Hey guy. The paint is possible because TakaraTomy is charging 1000 yen or so more than usual for this toy. They can do that in their collector-friendly market with flexible price points. Think about Hasbro trying to explain to retailers (and customers, for that matter) why they would charge $10 or so for purely cosmetic reasons, especially in these tough economic times. Hasbro: See, this toy is also a leader class, but the recommended retail price is $10 more. Retailer/customer: Why? Hasbro: Because it has more paint. Retailer/customer:.... As far as we know, there is no premium version of Jetfire.
BBTS states that their pre-order is sold out. I went ahead and pre-ordered with TFSource. I've never dealt with them before, but I hear they are good.
Damn, this guy's out of stock already just about everywhere. Anyone know of a place that's still taking preorders? Thanks.
You can still pre-order them at TFSource. They had 54 of them left just a bit ago. If you have an extra MA-21 for sale, I will buy it off of you.
I Pre-Ordered mine from a local hobby shop in the Philippines called Wasabi Toys. Buster OP costs 79.99 USD here. I'm not sure about the shipping cost if your ordering from abroad. IMO it sure beats the Pre-Order+Shipping in other countries.
I dunno, I'd argue that in some cases (HA MF & Skids & Sideswipe) the deluxes are better. -that is of course, aside from the mass-shifting on the backpacks & Skids doors shrinking to being front deltoid armor...
i'd argue with the near shameful lack of paint on most of the ROTF line they could justify doing a repaint (i.e. mold costs ~theoretically~ recouped by first release) like this, just like they did with the Premiums for the first movie line.
I wonder why many people think that this toy can be made at a cost low enough to sell at retail for $45. It has extra acessories, extra paint apps, and possible chrome or metallic paint. Those are not cheap to do. At Botcon 2009, Hasbro Officially said that there were no plans for a premium line. I was at the panel. If there was any possibility of a release in the U.S, they may remove the blades to cut costs.
I don't see Hasbro actually passing on doing another release of the new Leader Prime mold in some kind of new paint scheme, whether that be Premium or Ultra Magnus or Night Attack Prime or whatever. I'm hoping they think outside the box a bit and make a Nemesis Prime out of it. And then do a white with red trim Jetfire for some really bizaar combining TF goodness. I can imagine it in my mind, and it looks cool, but in reality it would probably look bad.
I need that. I'm passing on the Leader Primes still in stock right now because of this guy. Why just get twin swords when you can get twin swords and the bad-ass gun, too? And if I don't end up getting either ROTF Prime, oh well, I still got my original movie Prime.