oh dear. Incorrect transformation, insincere hyperbole, plus its a year late and twice the price! Also Is it me or does the Japanese guy look like he's trying to crush it between his thumb and forefinger? I get the impression he secretly hates Bumblebee.

 

In America the prevailing practice is that the size of the box has to reflect the price of the item. Expensive item = large box.
It's part of customer perception and presentation. No one will buy such a small box for a large price.
In Japan that does not matter.

 

Doubt it's a matter of a 'sweet licensing deal' and has more to do with these being TRU exclusives, and therefor limited in nature. Probably doesn't make licensing any cheaper, though, so you're not spreading the cost out as much. These obviously aren't real numbers, but if licensing is $1000 and you make 1000 figures, it's $1 per unit to cover that cost. You only make 100, though, and now it's $10 per figure.

 

I forgot about this one Had buy mine on amazon cheaper than toysrus depending on seller hate to say I like shopping at toysrus

 

I was at the Toys'r'us in Winston-Salem, NC the other day and they still had Bumblebee for $64.99...(ha ha that dang-blasted crotch piece!) They even had 2 Bluestreaks but the packaging on those two have seen better days...

 

I see where you're coming from but every hasbro mp is a TRU exclusive. Soundwave, Grimlock,and the Seekers have all retailed at far cheaper than there takara or hasbro asia counterpart. Hasbro's market allows for them to most likely produce more toys at a better price point. The problem I see is when its a licensed MP the price point jumps. The datsuns were about$ 15-20 than a Takara release and bumblebees was almost double. Why the price fluctuations? Either the deal they worked out isnt as preferable as Takara or they are making smaller batches of licensed Mp. I just dont buy licencing isnt an issue if you you can sell larger and more complex MPs cheaper than TT through your exclusive dealer but smaller, simpler ones are a problem. It would explain sone why the MP line has sort of died, as TT has produced more and more licensed models

 

That kinda points at the licensing being a considerable factor. Prime, Soundwave, Grimlock, and the Seekers are cheaper figures and have no licensing fees. The Datsuns are more expensive, but at least have more than one use so they probably get more mileage out of the license. Bumblebee pretty much only has the one use. And it's also probably not the same licensing fee across the board...they're all different companies, and some of them might be more favorable to having their products in the toy aisle than others so are willing to offer up the licensing at a lower cost. I'm guessing Sideswipe proved to be too expensive and became not worth doing.

 

And this is why you leave PR to the professionals John.

 

THIS.

And TRU MPs don't typically come back in stock (i.e. SW, SS, etc.). BB may come back for Xmas... but even the stores are running low/sold out, so this video is perplexing.

Then again, I totally understand releasing a CW cartoon a year after most of the toys are no longer in stores! RIGHT ON!  

 

Yup. Although this video was slightly better than the ones aimed at kids ("Wow, look kids! transformer toys! they transform like this! Great design, eh? Byeeeeeee!"), the info was wrong (that's DANIEL in the suit, and it's from the animated FILM).

Perhaps the lad in those videos should have increased his "deh-TAILS" a little more? After all, he did keep "mispronouncing" it countless times...  

 

Hasbro Masterpiece Bumblebee explicitly identifies the figure as "Exosuit Spike Witwicky" on the front of the packaging.

The TakaraTomy version mostly just refers to the figure as Exosuit", but he's identified as "Spike" in one instance on the back of the packaging.

 

Actually, so does Takara's, too. My mistake. It's still from the film, though, not the TV show.

 

how pointless....never even saw the damn thing in the store and now it's sold out online. and that's not even considering the highway robbery price.

 

Wow. These arrogant bastards are really owning that crotch mistransformation. Too proud to admit you screwed up, eh??

 

I work at TRU in Riverside CA and we still have him in stock. When I was there last Sat we had from what I remeber about 4 of him still for 64.99

 

This is EXACTLY why Hasbro employees shouldnt touch a Takara made Masterpiece transformer..

 

And the buzzword for the drinking game is "detail(s)"!

 

Wait - wasn't it Spike's son Daniel in the exosuit in the cartoon?
Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

From what we've been told it's all TakaraTomy in regards to figure development.

Wasn't always the case though, as Hasbro used to be involved more.