Does anybody feel the same way about this? Let me put it this way: How come Henkei Prowl cost as much as MP Prowl? And i'm not talking about loose figures.
Cause not everyone wants mp scale stuff and they know thst people are anal about having toon accurate colors on their chugs. Its a racket i tell ya
Henkei and Masterpiece fit different tastes. I kept my Classics and I am slowly getting my masterpiece guys in. I guess the other thing too is that for Masterpieces, there's no guarantee on domestic releases. Buying imports at the rate Takara are producing figures is getting pricey. Henkei I think at the time was $30 ish(?) per deluxe and 50ish(?) per voyager. Masterpiece is $80+ for cars and 160+ for the bigger figures. Or it could just be nostalgia for people who couldn't get Henkei a few years ago. (shrug)
Actually I've noticed the price on chug has gone down in the past year... I've scored some of the pricier Takara figures loose for better prices than they were a couple years ago on evilbay I gues MISB is a different story... those will always be pricier.
I can vouch for this, I needed a replacement Prowl and picked up a loose Henkei Prowl a few months ago for around $20. Most of the mark-up is from paying for packaging and instructions.
A few Henkei figures still command pretty high prices, even loose. Dinobot and Smokescreen are still two of the priciest out there and that will probably never change. Astrotrain and the Seekers still fetch decent money too. And that Rodimus Wildrider repaint will always be ridiculous. Henkei Prowl will remain desirable to CHUG collectors because the US version had the sticky paint issue with the doors on lots of them and the off-white plastic coupled with the crappy orange Autobot tampo symbol were arguably inferior to the Henkei release.
Because one is still in stock at most places and the other hasn't been available other than aftermarket for a few years now. In other words, supply and demand...
Like has already been said, it depends on people's tastes. I can see figures like Dinobot or maybe Voyager Megatron being more desirable because they have a better and/or sometimes a more show accurate deco. But regardless I do also have to agree that some Henkei figures have really dropped in value too. For example Henkei Ratchet (and even his Hasbro counterpart) was pretty expensive at one time (Hasbro version going for about $75 and Henkei for over a $100) but now you can find Henkei Ratchet carded for about $40-50.
Since i'm a relatively new collector,some insight from here would be helpful. Thanks a lot for all your comments.
I still need Henkei Sunstreaker and Bumblebee. I finally got United Jazz, Tracks and Stepper, I think those are the last 2 that seem like a major enough upgrades from the US versions that I want to replace...
My guess is that after Henkei! Henkei! Transformers helped bring forward the era of CHUG collectors. And because of that, it's reputation has become established as such within the community. With the combination of that, and its age, help make these pieces become more and more scarce MOSC/MISB. And that helps drive up the "demand factor" for some pieces, which has sellers see it as an excuse to demand more money. Which, in the end, tends to increase the value of select pieces.
As others have said, Henkei figures haven't been available at retail for years, so you are relying on the aftermarket. It is more comparable to MP figures that are no longer available or haven't had second runs (not sure if there are many of those the way they have been doing multiple runs). Hell, before Takara and Hasbro re-released MP Grimlock, he was fetching a significant amount of money on the aftermarket. That being said, the Henkei market has cooled a bit in the past 3 years or so. I was able to fill in the gaps in my collection at what I considered a reasonable price. Still need streak (and crystal convoy, ugh), but I think that may be it.
If you want Henkei versions, all you need is determination, some luck (for me, that's in the case of several Transformers, especially from the United line, and non-Transformers related items I found in collector-centric toy stores), and most importantly, cash you are willing to burn. I got three Henkei Optimus' (two from Mandarake, bought nearly one year apart from each other) and one that was bundled with an FP G3 Trailer in Ebay. I bought multiples for different purposes; one is to be a "main" Optimus, whereas the other two were to be used on different 3P add-ons like the Xovergen Trailerforce 01, which I lost interest to buy. Smokescreen was bought from Mandarake as well. I got a 2nd hand, but near-mint Prowl from Yahoo auctions. I got Mirage and Hound in Ebay. Yahoo auctions and Amazon Japan (where I got Deluxe Ratbat) have lots of selections and good prices that may be hard to find in Ebay. Japanese collectors tend to take care of their stuff real well. All the 2nd hand stuff I got are of mint to near-mint condition
I am trying to sell some old henkei myself, but I guess with more MP and modern generations, prices went a little down than usual.
As nobody has mentioned it, Henkei toys usually have better paint apps over their generic hasbro versions, so you also have more time and labor in actually making the same toy, so that is another reason they cost more. As other have said, desirability also keeps them high on the second hand market, plus most of them were pretty damn good quality, before modern TF toys started being really cheap and hollow. But some Henkei no doubt fall into cheap and hollow, they would be the exception imo.
I'm a tad worried about the Henkei prices. Since i'm a bit of a impulse buyer i try not to frequent ebay or search for items i'm just not ready for, but sooner or later i'd like to pick up a Takara Starscream and Optimus and i have a feeling its going to bite me pretty hard. That's if i can find any at all?
