While I'll never be a fan of Michael Bay's live-action interpretation of the Transformers franchise, I've had little trouble accepting that the popularity of those movies has meant that a lot of toys got released that would never have been done, otherwise. This toy is an excellent example. While it's true that the mold already existed (and has already been featured here), released back in 2006 as
Primus, this 2017 repaint was created simply to meet the increased demand for toys that came out of the then-latest feature,
The Last Knight. Specifically, this toy was released under a "Mission to Cybertron" banner as a Toys"R"Us exclusive.
Having already featured this mold over a decade ago, I'll try not to repeat myself
too much, since you can easily follow the link above. This version of Cybertron is sometimes referred to as "G2 Primus," due to the bright orange mostly visible in the toy's robot mode (sadly, digital reproduction just doesn't do the color justice), but even though the other colors on the toy are much darker, a
lot of it is paint and detail work. The glyphs visible here on the planet mode are new, and actually spell out "Cybertron" if you know how to crack the code, which was also used on other "Mission to Cybertron" toys.
When this Cybertron toy came out, it was sold at the inflated price of $150. When compared to the original Primus toy's $50 price tag, that's pretty egregious, even accounting for a decade's worth of inflation (and the fact that exclusives
often cost more than their mass-retail counterparts). The main reason I actually
have this version is that the timing was unfortunate, as
Toys"R"Us declared bankruptcy shortly afterward, and went out of business entirely, causing all of their remaining stock to be sold at deep discounts (there is a Toys"R"Us brand that eventually rose from the ashes, especially at Macy's stores, but this should be considered a new company that bought the trademarks of the bankrupt one). I don't remember the exact price I ultimately paid for this toy, and it was likely
still more than the price of the original version, but I'm sure it was
much less than that $150! For the price I ultimately paid, I'm glad I picked it up, as I definitely find this version considerably more attractive than the original. But even with that praise, it was
never worth the original asking price. That was just insane.
While I'll never be a fan of Michael Bay's live-action interpretation of the Transformers franchise, I've had little trouble accepting that the popularity of those movies has meant that a lot of toys got released that would never have been done, otherwise. This toy is an excellent example. While it's true that the mold already existed (and has already been featured here), released back in 2006 as Primus, this 2017 repaint was created simply to meet the increased demand for toys that came out of the then-latest feature, The Last Knight. Specifically, this toy was released under a "Mission to Cybertron" banner as a Toys"R"Us exclusive.
Having already featured this mold over a decade ago, I'll try not to repeat myself too much, since you can easily follow the link above. This version of Cybertron is sometimes referred to as "G2 Primus," due to the bright orange mostly visible in the toy's robot mode (sadly, digital reproduction just doesn't do the color justice), but even though the other colors on the toy are much darker, a lot of it is paint and detail work. The glyphs visible here on the planet mode are new, and actually spell out "Cybertron" if you know how to crack the code, which was also used on other "Mission to Cybertron" toys.
When this Cybertron toy came out, it was sold at the inflated price of $150. When compared to the original Primus toy's $50 price tag, that's pretty egregious, even accounting for a decade's worth of inflation (and the fact that exclusives often cost more than their mass-retail counterparts). The main reason I actually have this version is that the timing was unfortunate, as Toys"R"Us declared bankruptcy shortly afterward, and went out of business entirely, causing all of their remaining stock to be sold at deep discounts (there is a Toys"R"Us brand that eventually rose from the ashes, especially at Macy's stores, but this should be considered a new company that bought the trademarks of the bankrupt one). I don't remember the exact price I ultimately paid for this toy, and it was likely still more than the price of the original version, but I'm sure it was much less than that $150! For the price I ultimately paid, I'm glad I picked it up, as I definitely find this version considerably more attractive than the original. But even with that praise, it was never worth the original asking price. That was just insane.
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