Weird oddities: Variants, errors or else?

[nevermore]

I've started a series of investigations regarding various strange variants (sometimes simply widespread errors, other times most likely one-off incidents) over at some other American-based boards. Since most of them specifically concern discoveries at US retail, I figured those wouldn't be particularly relevant here.

However, the latest addition is of interest to European residents, because both sightings I've been able to track down hail from Europe.

Dark of the Moon MechTech Deluxe Class Bumblebee, in his standard single-packed release, featured translucent, blue-tinted plastic for his windows.

There was also a Toys"R"Us exclusive 3-pack named "Streetside Bot Brawl", which featured a redeco of Bumblebee sporting additional "smear mark" paint operations in vehicle mode, a different MechTech weapon (redecoed from the weapon originally available with Dark of the Moon Deluxe Class Autobot Skids) and orange-tinted plastic for his windows.

And then there was a weird version of the single-packed release sporting the original's MechTech weapon and no additional paint operations, but orange-tinted plastic for the windows. This version has been found at retail in the Netherlands (link) as well as in the United Kingdom (link), in both instances in English-only United States packaging with numerous "trademark" ™ and "registered trademark" ® claims behind names and logos that are usually absent from official European-market packaging.

A few years ago, I stumbled across dozens of gray import DOTM Deluxe Bumblebees in US packaging at the Amazon warehouse I work at, followed by several more pallets (!) over the next few months. Unfortunately, I do not recall what color the windows were as I was too busy laughing because I was very certain the third-party seller would never get rid of his stock... and then I saw the stock rapidly disappear over the course of a week or so. Huh.

Still, what I do recall is that the packaging sported an import sticker on the back, which later led me to a quick just-for-fun investigation on the importer STL, about whom I've gone into detail here.

Since the Netherlands sighting of the US-packaged Bumblebee with orange windows mentions "7 of these", and the UK sightings also mentions "8 or 9 of these", it's quite possible that this version was indeed among the stock imported by STL.



Did anyone else see or even purchase a single pack Dark of the Moon MechTech Deluxe Class Bumblebee featuring orange-tinted plastic for the windows at retail? Can anyone verify whether the packaging sports "STL" labels on the back of the cardback?

[Llama God]

Unfortunately I didn't purchase any DotM Bumblebees for reasons of, well, movie Bumblebee, so I can't help out here. But I am intrigued by your research into STL, so I'll be interested to see what turns up here...

[Philip Ayres]

DOTM BBs still occasionally turn up in discount stores. Next time I see one I'll grab it.

[nevermore]

One thing that still boggles me about the Bumblebee case is the large numbers he came in (assuming the STL imported ones I saw at Amazon actually came from the same source as the orange window ones sighted in the UK and the Netherlands). I specifically recall multiple pallets full of Hasbro shipping boxes that contained nothing but Bumblebees.

There's three possible explanations for this I can think of:
1) It was a large amount of overstock (only of Bumblebees!) that was dumped in Europe.
2) It was a batch of factory rejects (non-standard orange windows) that was dumped in Europe.
3) It was a batch of knockoffs that was dumped in Europe.

The use of Hasbro shipping boxes is what baffles me.

[nevermore]

Here's another one. I've already started separate threads on this case at several other boards a few years ago, but wanted to include it here for the sake of completeness. Also, this was a UK sighting!

Transformers: Prime Cyberverse Commander Class Optimus Prime. The standard release of the figure sports a head sculpt featuring a "battle mask" mouthplate, like G1 Optimus Prime.

The Nightwatch Optimus Prime redeco sports a different head sculpt with an exposed mouth, like Optimus Prime was commonly depicted on the Transformers: Prime cartoon, but the figure (and the head) sported slightly different colors than the original release.

TakaraTomy's version of the figure released as part of the EZ Collection "Autobot Set" features the "exposed mouth" head sculpt in the original release's colors.

However, even before Nightwatch Optimus Prime was officially announced, a single specimen of the original release sporting the alternate "exposed mouth" head sculpt was found at United Kingdom retail (link), which would at least imply that both head sculpts are gang-molded on the same sprue.



Did anyone else see or even purchase the original Hasbro release of Transformers: Prime Cyberverse Commander Class Optimus Prime sporting a head sculpt featuring the exposed mouth found on Nightwatch Optimus Prime and the version from TakaraTomy's EZ Collection Autobot Set at retail?