I know...

 

At this point I would almost wonder how many people passed it up thinking they might be able to get it for $0.02 at Ollies.

 

How incapable of supporting when they release product that 95% of their target audience already owns because there is no way of knowing if this will be released stateside. And then do so at a higher cost than importing it directly.

Anywho, a similar experience happened to me a few years back, I purchased some star wars mugs which scanned up at an obviously wrong price of $0.02. I had seen this price when deciding if I wanted them or not but figured they'd be around $10 and I had a soon expiring $5 coupon. Figured if it was going to be more than $15 I just decline at the point of sale. Nope, they took the 2 cent price. It gets stranger... They then took my number for the rewards card and the system took OFF the 2 cents. Total price, $0.00

They bagged the cups, handed them over, gave me a receipt for free merchandise and sent me on my way. I walked out a very confused man straight into my wife who berated me for spending money on junk again...

 

I want to blame poor distribution. I never saw more than two Bluestreaks at any of the local TRUs, and they did not shelfwarm. TRU probably sent 90% of their Bluestreaks to 10% of their stores.

 

So you're saying that US MP buyers are basically a rounding error that fully fits inside of a small Japanese company's overrun? How is that disputing my point that the US market cannot, or will not, support a separate run?

Don't get me wrong, Hasbro's foot dragging is part of the problem, but let's not fool ourselves, "LOL no I'll wait for the KO because $30 shipped" is a factor too.

 

No, I'm more of the opinion that Takara produces enough to cover both markets. When they feel that is not the case then they produce more.

Until we find out the production numbers of Takara MP and the market in Japan I doubt we'll ever know for sure.

Oh and the KO only crowd, yeah, pretty sure that's hurting Hasbros desires to expand the NA market, with you on that point.

 

Remember when TRU sold MP-10 for $99, and MP Soundwave came with all the tapes? Folks ate that stuff up. It flew off shelves. The sightings threads were blown up with people desperately trying to find them.

Bluestreak on the other hand, is a second/third string character, released a year after the TT version, with no discount for it being a domestic product. What subsection of MP collectors was Hasbro going for with him? The procrastinators? The ones afraid to make purchases online? People with oddly specific packaging preferences?

However many of them there are, MP collectors in the states ARE aware of the existence of TT and will choose them over Hasbro, if the latter cannot compete on choice, quality, availability and price. Hasbro needs to give people a reason to care about their MP line and right now they're simply not doing that.

 

Good points...

That summarizes it exactly.

 

Remember when Takara MP-10 was $250 in 2012?

We just got a reissue, after 5 years of inflation, for $160 (or less due to a BOGO sale), cheaper than importing the contemporary JP reissue due to size/weight, and people flew onto a rage at being gouged.

Streak and Prowl, it should be mentioned, were $20 cheaper than buying online from domestic shops and only about $10 more expensive than importing 2 years earlier (I have my HLJ receipts if anybody wants to see). Bumblebee, at $65, was more like $5 difference and it languishes at TRU.com with free shipping to this day.

Look, when I imported them, all I heard was "do you have the KO?" and there's no competing with counterfeit product shipped free from China. Not even Hasbro.

The market just isn't there. Sorry.

 

I think TRU was just having database issues. The same day I got one of the white X-Wing Force Awakens snap model kits for $0.02 when other kits from that group came up $12.99 on the price scanner. The $0.02 was clearly an error but I also had the cashier not care and let me have the sale.

 

There's good responses on Seibertrons comments. They basically put a .03 price on old inventory that needs to be sent back or destroyed. Some of these slip through the cracks and remain on the shelves. They have to sell it to you. This alerts the cashier and they are supposed to go and retrieve any others that maybe left still.

They would have a tough time beating me back to the tf section and cleaning them out lol

 

I bought a Collector's Holiday Barbie for 3 cents a couple years ago. It was the 2013 edition, I think...so it was like two years old compared to the current year. Gave it to my daughter as a Christmas present...she didn't care what year it was, just that she was getting a pretty Barbie. Absolutely nothing wrong with tit...just old dated product. But it was marked on the shelf as 3 cents...I had to take to the cashier to double check the price. So, yes, it happens on old, old product that has been found and put back on the shelf to get rid of it. Doesn't mean "Masterpiece doesn't sell"...only means they couldn't get rid of this one figure at this one store...

 

Similarly, I found a Lego Pirates of Carribean polybag at TRU for 3 cents a year or two ago. In this case, the polybag was a giveaway if you bought a video game or blu ray (can't remember which) so I thought it was odd that it was out on the shelf to begin with.

 

So do I.

 

Heading to tru now, wish me luck  

 

Status Chillyn?

 

Ahhh shit, sorry, I meant to update that post yesterday lol but yeah no dice. They didn't have any mps.  

 

Aww dang..

 

Despite that, the tru I went to was fully stocked. I was like whaaaats this? Lol, They had a grip of all the tlk tru exclusives, a bunch of shufflers, and even octone and 6 shot. Too bad I've already dropped 75 bones on overlord and slugslinger these last 2 weeks so I had to bite my lip and wave goodby 

 

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