E-Hobby/TransformersCollectorsClub joint partnership

[kaiden]

The first offering from the recently announced e-Hobby/TFCC collaboration will a limited amount of the BotCon 2012 "Invasion" box sets.
e-Hobby will be offering 150 of these sets (one per customer) for ¥ 35,900.
Hopefully this partnership will also result in some of those popular Japanese exclusives coming our way via TFCC. (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/first-ehobby-tfcc-partnership-product-revealed-botcon-2012-invasion-set/24930/)

disappointing.

[griffin]

This had me scratching my brain for a bit... but I figured it out.

There is a news posting at Seibertron (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/ehobby-announces-partnership-with-tfcc/24917/) saying that Ehobby have partnered up with the Official Collector Club (as if FunPub weren't selling enough Transformers toys already - looking at about 20 next year), and details will be announced next Monday on Ehobby's online magazine.

However, the Dengeki hobby magazine is showing off (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/dengeki-hobby-may-scans-updated/24918/)the upcoming Tokyo Toy Show exclusives (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=13632), which includes a black Classics ("Gen1") Optimus called Nemesis Prime... and just to confuse people who remembered the announcement by FunPub at BotCon (http://www.otca.com.au/boards/showthread.php?t=13496), soon we will have a black Classics (Gen2) Optimus toy called Scourge.
Two black & aqua Classic-verse Optimus toys in the next 6-12 months, using two different moulds, and from two different sources. Yes, very confusing.

(So either FunPub will be selling future ehobby exclusives through their store now (which would be good if their shipping and scalper prices weren't so high), OR, it's their six annual "Subscription toys" being sold through Ehobby in Japan, for FunPub to sell more of each and make more money out of their 20 TFs toys a year - which is more than what Hasbro released in a couple of the BW/BM years)

[reillyd]

Yes all quite confusing. While it would be lovely if e hobby products were available more widely in the US, I suspect its probably the other way with the Fun pub toys available to Asian buyers. If so its good for production numbers, and it might mean that items are available individually rather than a subscription. I would think Scourge, for example, would be in high demand than the other items...

[liegeprime]

Hmmm Funpub items are indeed hard to get from Asian markets, mebbe E-hobby is just going to be a marketing arm for them for distribution purposes to Asia.....

[griffin]

Ehobby have made their announcement as promised (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/first-ehobby-tfcc-partnership-product-revealed-botcon-2012-invasion-set/24930/) (FunPub could learn a thing or two from their level of reliability), with an idea of what the partnership will be about.
(oddly enough, FunPub haven't made any announcements of this partnership yet)

150 units of the BotCon box set will be sold through ehobby (which only sells to JP addresses), but we don't know the pricing yet to see how much they are getting it for.

It looks like we might see each company offloading their left-overs (or set aside a small number) to the other.
It probably explains why FunPub didn't have any boxsets left for the convention, after having trouble selling more than 80% before the cut-off (and no announcement that they had sold out).


Considering how quickly items sell out on the Club Store, and how much extra they charge on shipping, this sort of thing may not be of any benefit to us in Australia if Ehobby exclusives are sold through them... as our normal sources are likely to be just as expensive, or reliable and convenient.

[reillyd]

150 units of the BotCon box set will be sold through ehobby (which only sells to JP addresses), but we don't know the pricing yet to see how much they are getting it for.


Seibertron lists it as ¥ 35,900 which on todays exchange rates comes out to US$456. That's reassuring that it won't be a firesale price devaluing our sets, but not too high a markup that they won't sell at that price. It might also increase interest in other club offerings from previous years, if anyone is looking to clear out their sets.

[griffin]

Not surprising, but the 150 sets sold out in 30 minutes (http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/news/transformers-collectors-club-soon-to-announce-their-end-of-tfcc-ehobby-partnership/24966/). Then again, this year's set hasn't gone up in value as much as previous years (often hitting $1000 mark within the week of the convention). Current ebay listings only have this years set barely sitting at $500.
I guess it still saved some JP fans and investors (to sit on and resell later when demand starts picking up) money if they missed out on the chance to buy a non-attendee set before the convention.

The link also says that FunPub will be announcing "soon" what their side of the partnership will entail. (and we all know what "soon" means with them...)

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Nice that they have all this going on, meanwhile, where is the shop and message board hey funpub???

[reillyd]

Nice that they have all this going on, meanwhile, where is the shop and message board hey funpub???

I think they are "coming soon" :P