shajaki wrote:william-james88 wrote:shajaki wrote:Sabrblade wrote:william-james88 wrote:Sigh, I didnt know it was also an "exclusive".
Given how Ramjet was, I figured all three of the "New Jetrons" would be.
Every MP11 aside from Screamer has been exclusive and expensive so this is none too surprising.
Oh I know, but its still sad. When I spend money, I like knowing that it went to the toys, or to the shipping, to something, that the price is dependent on the cost of production. But now its expensive simply because Takara is letting Hasbro Asia be the only option to distribute it globally. So that extra money being spent is just profit for them. Its pretty much the same result as a scalper buying every single toy out there and charging more for it because no one else is selling it.
But with that reasoning, how would you ever be able to buy figures that weren't standard retail releases? It's just the nature of exclusives.
Not really. Its different here. Hasbro MPs are TrU exclusives and I didnt have to spend extra. Same for platinums. And people in Japan buying from Takaratomymall arent paying 180$ US plus shipping. If this was a toy I really wanted, I wouldnt mind asking a japanese friend to get it for me in Japan and then ship it to me(if I had such resource). My cost would be the price of the figure, plus the shipping plus whatever fee this person would ask for this service. I would then be owning an exclusive figure.
But in this scenario, there is no middleman. The nature of exclusives is if something isnt available you are stuck paying more for middlemen, but Hasbro Asia isnt a middleman, they ar a partner. And this isnt an exclusive worldwide. Its only an exclusive in Japan. Worldwide, any other online retailer can carry it since they are buying from Hasbro Asia, which is the direct seller of this toy (not Takara).
So no, this is not an exclusive like others (non of these hasbro Asia MPs have been). No one buying this toy on BBTS is actualy buying the exclusive Japanese edition that can only be bought at TTMall. This is a non limited item available anywhere online and the direct provider (Hasbro Asia) is just taking a bigger cut than usual because there is no other option for fans to buy the Japanese edition (unlike say, the premium they usually charge for their version which isnt much, like with Shockwave its
only 10$ more). In this case, there is no added costs to this being an exclusive, its not a third party company licensing a toy (like Fun Pub or Hero X), its not a mail order toy, its not a limited run, none of what usually goes with an exclusive, and thus I would not wish to pay anything more than Japanese retail plus shipping. I will just wait for a Hasbro release or a discount price.
In the end, people buying this on BBTS and not TTMall are spending more money on a less exclusive item.
Let me know if I am missing the mark or not being clear
PS: While it could be that part of the higher cost for getting the Hasbro Asia release over the Japanese release is that Hasbro Asia pays Takara a premium licensing fee to sell a Takara mold, thing still dont add up. Hasbro Asia SkyWarp and Thundercracker were 200$ while the two coneheads who have more overhead cost due to new tooling and design are 180$. So it really seems that the prices for the Hasbro Asia releases are not corelated with the actual cost of the figures or of obtaining them. And that is what is bothering me and what I am talking about.
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