PhelesDragon wrote:Fair, but what about those who couldn't make it to SDCC and can't afford to spend $200+ on a game accurate one? You'd be hard-pressed to say that Hasbro couldn't sell repaints of their popular figures and appeal to young kids and avid collectors.
Let me tell you a true story about my collection, as it ties to this: Around the end of November of last year, I decided that I was going to drop any thoughts of collecting comics (as that was an on-off past time for me) and start collecting Transformers. I ordered my very first Transformer on December 7th, and it was the "Gentei! Gentei! Transformers" Dark Skyfire. My plan was to obtain this, get it graded by AFA, and try to obtain its Henkei! counterpart.
Nine months later, I still do not have that piece in my collection. And because of both his scarcity and price on the open-market, I had to drop all plans to obtain any Masterpiece pieces I wanted... Drop any initial ideas of buying anything that is not a reissue piece... And other things. All for an item that was around $50 new, and is now around $200 because Takara Tomy has currently chosen to not reissue this piece (much like they did with Hot Rodimus, which they did not entirely explain why).
Point being is that people who get into the idea of collecting need to accept the fact that they will not be catered to during the time they stick with their collection of choice. Companies like Hasbro cater to the target age group because that is where they make their money in the end. And Takara Tomy does the same while collaborating with others that want to make exclusives that not every collector and/or fan will be able to get in the end. That is why collecting is a business in its own way, and why collectors need to be prepared to only purchase what they want when it is offered to them.
And if it did... Primus! I would have a collection consisting of reissues that include the manga exclusive Targetmasters, all of the 1987 Headmasters, the Dinobots, all Cybertron "Scramble City"-style combiners, Sixshot (and not the Asian market reissue), Metalhawk, Grand Maximus, Star Saber, and Victory Saber. That is, if both Hasbro and Takara Tomy were to cater to the same fans who wanted the SDCC Bruticus reissued for their collection-based needs.

But until then... I have to aim for the pieces I need, and sacrifice any others that do not fit into my plan.