^ My thoughts exactly. Up until this announcement, I have only bought the official Takara releases. MP Ratbat will be the exception.
woah! these things are going like hotcakes! 33 sold in the past hour, as of now 9 left... Edit: ...8 left...
Sure they are! The KO guys are celebrating the sales of a product, the middlemen are celebrating their percentage of cash changing hands, and of utmost importance, the consumers are celebrating an increase in purchasing opportunity. Hasbro and Tomy might not be celebrating, but they had ample opportunity to release, or even announce an intention to release the toys and forestall the success of any KO, but they chose not to pursue it. Perhaps they'll consider litigation though, in which case their attorneys will be celebrating. So really, most people are celebrating, and the only ones who are not are the ones who set up the whole situation. For that matter, if Hasbro or TT had released the toy, then less people would be celebrating, given that it cuts out the KO guys and the potential litigators. Overall happiness for the greatest number of people was maximized by this particular course of action, so why begrudge it?
Greed? There's no greed here. Laserbeak was available with Soundwave only just as Ratbat is available with Soundblaster only. That's what collecting is all about. Collecting for this cheap seems as fake as the KOs.
Goes down every time I click lol... I bet the next batch will be more expensive seeing the demand. Although people who split real takara ratbats and soundblasters for profit are having a heart attack... Chris
But Soundwave is the one most people want so Lazerbeak is just the accessory, $130 for that was fine. With Soundblaster there are people who have no interest in Soundblaster but wanted Ratbat... I saw that sentiment from day one of the reveal, heck the Ratbat third party prices on ebay showed that. It is basically a way to insure mp-13b was not a "shelfwarmer" i would imagine. I bet if Ratbat was available separately from the beginning, sales on Soundblaster would not have been what they were. How much were the genuine two pack tapes? About double this... $20 seems about the value of a MP cassette. And as I said, if they release it legitimately without the extra repainted Soundwave, I will get one. And as for "that's what collecting is all about" Bull. Collecting is not about spending money just to spend it, it's about gathering things you like... Unless you like pointlessly spending money weather you want to or not chris
I bought a loose Laserbeak from Lena on ebay. I don't buy MP, but I'll use the cassettes for my Classics collection.
Annndd More listed, hope this is all not a scam playing on the heart strings of thrifty MP fans... He seems to have decent feedback. Transformers Masterpiece MP13B Ratbat Cassettes New in Stock | eBay Chris
I sold my Takara ratbat last week once I got the kfc version. I did not like the possibility of the Takara version. Takara's looks better in tape mode but kfc is a more articulated design.
Too late for me as I caved and got Soundblaster, but I'm ecstatic for all those who waited. Yay for options!
Can you imagine hasbro execs spending even one second debating "I know we CAN make a line of knock-off lego and copy their shit part for part, but morally speaking, should we?" Nope. Me either. Bring on the IP theft! Bring on the KOs! The only thing surprising about this KO is that it took so long.
Buying a KO Masterpiece car to save $30 or so is being a little cheap. Not wanting to pay $120-150 for a repainted Soundwave with a new tape... I can kind of understand why people wouldn't want to do that. From one perspective, TT kinda bought it upon themselves. 1)Using an Internet based fandom to promote their products. 2)Moving production to a low wage economy, but then pricing their products more along the lines of 'adult collectibles'. 3)Expecting people to shell out $120 upwards for a repaint with a fairly small piece of new tooling. I would've bought Soundblaster anyway though, Ratbat or not. Good thing none of their former execs decried companies that 'borrow' Hasbro's IP, and then went on to be associated with a company that.... Errmmm never mind.