simplez

The insurance for missing the SDCC exclusive was May 2010's Optikk figure from NA He-Man. Evil-Lyn was also shown. If they already show these figures now, I'm wondering what 2 figures will be left to debut for Toyfare in February, if Trap Jaw and Moss Man are already included in that batch.

Sorceress will be done in "a few years" according to the latest What the Fans Want to Know (WTFWTK) thread at the Org. So 2011 and beyond at the tail end of the line. I recall in 200X, she was relegated to a mini statue when the show and action figure part of the line was cancelled. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

Mostly the G1 Japanese series ones: Deathsaurus Overlord Black Zarak Victory Crossformers/Pretenders Metrotitan Dia Atlus Star Convoy (even with the reissue) And I think most of the Beast Wars including Neo, Second, and Machines. I had just gotten back into the hobby around 2001 when Robots in Disguise was released in the U.S. and missed the Beast generation completely.

There are also rumros about it being linked to the next TV series. But as I pointed out before the TV shows always seemed to be aimed at a younger demographics and I strongly doubt we'll ever get a full "Transformers Resolute" season of episodes. The closest we ever came were the latter half of Generation 1 including some of the Japanese exclusive series and the Beast Wars/Machines. Plus if it launches on Hasbro Discovery, I'd expect to happen after the movie is released in Fall 2011 or even Spring 2012 to not steal the final film in the trilogy's marketing opportunity window.

Call me crazy, but the Armada show doesn't seem all that bad compared to some of the crap airing on TV right now. Marvel Superhero Squad is one example of an awful show.

yeah it just feels like Mini-Cons with Bayformer designed figures. Wow, novel idea! I hope War on Cybertron get its own toyline. Not sure how good the game will given the history of TF video games, but the theme of a Generation1 based universe for a new comic or better yet, TV show, is much better than continuing the movie stuff. TV show odds don't seem to fit a more mature G1 audience so I suppose they'll dumb it down for kids like the last 4 Transformers series since Armada. I'd expect something like the Classics "webisodes" that Hasbro posted on their site such as the one featuring Megatron and Cyclonus working together. That episode made zero sense whatsoever but it was "universe" so they can make up whatever they want like where does Megatron store that fusion cannon? Subspace?

I was also thinking about giving up on the line but no because of availability but more so character selection and dare I say sculpting. Others probably have issue with the QC but mine is more general design. Power Girl looks awful in Wave 10 by putting these unsightly notches on the figures body compared to her 13" DCD incarnation. Makes her look less "human" and more like Robotman's bride to be. And Black Canary is another travesty. They messed the paintjob on her hair and then another strike for not giving her articulation with the body. The same body will be reused on Wave 13 Donna Troy. Some of the liberties that the 4H take with this line is confusing at times. I guess part of it also has to do with the cost effectiveness of cheap, reusable parts for the figures so Mattel can continue churning these things out on a regular basis. On to the topic of character selection. They are delving deep in the 2010 Waves after I heard about some rumored lineups for Waves 14-16 from a leaked Wal-Mart computer list and seeing many Doom Patrol and Metal Men along with the usual suspects but I still can't find anything interesting next year to buy other than Spectre. And this comes after singling out characters rather than going after entire waves for the C2C.

If its similar to the obvious Powerlinx gimmick in Energon or the stock combiners we got from that series, its almost destined to fail. Energon's sales for the line overall weren't up to par to Armada's if I remember correctly. Cybertron did much better in terms of sales.

Just saw pics of Black Convoy and man is he boring looking. Complete waste of money. Feels like an upscaled Classics Nemesis Prime/Scourge release. Almost anyone of those including the RID Scourge is probably worth the money than this piece. I hope we get a brand new mold soon and 2011 might be the best time for it to happen right when the third movie comes out. Masterpiece Shock/laserwave FTW!

Brief report around the Northern Virginia/Fairfax area. Seems the selection is thin as ever but the Burke Wal-Mart is starting to carry DCUC stuff for the first time I can truly remember: Fairfax/Burke Target - Public Enemies - Assortment 1 (Multiple Bats and Supes) Laughing Ogre Comics - DCUC 7 Booster Gold Burke Wal-Mart - DCUC 7 Kid Flash, Blue Beatle, and more Wave 7 remnants plus Wal-Mart Exlusive 5 pack

Kinda sucks they made Evil Lyn the April figure. I'll be waiting for May's figure then. There is nothing that interests from November to April which is a 6 month lag. Unless the bonus figure for April is any good (Orko/Gwildor 2 pack?, Grayskull reissue?), I really don't know how much interest or patience I have left with this line. Plus they have the easy body reuse and the numerous He-Man/Skeletor variants they can make based on comics. Smash Blade He-Man remake or "Barbarian He-Man" from some obscure comic. Cost effective figures that save them money in the long run but the overall character selection starts to suffer as a result. Its the same thing with DCUC and all the Superman/Batman variants. Just one of the reasons why a retail release or a wave of more than just 1 figure per month would be nice. 6 waves of 5 figures a year is a lot better than just 12 figures a year with reissued bonus figures (which may not even happen due to "sales" every month even though they sellout fast thanks to the limit of 10 per customer). This is twice the amount of what they'd have to retail each year. The downside with the retail and even C2C theme is DCUC and how its been mishandled with the poor distribution and Mattel deliberately underproducing figures to drive up demand. They win either way.

You probably shouldn't believe this even if it comes directly from Matty and until its actually listed on the Mattycollector.com site. They've always jumped the gun in the past with selling DCUC online and it was most recently with Wave 9. I remember earlier this year or around then there was Q&A answer that Wave 6 or 7 was going to be onsale online. And then it was retracted almost immediately. Lol, Wave 6 and 7! Those are like dirt cheap right now.

This is just like a statue. Actually the 200X statue looked a lot better than this even without the classic Battle damage counter feature! Mattel's genius once again at work!

Modern Cheetah looks the best of that lot and Cyclotron variant (?) with the robot face is kind of interesting. Very lazy job on Donna Troy. Just a simple pallete swap with Black Canary. I think Modern Cheetah probably will end up looking worse than the proto when they messed Canary with the awful paint in her hair. Over a year away, though. I'd doubt they can my hold my interest that long and with the sketchy distribution its possible this'll be one of the shorted waves like Wave 8 and 9 was this year. You also have to wonder at the timing of these pics being released. After the latest with Wave 9 getting shorted as bad as it did, is this a PR stunt to quell the anger. "Like LOOK toys, now be a good boy and buy them!" HAHAH

Yeah, this is just insane. I mean once or twice but its still going on almost a year later? I'm not sure what is going with Mattel since they can never justify their actions with their message. Its like watching the government screw up right before your eyes. I also understand that the Digital River reps are a major part of the problem, not the solution! And yet they're handing all the customer service issues straight to Digital River and taking them out of Mattel's CS department. Fixing a problem by making it worse? Make sense, right?

Whoa 5000 bucks. Personally I'd save it in the bank for something like a house/rent payment or car insurance but for DC figures wow lets see: -All DC Direct 13" figures -The entire JLU line -All Watchmen figures -All Batman TAS figures Might leave so spare change or I'm not sure but these would only be regular MOC releases and not any rare production types that cost a left leg on Ebay. Forget classic Superpowers too. I think an entire collection of those MOC and in mint condition will go well over $5000 for some of the uber rare figures in that line.

Fire I thought looked decent and seemed like she shared the same body as Kingdom Come Nightstar. Or at least the same sculptor. Had to pass on her because the face and, especially the green hair, reminds me of Lorna Dane/Polaris circa her 90's days in X-Factor that is just too hard to ignore. I hope they do a DCUC that is more line with her JLU appearance but not about to hold my breath. Blue Beetle has definitely been getting a lot of attention lately in pretty much all the DC lines from Brave+Bold to yet another Wave 13 figure coming soon next year.

According to the board over at Criticalmess.net, Fwoosh, and AFI this is the lineup for Wave 13. The rumor originated at Criticalmess and I'm not sure how good/bad they're track record over is with respects to correctly predicting a wave. Here's the direct article with the "predictions" or leaked list and there's also rumors about future figures in Wave 14-15: http://www.criticalmess.net/index.php?page=337 I don't like the list of figures either but one of the rumored singles in 14/15 has me interested, but just barely.

DCUC is following the same release pattern this year as last year. Wave 4 last year was the shelf warmer for most folks (in some cases I've heard Wave 2) and then Wal-Mart Wave 5 never showed up. This year's its either Wave 6 or 7 that sits and you'll probably never see Wave 10 after the Wave 9 "under-ordered" fiasco even though the morons at Mattel had known about these figures for at least 7 months in advance. I'm sure the same pattern will follow next year and in 2011. To find Wave 10, camp out every morning at you're Wal-Mart Supercenter like Patton Oswalt did in King of Queens for that movie preimere in one episode.

And also come to think of it, now its THREE figures on sale December 15th. Christmas Rush + 3 Figures on sale at the same time and any from any other Mattel lines (JLU, Dark Knight, Ghostbusters, etc) + usually buggy Matty site = EPIC FAIL!

Currently plan on getting the He-Man reissue. Kind of pissed off though they didn't make him available in October and instead are wasting it on a unnecessary Zodak repaint. It'd make it easier on my wallet getting in Teela and He-Man in one swoop and then just Scareglow in November.

Got a red gem for my non-SDCC version. Not sure about the still sealed SDCC edition. Don't want to open it though since it is the limited version.

Around here, I don't see any changes. The same idiot Wal-Mart up the street and right down the Parkway has no DCUC figures in stock yet the pegs space still exists. I don't think one of them even has GI Joe Rise of Cobra in stock. Neighboring county is still good about restocking DCUC though, granted I can still get out there next year after moving in January 2010. And if Wave 13 or beyond has any good figures. Otherwise its just singles for me, here on out.

Scalper or no, they sell the stuff early and no one else has it in stock like Wave 8 and it takes literally 3 months to hit retail. I'll buy it if the price is reasonable. Toyrocket.com though and the MOTU art book fiasco can go suck it though. That is the best example of a toothless scalper right there.

Now they're just getting lazy with these. Comic accurate G1 Megatron next, then some version of comic accurate Prime or Masterforce Ginrai (new trailer accessory!). I was also thinking another repaint seeker without much design change like Ramjet (way too easy!) or Sunstorm.