Sightings news for you this morning via Australia! It looks like the Leader Class AOE Bumblebee as been purchased at Australia Retail. For those who do not recall, this figure is the Dark of the Moon Leader Class mold with a slightly different deco and without the massive Mech-Tech weapon it previously came with.
Hat tip to TFW2005 boards member Starscream Gaga for providing some images of the packaging as well as confirming the retail price of $89 in Australia. Interesting to note is the packaging size of this figure, which is significantly larger than the other Leader Class Optimus Prime and Grimlock figures; we can also see in the images provided the size difference between the two movie figures themselves.
Will you be adding this Bumblebee to your shelves? Check out the images after the jump.
TCJJ
FYI, it's at New Zealand retail, too, and it looks horrible. The box is also half as deep as the other leaders. It's such a weird thing to pick up. The box appears to be the only one of its kind, for now.
LegendAntihero
I think people want to make those prices up to make Australia's dollar value look weak
Hollywood Hoist
Yeah, pretty much it, big and flashy sells. As far as movies go, it really depends on what you're looking for. Good, great, bad are all opinions and one persons good is another persons bad. I totally agree some movies seem to just check the boxes.
Sure we can watch intelligent films like The Bicycle Thief, Citizen Kane, on the Waterfront, but despite those being brilliant films, they aren't a fun relaxing time.
Transformers and most genre films and comedies kind of fit into the category of mindless films. They are like a fireworks display or a rollercoaster ride, enjoyable at the time, but you don't think about it much after. I don't believe that if you enjoy a mindless film that it makes one unintelligent or if you only watch art films that it all of sudden makes one intelligent, it all just depends on what you're looking for in your entertainment.
I tend to have two categories for movies.
Popcorn movies – mindless fun, don't think about it afterwards, but enjoyable at the time. These could be good in that they kept me entertained throughout the movie.
Films – art films, classic films, dramas are usually what fit into this category. These are enjoyable, but in a different way, and can often stick with you for days, weeks or even months later. There are certainly films that I would consider bad.
Sometimes a movie can have elements of both, Memento comes to mind.
Games, books and other media fall into similar categories.
Shortly I'm going to be assembling some new chairs and I'll probably throw in a movie and watch while I do it and it's going to be something mindless.
jametron
And use '67 Camaro Bee as the artwork on front of the box!
IgnikaMarcus
They're $45. No idea where tonyformer is shopping if they're borderline $50
Afterburner
Really, it is a combination of the lowest common denominator effect and Hoist's idea of people consuming just to consume. There is currently only one TF film franchise, therefore most people see it just because it is TF and there are no other options. "I'm a TF fan, how could I not see the movie." Plus pop culture, groupthink, and fads dominate human nature in the technology era (see "trending" – and notice how what is trending is constantly changing), though we're getting back into the lowest common denominator in that discussion again.
There will be better TF movies someday. We just have to be patient. If Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Star Trek, etc can go through reboots, TF will too. And there's nowhere to go but up. Someone in Hollywood is a real fan and will want to respect us and do it right.
PlanckEpoch
I'm going to be blunt and say that it is that the reason why bad media sells is because they merely check the boxes for the lowest common denominator. The general populace doesn't have any taste or appreciation for more intelligent or better made media. That's where the terminology "lowest common denominator" comes from. If you make it flashy and action-y enough, or edgy enough, or simple enough then it doesn't really matter how vapid and stupid something is, which is both a good and bad thing.
Transformers movies are part of that. They're pretty dumb, shallow, and don't have anywhere near the depth that Transformers fans think they do. They're just serviceable, adequate "Big Dumb Action Movies" and nothing more. Same for Call of Duty…they tend to be awful and the gameplay is set to a low level so that ANYONE can succeed with very little time invested. This is in contrast to Team Fortress 2 where the Scout requires quite a bit of skill and involves time invested to learn the maps, to learn where and when you can double jump and how to set up "meatshots" for instance.
There's nothing really special to why people like bad things. It's simply that those bad things tend to do enough to appeal to the lowest level of intelligence for mass consumption.
Hollywood Hoist
I agree with you there, it does seem weird to have a new version of the Camero, but use an older toy.
optics
Which is still far too much.
Jack Darby
I don't understand they could have at least used his newer Camero Concept from the movie instead of the one from DotM. Would have rather had that in a leader if the wanted to do another Bumblebee figure. Ugh go figure thats Hasbro for ya.
Hollywood Hoist
I certainly don't think it's universally liked. It seems more that the fandom is divided, but the person I quoted was saying things like no one liked it, and people want this and that. It's just a bit presumptuous to think that you know what the fandom as a whole likes and doesn't like based on a few peoples posts.
The mold was used 4 times, 5 if you include Ruination, and none seemed to do that poorly at retail. True many people would have skipped Bruticus, if a better toy that cost the same was out there. I think that's a no brainer, who wouldn't buy something that is better at the same cost.
As for your examples bad movies, books, games sell, but the question is why? There must be something in those things that is driving people to buy it, good commercials maybe. . With Bruticus you can see what you're getting, if you don't like the look of it, you won't buy it, except those people who want every Transformer ever. Just because something is bad, doesn't mean it's not enjoyable.
IgnikaMarcus
Dude. It's Australia pricing.
LegendAntihero
80? No way
jametron
IF THERE IS A GOD IN HEAVEN then these will only be available in Australia and NOT infest the rest of the world!!!!
PlanckEpoch
I don't think it's as universally liked as you might think. Bad movies sell out, and even comic books by a universally hated artist still sells. Bad games continue to sell millions, etc.
Just because people eat it up doesn't mean it's necessarily good. How many people would've skipped FoC Bruticus if something that was similarly costed yet higher quality was available instead? I know I would. More often than not people get things because it's the ONLY representation of that thing. How many people didn't want to get Prime Airachnid but only did so because it's the only existing representation of that character?
I only wanted FoC Bruticus because I wanted to have ANY representation of Bruticus, and I quickly hid FoC Bruticus in shame the moment I got my hands on the Fansproject one. Again, with a better option available I went with the better one.
Snake_eyes1975
YYYeeeesssssss……..Feed me more solid logic… I thrive on truth..
Nevermore
Quoted for absolute truth.
Lazerwave
Well, Do you still think this is the third leader class?
Hollywood Hoist
People did want FOC Bruticus, as it sold out at SDCC, Premium TRU seemed to do pretty well, they made a G2 version that sold well at Amazon, of course there is the actual retail release that when it first was released on HTS, it sold out and continued to sell out it's restock fairly quickly.
Bruticus was most likely a test for gestalts in the future, they tied it into the game. Certainly not everyone liked the design of it, but many of the collectors I know personally have it in their collection, so I don't think it's as universally disliked as you think.
As for the YOTH, well it's not nearly as popular as the original releases, but the problem is, if Hasbro made a bunch more of the original release and it sat on the shelves, then after a month they'd be considered shelf warmers by some fans.
So what's the magic number? How many does Hasbro have to make to satisfy every fan, but not have so many that they sit on shelves?
As fans we buy what we want as soon as we see it, for the most part. This is not the typical behavior of the toy buying public. I don't see kids walking out with a cart full of Transformers. Kids have to save up their money for a few weeks in order to buy a deluxe figure, considering Hasbro releases 3 to 4 characters in a wave, that's about 2 months of a kids allowance to buy all the figures they may want. So it makes sense to have the same product on the shelves for an extended time.
Most fans have the mentality that once we have the figure, we no longer want to see it on the shelves, we want to move on to the next figure, and we don't take into consideration that most people don't buy at the frequency at which we do.
There is no easy answer, but I'm pretty confident that what the fans want isn't necessarily what's good for business.
Hollywood Hoist
How is it milking the mold? They've used it only once. It's true that fans who wanted this mold already have it, but the last movie was 3 years ago, so 5-7 year olds who may not have been old enough back in 2011 are now 8-10 years old now and a big figure of a popular character makes sense.