OFFICIAL TRANSFORMERS TOYS NEWS

[Clay]

Oof.

BW Megs, he breaks.

[Warcry]

$600 well spent!

Seriously though, has there been a huge-ticket MP that didn't have massive QC issues so far? G1 Megatron's paint scraping if you tried to transform him, Dinobot's shoulders exploding, now BW Megatron's crotch... For the price these things go for, the total lack of quality control is pretty alarming.

[Clay]

$600 well spent!

$600? What, did you buy two?

Seriously though, it's almost like they're trying to drive people toward the weijang bootlegs that are already 1/3 the price.

[Warcry]

I bought zero because I'd have to throw out my TV to have room for one.

(Or maybe not if the crotch was going to explode.)

I was thinking in Canadian dollars, though the exchange rate isn't quite that bad in real life. I think the local shops are asking $450 or $500 for one.

[Clay]

Ah, I understand. Yeah, this is apparently a combination of swirly plastic and over-tightened screws, either of which should be avoidable for... a $300 figure. It's a shame because the sculpt is sooo good.

[Skyquake87]

Wow. That's disappointing TT fumbles the ball again.

[Clay]

https://www.seibertron.com/transformers ... led/43247/

Snaptrap! He's apparently a heavy re-jiggering of Hungurr. Here's hoping the rest of the seacons show up in a timely fashion.

[Denyer]

W00t! Just as interested even if it doesn't turn out to be a set, TBH -- the line's been getting into the era of stuff I have most fondness for for a while.

[Denyer]

Takara still seem to have some tricks up their sleeves...

Slamdance and G2 Sideswipe: https://www.facebook.com/DaimChocReport ... 4594602302



Skywarp: https://www.facebook.com/DaimChocReport ... 4907935604

[Clay]

Is it really G2 Sideswipe without the crazy guns?

Yes, yes it is.

[Clay]

Here's another MP10 redeco, this time as ghostbusters?

https://news.tfw2005.com/2019/04/25/tra ... ges-387468

[Skyquake87]

Heh. They look cool, although Slamdance looks a bit garish. Ghostbusters Prime is fun, but I bet that'll be a dear do. Love Roller as a trap thingy!

[Clay]

Well, this is cute:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHz2KQqAAkc

It's a bit odd, but it's not transforming hat odd.

[Skyquake87]

Fun!

[Clay]

MP Hound preorders are up at the usual sites, for a price around $160 USD.

That's... what, triple the price Sideswipe was initially (admittedly several years ago)? I mean, that's nearly as much as the upcoming MPM Megatron, and he's probably three times the size of Hound.

[Warcry]

Thats close to triple what I paid for most of the Takara MP cars back when I was ordering them, for sure. Of course, there's also a good chance he's got close to three times as many moving parts as Sideswipe or Prowl or Wheeljack, in the name of cartoon accuracy in robot mode...

I'm honestly surprised there's still a market for these things at this price. Especially in Japan where high-end expensive merch is usually protagonist-focussed. They're nice and all, but...I could buy an entire team of X-Men for that price. I don't think they're THAT nice.

[Clay]

Thats close to triple what I paid for most of the Takara MP cars back when I was ordering them, for sure. Of course, there's also a good chance he's got close to three times as many moving parts as Sideswipe or Prowl or Wheeljack, in the name of cartoon accuracy in robot mode...

Would he have more parts than, say, Movie Barricade or Bumblebee though? Those are 2/3s the price. I think they're simply increasing the price incrementally until they find the limit of diminishing returns on the scale of units sold versus MSRP. Sunstreaker is equivalent in size and accessories and was about $120 USD, yeah?

I think my last MP car was Exhaust/Wheeljack, for reference. I've also both liked the look of and easily passed on all the BW MP figures for daffy prices.

I'm honestly surprised there's still a market for these things at this price. Especially in Japan where high-end expensive merch is usually protagonist-focussed. They're nice and all, but...I could buy an entire team of X-Men for that price. I don't think they're THAT nice.

Agreed. I wonder where the balance is between super expensive, ultra niche third party stuff and Masterpiece which, at the end of the day, is a product line meant for general retail*. Seems like Takara are trying for the price of the former with the market of the latter. Or rather, their prices are actually higher than some third party equivalents.

*Depending on your country, obviously.

[Denyer]

Almost as if they're trying to get the lined canned on purpose, isn't it? Going rate for KO MP cars seems to have settled at about twenty quid, which really shows up how much is licence and profit.

[Warcry]

Would he have more parts than, say, Movie Barricade or Bumblebee though? Those are 2/3s the price. I think they're simply increasing the price incrementally until they find the limit of diminishing returns on the scale of units sold versus MSRP. Sunstreaker is equivalent in size and accessories and was about $120 USD, yeah?

Oh, I can't disagree with that at all. The price increase is partly eaten up by increasing complexity but I'm sure a lot of it is just pure profit. After all, aren't they now charging almost double for their "it's cartoon accurate because there's less paint!" redecos of Sideswipe, Prowl and Red Alert than what the originals went for five or six years ago? But as long as people are willing to pay the extra money and pretend that the quality has gone up a commensurate amount...

I think my last MP car was Exhaust/Wheeljack, for reference. I've also both liked the look of and easily passed on all the BW MP figures for daffy prices.

I'm in a similar boat. My last MP car was either Exhaust or Blue Bluestreak, whichever came later, and shortly after that the declining looks and increasing prices put them firmly outside what I was comfortable buying. And as much as I'd love to be more positive about the Beast Wars stuff, the prices keep going up and every figure so far has had pretty serious QC issues. They're nice to look at, but they're positioning these things as premium, top-end collectibles when I really don't think the actual product justifies that.

Almost as if they're trying to get the lined canned on purpose, isn't it?

I'd lean in the opposite direction, actually. It seems like they're trying to squeeze every cent they can out of Masterpiece because it's the only Transformers property that's still a going concern for them. The rest of their in-house lines have been reduced to slapping Japanese-language stickers onto Hasbro boxes, aside from the occasional weird one-off.

Reading between the lines, I think the overlords at Tomy must have slashed the Transformers department's budget now that the movie-inspired good times have all but ended.

[Denyer]

I think it's as much that they've gone through most of the early recognisable characters and started chasing the tail of Bee v2 etc. and there's an even more limited market for BW.

Wouldn't be surprised if the bean-counter dept sees the line as pump-and-dump with a view to resting it.