ZeroWolf wrote:I wonder how much takara are saving by going this route, this may have been initiated by hasbro (conspiracy to increase domestic sales) but this route may work out beneficial to Takara. Also if it means the west are getting the same masterpieces, that's good news isn't it?
i imagine a lot, really. in previous cases, they have different deco and boxes than hasbro, so they just imported the unpainted mold from hasbro, and then repaint it themself, and then print their own packaging. in this new case, not only does there's no need to repaint the figures, if you pay attention, the japanese name on the packaging is just stickers, that just slapped over hasbro's packaging to cover hasbro logo. means they literally just imported hasbro product as is and slapped stickers on the box. the cost of paints and packagings are now replaced by cost for small stickers only. that should save a lot, really. i just hope all those money saved goes to the right direction.