So this little sandman has been slacking off for months now, time for me to get back to rambling. In the Christmas season we saw the release of Ruination, Landfill, and the Rail Racer team. Post Christmas we've been pleasantly surprised by Cryotek, Galvatron, and the Super Car Brothers. All around it looks like the RID line is nearly complete... Oh yeah we also got mini-Prime, mini-Magnus, mini Scourge, and mini-XBrawn.. Once we get full sized Scourge the line looks like it'll meet it's demise. Makes me sad that I didn't update my site since September. I doubt anyone is gonna care much longer for an awesome line that set a new benchmark for how cool toys can be. It was great to see the fab Car Robots 2000 line surface here in the states as Robots in Disguise, but looks like were off to see the rise of Transformers Armada. I haven't seen much of the line but what I have seen of it doesn't please me. With the exception of the three little jets, what can I say I'm a sucker for jets. Looks like that McDonalds promo for RID never happened.
Anyhow, looks like well be losing some articulation in Armada, and at the same time venturing away from more realistic vehicle modes to more conceptual/futuristic ideas. Maybe I'm just stuck on how cool RID was and how cool it could have been, but who knows Armada may yet surprise us all.
Something that does surprise me though is how well the toy sales are doing even now without Christmas. Heck my local Walmart had five pegs crammed to the edge with mini-bots three weeks ago only to see it dwindle down to less then ten mini-bot packs. I think that says something about the popularity of this line. The line seems to have really good price points. The decepticon combiner parts are the same price they were 15 years ago. It's amazing to see that Hasbro can offer great Transformer toys at a reasonable price while Star Wars remains unreasonably priced. Where Star Wars has alienated collectors like myself with astronomical prices (come on $7 per fig, are you serious?) RID has bedazzled us with low low prices. Heck just the other week all the deluxe size vehicles went down to $7.88 at Walmart. Now you can grab MegaOctane, the construction combiners and the super car brothers for 88 more cents than a Star Wars figure. My friend reported to me that the mini-bot packs dropped to $3.88 at Target (I don't know if that was a sale or a markdown). That's like $23.40 (plus tax) to form the classic Bruticus, uhm I mean Ruination. Are my G1 roots showing, maybe I should get highlights.
Well since I've brought myself onto the topic, looks like we're in store for some classic G-1 in the states. Rumors are buzzing about that reissues of Ultra Magnus and Hot Rod are on their way to American toy shelves! Also there's word of the PVC's coming to our humble shores. I really am looking forward to the PVC's. I got one of Ultra Magnus at the Ohaycon in January, and he's cool as all H. Plus I don't think we'll be subjected to randomized sealed boxes like the Japanese PVC's. We should get only US characters and in packages that we can clearly see who were getting. I'm drooling over the idea getting an Arcee......... well, i suppose that's enough rambling to get me back on track with my page. I really hope I'll be updating my site on a regular basis. check out the pics. Catch ya on the flipside. END OF LINE |
