TakaraTomy Transformers Legends: Black Convoy & Megatrons From TFyuki

Scourge riding Skye-Byte into battle, now that's a deleted scene from AOE I'd like to see.

This is the best thing I've seen all day!

That Armada Megatron is irresistible!
But Scourge, no.

X deliver again!

Rated X wrote:They need to let it go already.

They're not the only ones who need to let things go ...

Rated X wrote:

shajaki wrote:X... do you just hate for the sake of hating? How could a different version of this figure being released to a different group of people POSSIBLY upset you?

In the age of online sales, there is no “different group of people”. When you release a figure, you release it to the world. Every online retailer and their mother has them for sale. (Hence Takara Unite Defensor gift set)

EDIT by Va'al - There will be no personal insults, thank you.


Have you never heard of a little thing called shipping fees? Or how about import duty? Not all of us can just buy everything from another country whenever we feel like it.

shajaki wrote:By that reasoning, why does Takara release ANY Transformers whatsoever? Everyone in the world should just buy the Hasbro ones off the internet?

In another thread, I stated I believe Hasbro versions only exist to justify Takara’s continued pricey existence for an imaginary market.

This is tripe. Japan has an enormous collector's market, and the toy market over there is highly, highly competitive. If Takara DIDN'T make their figures more "collector friendly" they wouldn't be able to compete. Hasbro, meanwhile, sells most of its wares in a very different market that on the whole values quantity over quality. Paint apps actually add a lot of expense to the production of a toy, as metal paint masks have to be cut in order to apply the paint (and that's not even beginning to mention worker's salaries).

They all come from the same mold that isn’t even located in Japan. 25 cents worth of extra paint apps and the price doubles.

See above. Extra paint apps are not cheap.

A unified worldwide release would be the ethical solution, but it would not be a profitable one.

What is "logistics"? What is "licensing"? What is "different markets/safety standards"? And before you hit me with that "the market in Japan is exactly the same as the US!" bullsh*t again, if that's the case then why don't we see things like Soul of Chogokin or Figma coming from US manufacturers?

All this “exclusive” hype is an attempt to make people sell their TFCC Scourge and get the same thing with a bit more light piping and no G2 faction logo. Serious black Prime collectors pay big bucks to get them in every Prime mold. Anybody in Japan who wanted this mold in black already has the TFCC version. Takara is getting greedy here. The reissue should be $29.99 like any other Takara deluxe figure.

Japan doesn't have the TFCC. This is the first release of that mold in Scourge colours in Japan. Importing into Japan is expensive so naturally a domestic release- even an exclusive one- is preferable to Japanese fans.

shajaki wrote: So EVERY SINGLE PERSON who wanted a Black Convoy/Scourge bought one when TFCC released theirs? Yeah. I'm sure.

There’s still some on e-bay so I imagine the die hards all got theirs. The TFCC version was the real exclusive. This is a slightly modified reissue being dubbed an “exclusive” for pure profit. Im not saying every TF collector has this mold in black, I’m just saying the hardcore black Prime collectors already do.

The hardcore collectors outside of Japan.

shajaki wrote: Exclusive means limited production numbers. Not that it's unattainable.

Whats so limited about a reissue minus a few paint apps ? Remember the Asia Exclusive Hot/Rod/Galvatron/Cyclonus repaint set ? Hasbro removed Galvy and slapped rub signs on the other two and shipped em straight to US retail. How exclusive was that ?

Did you actually bother to read what he just wrote?

shajaki wrote:You don't always get under my skin X, I usually just chuckle at your absurdity. But Jesus man, get a grip.

I think Takara needs to get a grip. The brick and mortar days of exclusives are over. Gone are the Botcon seeker days when snobby collectors got offended when their “exclusive” saw a mass release. Internet sales destroyed the concept of “exclusives” and honestly I’m glad that happened.

[/quote]
That's not the case at all- the exclusivity just shifted from physical stores to online stores.

X gonna X I suppose.

Yeah, I LOVE exclusives that I can't buy locally. I LOVE paying 10-30-50$ of shipping fees for a single figure. I LOVE paying an extra 25-35$ custom fees for EXCLUSIVE figures.

Target just gave up Canada. They had really neat exclusives that were reasonably priced. Not anymore. Now I have to buy them from scalpers. Sure, I can still buy them. But X, lemme tell you that it suck a lot to pay double, triple, or quadruple the price for a figure that would have been available locally.

So, yeah. Exclusivities still exist hardcore. And the price suck.

Wow! This is like 3 straight days of thread hijacking.Some 'bot here abouts must be overcharged with Energon-GB!

megatronus wrote:The only thing I'll reply to is this:

Rated X wrote:In another thread, I stated I believe Hasbro versions only exist to justify Takara’s continued pricey existence for an imaginary market. They all come from the same mold that isn’t even located in Japan. 25 cents worth of extra paint apps and the price doubles. A unified worldwide release would be the ethical solution, but it would not be a profitable one. All this “exclusive” hype is an attempt to make people sell their TFCC Scourge and get the same thing with a bit more light piping and no G2 faction logo. Serious black Prime collectors pay big bucks to get them in every Prime mold. Anybody in Japan who wanted this mold in black already has the TFCC version. Takara is getting greedy here. The reissue should be $29.99 like any other Takara deluxe figure.

Takara isn't expensive by virtue of being Takara; it's the costs associated with bringing stock into the states en masse. You really don't understand how importing a figure jacks up the cost.

Takara deluxes aren't $29.99 in Japan - they're close to $10-$15. I imagine TFCC Scourge was expensive for folks in Japan to import, so why hate on their chance to own this? Outside of the fact that some people in the States (like me) might prefer the metallic highlights over the matte teal.

A gift that never stops giving. You call out TT and Hasbro for their "unethical" practices. Fine. What about the 3rd party makers for their overpriced no royalties paid to Hasbro/TT homaged products? Is that a different animal? Different standards for two profit driven capitalists?

3rd party makers don't release their homages out of the kindness of their hearts? AND, all of their stuff also made in China. Why the price mark up? Okay, Hasbro/TT can do bulk orders. That's the difference but really. ETHICS?

No witty retort eh "K"

Based on http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic

Full Definition of ETHIC

1
plural but sing or plural in constr : the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation
2
a : a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values <the present-day materialistic ethic> <an old-fashioned work ethic> —often used in plural but singular or plural in construction <an elaborate ethics> <Christian ethics>
b plural but sing or plural in constr : the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group <professional ethics>
c : a guiding philosophy
d : a consciousness of moral importance <forge a conservation ethic>
3
plural : a set of moral issues or aspects (as rightness) <debated the ethics of human cloning>

Maybe some of us needs a dose of the "C" word. The dirty "C" word that runs the world (except for Cuba, North Korea and Venezuela)

Capitalism:

: an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market

Examples of CAPITALISM

Capitalism is at once far too rational, trusting in nothing that it cannot weigh and measure, and far too little as well, accumulating wealth as an end in itself. —Terry Eagleton, Harper's, March 2005
The United States has assumed a global burden—not just fighting terrorism and rogue states, but spreading the benefits of capitalism and democracy … —Brian Urquhart, New York Review Of Books, 9 Oct. 2003
The city was then the great maw of American capitalism. —Christopher Hitchens, Atlantic, August 2002
I am not the first to point out that capitalism, having defeated Communism, now seems to be about to do the same to democracy. The market is doing splendidly, yet we are not, somehow. —Ian Frazier, On The Rez, 2000
Even Cuba's famed health-care system has been unable to resist the siren song of capitalism. The Frank Pais Hospital … now offers “for pay” surgery to foreigners. —Ann Louise Bardach, Vanity Fair, March 1995