Starscream otherwise looks good, but he should be able to do this.
Potential for a Red Alert repaint as well.
The Star Raiders will be a Walmart exclusive offering, like the Velocitron or Toxitron “micro lines”. So…how hard have THEY been?
For me? Aside from a stray Road Rocket, they haven’t carried anything since the Velocitron capsule, and I don’t have hopes here (my local store has gotten VERY behind when it comes to stocking what little they DO carry, much less temp items). I wouldn’t mind Ferak, maybe Lockdown,and maybe the Thundertron (I still think it’s going to be a Tigerhawk retool, given the price point. That, or a Voyager with goodies). But nothing I’d deem “essential”.
I wonder if that wasn’t “the plan” at one point. The leaked listings for 2025 reportedly feature a Voyager iteration of Armada Red Alert. So, maybe, Hasbro had done up Cannonball/red Alert as an option until they decided to do a full Voyager for him?
Then again, we’ve gotten BOTH an “Armada Universe” AND “Cybertron Universe” Starscream, despite them being, fundamentally, the same character and universe. Though, in that case, the two designs were FAR more different than Armada and Cybertron Red Alert were.
I don’t live in Burgerland but they’re somewhat available here. Hobby stores will put up preorders but they’re limited in quantity. General retail might get some but only the larger stores, very inconsistently and in even more limited quantities.
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Although this will hopefully come down a bit at Amazon Japan, this is still extremely expensive. If you can imagine that (ignoring the conversation rate), this is arguably the equivalent of $385 to us here in Japan, where the cost of items had gone up (a thin slice of ham with lettuce in a front-faced sandwich in 7-11 now costs around ¥300, which, again is kind-of the same as charging $3 in the US) AND wages HAVEN'T gone up in many/most sectors to match the economy for many, many years. Most of us over here are on the same salaries as , say, 20 years ago and we have to spend much more on things.
Takara's quickly pricing itself out of the mainstream TF collecting market and will soon be competing directly with 3P companies IMO.
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Yeah, specialty stores on this side of the world may bring it in, and there's a slim chance that mainstream retail might gamble on striking a deal for these exclusives again (they did get some Target exclusives during WFC, and the Walmart beasts from Legacy as well as Velocitron wave 1). None of those did particularly well, though, so who knows if they'll try again.
But iirc, I think even in the US Walmart's second Velocitron wave was distributed abysmally, and we didn't even get that.
I hope these show up at decent prices at specialty stores (we eventually got the Toxitron stuff, the Deluxes at least). Definitely up for that Ferak and Filch, maybe Cannonball. (Is Medix really so bad? Was gonna try and get one. Are the issues at least fixable?)
Sandstorm, Buzzsaw and gray Cheetor took forever to disappear
I'd say they managed to find the one angle/pose that hides all of Cannonball's tattoos, but there's nothing at all on his little faux shoulder doors so I'm suddenly a little concerned he has any at all.
It just doesn't feel like Cannonball without the electric teal skeletons. I'm sure there'll be a sticker set for it, but it's still kinda disappointing.
Funny how I can get totally excited to troop-build Cybertron Starscream, but yet I can't get excited about brand new figures.
The set of 4 looks good and all, but I don't think I'll be picking up any of them. None of the characters mean anything to me except Lockdown, and I still own my Thrilling 30 version of him. I never was into the idea of Cannonball. I own his crew, but have incorporated them into my Vehicon army as an elite squad. The other 2 aren't bad, but I always like Cyclonus as a unique looking character so having another guy who looks like him goes against that for me. Maybe a remold of the head would have done it for me. Also, I haven't been real big on animal transformers of late, except insecticons.
The set of 4 looks good and all, but I don't think I'll be picking up any of them. None of the characters mean anything to me except Lockdown, and I still own my Thrilling 30 version of him. I never was into the idea of Cannonball. I own his crew, but have incorporated them into my Vehicon army as an elite squad. The other 2 aren't bad, but I always like Cyclonus as a unique looking character so having another guy who looks like him goes against that for me. Maybe a remold of the head would have done it for me. Also, I haven't been real big on animal transformers of late, except insecticons.
TBF, we don't really see any of his alt mode, so they could exist.
Of the various Wal-Marts in my area, only three that I know of got any of the Toxitron stuff - two had the Leaders very early on, and one just recently had Cloudcover and Laser Cycle. I had to get all of the guys I wanted either as preorders or from friends online.
As it stands, I suspect that Filch is going to be one of the more difficult to acquire releases for this line. Female character, limited line, enthusiasm from several people online...yep, she's scalper bait.
First look at the Star Raiders (formerly Star Seekers) subline for Walmart.
Pics and info courtesy of Jtprime17
Walmart Star Raider Capsule.
Thanks to @HyperShauta for the help. Yes the Star Seekers are now being called Star Raiders according to the listing titles. So far these are the...www.tfw2005.com
First images of Cannonball, Lockdown, Filch and Ferak.View attachment 19830View attachment 19831View attachment 19832View attachment 19833
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Filch is the only one that has me excited of these four.
Other than his "Armada" that all look exactly like him you mean? j/k
There's not even a Line of character description, nor a Function call out to be found in the product description on the Walmart Website. Also not a word of text explaining what a "Star Raider" is. Kids would have zero idea from the packaging or website not just who these guys are as characters, but even that these guys have anything to do with Pirates at all.
It's SOOOO dull and lifeless as a push for a theoretically fun concept of a subline.
I can only dream of these getting brief but so fun Takara comics like the Velocitrons did to bring them all and their situation and their character and relationships to life. That could sell me on all these the way RiD15 is selling me on only Filch at the moment.
-ZacWilliam, sadly the Toxitron toys didn't get that so I don't have too much hope.
It's SOOOO dull and lifeless as a push for a theoretically fun concept of a subline.
I can only dream of these getting brief but so fun Takara comics like the Velocitrons did to bring them all and their situation and their character and relationships to life. That could sell me on all these the way RiD15 is selling me on only Filch at the moment.
-ZacWilliam, sadly the Toxitron toys didn't get that so I don't have too much hope.
I can't unsee ROTB Scourge's face on Lockdown's chest.
And teal skeletons! Except, they're now the Vok! Great nod, there!
From here and what is being done with many of the new Target stuff (like Blaster), it feels like there was some pushback from retail partners about the unique packaging. Maybe the unique packaging was dropped so that retailers could justify keeping the items around longer?
I recall back in 2006, Walmart got an exclusive wave of Star Wars figures which blended with the assorted figures still on shelves, so there wasn't as much a push to "clear out" the items since they looked like everything else.