I ordered a black Incinerator from HLJ. It was listed as "backordered" with a yellow square. After I ordered it they changed it to "discontinued". I emailed them & this is their reply: ******************************************************** Hi Thanks for writing. I'm very sorry, but we received far fewer of the Incinerators than we ordered and stock unfortunately ran out before your order and the orders of other customers could be filled. Takara Tomy has unfortunately discontinued this item so we have stopped accepting new orders for them. The item appears as "future release" in your account information in the Account Maintenance system because we have stopped accepting new orders for it, but are keeping your order on file as we try to get more stock to fill it. If we are not able to get any more, our order department will e-mail you to let you know. We hope to have the answer for you soon. In the meantime, though, if you have another source for this item, you might want to pursue it. We appreciate your business with us!******************************************************** So where is the best (cheapest) place to get one of these before it's too late? HobbylinkJapan ALWAYS changes their items to "discontinued" about a week or 2 after the release date. I don't believe Takara stopped producing these so soon. They do this with the Masterpiece series all the time even though Takara is still pumping them out.
BBTS has them instock for $50 http://www.bigbadtoystore.com/bbts/product.aspx?product=TAK10806&mode=retail Ebay is the same price with heavy shipping. Xyber toys also has him: http://www.xybertoys.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=823 £28.90 or US$57.80 But shipping is free to the UK, US Germany, and the Netherlands. That should give you a good start. Awesome Toy btw, I can't stop playing with my hasbro version for a few days, I may pick up the Takara one myself. Good Luck.
Yeah, Digital Toys also has him for $50. I was trying to find a place to order directly from Japan for around Hobbylink's price of $35 + shipping. I don't think it's worth much more than that. I have Hasbro's version so that might have to do. I don't believe Hobbylink can't get anymore, I've seen them change items to "discontinued" on the day it was released in Japan. I just don't believe them & I'm tired of the hassle. Just not worth it anymore. EDIT: Here's another good question: When exactly did this become a "limited edition"??? From everything I read I understood the US is getting the gray version as a mass release & Japan is getting a black version for mass release. Now all of a sudden the Japanese black version has become a limited edition on the same level of the Lawson's gold Bumblebee or GF Dark Nitroconvoy. When did this happen??? If I had known it was a limited edition I would have pre-ordered it. But I thought it was a regular release.
I got mine off ebay from Japan. I will have to look and see who the seller was but it was worth it. The seller combined shipping with the Lawson Bumblebee I got as well.
