Not if TRU(especially TRU) and Hasbro decide they wanna start selling every MP at that price point. I mean, plenty of people in the past insisted that including the trailer with the Hasbro MP-10 was NOT the reason for the jump in price to over $100.

 

Soundwave and Lazerbeak at $70-ish, and then the rest of the cassettes later released together for $30-ish isn't better?

 

lol, saving the extra $30 and buying it at once I'd prefer. Besides I don't like the risks of buying things seperately, especially things that are very popular, we could see an MP Prime again.

 

That wouldn't make any sense though. Could you honestly picture an MP cassette 2-pack going for $100?

 

How would TRU people know what the packaging looks like, or that Acidstorm is a "green jet"? Most TRU employees know NOTHING about the product they sell, and that info doesn't come up on their internal inventory screens. And that's corporate people as well as the retail store level employees.

As for the validity of your scoop, no offense, but you could be Jesus and I'd still take everything with a grain of salt until I see a UPC code or internal inventory code. The MP Speculation thread is FULL of people with brother's cousin's sister's ex's former roommate who works for Hasbro. A little fansite in Australia getting news of this before BigBadToyStore and the like I find to be triggering my spider-sense.

 

Not the cassettes, of course not. But full blown MPs, yeah it wouldn't surprise me if one or both TRU and Hasbro saw that Optimus sold for $100+, and start marking up every large MP release to that from here on out.

EDIT: Sidewipe and Red Alert might be a different matter cuz of how small they are. Unless they stupidly pack them together.

 

What makes the cassettes not "full-blown MPs"? Because they're smaller and double-packed? And how about the car-formers too? Not to mention Optimus and the seeker mold aren't even the same size...

Optimus is the biggest MP, with or without the trailer. It would simply be a bad marketing choice to release smaller MPs at the price tag the 'flagship' TF went for.

 

The size obviously. And see my edit.

Tell that to TRU and their $30 PRID voyagers, while the FOC voyagers right next to them are still $20. That's got "bad marketing" written all over it  

 

He haz moar news creditz man.....believe....

I'm happy for you guys that can't afford/don't wanna spend on the Takara version if this does come off but I do see what webz is saying. This is an insane amount of info a TRU employee knows about a supposed Hasbro product that is 6+ months away from release. Time will tell as always.

 

This is extremely important to note. Australia is served by Hasbro, but it is served by *Hasbro Asia*, which retails both Hasbro and Takara branded products. This is why Asia gets both lines for the most part, and this is also why Takara products from asia are in English shipping cartons with Hasbro markings. Top this off with the fact that Hasbro Asia has been doing more and more unique Asia-territory only repaints and special packs, and assuming that these are coming to the US may lead to some serious disappointment.

 

Wait, so your point is that the price of MPs will be locked at $100, except for certain sizes of MPs... and I'm saying that the size of an MP will determine the price tag. Isn't that virtually the same thing?

Besides, it's all speculation what Hasbro's gonna do, but I think it's reasonable to go on Acid Storm following in Thundercracker's footsteps at $70. Thundercracker came out after the price raise on Deluxes and Voyagers. We'll see what happens though.

 

I am really really surprised SW is coming out so early in the June/July timeframe. Was expecting October at the earliest in time for holiday shopping.

It's barely even been released and Hasbro is going to have to develop new packaging, paint, etc. because you know they won't be able to have the same paint apps as the TT version to make that price point.

 

Nah... Hasbro Australia is directly under Hasbro America (we used to be under Hasbro England, until 1997).
And even though we've been lucky enough to get in (only) three Japanese TFs and a half dozen "Asia" TFs here, it is apparently a very difficult process, so rarely happens. (not to mention the small consumer market we have in Australia - so we don't even get all of the America stuff, as retailers can only buy up so many units of the Brand)
Besides, with 15 of the recent Asia Generations toys being released in America last year and not in Australia, you guys now have had more Asia Transformers than we ever had... making it more accurate to say that you guys get in Asian Transformers, than saying that Australia does.

They already have the product photos from Hasbro - I could hear her tapping away at her computer during the conversation (when I asked certain questions).
The young lady was trying to describe the Soundwave box to me, but wasn't sure what it was (I guess it was too retro for her, or she thought I wouldn't know), so when I asked if it looked like an 80s cassette player, she laughed and said that that's what it was.
Same game of "charades" with Acid Storm.
I just wrote down what was being described from the photos she was looking at.

Little? Hmmm... I guess quantity over quality is the requirement for reliability.
Although, quality is probably why our "little fansite" has survived for over 16 years now, and is the biggest toy-themed site in Australia now. And more reliable than toy dealer sites that are known to post up pre-orders for items that end up being false rumours.

The only thing I worry about is that the final product or packaging ends up being different to the promotional photos sent to TRU (as Hasbro is known to do, as they often have to use prototypes or mock-ups this far in advance to its release when sending out promo pics to retailers), and people would focus on that instead of the validation of there definitely being two Masterpiece toys called Soundwave and Acid Storm coming out mid-year by Hasbro.

 

I am sooooooo sick of TRU's way to handle preorders on the MP releases.... I ordered my SW via Toyarena this time... forget about all the stress by paying more $. Get it over with.

Although I am looking forward to see if I could get a hand on the Sideswipe or Red Alert...

 

Whether or not this rumor is true (just playing devil's advocate here), I would be totally thunderstruck if Hasbro did not move forward with Soundwave.

Soundwave is the face of '80s Transformers toy nostalgia to casual folks.

I think he's a safer bet than Rodimus Prime as a moneymaker, certainly.

 

And I Was lamenting to myself over not getting Takara Soundwave...this is good news if it's true!

I'll have to Pre-Order Soundwave to ensure I get him....So is this Hasbro's move from now on with the MP Line? Releasing two bots each year?

 

Kind of like the idea of a MP Acid Storm...something different, and it's a great mold. There's no way it's selling for more than $70 here in the US, though, TRU can't even sell Thundercracker for that. Japan is starting to devalue the Yen also, which means all prices should be easing a bit here in the U.S. and elsewhere.

 

your point on paint apps doesn't hold if you look at history. mp-10...more paint apps than TT (different plastic color etc but more paint apps for sure). also the point about price point and paint apps...the two are largely unrelated. hasbro and TT each sell at the max price they can to ensure maximum profits as determined by their research and business plans. the only relation between price and cost to manufacture is one must be greater than the other by enough to make sense to release the product. the price point differences are almost wholly due to intended demographic of consumers.

 

Regardless of where the confirmation came from, I think we can all agree that it makes (business) sense for Hasbro to release Soundwave here. There's no way they'd pass on that.

Acid storm is out of left field, but I can see why they'd do it. While it won't sell as fast as soundwave/prime, it will eventually sell out. If we count prime's selling speed as a "10" and TC as a "7" I'd expect soundwave to also be a "10" and acid storm maybe a "5". He'll still sill, just not as fast.

 

The fact Acidstorm is on the list also makes me wonder about this one, it would be the first non-main character US masterpiece release.....