Here is an interesting one. TFW2005 member D-Drive dropped us a line with a listing in Diamond, for a straight case of Nightbeat, due out on August 31st. The listing is below:
TRANSFORMERS GEN DLX NIGHTBEAT AF CS (NET) (C: 1-1-2)
HASBRO TOY GROUP
From Marvel Comics. To Nightbeat, the greatest threat to the universe isn’t the Decepticons; it’s secrecy. The Autobot sleuth is relentless when it comes to unearthing the truth. He’ll stop at nothing to get to the bottom of things, even if it means confronting bots far more powerful than he is. Convert, arm and attack with all the Transformers action you can handle! This Nightbeat figure is one fierce warrior in robot mode, and he carries a powerful combined blaster into battle against Decepticon foes. When he needs to chase down the foe, he can convert to sports car mode! Whatever mode your Nightbeat figure is in, his enemies will think twice before taking him on! Includes figure, comic book and accessory.
The description is a match for the Generations Nightbeat released in the Thrilling 30 line – and the photo with the listing is the same Thrilling 30 Nightbeat.
This one is an anomaly of a listing – we’re not entirely sure why a three year old toy would be getting a re-release, especially in a solid case assortment, and particularly given Nightbeat was a Headmaster, it seems odd to rerelease a non-Headmaster toy when a whole line of Headmasters will be on the market. It’s possible that the listing is using the old information in error, and we’re getting something new come August 31st – but that’s just a fan’s earnest desire. What we know are the facts – which are Diamond has for some reason got a listing for a solid case of Thrilling 30 deluxe Nightbeat.
Watch this space for more information as we get it.
artiepants
i work in package design (and deal with the horrors of having to make 8-language packaging for Europe), so this is some interesting minutia…
Nevermore
European packaging is printed differently from US packaging. There are even language differences!
For a long time there were actually three packaging formats:
US packaging (English only)
Canadian/Latin American packaging (English/French/Spanish, then later English/French/Spanish/Portuguese)
European packaging (twelve languages for a while, then later thirteen languages)
Basically, Canadian/Latin American packaging had a tendency for weird errors (such as incorrect faction symbols) or cost-cutting measures (such as featuring the same package art for several different figures), whereas European packaging was either cluttered with too much text or extremely minimalistic, and replaced character art with stock photos of the toys themselves for a while. Or in short: Canadian/Latin American packaging = wacky shit, European packaging = extremely dull.
With the launch of Combiner Wars and "NuRID", Hasbro trimmed that down to only two formats for the most part:
"American" packaging (English/French/Spanish/Portuguese)
European packaging (English/French/German/Spanish)
Only the Combiner Wars Deluxes actually remained English-only for the US (because of the included comics which neither Canada, Latin America nor Europe got). And even those have apparently been dropped now with Titans Return.
Also note that "American" (formerly "Canadian/Latin American") packaging actually features French as spoken and written in Canada, Spanish as spoken and written in Latin American countries, and Portuguese as spoken and written in Brazil.
European packaging features French as spoken and written in France, Spanish as spoken and written in Spain, and back when there were still 12 or 13 languages, also Portuguese as spoken and written in Portugal. That resulted in some spelling and wording differences.
The TFWiki page about multilingual packaging features a lot of examples including direct comparisons, and I did a lengthy treatise comparing both packaging types for Combiner Wars Voyager Battle Core Optimus Prime here last year.
Here's a direct comparison for all three packaging types available for Combiner Wars Ironhide:
I know this is all totally exotic to you US folks, but for us foreigners this is the "standard" packaging we get, and it slightly frustrates me every time we've seen non-US packaging as part of a news story in the past and people, even those that have been around this fandom for ages, act totally dumbfounded by how "strange" the packaging looks to them while for us it looks "normal". Then again. even people from the UK get confused by "American" (formerly "Canadian/Latin American") packaging because they only know the US gets English-only packaging, so any packaging sporting more than one language looks the same to them as native English speakers. The fact that Hasbro has repeatedly referred to any non-US packaging type as "international packaging" in the past didn't help either.
I've tried educating people on multiple occasions, but interest always seemed to be very low, resulting in yet another round of "Huh, that packaging looks weird" with the next news story featuring a toy in "non-US standard" packaging.
BenjaminXavier
The barcode in the listing matches the barcode in Siebertron's pic. So that solves that issue.
Are European barcodes just stickers over the US ones or do they print the packaging separately?
Nevermore
I really don't want to pimp other websites (especially not this particular one), but Seibertron's galleries tend to have a nice clean shot of the UPC barcode on the packaging:
Transformers Generations Nightbeat Toy Gallery (Image #12 of 126)
Yeah, I think barcode differences are only relevant for European releases, where there's an assortment EAN barcode for figures that ship as part of assortments and single figure EANs for figures that ship as solid cases.
US packaging tends to have one single figure UPC barcode for each figure.
Though I'm open for corrections.
"Warehouse find" doesn't literally mean "an entire warehouse full of nothing but the same figure", it means "unsold cases found, presumably inside a warehouse".
Autovolt 127
A warehouse full of Nightbeats?
Dear Lord.
Well on the plus side, we can make more Legbeat.
Thelonicon
Here you go. I hope it is good enough. My phone's camera had a hard time focusing thanks to the reflective surface
BenjaminXavier
I can pull the barcode from the listing, does anyone have the origina packaging around we can compare it to?
Its more than likely the same though, they rarely change barcodes when things come back out in later waves. The 3rd wave of TF: Prime deluxes (BB & Vehicon, IIRC) are the only ones I know of off the top of my head.
Automorpher
That looks interesting.
Mind sharing how to go about with this or provide some links?
Thanks in advance mate.
payres
Have we got the barcode from this Nightbeat to compare yet?
I seem to recall entertainment earth getting solid cases in a few months back.
Nevermore
Right now a lot of people are finding Nightbeat (and apparently only him from the Thrilling 30 line-up) at Ross, starting here:
http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/trans…es-new-instock-items-thread-post13762117.html
I bet those sightings are connected to the Diamond listing.
My money is on "warehouse find".
Nevermore
A lot of things are possible.
But likely?
The scenario I just described is highly unlikely.
Seriously, I'd be willing to bet whatever that it's just some old Thrilling 30 Nightbeat overstock, a warehouse find or something similar and nothing else.
Autovolt 127
That is quite fascinating that its possible. I'd rather have a new mold though.
That's possible.
RKillian
Yeah, I would've liked a 1st shot at the Jazz mold too.
iacon45
My money is still on Hasbro trying to sell off leftover stock. I don't see it being any kind of special edition but if it is, hopefully not one that is remolded for a Titanmaster without at least coming with said Titanmaster.
What would be awesome is if it turned out Hasbro produced some Nightbeats using the RTS Jazz mold like very early pics (and the special edition comic cover) shows and this is Hasbro selling them. I know its highly unlikely, but I was one who actually wished they had stayed with the RTS Jazz mold for Nightbeat.
Nevermore
Here's the Dimond listing at the Previews website:
PREVIEWSworld – TRANSFORMERS GEN DLX NIGHTBEAT AF CS (Net) (C: 1-1-2)
"From Marvel Comics"?
Anyway… stock photo of Thrilling 30 Nightbeat, bio and product description blurb are identical to those from the Hasbro website page for Thrilling 30 Nightbeat.
Anyone still thinking this is some super-special mysterious exclusive retool or new figure that will be available outside the standard Hasbro retail assortments and for some inexplicable reasons uses all the marketing materials of the Nightbeat figure from two years ago as "placeholders"?
Scaleface
Okay, so we know it's incredibly easy to modify the Nightbeat body to leave a hole in the neck that happens to be the size for a Titan Master to fit inside, people have already started to do it. What if Hasbro does this?
For vehicle mode they can just include one of those Titans Returns rifles that a Titan Master can sit in, and plug it in the side like a sidecar. Perfect storage for the head in vehicle mode.
If Hasbro wants to be cleaver, they can remold the face to be comic accurate instead of toy accurate on this release, so it doesn't overlap as much with the Titan Master release.
BenjaminXavier
Clearly I meant the Hasbro item number, which is the same. EE has that and their own on the page. If Diamond doesn't list it, then I can't compare them, obvs. Thanks for the confirmation.
WheelWave140
Optimistic that it's a new mold/ more Nightbeaty retool for TR. Nightbeat's one of the most memorable characters from the later comics (Although I did have the Matrix Quest TPB as a child, so that probably influenced my perception) and it's weird that they would put up a listing for a two year old figure out of the blue. The description might be a placeholder or a clerical error. Hopefully we'll know soon.
If it was a new Nightbeat, it'd be weird that we wouldn't have heard about this from the Transmissions podcast.
grunge
i dont think it would be that hard to convert that mold to a headmaster one.
Nevermore
Obviously neither of you have realized yet that people don't care for your "reason" or "facts", and refuse to let their rampant speculation be brought down by them.