Tarantulas was a better Starscream than Starscream.

 

The best part is that he was never reprogrammed to be a Predacon, so all of that douchieness the guy had was all Maximal attitude.  

 

Ain't that the truth. It's not a $350 figure. I think the number of parts per mold is what rises cost, not size. Case in point, my Masterpiece Star Saber.  

 

Yea I'm guessing Masterpiece MP- Beast Megatron is gonna cost around $188 - $211 in japan. $250- $260 in USA. Slightly less then Dinobot. I think alot of Dinobot's cost is the complexity but also his name isn't nearly as popular as Primal Megatron or even Cheetor for that matter.

 

They used less than stellar materials for Star Saber, that's why it's cheap  

 

B/F Megs season 1 T-Rex transformation the first ep. did show him in his Cybertron mode. But I didn't catch the scene with the right hand.

Looking forward to this release.

 

"i like you pussycat, yess" we already have primal and cheetor  

 

Megatron is bigger than Dinobot, I'm guessing price will be around $250.

 

Materials factor very little into the final cost of an item.

All that diecast metal that some fans like to fawn over for its "premium" feel is pretty much the same damned price per volume as ABS plastic.

 

I hope someone makes a stand base with 43 soundtracks of "yessss."

 

Because there wasn't a scene where he actually had two hands after reformatting, it was just that his model was flipped. He still had the T. Rex head, just on the wrong hand. It's an error, not evidence that the head is removable like his tail.

 

Oh

 

So damn true!

 

I’m curious how you know this to be true. Do you work in a similar manufacturing field? I’m not being facetious, I’m genuinely curious.

 

IIRC, and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the real "cost" of die-cast comes from the actual tooling of moulds and actual production of it. Since obviously you can't pump molten metal into a likewise metal mould meant to receive plastic, new ones need to be tooled up. And most toy factories aren't equipped with smelters for metal, or don't produce enough to justify costs of running that kind of machinery. That said, the metal used for diecast in toys is a very cheap metal that's basically slag metal skimmed off the top of vats used for other things and re-smelted. It's commonly a mix of zinc and aluminum, and not especially strong or high quality. Again, the last time I looked into this was, no shit, a decade ago so I'm sure things have changed, but even back then the advantages were it didn't need to be heated to the same temperatures as industrial metals like, I don't know, steel, and it's comparatively lightweight which is good for toys.On the flip side, there's a shitload of extra effort that goes into it.

All this for a material that is often times more trouble than it's worth. There's more defects that can present themselves with die-casting. It's far less efficient than plastic tooling, is less versatile, requires paint for colour, and because less toys use it less facilities exist nowadays to accommodate it, hence the price of it going up, and thus the price of the product. It's a wonder it's even still used at all.

 

My research isn't entirely up to date, but the topic came up awhile ago against a far more belligerent poster, so I actually checked out some prices through bulk suppliers (just a quick search via Google turns up enough results for some ballpark estimates) and did some quick number crunching.

 

Raw materials are only one aspect of cost though - as stated above the costs to manufacture can be different. I believe we have heard before that die cast metal molds cost more to produce and maintain (metal certainly is a stronger material that probably wears on the mold more significantly) and agree with those sentiments above.

But beyond even that point - due to its significant weight difference, die-cast material is much more expensive to ship than regular plastic. This can add significant costs to the supply chain, which automatically makes die-cast more expensive to use. It's certainly more solid and durable. Although it can be tougher to paint. But it sure seems like it qualifies as a premium over plastic.

That said, I'm glad to see it used very sparingly anymore. Plastic and die cast don't mix great on a figure. Hopefully this continues to be the case. I would much rather see things like clear windows and rubber tires and chrome hubcaps than more metal in my toys. It was the realism that made early G1, not the metal.

 

Yeah. This tangent started because of a jab at MP Star Saber's "materials", which is not likely the real culprit in his issues because, again, materials cost is negligible.

 

Don't understand what was the problem with Star Saber's materials beside his elbow ratchets. He's was cheaper due to be a more simple design and TT deciding not to paint him.

 

Star Saber was cheap because its transformation is a fucking joke. There are retail toys that are more complicated than that MP.