ScottyP wrote:zodconvoy wrote:It's the same height as Ironhide and cost $20 more than Quakewave both of which are deal breakers for me. Quakewave re-preordered.
(Shockwave preordered too just in case.)
This is what they want you to do. Price is made up as a purposeful overestimate to try and salvage some QW preorders since those are coming out very shortly (supposedly). I'll be very surprised if Shockwave runs more than $120 from an importer.
Thats smart Scotty. BBTS' main market is us collectors and judging from the feedback I read here, they probably did indeed wake up to a bunch of cancelled preorders or are at least very aware of that potential. Kind of skeevy since we wont get Takara's MSRP before those QW preorders come in. It's tough to imagine Hasbro's thinking sometimes because they are a huge company with a wide market, but BBTs caters to us. So decisions like this are totally linked to our involvement and baheviours. Don't let them get the better of you.
But this brings up another good point.
Deep down, does it really matter. As collectors is price the main issue here? Collectors have been paying more for third parties since day 1 just to get figures HasTak wasnt making. Now, they are making it so people have the options of getting either the official or third party version. While I am certain it wont be the case, lets imagine that the official product is 10-20$ more than the unofficial one, is that really enough to make you want to buy the unoficial version?
Also, one thing for sure (judging from the past), those QW you may buy now will not hold their value as much as this official Shockwave will.
Anyways, the way anyone should approach this is the following:
Do I care if a product is official? Can I wait an extra year for a Shockwave in my collection? If the answer is NO to both, then Quake Wave is fine for you.
If the answer is yes to either, then it's a no brainer. Here is what you do to get the best idea of your options.
1. Wait to know the product's MSRP
2. Wait to see if this is an exclusive
3. If it isn't, wait to see preorders on japanese import sites
Once you have all this info, you will be better armed at seeing which option is best for you. BBTS will have this preorder till the toy comes out, there is absolutely no reason to jump in this before knowing more.