No Hyper Goldfish?

 

If they keep thinning out the plastic they won't have too.  

 

Way too expensive- the justifications mentioned earlier don't hold.

Oh well, less of my money for Takara

 

You'd think so, but no. Part of the corporate spin machine is convincing your investors that your losses are actually GAINS and that every product you sell is either profitable or about-to-be-profitable.  

The truth is that no toy corporation is under any obligation to explain its costs and pricing, and even if they did voluntarily give those numbers out, everyone would still argue about what constitutes a proper margin.   (I.e. you can't win  )

Nonetheless, for a company that constantly flouts its "most ethical company in America" awards, it'd be nice for Hasbro to be less dishonest about the success/failures of its product lines. Of course, none of this has bearing on this Takara release.  

I honestly think either there is no demand for this product (so charge the few more), OR this is a highly collectible product and Takara is trying to milk you till you're sore!   No one has even bought this toy yet and look how many sore teats we're seeing!  

 

While those are good points, it does not dispel what he had stated either. (other than the fanbase opinion)

 

Yep. It's all conjecture!   I can't say I'm right, I can't say you're right, and I can't say he's right!  

But irregardless   of who's right about the correct price, the fact is that $300 will price out a good chunk (if not the majority) of collectors!

Kudos, Takara!  

The alarming trend is that prices are rising fast, and most of us assumed MP would be the ceiling on that. Certainly, when you paid nearly $250 for MP Megatron2, you didn't expect a non-MP release to top that price, right?  

 

Actually I have no knowledge of anything outside of G1 and this lands about where I expected it $250 not including shipping. When the G1 reissues/ encore first came out in what 98,99 hot Rod was $45 compared to the $9 I had payed for him as a kid. I want to say the carbots were 55 and the Jets 79 so I not quite seeing the surprise everyone else is over these.

 

So going by your theory, are we supposed to expect lower prices if they release Grand Max, Brave Max in Encore line next?

Can you recall what was the SRP for that Platinum Trypticon? Using that comparison, I really don't think we should expect Encore reissues to be cheaper moving forward.

 

They just did Scourge, Sky Bye, Ruination and they're doing Grand Maximus so this may finally be the age of RID updates.

 

I bought the original of eBay about 4 years ago for no more than £30 so it amuses me that the encore will cost £200 in the UK.

Anyway, it is a great toy, I hope that those who buy it will enjoy it. That is the most important thing.

 

I'm jealous of your awesome job.   This is an economical issue: some can afford it, some can't. If you can afford it, of course it's "no big deal".  

Good points.

I totally expected that rebuttal!   And no, I am not counting CITY BOTS as a comparison, because those toys (as you said) always cost more.

But essentially, YOU are saying that the new RID Optimus is the same as Fort Max, right? About the same? Parts count, plastic weight, etc? Granted, Fort Max cost around $350, I believe...

Look, I say let the prices rise where they will. Let Takara charge whatever it wants to charge. Kudos to you, and everyone else, that can afford it!   However, think about the brand for a moment and stop thinking about your personal finances: if most people can't (or won't) afford a price of $280, you're talking about a toy that will FAIL to meet expectations. That means no more RID (or other Encore) because of the money lost.

So as much as you don't mind the hike, I hope you buy enough of these to keep Takara going for another Encore release! Remember: if you make more money than the rest of us, it's your responsibility to buy duplicates! Maybe the cost will sting more when you buy a respectable amount?  

 

I can agree with all of this, except the "it's all conjecture" part. I don't think anyone (other than you, perhaps?) is disputing that wages have gone up (even in Vietnam and China) and that it's going to cost more per piece for a much smaller run of something (surely "economies of scale" is well known by now!)

 

This is a valid point but I also wanted to point out that there's at least one troll-y poster here hoping that this Encore fails if for nothing else so that no one else can enjoy them simply because he can't afford to get it himself, apparently. If he can't have it, then no one else should? In bird culture, they call this a dick move.

 

Well, to be fair, the listings for these are on TFSource and I believe Big Bad Toystore. Can't say if anyone else has them though as those are my two main ordering sites apart from eBay.

Yeah right? The color matches are spot on. The Hardhead set is VERY worth it. The Chromedome guns look great though I don't like how they mount to the roof. The bottoms of the handles should have been squared off to fit into the square holes on the back of the car like that gentleman from Poland did.

 

That's strange. Like I said, Googling those products only yielded eBay results, not any regular online TF shops...

Have you got the links for those at those sites, please?

 

I've never seen those Dr Wu sets on Big Bad Toy Store. Actually it looks like they only have a handful of Dr Wu items now. I had to get mine from Uncle Billy's store on ebay. They're also on his web store.

Dr.Wu DW-P36 Scout kit,In stock!
Dr.Wu DW-P37 Headman weapon upgrade kit ,Preorder!

 

God Fire Convoy re-issue is LIT-AF.

 

It was a question to you, nothing too aggressive that suggest snide remarks or anything of that nature so I would like to have your understanding on that.  

Let me try to reply to your quotes earlier, with some thoughts of mine.

Firstly, you mentioned RID Optimus Prime only? Did you leave out Ultra Magnus/God Magnus? (I would assumed you typed too fast & overlooked his existence)

While I do agree with you on the point that these are not City Bots, the duo do combine into God Fire Convoy mode, a toy that has the heft & height of a modern day CWs/UW gestalt. (Maybe even more than those)

I have also mentioned/shared the same information as echoed by some of the boys here, about these being made in plastics that aren't hollowed out, higher part counts (by today's standards), the inclusion of the Super God Sword, & most importantly, electronic lights & sounds.

I think another Boardie has chipped in with his quote about these now being marketed as collectibles, not mass release pieces that's available at every retail shelves like they were 17 years back so smaller production, higher costs. (I reckoned you would understand this point because you seemed to collect 3rd party stuffs? My assumption again so my apologies if I'm wrong on that.)

I would like to also point out that I too, was appalled by the price initially & I certainly commented that I bought my Japan TRU DX boxset at a price lower than these & those were exclusives back then. If nothing new is expected from this release, I would not support these with my wallet.

TakaTom proved me wrong, by giving us the Super God Sword that was not available initially with these 17 years back unless you gotten the TRU giftset or were lucky enough to score that sword in the campaign back then. I know I must have said this countless times but somehow, people seemed to overlooked this. (Some of these swords were up on eBay at a later stage & they were beyond USD $100 upwards).

With the latest news/updates on this Encore duo, we know that there's like up to 40 phrases as recorded by the original folks that lent their voices to the duo.

With that 2 points I inputted above, I was convinced to part with my $$$.

Now let me answer the later part of your quote...

How would these fail to meet expectations if some people can't buy it for one reason or another? I cannot understand this quote by you. Let me use another example here, does a Ferrari or Porsche fail my expectations simply because I, together with alot of other folks couldn't have access to them? (Again, this is not a snide remarks made against you or anyone else but I am trying to put some rational thoughts into the conversation)

These reissues have not been cheap all these while...My dad bought & paid USD $22 for a sealed G1 Targetmaster Hotrod in year '88 & the TFC-13 reissue 16 years later (2004) costed me about USD $33. (Not too bad I guess.) But the C-78 reissue before that in '00 costed me USD $44...That did not come with his Targetmaster Firebolt mind you.

Now if I used these as comparisons, I'm already paying 50% more monies for that TFC-13 reissue in '04 & double for the Japanese one in '00.

I don't have a say in why or how Makers prices their wares & as much as all of us could find & make all sorts of justifications for the price hike, let us not forget that these companies existed with the aim to make $$$...And they have mouths to feed.

I, for once, am happy that the Encore line is still alive as it gives me chances to get reissues for some of the pieces I could not have back then & for that reason, I will try my best to support the Makers.

 

Wrong! In Car Robots-RID it was Brave Maximus. Not Grand.
Grand appeared in Masterforce...

 

I know, but they've done 2 out of 3 and I think there's a damn good chance they'll go 3 for 3 now.