I meant that whole "changing their mind” thing. Hasbro mentioned that Armada Optimus was a Takara-only thing, but I guess your post got me thinking Hasbro could also change their mind and sell Armada Optimus or whatever.  

 

Pulse doesn't ship globally. So this is technically the ONLY way to get it outside of North America.

 

So from this, should I assume Japanese fans will have to get Unicron the same way American fans will, by backing it? It won't be a case of TTMall just having units up for sale once it's finished and anybody with the money can just pop up and buy it?

 

No clue. Anyway I’m doing to cease my diatribes about capitalism and bow out of this thread for now so it can get back on topic.

 

You're missing one huge component of your theory: demand.

The supply may or may not eventually be there after the cut off date, if it is actually produced. But there are only so many collectors able/willing to pay $600 for ANY figure.

Hasbro surely wants to make money but more importantly they don't want to LOSE money on a product. Especially one with the risks of a two and a half foot tall, $600 Unicron.

 

Cool, they painted the "bald spot" on Lio Convoy.

I reckon Unicron will be released the same way as Greatshot and Grand Maximus were released through TT Mall. Didn't they also require a minimum number of orders to be met?
The text explicitly mentions crowdfunding.

 

Not necessarily. Yes the design and prototype is a sunk cost incentivising them to go all the way, but there is still the much greater cost of completing pre-production and making the moulds which they won't commit to unless the numbers are there. So still very much in could pull the plug territory. We see plenty of finished designs and prototypes that never go to market over the years, and there's probably many more we never see.

 

We all know there's a significant number of fans who simple refuse to pay the full amount for a figure like this. Even with Titans, they wait for what they hope will be a $50 sale at Ollies. So Hasbro sits on a mass-produced item at $600 while people hang back and wait for it to drop to sub $100. Not going to happen. This is your chance to get it.

 

*crosses fingers that the crowdfunding campaign dies

 

Wow....

 

Man, whatever happened to those Bumblebee Model Kits? Seeing that modded MPM Bee Just makes me yearn even more for a movie-accurate figure.

 

Yes! Wow! $400+ markup from a Titans class figure that doesn’t look like $400 worth of added content. At that price Unicron should transform itself

Plastic crack is real yo

 

What? That's no where near a response to my post that makes sense.

 

I was agreeing with your point and adding to it. Prob should have clarified that.

 

Could there be? Yes.
For $575? No.

They're not going to sell this guy for less than the HasLab price, because doing that would piss off all of your funders and kill any hope of them trusting you with future projects.

My guess is that between HasLab and TTM they're going to gauge interest. So if there's enough TTM preorders combined with HasLab backers they could say "We have enough interest to move forward with fulfilling those numbers."

But the last thing Hasbro (or Takara) would want to do is turn people off to future projects by creating a mass release Unicron that ends up going into deep discount. Now all of the people who funded the project watch the rest of us pick one up for $300 or so?

Goodbye future funding.

 

I'm not sure I trust hasbro on this at the price.. Already seen the hollowed out hands...

Im not in NA so can't pledge anyway so I guess those early buyer impressions will determine if I go after the wider release.

Knowing my luck a 3rd party will then release a better one for similar or likely less money  

 

Maybe I should wait for the JinBao Oversized version?

 

Think about this, if you purchase via the crowdfund, you will receive one Unicron figure for $575, plus tax delivered to your door, if you try to gamble and if able to buy one from TT mall, you will pay the same $575 for the piece, plus whatever the shipping will cost will be for a piece that weighs over 20lbs and a large package. For people in Asia and the south Pacific this is how they can buy one.

 

What "bald spot"?

 

I suspect the Takara backers will count towards the US, especially if one side of the country doesn't hit the 8K goal. Its obvious Has/Tak put in the time and money so they are going to want it to be produced to get the pay back.

For anyone that thinks it will be available outside the crowdfund, it could be but it would be a huge risk to gamble on that, on top of the fact it will most likely cost more too. The figure isn't due until 2021 and I'm sure everything will cost more by then, considering it probably may not be available until 2022 or later. This assuming Has/Tak doesn't have extra to sell but cost isn't going to change either.

No body is asking you to pull a hone equity line or student loan to buy it but if you can swing it and its a figure you really want, I would jump in. Just all my opinion of course.