The Energon Pub

Let's not forget that after a great first week or so of sales, MP Star Saber ended up being one of the worst-selling Masterpiece figures. There might not be THAT much demand for an ultra-exclusive version of Victory Saber.

With that said I'm contemplating going in on a second one to flip, but with the issues with the Sentinel I expect aftermarket demand to drop on it which makes me concerned about Victory Saber. If that set has some flaw in the design that makes it virtually unusable, I may not be able to flip the extra one even at a loss.
It would be nice if the Razor Crest was released before the backing window on Victory Saber closes so I can see how that does on the aftermarket.

Finally live on Takara Tomy Mall. https://takaratomymall.jp/shop/g/g82022 ... mm210928tf

Emerje

chuckdawg1999 wrote:Let's not forget that after a great first week or so of sales, MP Star Saber ended up being one of the worst-selling Masterpiece figures. There might not be THAT much demand for an ultra-exclusive version of Victory Saber.

With that said I'm contemplating going in on a second one to flip, but with the issues with the Sentinel I expect aftermarket demand to drop on it which makes me concerned about Victory Saber. If that set has some flaw in the design that makes it virtually unusable, I may not be able to flip the extra one even at a loss.
It would be nice if the Razor Crest was released before the backing window on Victory Saber closes so I can see how that does on the aftermarket.

I just did a search of *sold* listing for Haslab Sentinel (not what people are asking, but what it is actually selling for), and it is STILL a minimum of 2X the Haslab initial price, defects and all, that is crazy to think, but it's happening.

Razorcrest was initially supposed to be shipped before the end of the year, but now it's early 2022. Perhaps the online complaints are causing Hasbro to really make sure there are no issues with the next item that was already backed, and is shipping to customers who backed it.

Also, as Big and Expensive as Unicron was, when it comes to Haslab generral discussion online, he seems to be brought up the least. Correct me if I'm wrong, but while most of Haslabs get a big last minute surge, it seems to be that Unicron limped to the finish, thanks only to an extended backing time.

o.supreme wrote:
Also, as Big and Expensive as Unicron was, when it comes to Haslab generral discussion online, he seems to be brought up the least. Correct me if I'm wrong, but while most of Haslabs get a big last minute surge, it seems to be that Unicron limped to the finish, thanks only to an extended backing time.

What worked against Unicron was it's price. Not everyone can or a willing to back a 600 mother effing YOUESSES DOLLARS toy.

That Saber at 160$? Much, MUCH more manageable.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

o.supreme wrote:
Also, as Big and Expensive as Unicron was, when it comes to Haslab generral discussion online, he seems to be brought up the least. Correct me if I'm wrong, but while most of Haslabs get a big last minute surge, it seems to be that Unicron limped to the finish, thanks only to an extended backing time.

What worked against Unicron was it's price. Not everyone can or a willing to back a 600 mother effing YOUESSES DOLLARS toy.

That Saber at 160$? Much, MUCH more manageable.

100% why I didn’t get Unicron. My military pay barely covers my collecting as is, no way I could’ve dropped $600 on a guy almost half my size.

I’m hopeful for Victory Saber with the opening of orders in Japan, I hope it at least makes it to the first tier. Also I read on Twitter that a secret fourth tier is in the works and will include two more full-sized figures. All speculation of course, but if true and is the right characters, I’m sure that’ll make it surge up as well.

Mindmaster wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:

o.supreme wrote:
Also, as Big and Expensive as Unicron was, when it comes to Haslab generral discussion online, he seems to be brought up the least. Correct me if I'm wrong, but while most of Haslabs get a big last minute surge, it seems to be that Unicron limped to the finish, thanks only to an extended backing time.

What worked against Unicron was it's price. Not everyone can or a willing to back a 600 mother effing YOUESSES DOLLARS toy.

That Saber at 160$? Much, MUCH more manageable.

100% why I didn’t get Unicron. My military pay barely covers my collecting as is, no way I could’ve dropped $600 on a guy almost half my size.

I’m hopeful for Victory Saber with the opening of orders in Japan, I hope it at least makes it to the first tier. Also I read on Twitter that a secret fourth tier is in the works and will include two more full-sized figures. All speculation of course, but if true and is the right characters, I’m sure that’ll make it surge up as well.

I didn't back him, either. As insane as it sounds, though - I should have gotten two because I could have sold the second one for enough to cover the first one plus the money for Star Saber.

Seems like a several of us here didn't get Unicron, including myself, for similar reasons. But Galactus was what? Almost $500? Yet it blew through all 4 of its tiers towards the end, and 10K plus over that.

I mean I'm happy about VS, and I've proudly backed it. I just think some fans are overestimating how much support it will get. I don't expect all the tiers to be met, I'll be shocked even if tier 1 gets met. I hope I'm wrong, but 20K backers seems like a LOT at this point. I just think next to the juggernauts (no pun intended) of Star wars and Marvel, we as Transformers fans kind of forget how small we are in comparison.

Just as an example, there was an interesting debate on the toy industry as a whole this past Sunday between 2 very different YouTube personalities.



The first 30 minutes or so is skipable because one of the debaters had bad internet. But many of the problems of production, distribution etc. were discussed. No answers unfortunately, but it was an interesting watch nonetheless. Haslab was mentioned MANY times however, but I don't know if Transformers as a brand was ever even mentioned Compared to DC, Marvel, and Star Wars. (Also MOTU was mentioned as lot, but mostly because one of the debaters used to work for Mattel)

o.supreme wrote:Seems like a several of us here didn't get Unicron, including myself, for similar reasons. But Galactus was what? Almost $500? Yet it blew through all 4 of its tiers towards the end, and 10K plus over that.

I backed Galactus so I can sell it for a Unicron. How's that for asynchronous thinking?

Maybe Marvel is just more popular than Transformers. Plus Unicron is gigantic and wide. Right now he's sitting on my floor because I have no real place to put him. Galactus is much more economical space-wise. He doesn't have wings or a ring or a huge stand.

If Saber's tiers don't get met I hope a 3rd party will produce them.

sol magnus wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Seems like a several of us here didn't get Unicron, including myself, for similar reasons. But Galactus was what? Almost $500? Yet it blew through all 4 of its tiers towards the end, and 10K plus over that.

I backed Galactus so I can sell it for a Unicron. How's that for asynchronous thinking?

Adequate Space is still an issue for me, but Wow...I applaud your ingenuity!

o.supreme wrote:

sol magnus wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Seems like a several of us here didn't get Unicron, including myself, for similar reasons. But Galactus was what? Almost $500? Yet it blew through all 4 of its tiers towards the end, and 10K plus over that.

I backed Galactus so I can sell it for a Unicron. How's that for asynchronous thinking?

Adequate Space is still an issue for me, but Wow...I applaud your ingenuity!

The key is to have something along similar cost lines that is equal to or superior in popularity. It's certainly not that I don't have any love or have any connection to Galactus ( I own two or three Galacti in other forms). It's that I don't collect Marvel Legends *much*. I collect Transformers. Since I don't need a Galactus I can flip it easily to get the money for Unicron. If it's a 'straight swap' I will have paid 479 for Unicron, not 575. I will certainly share my results in about 9 months to a year lol.

sol magnus wrote:Since I don't need a Galactus I can flip it easily to get the money for Unicron. If it's a 'straight swap' I will have paid 479 for Unicron, not 575. I will certainly share my results in about 9 months to a year lol.

I definitely hope it works in your favor. The only possible problem I see is that there will be a little over 32K Galcatus' being produced next to only 11K? *ish Unicron' that were produced . Now if you were willing to settle for one that had been open and on display, but was still in perfect condition, I could see it as a possibility, because someone may want the *new hotness* instead.

o.supreme wrote:

sol magnus wrote:Since I don't need a Galactus I can flip it easily to get the money for Unicron. If it's a 'straight swap' I will have paid 479 for Unicron, not 575. I will certainly share my results in about 9 months to a year lol.

I definitely hope it works in your favor. The only possible problem I see is that there will be a little over 32K Galcatus' being produced next to only 11K? *ish Unicron' that were produced . Now if you were willing to settle for one that had been open and on display, but was still in perfect condition, I could see it as a possibility, because someone may want the *new hotness* instead.

By 'straight swap' I mean I sell the Galactus for whatever money, then just buy a Unicron for whatever money - not implying a trade because there may not be anyone to do that with. There are plenty on evilbay right now. Now, there's the idea that that could change in the time it takes to actually get the Galactus, but I'm certain I'll end up with a Unicron.

Firstly, not all the crowd-funded TFs were sold in a short time allocation:

- https://time-space.kddi.com/au-transformers/index.html

I don't recall the actual amount of time, but I'm pretty certain it was more than a few weeks.

Also, not everyone is paid in the 25th of each month in Japan. Although many places are (which is why Takara possibly releases their toys around both those dates, and certain Japanese holidays, to possibly maximize profits), most of the jobs I've worked at in Japan didn't.

Also, good luck asking for a cash advance from your employer in Japan, lol. To date, the only company that I worked for that did such a thing, was "Shane English School Japan", which offered it to first-year foreign workers, who came to Japan that year. This was due to them having to pay for their own flight (which was reimbursed later), and having to pay about two months' rent in advance for their accommodation (one month of rent and "thank you money", which is the same valid as one months' rent).

Also, many jobs pay the month AFTER, rather than the month worked. Thus, if you start work in April, and work the full month (or in summer places, work after payday, say on from the 26th of the previous month), you ain't be paid until the 26th of May, but only for April's work. Thus, after you leave the job, you'll get a month of salary afterwards (although some employers deduct money from salaries if workers leave their job without permission). I think this is designed to stop workers from suddenly quitting. Also, best in mind that RENT usually requires a month in ADVANCE, which is why SESJ also offered a one-off cash advance to new workers.

Anyway, he's their page for the pre-order, which is limited to 2 items per customer, and only for customers with a Japanese credit card. TT Mall, unlike EVERY other shop in Japan and abroad, doesn't accept Japanese Visa debit cards (which are handled exactly as credit cards in Japan, as all shops will state that such cards are "credit" when processing them). Due to this being a crowd-funded product, TT's regular options of paying at the door upon delivery and paying via a bill (later) at a convenience store, are not available. Users need to click on the application button at the site, then the link in the sent email, and then the "order" button back at the site. Users have to do this within 30 minutes of clicking the application button/receiving the email or the application will be cancelled.



Here's Takara's page for Starsabre:

- https://takaratomymall.jp/shop/g/g82022 ... mm210928tf

-Kanrabat- wrote:What worked against Unicron was it's price. Not everyone can or a willing to back a 600 mother effing YOUESSES DOLLARS toy.

Even people that were willing were expected to choose between Unicron and MP-44 Optimus Prime who was coming out the same month payment was originally due. Thinking people could just drop $1,100~ on Transformers in one month was ridiculously shortsighted of them. I did get Unicron, but I used a third party payment plant that allowed me to pay over 12 months. Cost me about $100 more in the end, but $700 over 12 months was far easier to swallow than $600 all at once.

Did the other HasLab crowdfunds get offered world wide the same way the two Transformers ones did?

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

-Kanrabat- wrote:What worked against Unicron was it's price. Not everyone can or a willing to back a 600 mother effing YOUESSES DOLLARS toy.

Even people that were willing were expected to choose between Unicron and MP-44 Optimus Prime who was coming out the same month payment was originally due. Thinking people could just drop $1,100~ on Transformers in one month was ridiculously shortsighted of them. I did get Unicron, but I used a third party payment plant that allowed me to pay over 12 months. Cost me about $100 more in the end, but $700 over 12 months was far easier to swallow than $600 all at once.

Did the other HasLab crowdfunds get offered world wide the same way the two Transformers ones did?

Emerje

Ding! Ding! That was the choice I had. I went with MP-44. I couldn't justify both (even though I was flush with cash at the time, proving there is a limit lol).

The Masterpiece line is something we have been told is something Hasbro has basically no involvement in, being almost or completely handled by Takara. With that in mind, when Hasbro was figuring out when to launch their campaign, they may not have thought to check what major release dates were for products outside of their control. That said, definitely someone along the way should have caught that the very expensive Masterpiece figure of the most popular Transformer was going to be released around the same time they would be charging for Unicron if it came out and adjusted accordingly.

King Kuuga wrote:The Masterpiece line is something we have been told is something Hasbro has basically no involvement in, being almost or completely handled by Takara. With that in mind, when Hasbro was figuring out when to launch their campaign, they may not have thought to check what major release dates were for products outside of their control. That said, definitely someone along the way should have caught that the very expensive Masterpiece figure of the most popular Transformer was going to be released around the same time they would be charging for Unicron if it came out and adjusted accordingly.

I don't accept that excuse. They sold MP-44 themselves in the west, they knew its release lined up with the end of Unicron's campaign and should have been aware that there was a conflict there. There was no real reason why Unicron couldn't have been started a month or two later, we all know they would have benefited from the extra time to present it properly.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:The Masterpiece line is something we have been told is something Hasbro has basically no involvement in, being almost or completely handled by Takara. With that in mind, when Hasbro was figuring out when to launch their campaign, they may not have thought to check what major release dates were for products outside of their control. That said, definitely someone along the way should have caught that the very expensive Masterpiece figure of the most popular Transformer was going to be released around the same time they would be charging for Unicron if it came out and adjusted accordingly.

I don't accept that excuse. They sold MP-44 themselves in the west, they knew its release lined up with the end of Unicron's campaign and should have been aware that there was a conflict there. There was no real reason why Unicron couldn't have been started a month or two later, we all know they would have benefited from the extra time to present it properly.

Emerje

I agree. Takara and Hasbro are in direct communication with each other. I suppose though, as some Japanese have a rep for their lack of effective/direct communication and/or disregard for issues outside Japan, perhaps it was Takara that (stubbornly?) released MP OP at a time that was not good for Hasbro?

Another issue could have been the definitely sale of the MP figure over the possible sale of a much more expensive (and more niche?) product via crowdfunding?

o.supreme wrote:Seems like a several of us here didn't get Unicron, including myself, for similar reasons. But Galactus was what? Almost $500? Yet it blew through all 4 of its tiers towards the end, and 10K plus over that.

I mean I'm happy about VS, and I've proudly backed it. I just think some fans are overestimating how much support it will get. I don't expect all the tiers to be met, I'll be shocked even if tier 1 gets met. I hope I'm wrong, but 20K backers seems like a LOT at this point. I just think next to the juggernauts (no pun intended) of Star wars and Marvel, we as Transformers fans kind of forget how small we are in comparison.

Just as an example, there was an interesting debate on the toy industry as a whole this past Sunday between 2 very different YouTube personalities.



The first 30 minutes or so is skipable because one of the debaters had bad internet. But many of the problems of production, distribution etc. were discussed. No answers unfortunately, but it was an interesting watch nonetheless. Haslab was mentioned MANY times however, but I don't know if Transformers as a brand was ever even mentioned Compared to DC, Marvel, and Star Wars. (Also MOTU was mentioned as lot, but mostly because one of the debaters used to work for Mattel)

Transformers wasn't mentionned because unlike Marvel, Star Wars, DC and MOTU, most of the toys that were consistently on shelves in the TF section in the past 5 years were obviously for kids (as was the network TV shows they were linked to). So TFs wouldn't work with the debate.

Victory Saber funded!

Sabrblade wrote:Victory Saber funded!

Holy crap, it was at 9600 this morning the last time I checked. A 2000 mid-day boost, nice!

Sabrblade wrote:Victory Saber funded!

Ladies and gentlemen…. We got ‘em!

Now to be extra careful with my spending with my next paycheck…

TF-fan kev777 wrote:

Sabrblade wrote:Victory Saber funded!

Holy crap, it was at 9600 this morning the last time I checked. A 2000 mid-day boost, nice!

Same. not sure if this came from 3rd party retailers, or TT Mall orders, but cool that it is done. With a little more than 11 days, the V-Lock cannon now doesn't seem so out of reach

I came here to share the great news, only to find everyone else here doing the same =P

ah what the hell



VICTORY SABER IS FUNDED~

11 days, 11 hours and 39 minutes to at least get the cannon~