Unless there's been another change that i've not heard, the story is something like this listings for BT17/BTA04 are found on websites no news is heard speculation arises that toys are cancelled F2F "confirm" toys were never officially unveiled, and no plans to release anytime soon rumours of toys being made resurface BT storywriter comments he was approached for story, then told not to bother no official images or release dates set by Takara many sites pull down pre-orders, not all So, by the sounds of it, either not everyone's gotten the message about BT 17/BTA 04 being cancelled, or there's the highly unlikely event that the people at Takara Tomy are planning a 'suprise' release of the toys, with no advertising/promotion of the toys. However....maybe we'll be seeing molds like Prime, Mirage and Rumble seen in Jap, but as 'USA Edition' Alternators, as we saw with that limited edition Prowl.
I've wondered this myself, since BBTS still has the pre-order up also, arriving in April..... doesn't really matter to me..I'm getting the Alternator version anyhow.....
this is my speculation on the Alternators/BT line.... it's been stated that neither Hasbro or Takara would be able to continue a line so expensive to produce as Alternators/Binal Tech is.....Prime/Ginrai was a hugely expensive figure to produce and Takara have seemingly given up on the BT/BTA line, leaving Hasbro to go solo. Supposedly, they wouldn't be able to really keep the line going by themselves....yet we're seeing and hearing of more Alts more than ever, so far for this year we've got the following, both confirmed and unconfirmed. Optimus Prime Mirage Rumble Jaguar-mold Cadalac-mold Skids Retool Acura Retool Now, before we heard that BT was "dead" in Japan, we had the Mirage and Dodge Ram molds confirmed, and seen publicly, so the release of them could still be done by Hasbro, but yet we're seeing all these new molds annouced....without Takara, this was said to be a basically impossible, not-worth-the-production-cost line....so why are Hasbro going through with it? my speculation is that Takara Tomy is indeed going to make these toys, however, due to changing around which is supposed to be completed in March, if i read correct. So, what i think is that Takara are going to wait until after March before confirming any more Binal Tech toys, perhaps looking to totally rehash the line, give it a new appeal, new boxes for the new toys. Either that, OR, do what they do with the US-exclusive Cybertron Molds, and produce Alternators, stick a 'USA Edition' sticker on the boxes and sell them for cheaper, and all plastic. Maybe it's just me, but it just seems odd that we're hearing so much form Hasbro about a very expensive line to produce now that it's partner is seemingly bowing out of the production.....
For my mystic 8 ball guesses: 1. Alt/BT's are done. We'll get Mirage, Optimus, and perhaps one or two more, and then the line ends. (Given the development cost, Haskara may get out the last two just to recoup expenses, depending on how far along they are.) 2. Alts will continue, BT ends. Takara releases Alts in Japan. Either way, I'm guessing Binaltech is over. From everything I've heard, it sold rather poorly in Japan, and the costs outweighed the benefits. If Hasbro continues, it'll probably be because Takara will "order" a good number of units to keep the line going. It's also my belief that the preorders will probably stay up until there's a confirmed cancelation, just in case they do make it no website will lose the pre-order lists. Sites like BBTS have done that before.
I think Alt's have been an immense success in the US. I think Hasbro will continue the line until it becomes unprofitable or impossible to produce. What's more, I think car manufactures are jumping up and down to get their stuff licensed. This line will last a long time.
For those wondering about Action-HQ's preorder: Guess who had Wildrider up for preorder for MONTHS after we've been told he's been "postponed". Oh, and AHQ still only have ONE of the three wave 3 Mini-Con two-packs up for preorder. The one we've originally seen as an in-packaging sample before Hasbro officially announced all three packs with official stock photos. Duh.
Alts will not die yet. We've got confirmation of Prime, Ricochet and Rollbar next, with Mirage beyond. There's confirmation of older toys being made available again (Tracks, Meister, Grimlock?). There's the Honda Civic, Rumble. There's the rumoured Jaguar. There's remolds of Skids, Prowl, Optimus, Mirage and Rumble, potentially. There could be more straight up recolours (speculation, these recolours are there to boost profits and offset the costs of the new guys, and I bet the rereleases are also there to help with that, and help collectors who missed out first time round). Yep, Alts seem to be covered to me.
AHQ Isn't the only site to still have Pre-Orders for Wildrider up , ImageAnime is doing the same thing =/ . I'm unfortunately beginning to believe that the Binal/Alt lines are at their end , it's a shame really. ._.; Maybe now I can get a chance to buy some more of them without having to try and "catch up" with the line.
I can confirm that the BT toys are not that popular in Japan. The stores here have alot of trouble selling $40 toys like that. My local Toys R Us has plenty of them just warming the shelves.
For all the comlaining many Americans do about Alternators shelf-warming, one must look at how well Alternators has done in some other countries, in New Zealand, Alternators have been doing very well, they started off even better, but overstocks of Meister really deminished popularity, but interest has quickly recovered and the line is still chugging along. unfortunately, the same thing occured in Australia, with big stock-ups on shelfs of Alternators, leaving Hasbro AU to offically cancel importing the toys. now Case Fresh is the sole seller of Alts in Australia. Alternators/Binal Tech is a very hit-and-miss line, some molds are incredibly popular in one country (as Smokescreen was in NZ) and some are not (Swindle in many countries, Windcharger) but when you think about it, for every low-selling alt there's 2 good selling alts.
