Well the good news is that if you decide they aren't for you, you will either break even or make a profit selling them. I have a decent mix and there are some FT figs done really well and others that aren't anything special. My biggest hang up with them is lack of articulation. Most people love FT because they weigh 300lbs, but me personally, I could care less about weight. The budget badcube bugs are amazing despite being 100% plastic.

 

Yeah with FT you can always get your money back if something better comes along. XTB feels worse because you're probably selling at a discount. XTB will always oversaturate everything eventually. Also the way they re-release a newer version with fixes and better paint means the old ones are pretty worthless.

 

I will say that I prefer XTBs method over FTs. I don't look at my collection as an investment so making money is not a concern. I prefer that the figures are readily available vs the forced short supply of FT.

 

Their availability is nice, but random price fluctuations and overpriced figures along with random stuff you don’t want make them about as bad as FT.

 

Bingo

The reason why this price is deemed "justified" is because FansToys has a following that are willing to pay large sums of money for their limited releases of stock. FansToys are one of the major reasons for the increases in price, because they've created artificial scarcity for desired products. XTB is jumping on the bandwagon.
But I remember not that long ago when a figure like Thomas (Apache, for example) was released for $150 rather than $200, and certainly not the $300 it's now going for. That was around the time that XTB announced the figure they are finally releasing (without any visible updates, mind you) and priced it at $130. What that tells me is there's one heck of a profit margin baked in there, which wasn't before.

Again, you insist on repeatedly missing my point.
I didn't tell Bryan G to fuck off - I told his opinion to fuck off. That opinion was "I can afford whatever a company wants to charge, so anyone who doesn't like prices going up can shut up". I've expressed numerous times why that attitude is unhelpful to everyone other than the people raking in the money from customers. Yet you don't seem to be able to accept my point despite saying you agree with it.
As to XTB's PR - you are the one who keeps bringing that up. I haven't mentioned their PR. I'm not arguing whether their PR is good or not - I know it's been atrocious recently and they've brought that completely on themselves. They've made no attempt to improve it. Why do you even suggest anyone is saying otherwise?

 

It's hardly like I said otherwise before though  .

 

You seem to be doing your very best to support the guy who says that massive price increases are absolutely fine and that anyone who doesn't like them can shut up and leave, though.

 

Telling anyone or their opinion to fuck off doesn't help though. You might not agree with him - I certainly don't - but language like that or similar on his part if he used it isn't going to achieve anything. Such interactions seems childish to me when maybe trying to educate him would actually be constructive instead.

XTB jumping on the bandwagon is also a conclusion of the market changing I agree; Fans Toys and Takara have seen to it that other parties are going to follow in their footsteps. Again we might not like it but it was bound to happen eventually.

I haven't missed your point; mine just happens to differ from yours in some parts. Mostly that the vitriol and attitudes here are misplaced when aimed at each other and not the companies raising prices or often certain retailers who are facilitating that happening. I also still think that compared to current prices in general £140 isn't crazily high and in fact fairly reasonable for this specific product; if XTB had priced at that level from the start I doubt many would have complained that much. They may have just decided they were in or out with Virtus and left it at that. The new Virtus price really is no where near as ludicrous as their trailer and add-on or Dr-Egg but the short notice release and price change it's very much a ill thought move considering those previous instances of XTB shooting themselves in the foot.

Aside from that discussing how XTB have handled things is an extension of the broader discussion so if I feel like bringing it up for context I will do.

 

No I haven't.

 

I've been patiently awaiting this for well over a year. With this and FT scourge in 3 years from now my MP collection is complete

 

Funny how wrong all the car modes are, toon accuracy wise. Virtus looks like a cybertronian Trailbreaker more than a sports car, Open Play too chibi, MMC is cool but their own thing, and FT is ugly as hell to me. Now that everybody has made theirs, the perfect car mode depends on Takara.

 

Well, I'm sorry (not sorry) that you don't like that kind of language. I don't like the sense of entitlement I saw, in which I (as part of the group included by the comment) was basically told that because he didn't care how much something costs that I should be happy to pay more for figures and that pointing out that it's an issue (as many people have done) is wrong. The language I chose was in direct response to the contempt with which I, along with others in the collecting community, was being held.

*sigh*
I have plenty of vitriol to go around, when I need to. I can be outspoken against both the companies trying to rip off consumers, and also the people who apologise for them and champion the increase of prices across the board.

If XTB had actually modified the design since they priced it at £90 then I might agree. But since we know that the figure was going to retail at £90 it does seem crazy to me to encourage a 50% price increase prior to release.

I'm not blind to the reality of the situation. As should be pretty obvious by now, I realise prices have gone up and that I will be forced to pay the higher price for new products (or decide it's not worth it to me, as I did with Thomas, and not buy it). But I vehemently disagree that we should all be making excuses to allow companies to just set whatever price they like. Prices have gone up because a sufficient number of people don't care how much they pay, and that is damaging collecting for everyone.

Why?
Why do you think the trailer, which transforms into a 20 inch combiner, has 3 modes, and lots of panels as part of an extensive transformation, is not worth $200 but Virtus is?

 

My best guess has to do with his profile picture

 

Takara should only be about an 8 or so year wait at the rate they've been going.

 

The trailer and add on pack should have been an all in one for the price so it is already too expensive because of that. The base mode is irrelevant and the whole thing is pretty pointless of course if you haven't already placed the significant investment into all the other bots so I find the overall value for price lacking there too.

On a UK site (TFS Express) the cheapest you will get the trailer and add-on for is £200. Virtus is £140; it's not worth £60 more than Virtus in my opinion.

In contrast I can see logic in the Virtus price by comparing it to other individuals bots. For example Fans Toys Thomas (another Triple Changer) would currently cost me £235 from ShowZ - that's £95 more than Virtus - I know we tend to pay more of a premium for Fans Toys but that's a huge difference to Virtus (despite the recent price increase) so seems reasonable considering I also think that expecting Virtus to retail at £90 was always wishful thinking at best.

Anyhow we can agree to disagree that vitriol here is worth it. I've always agreed that blindly accepting huge price increases with no logic other than "I can afford it; tough luck if others can't" is an awful opinion" so I share your dismay at anyone with that attitude. My outlook is just more try to get them to wise up by chatting to them rather than being angry.

 

It's fair that I do have personal bias towards the character. So being objective I'm sure there is part of me that is more forgiving regarding the current price. The original price always seemed surprisingly low to me though and I never expected it to be honoured.

 

Companies need to make money.

With Takara MPs not selling well (look at how many stores still has stock of MP-44 to MP-51) you know that stores need to make up the loss of revenue somehow.

Please don't give me that AJP BS, not even Takara's biggest "fans" will buy from Western stores.

 

ShowZ says otherwise:

I noticed this note for ShowZ's listing.
[Pre-Order] X-transbots MX-10 Virtus Springer Premium Version






NOTICE:
XTB Factory cancelled the cheap normal version and this listing has been changed to the Premium version.
For buyers who pre-ordered the NORMAL version (final price is under 160$):
- If you have already paid in full, you can either add 50$ to upgrade to the premium version or cancel the order to get a full refund. Contact us for details. (Let us know directly that you want points back or upgrade to premium version)
- If you have only sent the deposit, the final price for this pre-order has been changed to 177.99$, you can also either cancel the order by clicking the cancel option beside the order, the deposit will be refunded via store credit, or send the balance.

 

We know who Springer's car mode was designed by

 

But yeah that's the main reason I never got Apache. Car mode is like the ugliest TF thing ever except for maybe IDW Helex. I really like MMC's take on it, even though it's not toon accurate. The edited XTB version, if that's legit, is the clear winner here.

 

That edited XTB version looks like pure fiction.