TFCC Botcon 2016 theme - Dawn of the Predacus

[griffin]

Speaking of which... I just saw this after posting that above.

Proof of how bad they are getting with left-over unsold toys - four of the 2014 BotCon toys are being sold off in a special new boxset, called the Legacy Collection for US$185.
(Shokaract, Apelinq, Flamewar, Flare-up)

It's probably not going to win them any friends, as all those people who went to the convention believing that attending was the only way Flamewar would be accessible, it is now for sale (like MW Starscream the year before).
Plus, these four toys come in a nice fancy box, but who's going to buy it if they already have these toys (and most who would want them, would have them by now).
The price isn't very good for four Deluxes either, as they usually sell 2 Deluxes at the Convention for about $90, so these should have been discounted to be less than $180 (even with a box) just to offload them.

Expect the 2015 toys and attendee figure being sold off in special packaging next year.

[Verno]

Sigh

[kup]

Sigh

I share your sorrow, Beast Wars 20th anniversary deserves better than this..

At least we had a pretty awesome 10th.

[Keidatron]

While it would never happen for a BotCon, I'd much rather them do the original BW starting cast in all new molds with pre Earth Cybertronian forms. They absolutely should not ever have Earth alternate modes.

That out of the way, Ravage? Bleh.

If they do Waspinator he'll just be another Alpha fricken Bravo.

Hell, i'm surprising Ravage isn't an Alpha Bravo. Infact, I wouldn't be surprised if the entire set were all just Alpha Bravos.

Sorry. Cynical switch is stuck on high tonight.

[Paulbot]

Second figure revealed

Transmetal Tarantulas from the Rook mold

[prjkt]

Second figure revealed

Transmetal Tarantulas from the Rook mold

Colours looks cool (for now) but I think I'll stick with my TFSS Tarantulas from the Wreck-Gar mould

[griffin]

Yes, the motorbike Tarantulas seems more fitting, as it is more agile and sneaky than a big armoured personnel carrier.
(I also used to believe that Transformers have in their DNA/CNA certain types of vehicle modes by default, so that when they change bodies or rescan, they would still remain a related type of alt-mode... and Tarantulas had the motorcycle mode as a Transmetal... not because he scanned one, but because he either used to be one and it was still in his CNA, or he was built/born with that default form inside his biology.)


Rant time...

This is the second Tarantulas in 7 months (after the subscription figure)... I guess it could be put down to bad timing, but when they knew they were doing Tarantulas for next BotCon they should have released Subscription Tarantulas first so that it wasn't fresh in peoples minds with this reveal (it was the most recent subscription figure released).

Hopefully they didn't have this Tarantulas toy (and head) planned before the third subscription set was revealed, because they were soooo stubborn about giving a new head to a no-name unreleased Axellorator that didn't need it, over giving an accurate head-sculpt to the universally recognised Tarantulas (who would stand out more with the wrong head).

So far it's the dead Predacon brigade... and having earth vehicle alt-modes, it makes it hard to believe this would be set after Beast Wars.

[UltimateGalvatron]

Yeah I'm not buying it.

I'm surprised they didn't use AoE Dinobot moulds to make some Transmetal Predacons.

[1AZRAEL1]

Colours look cool. But they are failing horribly with this years set. Certainly not worth the money they'll be charging.

[griffin]

Yeah I'm not buying it.

I'm surprised they didn't use AoE Dinobot moulds to make some Transmetal Predacons.

That probably would have looked good for Terrorsaur and Dinobot, and maybe Megatron... but on-screen Movie moulds (and licensed alt-modes) are apparently off-limits. At least, that was the line a few years ago, when they were saying that they aren't allowed to release current-retail toys as Club exclusives (and then come out with Onslaught as Bludgeon).
Word filtered through from a panel or podcast from Pete Sinclair is that a recent change in the Transformers team at Hasbro has changed the policy on not using current-retail toys... but I think with royalties going to Michael Bay for every Movie toy that gets released, plus licensing royalties, it would probably push up the cost too much (or it was in Bay's contract that none of "his" designs get re-released without his permission).