Takara Tomy Transformers Generations Selects Turtler and Gulf Available for Pre-Order in U.S.

I ordered mine off Pulse. Really looking forward to them.

For the curious or those that need a refresher, the Seacons are indeed priced higher than PotP combiners in Japan.

Deluxe
Seacons: ￥4,104
PotP: ￥3,024

Voyagers
Turtler: ￥7,020
PotP: ￥4,860

They do have smaller production runs thanks to their exclusivity, but they also have heavy retooling and more weapons than their PotP mold mates. In my book that makes the price worth it. Takara Tomy is usually very fair with their exclusives, simple repaints generally are priced comparatively to retail figures. If they felt these needed higher prices to be produced then I'll believe them.

Emerje

I'm disappointed that they are selling this set separately. I'd rather they just did the whole thing in one shot.

Rodimus Knight wrote:I'm disappointed that they are selling this set separately. I'd rather they just did the whole thing in one shot.

Any particular reason? Wouldn't it be better separate to help ease the cost, plus you get very good figures in hand to play with while waiting for the King himself.

mordhelm wrote:Is the submit news broken? I had submitted the pulse links via the front page news 1 to 2hrs before Nemesis made his post. Normally I get a response but didn't get any indication from the news crew this time.

I ask not to get credit (ultimately his post got the word out so he deserves the credit), but only because we are told to submit it that way. Just want to make sure I am submitting in the right way.

I'm very sorry that you weren't credited in the article, your email is there, but must have slipped through the cracks, especially in the rush to news items like this. Again I apologise wholeheartedly. Please keep sending news in via the email link.

What is it with the whole "pre-order by this date even though it's still several months out" mindset?

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:They do have smaller production runs thanks to their exclusivity

Do you have production numbers to back that claim up? Because unless the word "limited" is made explicit (which I didnt see here), I wouldn't assume anything. These products use the same economies of scale as non exclusives. I mean, we can still find wreck gar at walgreens today even though he's last year's exclusive and the unite warriors boxsets prices on the secondary market in Japan are not correlated with their TTMALL exclusivity status. So unless we know the figures, I wouldnt take anything as fact just because something is exclusive to one particular retailer.

Having an item be available in a single chain vs. 5 chains should naturally result in less product produced, IF the stores were stocked equally and IF the amount of stores is 1:1. Online venues are a whole different beast by cutting out the more limited store space, so I wouldn't try making guesses at numbers there.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:They do have smaller production runs thanks to their exclusivity

Do you have production numbers to back that claim up? Because unless the word "limited" is made explicit (which I didnt see here), I wouldn't assume anything. These products use the same economies of scale as non exclusives. I mean, we can still find wreck gar at walgreens today even though he's last year's exclusive and the unite warriors boxsets prices on the secondary market in Japan are not correlated with their TTMALL exclusivity status. So unless we know the figures, I wouldnt take anything as fact just because something is exclusive to one particular retailer.

Having an item be available in a single chain vs. 5 chains should naturally result in less product produced, IF the stores were stocked equally and IF the amount of stores is 1:1. Online venues are a whole different beast by cutting out the more limited store space, so I wouldn't try making guesses at numbers there.

Right and those are indeed big IFs. Plus, that retail distribution applies more to cases, not the individual toys inside the case. So, since exclusives are packed in solid cases, you could end up with more wreck gars in the states than Novastars, which seems to be the case from reported sightings and difficulty to find particular toys. It's become to the point that exclusives are actually more easy to find since you are bound to find them at that particular exclusive retailer instead of hoping a retailer doesnt skip a wave or an item is shortpacked.

william-james88 wrote:

steals_your_goats wrote:I pre-ordered mine through TFsource. It seems like everyone sleeps on them in favor of pulse or bbts. With those other sites they charge tax so for me TFsource is already cheaper than the other two plus they have free shipping and the point system.

I am surprised they dont charge tax, I thought the states had new laws that had online retailers charge taxes regardless, hence why BBTS does that now. The one which wont charge you tax is ages3and up since they are located in canada.

I've been ordering from them for years and I've never once been charged tax. Recently I paid for the 3 refraktors I had on pre-order and once again no tax, which is great seeing as I live in New York. Even with their sightly higher prices it makes them either cheaper than other outlets or the same price due to NY taxes.

o.supreme wrote:With TF Source you have to have a minimum of $150 for free shipping, which I rarely if ever do, which is why, even with taxes, usually BBTS is the way to go, for me personally.

Thankfully, TFSource's order stacking saves orders like BBTS's Pile of Loot, and for about twice as long as BBTS will hold your items (6 months instead of 3). So for me, I can gradually add new orders to my stack over time until I reach the $150 mark without putting too deep a dent in my bank account all at once. Sure, it mean I get my stuff later than sooner, but I also end up getting a nice big box filled with a whole bunch of goodies instead of just one or two, making each delivery from TFSource feel like Christmas.

william-james88 wrote:

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Emerje wrote:They do have smaller production runs thanks to their exclusivity

Do you have production numbers to back that claim up? Because unless the word "limited" is made explicit (which I didnt see here), I wouldn't assume anything. These products use the same economies of scale as non exclusives. I mean, we can still find wreck gar at walgreens today even though he's last year's exclusive and the unite warriors boxsets prices on the secondary market in Japan are not correlated with their TTMALL exclusivity status. So unless we know the figures, I wouldnt take anything as fact just because something is exclusive to one particular retailer.

Having an item be available in a single chain vs. 5 chains should naturally result in less product produced, IF the stores were stocked equally and IF the amount of stores is 1:1. Online venues are a whole different beast by cutting out the more limited store space, so I wouldn't try making guesses at numbers there.

Right and those are indeed big IFs. Plus, that retail distribution applies more to cases, not the individual toys inside the case. So, since exclusives are packed in solid cases, you could end up with more wreck gars in the states than Novastars, which seems to be the case from reported sightings and difficulty to find particular toys. It's become to the point that exclusives are actually more easy to find since you are bound to find them at that particular exclusive retailer instead of hoping a retailer doesnt skip a wave or an item is shortpacked.

There's a lot more reasons why Wreck-Gar would be easy to find even if he received a smaller number of figures. Walgreens isn't super high traffic like Walmart or Target since they're pharmacies, a lot of their customers are local regulars or the sick that might have other things on their mind. The same people going into the same store and seeing the same unsold toys isn't going to move figures quickly. Then there's their locations, some people have several of them near by, some people like me have only one (about 14 miles away) and others don't have any. Then you have to factor in that we've had a few good Wreck-Gar figures in the last 10 years or so, not everybody is interested in combiners, and, well, it's Wreck-Gar, not exactly the type of character that would excite kids and casual fans.

You're right, I can't know for sure that the Seacons are limited, but it would be unusual for an exclusive not to be. We can't always look at post release availability as proof of normal release numbers. Look at Legends Grand Maximus, we know for a fact that there's less than 3,000 of those in the world and they're still readily available, sometimes at a discount. Yes, like with any exclusive there's any number of reasons why people may not want an obscure, two foot tall Japanese figure, I'm simply saying availability is no better indication of production numbers than exclusivity.

Emerje