AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
If you ever wonder why I'm drifting away from mainline Transformers purchases, or any toy purchases for that matter, this is it.
Today, my next Menasor part came in: Dead End!
he strikes quite the pose.
Sadly, his hood doesn't do the flaring out cape like thing that his teammate does.
But that's okay... the transformation is actually unique? Or at least more complex than I was expecting.
Except...
His rear bit won't seem to line up right. I looked closely and I have everything locked in place right...
But it refuses to sit flush.
Looking at it closer while assembled, it looks like the hinge plastic is bent - a surefire sign of a plastic nub left somewhere that is interfering with tight tolerances.
I think I found the problem, though. Deep down on the bottom of that hinge, I can see that one edge looks longer than the other. I think this is applying the pressure I'm seeing. So now the trick is going to be getting that extra bit out of there. I'm going to try and pop it off, as it looks to just be a friction fit (as opposed to the pin on my last bad one). If that doesn't work, I'll get the knife in there, somehow.
This is an Amazon order, so returning it isn't something I want to do. And I want to get this fixed before trying out Menasor again.
Sold my first custom toy yesterday! Super happy with how it came out and how they look in box and everything.
Dang! I gotta be honest, I think I am even more impressed by the pro-looking packaging than anything else! (Probably because I've painted and modded miniatures before, so I know how to do that, but I have no idea how to design and make packaging!)
EDIT: And to be clear, the actual toys are super-cool. I really love the "Strange Oddities" branding.
Delduwath on
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Oh hey! After heating it up and forcing some parts together, I discovered that the back plugs in on Dead End, so it holds much better! There's still pressure trying to force things apart, but.. well.. I'll be honest, I couldn't figure out how to get it apart without accidentally breaking or stressing the plastic.
So that's 4 of 5! One more to go (currently on pre-order with Hasbro Pulse). I'm glad I started him, because it is a very different style than the Scramble City. The backwards legs are wild.
Very interestingly, the arms only peg in a specific way. The slots for Dead End don't match Dragstrip.
One leg missing... one leg.
Completing the combiner doesn't really add too much to the overall height, but it definitely helps with bulk. Here is a good comparison of Menasor to PotP Volcanicus, CW Devastator, and Archeforge Frost Light Berserker.
So jealous that you have Dead End. Wonder when Pulse will get theirs in. Of course then I'll be sitting here impatient while we all wait for Breakdown. I absolutely am happy I missed out on the Combined Wars Menasor so I could get this set and not have to sell off the CW one.
On another note, I finally had time to open up my second train, Getsuei, that forms Raiden. The one that @Athenor posted photos of earlier in this thread. I love these trains and think they will look great in train mode on my shelf, although this guy looks good in bot mode and was relatively easy to transform. The corrected instructions were a bit confusing so I just watched a video. I learned my lesson trying to transform Shouki without instructions (I think I stressed part of the clear plastic).
Although now I can't get the wheels to line up and sit on the track easily, so now I need to figure out where I went wrong.
I stopped using BBTS they consistently got items in late. (Like, stuff I preordered wouldn't be fulfilled until other stores had had it for MONTHS) so I jumped over to Entertainment Earth.
Sold my first custom toy yesterday! Super happy with how it came out and how they look in box and everything.
Dang! I gotta be honest, I think I am even more impressed by the pro-looking packaging than anything else! (Probably because I've painted and modded miniatures before, so I know how to do that, but I have no idea how to design and make packaging!)
EDIT: And to be clear, the actual toys are super-cool. I really love the "Strange Oddities" branding.
Thanks so much for the kind words! I’ve been trying different ways of packaging them for maybe a year now and nothing ever came out good. A couple of days ago though my dad gave me an idea and everything clicked and it came out like this! I too am super happy with the level of quality they have. I’m excited to make even more and hopefully start mass producing some of my 3d modeled ones, that’s the goal now to be able to get some molds done so I can do two collections, one with the handmade ones and then ones that are 3d printed and resin poured. Excited for this 😁😁😁
I stopped using BBTS they consistently got items in late. (Like, stuff I preordered wouldn't be fulfilled until other stores had had it for MONTHS) so I jumped over to Entertainment Earth.
Now EE is behind other stores.
Just like changing checkout lanes since the one you're standing in is taking forever.
Oddly I cancelled two pre-ordered stuff from Entertainment Earth (Holiday Protocol Droid and SS Rumble) and switched them to Hasbro Pulse. I just got my Droid yesterday and Rumble is shipping today.
AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
edited November 2022
OH SHIIIIIT!
@Delduwath pointed me towards Show Z Store with Thorilla. I got notified it was shipping last week. I was NOT expecting the stealth delivery today!
Spoiler: Packaging pictures.
ShowZ continues to show that they really, really know how to handle international shipping. It looks like the corners got banged up a bit, but that's okay. I also like that store name.
OH! But it turns out, that was just an outer wrapping with bubble wrap. The actual shipping package is intact, and even has corner protection! Whelp, no way this packaging is getting too damaged.
That said, I did say I was fine with substandard packaging, because I just don't care. There's a couple dings on the inside, but no biggie.
After all, this packaging is essentially a solid brick of foam.
And even THAT foam has more foam inside.
Like there is no way, short of crushing the box, that this will get hurt.
But like all my more premium packaging, it's time to toss it into the unused space of my apartment! (Seriously, I hate storing air, but a lot of this is either good boxes or specialty packaging...)
And here he is: Thorilla. With his friend Rusirius (who is the same as Disirius just with a different head).
Being lunch time, I can't really play with him much. Just enough to get him out of the packaging.
But man. SO many accessories, all aimed at strengthening this guy now that they have a better sense of how he's gonna go together.
The most important accessory to me, though? Thorilla's hammer. Because it allows me to finally assemble the sword and see its true proportions!
Jeeeezus. There's still 3 pieces missing, but they'll be with the final guy.
But.. well.. if you need a sense of scale?
He's gonna be kind of big!
I don't know what I'll do in the meantime. I still have 1 more leg to get ahold of, after all, and that's not expected until after the new year. But.. this has been quite a journey. I'm looking forward to tonight, when I get to inspect the joints, oil them, and make sure that he transforms smoothly.
Edit: HAH! I was going to catch up on the TFW2005 thread to see anything I might've missed.. then noticed there were 40 pages left to go. I'll... look over that later.
ShowZ and Gundamit are the same store, it's basically a CYA trick. Originally, there was just ShowZ, and they sold official MP Transformers, 3rd party Transformers, and a few KOs here and there; over time, they started to also carry some model kits, action figures, and other non-Transformers stuff. 3rd party Transformers are, from what I understand, a legal gray area; I think it's one of those things where "it's probably illegal but if we take it to court then the court might not find in our favor, which sets an unfavorable precedent, so we'll threaten and strong-arm but rarely if ever go to court". In any case, ShowZ decided to separate the business that sells questionable items (like 3rd party and KOs) from the business that sells totally legal things. So, Gundamit was formed to sell the action figures and model kits, and I guess the idea is that if they get in legal trouble, they can shutter ShowZ without losing the entire business.
It's not really clear to me how that's supposed to work, since the sites link to each other, packaging materials typically have both ShowZ and Gundamit branding, your account on one site carries over to the other site, and and the reward points at one store carry over to the other store.
As for sending packages overseas, they do typically ship the bigger items in factory packaging; for smaller figures, I frequently receive the figure in its box, wrapped in bubblewrap, inside a cardboard box with plastic corner protectors, the whole thing wrapped in that branded plastic wrapping. I don't think I've ever had any complaints about their packaging.
From what I understand, unlicensed transformers are SO niche that it's literally not worth Hasbro or Takara's time to even bother litigating, especially since these companies specifically operate through China, which is notoriously lax about international copyright.
Stuff like unlicensed t-shirts or other merch is a way, way bigger target for their legal team.
The only time I remember Hasbro/Taraka coming down on a unlicensed figure what when they showed off the baller Unicron you right in the middle of the Unicron Haslab, which there was a very real sense that that toy being showed off could potentially impact the crowdfunding campaign. Once that was over, the company eventually did release it under a new company name... and sold the head seperately, just in case.
The only time I remember Hasbro/Taraka coming down on a unlicensed figure what when they showed off the baller Unicron you right in the middle of the Unicron Haslab, which there was a very real sense that that toy being showed off could potentially impact the crowdfunding campaign. Once that was over, the company eventually did release it under a new company name... and sold the head seperately, just in case.
I gotta take photos of mine, one of these days...
The only other instance I heard of an actual "confrontation" was at some convention/trade show/whatever where a booth was selling the alternate dino head for Fans Toys's Grinder (their version of MP Grimlock; the original had a T-rex head that wasn't toon-accurate enough, I guess, and they later released a replacement T-rex head that matched the toon look more). A rep for either Hasbro or Takara (I don't remember which) who happened to stop by the booth saw the head, and said that since he saw it and technically the company was now aware of it, the booth had to stop selling it.
This is a story I heard told on forums, so who even knows how accurate it is.
Aw, man.. i was going to pick up Eris (a new character who's basically a fembot Tarn), but apparently she has fragile fingers, and even worse, she was supposed to have a hradsculpt with a smirk, but the final release doesn't have it.
Which would be a very minor issue, except they apparently kept the paint apps for the smirk, so she has a smear of purple lipstick on her cheek.
Edit: oof, the manufacturer has basically said no plans to correct this issue.
Just saw an update on this issue. RVDA, one of the designers who works with Mastermind Creations and posts on TFW (being fairly open about a lot of what goes on behind the scenes), said a week or so ago that he'll find out what happened. Today, he posted this:
There was a production error that lead to the wrong head being included with Eris Alternative. It was always meant to be the smirking face, but due to this error the standard Eris face was used instead. This is why the paint does not match the sculpt. We were unaware this happened, and only learned of it ourselves when in hand pictures made the problem apparent.
We understand this is frustrating and are currently looking into the best way to get replacements into people hands. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the problem this will not be a quick or easy fix. It also occurred at a large scale, which further compounds things. We are working on a solution and will update you all as soon as we have found one.
We ask for your patience in the meantime, and hope that sharing this can at least put some minds at ease.
This could certainly be them trying to win back the crowds after a negative reaction, but - personally - I am inclined to believe that this was an unintentional mistake that they will try to remedy. MMC has been very responsive and responsible about fixing QC issues and providing aftermarket support in the past, and they are the most open 3rd party company that I'm aware of, with multiple designers who work there frequently answering questions and explaining business decisions on TFW. So, they've earned some faith from me, at least.
Which doesn't necessarily mean "rush out and buy the figure that currently has a known defect and no existing plan to provide a fix", of course; it's possible that they will work on a fix and then decide it's not possible, or can't be free, or whatever else. I do think the prospects look much better, though, and the risk factor is lower.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
I'm really happy so far! Thorilla hasn't squeaked or anything like the others did. No need for oil yet.
I love the Cang figures, but I've mostly moved to Legends these days, so I'll probably be selling off my copies of the first two figures. Like all the other ones I don't really want to keep anymore, they're mostly surviving on the fact I just don't have time to catalogue everything for selling right now.
Yes, that is a 3rd party I-can't-believe-its-not-legos set that builds the Titanic. Which has the ability to transform into a giant robot (allegedly without having to rebuild it).
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
This feels like a challenge to the $800 Lego Titanic set.
It doesn't look too complex. I wonder if it is another case of a fan MOC bring produced without attribution?
Yes, that is a 3rd party I-can't-believe-its-not-legos set that builds the Titanic. Which has the ability to transform into a giant robot (allegedly without having to rebuild it).
...wait a second, wasn't there a Kaiju toy of the iceberg that sunk the titanic..
I stopped using BBTS they consistently got items in late. (Like, stuff I preordered wouldn't be fulfilled until other stores had had it for MONTHS) so I jumped over to Entertainment Earth.
Now EE is behind other stores.
Oh so that's why the RG Hi-Nu Gundam finally came in stock at BBTS!
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
I decided to go to Gunpla build night tonight, after being blindsided that this was the 3rd Tuesday of the month.
Why am I posting that here?
Well.. because I didn't do any building, yet again. Instead I spent 3 hours showing off Thunderking, and 2 hours trying to transform parts of him. Granted I was being super careful, talking, and taking my time. But still.. an undertaking!
I did eventually figure out where all the reinforcing parts went, despite the crappy pictures. But for the Thunderpants, I had to turn to Emgo's vid, which luckily came out yesterday.
So.. yeah. We'll see how far I go. Probably all the way.
I stopped buying toys locally since Kaybee shut down, Kmart shut down, became a walmart and then that shut down as well, leaving Fred Meyer as the only place that sells mainstream toys now. (There's a couple of specialty shops that sell educational toys and lego, but that's it). And they're usually way behind. I stopped in for some stuff today and checked out the toy isle on a whim.
33 dollars for a WfC: Kingdom deluxe transformer. YIKES.
I have two Targets, a Walmart, and a small business toy store nearby.
The two Targets and Walmart are notorious for not getting stock (the Targets seem to over-order a random wave, then not touch them again for several releases while the Walmart just hates stocking anything).
The small business toy store occasionally gets some massive hits (I got my POTP Predaking there) but often doesn’t stock anything good beyond legos.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
edited November 2022
Today was a day of ups and downs.
First and foremost, the down. I moved onto the next bot to transform - in this case, Ferocious. He was the first of the Thunderking set I'd picked up.. and it kind of shows as the oldest. That's the one I had to do pretty extensive repairs on, because it was assembled wrong. It also had incredibly loose hands. So naturally.. today, while transforming it... Battle damage occurred.
You'll never see it in alt and arm mode, only in robot mode, so it isn't a huge deal. Plus I have ABS plastic cement, which I'm pretty sure I can use to fix it, or at least get it somewhat repaired. If I cared enough, which I may not!
So on I pressed. Thorilla came with new pieces to help improve and stabilize Landbull's transformation, plugging in some pieces that tended to flop around in leg mode. So moving him through to leg mode, I got to connect him up to Thorilla, Rusirius, and then try to connect up the leg braces. Took a bit of doing there.. but I'm learning!
Technically 2 bots left to transform at this point. And then... Then the waiting begins.
Then again, the good news hit today.
.. But wait, you might say! Good news? Wasn't that assembling more?
Oh no. Nope. You see... remember those gray prototypes of the Dinobots that were haphazardly thrown about?
I'm not sure how I feel about the newest campaign.
Looks like they added several of the villains, but none of the alt armor kits.
The original trio is only available as a 3 pack, not individually.
Also, they're branching into Silverhawks and MASK.
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Forever Zefirocloaked in the midnight glory of an event horizonRegistered Userregular
Those... look rough
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Looks like that kaiju is $55 after shipping, so this would be nearly 80 bucks for what is kind of a tasteless gag (1500 real world people died from that event) as bizarrely aligned with my interests as that was, I don't think I could in good conscious spend that much money for the Iceberg Kaiju.
You'll never see it in alt and arm mode, only in robot mode, so it isn't a huge deal. Plus I have ABS plastic cement, which I'm pretty sure I can use to fix it, or at least get it somewhat repaired. If I cared enough, which I may not!
I highly, highly encourage you to contact whatever retailer you bought that guy from and ask about a replacement part. You would not be inconveniencing them, or putting them out, or asking anything out of the ordinary; providing replacement parts is part of their business model, something that they specifically account for (and tell people to do if they post about a broken piece on forums/Twitter/etc). Customer service is a feature that most of these retailers use as a selling point.
remember those gray prototypes of the Dinobots that were haphazardly thrown about?
Well.
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Edit: LET'S FUCKING GOOO!
I think they said pictures of th combined mode are coming soon-ish as well? Super-curious about that.
I'm a little bummed that the prototypes ended up considerably different from the original concept art. I get it, physical transforming toys are very different from fanciful drawings, but I thought the concept art for the dinos looked so unique. I think a lot of the unique details have been kind of eroded into a more generic look. Still very interested to see how it turns out, of course.
I'm not sure how I feel about the newest campaign.
Looks like they added several of the villains, but none of the alt armor kits.
The original trio is only available as a 3 pack, not individually.
Also, they're branching into Silverhawks and MASK.
During their initial campaign for the main 3 Centurions, they did a bunch of things that turned me off. Only allowing purchases through their site, and not one of the established and trusted retailers; being snippy and rude to people on social media. Not necessarily signs of shadiness, but I felt they were signs of unprofessionalism. I stopped paying attention to them then, so not sure how they are in that regard now.
First and foremost, the down. I moved onto the next bot to transform - in this case, Ferocious. He was the first of the Thunderking set I'd picked up.. and it kind of shows as the oldest. That's the one I had to do pretty extensive repairs on, because it was assembled wrong. It also had incredibly loose hands. So naturally.. today, while transforming it... Battle damage occurred.
You'll never see it in alt and arm mode, only in robot mode, so it isn't a huge deal. Plus I have ABS plastic cement, which I'm pretty sure I can use to fix it, or at least get it somewhat repaired. If I cared enough, which I may not!
Bad kitty! You know better.
You do that in the litterbox!
I'm not sure how I feel about the newest campaign.
Looks like they added several of the villains, but none of the alt armor kits.
The original trio is only available as a 3 pack, not individually.
Also, they're branching into Silverhawks and MASK.
During their initial campaign for the main 3 Centurions, they did a bunch of things that turned me off. Only allowing purchases through their site, and not one of the established and trusted retailers; being snippy and rude to people on social media. Not necessarily signs of shadiness, but I felt they were signs of unprofessionalism. I stopped paying attention to them then, so not sure how they are in that regard now.
Yeah I looked around a bit, I found the Silverhawk stuff on other sites, but they’ve kept the Centurions stuff on their own only.
Ah well.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
My assumption with Cang Toys is that those are just rough prototypes without proper detailing and grebeling. It does suck that non-sludge's neck got much shorter in terms of joints, but still impressive.
I'm definitely a "buy transformers when they're on clearance or at Ollies" kind of collector, but the re-releases of both Sky Lynx and Jetfire are getting in my brain something good.
Posts
Today, my next Menasor part came in: Dead End!
he strikes quite the pose.
Sadly, his hood doesn't do the flaring out cape like thing that his teammate does.
But that's okay... the transformation is actually unique? Or at least more complex than I was expecting.
Except...
His rear bit won't seem to line up right. I looked closely and I have everything locked in place right...
But it refuses to sit flush.
Looking at it closer while assembled, it looks like the hinge plastic is bent - a surefire sign of a plastic nub left somewhere that is interfering with tight tolerances.
I think I found the problem, though. Deep down on the bottom of that hinge, I can see that one edge looks longer than the other. I think this is applying the pressure I'm seeing. So now the trick is going to be getting that extra bit out of there. I'm going to try and pop it off, as it looks to just be a friction fit (as opposed to the pin on my last bad one). If that doesn't work, I'll get the knife in there, somehow.
This is an Amazon order, so returning it isn't something I want to do. And I want to get this fixed before trying out Menasor again.
Unfortunately I don't have my Dead End yet to compare
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
EDIT: And to be clear, the actual toys are super-cool. I really love the "Strange Oddities" branding.
So that's 4 of 5! One more to go (currently on pre-order with Hasbro Pulse). I'm glad I started him, because it is a very different style than the Scramble City. The backwards legs are wild.
Very interestingly, the arms only peg in a specific way. The slots for Dead End don't match Dragstrip.
One leg missing... one leg.
Completing the combiner doesn't really add too much to the overall height, but it definitely helps with bulk. Here is a good comparison of Menasor to PotP Volcanicus, CW Devastator, and Archeforge Frost Light Berserker.
On another note, I finally had time to open up my second train, Getsuei, that forms Raiden. The one that @Athenor posted photos of earlier in this thread. I love these trains and think they will look great in train mode on my shelf, although this guy looks good in bot mode and was relatively easy to transform. The corrected instructions were a bit confusing so I just watched a video. I learned my lesson trying to transform Shouki without instructions (I think I stressed part of the clear plastic).
Although now I can't get the wheels to line up and sit on the track easily, so now I need to figure out where I went wrong.
Steam: betsuni7
I stopped using BBTS they consistently got items in late. (Like, stuff I preordered wouldn't be fulfilled until other stores had had it for MONTHS) so I jumped over to Entertainment Earth.
Now EE is behind other stores.
Thanks so much for the kind words! I’ve been trying different ways of packaging them for maybe a year now and nothing ever came out good. A couple of days ago though my dad gave me an idea and everything clicked and it came out like this! I too am super happy with the level of quality they have. I’m excited to make even more and hopefully start mass producing some of my 3d modeled ones, that’s the goal now to be able to get some molds done so I can do two collections, one with the handmade ones and then ones that are 3d printed and resin poured. Excited for this 😁😁😁
Just like changing checkout lanes since the one you're standing in is taking forever.
Oddly I cancelled two pre-ordered stuff from Entertainment Earth (Holiday Protocol Droid and SS Rumble) and switched them to Hasbro Pulse. I just got my Droid yesterday and Rumble is shipping today.
Steam: betsuni7
@Delduwath pointed me towards Show Z Store with Thorilla. I got notified it was shipping last week. I was NOT expecting the stealth delivery today!
Spoiler: Packaging pictures.
ShowZ continues to show that they really, really know how to handle international shipping. It looks like the corners got banged up a bit, but that's okay. I also like that store name.
OH! But it turns out, that was just an outer wrapping with bubble wrap. The actual shipping package is intact, and even has corner protection! Whelp, no way this packaging is getting too damaged.
That said, I did say I was fine with substandard packaging, because I just don't care.
After all, this packaging is essentially a solid brick of foam.
And even THAT foam has more foam inside.
Like there is no way, short of crushing the box, that this will get hurt.
But like all my more premium packaging, it's time to toss it into the unused space of my apartment! (Seriously, I hate storing air, but a lot of this is either good boxes or specialty packaging...)
And here he is: Thorilla. With his friend Rusirius (who is the same as Disirius just with a different head).
Being lunch time, I can't really play with him much. Just enough to get him out of the packaging.
But man. SO many accessories, all aimed at strengthening this guy now that they have a better sense of how he's gonna go together.
The most important accessory to me, though? Thorilla's hammer. Because it allows me to finally assemble the sword and see its true proportions!
Jeeeezus. There's still 3 pieces missing, but they'll be with the final guy.
But.. well.. if you need a sense of scale?
He's gonna be kind of big!
I don't know what I'll do in the meantime. I still have 1 more leg to get ahold of, after all, and that's not expected until after the new year. But.. this has been quite a journey. I'm looking forward to tonight, when I get to inspect the joints, oil them, and make sure that he transforms smoothly.
Edit: HAH! I was going to catch up on the TFW2005 thread to see anything I might've missed.. then noticed there were 40 pages left to go. I'll... look over that later.
ShowZ and Gundamit are the same store, it's basically a CYA trick. Originally, there was just ShowZ, and they sold official MP Transformers, 3rd party Transformers, and a few KOs here and there; over time, they started to also carry some model kits, action figures, and other non-Transformers stuff. 3rd party Transformers are, from what I understand, a legal gray area; I think it's one of those things where "it's probably illegal but if we take it to court then the court might not find in our favor, which sets an unfavorable precedent, so we'll threaten and strong-arm but rarely if ever go to court". In any case, ShowZ decided to separate the business that sells questionable items (like 3rd party and KOs) from the business that sells totally legal things. So, Gundamit was formed to sell the action figures and model kits, and I guess the idea is that if they get in legal trouble, they can shutter ShowZ without losing the entire business.
It's not really clear to me how that's supposed to work, since the sites link to each other, packaging materials typically have both ShowZ and Gundamit branding, your account on one site carries over to the other site, and and the reward points at one store carry over to the other store.
As for sending packages overseas, they do typically ship the bigger items in factory packaging; for smaller figures, I frequently receive the figure in its box, wrapped in bubblewrap, inside a cardboard box with plastic corner protectors, the whole thing wrapped in that branded plastic wrapping. I don't think I've ever had any complaints about their packaging.
Stuff like unlicensed t-shirts or other merch is a way, way bigger target for their legal team.
The only time I remember Hasbro/Taraka coming down on a unlicensed figure what when they showed off the baller Unicron you right in the middle of the Unicron Haslab, which there was a very real sense that that toy being showed off could potentially impact the crowdfunding campaign. Once that was over, the company eventually did release it under a new company name... and sold the head seperately, just in case.
The only other instance I heard of an actual "confrontation" was at some convention/trade show/whatever where a booth was selling the alternate dino head for Fans Toys's Grinder (their version of MP Grimlock; the original had a T-rex head that wasn't toon-accurate enough, I guess, and they later released a replacement T-rex head that matched the toon look more). A rep for either Hasbro or Takara (I don't remember which) who happened to stop by the booth saw the head, and said that since he saw it and technically the company was now aware of it, the booth had to stop selling it.
This is a story I heard told on forums, so who even knows how accurate it is.
Which doesn't necessarily mean "rush out and buy the figure that currently has a known defect and no existing plan to provide a fix", of course; it's possible that they will work on a fix and then decide it's not possible, or can't be free, or whatever else. I do think the prospects look much better, though, and the risk factor is lower.
Yes, that is a 3rd party I-can't-believe-its-not-legos set that builds the Titanic. Which has the ability to transform into a giant robot (allegedly without having to rebuild it).
It doesn't look too complex. I wonder if it is another case of a fan MOC bring produced without attribution?
Crab shaman or All Seeing Crab, which name do y’all like more?
Reviews mention that it generally takes a couple of days to build and it’s not that large
All Seeing Crab, I think.
...wait a second, wasn't there a Kaiju toy of the iceberg that sunk the titanic..
https://titaniccreations.com/titanicus
Yup. It's on sale too..
Okay, in how much bad taste would it be to get both of these toys and then have them fight it out on my desk at work?
We'll need pictures.
Oh so that's why the RG Hi-Nu Gundam finally came in stock at BBTS!
Why am I posting that here?
Well.. because I didn't do any building, yet again. Instead I spent 3 hours showing off Thunderking, and 2 hours trying to transform parts of him. Granted I was being super careful, talking, and taking my time. But still.. an undertaking!
I did eventually figure out where all the reinforcing parts went, despite the crappy pictures. But for the Thunderpants, I had to turn to Emgo's vid, which luckily came out yesterday.
So.. yeah. We'll see how far I go. Probably all the way.
33 dollars for a WfC: Kingdom deluxe transformer. YIKES.
Makes the cost of shipping not seem so bad now.
I have two Targets, a Walmart, and a small business toy store nearby.
The two Targets and Walmart are notorious for not getting stock (the Targets seem to over-order a random wave, then not touch them again for several releases while the Walmart just hates stocking anything).
The small business toy store occasionally gets some massive hits (I got my POTP Predaking there) but often doesn’t stock anything good beyond legos.
First and foremost, the down. I moved onto the next bot to transform - in this case, Ferocious. He was the first of the Thunderking set I'd picked up.. and it kind of shows as the oldest. That's the one I had to do pretty extensive repairs on, because it was assembled wrong. It also had incredibly loose hands. So naturally.. today, while transforming it... Battle damage occurred.
You'll never see it in alt and arm mode, only in robot mode, so it isn't a huge deal. Plus I have ABS plastic cement, which I'm pretty sure I can use to fix it, or at least get it somewhat repaired. If I cared enough, which I may not!
So on I pressed. Thorilla came with new pieces to help improve and stabilize Landbull's transformation, plugging in some pieces that tended to flop around in leg mode. So moving him through to leg mode, I got to connect him up to Thorilla, Rusirius, and then try to connect up the leg braces. Took a bit of doing there.. but I'm learning!
Technically 2 bots left to transform at this point. And then... Then the waiting begins.
Then again, the good news hit today.
.. But wait, you might say! Good news? Wasn't that assembling more?
Oh no. Nope. You see... remember those gray prototypes of the Dinobots that were haphazardly thrown about?
Well.
LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Edit: LET'S FUCKING GOOO!
https://ramentoy.com/
Thoughts:
Looks like they added several of the villains, but none of the alt armor kits.
The original trio is only available as a 3 pack, not individually.
Also, they're branching into Silverhawks and MASK.
XBL - Foreverender | 3DS FC - 1418 6696 1012 | Steam ID | LoL
Not $120 bucks worth of cool, IMO. But then, I was never a huge Silverhawks fan.
Listing for Minerva is up, finally.
https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/hasbro-generations-legacy-deluxe-class-autobot-minerva-action-figure/ID=300431835-product
I think they said pictures of th combined mode are coming soon-ish as well? Super-curious about that.
I'm a little bummed that the prototypes ended up considerably different from the original concept art. I get it, physical transforming toys are very different from fanciful drawings, but I thought the concept art for the dinos looked so unique. I think a lot of the unique details have been kind of eroded into a more generic look. Still very interested to see how it turns out, of course.
Bad kitty! You know better.
You do that in the litterbox!
Yeah I looked around a bit, I found the Silverhawk stuff on other sites, but they’ve kept the Centurions stuff on their own only.
Ah well.