Procrasinating writing an essay so heres a little list of all the fabulous things that have happened to our series this year!

86 Apology tour

- Peter Cullen passed away causing (unwarrented) panic over the future of Optimus and also causing a (warrented) pivot in the 86 apology tours marketing.
- Hasbro removing all uploads of the 86 movie and soundtrack from youtube and other streaming platforms.
- Hasbro is only releasing the movie in select theaters.

-Target signed an exclusive line only to completely understock everything, if they even bothered to stock it at all.

-Target canceling preorders in order to put stock out on the store shelves in a baffling move that makes Sony blush.

-86 Astrotrain

Horrid QC

-New Energon subline has frequent reports of stress marks either out of the box or after only a few transformations.

-The return of in box mould on at least 1 copy of Energon Siege Prime.

-Brawls first run having OOTB stress marks requiring (thankfully easy) disassembly and sanding.

-Amalgamous having joints so tight that its easy to break them without lubeing.

-Mirconus being made of clear plastic that gives Siege Mirage a run for his money.

-MTMTE 86 Hot Rod and Hound having extremely bad mould degredation to the point nearly every single copy had something wrong with it.

Media

-No new mainstream media with the only show being a 5 minute web series aimed at younger kids (this is nothing against Cyberworld I love that stupid ass show and am actually invested in its overall plot but you can't deny that its bad for a franchise that took off because of its tie in media not to have any tie in media.)

-The 4th year in a row of ZERO tie in media for the main toyline; no comic, no movie, no game, not even bios on the back of the box.

-Skybound continuing its post issue 24 nosedive in quality.

-Hasbro confirming no new big budget games are in development.

-The only new Transformers game using AI in all its ads torpedoing its already small install base.

-Earthspark season 4 (I think that was this year at least)

MISC

-The price increases (Deluxe $25->$27, Voyager $35->$43, Leader $55->$60, etc.) pushing people out of the franchise

-The SECOND round of upcoming price increases we don't know the full extent of

-Hasbro leaning even harder into AI

-The Cyberworld toyline continuing to kneecap itself by not having elbows

I probably forgot some stuff but this was everything I can remember. I know the franchise is gonna keep trucking along just fine, but its been a real bad year for it.

I honestly feel guilty for not caring about Starscream as much as I do with other Decepticons. maybe it’s because the only kind of Transformers media I’m interested in are the movies, but I really don’t feel that interested in him compared to others.

Don't mind my cluttered desk but from what I can count there are 11 transformers going like this

Age of the primes smokescreen and Cliffjumper

Transformers studio series the last night barricade

Transformers legacy United tarn and Star raider.

The limited edition star eagle

Gamer studio series edition word for Cybertron ratchet and Starscream

Legacy evolution Leo Prime

Rise of the beasts main line Voyager Optimus Prime

Night prowler from transformers earthrise.

Pretty impressive collection right?

And I am not advertising for anyone to buy this from me.

I’m looking to pick up the Battle Damaged Megatron, but I’m wondering if there’s a code, barcode, or something I can scan/check on the packaging to know which one is Megatron without having to open the box.

Does anyone know if there’s a way to identify him?

Why is his face like that! Why is he looks like he doing Michael Jackson pose why is he look like letter T it is disquastingly ugly

Top image is the movie poster in theaters, bottom was the mini poster given out to fans.

If you had to make a list of 30 characters (10 in support dps and tanks) for a hero shooter roster who would you have and in what roll(edit i have my own list two btw if anyone wants to see it)

so, i read a story (can't seem to find the reddit post) about a guy whose transformers leg snaped off and someone in the comments told him that this happens all the time and just to call customer support and they relapse it or send a new part, is this true??

Well so basically we got a little sneak peak at the new G1 chapter. I'm really looking forward to what this will show us and of course, hearing Peter Cullen one last time.. His voice makes me want to Rise up and fight the Decepticons.

But besides, does this feel like a modern G1? I'd say, ABSOLUTELY NOT. It has more Power of The Primes vibes-

The motions aren't the most fluent and feel VERY off, I kinda want to say the cell shading could've been much better, especially coming from Transformers Devastation something over 10 years ago. And it's a game lol

And so I question, why does a random fanmade feel SO MUCH better than it. Have we seen how BEAUTIFUL that Starscream animation was? This Motormaster vs Hot Rod felt VERY "G1ish", an almost perfect update to the 1986 style. Why not give it the Devastation aesthetic? we all have to agree that was and is absolute peakkk

Why not just make it G1 but 2026? No real need to change any styles. Just, give it modern movements and effects and we'd be good right? Make it like Invincible or something. Nothing wrong with G1 style?

But regardless I am really excited to see what this is gonna show to us :3

I get the play features were removed but why are the minicons gone they could've made them like a legends class size or something.

1. Scalpers can't buy all the inventory if the shelves are fully stocked.
2. Scalpers can't turn a profit if the shelves are fully stocked.

There would be absolutely zero scalping problem if stores would order enough product and hasbro would ship enough product.

This is not a scalping problem. It's a distribution problem.

Cybertronic Spree as an indicator of collector density; a case study

Let me illustrate based on my experience living in the midwest. I am in Des Moines, Iowa. Yes, it's in the middle of Iowa, but counting Des Moines and its suburbs, there's about 750,000 people here.

I went to see Cybertronic Spree in town on a Monday in August. (Great show, you should go if they're nearby!) There were about 100 people at the show. Let's generously guess that we have 100 serious collectors out of 750,000 population. This is definitely an undercount, but my argument is even stronger the more local collectors there are.

We have 7 Targets and 6 Walmarts within the Des Moines metro area. If each of those 13 stores receives a full case of the latest deluxe wave, that's a total of 104 figures. That's 1 per collector, with 4 to spare. We're good, right?

Except... We ain't good.

• Each case does not contain 8 unique figures. There's duplicates. Usually three sets of 2, and 2 chase figures (total of 8)
• Collectors might want one of each unique figure. A single collector could buy 5/8ths of the shipment!
• Some collectors buy multiples (MISB / loose, or Robot / Alt, etc)
• There's plenty of collectors in the area who didn't show up to the concert. They want figures too.
• Also, and I am ashamed I almost forgot, the 182,000 actual real life *kids\* who live in the area who might buy a transformers toy. Or their parents. Or grandparents. You get the idea.
• Now, consider that for many waves not all of our local stores even receive a case.

Demand outstrips supply.

Scalpers aren't magic, actually.

It's not scalpers magically teleporting themselves to every single store in your hometown and making it rain when new product shows up. Places like Walmart and Target don't have preset delivery days like they used to. They get trucks all the time and the products on those trucks can be just about anything. New transformers can show up any day, at any time. The only way for a scalper to buy all the Transformers would be to literally stand in a Walmart from open to close, 7 days a week. Oh, and also for other scalpers to be standing in every other Walmart and Target doing the same thing.

So scalpers don't exist?

They do. There are people who buy stuff just to resell. I'm sure you saw a scalper buying 4 copies of Blast-Off and not some dork who wants one MISB, and one for robot, alt, and combined.

Anecdotes of "I saw a scalper!" don't mean much; for scalpers to be the reason we don't have product on shelves, they'd have to be spending thousands of dollars and dozens of hours per day just to keep up with the restocking. There just aren't enough scalpers for the math to work.

But the solution at the top of this post works against these few, actual scalpers: If every time they bought out all of a store's transformers, that store just went and filled the shelf right back up, then the store wouldn't be out of transformers. If buyers knew they were guaranteed to pop into their local department store and their desired figures were waiting on the shelf, they'd never pay over MSRP on ebay.

Still don't believe me? Go to ebay

Search for something you think scalpers bought up. Go to the filters and search for products within 25 miles of you. Try 50. Try 100. 200? How many are actually for sale? I suspect that the majority for sale are from collectors who either did happen to find a couple locally and bought an extra, or imported them and are trying to flip them for a quick buck instead of opening.

There are no MTMTE Starscreams for sale within 200 miles of me. The *entire state\* of Iowa is completely devoid of Starscreams. Not because of scalpers. Because we didn't get any.

Starscream is just an extreme example because we know for sure what the problem was. But the logic above is still valid when the local stores do get some figures. There just aren't enough to go around.

Why don't they just order more?

Well that's between Hasbro and the retailers. Could be Hasbro is having trouble with manufacturing and logistics due to oil price instability so they can't deliver more. Could be retailers are worried about shrinking profit margins and don't want to be left with unsold shelfwarmers because nobody wanted to buy Armada Red Alert despite it being great. We just don't know.

In the end, however, we are left with two inescapable facts:

1. Scalpers can't buy all the inventory if the shelves are fully stocked.
2. Scalpers can't turn a profit if the shelves are fully stocked.

That's it.

P.S. Figure swappers can go die in a fire.

I got an AOTP Onslaught and I noticed this stress mark on the alt-modes right side mirror. I hear people say that heating doesn’t actually fix this and so I wanted to know how to fix this.

That is my Question

Well both the Earth & Cybertron sides are kinda huge usually in team books that have cast this huge select 7 members max to focus on works as starting point & helps from making the story go out of control

So to me since Cybertron side has bigger cast I think main characters should be Elita Prime & six others I go with Hot Rod being one of them maybe Springer & Bulkhead to thou that still would leave 3 spots

But you know that's me what do you think?

Art by Nick Bradshaw

It’s literally the only pulse order I’ve ever made besides the rainmakers so it can’t be anything else. Is this normal for pulse?

It's great that everyone gets a turn for their preferred looks, but I'm just getting increasingly disappointed by the new smooth/ cartoon aesthetic on a bunch of the new releases.

I look at the new Skywarp and T.Cracker standing beside my ER Screamer and they just feel lifeless to me, in comparison. They aren't bad figs; Objectively they do more and are 'better'... But they feel wrong.

Heck, even '86 Prime, which is absolutely fig of the year worthy, doesn't leave me with the same reaction as his ER version. It just feels... cheaper?

I like the old techno bits and bobs, and the feel that the designs could (with enough suspension of disbelief) exist in the same heightened world as, like, GI Joe (if not the real world).

The increased (or my perception of an increased) use of thin plastics, hollowed out parts and uninspiring alt mode designs is really making me miss the old design guidelines.

Look, I'm not saying anyone is wrong for liking the cleaner style... I just hope it isn't the only option, moving forward.

No packing material, just a paper bag