If you want to blame anyone for how expensive these things are, perhaps we should blame Hasbro? Hasbro and TakaraTomy have their agreement to not sell their Transformers toys to each companies respective markets. In Japan, these toys go for a bit more than your average deluxe would in the USA. Everything is more expensive in Japan, and they're slightly more expensive for having a limited run, but they're basically going for what you would expect of a deluxe. The problem is, due to the agreement with Hasbro, Takara doesn't sell directly to the US/European market. So you can only buy Dirge/Thrust if you actually live in Japan. So online retailers wishing to sell them to us guys have to go through a middleman living over there, give him his cut, then they take their own cut and add on shipping costs... and you end up with this ridiculous price for two deluxe class Transformers. In my opinion, what Hasbro should really do is cut a deal with Takara to sell stuff like Henkei through their own online store. And Takara could do the same with Hasbro stuff, if they think there is the market for it. But there's quite obviously a big market for US/Euro people buying Japanese Transformers, and only the online retailers and their middlemen are making any money out of it. Hasbro could be getting their cut instead, and selling Japanese stuff to us still at a premium, but not quite as expensive due removing the middlemen.
I still really urks me that Hasbro and Fun Pub. didn't step up to the plate and do simple wing remold for Dirge as well.
They are exclusives from Japanese department stores. One store sells Dirge and the other one sells Thrust (I forget the names of the stores). The stores only sell to Japanese residents so if you live out side of Japan, they are harder to obtain. It is the same as having a Wal-Mart or Target exclusive toy here in the states.
I must say Thrust looks ridiculous with his VTOL fans under his tailwings! WHAAT??? Glad I got the Botcon set... *runs away screaming*
wow excellent swap i may do it......although i may have to paint the afterburners. the stripes are a little obnoxious though
Dirge looks great with Reprolabels! The red of the stickers helps balance out his other red highlights, and not make his blue parts look so dull. I decided not to get Henkei Thrust. Botcon Thrust is good enough for me. I as well decided not to put stickers on Thrust, because it would have made him too busy. I prefer Henkei Thrust's face, but not for the big bucks it would cost. With the Reprolabels applied, I think I prefer the Henkei version of Dirge.
I like Dirge except for the paint on the wings, Thrust with those wings look like total shit! Botcon one kicks its ass!
