Seems like he is saying Datong's KOs are good, no? Anyways, it doesn't seem to be regarding figures I'm interested in.
Kain is lucky to live in an area where distribution is at least semi-functional so his perspective is a little colored.
What are you talking about? I have to get my Star Wars Figuarts from AmiAmi. That has nothing to do with the area I live because anyone can order it online regardless of where you live. Still, not sure what this has to do with saying you shouldn't give your money to a criminal.
So you only collect Star Wars Figuarts? My mistake, your posts read like you go shopping very frequently. Having a functional retail ecosystem allows you to frame alternative purchasing choices differently. Not paying shipping allows you to dismiss that portion of the cost. Not going to Amazon for everything allows you to dismiss the chance of paying real prices and receiving fake products anyway. And so on. I don't really care for direct bootlegs either but they don't exist solely for some Snidely Whiplash character to twirl his evil mustache.
I haven't been able to buy a Figuart in person since I got the Mario Figuarts back in Dec. However, none of my local stores have updated their stock of Figuarts since Ultimate Gohan came out. I get the vast majority of my stuff from Amazon, BBTS, or AmiAmi. A bootleg is a bootleg regardless of who is making it. One bootleg sale can hurt a product or license immensely.
I think you COMPLETELY misread/misunderstand why I asked whether a bootleg of ANH Luke exists. The reason I asked is because the price of $30 was too 'good' to be true for a genuine ANH Luke. I want to buy the genuine article. You get no disagreements with me. But IMO bootlegs of certain figures are popular because they have been sold-out for quite some time. Therefore no 'impact' on sales. Now the impressive thing is that some bootlegs appear to improve on their original counterparts. I'm going on abit of a ramble...now the question is whether some of the bootlegs of various figures are: 1. genuine bootlegs. These are blatant such as the Figma Hulk, SH Figuarts DBZ. 2. 'factory extras' that got smuggled out the toy factories (example, Hasbro McFarlane/Campbell Spidey - those seemingly have the 'Hasbro' stamp. 3. or the factory are using the "official moulds' but illegally churning the figures (example, Neca Predators, SOTA Street Fighters). IMO I'm unlikely to classify no. 2 and no. 3 as bootlegs.
If Bandai doesn't want me to buy a bootleg of say, SDCC Goku (Namek), then Bandai needs to actually offer me the chance to buy SDCC Goku at retail price. The bootleg doesn't hurt them if they didn't stand to make money on that figure anyways, as the only way for me to get him was from a reseller at a 40% price increase minimum. I think Bandai realizes this, and thats why they started doing the PCE and 2.0 figures.
That's the thing really. The bootlegs of these out of print items aren't hurting Bandai one little bit. Hell, not only did they not hurt Bandai, but Saiyan Saga Vegeta and SS3 Goku are both getting all new molds soon. All of the Figuarts, Marvel Legends & Star Wars Black bootlegs I know if are of items that are currently out of print and unavailable even at online shops. Meaning Bandai already made their money on the item, but there's still a big enough demand for the bootleggers to bother because the only other recourse is to get one from a reseller at some absurd price. So, really, only resellers are being hurt financially by any of these out of print items being KO'd. Bandai, Hasbro, etc. they made their money back when the vendors originally bought their merchandise and the vendors made their money long ago when they sold out of the now unproduced figures... so who am I supposed to feel sorry for? The scalpers?
This got delivered yesterday just before we headed out to Dallas. I only had time to open him up and that was about it, but he seems pretty cool. Will have to check out the accessories when I get back.
We really need to invent a new word because "scalping" is starting to take on as many meanings as "smurf." I took so many "scalped" toys to show after show after show below retail price with zero interest. Now that I can occasionally get a crazy price for a handful of them (but not enough to break even overall), the butthurt is galling. The only KOs that I ever thought were justified were the G1s that they refused to reissue. That SDCC Goku is just begging to join the club though. What ever possessed them to do that? Bandai needs to remove some of those "do something stupid" tiles from that wheel in their board room.
How likely will we see one? Do they have an existing relationship with DC comics? Count me as interested. Bandai's stuff is great, and I have yet to see a 1:12 figure that does justice to Gal Gadot... The Mezco one is close, but not close enough IMHO.
Yeah, they recently released Suicide Squad versions of Joker, Deadshot & Harley. They have upcoming Dark Knight Trilogy Batman & Joker. They also did Batman, Superman, Joker & Harley from the first Injustice game a few years back. In fact the Injustice Joker and Harley are still my favorite figures of those two currently in my displays. I'm honestly surprised that Bandai didn't announce a Wonder Woman Figuarts yet. Maybe they're waiting for Justice League and then we'll get a full set of the League?
$10 says Batman will be a web exclusive only available in a single small village in Bangladesh, and they will cancel the line and move on before ever doing the Flash. We will however get three different variants of Snapper Carr!
