Unleash the backpack & leg folds comments!
Unleash the backpack & leg folds comments!
The back is better than I expected. I do want to try and get this.
He's so far out of my price range he may as well be made of solid gold and come with a manservant to transform him for you, but I'm really looking forward to the youtube videos. Coming into Siege semi-cold with very limited exposure to modern Transformers I've been really impressed by the engineering in some of their transformations, but if this guy legit unfolds into his planet form, rather than having all those shell bits detach and reattach, that'll be quite a thing to watch.
Although it's got me thinking, since the whole thing is essentially a shell around the robot (barring I assume the back of his torso being the bit with the mouth mechanism?), now whenever I see him in planet mode I'm going to be imagining robot Unicron crammed into it like it's a giant pokeball.
To those who are worried about where to store or display it, can I share a solution that works well for me? I'd always kept toys at home, but I started bringing a few to work to have on my desk. Other people showed off their eccentricities and I thought why shouldn't i? Half of me expected judgment, and I was actually surprised at how many people LIKED them. And how many students would pick them up and play with them.
Then I realised, I have a HUGE office with lots of unused shelving. It fits most of my new toy purchases, and then I eventually bring them home when I need room. But it could totally fit me a Unicron.
If you have a secure employment and casual workplace, just use THEIR space to supplement your own! Simples!
Also, for those with shed envy, consider just HOW much you'd be willing to pay out for a new cool toy .... and if you're interested in Unicron, its big bucks. So look into external storage sheds if you don't have room/space to build one at home or are renting. It's not going to be affordable for everyone, but people who were even tempted at Unicron - you might be able to find one more affordable than you'd expect.
Not that I want to be an enabler, lol
On the lookout for MISB Headmaster Highbrow, Takara or Hasbro. I'm sure I could make you a sweet deal!
I think you're right, I'm getting a feeling that this 'crowd funding' is just another tool to engage the fans. They have put in so much work and development to this already, there must be some kind of mould already created, maybe even a soft aluminium or silicon mould. Close up shots don't show any striations like you might expect from 3D printed parts. even if it's just the visible parts of each mode, that's still most of it. Yes there's probably a fair amount of NRE (Non recurring Engineering ) left to perform, to clean it up from a transformation perspective but to not proceed with this now would be a massive investment loss for Hasbro and Takara. Especially that the fine print does say that they will be looking for other avenues to distribute to the rest of the world once funded.
I love it, looking at the entire figure, the back is very well layered and the legs are wrapped by a part on the heel that will/should help lock all the folded panels in place. I was wondering early on if they could have fit more of the panelling/shell into the backs of the legs but in retrospect that would mean they would have to fold up much more leading to smaller parts and a more fiddley transformation. and more likelihood of manufacturing errors.
I really want to get it, I have enough saved up, I just have to figure out if I want to fork out the dosh to import it from the states in some convoluted manner or wait and hope it gets released here or accessibly in Asia.
I also currently have no idea here I'm going to display it. but that's a third world problem.
I agree with this sentiment, as I think they probably wanted to see just how much support there would be by the really obsessed people who want a (realistic) Unicron toy, could afford this at short notice... and if they got above a certain amount (which their bean-counters would already have designated), they would still go ahead with it. I think the Japanese listing will help get the numbers they need, and it should mean Hasbro HK should be offering it somehow as well, as they have a significant customer base as well (big enough to support BOTH Hasbro and TakaraTomy toys in their countries).
And since this would be a once-only toy (until probably the 50th anniversary) because this release will take out most of the people willing and able to afford a toy like this of a character that will only appeal to certain eras of the fandom, they are going to need to make sure this one production run pays for the entire process, and makes a bit on the side. My guess is maybe reaching six or seven thousand backers they will go ahead and produce their minimum number, and then sell off the rest to those who were able to save up their money during the 20 months it took to release it (or keep pre-selling it during that time until the total number are sold).
Is it really *that* much though?
I've seen the video, and it's a bunch of clever nerdbombers drawing up the plans with CAD files or whatever and then transferring that into 3d forms. It's not like the 80's were they carved everything out of wood and prayed it worked. Unless they're charging 10K per hour to drag a mouse around, I dunno?