The Random Transformers Thoughts Thread

[Ozgardian]

Heh, I just read Zelda Williams (daughter of the late, great Robin Williams) will be voice acting in RID S3.

I wonder what character she will be playing?

[Paulbot]

I know some people are really good at keeping track of their TF purchasing but I always fall off on my efforts.

But looking back at an older spreadsheet and it's actually quite a nostalgia trip to go back and see how long some items have been in my collection.

Like looking at 2008. I recall buying a BW Rattrap at a Fair not that long ago, but find it was actually 8 years ago! Same with MP4 at Target - that was in store 8 years ago? I bought some BW toys from Verno that year too (Did I?). So many movie toys.

[Borgeman]

I know some people are really good at keeping track of their TF purchasing but I always fall off on my efforts.

But looking back at an older spreadsheet and it's actually quite a nostalgia trip to go back and see how long some items have been in my collection.

Like looking at 2008. I recall buying a BW Rattrap at a Fair not that long ago, but find it was actually 8 years ago! Same with MP4 at Target - that was in store 8 years ago? I bought some BW toys from Verno that year too (Did I?). So many movie toys.

I had a spreadsheet from back in the day, but it's completely vanished! I've gone through my pc a dozen times in the past 8 months or so but nada. I don't delete files like that (i have some really old stuff on my pc still) so I've just completely messed up somewhere along the line

[GoktimusPrime]

Games Infinity in Sydney's Market City appears to have closed down now (may have happened yonks ago - I haven't been to Market City in ages ). If so, I wonder if this marks the end of specialist collectible stores in Sydney (is that little place near the Capitol Theatre still running? Haven't checked it out in many years ). Given Games Infinity's notorious rip-off prices (even for imports) I'm surprised that they managed to stay open as long as they have. Part of me is saddened to see the last vestige of brick and mortar import stores disappear from Sydney, although in reality they died off years ago when the good importers like Cartoon Gallery, Modeller's World etc. closed down. Games Infinity's prices were far beyond their competitors and we used to laugh at them and they earnt the nickname of "Games Insanity." It's odd that they should have been the last to go though.

It was an inevitability though. Brick and mortar importers are subject to government import taxes, levies, duties etc. A mate of mine used to work at Modeller's World and he explained to me that approximately 50% of their prices was in government imposed duties, which explained why their toys cost twice as much as what you paid in Japan. Basically, these import stores were charging the same RRP as what you'd pay in Japan, but once you add duties on top of it, you ended up paying about double. So a toy that cost $35 in Japan cost $70 here, with half of that being earnt by the store and the other half going into our government's coffers.

The rise of e-shopping has obviously out-competed brick and mortar specialist stores. It became all too easy for Aussies to pre-order Japanese imports from places like HLJ and pay the same RRP as people in Japan (or cheaper with early bird discounts), vs paying double RRP at the average import shop (or triple (or more) at places like Games Infinity ). And this was before Australian-based online dealers like Premium Collectables came along. Perhaps it's the rise of AU-based e-stores that are now pushing out the last of the import stores here.

I suppose that Aussie importers do still exist, but as online stores now rather than brick and mortar shop fronts. I was never really able to support the old brick and mortar shops in the old days (although I did often like window shopping there ) because as much as I want to support local business, I couldn't justify paying double prices for all my Japanese toys. But I'm more than happy to support online Aussie business like PC wherever possible.

[DELTAprime]

I know some people are really good at keeping track of their TF purchasing but I always fall off on my efforts.

I stopped filling out my spreadsheet last year. Given that I'm simply buying current release Takara Generations and Masterpiece I don't feel the need to fill in a spreadsheet anymore.

Actually I think the spreadsheet method just made me spend more money. I would look at a line like Henkei and see I was only missing say 5 figures from the entire line and then I would go hunt them down for completion sake. Now that I don't look at the spreadsheet anymore I don't feel the need to go back and fill in the blanks. As for the Henkei line I never got Armada Hotshot or the second Minibot set and I feel fine about it now.

[griffin]

I still keep track of my purchases... just not the amount I spend, as it's best that I don't know.

[BruiseLee]

I still keep track of my purchases... just not the amount I spend, as it's best that I don't know.

Hehe, I think it would be easier for you to keep track of the things you don't have!

[UltraMarginal]

I wonder if they'll ever release non-Titan/Headmaster versions of Titan Return figures in the future. Example, versions of Galvatron, Scourge, Blurr that uses their TR bodies but excludes the titanmasters gimmick. They'd need to be retooled of course, but I wouldn't mind seeing such toys, even if they have to parts-form the heads (where the heads, non-transforming, just get plugged in similar to a Combiner hand/foot).

The thought popped up in my head when I was mucking around with Scourge. The nice thing about TR scourge is that the alt-mode (space ship) is accurate to the original toy and the robot proportions are more impressive than the 2010 Generations toy. My only slight nitpick with the TR toy is that the titanmaster gimmick makes the head a bit too square for my liking. Ideally, to me, Scourge's head is bucket-shaped (like Windcharger, Megatron, and Skydive) but with a gun on top. If I had the time, skill, and means (i.e. a 3D printer), I'd probably try to sculpt my own non-transforming Scourge head.

If you can model up a head you can get it printed on a website like shapeways. granted it's not a cheap way of doing it. there might be something more local you could use for the first go or two before you finalised the design.

with regards to the Titan returns figures being remoulded. I get why the headmasters are headmasters but I feel making everyone a headmaster is really effecting the engineering of the other toys. Voyager Galvatron for example. the face mask looks pretty mediocre and a huge section of the chest it Taken up with the flip out mask gimmick when a smaller amount of the chest could be used for that and the unused space may have been utilised in making the transformation and other modes more homogenous.
The current design of both Megatron and Alpha trion uses up a massive amount of body space for the gimmick and both have extremely restricted head movement. Good head movement is one of the features that gave the Combiner Wars toys so much character.
Scourge has a massive amount of his core being used up for a cockpit for the titan master, I would like to see what might have been if he was not a headmaster and didn't need a cockpit. it might have allowed for those ridiculous flaps on the underside of his alt mode to go somewhere else.

I still keep track of my purchases... just not the amount I spend, as it's best that I don't know.

Hehe, I think it would be easier for you to keep track of the things you don't have!

True that.

[FatalityPitt]

If you can model up a head you can get it printed on a website like shapeways. granted it's not a cheap way of doing it. there might be something more local you could use for the first go or two before you finalised the design.

with regards to the Titan returns figures being remoulded. I get why the headmasters are headmasters but I feel making everyone a headmaster is really effecting the engineering of the other toys. Voyager Galvatron for example. the face mask looks pretty mediocre and a huge section of the chest it Taken up with the flip out mask gimmick when a smaller amount of the chest could be used for that and the unused space may have been utilised in making the transformation and other modes more homogenous.
The current design of both Megatron and Alpha trion uses up a massive amount of body space for the gimmick and both have extremely restricted head movement. Good head movement is one of the features that gave the Combiner Wars toys so much character.
Scourge has a massive amount of his core being used up for a cockpit for the titan master, I would like to see what might have been if he was not a headmaster and didn't need a cockpit. it might have allowed for those ridiculous flaps on the underside of his alt mode to go somewhere else.






True that.

Yeah, I checked out shapeways. Someone there is selling fan-made faces for TR Scourge. But shipping, for something so small, is outrageously expensive. Also, looking at the sizes, I don't think they're big enough to cover the titan master arms; which really are the culprit for my little first-world problem with Scourge.

It's definietly possible to make versions of Galvatron and Scourge without the Titanmaster gimmick. For Galvatron, the head could flip up from where the mask is. It's a pretty ample cavity that can well and truly fit a whole head. For Scourge, if it weren't for the cockpit, the head could've easily been made retractable by attaching it at the top of the 'spine' that gets pulled up and down during transformation (if you've played with the toy, you'd see where I'm coming from).

As for the flaps that make Scourge's shins, they don't bother me too much, but I can see that if they changed the transformation by having the lower legs turned the other way (so the side exterior of the space ship makes the shins instead of the calves); they could've excluded thos flaps. Problem with excluding the flaps is that Scourge will then have hollow legs like CW Bombshell.

To sum up - it's definitely possible for some TR toys (namely Galvatron and Scourge) to be re-made without the Titanmaster gimmick. Question is; will Hasbro/Takara do that if enough fans clamoured long and hard enough?..