william-james88 wrote:primalxconvoy wrote:However, Japanese shops are rarely connected enough to get their foreign products from wholesalers, so they but them at retail and then charge customers from that point in, hence the massive markup.
The site I showed, red mercury, must have its own channel for hasbro products since it gets them before anyone else, so them procuring it at retail to then resell it doesnt make sense time frame wise. they also have a nice tight schedule where a whole line will be available at once, as opposed to product by product, so I think there is a bit more going on there.
I do thank you for the detailed reasons why a toy would be more expensive in Japan ceteris paribus, and I am glad to see it indeed has nothing to do with the paintjob
The only point I was trying to make was that the differences in prices have more to do with other factors than paint.
And in any case, LG Trypticon is all the proof we need that takara prices have nothing to do with the different deco they choose, so I am still surprised this notion keeps coming up.
Well you know where I stand on the Takara vs. Hasbro price differences. Weve been through it before and I damn sure dont feel like going through it again. I agree that what you say holds some truth. But I also believe all the so called shipping and import factors vary from dealer to dealer. So basically whoevers got the hookup is going to unload them cheaper. I also believe some dealers are not in a hurry to unload quickly hence the higher markups. In a market where online sales become the norm and brick and mortar sales become obselete, the terms "American market" and "Asian market" have almost zero meaning for Transformers. (Not talking about speciality kabaya or bear brick crap) Its all about the almighty paypal market. Theyll slap a delivery sticker on it and deliver to Afganistan if some guy wants to pay the price and hope the mail truck doesnt get hijacked. I only been to Japan in transit and at the time Takara Transformers Animated deluxes were selling at $40 USD in the airport gift shop and were at least 6 months old at the time. Granted airport gift shops sell things top dollar but thats still a far cry from the $20 a Hasbro deluxe cost in Miami International airport that year on the same trip. One thing I truely believe is that Japan is dealing with the decline in the popularity of action figures (among kids) in a different way that Hasbro does. Both companies seem to be gearing more towards adult G1 themed products. However Takara is more focused on selling toys to adults while Hasbro is trying to convince kids 1986 G1 themed characters are still cool. (Cooler than that PlayStation or IPhone that more kids would rather have than action figures) Takara isnt stupid. They jack up the prices tremendously under the "E-Hobby" banner and thus has nothing to do with import costs or shipping. E-Hobby is basically a way to charge adult collectors more. (Im not disputing that it isnt an actual company loosely affiliated with Takara) But I will say that I dont see any difference in quality or deco from regular takara releases to justify the increased price. (Runamuck vs. Runabout) Some might say limited release, but I crap on that theory. It doesnt cost them any more to make 1,000 figures than it does 5,000 figures. We got an idea how on average how many people worldwide were willing to pre-order Grand Maximus and it was under 3000. (Probably much less if you dont include the dealers who were willing to invest long term and buy more than they got pre-orders for) So that gives you a rough idea of how big the so called "high end" transformers fanbase really is. Somewhere between 2000 and 5000 collectors worldwide give or take. Do you really believe Takaras not going to take these folks wallets to the limit? Cmon now...Theyre gonna get them (including myself and probally you too) for every penny they can milk out of our rectums lol. They know were getting older and the G1 market for CHUG will die down slowly. Its not the same as vintage G1 toys that are of age to be true collectibles. CHUG is just for G1 fanboys in their 30s and 40s (like us) who want to re-live our youth with articulated figures instead of bricks. CHUG has always been for us. Hasbro just trys to sell it to todays kids and in the last 2 years it has worked. But dont think for a second that the sudden burst of G1 love doesnt signal a shift in marketing strategy by Hasbro. They pretty much killed RID and the TLK line failed miserably. But CHUG is flying off the shelves. Is it really 5-8 year olds screaming "bring back the 80s" ??? I doubt it. Its a marketing switch in my opinion. The focus is shifting towards adult collectors and try to grab as many kids in the process as possible. Thats where the brand is heading. Remember Hasbro designs the molds, Takara just uses them after Hasbro is done with them. They add the cool paint. Hasbro probally collabs with Takara on deco choices in attempt to get impatient collectors to double dip. As I said earlier, the real market is online sales. Hell I wouldnt be suprised if there are more Takara products sold outside of Japan than in Japan. And we all know they are not made in Japan. The factory is in either Vietnam or China because no labor laws make it more profitable. Im not an insider, but I highly doubt Takara pays shipping twice to get a gigantic shipping crate of toys to BBTS or TFsource. Im fairly certain the crate ships directly from the factory in Asia. (Not to Japan then to BBTS which would be a waste of money) Its all about the money. Dont fool yourself. Take a trip to Japan and visit various hobby shops and retail toy chains and report back to us with pictures you took with your own camera confirming you bought a takara deluxe figure for $17 USD in multiple locations. Im not saying it couldnt happen. I am saying I doubt it will happen. As far as the whole Takara Trypticon "same deco different box" debate, I speculate there is a good reason for this....GIGASTORM !!! Basically I think they are holding the nice cartoon accurate dark black plastic we all wanted for Gigastorm. Make the purple plastic blue and add a nose horn and BAM...instant $$$$$$$$$. But if Takara had given a darker cartoon accurate black deco to Trypticon, less people would be likely to double dip on the same really big expensive mold. The horn and a blue full tilt couldnt sell Gigastorm alone. (Just like the free pretender couldnt help Grand Maximus hit 3000) So its probably a well thought out marketing scheme to get the most bang for their buck from a repaint. Its all about the money. It has nothing to do with various alleged "markets". Thats my opinion anyways.
