Dear Forum,

I recently bought all 6 henkei seekers and was wondering something. Some of the seekers were supposed to have not been made because they were exclusive to Botcon. Does this make those that bought the botcon seekers angry that takara released them? I really don't care about exclusives so it wouldn't bother me. I was wondering if others became really angry at this.

Micah1199

 

Yeah, to be honest, it sort of urked me. Not so much the coneheads since I think the Henkei versions look like shit, but definitely Thundercracker since it's so close to the BotCon version. But I didn't have a full-on nerd rage attack like so many others did. I was just partially annoyed.

 

Pretty much the same feeling here. The coneheads are different enough from the Botcon ones that it really doesn't matter to me. Even TC (although closer) is still different. If Hasbro had gone forward and made these it would be different, but the fact they are different molds makes it no big deal to me.

 

As with most things, attitudes varied... from over-the-top rage, to mild annoyance, to general indifference, to happiness that others could get them.

Personally I fall somewhere between the last two.  

 

Didn't bother me, I grabbed the Henkei ones too.... then again I'm a Classics/Universe nut.

 

I was annoyed but I didn't overly get angry over it like the folks who bought the TFCON Commander kit.

 

Nah, doesn't bother me. I'm glad the other seekers were made available to more people. Plus IMO the Takara coneheads look awful (particularly Thrust) and with all the QC issues Thundercracker has I'm glad I dropped the dough for the Botcon set. Plus I got Dreadwind and Bugbite which I think are great as well.

 

Japanese exclusives that will run you more that $200 to get all three? Doesn't bother me in the least. Gives people a chance to complete their Seekers if they weren't able to get the Botcon set or missed out because it sold out. Still having to pay a premium price to get them. Now if Hasbro released them all stateside for $12 each I may have a problem with that.

 

Oh yeah plus the Botcon set had Dreadwind and Bugbite.

 

I don't own the Games of Deception set myself, but Henkei Thundercracker, Thrust, & Dirge are still technically Japan-only figures. There's absolutely no reason for anyone with the Games of Deception set to be mad about those releases... Unless you picked up the set in the after-market, but the value is still there. That TC, Thrust, & Dirge are still the only Classics releases of those figures, and the only time those figures were made available in any kind of American market.

No one with that '07 set should have any problem with there being Henkei releases of those characters.

 

I wasn't worried or annoyed that Takara released them, what narked me were the people who then started dissing the BotCon seekers and acting like they'd won a big legal battle or something.

In the end they're just toys, its not worth getting stressed over.

 

I don't own either (used to own Henkei) but the QC on Henkei Thundercracker was truly atrocious. No Botcon exclusive-owners should feel irked on that one, trust me!

 

I was happy to see them released I now have 12 seekers YES!

 

I was about to buy the Botcon Seekers when Takara announced TC and SW. The Botcon and Henkei Seekers have different paint jobs and retooling in the case of the coneheads.

The color scheme of the Classics line are a new take on the G1 characters, but Henkie are based heavily on the G1 characters making them different toy's.

I decided to back off on getting the Botcon Seekers and get the Henkie Seekers as G1 accuracy appeals to me.

The only case I can think of where anyone that buys rear TF's has any real reason to get upset is when the people that bought the Lawson exclusive Blackout for $150 - $200 from Japan found out a couple of months later that Hasbro was going to release it as Premium Blackout for $20 as part of the regular movie line.

 

Exactly, it seemed some people were taking extreme delight and satisfaction in 'poking the bear'. They wanted outrage so they could feel pride for causing it as there are some who hate exclusives and reissues and those who collect them as they view the value of everything to be the 'retail' price fo the mold.

And then the releases were more expensive and still an exclusive rather than the 7.99$ deluxes and no one got upset about it. And Has/tak worked it out with FP so all was good on that end.

 

No problems here at all - I had the botcon seekers for a year before the Henkei ones were released and I auctioning off my loose set meant I got them for nothing (they even paid for my club membership that year).

 

I have a problem with the fact that they are both US (Botcon) and japanese exclusives, which makes them way to expensive for a normal low budget collector like me who does not live in a country/continent known to hasbro and who does not want to throw 100$ at a 5$ make cost toy to ever uptain them. I just have to be content with a substandard painted Starscream and Acid Storm!

I hate exclusives! It takes the fun out of collecting for a normal person.

 

Exclusives are the only way a lot of fiigures who would have been utter failures at the mass retail market can get made. We would have never gotten Spacewarp, Universe Devastator or Classics Huffer without them.

As much as people think they know what will sell well, only hasbro can make those decisions and they felt the only feasible way to get a full set of classic seekers made for the collectors fans was via exclusives.

So it was exclusives for 'some' to have it or no exclusives for 'no one' to have it. Retail release for 'ALL' to have it was never and to this day is still never a valid option for seekers.

 

So you're saying Acid Storm was a better risk for Hasbro to release than making a Universe 2.0 Thundercracker?

 

When classics was a poorly selling, shelf-warmer dead line in late 2006? Yes.

By time Classics 2.0 came out, Hasbro's hands were already tied. And it wasn't a risk as 'realistic' vehicle designs were selling better so ACID STORM was more of a 'TF the movie continued' release than a Classics release. A baby blue jet with red stripes made less sense than a CAMO plane as a large part of the target retail audience has no idea who Thundercracker is nor any attachment to his name or colorscheme.