Mayhem Transformers Discussion: United We Shelfwarm

[The Mighty Mollusk]

I feel like Inferno, TM Primal and Megatron, Scavenger, and Cybershark 2 were great at their price point. B'Boom was pretty good too, but really needed more color. Even Transquito wasn't terrible, just really overshipped. I've never had Scorponok, Polar Claw, or Blackarachnia (though, oddly, I seem to have a couple of her spider legs? I have no idea how or why), so I can't comment on them much.

By contrast, the only Ultras I really look back on fondly are Primal, Rampage, and TM2 Megatron. The combiners were fun but a bit janky (and Magnaboss's GPS doesn't help his case), Depth Charge has that giant platform sticking out of his back and can't hold his sword worth a damn, and Megatron and Tigerhawk just feel way too busy with how much stuff they jammed in.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

The combiners weren't bad for being the first two attempts at something radically different. Imagine what 20 years of iteration could have led to.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

The combiners make an interesting pair of opposites, to me.

Magnaboss's components are individually kinda weak toys. Silverbolt is all wing and little else, Ironhide devotes so much to being 80% of the combined form that there's not much left for him to actually be a toy on his own, and Prowl is just kinda flimsy-feeling and has a really dumb weapon. But the combined form is mostly solid, pretty unified looking (albeit that's because, again, it's 80% Ironhide), and the sword is an actual coherent weapon. His biggest drawback (other than GPS) is that his head is locked in place and staring upwards at a weird angle.

Tripredacus's components are better separate toys, aside from Cicadacon having a giant robot head pretending to be his chest. Sea Clamp is legitimately one of my favorite Beast Wars figures on his own, and Ramhorn's head is just kinda hilarious. The ball joint in his mouth makes him look like a deranged muppet or something. The combined form, on the other hand, is very experimental, and a few parts, mainly the arms, leave a bit to be desired. And that weapon is......well, it's stupid. Cicadacon's swords are fine, but Ramhorn's blade things are weird and awkward, Sea Clamp just gets a block that does nothing on its own, and the combined weapon is just goofy. My opinion may also be tainted by the end of one of Cicadacon's swords breaking off in Sea Clamp's launcher, so I can't even make the full merged weapon anymore.

Both of them are interesting toys, but they both clearly had different priorities.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I only had Magnaboss. I really need to experience Tripredacus someday. I've watched reviews. I've read the instructions. It still boggles my mind how Ramhorn becomes both arms. They're not great arms, but still.

I would gladly overpay for reissues with more trustworthy plastic.

 

[unluckiness]

I broke my tripredacus as a kid somewhere on the arms. My dad superglued them in place so my Tripredacus was basically an Action Master until I forgot what happened to it

 

[CoffeeHorse]

A lot of Beast Wars plastic kinda sucked. I had a lot of breakages that made no sense, and aren't documented GPS cases.

 

[M. Virion]

Oh hey, they sell Blokees blind boxes at Walmart now. Neat.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

Haven't seen them at any of the local Walmarts here, but I've been finding them at Newbury Comics. They're neat little desk toys.

I.....may have a problem.

 

[Princess Viola]

i ordered commander magmatron yesterday cuz target had a 25% off one toy purchase deal that expires today

$72, not bad

(wanted to use that coupon for commander optimus prime but it was never in-stock online or in-store so my mum ordered him at full price off bbts for me for christmas lol)

 

[M. Virion]

Oh. Oh no. These are really nice, especially for $5. Oh no. I'm in some real trouble here.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I was not understanding the appeal of these things, but $5? That's how cheap they are? For the price of one Deluxe you can get five of these things?

 

[Destron D-69]

I haven't found these anywhere local yet... I only just saw Vector Prime and Tigerhawk today in fact... but Leaders are an entire month's internet bill now in price - so he stayed on the shelf along with the one Sandstorm that was also there at my walmart.

those are not $90 toys. I'm sorry. I did almost pick up Sideburn though ... but he just wasn't $40 worth of toy either... lol I can't wait for the canadian dollar to drop to 60 cents US next year... bring on those $50 deluxes

 

[Steevy Maximus]

i ordered commander magmatron yesterday cuz target had a 25% off one toy purchase deal that expires today

$72, not bad

(wanted to use that coupon for commander optimus prime but it was never in-stock online or in-store so my mum ordered him at full price off bbts for me for christmas lol)

I was contemplating it…but I just couldn’t find anything I really felt compelled to get. Not with Black Friday and Holiday sales spinning up in the next couple of weeks. I saw Generations Silverbolt at one point, but I couldn’t find it again.

Oh. Oh no. These are really nice, especially for $5. Oh no. I'm in some real trouble here.

The Walmart app says they have them in stock, so I think I might check things out tomorrow morning. My ONLY gripe is the “blind boxed” nature. For $5, I’m pretty open, but I dang sure don’t want to buy 3 and end up with 3 of the same character, y’know?

They DID catch my eye. While “SD”, they feel a bit more ”proportionate” relative to typical SD toys we see from Japan with the oversized heads. And I definitely appreciate the low cost and reasonably varied character variety.

 

[M. Virion]

I was not understanding the appeal of these things, but $5? That's how cheap they are? For the price of one Deluxe you can get five of these things?

I think they were $7-8 when you had to buy them at import/specialty store prices. $4.97 at my local Walmart, though and that's the price on their website. They're fun little builds, well articulated and slightly taller than a core class figure.

Doc pointed out they exist in the same market and price point as lego blind boxes and it kind of blew me away at what good value these are.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

$7-8 is still cheaper than Core. $4.97 is a bargain. At least Core could transform but the paint was pretty dire sometimes. Overall I think these look like a better value.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Blokees’ website lists blind boxes at $6.99. Which isn’t terrible for a 3-ish” articulated figure. And you NEVER know how long Walmart will bother to mess with something like this.

There’s also the “Classic Class”, which seem to run between 4-5” (10.5-13 cm), which run around $15. No blind box, but not in scale either, they did a few for TF 2007, Rise of the Beasts, and a few for TFOne. I’m curious to get Arcee and robot Optimus Primal, see how they compare to Deluxes or HG Gundams.

 

[Haywire]

I've been seeing the Blokees at Walmarts around here, they've all been on what I would call a side grid, a display that hangs on the side of an end cap. Most Walmarts have them near the regular Transformers, but my local one has them on the side of an end cap near the pet food, so it might take some hunting to find them.

Anyone know if there is any code to decipher the blind box contents? Would be nice to at least not pick up duplicates if I decide to get some.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I'm interested. I like model kits but Kabaya was just in it to pull a prank on me, and nothing has grabbed my attention since.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be, going by a quick Google search. Best bet is just find people to trade duplicates.

 

[tec]

eww all your TFs have been affected by non transforming cooties