Million Publishing's Exclusive Stepper Packaging Revealed

I'm having a hard time swallowing a $120 price tag for this piece. I want him, but not sure I want him that bad.

Hmmm, where is everyone getting the info that there will be 2, TWO Steppers per book?? I havent seen that anywhere. And FYI, BBTS has turned into some serious scammers with the POOREST Customer Service on the planet. If you want stories of disgust I have plenty to share in the last 2 years. They used to be top notch 8 years ago. But there CS Manager is horrible and rude to say the least.

Better figure on paying the $120 or wait and get it from a Japanese seller, then get raped on the shipping cost.

I'm in the same book as Blackstreak on this one. It looks really nice, but i dont know if can swallow a $120 price tag

Cybershark wrote:Hmmm, where is everyone getting the info that there will be 2, TWO Steppers per book?? I havent seen that anywhere. And FYI, BBTS has turned into some serious scammers with the POOREST Customer Service on the planet. If you want stories of disgust I have plenty to share in the last 2 years. They used to be top notch 8 years ago. But there CS Manager is horrible and rude to say the least.

Better figure on paying the $120 or wait and get it from a Japanese seller, then get raped on the shipping cost.

I'm really sorry to hear that you have had some poor experiences with BBTS. They're one of the best in the industry. Have you tried contacting the owner of BBTS to explain some of the problems that you've had? I think most of us here have had really positive experiences with BBTS over the years. As for your comment about them being scammers, I'm not sure what experiences you've had, but they are a business, just like all of our sponsors, and they have to actually make money on these products in order to pay their employees and keep their company operating. Making money doesn't equate to being a scammer. Good business make money, especially in an economy like this. Companies that don't make money, go out of business.

I'd like to know if the final product will be able to carry the Targetmaster in altmode.

$120 is way too much, $50-65 i'd waste on him but there's no way in hell or beyond that i'd be willing to pay more.

Looks great,but no bite at that price. If it turns out there are 2 included, I'll gladly buy one from somebody state side who wants to recoup some cash.

Seibertron wrote:Companies that don't make money, go out of business.

Will somebody hire this guy as the Presidents Financial Adviser?!?! It would seem this relatively simple concept escapes Washington!

waiting for the book to come in, did not get toy
Stepper is dope but still holding out for a hasbro release

Sweet. A great mold deserves to be on my shelves a second time.

RhA wrote:Sweet. A great mold deserves to be on my shelves a second time.

What shelves will we see this on? Only collectors shelves in their homes who are willing to pay $xxx for the exclusive.


It is a good mold though. Still would make sense for HASBRO to do this exclusive as a two-pack with Artfire Inferno.

Forgive my ignorance but who is Stepper? I've never heard of the character before. i see he is a mold of RTS Jazz but his decals look like G1 Tracks. So, who is he?

I want one so bad.. How can a "yank" go about getting one of these magazines with the figure without being assraped by online companies?

tigertracks 24 wrote:It is a good mold though. Still would make sense for HASBRO to do this exclusive as a two-pack with Artfire Inferno.

This is the best idea since glow in the dark cheese wiz!! Tigertracks is a genius!!! TargetMaster two pack, exclusively available at.....TARGET!!!! OMG, should we start a petition now or wait until the morning?

HoosierDaddy wrote:Forgive my ignorance but who is Stepper? I've never heard of the character before. i see he is a mold of RTS Jazz but his decals look like G1 Tracks. So, who is he?

Way back in 1987, Takara gave Japan "Stepper" and "Artfire" who were repaints of Jazz and Inferno respectively. These repaints came equipped with the Targetmaster guns that were included with Targetmaster Scourge and Cyclonus. Japan got Stepper and Artfire instead of Targetmaster versions of Cyclonus, Scourge, Hot Rod, Kup, and Blurr. For years, Stepper commanded extremely high after market prices and was considered a holy grail in the collections of collectors lucky enough to afford one. In 2003 or 2004, Takara decided to reissue Stepper and Hasbro followed suit by releasing the figure as "Ricochet" in their markets. I'm not sure what the original Stepper goes for nowadays, but I would imagine that it doesn't go for anywhere near what it used to.

I would consider the reissue to be a better toy because it comes with Jazz's other weapons (albeit gold plated), whereas the original Stepper figure was only equipped with the Targetmaster weapon.

Now if we could only get a Classics Artfire and a reissue Artfire. One day!













He even got a Robot Heroes toy ...



and even an Alternator toy (though he had Smokescreen's head instead of Jazz/Meister's unfortunately)

tigertracks 24 wrote:

RhA wrote:Sweet. A great mold deserves to be on my shelves a second time.

What shelves will we see this on? Only collectors shelves in their homes who are willing to pay $xxx for the exclusive.

You'll see him on mine!

Though I'm only paying $XX for him.

Seibertron wrote:

HoosierDaddy wrote:Forgive my ignorance but who is Stepper? I've never heard of the character before. i see he is a mold of RTS Jazz but his decals look like G1 Tracks. So, who is he?

Way back in 1987, Takara gave Japan "Stepper" and "Artfire" who were repaints of Jazz and Inferno respectively. These repaints came equipped with the Targetmaster guns that were included with Targetmaster Scourge and Cyclonus. Japan got Stepper and Artfire instead of Targetmaster versions of Cyclonus, Scourge, Hot Rod, Kup, and Blurr. For years, Stepper commanded extremely high after market prices and was considered a holy grail in the collections of collectors lucky enough to afford one. In 2003 or 2004, Takara decided to reissue Stepper and Hasbro followed suit by releasing the figure as "Ricochet" in their markets. I'm not sure what the original Stepper goes for nowadays, but I would imagine that it doesn't go for anywhere near what it used to.

I would consider the reissue to be a better toy because it comes with Jazz's other weapons (albeit gold plated), whereas the original Stepper figure was only equipped with the Targetmaster weapon.

Now if we could only get a Classics Artfire and a reissue Artfire. One day!

Thank you VERY much for such a good detailed explanation. Now I want one!!

Mkall wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:

RhA wrote:Sweet. A great mold deserves to be on my shelves a second time.

What shelves will we see this on? Only collectors shelves in their homes who are willing to pay $xxx for the exclusive.

You'll see him on mine!

Though I'm only paying $XX for him.

So lucky..

Cyber Bishop wrote:

Mkall wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:

RhA wrote:Sweet. A great mold deserves to be on my shelves a second time.

What shelves will we see this on? Only collectors shelves in their homes who are willing to pay $xxx for the exclusive.

You'll see him on mine!

Though I'm only paying $XX for him.

So lucky..

well, to be fair, it's still 95 bucks, but that's still better than BBTS's offering.

alldarker wrote:I do hope this will turn into some good news for all those pre-orders. I think this is the first time that you can get TWO exclusive TF's per book: previously it was always one book - one TF, right? I can imagine that with Million Publishing's previous lack of additional information, this might have caused some confusion with the go-to sites.
I really do like Stepper's color scheme, I've got him on pre-order and would actually buy him whatever the cost, but any drop in the original pricing would be greatly appreciated!

Actually, everytime a book/coupon is offered - two transformers can be purchased with 1 coupon. And usually the price tag is about $40 for one figure and $75 for two. These types of exclusives used to go for about $70 each in the online stores; but after Ghost Starscream the price keeps going up. Supply and demand.

Overall the color scheme is great.

not to mention the value of the dollar tanked. damn.

Mkall wrote:

Cyber Bishop wrote:

Mkall wrote:

tigertracks 24 wrote:

RhA wrote:Sweet. A great mold deserves to be on my shelves a second time.

What shelves will we see this on? Only collectors shelves in their homes who are willing to pay $xxx for the exclusive.

You'll see him on mine!

Though I'm only paying $XX for him.

So lucky..

well, to be fair, it's still 95 bucks, but that's still better than BBTS's offering.

I'd still drop that kind of $$$ to get one.

Question is will this one eventually see a deep discount like the last few? I want this thing, but I'd want it that much more if it were to drop to half the price. BBTS currently has nearly 250 available for preorder still...

Looks like it may come with the gold-plated regular gun too.

Kibble wrote:Question is will this one eventually see a deep discount like the last few? I want this thing, but I'd want it that much more if it were to drop to half the price. BBTS currently has nearly 250 available for preorder still...

how are you able to tell how many BBTS still has of a certain item? Do you you use a certain browser or what? i use google chrome and do not see anything anywhere.

lmk

Cybershark wrote:

Kibble wrote:Question is will this one eventually see a deep discount like the last few? I want this thing, but I'd want it that much more if it were to drop to half the price. BBTS currently has nearly 250 available for preorder still...

how are you able to tell how many BBTS still has of a certain item? Do you you use a certain browser or what? i use google chrome and do not see anything anywhere.

lmk

You load up your cart (change the number to like 1,000) and it will tell you how many they have of that number to fill your order, which would be the remainder to sell them out, if they do not get to your number.

Then DO NOT push complete order.... or you just about $10,000+ in Steppers.

lol, cool. Never even thought of that, makes sense though. Thanks!!

Such a cool looking figure but if BBTS doesn't come down in price from where they are I'll have to pass. Any idea if this Stepper is the same as the G1 version and a "rebirth" of Jazz?

Every time a new Stepper/Ricochet figure comes out, it's horrendously priced. Why in the hell can't they just release one that people would like them for instead of making it exclusive or super expensive? Blarghlearghaaahh!

Don't mind me, I just don't have any money.

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Such a cool looking figure but if BBTS doesn't come down in price from where they are I'll have to pass. Any idea if this Stepper is the same as the G1 version and a "rebirth" of Jazz?

I'm not sure if you know this, Stepper and Jazz are different dudes altogether. The G1 and "Classics" toys share the same molds though.

Flux Convoy wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Such a cool looking figure but if BBTS doesn't come down in price from where they are I'll have to pass. Any idea if this Stepper is the same as the G1 version and a "rebirth" of Jazz?

I'm not sure if you know this, Stepper and Jazz are different dudes altogether. The G1 and "Classics" toys share the same molds though.

I thought in Japan Jazz got "killed" and reborn as Stepper, no?

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Such a cool looking figure but if BBTS doesn't come down in price from where they are I'll have to pass. Any idea if this Stepper is the same as the G1 version and a "rebirth" of Jazz?

I'm not sure if you know this, Stepper and Jazz are different dudes altogether. The G1 and "Classics" toys share the same molds though.

I thought in Japan Jazz got "killed" and reborn as Stepper, no?

Nope. Nor is Artfire a reborn version of Inferno.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:

Flux Convoy wrote:

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Such a cool looking figure but if BBTS doesn't come down in price from where they are I'll have to pass. Any idea if this Stepper is the same as the G1 version and a "rebirth" of Jazz?

I'm not sure if you know this, Stepper and Jazz are different dudes altogether. The G1 and "Classics" toys share the same molds though.

I thought in Japan Jazz got "killed" and reborn as Stepper, no?

Nope. Nor is Artfire a reborn version of Inferno.

And Jazz doesn't have beef with Stepper for coping his look? Respect.