There Will be TWO Transformers Henkei Exclusive Starscream Repaints

If you live that paycheck to paycheck that you can't afford a chunk for a limited availability exclusive like Botcon seekers, then I question your financial status and the wisdom of spending any money on any figures.

Everyone has the ability to buy things in payments, it is called credit cards, and if your financial situation is stable enough then you can afford to float the cost of the exclusives on a CC or pay for it outright through savings.

If 300$ at one time is an impossible task like it was for many people who missed Botcon 2007, then maybe that 50$ for figures should go into a savings account instead of figures. Which is why when people complain about costs in a collecting hobby, the problem is usually with the people complaining, and not the hobby.

I believe the problem lies within making the damn fig newton "exclusive". Not the people whining.....but everyone probly knew that anyway.

Color? Accurate? make it blue and slap a "thundercracker" label on it and Im good to go.

Who the F*ck are you to question anyone's financial status?!?!?
He made a simple statement about cost being an issue...that makes his liking or wanting to get an exclusive no less meaningful than someone else that makes more money or can afford to waste more $$$ on transformers....

Plus have you ever maybe gotten your head out your a$$ and maybe thought not everyone has a credit card that they want to use to buy botcon tf's or other high cost exclusives....christ you can be such a damned elitist at times....

Um... Then they can not buy them and be happy with the 9.99$ retail figs? Don't begrudge people who have the exclusive or expect or demand companies to undercut the exclusives to hurt the fandom and future exclusives? There is no question that Henkei Seekers would Hurt FP's future exclusives as the next one in line is Black Rodimus. Japan makes loads of Black repaints so "I'll skip Botcon's Exclusives hoping for Henkei Black Rodimus" threads would begin.

If you can pay 50$ for a collectors toy, you can't call others 'elitiests'. This isn't human neccessities, if you are buying 50$ toys without taking care of your basic needs and carry debt, then maybe you have fiancial issues to work out.

Meanwhile Master Sing patiently waits for the time when all the classics seekers to be released/re-issued/replicated...



It will happen friends, mark my words!

If 300$ at one time is an impossible task like it was for many people who missed Botcon 2007, then maybe that 50$ for figures should go into a savings account instead of figures. Which is why when people complain about costs in a collecting hobby, the problem is usually with the people complaining, and not the hobby.

There's a large difference between $50 and $300 for many Americans. It's much easier to justify spending $50 on toys than $300 to the wife.

Given that many of the people on the board plan their budgets as a family, the $50 figure is much more likely proposition.

THANK YOU! That is exactly what I meant, Mr. Jones.

You're arguing semantics. Whether or not they can afford it depends on their priorities in life, which for most of us, are continually in flux and up to us to navigate as individuals, not according to some 'right way of doing things' that you have rattling around in your head or according to what you've done with your life.

Maybe to that one person, transformers is their priority, and to another, it's cars or buying a house, someone else, rugrats. Maybe his priority actually specifically is non exclusive and he doesn't give a crap about exclusives -- in that sense, he can't afford exclusives and he can afford non-exclusives.

The most popular non-Starscream seekers are Thundercracker and Skywarp. Period. They have not been released in Japan yet. The Japanese market probably wanting it (I haven't asked them, but look at Robotmasters and Encore -- what repaints came after SS? TC and SW) and those that didnt' get the FP set wanting them is indicative of this as a likelihood. In light of these basic facts I put forth that it actually sets a good precedent for more of the figures we like coming out, to more of the fans that want them to pick up. Maybe next time they won't make exclusive short runs of figures likely to be in demand in another market. I don't know. To me that's FP's bad if it happens, and not Takara's if they decide put one out.

If you argue against that, then you argue against the very same kind of illogical, possessive, elitist attitude you despise in hardcore "gewunners" that hate TF:A because it's violating "their transformers", to support the same attitude in "convention exclusive owners that don't want a mass release" on losing "their exclusives". The fact is, Takara's Henkei line doesn't cater to the USA/FunPub convention set owners desire to keep these repaints in short supply because they're not their "core demographic".

Whether or not you bought the FP exclusives or whether or not you'd like to see them be TC and SW, they're most likely going to be.

And that's a win. Long live Transformers.

Hey everybody. I guess I'm the ONLY one that thought of shooting them an email about this. I just got the reply:

Hi Bret,

Yes, the item is actually Ramjet and not Thrust. Thanks for notifying us regarding the mistake!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joseph Tsai
HobbyLink Japan
(www.hlj.com)
The silence to follow the cries of thousands of voices screaming out at once, music to my ears. Nootch!(that was noisemaze that was smart enough to contact them in the thrust thread)

Wrong thread, dude. Whole different toys here.

For selfish entitled people who don't care who they hurt or problems they cause as long as they get theirs.

Hasbro and FP made an effort to put figures in the fans hands that would not exist otherwise due to the end of the classics line and the inability to sell 6 seekers at retail. And many of the entitled fans have been spitting in hasbro/FPs face for a whole year about it non-stop, demanding that they have the right to own these figures.

If they show up in Japan, so be it, but the attitude of "screw FP, let's skip their exclusives for Japanese figures" is a selfish attitude. Even in the OMFG THRUST thread, there are many many entitlement comments that boil down to "Ah HA! Take that FP you morons!"

If people think that any FP mold that is popular will instantly be re-released in Japan by Takara, then people will avoid buying the FP sets and wait for Black Rodimus and Classics Jazz out of the other market. That is a bad precedent for Takara to use Botcon exclusives as a test market for releases.

Selfish people like expensive items for cheap. And they are willing to support things that hurt parts of the franchise as long as they get theirs. Sure takara probably will release these as SW and TC, but don't pretend that this is not a negative for FP and will have repercussions that will not be good... If you are capable of thinking about people other than yourself which many of the fans in the TF community are not capable of.

Agreed. But allow me to play devil's advocate for a moment and let's look at it from another angle. Maybe FP and Hasbro should not release 'core' characters as exclusives that only a few thousand can obtain. This is the reason many collectors will be 'forced' to buy the Henkei releases (assuming they get released). So maybe, just maybe, FP and Hasbro have layed down a hand that leaves many collector's no choice but to obtain the previously exclusive items somewhere else.

Good grief. Could you please pry your elitist FP-worshipping head out of your lower sphincter for a moment?

I don't know where the hell you're getting this "spitting in Hasbro's face" or "demanding" or "entitlement" BS out of this thread. Not one place in this thread has ANYONE "demanded" anything or spit at any entity. All this thread has been about is HOPEFULNESS that there may be a slight POSSIBILITY that some people who can't afford the going secondary market rate might possibly be thrown a bone and have an opportunity to own a figure they'd like. Just the hope! If it doesn't come to fruition, so be it. I, as one who would like the chance, will not see my world end if it doesn't happen. However, if it did, I'd be happy about that.

I'm sure it bolsters your opinion in your mind to say that these are hateful, vindictive Transfans, but I've seen nothing of the sort here. Just several fans who are saying "hey, wouldn't it be great if???"

All things considered, I don't think this hurts FP's market at all. It's certainly not going to affect their '07 take (duh) as that's already said and done. It'll affect the secondary market--which I'd love to know if nkelsch is into--naturally. As for future years, I don't see them being affected either. You know as well as I do that there will always be fans who have to be FIRST at owning a figure, as evidenced by the recent rash of people who have been willing to pay top dollar to some dodgy Chinese ebayer for first dibs on Animated (or hell, even Botcon) toys. And there is so much else that sells a Primus Package at Botcon aside from the toys. The only plausible hurt based on your logic would be the non-attending package, and let's be real here, I don't think that's gonna happen either.

Just take a look at this year's toys. How likely do you think they're going to be reproduced in a later Japanese line, in their exact same color configurations? Let's see... Prime, not likely in that deco... Starscream, doubtful, wouldn't be hard to paint that myself anyway... Razorclaw, minicon, nuff said.... Grimlock, nah..... Goldbug, with that mold, highly doubtful.... The only one I might concede would be Jazz, even though I'm not really fond of that mold. But would a release of a different Jazz mold in Classics affect Botcon or FP? Doubtful. Even considering the 07 line, do you really anticipate a Henkei Dreadwind or Bugbyte?

Next year's Botcon will sell out in the same amount of time, whether or not TC or Dirge comes out in the Japanese market.

Now...on to your other arguments. How, pray tell, is it selfish of anyone to not have spent two car payments on a club exclusive and then when/if it comes around on another market at a much lower price to then decide to buy it? How is that possibly selfish? By your own logic, if I choose to buy a Playstation 3 when it reaches the $200 range, I am selfish, because I should've bought it when it was $800. Right? And wouldn't PS3 owners who paid $800 be mad at me for getting it cheaper, even though it's years later? And wouldn't that hurt future releases of, say, Playstation 4? Hogwash. And you know it.

What would really be selfish would be for me to spend three weeks worth of grocery money on a six inch hunk of plastic and deprive my wife of food for nearly a month. What's NOT selfish is if I drop $50 that I can reasonably afford on a nice piece. And yes, Mr. Trump, there is a HELL of a difference between $300 and $50, and I'm doing quite fine thank you with my current collecting habits.

Selfish people like expensive items for cheap?? Hahahahahahaha..... listen here, Richie Rich. I'm sure you probably piss diamonds and crap dollar bills, but not all of us are so blessed. Essentially what you're saying is that if you can't afford to drop $300 at a time on your collection, you should get out of it altogether, which is stupid and you know it. I want you, the next time you go grocery shopping, to listen to your own words, and know that if you don't buy the most expensive of every item then you're a damn hypocrite. You're being selfish because you're hurting Kellogg's by buying the cheaper cereal.

Your rantings about people's financial situations make me sick and further shows you as the elitist that you are. Your attitude basically boils down to "I can afford Thundercracker, and you can't, so suck on it you peons."

Selfish people don't want other people to have the toys they have.

i'm with you man...if takara does release these TC dirge and thrust, then its going to hurt FP, and FP has gone through all sorts of crazyness to bring us awesome exclusives thusfar...and they did bring us something that wasnt going to happen...ever...but then the success of classics made hasbro take notice and say 'hey, that's a good line' and now classics are back...and i bet hasbro kinda regrets releasing the 3 seekers as exclusives, but there's nothing they can do about it now...

and if takara does release them, that's great for fans who missed out on the con seekers, but it still means FP will be hurt by it...

and as nkelsch pointed out before, 300 bucks for 5 figures is 60 bucks each...which most everyone so far has said they could afford...it just means a few months of saving up for the purchase...

and velcrohead, there's a difference between buying a ps3, and a limited exclusive run of toys...now, if there was a limited edition ps3, that came out in neon pink...and limited to 1500...and it sold out right away...and a year later, they rereleased another exclusive limited run, it would affect the market...and i would be thinking twice about buying any other exclusive from sony, for fear that it wouldnt really be as exclusive as i thought....and sometimes part of collecting is the 'hey look what i have' attitude...that's why people strive to get limited edition toys....maybe its elitist, maybe its not...i just call it collecting what i want...


the only way i'd really not feel ripped off is if this exclusive is super limited...it can be thundercracker, but it definately has to be different colors, and it definately needs to be limited...sorta like how SDCC nemesis prime came out, then japan did black convoy in even more limited numbers....

but then if that happens, we'll have new threads popping up about how takara hates fans, and shoulda made this a mass release, instead of exclusive...

and while i'm editing this...the following is taken from the transformers wikia...

lol!!! I guess it's a win for them too, but I think the majority of people don't care about FP because they have no reason to. Especially people in Japan. Doesn't make them selfish, that's just to be expected. Sure seems less selfish than a tiny minority of collectors and the convention company wanting them not to be released.

Those fans got their toys. Like I said, if you get the botcon set for exclusivity's sake (bragging rights, vanity) or as an investment (it retains and gains secondary market value) then I really couldn't care less if you're hurt by this. These are stupid reasons to get toys. Moreover, FP losing sales or being hurt is really grasping. Quite frankly, a distant possibility at best, certainly not something that has been proven.

Sure there's a minority of people who have been "spitting" in their face so to speak. The vastly more common scenario though was "cool, but not for $300 bucks." followed by "cool" again with the idea that they could be coming out again. I certainly think it's fine that they don't like FP and I see no reason why anyone should be considered selfish for not being a fan of them.

In the interest of full disclosure, I don't like FP because I haven't been impressed with their product. I joined the club, found the magazines to be subpar, thin on content and the comic to be stupid. The club store was never well stocked and the prices are not anything special. The combiner exclusives were lame, the club exclusives were lame as well. Most importantly, none of these things have significantly improved. These are just my reasons for not liking them.

You can call some of them selfish, but really, none of them have shit to do with "what's in it for me." It's just disappointment and being underwhelmed.
Having been unremarkable on just about every level I was looking for them to deliver on (except maybe the seeker repaints ) I really don't care about them, and that's totally justified on the kind of criteria most of us assess (and in my opinion should assess) a collector/convention group on. This may or may not be "their fault" but their inability to meet these qualifications makes them getting "screwed" kind of unimportant to me.

I watched all year for the club to give me one reason to not regret spending the money on the membership (any time money is spent on something that doesn't deliver, I regret it, and that doesn't make me cheap, that's called a rational response) but it never came.

Maybe they hate FP for good reasons, I certainly feel mine are reasonable. I would say "screw FP" even, if I were a little more passionate about how much I was disappointed with their product. But I don't see how labeling someone elses motives as selfish without knowing what they are or where they come from is a) valid or b) useful for making the point that this is a bad thing for fans.

That's just basic logic. Who doesn't like expensive things for cheaper!?

I'm capable of seeing the potential for the scenario you've described, but I fail to see the repercussions (other than to FP and a tiny subgroup of investment/elitism fans personally, who, as I've described for the reasons above, I have little sympathy for) and I think you've grossly overestimated the potential impact to them.

permie, just because you are unhappy with FP doesnt mean everyone is...everything you cited as a negative for them is something i would definately point out as being a positive from my perspective...

affecting FP and the "subgroup of investment/elitism fans" in a negative is still not a good solution. you cant really get anywhere in business with a 'fuck those guys' attitude...

This thread is awesome, and not at all a waste of harddisk space containing things that have been argued about in approximately 500 other threads.

And I've just added to it with my waste of a post! Ahhhh!

Really? Which negative that I've listed do you see as a positive? The bad prices and limited stock at the club store? The underwhelming exclusives? The thin on content magazine? The poorly written (compared to the retail ones) comic?

Also, affecting that subgroup vs. serving a larger group is my whole point. More people winning in markets Botcon doesn't reach is GOOD business.

Two of which are running at the same time it seems.

I would like to see takara make a Sunstorm I really like that character. I currently have a Titanium, and a Palisades statue repaint. I think it would be a great addition to my Classic collection.

i've thoroughly enjoyed the comic, and the magazine content...and i think the exclusives has been fantastic...i love my astrotrain, and i love airazor, she looks great with my 06 botcon set...and i love the 07 set, and i even love the 05 set, though i dont own it all yet...and i dig this years set too...its grown on me alot...and i totally cant wait for nightbeat and the seacons...

i like the work they have put into each year, and how it keeps getting bigger and better...now, i may not buy much of the regular toy releases from their store, they do have higher prices, but hey, guess what? they arent buying as much as target or walmart, so their prices are higher...they are the same price they would be if your local comic shop ordered the toys from diamond...and for the first one you buy, you get membership to the club, which also includes a free figure...that's a sweet deal. i cant wait to finish my club combiner...

and, as it has been pointed out numerous times, at the time when FP went to hasbro and said 'this is our plan for 07 botcon' hasbro had no intentions of making these seekers...so...it was FP or nothing...and hasbro said sure, go ahead, we arent going to...now they may be kicking themselves for that, or they may not be...i'm sure animated and the next 3 lines after that will all have different versions of the seekers in some capacity...however i doubt any of them will...armada was the closest we got, and they didnt even do them all still...6 slight variations of one mold in one line just isnt going to happen...ever...

and trailbreaker, i too am hoping for sunstorm...and hoping i can afford him...and if i cant...then i just cant...and if its not sunstorm, then maybe hasbro will do a sunstorm for us instead...

On a happy note - I just FRAKKIN' LOVE your signature!

HAH-HAH! T-Bob.

Your signature just proves every point I made.

Ah, yes. Yet another thread where someone makes a comment about his sig and I reply to it.

That sig sickens me.

Come on Thundercracker. Show Accurate not Action Master.

SHOW ACCURATE!

It's not rubbing it in - it's to the whiners who turn every possible thread possible into a yet ANOTHER pointless seeker discussion. The point is - anyone CAN have it. You just have to pay for it, like me and many others did. And for what it's worth, I sold my extra loose set of the seekers for less than half of what they were going for on eBay.

And I doubt it sickens you so much you won't enjoy Jazz when it shows up on your doorstep next week.

Sorry, bro. Nothing personal, but the sig doesn't put a good taste in my mouth. It just seems like you're throwing it in everyone's face. And aren't the Botcon seekers going for MORE than what everyone paid? I would think they would've appreciated since they came out.

Um... this thread started out about Classic/Henkei seekers. You fail.

Yeah, seems they go from $120-250, depending on random eBay market fluctuations and the character.

But me, like many others - I saved up the money ahead of time. And I had an expensive flight as well. Plus, I ended up paying alot more in hotel fees than I anticipated (one person had a flight delay, and I had to eat the first night myself).

So while it's more than the upfront payment, there's lots of other costs involved. I got more than just the toys too - but honestly, if not for them, I wouldn't have paid for the flight ticket.

The point is, anyone who wants one, can definitely have it. It cost me more than the base cost to get mine, and that still applies right now for people who want them. They just have to find eBay or a board member at the right time, and save up.

Uhm...I fail by you making the exact same point I was?

It started out talking about Henkei releases. It turned into people talking about the BotCon seekers YET AGAIN. Those are separate releases, and separate topics. This is filled with people talking about logistics of affording BotCon toys.

So yeah. Read thread. Then tell me how my point "fails".

Edit: Lawl, your sig is funny (given that we're on a nerd board that has that stereotype). I'm actually married to a normal looking, very intelligent woman.

Read the title of the thread, guy. It has "seeker" in it. The thread was never hijacked...it started out that way. Er go, fail.

Oh, gotcha. Every thread that talks about "seekers" in any way, shape, or form then should degenerate into bitching about BotCon prices (or even worse, as it now is - bitching about bitching about BotCon prices...).

umm...i think the rest of the seekers will be released in japan. <--just an opinion. Please don't respond to this part.

As far as the actual topic.. It's going to be exciting to see what comes out. Cause we don't know yet. =\ *waits*

do we know an actual date of when they will announce who they are? or is it still speculation until the end of nexxt month?

I want it to be soon because of what is in this thread. However I am trying to make some extra money to get all the Henkei classics out now. I don't want to spend it on a preorder until I get what is out.

Fixed that for ya.

I don't care about these seekers and your sig doesn't really bother me one way or the other. But the statement that anyone can have these is totally false. How many people are registered on TFW2005 alone? What, over 30,000, right? How many of these exclusives sets were made? 1200 or something. So, I really don't think all the fans even with money could have gotten these. They sold out, quite fast, but no matter how fast, there still can only be about 1200 or so owners of these.

Just out of curiousity, why should I (or anyone) care about FP? As far as I'm concerned, they're doing nothing for me. I don't go to botcon, I'm not a club member, I don't buy their exclusives, in short, I get *nothing* from them. So, if I, or someone else, doesn't care if some version of the remaining Classics seekers get released in Japan, how are we being "selfish?" Because now others have a better chance of obtaining what was before limited to a relative few?

I'm also a little unclear on how it hurts the franchise. Although, I don't feel I owe Hasbro anything either. People are fond of pointing out that all Hasbro owes fans is a figure for their money. Well, all I owe Hasbro is the price of each figure I buy.

I don't owe FP anything. So I hope Takara does some version of TC, Dirge, and Thrust. Please explain how this makes me selfish.

Oh, and now there is a 4th Classics seeker coming up at retail, Acid Storm. Wonder how many versions of the mold they'll actually end up selling at retail?