Yes
No
Only if cheap
Only if something else
Not interested
Having a chance today to transform from truck to robot mode, I found a couple of odd things, that maybe indicate some changes between prototype stage and final product.
- The legs (rear section of trailer) have red panels on the outside that are held in place with a pin, but don't move. The red part, which is different to the outer panel on Ultra Magnus in the same spot, is sculpted at the hindge to not move, so why have a pin there? Maybe it was originally meant to move to make the legs more slender.
- On the box, the roof of the cab (both with or without the trailer), has the robot shoulder panels still plugged in, to stick out more and cover the fake (?) smokestacks that are in the wrong spot, but are on the arms for the benefit of the small robot having them on the outside of the arms of this toy and of Ultra Magnus. The images on the box are likely an earlier prototype, as those shoulder pads in the big robot mode that have the fake truck front on them, may have been meant to stay on there in both truck modes, but are now too wide to have both fit back there when the arms are folded back... which is a shame, as the truck cabs look a bit better on the box pics, and makes it a little less parts-formery by not needing to have them plug into the back of the truck just to use them up in truck mode.
Just repeating what has been said often before... Retail prices in 2005 do not compare to retail prices in 2019, particularly after an item is no longer in-stock at retail. Once that happens, the secondary market's supply-demand ratio dictates the "price point". A popular toy will usually cost more than its original retail, a less popular or obscure toy will usually cost less than its original retail.