A very peculiar post was made in a Transformers Facebook group the other day by a user that identifies on Instagram as @Drunk3n_n3rd and raised a few eyebrows. The surprising thing about the photos that were posted was not necessarily from the figure that was displayed, but more on the packaging. See below:

The box is a bit unassuming. Yes it focuses on the phrase “Transform” and gives it a special type treatment, but it all seems innocent at first. So let’s see what’s inside…

Once again, nothing too exciting. Why am I bothering to write this blog post about a Windows 10 solicit? Well…

SMACK! It’s a Transformer! Not just any Transformer, it’s a Generations Selects Cromar! Whoa! This is a pretty bizarre find, and just where did it come from?

Here’s a brief snippet back story from the owner of this piece: “A buddy of mine’s company buys a lot of computer hardware and the Dell Sales rep gave this to him and he gave it to me.” So it appears that Dell worked up a B2B promo to help create new business and to give them a bit of an edge, is throwing in a Transformers toy to help rationalize the “Transform” pitch of their marketing.

So why would they choose Siege Cromar over any other potential figure?

Well, chances are Hasbro has quite a few of Generations Select Cromar still floating around. The bubble the figure came attached to is the exact same bubble that comes inside the cardboard Generations Select release, so one could assume it was as simple a process to package these as removing the figure from the previous box and slotting it into the Dell Promo box. It’s also possible that Dell received a variety of left-over Generations Selects figures and randomly inserted them into their promo boxes, since they all share the same inner bubble dimensions.

It does seem strange to choose Cromar, if they had any sort of ability to choose a toy, because his color scheme so vagrantly differs from the blue and white color scheme of the packaging and Dell’s corporate branding. For instance, Power of the Primes Rippersnapper would’ve been a more cohesive choice but it was likely unavailable since it’s from a few years ago. Until another one of these oddities shows up, we won’t know for sure if all these Dell boxes contain Cromar. It is worth noting that the instruction manual for Cromar was also in the box behind the inner cardboard section.

So what to make of this? Well, as the title indicates, this is just one of those crazy Transformers oddities. Thank Primus that it really is just a promotional re-pack and not some incredibly impossible redeco. If that had been the case, there would’ve had to be a few thousand of those floating around. I’d peg this repack box as a small experimental promotion that is hovering between 100-500 units, but hey, what do I know? I don’t run Hasbro or Dell, nyuck nyuck nyuck!

Will this be a valuable rare item? Sure. Rarities always pull some crazies out of the wood work, but chances are we will see more of these in the future one way or another. The real interesting question is whether the next one that is found contains Cromor or something else…

We’d like to thank @Drunk3n_n3rd for taking the time to chat with us, take some very nice photos of the piece and allow us to share them with you. Check them out on Instagram if you like looking at toy photos!