jmo, this is too much for me, but if you feel compelled to pay this kind of cash for a bunch of repaints, have fun, and i think that this is all it's going to be, repaints. i HIGHLY doubt retooling of any sort.

There was retooling on last year's set (heads on a couple of them, at least).

 

It wouldn't be any more expensive to retool the wings of Ramjet into a mix of Thrust and Dirge's wings and use that version for both figures.

 

Anime Astrotrain is almost a natural for a non-box set convention exclusive.

 

If they want to get away from all jets (and BugByte), Hot Rod and Mirage could be repainted easy enough into Wildrider and Dragstrip.

My predictions of the set...

 

Extra figure

Jetfire or Starscream repaint based on this figure:

http://www.tfu.info/1988/Decepticon/Darkwing/darkwing.htm

(If they base Dreadwind on the G1 version...)

...or...

Starscream repaint based on this figure:

http://www.tfu.info/2003/Decepticon/Smokej...smokejumper.htm

(If they base Dreadwind on the RID version...)

...OR...

Starscream repaint based on this figure:

http://www.tfu.info/2003/Destron/Sunstorm/sunstorm.htm

(The lazy option!)

*edit*

Anime Astrotrain would ROCK!!!

 

 

You know, the more I think of this the more annoyed I'm getting at it being this possibility: With Dreadwind being one of the options, the most likely character for the extra figure is Darkwing. Now the annoying part: The original Darkwing is a swing-wing aircraft. This would mean he most likely is a Jetfire repaint.

 

That would in turn mean that Dreadwind most likely is just a Starscream repaint. That would royally suck if that is indeed the case... :tfsad

 

One more reason for my suspicion of the extra character being a Voyager class is the mention of a mysterious leader in the small story. Leaders tend to be Voyager class toys.

jmo, this is too much for me, but if you feel compelled to pay this kind of cash for a bunch of repaints, have fun, and i think that this is all it's going to be, repaints. i HIGHLY doubt retooling of any sort.

There was retooling on last year's set (heads on a couple of them, at least).

 

It wouldn't be any more expensive to retool the wings of Ramjet into a mix of Thrust and Dirge's wings and use that version for both figures.

 

Anime Astrotrain is almost a natural for a non-box set convention exclusive.

 

If they want to get away from all jets (and BugByte), Hot Rod and Mirage could be repainted easy enough into Wildrider and Dragstrip.

 

if there is any retooling, it will be very little, and will most likely be a hyrbid as you mentioned. my way of thinking goes that hasbro has passed on a little bit a the retooling cost on to them for the ramjet mold, seeing as how he has some significant retooling for a one shot deal. maybe thats just the conspiracy theorist in me though.

 

the addition of bugbyte really throws me off though, probably just an addition to break up the jet thing. also, i'll be very surprised if sunstorm doesn't pop up.

Wouldn't an anime astrotrain be a somewhat mixed bag? There are rather a lot of train parts visible in shuttle mode and vice versa on the classics figure, which would inevitably ruin the 'pure purple/pure grey' anime alt mode colors.

 

Do we actually *know* the leader won't be Scourge? It's been several weeks since the last black optimus repaint.

Wouldn't an anime astrotrain be a somewhat mixed bag? There are rather a lot of train parts visible in shuttle mode and vice versa on the classics figure, which would inevitably ruin the 'pure purple/pure grey' anime alt mode colors.

 

Do we actually *know* the leader won't be Scourge? It's been several weeks since the last black optimus repaint.

I seem to recall a quote from the TFCC people that "no black repaints" were being considered, a veiled reference to the numerous Nemeses to which we've been subjected.

Wouldn't an anime astrotrain be a somewhat mixed bag? There are rather a lot of train parts visible in shuttle mode and vice versa on the classics figure, which would inevitably ruin the 'pure purple/pure grey' anime alt mode colors.

 

Do we actually *know* the leader won't be Scourge? It's been several weeks since the last black optimus repaint.

I seem to recall a quote from the TFCC people that "no black repaints" were being considered, a veiled reference to the numerous Nemeses to which we've been subjected.

Well, that's refreshing at least.

 

Well, I hope the remaining figure sucks, so that maybe I can quell this nagging voice in the back of mind that says must complete the seekers. (The back of my mind has no fiscal sensibilities whatsoever.) Perhaps a 'packaging-accurate' repaint of Ultra Magnus? :P

jmo, this is too much for me, but if you feel compelled to pay this kind of cash for a bunch of repaints, have fun, and i think that this is all it's going to be, repaints. i HIGHLY doubt retooling of any sort.

There was retooling on last year's set (heads on a couple of them, at least).

 

It wouldn't be any more expensive to retool the wings of Ramjet into a mix of Thrust and Dirge's wings and use that version for both figures.

 

Anime Astrotrain is almost a natural for a non-box set convention exclusive.

 

If they want to get away from all jets (and BugByte), Hot Rod and Mirage could be repainted easy enough into Wildrider and Dragstrip.

 

if there is any retooling, it will be very little, and will most likely be a hyrbid as you mentioned. my way of thinking goes that hasbro has passed on a little bit a the retooling cost on to them for the ramjet mold, seeing as how he has some significant retooling for a one shot deal. maybe thats just the conspiracy theorist in me though.

 

the addition of bugbyte really throws me off though, probably just an addition to break up the jet thing. also, i'll be very surprised if sunstorm doesn't pop up.

The Ramjet mould only requires new sets of wings to be made into Thrust & Dirge. Not much more work than a new head when you think about it.

This thread makes my head explode. Screw hasbro and their ass-hattery is all I have to say. I like the seekers a lot, maybe even enough to buy repaints of the mp3 mold if they made them, but to hell with a $300 price tag on $10 TOYS. I'm not dropping that kinda cash unless they can fly and transform with a remote control.

True dat. What irks me, as others have said, is the inclusion of Thundercracker as the lone exclusive out of the original Seekers. I don't even like the Classics Seekers, but I know how much it would piss me off if I could only have 2/3 of them. The three coneheads should have been the exclusives and Thundercracker should have shown up at retail, period. Anything less is, as Scruffy pointed out, pure ass-hattery on Hasbro's part.

So when can we expect pics?