Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

[william-james88]

Thanks guys.

[Cobotron]

Look what I just bought:

Nice Will! I think I'll wait for amiami to list, but good to know they are showing up. Did they give a ETA? December?

[william-james88]

Look what I just bought:

Nice Will! I think I'll wait for amiami to list, but good to know they are showing up. Did they give a ETA? December?

Yup December. The reason I picked these guys over Amiami is that I preffered having a good estimate of the shipping price. It was bigger than I expected last time I ordered from amiami (it was fair, just more than I expected).

Oh man, its gonna be a loooooooooooong haul wait. But it's gonna be great. Think about it, individual guns, more pose-ability, purple hands, retractable shades, it's gonna be great!

[Hero Alpha]

As Jelze once pointed out, that Rook is gray, not white.

And a different character.

I am well aware, I just wanted to show that there is a Rook in the fiction somewhere already. They didnt just take this name out of the blue

Also, it's easier for takara to see what we want when Hasbro releases its product 6 months earlier. Takara gets to hear the criticism.

This always strikes me as odd whenever someone brings it up. It assumes that a production cycle is quite short. Takara released a teaser for Ultra Prime/Optimus Maximus before Hasbro ever revealed the figures. Instead I think it makes more sense to look at both companies as having different objectives and catering to different markets (which is true on both accounts). The collector market is a bigger chunk of Takara's Transformer market than Hasbro's.

Kind of a chicken or the egg thing but, to me it seems Takara keeps a bigger chunk of the collector market because they usually do better paint/new molds. If Hasbro followed suit then they would in turn get a bigger chunk of that market. I would guess way more people would rather buy deluxe Groove from Hasbro if they could, for example.

[Cobotron]

Look what I just bought:

Nice Will! I think I'll wait for amiami to list, but good to know they are showing up. Did they give a ETA? December?

Yup December. The reason I picked these guys over Amiami is that I preffered having a good estimate of the shipping price. It was bigger than I expected last time I ordered from amiami (it was fair, just more than I expected).

Oh man, its gonna be a loooooooooooong haul wait. But it's gonna be great. Think about it, individual guns, more pose-ability, purple hands, retractable shades, it's gonna be great!

Just checked the listing. I'll bet amiami will do EMS shipping only too. I don't think he qualifies as a "small packet".

For that price it will be so worth the wait.

[william-james88]

Just checked the listing. I'll bet amiami will do EMS shipping only too. I don't think he qualifies as a "small packet".

For that price it will be so worth the wait.

SAL is only advantageous on small orders since it takes up the extra cargo space from planes. So it' gonna be almost half the cost of EMS to ship a few deluxes. However, when you get into the big stuff (like my order of 4 TAV figures and UW Superion), the difference between the two is minimal. Even if they offered SAL for Devastator, I highly doubt it would be less than EMS. Actually, here is proof using their calculator (and the educated guess that the box will weigh 2000 grams):



As you said, it wont work for small package so if you look at international the difference is practically non existant and you get it sooner.

[Hellscream9999]

I was posing an incredulous question (edited to be an incredulous statement) - not trying to put words in your mouth.

Sorry if it came off that way.

No biggie, I sort of re-read my post after responding and I can see how it could be read as a bit of an attack on Hasbro. It's cool.

While I agree that hasbro is 'working harder' I would've liked some additional remolding done to the new blastoff. I don't want, or need a space shuttle with my combat vehicles; but it would be nice if blastoff got some new wings with vtol fans or missiles or guns molded into them, if only to differentiate him from his two mold brothers At least aesthetically, the firefly mold works well with the two lean arms and the beefier legs to fit the width of the thighs, no more stick arm syndrome (defensor )

[william-james88]

Kind of a chicken or the egg thing but, to me it seems Takara keeps a bigger chunk of the collector market because they usually do better paint/new molds. If Hasbro followed suit then they would in turn get a bigger chunk of that market. I would guess way more people would rather buy deluxe Groove from Hasbro if they could, for example.

Yeah, it is chicken and egg. But I was looking at the Takara Transformers Brand as a whole in comparison to Hasbro.

For instance,

Hasbro has the robots in disguise line and it's emphasis on easy transformations ,as well as Hasbro publicly saying this is meant for young kids, surely alienates quite a few adult collectors.

Takara on the other hand has split the line. They still have the easy transformers but they are part of the TED line. The warrior figures from Robots in Disguise are part of the TAV line instead which also has figures from the generations line, the animated line and totally new figures that Hasbro wont be releasing. So instead of putting it all in the same line, there is a line for young kids and a line more for collectors.

That's what I look at when I make up my opinion on Takara being more aware of collectors. And time as well as feedback had nothing to do with that example.

[william-james88]

Takara's Devastator has been available all over the place online for varying prices. However, no Japan based retailer had him on pre-order yet and the Japanese MSRP of 25000 Yen from Robot Kingdom wasn't confirmed.

All this has changed now since Anime-Export now has Transformers UW 04 for pre-order at 30% off the now confirmed 2500 Yen MSRP. This means that he is available for only 17500 Yen, which is 146.70$ US (just a few dollars below the Hasbro MSRP). This is the first Japan based online retailer to have their pre-order and it gives an idea, to the fans awaiting these pre-orders, of the prices others may have



Of course, while this may sound cheap, shipping becomes a big factor and changes depending on location. Below is an estimate of the rates from Japan to North America (based on the toy weighing 2000 grams) though they are not confirmed and should be looked into further by anyone interested in this toy, which can only be shipped EMS from this particular website.

[ZeroWolf]

But the Japanese market itself is built around that whole system, the Japanese companies realised that the collector culture often has more money to burn though there is heavy competition in this sector. Of course hasbro's approach isn't bad either and has worked.

[Emerje]

Was just coming to tip that Big in Japan has Devastator up for pre-order. They're going for ¥18,750 there.

Keep in mind that most shops will only export this through EMS either because of price, dimensions, or weight restrictions (or all of the above). Expect the big shops to start putting theirs up soon. I imagine AmiAmi will be going with 30% off.

Emerje

[mooncake623]

Was just coming to tip that Big in Japan has Devastator up for pre-order. They're going for ¥18,750 there.

Keep in mind that most shops will only export this through EMS either because of price, dimensions, or weight restrictions (or all of the above). Expect the big shops to start putting theirs up soon. I imagine AmiAmi will be going with 30% off.

Emerje

yea Hopefully soon... before I give in and jump on Anime Export! They are awesome and all but I just don't feel like giving them more money upfront right now I have a lot of stuff on preorder with them. I need a pay later option. I bet HLJ's discount will be 20%, their discounts always seems to be less than the others for some reason.. I wonder if it's the private warehouse option they have that drives their over head cost higher than other Japanese base retailers.

[william-james88]

yea Hopefully soon... before I give in and jump on Anime Export! They are awesome and all but I just don't feel like giving them more money upfront right now I have a lot of stuff on preorder with them. I need a pay later option. I bet HLJ's discount will be 20%, their discounts always seems to be less than the others for some reason.. I wonder if it's the private warehouse option they have that drives their over head cost higher than other Japanese base retailers.

Oh man I am so relieved to hear this, mooncake. This was my first purchase on anime export and I didnt mind paying now (will have my first kid by the time I'd have to pay for this devy and I feel I will have no money then). I just didnt know if they were a good retailer or not. From your experience, is that estimated shipping price I wrote above on the ball park?

[mooncake623]

yea Hopefully soon... before I give in and jump on Anime Export! They are awesome and all but I just don't feel like giving them more money upfront right now I have a lot of stuff on preorder with them. I need a pay later option. I bet HLJ's discount will be 20%, their discounts always seems to be less than the others for some reason.. I wonder if it's the private warehouse option they have that drives their over head cost higher than other Japanese base retailers.

Oh man I am so relieved to hear this, mooncake. This was my first purchase on anime export and I didnt mind paying now (will have my first kid by the time I'd have to pay for this devy and I feel I will have no money then). I just didnt know if they were a good retailer or not. From your experience, is that estimated shipping price I wrote above on the ball park?

so I've ordered MP smokescreen, MP wheeljack, MP bumblebee, MP Ultra Magnus, MP Star Sabre, and SH figuarts mark43 Iron Man from them, And received everything with out issues from them so Far. My shipping cost for EMS for Star Sabre was 2490 yen. so I'm going to say that estimate sounds about right.

[Treetop Maximus]

If I'm going to be getting all that and it still winds up under $200, then picking up Takara's is a no-brainer. I'll probs wait for AmiAmi though.

[william-james88]

The weight differes from site to site. My calculations were around the 4 pound area but BBTS says it's 8 pounds, which would make the shipping more like 55$. It will always beat BBTS' 225 but I dont know by how much. And of course, taxes and customs can come into play.

[Syn_13]

Tempting. Doesn't work out to much more than the Hasbro version over here in the UK, and that's with the shipping. However, the customs may end up being too much for a figure of that size/value.

[Sowndwave76]

I give Hasbro a ton of credit...
From what I've seen and heard, the CW line is already a success.
I'm sure lots of people here can remember years ago when panel members mentioned at Botcon (back in '07 or '08)
that combiners were on hold "until they could do them right".

G1 show accurate paint apps are pretty important for me personally, but if Hasbro's versions were the only options, I still wouldn't complain.
I mean, almost all of the new head sculpts are incredible...

In fact, I have no issues with having preordered the Hasbro Devastator.
I'm not even sure I'll get the PE arms add-on set...
The more I've thought about it, the more I think that set will be combined most of the time.
For now I'll only be getting the other add-on set for the hands and vehicle attachments.

[fenrir72]

I give Hasbro a ton of credit...
From what I've seen and heard, the CW line is already a success.
I'm sure lots of people here can remember years ago when panel members mentioned at Botcon (back in '07 or '08)
that combiners were on hold "until they could do them right".

G1 show accurate paint apps are pretty important for me personally, but if Hasbro's versions were the only options, I still wouldn't complain.
I mean, almost all of the new head sculpts are incredible...

In fact, I have no issues with having preordered the Hasbro Devastator.
I'm not even sure I'll get the PE arms add-on set...
The more I've thought about it, the more I think that set will be combined most of the time.
For now I'll only be getting the other add-on set for the hands and vehicle attachments.

Best post I heard regarding UW. If only all were like you.

[BATTLEMASTER IIC]

It's about $55 shipping via EMS from that site to New York State, according to their shipping calculator. So we're looking at around $200 anyway through this website. I'm not sure which US customs fees would apply to this.

[Wolfman Jake]

I give Hasbro a ton of credit...
From what I've seen and heard, the CW line is already a success.
I'm sure lots of people here can remember years ago when panel members mentioned at Botcon (back in '07 or '08)
that combiners were on hold "until they could do them right".

G1 show accurate paint apps are pretty important for me personally, but if Hasbro's versions were the only options, I still wouldn't complain.
I mean, almost all of the new head sculpts are incredible...

In fact, I have no issues with having preordered the Hasbro Devastator.
I'm not even sure I'll get the PE arms add-on set...
The more I've thought about it, the more I think that set will be combined most of the time.
For now I'll only be getting the other add-on set for the hands and vehicle attachments.

Best post I heard regarding UW. If only all were like you.

Agreed. Combiner Wars is so above and beyond what we've had before in the way of combiners from Has/Tak. Even if you want to split hairs over Takara's show decos versus Hasbro's toy/updated decos, or additional elbow joints as is the case for Devastator, these toys are pretty awesome. Fenrir, would you refresh my memory? Are you planning on getting Hasbro's Alpha Bravo and Off Road to spice up your UW Superion and Menasor (come August)? I know you waited on the Aerialbots until UW Superion was released, but I don't know if you planned for any of the Hasbro "exclusive" characters in the line.

[Sowndwave76]

I give Hasbro a ton of credit...
From what I've seen and heard, the CW line is already a success.
I'm sure lots of people here can remember years ago when panel members mentioned at Botcon (back in '07 or '08)
that combiners were on hold "until they could do them right".

G1 show accurate paint apps are pretty important for me personally, but if Hasbro's versions were the only options, I still wouldn't complain.
I mean, almost all of the new head sculpts are incredible...

In fact, I have no issues with having preordered the Hasbro Devastator.
I'm not even sure I'll get the PE arms add-on set...
The more I've thought about it, the more I think that set will be combined most of the time.
For now I'll only be getting the other add-on set for the hands and vehicle attachments.

Best post I heard regarding UW. If only all were like you.

Heheh...
Please believe I'm not the "everything's-great-don't-bother-thinking" type.
But thanks.
I just haven't been this excited about Hasbro TF figures for a long, long time.
And they are pretty ding-dang awesome.

[NuclearConvoy]

Does anyone have experience with Anime-Export that is positive or negative?
And, maybe an odd question, but does HLJ usually have better prices than these guys? I've had good business with them.

[Emerje]

It's about $55 shipping via EMS from that site to New York State, according to their shipping calculator. So we're looking at around $200 anyway through this website. I'm not sure which US customs fees would apply to this.

There are no customs fees from Japan to the USA.

Weight sounds right so the price should be accurate. Just multiplying the weight of Gelshark (350g) and Brainstorm (380g) by six brings the price between 4,140JPY (US$34) and 4,420JPY (US$36).

Emerje

[Cobotron]

There are no customs fees from Japan to the USA.

Really? You mean period? Or do you mean there are no duties unless Customs decides to inspect? I thought any and all goods purchased from foreign lands could be charged import taxes if they are seen as consumer goods and not as a gift.

Trust me. I'm hoping your answer is, yes, period.