How much is budget for a certain sized toy I'm saying this because henkei is far superiorly painted compared to classics yet they are the same molds Is a Japanese budget higher then a hasbro budget
I'd say they (Takara's budget) were a little bit higher, because they can afford to add chrome to a toy a LOT more often than Hasbro. Lately they often release redecoes of toys that were first released in the US, but I'm not sure if that affects their budget.
They put more paint apps on the toys in Japan, but they charge more for them at retail too. We get less paint apps here because retailers want to keep the prices low so Hasbro has to cut the budget to remain profitable.
I think the way it works is that for the Henkei/United figures, each mold has its own independent budget that can be increased if needed, which impacts the end price. Thus, why two normal Deluxes in the Henkei line can have different prices. Hasbro's economic model is based around the price class system, where each figure gets a set budget for paint apps and such, so in the interest of keeping prices even the figures can be missing some paint apps.
I think it's also due to a more collector-orientated market in Japan rather than just selling toys to kids. With that there's a higher price and that higher price also helps cover better paint jobs and chromed parts. I should imagine final price is also worked out on a per figure basis since, as someone said, different Deluxe Henkeis are not always the same price.
As far as I remember, Henkei Sunstreaker and Prowl were more expensive than Bluestreak and Sideswipe. Takara separates the budget by figure and not wave, hence Animated Samurai Prowl having a higher retail than the rest of the deluxes.
pretty much I think it was covered in a semi-recent interview or something IIRC, Hasbro has a certain budget per wave. I think thats why the Hasbro Jazz wasnt quite as elaborate as people may have liked, because there were other figures in the same wave that needed to share the budget Takara budgets their figures individually, and retail is marked up accordingly [like, well, Jazz for instance]
I say it's definitely a combo of Takara's collector focus and the price point being per figure not for the entire size class. Also Hasbro is focused on mass retail not on collectors. A kid isn't going to care that his white sports car is missing paint apps on the back of the car. For us collectors, there's paint or reprolabels.
Yes and no. Hasbro comes up with a budget at a per wave/case assortment basis. So the money allotted goes into all 8 Deluxes that will be in that case. Which is why you see waves of new molds coming out at 2-3 molds per 8 figure case, while wave can jump to 4-6 when redecoes are included (since redecoes cost less to make). Takara ships their figures 1 mold per case. Which is why Henkei Sunstreaker and Prowl cost roughly $25 retail while Sideswipe and Streak cost under $22. And of course, all the money that goes into paint and chrome get made up as they retail for twice what Deluxes cost from Hasbro.
