Hasbro Platinum Edition Unicron

[Borgeman]

Argh this drives me nuts. Grab your Unicron, transform it to planet mode, set it down, and look at it from the side. IT IS A BLOODY SPHERE! It's not "half round", it just looks that way if viewed from above. Sorry, pet hate.

Yeah, slice it however you want, its not a sphere. Its not a bad effort mind you, but the bottom section is blocky. When people talk of getting a round one they mean something more akin to primus or the vader/death star toy.

[UltraMarginal]

Yeah, slice it however you want, its not a sphere. Its not a bad effort mind you, but the bottom section is blocky. When people talk of getting a round one they mean something more akin to primus or the vader/death star toy.

That's pretty much my hope

[5FDP]

Yeah, slice it however you want, its not a sphere. Its not a bad effort mind you, but the bottom section is blocky.

Cue the music "I like round butts and I cannot lie"

[GoktimusPrime]

Unicron was always going to be a difficult toy to make because it's based on a cartoon model which largely ignores laws of reality and has much of its outside shell disappearing into thin air. So your options are either to:
* Have a round planetoid mode but with a rotund robot mode. The G1 Unicron toy (which never made it past the prototype phase) suffered from this. The Beast Wars Unicron toy was better but still not as great as the Armada one that we got in the end.
* Have a good looking robot mode but sacrifice the rotundness of the planetoid mode. This was the option that they went with Armada Unicron.
* Use MP level engineering and absorb a lot of the outer shell into the robot mode. We've seen TakaraTOMY achieve engineering marvels with toys like MP Ironhide/Ratchet. But to do this at Unicron's scale may make the toy hideously expensive. Armada Unicron is still basically a toy that was designed for kids to play with, much like say Henkei/Universe Deluxe Ironhide/Ratchet. Deluxe Ironhide/Ratchet was around the $30 range vs MP Ironhide/Ratchet who are about $130 at full RRP, so more than quadruple times the price of the Deluxe. Armada Unicron sold for $145, so an MP-level Unicron may cost around $600. No Transformer has ever cost that much... it would double the price of a G1 Fortress Maximus. Yeah... no.

[MEEEGGGAAATTTRRROOONNN!!!]

...so an MP-level Unicron may cost around $600...

Most of us are likely to spend that much (or more) just to get the three MP Coneheads, so compared to them, I think an MP Unicron at that price would be good value!

[UltraMarginal]

Gok I think you're trivialising the complexity of the Generations Ironhide/Ratchet Mould. Design, parts count wise, just because something is larger doesn't necessarily mean costs/prices will increase linearly.

Either way, I think perhaps a couple/few hundred Dollars for a round Unicron that hides/incorporates logically, most of the round surfaces of the planet mode into the robot mode would be a welcome addition to my collection.

Every time they re-release the Armada toy with new paint and mouldings to make it more G1 movie accurate I get closer to buying it though.

[Sinnertwin]

Hmmm...

[reillyd]

I agree partly with Goktimus about the extra engineering and complexity involved for a MP Style Unicron, but I can't see Takara devoting SO much resources to a product at that sort of price point. While I would personally buy it, you'd have a reduced volume of sales, and when Takara has gone BIG (Encore Metroplex, Fortress Maximus, etc) they've been shelf warmers.

If it were a choice between say a new Encore release of Overlord or Scorponok and a MP Unicron, I know which would sell more and be less of a financial risk.

[5FDP]

Hmmm...

^ Witchcraft!!!!

[Bladestorm]

Well, looks like I have my son's Xmas present sorted.
He's been hounding me for a Unicron for over 6 months.

Hope we get to see a prototype of it soon.