joesaysso wrote:Its not hate. I didn't spend my money so I have nothing to be upset about. I'll call it awareness.
I'm aware of the fact that for $600, it should have come with the right head. Hell, really it should have come with two heads so you can choose which you want to display. I'm aware of the fact that I would be upset that I had to pay additional money to make my $600 investment the figure that I want it to be.
Personal taste, there have always been extras and upgrades to figures, some seem really really pointless and stupid. But the thing is, had they gone with the toon accurate head, someone would have made a toy accurate head to please those who preferred that.
Also part of the thing behind Herc is the fact that all parts are integrated into the figures themselves, even the removable kibble can be stored in the different modes of the alt-mode, had they made two different heads, there would have been a loose piece flying about.
And the QC issues that TFC was awesome enough to give replacement parts for....Again, it didn't partake in these figures so I am only speaking from hear-say and not experience, but as I understand it, they didn't give anything, you had to spend the extra $100 for the next figure in the line to get the parts that you needed. That doesn't sound like an awesome way of handling it to me. Where I would be furious, you called them awesome.
how is that a bad thing? I mean if you start collecting the pieces to have Hercules, you'll buy all the pieces and not just a few. So you would have spent that extra 100 for the next figure anyway. You didn't have to spend more on top of what you would have spent in the first place.
It's just more economic and convenient that way.
I'm not trying to be a hater nor am I trying to kill the buzz of the lastest centerpiece of anybody's collection. Quite frankly, if you spent the $600 on the figure, I wish that you'd be simply happy and overjoyed when the figure finally showed up. But the mere existence of a 3rd party upgrade/fix to another 3rd party figure and the reception that its getting suggests otherwise.
Again, someone would have made an upgrade for this anyway. Just look at all the unnecessary and mostly pointless "upgrades" for City Commander.
And I would hardly call this ugly thing a fix.
As a collector myself, I would think that this sequence of events would upset a lot of other collectors. But what I am seeing, especially when it comes to the 3rd party market is a "bend over and happily take it" attitude from the collector masses.
No not really, you have the choice of buying this, Make Toys Giant, or the original G1 with either the Crazy Devy, the X-Transbots, or the Junkion blacksmith upgrade, or those upgrades and the recent Encore reissue, or heck none at all.
You also don't have to buy this stupid head either, it's not done by TFC, it wasn't their idea to make it.
My personal feelings are that collectors are not getting their money's worth from the 3rd party market. Sure, there is some pretty awesome figures that are out, but at inflated prices. And those inflated prices drop the value of the overall package. I look at my shelf right now and see that for the price of my TRU MP Grimlock, you could not get any of your unofficial constructicons. I look at my RTS Cyclonus and wonder if voyager sized 3rd party Megatron is going to be $80 worth better than him. I highly doubt it.
Yet, there is already a line to pre-order the thing. $100 for the figure, $15-$20 for shipping, and what another $7-$10 for the reprolabels? C'mon, thats ridiculous. But it will sell, in abundance. And the next time the company wants to do another "favorite" transformer they can charge a little bit more for it. And the collectors will keep paying it. How much for a G1 accurate Shockwave? $120? Where's the limit?
Again, you don't have to buy it or the ReproLabels, the thing looks good enough the way it does, it doesn't need ugly paper stickers covering up it's paint and sculpt.
Don't think it happens that way? Guess again, it already has. Warbot defender was $80 when it was released. Even back then I thought that price was stupid given how ugly that figure is. Look at Crazy Devy. They set the 3rd party world on fire with the first release of their Devy upgrades. And with each subsequent release, you got a little bit less product for a little bit more money.
That's the main complaint about Crazy Devy, but also their genius. They sold the first part for an insanely low price, 15 dollars for a cartoon accurate head with LED, batteries, and a joint. That price stuck in the back of poeples heads making them believe that everything CD does will, not only be good but also totally worth it. But it's not.
Both X-Transbots and JB offer the same kinda stuff for far less, and in the case of JB it's going to be of higher quality.
Yes Warbot originally cost 80, now that he's super popular and sought after the retailers jack up the price for the re-release, just the same way they jack up the price of any other official product that gets re-released. Remember MP Ultra Magnus? That was recently re-issued, but no on-line retailer had it for it's original price, they put it in just under current market price.
FP also keep getting better with their prices, the recent Insecticons where about the same size as Warbot, but had more features than him, but they where still cheaper.
As a collector, I'm upset abot these things but clearly I am the minority. Thats fine I guess, I'd rather have my money. But I promise, the 3rd party market will get worse before it gets better if the collectors continue to suck up all of the crap that it offers.
Then don't buy the crap it offers, only buy what appeals to you, or the stuff that is actually worth the money that it's charged.
. I would like an amazing Devestator that I will have until the day I die instead of an extra $600.
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