Plush Transformers found in Australia

[Bladestorm]

Tinyjazz sent me a link to an ebay listing that has/had dozens of the six plushies, for about $10 each... so either they found them for sale somewhere, or spent a lot of time at one of those claw-grabber machines (or raided one).

I've ordered a set...
I'm a bit skeptical of eBay these days as I was burned a couple of times by supposedly Au sellers end of last year so hopefully it turns up.
I didn't really want the Bumblebee's but it was the only way I could get the Optimus'. Let's see what happens.

[tinyJazz]

I didn't really want the Bumblebee's but it was the only way I could get the Optimus'. Let's see what happens.

How could anyone say no to... this



:I

[Autocon]

Looks like he has his hands on his face going what is this

[tinyJazz]

Looks like he has his hands on his face going what is this

Haha even better!

[Ravagecat]

Saw these in a claw machine at Zone Bowling in MacGregor a few weeks ago. Had a few punts but wasn't lucky enough to win one

[griffin]

Saw these in a claw machine at Zone Bowling in MacGregor a few weeks ago. Had a few punts but wasn't lucky enough to win one

I went and had a look today (tinyjazz reminded me)... and they are HUGE... a lot bigger than I was expecting.


I was thinking that they would be about the size of the small movie plushies at the bottom of this photo, or at the most, the previous converting plushies in the middle of the photo below the Bumblebee face pillow... when in fact, they are the size of the Bumblebee face pillow, at about 30-40cm in size.





These are the ones at the Zone bowling alley that Ravagecat sighted...




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I was able to find out their source as well (they are licensed plushies by Hunter Leisure, not produced by Hasbro), so that I can try to track down other retail sources by contacting them.
From the product catalogue (page 28), the pre-production samples of the robot modes look a little different to the finished products in the claw machines.

[Bladestorm]

My set arrived.
The bot modes are cute. The vehicle mode for Optimus is ok. Megatron's canon is a bit *cough* limp but my son loves him. I've not taken Bee out of the bag so no pics of him (If anyone wants to purchase the Bee plushies from me at cost let me know - sold).




Size comparison:

Not huge, but not as small as I expected. 18 cm in sitting position for the bots, just over 20 if their legs are "straight". Vehicles just under 18 cm length.

[ampoldj]

How could anyone say no to... this



:I

Lucky i got Bumblebee at Vinnies today for 2bucks

[griffin]

Bad news and bad news....


The first bad news is that Hunter Leisure don't respond to queries made through their website's contact page (or just ignore questions that aren't important enough too them). So I called them up today after waiting 2 weeks.
And that's where we get the other bad news - their license for these plush limits them to prize machines (and from what was described, probably at those annual city shows like with those games in sideshow alley). They will not be released in retail stores or anywhere else that allows you to buy them... so if you want a set, or a particular one, you have to spend some time at the claw grabber, or find a listing on ebay (like the one that people here were buying from). I was also recommended to ask the management of the places that have the claw grabber machines (arcades, shopping centres, bowling alleys) to see if they would be willing to sell you a set - I was told that they aren't supposed to (and they'd probably make more money from people using the claw machine), but it can't hurt to ask.

[Bladestorm]

Hope this image works...



Here is a size comparison between the plush Optimus I got from eBay (on the right) and the larger sized plush Optimus I found at Luna Park (on the left).
The plushies Griffin saw must have been the larger sized ones.

For anyone looking to get them, you can purchase them from one of the clown games at Luna Park but they are 3x the price of the smaller ones from eBay. The day I went they had several Optimus and Megatron in both modes and a few Bumblebee's too.