I actually love the fact that these two Encores were very poorly received. I just scored both of them from Hong Kong for $20 + shipping. Made a great stuffer in with a MOSC Talon, as well as replacements for my 2 Classics versions which are sun yellowed like nobody's business.

I actually find that I have mixed feelings about the encores, specifically Ratchet.

I'll get into the bad first. The palms on Rathcet. On the Classics and original versions, they used a sticker. Sure, it eventually got lost but when it was new, it at least looked like a sold white square and blended in well.

While with the encore version, they made a step in the right direction by painting the palms in white, they probably needed another 2-3 coats of white on there for it to be effective. As it stands, it honestly looks transparent.

In terms of engineering, it would have been great had they altered the turret gun slightly to allow for clearance under the van when the gun is stored there in vehicle mode (1-2mm would do it easily). Much like every other release of the mold, it cannot roll when kitted out in vehicle mode.

However these are minor complaints in light of what they did do right (something which going back to at least the Classics release, Hasbro didn't) was that they actually made both launchers fire.

Honestly, with how unpopular they are these 2 are a no brainer to buy. They're still great toys, but not only that; depending on where you buy them, if members here have kids who love G1 toys, it's a great way to give them something decent without breaking the budget.

EDIT: To clarify, when I said these were a no brainer to pick up, I meant on eBay. I'm probably "preaching to the choir" here, but comic shops and the like will charge you upwards of $70 each for these guys. eBay in comparison usually has them as a pair for no more than $30-40+shipping, making them great little package stuffers..