Transformer Statues

[griffin]

Prime 1 Studios Megatron (WFC Siege), at about 30cm and probably very expensive... to go with a WFC Siege Optimus statue.

Meanwhile, Threezero have revealed a new Gen1 Bumblebee, at a smaller size size of about 12cm, that is highly detailed, and (only) us$60.

[griffin]

A new reveal by Prime-1 Studios of some upcoming statues of theirs... and some look very big, so are probably very expensive.
The big one is DOTM Jetwing Optimus, which is almost 1 meter tall!
Two others are WFC Optimus and Megatron (separate statues).
And a teaser of ROTF Sideswipe.

The two big and VERY expensive WFC statues of Optimus and Megatron by Prime-1 Studios have been cancelled, a year after they were revealed, due to lack of interest.
They also note rising costs, but that wouldn't have been a factor for lack of interest, as the people interested in these sorts of things are already willing to spend over a thousand dollars on a non-playable $50 toy, so would be willing to pay a little bit more if the price went up a little more. Rising costs wouldn't have doubled the price of these, so the level of demand on pre-orders would not have significantly changed the numbers to meet their minimum orders.

Don't get me wrong, I think the detailing on most of these is spectacular, but I like most "toy" collectors, don't value spending over a thousand dollars on just one item, that doesn't do much or anything... unless you are a dedicated fan of a specific character.

These are a couple of youtube videos of one person in America who has a large collection of statues, including about a dozen Transformers ones, and he mentions the retail price of a few of them (which would be about double in Australian dollars, or more if you include shipping, as the big ones are said to be about 40kgs).



This one shows the construction of his biggest one, DOTM Shockwave, which ships in 4 massive boxes and took over an hour to build - I was surprised at first how many parts are involved, but then realised that it makes more sense to get all of that movie-universe detailing than it would with a single piece (or small number pieces) moulded item.



Watching the construction video made me interested in having something massive like that, as a one-off premium visual figure for visitors, but OMG the cost... it would be close to my annual toy budget, so I'd have to sacrifice buying toys for a year just to justify getting it.

[griffin]

After the recent announcement of cancellations, Prime1 Studios have also made announcements of upcoming proposed projects (subject to pre-order demand).

The new items include mv1 Megatron, mv3 Sideswipe, Busts of the Dreads Crankcase and Crowbar, and their feature item - Beast Wars Dragon (Transmetal 2) Megatron.
The Dragon Megatron looks to be the large size scale (about 60cm tall) and is very stylised... and has Megatron crushing Transmetal Tarantulas on the base.

[KELPIE]

Statue collector here, I think the main issue with the pieces cancelled are more because they are direct replicas of the figures and aren't better than the ones that have come before. The fact that the show was terrible couldn't have helped either.

Might be worth mentioning this one from Diamond Distributions due out in September:

[griffin]

Two years in the making and this Sixshot statue (crushing Ultra Magnus) by Azure Studios, is still just in the prototype stage... so is still some way off from release.

This one will be 85cm tall, and based on previous big statues with this much detail, this will be very expensive... but is nice to look at.

[KELPIE]

It's up on BBTS now... expensive is being generous, $3k USD. As someone who's happily bought some pretty expensive statues in the past, these Azure statues are out of my budget... at least unless they give us a Brainstorm (they seem to be basing a lot of their character choices from the IDW comics).

[KELPIE]

Diamond Distributions Grimlock:

[griffin]

The rest of the images, from the watermark in those pics.

[KELPIE]

Grimlock has sown up on BBTS at a very affordable $124.99 USD compared to Diamond Selects previous release of Galvatron at $449.99.

It does mean that he's PVC compared to Resin, however it's not a bad compromise and puts it in line with the G.I.Joe statue releases.



The risk here is if Iron Studios ever gets the Transformers license, their scale, price point and design aesthetics will be going up against these. They do great work and if you were collecting a set, they'd be the ones to go for.

[KELPIE]

Just got an email stating that the Diamond Selects Galvatron has been cancelled



Such a shame, I was really looking forward to him.