

I decided to go down the Robotkingdom route myself. I figre not matter which way I go about it posatge is going to be a killer...

[KELPIE]

For shipping, remember it's normally volumetric weight, not actual weight.

So shipping cost will depend on the size of the box... which will be pretty big I imagine.

[griffin]

It's at 2000... a quarter of the way there with five weeks to go.

[Sinnertwin]

For shipping, remember it's normally volumetric weight, not actual weight.

So shipping cost will depend on the size of the box... which will be pretty big I imagine.

I dunno, watching the video above, the rings can be disconnected, so I assume that would cut down the box size quite a bit. If it's packed in robot mode, then I imagine it being slightly larger than a Fort Max box with the rings packed behind him in the clamshell. Or he could come packed as a ball

[Borgeman]

I dunno, watching the video above, the rings can be disconnected, so I assume that would cut down the box size quite a bit. If it's packed in robot mode, then I imagine it being slightly larger than a Fort Max box with the rings packed behind him in the clamshell. Or he could come packed as a ball

In planet mode (based on the pics) he will be about 15inches in diameter, with the rings providing the other 15 of the 30 total, so I could see a 20 inch cubed box. In bot mode you're probably not far away with the fort max comparison, but he looks pretty beefy depth wise so who knows how much that would add to the box. Plus all that extra weight, and the stand as well.

It will be a big boi either way. And its 18-24 months away...

We should start a betting service on him - boxed in bot or planet mode? Removeable head? List market odds for potential accessories too (mini Galvatron, mini armada, mini ship, half of a moonbase attachable to his mouth in planet mode etc)

[Sinnertwin]

Put a pineapple on

-Bot mode (Detachable wings and stand)
-No accessories

[UltraMarginal]

In planet mode (based on the pics) he will be about 15inches in diameter, with the rings providing the other 15 of the 30 total, so I could see a 20 inch cubed box. In bot mode you're probably not far away with the fort max comparison, but he looks pretty beefy depth wise so who knows how much that would add to the box. Plus all that extra weight, and the stand as well.

It will be a big boi either way. And its 18-24 months away...


reasonable assumptions I think.



We should start a betting service on him - boxed in bot or planet mode? Removeable head? List market odds for potential accessories too (mini Galvatron, mini armada, mini ship, half of a moonbase attachable to his mouth in planet mode etc)

Lol, this could be a very interesting long term poll.


Put a pineapple on

-Bot mode (Detachable wings and stand)

this is a given, it's already been stated by John Warden in the interview video from SDCC, your odds are 1:1.

next bet.

[KELPIE]

I dunno, watching the video above, the rings can be disconnected, so I assume that would cut down the box size quite a bit. If it's packed in robot mode, then I imagine it being slightly larger than a Fort Max box with the rings packed behind him in the clamshell. Or he could come packed as a ball

That's not too bad. I didn't get Fortmax but Metroplex, Trypt and Predaking weren't too expensive to ship from BBTS.

Do we think the Robot Kingdom one will be the US box or TT?

My bet is on an additional handle bar moustache. Already looks like there's space for one.

[Ozgardian]

If it does get backing increases potential of Primus being made! ;)

[shockNwave]

If it does get backing increases potential of Primus being made! ;)

If Unicron only just reaches the 8000 mark then that could be zero or low potential of Primus happening.
So I hope we get beyond the 8000 mark. The more voters the better.

[DELTAprime]

If it does get backing increases potential of Primus being made! ;)

Yeah but Primus isn't a G1 cartoon character. You would be having to hope there are enough Cybertron fans out there to support it, and I don't think there would be nearly as many Cybertron fans as G1 fans.

[Ozgardian]

Big Bang. I've backed him. $830.00 aprox. So much for Omega HAHAHAHAHAHA. =)

[Raider]

In planet mode (based on the pics) he will be about 15inches in diameter, with the rings providing the other 15 of the 30 total, so I could see a 20 inch cubed box. In bot mode you're probably not far away with the fort max comparison, but he looks pretty beefy depth wise so who knows how much that would add to the box. Plus all that extra weight, and the stand as well.

It will be a big boi either way. And its 18-24 months away...

We should start a betting service on him - boxed in bot or planet mode? Removeable head? List market odds for potential accessories too (mini Galvatron, mini armada, mini ship, half of a moonbase attachable to his mouth in planet mode etc)

According to the google translate feature on my browser and viewing the TTMall page, it says "Package size: W585 x H585 x D581 mm".

[Borgeman]

According to the google translate feature on my browser and viewing the TTMall page, it says "Package size: W585 x H585 x D581 mm".

If that ends up being the case then planet mode will be the go.
I guess the extra size from my guess is there to accommodate the stand which I didn't consider, and no doubt some extra accessories
I wonder at what stage of a toy's design/production cycle the packaging is decided on?

[philby]

Pre-order listed at oh my primus:
https://ohmyprimus.com/htwfcsuc.html

[danny-boy]

I?m a backer, I think. Pre-ordered at Ohmyprimus. Now that I have secured a copy my only concerns are shelf space and it reaching 8000.

[DELTAprime]

I?m a backer, I think. Pre-ordered at Ohmyprimus.

No, you're not a backer. Only people buying through Hasbro Pulse are officially backers and count towards the goal of 8000 orders. We as Australians are unable to be backers as Hasbro Pulse requires a US-issued credit card and a US address.

[danny-boy]

No, you're not a backer. Only people buying through Hasbro Pulse are officially backers and count towards the goal of 8000 orders. We as Australians are unable to be backers as Hasbro Pulse requires a US-issued credit card and a US address.

Well lol yeah that?s pretty....... obvious.

If it crosses 8000, I?ll be backer no. 8XXX, hence the I?m a backer....I think.

[Trent]

No, you're not a backer. Only people buying through Hasbro Pulse are officially backers and count towards the goal of 8000 orders. We as Australians are unable to be backers as Hasbro Pulse requires a US-issued credit card and a US address.

Where do you think the stores we’re all preordering off are getting this?

[DELTAprime]

Where do you think the stores we’re all preordering off are getting this?

Places like RK and Oh My Primus are getting their stock from Hasbro Asia, not from Hasbro Pulse. Do you really think they would be buying stock at $575 USD each from America and shipping it to Asia and selling it for exactly what they paid?

[UltraMarginal]

No, you're not a backer. Only people buying through Hasbro Pulse are officially backers and count towards the goal of 8000 orders. We as Australians are unable to be backers as Hasbro Pulse requires a US-issued credit card and a US address.

I've successfully used my Australian Credit card to ship to a US address from Hasbro Pulse.

[DELTAprime]

I've successfully used my Australian Credit card to ship to a US address from Hasbro Pulse.

Ah Ok, I've never tried buying from Hasbro Pulse myself so I'm just going by what others have said.

[griffin]

I've successfully used my Australian Credit card to ship to a US address from Hasbro Pulse.

That's a change from the Hasbro Toy Shop... as I couldn't order from there with a Credit Card that has an Australian billing address. (apparently it is easy to get your bank to put on a second billing address, and have your shipping forwarder be your American billing address, but I've never done it)

[UltraMarginal]

I've never done that, for the old Hasbro Toy shop I had a very trusting mate who let me use his cc details to ship stuff to him.

This order from Hasbro pulse I just double checked and I actually have my mates address down for delivery and card info. I guess they didn't check it against the card number.

[Trent]

What’s with the post on Facebook Griffin? Have Hasbro AU gotten back to you or are you just pulling ideas out of your bum?

[griffin]

What’s with the post on Facebook Griffin? Have Hasbro AU gotten back to you or are you just pulling ideas out of your bum?

I am still waiting for a response from Hasbro Australia, so want to see what sort of interest is actually in this country for this item, tagging in Zing/EB in case they weren't aware of this item, and maybe ask Hasbro about it. At least if they query the item, they will get a more prompt reply about it.

[Trent]

I think it would depend on price for a lot of people. Zing aren’t known for their competitive pricing so there’s a lot of caution around committing.

[Sinnertwin]

I think it would depend on price for a lot of people. Zing aren’t known for their competitive pricing so there’s a lot of caution around committing.

Don't forget Hasbro's slice of the pie too. $900 in store is a pipe dream.

[Trent]

I honestly think $1100 would be the upper end of acceptable. I wouldn’t be happy, but I’d most likely pay it. But being honest I doubt Zing could even do it for that.

[griffin]

I think it would depend on price for a lot of people. Zing aren’t known for their competitive pricing so there’s a lot of caution around committing.


Don't forget Hasbro's slice of the pie too. $900 in store is a pipe dream.

ToysRUs were bad for having prices that were about double the price in Asia and Japan, making it significantly cheaper to import than buying from there... but Zing/EB have been really good for their Transformers exclusives (even their prices for their short-lived stocking of Titans Return toys were equal or less than regular retail).
Zing/EB may be expensive for most of their licensed merchandise, but their recent Transformers items that they've been offering (from Hasbro Asia through Hasbro Australia) have been close to the retail prices in Japan and Asia, and therefore cheaper for most of us because of the pick-up in store option (no international shipping).

Their last five items that are coming from Asia...
MP-19+ Smokescreen - about AU$135 in Japan - AU$130 at Zing/EB
Optimus/Convoy set - about AU$160 in Japan - AU$160 at Zing/EB
MP-13 Soundwave reissue - about AU$220 in Japan - AU$220 at Zing/EB
MPM-8 Megatron - about AU$235 in Japan (it could be slightly different) - about AU$260 in Asia - AU$200 at Zing/EB
Ectotron - about AU$65 in America - about AU$90 in Asia - AU$80 at Zing/EB

TRU (and Myer) was never that good, compared to the retail prices in Asia and Japan.

If the online stores in HK and Singapore have so far been able to offer Unicron for a price that is similar to the US price, it means that Hasbro Asia are selling it to them cheap enough for them to sell at the Hasbro Pulse price and still make a minimum amount of money to cover their costs and profit. Obviously that cheaper price from Hasbro Asia to Asian online stores, than the Hasbro America price to their customers, must be due to the absence of shipping across the pacific, and that postage within America is a lot more expensive.
So I honestly don't see why we can't have Unicron offered here at Zing/EB for a similar price as Asian online stores, just as most of their other Asian Transformers exclusives.

[griffin]

I am still waiting for a response from Hasbro Australia, so want to see what sort of interest is actually in this country for this item, tagging in Zing/EB in case they weren't aware of this item, and maybe ask Hasbro about it. At least if they query the item, they will get a more prompt reply about it.

The customer service contact said that they'd pass it onto their buyers to look into it. Hopefully the two pronged approach gets a speedier result as we need a definite yes or no without it being a last minute thing.
With at least 30 people on our facebook page saying that they'd buy one, that's a guaranteed 30 grand of sales for just one item over just a week or two.

[UltraMarginal]

They'd better get their act together because I won't be leaving it to the last minute to order this, regardless of where I get it from.

[DaptoDog]

Yep my finger is on the trigger to order from Ohmyprimus now that it's confirmed they only require prepayment of a deposit plus the shipping upfront. Works out to A$278 upfront which is reasonable.

[G1Optimal]

https://youtu.be/xG7er65sVDc

[UltraMarginal]

It's mindblowingly gorgeous! I love that it's designed so you can leave it on the stand to transform.
I love that there are several elements of the transformation that mimic the film, on top of everything else we've seen.

[Trent]

They'd better get their act together because I won't be leaving it to the last minute to order this, regardless of where I get it from.

Yep.

[djanscak]

EDIT: Never mind, didn't see the thread in the Australian News section. Whoops!

Looks like Griffin's campaigning has had some results:

https://www.zingpopculture.com.au/product/collectibles/256138-transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron-27-figure
https://www.ebgames.com.au/product/loot/256138-transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron-27-figure

The blurb says the pre-order hinges on the success of the crowd funding campaign and that orders through EB/Zing count towards that total. Between a very reasonable price and the option to click and collect from my local store, the choice became a no-brainer for me. Pre-order locked in.

[UltraMarginal]

I ordered with Zing last night, for pick up in about 2 years.
Can't describe quite how excited I am about this. I sure hope we hit 8000. I am pretty sure it'll happen if theyre counting international orders like this. I mean, they'd be nuts not to.

[Krayt]

Any NZ people here??? Mightyape will sort you out

https://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron-deluxe-figure/31121619

And I spoke to a zing/eb store today. For web orders, you have to go to the store you chose for pickup to make instalments. If you picked delivery, then you are stuck waiting till the end.

[DaptoDog]

I ordered with Zing last night, for pick up in about 2 years.
Can't describe quite how excited I am about this. I sure hope we hit 8000. I am pretty sure it'll happen if theyre counting international orders like this. I mean, they'd be nuts not to.

Someone on TFW claims they are friends with an employee of one of the US resellers (BBTS, TFSource etc). Apparently that one reseller has already got 850 orders! If that is true it's in the bag.

[Joshy]

I?m assuming if the store you chose to pick up from closes down then they?ll contact you about picking a different location?
I thought there was talk not long ago about EB not doing well financially... tempted to pull the trigger on two but don?t want to be left with none

[DELTAprime]

I?m assuming if the store you chose to pick up from closes down then they?ll contact you about picking a different location?
I thought there was talk not long ago about EB not doing well financially... tempted to pull the trigger on two but don?t want to be left with none

Ok, so I asked Micheal Pachter who is a Wall Street financial analyst that covers video game companies including Gamestop (AKA EB Games) about Gamestop's financial situation. He said that if Gamestop did nothing and just let the business continue to lose money at it's current rate they still have about 7 or 8 years before they would be forced to shut down. So I figure they probably won't be shutting down stores in the next 18 months or so, especially since they have a potentially big financial win coming their way next November with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett launching.

That said they are making changes to their business so that they can survive longer than 7 to 8 years.

[Raider]

Ok, so I asked Micheal Pachter who is a Wall Street financial analyst that covers video game companies including Gamestop (AKA EB Games) about Gamestop's financial situation. He said that if Gamestop did nothing and just let the business continue to lose money at it's current rate they still have about 7 or 8 years before they would be forced to shut down. So I figure they probably won't be shutting down stores in the next 18 months or so, especially since they have a potentially big financial win coming their way next November with the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Scarlett launching.

That said they are making changes to their business so that they can survive longer than 7 to 8 years.

Joshy is correct. From what I understand, Gamestop recently had its share price drop to its lowest point in about 15 years. Together with sales revenue being down 10%, equity being down, there is talk about cost efficiencies that will be implemented which could include store closures as bricks and mortar are seen as one of their weaknesses at the moment due to the competitiveness of online stores. Now if that happens, it is likely to impact upon EB Games. If there are store closures, the EB Games website terms and conditions have some very interesting terms which, to paraphrase, let them cancel preorders at any time...

Do I think it will happen? Probably not. But then again a lot can happen in the next 18-24 months, especially with Trump sending the US economy (and global economy with it) down the toilet and talks of recessions being possible. I would not dismiss concerns based off the word of one analyst.

[BigTransformerTrev]

Joshy is correct. From what I understand, Gamestop recently had its share price drop to its lowest point in about 15 years. Together with sales revenue being down 10%, equity being down, there is talk about cost efficiencies that will be implemented which could include store closures as bricks and mortar are seen as one of their weaknesses at the moment due to the competitiveness of online stores. Now if that happens, it is likely to impact upon EB Games. If there are store closures, the EB Games website terms and conditions have some very interesting terms which, to paraphrase, let them cancel preorders at any time...

Do I think it will happen? Probably not. But then again a lot can happen in the next 18-24 months, especially with Trump sending the US economy (and global economy with it) down the toilet and talks of recessions being possible. I would not dismiss concerns based off the word of one analyst.

That’s quite interesting info - thanks for sharing man :)

[DELTAprime]

Joshy is correct. From what I understand, Gamestop recently had its share price drop to its lowest point in about 15 years. Together with sales revenue being down 10%, equity being down, there is talk about cost efficiencies that will be implemented which could include store closures as bricks and mortar are seen as one of their weaknesses at the moment due to the competitiveness of online stores. Now if that happens, it is likely to impact upon EB Games. If there are store closures, the EB Games website terms and conditions have some very interesting terms which, to paraphrase, let them cancel preorders at any time...

Do I think it will happen? Probably not. But then again a lot can happen in the next 18-24 months, especially with Trump sending the US economy (and global economy with it) down the toilet and talks of recessions being possible. I would not dismiss concerns based off the word of one analyst.

Sure, ignore what the actual financial expert says and spread some FUD.

I work at a retailer that has had a ton of FUD spread about it by the media. What is actually going on vs what the media reports is massively different. Media today doesn't care about telling a story accurately, they care about getting clicks. Saying Big W is shutting down half its stores and thousands of people will be out of work was far more "newsworthy" than the reality of the situation.

Is Gamestop in a good financial situation? No. But are they shutting down tomorrow? No.

The big three-quarters of a billion-dollar loss that we all freaked out about was just a one-off accounting thing where they had to write an investment down as a loss. It had no impact on the day to day operation of the company. If it wasn't for that accounting issue they would have made a small profit.

Don't go by media reports, it's not "fake news" but it is written in a way to get clicks instead of properly relay the facts in an easy to understand manner.

[Raider]

Sure, ignore what the actual financial expert says and spread some FUD.

I work at a retailer that has had a ton of FUD spread about it by the media. What is actually going on vs what the media reports is massively different. Media today doesn't care about telling a story accurately, they care about getting clicks. Saying Big W is shutting down half its stores and thousands of people will be out of work was far more "newsworthy" than the reality of the situation.

Is Gamestop in a good financial situation? No. But are they shutting down tomorrow? No.

The big three-quarters of a billion-dollar loss that we all freaked out about was just a one-off accounting thing where they had to write an investment down as a loss. It had no impact on the day to day operation of the company. If it wasn't for that accounting issue they would have made a small profit.

Don't go by media reports, it's not "fake news" but it is written in a way to get clicks instead of properly relay the facts in an easy to understand manner.

Ok I was just trying to elaborate on the issues. You seem to have taken it personally and had a go at me and assumed i read "fake news". I actually read the published company financial statements (I'm a commercial lawyer/accountant) together with the company's legal documents. Together with my knowledge of business structures and potentially failing business (i specialise in insolvency), i think i know - more so than you - what I'm talking about.

Perhaps my Trump comment is what really got you going given you are parroting his signature phrase.

[DELTAprime]

Ok I was just trying to elaborate on the issues. You seem to have taken it personally and had a go at me and assumed i read "fake news". I actually read the published company financial statements (I'm a commercial lawyer/accountant) together with the company's legal documents. Together with my knowledge of business structures and potentially failing business (i specialise in insolvency), i think i know - more so than you - what I'm talking about.

Perhaps my Trump comment is what really got you going given you are parroting his signature phrase.

No, it's not you.

It's the assholes trying to tell me every single week that I'm out of a job because "my store is closing down" because of some idiots in the media that cares more about getting clicks than telling the truth.

[DaptoDog]

While I do not research Gamestop shares, I am a Portfolio Manager and a large institutional shareholder of JB Hi-Fi, EB's main Australian competitor.

I see truth in each side of these perspectives. I wouldn't second guess Raider for a second. Likewise, there are some reasons to explain Gamestop's current malaise that may prove transitory. The main one is that we are at the end of the current console hardware cycle. When Sony and Microsoft release their next gen consoles, that will naturally boost the games retailers. Rumours are the PS5 will be released end 2020.

Also, my understanding is that EB Australia makes good money in Australia. If anything were to happen to its parent Gamestop, it would likely be sold assuming it remained profitable. This is a big difference to TRU in Australia which was running losses for years (therefore no-one wanted to buy it).

Fortunately it was only a $100 deposit, so the financial downside is fairly limited. Missing out on Unicron all together though would suck, no doubt about it. Unfortunately there is some level of risk going with any retailer in this situation. The lowest risk would be to order from Hasbro US direct, but it will be significantly more expensive than the local alternative.

[Raider]

Couldn't agree more mate. I thought you would be best placed to chime in on this subject. Risk is low but still there. Not enough to concern me though. As you point out, this is not a TRU situation.

[Ozgardian]

Next time I transform my toys i'm putting on a tuxedo =)

Thankyou again to eveyone here for bring this primal God to our shores!!!

[Ralph Wiggum]

For what its worth and not wanting to derail the thread, I don?t believe EB Games/Zing is going bust anytime soon. At the very least they have expanded their business model by going into pop culture merchandise, they are pretty aggressive with their sales and their second hand games/hardware business gives them a slight edge over competitors (who are cheaper, but EB easily price match).

Their woes I think are those faced by every other retailer and/or brick & mortar store right now - a sluggish economy with high overheads costs not being met due to reduced consumer spending. A massive, majority shift towards digital downloads is what I believe could be a mortal blow to EB games. But as long as we continue to have crappy internet, then physical copy gaming, at least for consoles, will continue to survive.

But ultimately if you?re afraid of EB games /Zing going down the tubes, then just put down the $100 deposit and wait until pickup day before you pay off the rest. Losing $100 would suck, but not as much as $848.

[llamatron]

Not sure I understand the logic of voluntarily paying off the cost in installments prior to release. That money is better off with you until you go in and pick up Unicron.

[Raider]

Not sure I understand the logic of voluntarily paying off the cost in installments prior to release. That money is better off with you until you go in and pick up Unicron.

It's like a forced saving account I guess. It prevents the money being used for another purpose. Not everyone can afford an expensive item like this in one hit. Wouldn't want to come time to pay and not have the funds.

[griffin]

Not sure I understand the logic of voluntarily paying off the cost in installments prior to release. That money is better off with you until you go in and pick up Unicron.

Some people like me might find it too tempting having that money there to spend on other things so might prefer to have someone else "look after it"... and it won't feel like a big expense when picking up the toy... almost like getting a pre-paid present.

[DELTAprime]

Some people like me might find it too tempting having that money there to spend on other things so might prefer to have someone else "look after it"... and it won't feel like a big expense when picking up the toy... almost like getting a pre-paid present.

I like the ability to pay off preorders ahead of time and having the money in my accounts makes it too easy to spend it on things I haven't budgeted for. That said I have about a year and a half to pay off Unicron so I'm not exactly going to be rushing to pay him off.

[Sinnertwin]

Yeah, like Ralph said, I'll drop a hunge on the P/O then squirrel away a bit each month for 2 years.

[Krayt]

Mines paid for by this years tax man.... so seeming that hit my bank today, I got my order in and put down 70% of the funds straight away. Basically worry free between now and when he arrives.... except where to put it

[Paulbot]

They’ve announced HasLab Cookie Monster’s accessory (a cookie) today.

It’s only got 455 backers of the 3000 target (15%) with 12 days left.

Unicron is doing better (31% with 18 days left).

[Raider]

They’ve announced HasLab Cookie Monster’s accessory (a cookie) today.

It’s only got 455 backers of the 3000 target (15%) with 12 days left.

Unicron is doing better (31% with 18 days left).

It will be interesting to see how the number comes up on the final day once all the international orders are added to the list. My money is on it going well over the 8,000 units.

[griffin]

So if the last two HasLab crowd-funded toys had bonus items announced before the closing date... what do people think Unicron WILL come with... and what do you think Unicron SHOULD come with (if something different to what you think is most likely).

[UltraMarginal]

They’ve announced HasLab Cookie Monster’s accessory (a cookie) today.

It’s only got 455 backers of the 3000 target (15%) with 12 days left.

Unicron is doing better (31% with 18 days left).

A thought just occurred, I wonder if HASLAB are using Cookie Monster as an example of them sticking to their guns if something doesn't meet the target to scare more people off the fence into ordering Unicron?

[Trent]

A thought just occurred, I wonder if HASLAB are using Cookie Monster as an example of them sticking to their guns if something doesn't meet the target to scare more people off the fence into ordering Unicron?

https://i.imgur.com/5o8vdbT.jpg

[DaptoDog]

My rectally sourced projection:

Hasbro US Direct: 5,000
US Resellers: 3,000 (supposedly one already has ~1,000 orders)
TTMall: 1,500
Asia ex Japan + Australia/NZ: 1,500
Total: 11,000

[Ralph Wiggum]

I shall also pull numbers out of my poop hole:

Hasbro US Direct: 3000 (I figure lower numbers because whos gonna pay full upfront when you can just preorder with a deposit?)
US Resellers: 2500
TTMall: 1000
Asia ex Japan: 1000
Australia/NZ: 499
Total: 7999 :) :) :)

[MayzaPrime]

We should do a Poll to see how many people have ordered from this site...

[Krayt]

So if the last two HasLab crowd-funded toys had bonus items announced before the closing date... what do people think Unicron WILL come with... and what do you think Unicron SHOULD come with (if something different to what you think is most likely).

Spare butt cheek with Dino damage!!!

Or to tie to G1 comics, a flat scorponok melted figure

[Paulbot]

Spare butt cheek with Dino damage!!!

Or to tie to G1 comics, a flat scorponok melted figure

Eye beams like MP Dinobot get my vote

[UltraMarginal]

So if the last two HasLab crowd-funded toys had bonus items announced before the closing date... what do people think Unicron WILL come with... and what do you think Unicron SHOULD come with (if something different to what you think is most likely).

I think a hand full of painted decoys would be good, a second bracket so you can hang it from the ceiling,
replacement panels/eyes representing damage as shown in the movie.

[Raider]

So if the last two HasLab crowd-funded toys had bonus items announced before the closing date... what do people think Unicron WILL come with... and what do you think Unicron SHOULD come with (if something different to what you think is most likely).

I'd like to see a mini painted galvatron that he could swallow or a spare head with damage after he gets kinds of matrix f^&*ed up.

[DaptoDog]

I'd like to see a mini painted galvatron that he could swallow

This is what I envisaged too.

[Other]

A model of the ship he gifts Galatron would be good

[hYpNoS]

A model of the ship he gifts GalVatron would be good

One in scale hell yeah!

[DELTAprime]

Spare butt cheek with Dino damage!!!

And miniature Dinobots to go along with it.

[Borgeman]

I'd love to see a half consumed moonbase that sits inside his jaws/held by his mandibles.

I also reckon an attachable transparent cylindrical beam that emanates from his mouth in planet mode when he speaks would be cool. Bonus points if a mini damaged megatron was hanging inside it.

[BigTransformerTrev]

All of the above (mini-Galvatron, the starship, dino butt-damage etc) are really good ideas - liking it! :)

Of course there is no way it would happen, but how cool would it be if his chest opened up to show inside details such as the tentacle claws or the acid vat with tiny bots hanging above.


We should do a Poll to see how many people have ordered from this site...

That's a pretty good idea too :)

I did a poll on my Transformatorium FB page and got the following:
22 ordering through EB/ZING
5 not buying at all
1 Undecided

So only 28 out of 116 voted but it's a small bit of info I guess.

[Krayt]

You need an option for those getting multiple :-P

Asked the local, there are 3 ordered to the store so far

[BigTransformerTrev]

You need an option for those getting multiple :-P

I considered trying to sell my missus on the idea of buying a ton of them to flog for 3 times the price in 10 years time. But to be honest I reckon I'm lucky that she didn't mind too much when I put in my ZING order for one without checking with her first ;)

[Krayt]

From the link below, images and details of the Head being removable, and having two faceplates - one normal and one damaged to replicate the floating severed head at the end of the 1986 Movie.

https://comicbook.com/2019/08/15/transformers-unicron-haslab-removable-head-video/

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2019/081601.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2019/081602.jpg

[Raider]

a spare head with damage after he gets kinds of matrix f^&*ed up.

Picked it :p

Come on give us a mini galvatron!

[BigTransformerTrev]

Is it a spare head, or is the head of the actual toy removable and modifiable?

Looks like Movieverse Optimus had a go at him :eek:

[Sinnertwin]

Is it a spare head, or is the head of the actual toy removable and modifiable?

Looks like Movieverse Optimus had a go at him :eek:

Removable

[Jellico]

Are the eyes Metroplex/Trypticon compatible? :rolleyes:

[DaptoDog]

According to someone well connected on TFW, Robot Kingdom has already taken over 500 orders.

[Bladestorm]

According to someone well connected on TFW, Robot Kingdom has already taken over 500 orders.

I am not surprised.
I would also speculate several of the HK stores who have it up for pre-order probably have several hundred (at least) ordered as well. It will be a popular item over there despite its size. Collectors are willing to pay for a decent figure they want no matter who makes it.

[griffin]

Edited Krayt's post above to replace the hotlinked image with some mirrored images, and added these details....

From the link below, images and details of the Head being removable, and having two faceplates - one normal and one damaged to replicate the floating severed head at the end of the 1986 Movie.

https://comicbook.com/2019/08/15/transformers-unicron-haslab-removable-head-video/

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2019/081601.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2019/081602.jpg


(can anyone see the video that is supposed to be at that link? I tried the page on two different browsers, and all I got was a blank rectangle where the video is supposed to be.)


I am not surprised.
I would also speculate several of the HK stores who have it up for pre-order probably have several hundred (at least) ordered as well. It will be a popular item over there despite its size. Collectors are willing to pay for a decent figure they want no matter who makes it.

I think Asian outlets got the same deal EB/Zing did - a price similar to America, and not needing to pay until its release in 2021... and it was probably available to all of the toystores over there, and not be exclusive to just one.

[Krayt]

(can anyone see the video that is supposed to be at that link? I tried the page on two different browsers, and all I got was a blank rectangle where the video is supposed to be.)

Works fine on my iPad....

[griffin]

The Hasbro Pulse page (https://hasbropulse.com/products/transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron) has added a video promoting the planet mode details (screen shots can be seen here (https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/08/20/haslab-unicron-planet-mode-promotional-video-394876)), and another transformation video in colour this time, which is also on youtube embedded below...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSy30Jy90YM

DON'T FORGET - you only have a little over a week to pre-order this from Zing or EB Games in Australia.

(is anyone else who is planning to get this, NOT watching these transformation videos just so it doesn't spoil the fun of working it out... or do you think that you'll probably forget by the time it is released, so shouldn't spoil the toy too much)

[Ozgardian]

Spike bands appear to be rubber.

[griffin]

Another video posted up on youtube covering the removable head and face feature that was revealed a few days ago...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDMa8z3ZldI

(I think they really should stop showing the face without any face-plate, as it is really creepy, and looks like something is wrong with the toy.)

[philby]

From the transformers FB page:


Thanks for all your #UNICRON questions! Ben & Ran from the Transformers team have answered some of your burning questions. Visit HasbroPulse.com for the full Q&A.
ONE MORE UPDATE! We?re excited to share that 1,500 UNICRON supporters around the globe that have backed the project through Hasbro affiliated retailers will bring us much closer to the 8,000 backer goal.

So that takes it to about 4500 backers so far, with a week to go.

[Magnus]

It's worth pointing out that the last Haslab project, Jabba's sail barge, experienced a surge in backers in the last week, (http://jedibusiness.com/articles.aspx/3059) possibly due to a combination of people saving up for the deposit and people who had previously put off placing an order for whatever other reason. This may also happen with Unicron. Also, international pre-orders may not be fully counted until the window closes.

[philby]

they only did the initial run of the sail barge yeah? not any more or retail release? as time goes on the laybuy/deposit only option locally is really handy. im wary because i rushed and got the lego ultimate millenium falcon straight away when that came out but because of the size it has sat unbuilt in a wardrobe and since then it has been on sale multiple times over the last year or so. so i could have waited a while and got one cheaper since i havent used it yet.
i have the platinum edition unicron release from a couple of years ago which i have transformed once and generally just sits there. so i kinda dont want to buy this mega expensive mega huge size figure of something i already have, especially if it comes out later and gets discounted.

but then again this is history and the biggest thing ever and looks really nice....
argh

[Magnus]

The sail barge has only had the one production run. Just before Hasbro started shipping them, they apparently made a small number available on eBay.

I can understand your reluctance, because it's not a small amount of money you'll be dropping, but I recommend placing a pre-order anyway if you're hesitating. If you change your mind or regret it, you can always sell it on, and I doubt you'll have trouble finding a buyer.

[DELTAprime]

The other Haslab project that has been running simultaneously with Unicron has wrapped up. Cookie Monster has failed to meet it's target. https://hasbropulse.com/products/cookie-monster

[reillyd]

We're not going to see this heading to mass-market retail (Khetanna is never going on clearance), and at worst if you can't afford to buy the final price you're only out the deposit. If they'd had a payment plan, or a deposit scheme, then they'd have made the required number of backers.
My only hope is that there's a delay in processing data for overseas retailers, Takara Tomy Mall, and Hasbro China, HK.
They've put a HELL of a lot of design resources into making this toy already, and it would discourage further Haslab productions.

[Jazzman]

Yeah if Hasbro China hasn't been counted yet that may be all that's necessary... Really want to know how many Aussie backers there are

[BigTransformerTrev]

With less than 6 days to go, for those still undecided or intending to order here is a list of all the places you can order Unicron and their comparative prices:

Hasbro Pulse (https://hasbropulse.com/products/transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron)
Price: $574.99US
Shipping: Unknown

BigBadToyStore (https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/VariationDetails/97919)
Price: $774.99(US)
Postage: Unknown but estimated could be around $400
Downpayment: $155.00(US) (non-refundable)

RobotKingdom (http://www.robotkingdom.com/e6830.html)
Price: $585.00(US)
Postage: $250.00(US)
Downpayment: $175.00(US). Full payment due when production is confirmed.

OhMyPrimus (https://ohmyprimus.com/htwfcsuc.html)
Price: $850.00(S)
Postage: $110.00(S)
Dowpayment: $80.00(S)

Collection.Toys (https://collecticontoys.com/products/transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron)
Price: $869.99(US)
Postage: Via EMS only and predicted to be very expensive
Downpayment: Need to email them directly

TakaraTomyMall (https://takaratomymall.jp/shop/g/g8000000001310/)
Price: ¥75,600
Postage: TBA

The Chosen Prime (https://www.thechosenprime.com/TFGenWFCUnicron)
Price: $774.99(US)
Downpayment: $175(US)
Postage: TBA

ToyBot Importz (https://www.toybotimportz.com.au/search?q=unicron)
Price: $874.00(AU)
Downpayment: Unknown but you get 5 months to pay it off.
Postage: Unknown

TFS-Express (http://preorder.tfs-express.com/war-for-cybertron-siege/-1329-transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron.html?search_query=unicron&results=1)
Price: £599.00
Downpayment: Option available
Postage: Unknown

Zing (https://www.zingpopculture.com.au/product/collectibles/256138-transformers-war-for-cybertron-unicron-27-figure)
Price: $848(AU)
Downpayment: $100(AU)
Postage: Free Pick-up in store!


Comparison of Prices in Aussie Dollars
Hasbro Pulse - $834.17
ZING/EB - $848
Robot Kingdom - $848.69
ToyBot Importz - $874.00
OhMyPrimus - $901.11
TTMall - $1010.32
TFS-Express: $1072.03
The Chosen Prime - $1124.31
BBTS - $1124.31
Collection.Toys - $1262.14

[DELTAprime]

Not sure if this is the same thing that happened with the Kehtanna where the last week saw a big jump in people backing the project or if the international orders are now being added, but anyway Unicron is now at 4814 backers. I believe that's over 1000 backers in the last day or so.

[Paulbot]

Just announced:

Galvatron and interchangeable beards (https://au.ign.com/articles/2019/08/27/hasbros-gigantic-unicron-figure-will-come-with-a-galvatron-figure-and-interchangeable-beard-accessories)


It's up to you to decide if you prefer your Unicron's chin smooth or bearded, with both options now part of the Unicron figure. But better than chin choices, the figure includes a 1.5-inch Galvatron figure to recreate one of the most iconic scenes from the Transformers animated movie.

Galvatron's scale makes it "just the right size to fit in Unicron’s hand, as seen in the 1986 film."

[DaptoDog]

Mini Galvatron figure and beard accessory confirmed by IGN!

https://au.ign.com//articles/2019/08/27/hasbros-gigantic-unicron-figure-will-come-with-a-galvatron-figure-and-interchangeable-beard-accessories

Edit: Haha you beat me to it.

[hYpNoS]

I feel this isn't enough to sway people over into backing.

I can't blame them if they're Australian considering while this is still THE biggest transformer its not much bigger than the previously biggest...who was a retool of metroplex, at $99 from big w back in the day.

Seems silly to think like that but that's what nearly stopped me a few times with past titans, I can't be the only stingy person thinking like that, let alone other people who are thinking more...reasonable price limits for their collections.

[Other]

Size doesn't mean jack, Titan Metroplex/Fort Max are incredibly simple figures in comparison and are much lighter than the listed weight of this Unicron. So what if he's not incredibly taller than them, he's way more complex in design and has a good deal more mass to him.

[Raider]

Just announced:

Galvatron and interchangeable beards (https://au.ign.com/articles/2019/08/27/hasbros-gigantic-unicron-figure-will-come-with-a-galvatron-figure-and-interchangeable-beard-accessories)

Picked it! Haha. Nice little touch. Glad they are still hyping it with more features.

[griffin]

It has now passed the 5,000 mark... as I imagine that the Americans who held off until the last few days to see if they could afford the big financial hit, are now placing their orders.

Kinda disappointed at the two extra accessories, and hope that isn't all we are getting (to be fair, Unicron doesn't need anything extra to sell itself... I can't imagine that there would be anyone now suddenly deciding to buy Unicron BECAUSE it comes with a Galvatron figurine and spare chin).

The second chin to make it look more like the 1986 Movie face should have been the original chin for this toy anyway, as that's what this toy is supposed to be replicating. And the first chin version it comes with looks like a 2 pointed chin anyway because of the blue patch in the middle.

And a closeup of the Galvatron figurine (https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/08/27/haslab-unicron-crowdfunding-galvatron-mini-figure-and-interchangeable-beard-accessories-images-395453) looks really bad (to me)... I hope the actual version has better detailing and paint.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2019/082803.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2019/082801.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2019/082802.jpg

[UltraMarginal]

That teeny little galvatron is a 3D printed part, unless you're using a premium printer, something that size with that much detail is going to look pretty mangy. I would prefer if that little galvatron had elbows and knees. I think the model they have there is just a single piece.

I do like the chin options, I think if you look at the movie, it changes from one to the other as the movie progresses. animation accuracy and all that.