ALL THINGS TRANSFORMERS!!!!

Ropen said:

Lowest price I have seen on Bonecrusher so far: 115usd, also, Target has some killer discounts on other toy brands as well!

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Yeah bunch of Gi Joe Classified figures are deep discounted too. And here I thought I got a deal with 25% off Bonecrusher…then two weeks after release he’s 30% off

One more photo I forgot to post.

I could use some practical advice here. What sites/dealers are you guys using to buy Transformers/mechs?

(i.e. best balance of proven/reliable, good prices, low/free shipping, possibly no sales tax, etc, etc)

I've done some general searches but I'm a little leery of a lot of public reviews now ( i.e. so many places are cooking reviews in their favor or against competitors, etc)

Any advice/guidance appreciated. Thanks in advance. Merry Xmas.

MeatHookGekko said:

I could use some practical advice here. What sites/dealers are you guys using to buy Transformers/mechs?

(i.e. best balance of proven/reliable, good prices, low/free shipping, possibly no sales tax, etc, etc)

I've done some general searches but I'm a little leery of a lot of public reviews now ( i.e. so many places are cooking reviews in their favor or against competitors, etc)

Any advice/guidance appreciated. Thanks in advance. Merry Xmas.

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Can’t go wrong with The Chosen Prime or Big Bad Toy Store. For Masterpiece pre-orders I order directly from Amazon Japan.

Amiami, hlj and tfsource are good too.

We're tryin' to get a mecha fan convention of the ground.
If your near, interested, slightly interested, maybe share, or put it in the calender.
Thanks:

https://fb.me/e/1E9jJe1Bd

i wonder if virtual or vr convention is possible in near future. i mean viewers get to "walk around" and see the actual exhibition and also the actual people around together with option to toggle other virtual visitors.

MeatHookGekko said:

I could use some practical advice here. What sites/dealers are you guys using to buy Transformers/mechs?

(i.e. best balance of proven/reliable, good prices, low/free shipping, possibly no sales tax, etc, etc)

I've done some general searches but I'm a little leery of a lot of public reviews now ( i.e. so many places are cooking reviews in their favor or against competitors, etc)

Any advice/guidance appreciated. Thanks in advance. Merry Xmas.

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My preferred place for transformers has been ShowZStore for the last couple of years. One of the best reward point systems around IMO with great Customer Service. Anytime I’ve had an issues they were great to get a replacement or if they couldn’t get a replacement, they will reimburse you in the form of RPs or they will help sort out a way to return it.

But if you don’t like dealing with overseas sites, I hear the Chosen Prime a lot around TFW2005 board and like @Spanbauer mentioned, can’t go wrong with BBTS. That’s were I buy my masterpiece figures from. Stay away from TFsource though

So I was out of the hobby for a very long time. What's drawing me into Transformers and mechs is the pure raw value factor here.

Hot Toys Valkyrie ( to be fair, I cherry picked a figure I would never get , but it is more representative of most of what HT is now releasing) has a few accessories. A sword, a thunder bolt, a few other things. But pretty spare IMHO for a 270 dollar figure. You have to essentially preorder now, maybe 12-15 months in advance, on the more desirable figures. And while you can find a dealer or two where you can avoid sales tax, it's tough to find a dealer who can do free shipping and no sales tax for just a single figure. Hence to get free shipping, you'll have to stretch out and buy two figures likely ( now hitting close to 600 dollars)

Or, for just looking at the potential opportunity cost, I could go get a Jinbao oversize Devastator. Six robots, very hefty and robust, that are clearly well made high level Transformers. If you do the upgrade kit as well, it's looking like 220 ish or so total. ( Someone can correct me on that, I've kind of looked at a few site recommendations others have given me here plus AliExpress briefly)

So I'm not going to bag on the craftsmanship in a figure with a nice headsculpt and unique uniform, etc, etc, but the Devastator has a lot of complex engineering to it as well. For fun factor and play value and display value, I just don't see much of a contest here. Don't get me wrong, not all Transformers I see end up looking like raw values, but for the budget minded hobbyist, it's hard to ignore how cool and interesting and desirable that Transformers, some of them, can be here.

Would I get two Marvel Legends at a brick and mortar for 50 bucks plus tax at MSRP ( not that I'd do that, but as a hypothetical) or just spend that money on a cool Transformer ( albeit, maybe a "3rd Party") instead? No contest. I just ordered a mech last night and I'd get nowhere near the kind of design, engineering, versatility and value IMHO if I spent the money instead on a Hot Toys random Marvel figure. And I spent over a hundred bucks less and that does not include the shipping I would have had to pay as well.

Well guys, now you have another convert here. I got priced out of a brand that just stopped making more toys that actual guys would enjoy. I like big laser cannons and missile pods instead. I figure I can't be the only one. Just some thoughts.

MeatHookGekko said:

View attachment 681653


So I was out of the hobby for a very long time. What's drawing me into Transformers and mechs is the pure raw value factor here.

Hot Toys Valkyrie ( to be fair, I cherry picked a figure I would never get , but it is more representative of most of what HT is now releasing) has a few accessories. A sword, a thunder bolt, a few other things. But pretty spare IMHO for a 270 dollar figure. You have to essentially preorder now, maybe 12-15 months in advance, on the more desirable figures. And while you can find a dealer or two where you can avoid sales tax, it's tough to find a dealer who can do free shipping and no sales tax for just a single figure. Hence to get free shipping, you'll have to stretch out and buy two figures likely ( now hitting close to 600 dollars)

Or, for just looking at the potential opportunity cost, I could go get a Jinbao oversize Devastator. Six robots, very hefty and robust, that are clearly well made high level Transformers. If you do the upgrade kit as well, it's looking like 220 ish or so total. ( Someone can correct me on that, I've kind of looked at a few site recommendations others have given me here plus AliExpress briefly)

So I'm not going to bag on the craftsmanship in a figure with a nice headsculpt and unique uniform, etc, etc, but the Devastator has a lot of complex engineering to it as well. For fun factor and play value and display value, I just don't see much of a contest here. Don't get me wrong, not all Transformers I see end up looking like raw values, but for the budget minded hobbyist, it's hard to ignore how cool and interesting and desirable that Transformers, some of them, can be here.

Would I get two Marvel Legends at a brick and mortar for 50 bucks plus tax at MSRP ( not that I'd do that, but as a hypothetical) or just spend that money on a cool Transformer ( albeit, maybe a "3rd Party") instead? No contest. I just ordered a mech last night and I'd get nowhere near the kind of design, engineering, versatility and value IMHO if I spent the money instead on a Hot Toys random Marvel figure. And I spent over a hundred bucks less and that does not include the shipping I would have had to pay as well.

Well guys, now you have another convert here. I got priced out of a brand that just stopped making more toys that actual guys would enjoy. I like big laser cannons and missile pods instead. I figure I can't be the only one. Just some thoughts.

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And when you have a third party like magnificent mecha making transformers that look as good as the threezero figures and can transform and has decent paint apps and weathering, not only do they offer value, but they actually look as impressive on the shelf as a hot toys figure.

willocrew said:

And when you have a third party like magnificent mecha making transformers that look as good as the threezero figures and can transform and has decent paint apps and weathering, not only do they offer value, but they actually look as impressive on the shelf as a hot toys figure.

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My friend, when you are right, you are right. I can get these four guys ( and this is a very casual search on one site) Or....

Or I can get one of these. Obviously Shang Chi is a very extreme example of a figure with literally no accessories. Koska Reeves is actually a pretty cool figure. Great headsculpt, great armor, some nice weapons, well made, but just for raw value, I still say it's no contest. But that's just me. Remember, I was out of the hobby for over a decade, for most of you guys that technical improvement came over time, it all hit me at once. I'm like Rick Grimes who was in a coma for so long. The quality and craft in many of these Transformers and mechs is staggering. You can see for a lot of it, it was made with real passion and care by people who really love Transformers. The Disney HT stuff is well made, but it looks like product. It looks like cases and cases of stacked energy drinks. But these robots are amazing.

Also getting a single HT set shipped to me, or any about average current high end 1/6th figure is going to cost me 20-25 in shipping. I can get an entire Transformer ( albeit maybe a small one or a "Third Party") for 25 bucks. The threshold for free shipping at a lot of these mech sites looks to be about 150. The threshold for the surviving 1/6th dealers, if we use Timewalker as an example (not blaming them, they have to try to stay in business, they are a very good dealer) is 350 for free shipping. So I'm losing a small Transformer each time I'm getting a 1/6th shipped, just the cost of shipping, in terms of opportunity cost.

No wonder Transformers and 1/12th has such a major foothold now in the hobby. Just some thoughts.

Transformers have now caught up to Hot Toys. Fans Toys figures are going for $200+ with ease. Takara is even more expensive with Sky Fire and Prime going for $275 and $400 respectively. Not matter the hobby it will eventually get too expensive. If you have disposable income, buy what you want and feel no guilt.

Checkmate said:

Transformers have now caught up to Hot Toys. Fans Toys figures are going for $200+ with ease. Takara is even more expensive with Sky Fire and Prime going for $275 and $400 respectively. Not matter the hobby it will eventually get too expensive. If you have disposable income, buy what you want and feel no guilt.

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maybe because they increased the price by 3 folds so now it has reached HT range and starting to get attention lol. i stopped buying when they started to charge $100 for a normal MP inflation or not i dont care their reasons.

Checkmate said:

Transformers have now caught up to Hot Toys. Fans Toys figures are going for $200+ with ease. Takara is even more expensive with Sky Fire and Prime going for $275 and $400 respectively. Not matter the hobby it will eventually get too expensive. If you have disposable income, buy what you want and feel no guilt.

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Hot toys and 1/6th will always be more expensive in general. We already have some 1/6th company trying to sell a $1000+ joker figure.

MeatHookGekko said:

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Or I can get one of these. Obviously Shang Chi is a very extreme example of a figure with literally no accessories. Koska Reeves is actually a pretty cool figure. Great headsculpt, great armor, some nice weapons, well made, but just for raw value, I still say it's no contest. But that's just me. Remember, I was out of the hobby for over a decade, for most of you guys that technical improvement came over time, it all hit me at once. I'm like Rick Grimes who was in a coma for so long. The quality and craft in many of these Transformers and mechs is staggering. You can see for a lot of it, it was made with real passion and care by people who really love Transformers. The Disney HT stuff is well made, but it looks like product. It looks like cases and cases of stacked energy drinks. But these robots are amazing.

Also getting a single HT set shipped to me, or any about average current high end 1/6th figure is going to cost me 20-25 in shipping. I can get an entire Transformer ( albeit maybe a small one or a "Third Party") for 25 bucks. The threshold for free shipping at a lot of these mech sites looks to be about 150. The threshold for the surviving 1/6th dealers, if we use Timewalker as an example (not blaming them, they have to try to stay in business, they are a very good dealer) is 350 for free shipping. So I'm losing a small Transformer each time I'm getting a 1/6th shipped, just the cost of shipping, in terms of opportunity cost.

No wonder Transformers and 1/12th has such a major foothold now in the hobby. Just some thoughts.

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Yep. 1/6th figures pricing just keeps going up and up. We do have the odd super expensive transformer. Like the Robosen. But for the most part the pricing of transformers figures is significantly constrained by the fact that there is a mass retail line where figures are being sold around $30-$40. Anyone who follows transformers figures will know that your average transformer collector is of the mindset that anything over $50 is expensive and they’ll wait for a clearance sale to save $10.

This is not the case for 1/6 collectors.

Checkmate said:

Transformers have now caught up to Hot Toys. Fans Toys figures are going for $200+ with ease. Takara is even more expensive with Sky Fire and Prime going for $275 and $400 respectively. Not matter the hobby it will eventually get too expensive. If you have disposable income, buy what you want and feel no guilt.

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I may have missed the "sweet spot" for Transformers. That's entirely possibly. I am simply not knowledgeable enough right now, with this side of the hobby, to say for sure. In that regard, I'll have to defer to many of you, who have been on this side of things for much longer.

There was a sweet spot for Hot Toys 1/6th figures. Maybe 2008-2014. I'm sure the year span can differ for different people, but there was a point where older licenses were still coming out, the price points were still in the 150-ish range, and the subject matter was more than just Disney related / controlled offerings.

There was also a sweet spot for Spooktacular. Where there were fewer people participating in general, the chances to win something was better, there wasn't social media like it is right now, Chicky would show up and give things away on this forum, etc, etc.

Maybe I missed it for Transformers. I don't know. Maybe jumping in five years ago would have had more opportunity. But right now, I see a lot of value here compared to other aspects of the hobby in general. I just have to make the most of what I can do right now, on a practical budget, etc, etc. What I find helpful is there's a range of product. Unlike current Hot Toys 1/6th, there are low budget and medium budget tiers here with Transformers, so I can dip my toes a little without going too heavy and too fast.

MeatHookGekko said:

I may have missed the "sweet spot" for Transformers. That's entirely possibly. I am simply not knowledgeable enough right now, with this side of the hobby, to say for sure. In that regard, I'll have to defer to many of you, who have been on this side of things for much longer.

There was a sweet spot for Hot Toys 1/6th figures. Maybe 2008-2014. I'm sure the year span can differ for different people, but there was a point where older licenses were still coming out, the price points were still in the 150-ish range, and the subject matter was more than just Disney related / controlled offerings.

There was also a sweet spot for Spooktacular. Where there were fewer people participating in general, the chances to win something was better, there wasn't social media like it is right now, Chicky would show up and give things away on this forum, etc, etc.

Maybe I missed it for Transformers. I don't know. Maybe jumping in five years ago would have had more opportunity. But right now, I see a lot of value here compared to other aspects of the hobby in general. I just have to make the most of what I can do right now, on a practical budget, etc, etc. What I find helpful is there's a range of product. Unlike current Hot Toys 1/6th, there are low budget and medium budget tiers here with Transformers, so I can dip my toes a little without going too heavy and too fast.

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Collecting sucks now. Prices though are all relative, I've bought exclusive figures that was clear and super limited for 500 bucks. Every single toy line that i like at most their prices are more than 100 bucks or more. What sucks is that some toy lines are also limited meaning if we miss their pre order window they are gone forever.

I have no idea what the hell is going and mind you, my collection is varied from transformers, tmnt, star wars, lego, 1/18 model cars, I could write a novel on how much kyosho and autoart model cars have quantupled in pricing and moved to composite materials than die cast but i'm still super pissed off I missed my chance to score a Kyosho Ferrari F40, I couldn't find it lower than $350. Yes that's how much they go for now. The one thing I can't complain is that at least Hot toys pricing have been consistently the same for the past 10 years. Almost.

Hee's the thing though, you can throw a dart in any collection anywhere and the results will always be the same when it comes to scarcity. I'm having wrapping my mind around how tamiya model kits and some older kits are being priced over 100 bucks. I was trying to rebuild an Enzo Ferrari but dude, they are going for 80-90$ new, the Laferrari won't drop below $160.

Either people are hogging collectibles or the products they make are extremely limited. This circle backs to how I got a Bonecrusher for free from Target. I did a curbside pick up order and the worker didn't scan the item right and nothing got charged, I did nothing on my end and the order canceled itself out, three days later. The following week Target had a Christmas blow out sale and I bought another Bone Crusher for 105usd with all their discounts, which i'm not going to lie is the "right" price for them.

You didn't miss anything, anything licensed is making toy manufacturers get priced out of making our favorite lines, the problem I have is the fact "collector" manufacturers are selling us their toys "as is" and no refunds period. I am just very cautious in how I spend my money, like I'm never buying Lemax christmas villages with motor pieces or hot toys with their pleather that breaks by being looked at within weeks, my hot toys batman forever robin fell apart two days after I got it. These frustations are making me thrown in the towel.

Ropen said:

Collecting sucks now. Prices though are all relative, I've bought exclusive figures that was clear and super limited for 500 bucks. Every single toy line that i like at most their prices are more than 100 bucks or more. What sucks is that some toy lines are also limited meaning if we miss their pre order window they are gone forever.

I have no idea what the hell is going and mind you, my collection is varied from transformers, tmnt, star wars, lego, 1/18 model cars, I could write a novel on how much kyosho and autoart model cars have quantupled in pricing and moved to composite materials than die cast but i'm still super pissed off I missed my chance to score a Kyosho Ferrari F40, I couldn't find it lower than $350. Yes that's how much they go for now. The one thing I can't complain is that at least Hot toys pricing have been consistently the same for the past 10 years. Almost.

Hee's the thing though, you can throw a dart in any collection anywhere and the results will always be the same when it comes to scarcity. I'm having wrapping my mind around how tamiya model kits and some older kits are being priced over 100 bucks. I was trying to rebuild an Enzo Ferrari but dude, they are going for 80-90$ new, the Laferrari won't drop below $160.

Either people are hogging collectibles or the products they make are extremely limited. This circle backs to how I got a Bonecrusher for free from Target. I did a curbside pick up order and the worker didn't scan the item right and nothing got charged, I did nothing on my end and the order canceled itself out, three days later. The following week Target had a Christmas blow out sale and I bought another Bone Crusher for 105usd with all their discounts, which i'm not going to lie is the "right" price for them.

You didn't miss anything, anything licensed is making toy manufacturers get priced out of making our favorite lines, the problem I have is the fact "collector" manufacturers are selling us their toys "as is" and no refunds period. I am just very cautious in how I spend my money, like I'm never buying Lemax christmas villages with motor pieces or hot toys with their pleather that breaks by being looked at within weeks, my hot toys batman forever robin fell apart two days after I got it. These frustations are making me thrown in the towel.

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oh i kept talking about this but most folks are pretty understanding or should i say enjoy getting f*cked over and bend over explaining it is merely inflation at works and use milk as example on how prices has gone up.

potato said:

oh i kept talking about this but most folks are pretty understanding or should i say enjoy getting f*cked over and bend over explaining it is merely inflation at works and use milk as example on how prices has gone up.

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It’s an horrible excuse to be honest. Everything’s being made a la carte, the days of “stack ‘em high and watching fly are long gone”, collecting is niched. Take for example the GX-71, in 2016 it came out at 199.99, in 2019 it was 299, the reissue in 2021 was 329.99, The 50th anniversary is 379.99.

Today I found the 40th anniversary at walmart and despite being anime colors and no decals, it still looks off.

“Freedom is the right of all sentient beings.”

“In any war, there are calms between storms. There will be days when we lose faith. Days when our allies turn against us...but the day will never come that we forsake
this planet and its people.”

“There's a thin line between being a hero and being a memory.”

“Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing.”

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