So, what toys did you buy or get this week?

[vynsane]

that's quite impressive, really - they even got Coipel's odd vision of what a nose looks like in there!

[jjreason]

Glad you like it, Vynnie. Not sure how "rare" or "hard to find" he is, but it's worthy of the expenditure I think. If he's hanging around on my next trip to TRU I'll sacrifice the $10.

[Ran]

I ordered the Arctic and Desert Cobra last week. I was following the tracking on the UPS website. It said it would be delivered today before 7pm. The package showed up a bit after 7:30. It was open and smashed. One of the boxes inside were smashed. Luckily I'm not a carded collector.

[Rollo Tomassi]

My MotU Classics Whiplash, BattleGround Teela, and Faceless One arrived today.

[anarky]

Don't hate me because I'm beautiful. Especially you, Rollo.

Thundercracker
Wheeljack
Warpath

All kidding aside, check your Wal-Marts. I'd heard reports of them showing up "in droves" in Ohio, and just happened to look down the aisle when I had to run out for a replacement for a broken toilet handle. I can't say they were here in abundance, but I was able to get one of each and leave a Kup for someone else.

[Rollo Tomassi]

I'd get excited to hear they're hitting WMs...except my WM has alloted three pegs to Generations and 50 pegs to the DotM MechTechs. And the 3 Gen pegs are crammed with Skullgrins. so those'll need to be replenished sometime in 2025.

If you see them again, please oh please snag them.

[anarky]

I will indeed. But I do feel it important to tell you my Wal-Mart was exactly the same as yours two days ago.

[jjreason]

Got the Thor this morning, glad no one else snagged him. If you guys link me photos of the Transformers you want I can look here - our TRU has devoted approximately 99.4 percent of it's boys toys corner to them right now and there must be not less than 100,000 pcs in stock. Most of it appears to have the movie involved in the logo however, so it may not be what you're after.

[anarky]

I'm just looking for a few right now. The first two are unofficial "Ross exclusives," meaning (in this country, at least), they were planned for widespread release, but stores were flooded with earlier, less popular, stuff, and they're only showing up at a closeout store called Ross. (To be honest, I probably have a decent chance of finding these; I have a ton of Rosses around me, and had no trouble at all finding any of the GIJoe "Ross exclusives.")

Grapple (now called "Solar Storm Grappel" for some trademarky reason... and, no, I'm not accidentally mixing up the letters in "Grappel"--stupid, huh?)


Windcharger


The third, Rumble, I'm not sure what's up with him. He was planned for the same assortment as Windcharger, but it didn't happen. I've heard he's being released in Asia, and possibly Canada, but no one knows for sure. All anyone knows is that he hasn't hit Ross stores yet.

[anarky]

BTW, all three are supposed to be the classic characters, if you can't tell. Grapple is, again, a repaint of Inferno with a crane hook replacing the ladder, and Windcharger has a new transformation but actually looks closer to the cartoon/comic character model than the original toy did (aside from the car's grill being on his chest). With Rumble, they updated him to be a tank since cassettes are obsolete, but kept the cassette deco on his torso (and, I think, the guns can snap on his back, just like the original). He's also got piledriver arms somehow.

It's funny, if you think about it. Rumble (and Frenzy, a repaint confirmed for Asia and probably here at some point) is a complete update, to get around kids saying "what the hell is this rectangular thing with two holes?" The only Classics/Generations/Generations Classics/Reveal the Shield Soundwave is from the War for Cybertron game; he turns into a space truck with guns, but, looks almost identical to the classic Earth mode in robot form. Overkill was an online-exclusive Grimlock repaint; I don't even count that one, since Overkill wasn't supposed to have a robot mode. Ratbat was a Target exclusive supposedly based on his form from The War Within, but really just a repaint of a shitty Armada (I think) figure that just happened to have wings. Blaster was another repaint of an Armada (?) figure that bore no resemblance to Blaster until they changed the color scheme, and it's hard not to look like Blaster when you're orange, black, and silver.

So three official updates of cassette/players, and three "WTF?" updates that are tough to count since they're unfaithful repaint cash grabs. And then there's Ravage, who's weird enough in that he came with Hound, of all "people," but is a more complex, better articulated version of the original... complete with cassette mode! I guess they figured Ravage was just too badass to fuck with.

[jjreason]

I will keep my eyes open. Like I posted above, almost all of the mountain of crap here has DARK SIDE OF THE MOON or whatever imprinted on it, but I haven't been going over them very closely.

[Ran]

Got the GI Joe "Attack at the PIT" set from TRU. We had a $10 off $50 purchase coupon. We had to buy some other stuff for the kids' birthdays. The set was on clearance for $15, so it essentially cost $5.

Edit: I was also in a Target today. The clearance stickers are starting to come out. Some on Legos (world racers and some Atlantis sets), Deluxe Thor, and some Green Lantern stuff.

[Ran]

Found the Weequay Skiff Guard at Walmart. Didn't pay attention to the price until I checked out. After taxes, the bastard was over $9. What the hell?

[Senor JabbaJohnL]

Found the Weequay Skiff Guard at Walmart. Didn't pay attention to the price until I checked out. After taxes, the bastard was over $9. What the hell?

Yup, TVC is $8.99 at Walmart and Target.

[Ran]

Wasn't aware of the price hike. Good think they are making less figures I want. It has been a while since I've checked any of the star wars sites. Am I caught up?

XM has a special channel next week to cover SDCC. They are going to broadcast a bunch of the panels, etc. The audio isn't the part I really care about, I want pictures. Is anyone going?