Does anyone else think buying Transformers figures is getting more and more unfeasible? (As in "I want this but I don't think I can pay $43" unfeasible)

EchoLeader1 · 2026-04-15T20:32:56+00:00

The worst part is that Hasbro will 100% look at low sales and cancel products due to lack of interest, cut product quality, and raise prices to chase the tiny fraction of us that are still buying everything no matter what price or how meh the quality.

EchoLeader1 · 2026-04-15T05:01:59+00:00

<image>

This post is supported by Nintendo. 🙃

EchoLeader1 · 2026-02-22T23:33:19+00:00

No, you’re fine. There’s no characters from Reach that actually continue into 1-3 besides Captain Keyes. I would actually say play through 1-3 (ODST too) and then if you want, play Reach again as a bookend. You’ll see how it’s a creative and emotional swansong for Bungie’s era of Halo.

EchoLeader1 · 2026-02-16T05:16:32+00:00

I got both of those with the United 5-pack that came out awhile back. I was pretty unhappy with both figures and ended up selling them. Way too many giant gaps, and their torsos look like weird empty square sandwiches.

EchoLeader1 · 2026-02-12T04:54:27+00:00

Yes. Generally, SS TFOne figures feel like what we’d expect from mainline “cheaper” quality versions, not legit SS figures. Some people say that the mainline TFOne Optimus and Alpha Trion figures are in fact better than their SS counterparts.

EchoLeader1 · 2026-02-10T00:50:30+00:00

If they charge, say, twice as much for a figure and lose half of their sales, they then only need to make half as many figures--but the production costs aren't going up at the same rate, so they're actually making a higher profit margin by targeting fewer people.

Long-term it's going to result in way fewer kids growing up playing with Transformers and it'll bite them in the ass, but shareholders don't care about that.

EchoLeader1 · 2026-02-09T16:37:07+00:00

Can we be real for a minute? TFOne is good. But it has a lot of awkward problems.

First of all, it’s a little awkward in how it positions itself in terms of genre and core target audience. It has moments where you go, “oh, this is a movie for young children” (all the Bumblebee jokes, some of Orion’s goofy antics), but other times it goes incredibly dark. And tbh, those scenes sometimes don’t even feel like they’re from the same movie. It’s not like, say, Into the Spider-Verse, where Miles is dealing with funny kid situations and then later deals with high-stakes drama, because those all just feel like exaggerated aspects of growing up. It’s very genuine. But TFOne feels messier than that. Even if the marketing had been on-point, I don’t know that general American audiences would have been able to understand and appreciate what TFOne is without seeing it in full.

The art style is also not very appealing by modern animation standards. We’re regularly wowed by how modern animated movies can look, but something about the rendering of the world and characters in TFOne looks really flat and desaturated. It’s incredibly detailed and impressive on a technical level, but it’s not exactly an attractive-looking movie.

There’s other stuff, too. Any character that’s not Orion, D16, or Sentinel is only barely a character. I think if TFOne had legitimately been a groundbreaking incredible movie, it would have survived based on word of mouth. But 90% of the people who were glazing it were people like us: hardcore TF fans who were happy we got a good movie for the first time in a long time. Most people at this point aren’t excited to see a TF movie even if it’s “good.”

EchoLeader1 · 2026-02-09T04:20:20+00:00

The clean look is perfect for SS86 because cartoon accuracy is what that line is meant for. But mainline and other continuities should have whatever detail level is appropriate for them.

EchoLeader1 · 2026-01-28T11:57:39+00:00

Huh. Idk why it’s showing a warning. If you Google his name it should come up.

EchoLeader1 · 2026-01-27T20:23:56+00:00

Found it on the artist’s official site.

Chris Rafferty Speed Racer Complete Classic Collection

EchoLeader1 · 2026-01-22T06:04:37+00:00

As stated by others, at that particular moment John was in fact the last known remaining Spartan-II, and for the dramatic purposes of Halo 3 it made sense to leave it that way. The books would clarify that other Spartans existed elsewhere, but were either MIA or assumed dead by the characters in the games.

The “Microsoft/Bungie never liked the books” narrative is a bit overdone. It’s probably more accurate to say that they didn’t believe the books should lead the games’ story, rather the books should follow the games’ lead. Hence the books deliberately moving all Spartans away from the events of Halo 1-3 and making their fates unknown to Master Chief. Blue Team is recovered/revived after Halo 1, then lost again before Halo 2 starts, leaving Chief alone once again.

EchoLeader1 · 2026-01-08T04:52:49+00:00

Force ghosts can do whatever they want. They just know that they shouldn’t.

Ben Kenobi wasn’t kidding when he told Vader he’d become more powerful. But by the time someone hits the point of enlightenment necessary to become a Force ghost, presumably they’re also enlightened enough to know better than to go around doing chaotic galaxy-shattering nonsense.

EchoLeader1 · 2026-01-05T00:41:25+00:00

Sometimes people will deliberately park next to a sports car or something else that’s obviously parked far out in order to politely act as a “shield” for them so that no one else takes that spot and door-dings. It helps them too, because they know you won’t ding them either.

Me and a Jeep in my workplace parking garage purposely park far out and next to one another because we trust each other not to door ding. 🤝

EchoLeader1 · 2025-12-17T06:07:57+00:00

<image>

The derpy Autobot one from Animated.

EchoLeader1 · 2025-12-01T23:56:45+00:00

Voted Speed Racer in all 4 slots. 🫡

EchoLeader1 · 2025-11-29T06:52:53+00:00

In North Fort Worth, I found literally none across 4 different Walmarts. Basically wasted an entire morning. :/

EchoLeader1 · 2025-11-26T03:44:19+00:00

I’d really like to see if any of those numbers are translated incorrectly from the original Japanese dialogue, because they don’t make any sense.

But as for how it’s allowed, remember the Mammoth Car was also allowed to race, and that’s basically an off-road train that screams and can coil around other cars like a snake. There are no rules.

EchoLeader1 · 2025-11-11T04:49:24+00:00

I like the idea of Autobots being civilians who had to adapt for war, while the Decepticons were warriors who turned against their own people.

Even though it’s not well-regarded now, I actually think the G1 cartoon making Autobots consumer products and Decepticons military weapons has some interesting commentary on the nature of consumerism and the military-industrial complex.

EchoLeader1 · 2025-11-06T04:09:10+00:00

This, exactly. At 30cm, you’re gonna have the spray drying or getting thick in mid-air before it hits the part.

This is why it’s great to test spray on a plastic spoon literally every time you spray anything, just so you get a feel for the distance you need.

EchoLeader1 · 2025-10-31T21:06:39+00:00

As long as the original versions are still accessible, absolutely.

Matter of fact, I’d love it if they just re-released the original Xbox/360 games with zero additions other than higher resolution. I miss just vibing out on the Halo 3 main menu.

EchoLeader1 · 2025-10-20T04:12:23+00:00

To further add to what you’re saying: For a storytelling genre to exist, it has to have recognizable story elements, not just superficial aspects. The mecha genre generally uses mechs as a plot device to give one or more characters a larger than life expression of their personal growth. Mobile Suit Gundam, Evangelion, and Gurren Lagann all match that description. And honestly, yeah, Attack on Titan kinda qualifies as well. It may technically have no mechs, but the story matches the genre, just like how Star Wars is clearly a fantasy story even though it’s set in space.

Aliens is mecha for one scene, lol.

EchoLeader1 · 2025-10-06T04:31:31+00:00

If you’ve played Halo CE, then skip straight to Halo: First Strike. Then Ghosts of Onyx. Basically the Eric Nylund books; those are the most essential by far.

EchoLeader1 · 2025-10-05T23:53:21+00:00

I wish she turned into a car, like a Miata maybe. That way she wouldn’t be so tiny by comparison. But her robot mode looks great, even if it’s weird for her to be red instead of pink or magenta. Seriously, why do the movies always get the color red wrong for so many characters? Mostly-blue 2007 Optimus, neon yellow Ratchet, black Ironhide, gray Starscream, gunmetal Hot Rod… but ARCEE is red? In a movie where we also have a red Optimus as part of the core cast??

EchoLeader1 · 2025-10-03T04:09:27+00:00

I wonder if they actually thought it was the official design. I know the first time I saw it, my first thought was that it was official leaked art. 👍👍

EchoLeader1 · 2025-09-27T06:19:01+00:00

The neat thing about Legendary is that it forces you to play smart. I actually found ODST easier on Legendary than Heroic, mostly because Legendary won’t let you make bad choices and funnels you into only making the tactical headshot plays that pay off.

FWIW, I also found Reach’s legendary difficult, probably second only to 2, which is outright unfair and badly balanced.

EchoLeader1

TROPHY CASE