Haslab 2024 - RID Omega Prime

[Nigel]

Jan 30, 2024 21:37:15 GMT The Doctor said:

I misread his name as Blueballs at first on the Pulse page and boggled.

-Ralph

You don't want to be boggling Blueballs.

[Benn]

How many points would it get you though?

[The Doctor]

Less than you might think.

-Ralph

[legios]

Hmmm.

So...

1) I already have a Fire Convoy, so all I need is a God Magnus to combine with it, which this one almost certainly won't.

2) The Price tag puts it well beyond what I'm willing to countenance for a toy, and considering the price the lack of play value compared to the original CR toys makes these look quite sparse in terms of what they offer as toys. This price tag is up in what I would consider in the "collectable" range, and in terms of the overall aesthetic qualities of it I don't think this is up there with something like the Bandai DX Macross stuff, or even the cheaper Hi-Metal R range. It isn't a good toy for the price point, neither is it that great a display piece. It falls hard between two stools.

3) The previous Haslab thing I bought did not really give me value for money, and I have accepted that it ain't going to. The price of Star Saber could have bought me 10 Hi-Grade kits, which would have given me at least 10 weeks of hobby work. Instead I fiddled with it for an hour and it is now sitting on my phone table whilst I contemplate the mining required to get the box out and whether I have the energy to try and find someone to buy it.

Bonus: They are going to insist on sending it by pretty much the worst option for delivery apart from putting it in a catapult and expect me to be grateful! If you want me to spent £250 on a hobby item you can bloody well allow me to at least pay for Fedex!

So...Haslab, that's three strikes and a foul ball...YEEEERRRRRROUTAHERE!

Karl

[Philip Ayres]

4,008 Backers

Target 10,000
Funding ends in:
44 Days 4 Hours 37 Minute

2/5 of the way there in just over 8 hours

[Benn]

People really want them stands.

[Philip Ayres]

Jan 25, 2024 10:15:22 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Jan 25, 2024 9:54:58 GMT Llama God said:

Anyway, Big Red or we riot.

I predict a riot

RIOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Philip Ayres]

4,792 Backers

Target 10,000
Funding ends in:
43 Days 20 Hours 15 Minutes

[The Doctor]

Jan 30, 2024 23:27:29 GMT Benn said:

People really want them stands.

Some may feel they are an out-stand-ing feature of this release.

-Ralph

[Philip Ayres]

Jan 30, 2024 22:14:25 GMT legios said:

1) I already have a Fire Convoy, so all I need is a God Magnus to combine with it, which this one almost certainly won't.

Expecting backwards compatibility with a toy 24 years old is pushing it a bit, but when a new version of said toy is in the box too? No.

Although I can appreciate that it's not meeting your needs.

Jan 30, 2024 22:14:25 GMT legios said:

Bonus: They are going to insist on sending it by pretty much the worst option for delivery apart from putting it in a catapult and expect me to be grateful! If you want me to spent £250 on a hobby item you can bloody well allow me to at least pay for Fedex!

Some option with delivery might be nice but mileage does seem to vary with Yodel. Ralph and I find them great.

As for worst.... Hermes somehow still exists

[Andy Turnbull]

Yodel reliability depends on who is the local end courier delivering to your door. I've always been lucky that whoever does yodel round here is pretty good.

[Philip Ayres]

This one is a bit interesting.

It feels like the first Haslab not aimed at the G1 crowd, and I suspect most of us fit into that age bracket. Those of us interested in TFs in 2000-2002 will probably have hung on to our originals, though no doubt they'll be a few people out there with sellers regret this could catch and others who fancy an "upgrade" though I'll be surprised if it gives us much beyond a 20% ish size increase.

The moment they mentioned gutting the electronics I knew Burns would be raging

It's more like it's being pitched at a 30 year old who missed getting a RiD Op & Magnus when he was 8

The way it's gone out the gate like it has does very much suggest the market is there even if it isn't us.

I like nice Generations upgrades of older toys and this does look like nice chunky fun, possibly a little sturdier than the original which always frightens me when I combine it. I ordered as the video was starting, as I said single digit backer, but if things got tight I could let this go.

[Stomski]

*thinks about the loft*

I really should check on more toys I left with batteries in them...

[Fortmax2020]

The real test of if this is a separate market to previous G1-based releases is if the buyers are a different bunch of people. Numbers alone can't tell us that and I suspect there is a big enough set of long-term converting robot fans whole will just buy things regardless.

[Philip Ayres]

Halfway there in just over 24 hours

5,001 Backers

Target 10,000
Funding ends in:
43 Days 11 Hours 39 Minutes

[The Doctor]

One update a day is enough.

-Ralph

[blueshift]

Is the Omega Prime head its own head like the original, or a hat for Super Optimus Prime (it looks a bit odd in the pic)

[Philip Ayres]

Jan 31, 2024 16:31:15 GMT The Doctor said:

One update a day is enough.

-Ralph

I've been updating at each additional point where it passes another thousand.

And halfway is certainly worth noting

But yes, as we go forward we'll be aiming for once a day barring thousand milestones.

[Bogatan]

Jan 31, 2024 10:43:20 GMT Philip Ayres said:

This one is a bit interesting.

It feels like the first Haslab not aimed at the G1 crowd, and I suspect most of us fit into that age bracket. Those of us interested in TFs in 2000-2002 will probably have hung on to our originals, though no doubt they'll be a few people out there with sellers regret this could catch and others who fancy an "upgrade" though I'll be surprised if it gives us much beyond a 20% ish size increase.

The moment they mentioned gutting the electronics I knew Burns would be raging

It's more like it's being pitched at a 30 year old who missed getting a RiD Op & Magnus when he was 8

The way it's gone out the gate like it has does very much suggest the market is there even if it isn't us.

I like nice Generations upgrades of older toys and this does look like nice chunky fun, possibly a little sturdier than the original which always frightens me when I combine it. I ordered as the video was starting, as I said single digit backer, but if things got tight I could let this go.

Theres a lot of variables. Its the right time frame were a lot of current G1 fans may have been out of the hobby. Under 25s missed out on them first time. And as you say anyone just either side of 30 maybe wanted it as a kid or had it, but it got chucked out.

For the later two groups this could be seen as the equivilant of MP01 getting released 20 years ago.

[Philip Ayres]

Jan 31, 2024 16:48:16 GMT blueshift said:

Is the Omega Prime head its own head like the original, or a hat for Super Optimus Prime (it looks a bit odd in the pic)

I don't think it can be a hat, getting it over the Antennae would cause issues

[Philip Ayres]

Jan 31, 2024 17:10:38 GMT Bogatan said:

Theres a lot of variables. Its the right time frame were a lot of current G1 fans may have been out of the hobby. Under 25s missed out on them first time. And as you say anyone just either side of 30 maybe wanted it as a kid or had it, but it got chucked out.

For the later two groups this could be seen as the equivilant of MP01 getting released 20 years ago.

The sort of time frame of where we were c20 years ago has occurred to me

[Bogatan]

Or as In my case I just think its a cool looking (slight, but important) upgrade on the originals that I think are great.

The only reason Im on the fence is the price. And I dont think its actually a bad price* for what can be seen as 2 commanders and a deluxe and Likely a giant sword and piece of road and hopefully at least one more tier after that.

But it is still a big price and Im working on a very tiny budget this year.

*Its also not a good price considering I havent bought a full price commander since..... Sky Lynx? But I cant call it out of line (assuming tiers are hit)

[legios]

Jan 31, 2024 10:33:04 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Jan 30, 2024 22:14:25 GMT legios said:

1) I already have a Fire Convoy, so all I need is a God Magnus to combine with it, which this one almost certainly won't.

Expecting backwards compatibility with a toy 24 years old is pushing it a bit, but when a new version of said toy is in the box too? No.

I wasn't implying that I expected the new toy to be backward compatible with the older one. I apologize that this wasn't clear. The point I was making was that the Fire Convoy in this set is surplus to my requirements, so I would be paying the money for the net gain of the God Magnus, that was all. (Also, there is the fact that I would be faced with the invidious choice of which Fire Convoy to get rid of - my original one that I've had for several decades, or the one that combines with this new God Magnus).

Jan 31, 2024 10:33:04 GMT Philip Ayres said:

Jan 30, 2024 22:14:25 GMT legios said:

Bonus: They are going to insist on sending it by pretty much the worst option for delivery apart from putting it in a catapult and expect me to be grateful! If you want me to spent £250 on a hobby item you can bloody well allow me to at least pay for Fedex!

Some option with delivery might be nice but mileage does seem to vary with Yodel. Ralph and I find them great.

As for worst.... Hermes somehow still exists

Yeah, but with them I at least know they'll just leave the box on the street outside the door. Yodel with hand it to a random house in the vicinity and tell me they delivered it me. Leaving me with no idea where it is. :-)

Karl

[Benn]

There was a point with Deathsaurus where Yodel told me they couldn't deliver and then several hours later sent me a picture of the box outside on the street, which of course wasn't there when I sprinted down three flights of stairs in a panic, only to then be told that LOL no we took it back to the depot after all.

Arses.

[Stomski]

Hermes just seem to operate on a "we make enough profit on the successful deliveries so are happy to refund the failed ones to the senders" business practice, on the proviso that it's the senders that then needs to handle the recipient. When it's the recipient who the courier has failed, irrespective of who had the contract with Hermes, they seem to be ducking their responsibility. No pride in delivering an actual service. And heaven help you if as a sender your parcel gets stuck in tracking limbo and you want to talk to someone. They can rename to Evri all they want, but if I see a company using them I'll actively avoid.

[Toph]

Both fedex and USPS give me anxiety as both sometimes dump my stuff on the side of the road, a quarter mile away from my house.

Even worse is USPS has specific instructions that if it won't fit in my mail box, to leave me a pick up notice.
Fedex no longer seems to leave it on the main road, but they will sometimes dump it in field halfway up the driveway to my house.

I never ever have a problem with amazon (whom ironically is the one who keeps threatening to switch to unmanned drone delivery, objectively the worst delivery option of them all)

[Philip Ayres]

Overnight score:

5,535 Backers

Target 10,000
Funding ends in:
42 Days 19 Hours 13 Minutes

Slowed down quite a bit, as they usually do, but could well do 6K today

[Toph]

It's halfway there and it's barely been two days.
I'm not worried about this funding, and if that's all it does, I'm fine. There's nothing in the incentive tiers that means slag to me.
A ridiculous oversized sword in a franchise where guns matter more, and stands for a figure that's being promoted as ex exceptionally stable? Meh. I'd rather not have them as they won't even leave the box (never even took victory's out).

It just needs to fund to make me happy, and it'll do that by the weekend.

[The Doctor]

The Blueballs fanbase have come out in force!

-Ralph

[Andy Turnbull]

As always a good rule of thumb for crowdfunding is if you hit 50 per cent in day 1, you will typically get funded, demand creates interest. Nobody wants to back a struggling project.

It will fund, my biggest objection to these things is in on principle, large organisations should not be using crowdfunding platforms, when they have the resources to make them anyway.