I saw these pictures this morning and had a geek-gasm! This really is The Perfect Optimus Prime, the Transformers collectors’ dream, realized!
I will be attending the Official Transformers Collectors Convention (formerly known as BotCon) in Chicago next week, so I’ll post here with any new information I get from Takara or Hasbro reps.
For the record, I believe this is part of Takara’s “Alternator” line of Transformers toys. Optimus does look sweet, certainly better than the non-poseable “Super Hybrid” figures from a few years back.
And I think the blue car is supposed to be Bluestreak, not Smokescreen.
how much for these bad boys? it beats the shit out of the new peterbilt style optimus that currently resides atop my G4 at work.
i, along with JDeMobray will pay good money for these things…
Yes, but are they made with dye-cast metal like the originals as well, or are they completely plastic like all the other cheap toys that come out nowadays?
There was nothing better than having Optimus kick your friend and have him really feel that Cybertronian metal hit his forehead.
Unfortunately, die-cast metal is a lost art in toymaking. It’s heavy, which does cause certain issues for safety… a metal toy is more likely to shatter the plastic bits in a drop test as it weighs more and impacts with more mass, it makes the toy harder to have a low center of gravity, and it wears the paint off quicker. Not to mention more wear on the molds. They do still make all metal robot toys… they only cost $80 a pop. Not for the children. Plastics let the robots pose better, and are actually more durable, considering.
Seriously, this will be in my office very, very soon or I will drop corporate law and start suing. I want this and I need a link to figure out where to buy. For the love of God please post a link!!!
Rattrap: “That ship wasn’t built, it was poured!” Optimus Primal: (to camera) “Die-cast metal – it’s a lost art.”
–“The Agenda,” part 3, Beast Wars
It also costs more to ship, because of the heavier weight, or so I’ve heard.
Cnsidering this is an unpainted prototype we’re looking at, I’d guess it wouldn’t be available for another 6 months at the earliest. You might be able to pre-order it through an import toy dealer such as bigbadtoystore.com
You mean “The Official Transformers Collectors’ Convention” next week, since “BotCon” is now the show being run by Jon and Karl Hartman after they split with Glen Hallit.
Oy, fandom politics give me a headache… :rolleyes:
It’s an unpainted resin prototype. I can tell that much. But yes, it clearly transforms. If you work at it, you can figure out most of how. (Hint: Pelvis does a 180). Neat working pistons, too, on the elbows.
Smokescreen is hitting Japan with Alternators in a few months, here later. I think we have to wait till next summerish for Prime. Sorry, folks. This is the cost of finding the really early rumors… the long waiting pain. Don’tcha worry, I’ll remind you.