Emerje wrote:william-james88 wrote:ZeroWolf wrote:But then why was defensor an exclusive?
Insurgent wrote:Maybe they saw the demand for Defensor and realised they could sell a ton more if they don't make it exclusive?
No. Firstly, Defensor was not an exclusive everywhere, just an exclusive in japan. There are thousands of Defensors out there and he is still readily available everywhere... but for a price.
That's like saying SDCC exclusives aren't exclusives because you can buy them from Hasbro Toy Shop and scalpers. The only store that sells Defensor (and Convoy Grand Prime and Grand Galvatron) in Japan is the Takara Tomy Mall. They charge the same price as the regular retail figures, but only ship within Japan so importers have to pay full price (15,000JPY or about US$128) plus tax (8% so 16,200 or about US$139) plus shipping so we end up paying US$160 or so to get them (more if the store doesn't offer free shipping). I don't know exactly how the coin system works in Asia, but even with the coin Robot Kingdom is calling these TTM Exclusives and they are definitely not sold at mass retail. Transformers Asia says the coin releases are only sold at "selected stores in Asia" which would also indicate exclusivity even if shared.
With the Combaticons not being exclusives we can get the retailer discounts that we can't from the TTM exclusives. Now instead of paying US$160 we're closer to US$96. That's what makes them being non-exclusive so much better for us.
Emerje
Hyperbole will get you nowhere Emerge, comparing what I wrote to scalpers doesnt help the conversation.
There are TWO versions of these TTMall exclusives, and as the transformers reporter for tomopop you should be aware of this. And being available in more than on place (as you confirmed) mkes it no longer a srict TTMall exclusive. While one may have a limit of 2000, the other, from Hasbro Asia, does not. This is what I was trying to say, maybe I was not clear.
Here is proof: for legal reasons, this is what TFSoure says about Ramjet, a supposed "ttmall exclusive":
This highly sought after masterpiece brings the popular seeker Ramjet to the Takara Tomy lineup with an all new color scheme and exclusive to TakaraTomy Mall! This is the Asian market release of this product
Notice their wording. There are 2 SEPERATE releases/versions, automatically making this figure no longer exclusive.
A true TTMall exclusive would mean that the ONLY place to get your copy would be from TTMall. But that isnt true. Thats just he only place you can get it in japan. And they use that slogan willy nilly to trick buyers into thinking it is more limited. TTMall tells you how many units it is limited to while Hasbro Asia does not.
Hasbro Asia produces as many units as they want snd sell it throughout the world at all online outlets.
SO the figure no logner becomes exclusive in a worldwide context (while still being only at one retailer in Japan). And thus I repeat what I say:
No. Firstly, Defensor was not an exclusive everywhere, just an exclusive in japan. There are thousands of Defensors out there and he is still readily available everywhere... but for a price.
And that price, is the Hasbro Asia price. A price which was confirmed by an exec to be based on the demand of asian collectors and not the manufacturing cost of the product. And the legal writing confirms that it is a seperate release that has no alloted limited number of units.
The only thing exclusive about a TTMall release, is the price since only in Japan can you get the actual Japan release which doesnt come witha coin but comes with a cheaper price.
Emerje has a point.
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