For when it absolutely has to be there... ON TIME

Perhaps I've been a little harsh.

On this occasion, Parcelforce not only delivered on the specified day, but managed to get my BotCon Games of Deception Boxed Set to my door at about 8.15 in the ante meridiem. That's pretty darned good performance, all told.

So, what is the set like?

Well, to anyone who's dismissed this as an overly expensive set of repainted Classics seekers with only one remold, plus Jetfire with a new head and Bumblebee with tattoos, I'd say you're missing a few salient points about this set.

1) Limited runs always cost more than full production runs. This is true of everything from newspapers to cars. Just because these guys are made using (mostly) the same molds, doesn't make them an exception. Different colours of plastic + Limited run = Expensive to produce.

2) The paintwork on the remaining three seekers is FAR superior to anything on Classics Starscream, Skywarp and Ramjet. More paintwork, more detail, well applied. Not only is the paint an additional expense in the production, but the level of detail and number of colours used increases the overall cost. New patterns had to be made up, too. Some of the paintwork is designed to emulate the characters' Gen 1 stickers to a certain extent. The same is true of Bug Bite - his curious tattoos had to be designed, and they're rather more precisely applied than Bumblebee's stripes or Cliffjumper's 'splashes'.

3) Thrust's wing configuration is entirely new - main wings and tailfins - which means new molds and more cost.

Then you have the new head for Dreadwind, sculpted by Dan Khanna, an artist who has worked on the TransFormers comics, and who would have to be paid for his time and efforts.

Then you have the costs for design and printing of the instruction booklets (2-colour, 1-side, but limited quantities in awkward sizes and the subsequent folding would increase the costs), the profile cards (4-colour, 1-side, but limited quantities in awkward sizes again, and cut with rounded corners) and the box (very sturdy, with 4-colour print and varnish on the lid, and a textured covering for the base). Design cost aside, the box art was handled by two different artists (Don Figeruoa and Chris Appel), who would have been paid for their time and efforts.

Then you have the cute little pin badge - metal with enamel design.

It all adds up, people. After that, you have to take into account that Fun Publications has to make a profit not just on BotCon, but on everything produced for BotCon (particularly the stuff given away 'free', which is not without cost) just to continue functioning as a business, let alone ensure that there will be a BotCon 2008 and further Collectors' Club/BotCon exclusives.

I suppose I have another advantage that the American fans/Club members don't - the strong UK Pound. Hasbro UK would have us UK fans charged £10 for a Deluxe (the Seekers and Bug Bite) and £20 for a Voyager (Dreadwind), I'd be paying £60 for a similar selection of models... which equates to roughly $120. Meanwhile, this limited edition, presentation-boxed set cost $279, in the region of £140. OK, so that's still more than double the cost of the standard figures... but need I remind you of the limited run=greater cost equation? Consider how many of the Seeker models Hasbro produced for the world market, how many Bumblebees and Cliffjumpers they produced, and how many Jetfires they produced... Compared to maybe a couple of thousand units of each model in the BotCon set.

Adding it all up, it really is worth it, and that's before I start considering nebulous concepts like 'Club loyalty': ensuring their continued profit ensures their continued support of my favourite toy line.

So, the set... Bug Bite is a straight repaint of Bumblebee/Cliffjumper, essentially to match the e-Hobby Mini Autobot Bug Bite from their recoloured set of Takara's Mini Autobot set reissue. The 'tribal' tattoos are a curious addition, but they look pretty good and add character to what would otherwise have been quite a bland model. He ends up looking kind of like Goth Bumblebee because, aside from the car shell, this model is entirely black. While some might argue that this set has too many repaints and not enough remolds, I'd complain more that Hasbro didn't give us a remolded head for their wider release of Cliffjumper (such as the one seen in the Club comics).

Thundercracker is the last of the original three seekers, and the source of some of the loudest complaints in the Fandom. Of course, once you put him next to Skywarp and particularly Starscream, you can easily see the difference in quality. Thundercracker has a far more elaborate paintjob that either of the mass-released jets. He strikes a happy medium between Gen 1 show accuracy and Gen 1 toy accuracy, but with all the extra articulation that came with Classics.

Thrust has, by far, the most remolding of the two models that feature any remolding in this set. The main wings with their VTOL rotors are a great update on the original and suit the body of the plane perfectly, and the odd tailfins complement them and create another great homage

Dirge is a bit of a disappointment, in that he's a repaint of Ramjet rather than being remodelled to look like his Gen 1 counterpart. Still, the paintwork is excellent and all three of these Classics 'coneheads' could stand together and look sufficiently different.

Dreadwind is largely just a repaint of Classics Jetfire, even down to the helmet, beneath which lies the all-important, all new, Dan Khanna-sculpted head. Despite being a little anticlimactic, the new head is very good, and works well on the Jetfire body and with the Dreadwind paint scheme to create an excellent model.

The only real disappointment with the set is the lack of non-standard accessories. While Bug Bite is never pictured with a handgun, it would have been cool if he'd come with his Cerebro Shell Control Panel, or maybe (as a further Gen 1 reference) a gun modelled on Bombshell's Cerebro Shell injector, and I can't help thinking that Dreadwind's helmet could have been slightly remolded... either to match his former comrade Darkwing (making this manic depressive 'bot seem even more disturbed), or just to further differentiate him from Jetfire. It's also a shame that the profile cards are pretty much just that - no details are given of the abilities of any of the characters, and some of the profiles leave you with more questions than answers. Just as well the comic comes as part of the package, as that fills in some of the blanks.

I've heard today that, in my absence at work, my boss had completed upload of today's magazine shortly after 1pm, which now stands as the record for finishing a magazine early.