I was just looking at my orders on HLJ & noticed they changed a couple things. Encore Convoy changed from "August release" to "Future release" & the USA version MP Starscream changed from "Nov release" to "Jan release". We have to wait til January to get cleanscream??? edit: WHOA WTF???? Encore Convoy is already listed as Discontinued! What's that about? Encore Starscream is IN STOCK. Encore Soundwave ORDER STOP Encore megatron ORDER STOP Encore Convoy DISCONTINUED
That's called brilliant marketing by Takara. If you discontinue something a week after it's release(or before in some cases), then people will jump right back in line again to buy your next re-package! Or something like that.
Scalpers must love this!!! Pre-order a ton of these knowing Takara will discontinue the item before it's even released. Anybody that wants one will be forced to shop on Ebay & pay double or triple. Doesn't Takara lose money this way? They could be making all the extra money the Ebay scalpers will make. I dunno, but it seems like the companies these days are feeding scalpers instead of trying to stop them. Botcon= free income for scalpers! They're practically handing scalpers hundreds of dollars on each exclusive. Feeding them while the collectors want to get rid of them. That's the way I see it anyway.
Major online shops in Japan (like TRU or amazon) are still taking orders for all Encore items. I don't think it's "discontinued"?
It's not that Takara is "discontinuing" them, per se. Takara made what Takara was going to make, period. What it means, is that Takara has sold them all out to the wholesalers, distributors, and retailers who send them on their way to the end retailers and customers, and HLJ therefore cannot place an order with Takara to get more. So, more of a "production is discontinued at this time" than "there will never be more"...maybe that better explains their classification.
Now it says Starscream IN STOCK Soundwave AUG. RESTOCK Megatron AUG. RESTOCK Convoy DISCONTINUED How weird!