MP-51 Arcee at Zing/EB

[Krayt]

Masterpiece MP-51 Arcee is up for preorder at EB Games and Zing. $300 ($50 pre-order deposit). Boxing Day release date

https://www.zingpopculture.com.au/product/collectibles/263151-transformers-mp-51-arcee-transforming-action-figure

https://www.ebgames.com.au/product/toys-and-collectibles/263151-transformers-mp-51-arcee-transforming-action-figure (https://www.zingpopculture.com.au/product/collectibles/263151-transformers-mp-51-arcee-transforming-action-figure)

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2020/051201.jpg

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2020/051202.jpg

[jazzcomp]

Wow, that's pricey :eek: :confused:

[Krayt]

Just tried to compare the prices but I can’t see any real orders out anywhere... looks like they are the first to officially list.

But I did find some news with a Singapore price, 195. Which is 212 here. Add 30 for shipping, and e are prob looking at $250.

So.... $250 or $300. I for one am going to go with Zing. Normally I standard MP via HLJ, but that much needed at Xmas... I’ll go zing and pay it off between now and then

[hYpNoS]

What...in god's name...

As much as I'm frothing in the mouth for one of the season 2 crew NO WAY am I paying this much for a mp hotrod sized figure, least with hlj I can store it up to save on postage and retailer discount (or wait on amiami like I did with hound and get it on sale).

Because rrp is 16000yen, that's not quite even 250, eep!

[Jellico]

She better come with a trailer, with Roller, and a veritable family of Witwickies, and a Matrix for that price.

[DaptoDog]

Haha before I clicked on this I jokingly thought it's going to be $300. Tell em they're dreaming.

[Omega Metro]

She better come with a trailer, with Roller, and a veritable family of Witwickies, and a Matrix for that price.

No. But you do get bad quality and broken parts.:D

[griffin]

The retail price for MP Arcee in Japan is at a whopping AU$250, so having this one at AU$300 isn't unusual. And considering that the regular Hasbro retail Transformers toys here are 50-100% over their AU$ price in America, if this was a Hasbro Masterpiece toy, it would be AU$400 or more here.
So since this is an import of a Japanese MP toy, we didn't get stuck with "Hasbro toy" pricing... it is just a very expensive toy in Japan, so is going to be expensive everywhere else, including here.

(the Asian sites that may end up offering it for AU$250 or less, are getting their stock from a more direct source than EB Games, so they are getting theirs cheaper and can sell it cheaper)


I think EB Games might have listed this too early, or Hasbro Australia jumped the gun, as we aren't supposed to be offering the Japanese imports before they are listed in Japan or at Hasbro Pulse.

[jazzcomp]

I know it's a fat chance but I hope people vote with their wallets and not buy until the price becomes reasonable.

[griffin]

It won't make a difference here, as EB Games will only have it listed for a couple of weeks and only order enough to cover their pre-orders.

And unfortunately these expensive Masterpiece prices aren't stopping people from buying them (BW Megatron and Dinobot sold out fast and they have been two of the most expensive ones for their size, and even Optimus V3 sold out at most places too at a record MP price for a smallish robot and hollow plastic box/trailer), so TakaraTomy will just keep charging hefty amounts for them. :(

[UltraMarginal]

I've seen a lot of people swearing off MP arcee that would normally buy a new character straight away.

I really hope Takara see this as people thinking it's too expensive and not people having less interest in the character. I don't want it to damage the hopes of other less than primary tier characters being brought to light in the future.
I've skipped MP Bee 2.0, prime 3.0, Hound, and now maybe Arcee. Hound I'm waiting for a + version that's hopefully more realistically detailed, like the earlier MP numbers were, especially the autobot cars.

if it starts costing $300-400 4 or 5 times, or more, a year for MP transformers I'm going to have to start being really choosy, just so I can afford all the mainline figures and other hobbies I have.

[hYpNoS]

The retail price for MP Arcee in Japan is at a whopping AU$250.

16000yen, that's the "full" price, if you buy from amiami hlj or hobbysearch there is often a small discount to offset that, and according to google 229.08 Australian Dollar is the conversion so it might be a little cheaper than that.

Yes the gst+shipping will bump it up but there will be other options, as much as I want to support aus retail $300 is making me choose more carefully (especially if zing/eb is affected although local staff tell me they'll be fine if the main company goes down but that's what the toys r us staff told me :S )

[Krayt]

Just ordered mine at my local.... will be so good to not have to worry about the money that close to xmas...

[Jetfire in the sky]

If I had liquid in my mouth when I just read the price I would have spat it out, I literally coughed/choked out loud instead. I'm glad I'm mostly off MP's now.

[The Letter M]

Wew. That was quick. Doesn't appear to be there any more.

[griffin]

That's interesting... maybe someone did jump the gun, and were told to take it back down until after TakaraTomy officially listed it.

[reillyd]

I do hope it wasn't because they had exhausted their import amount. For those taking issue with the price, if it would be $250Aud from hlj you also have to factor shipping and that $@##% gst as well. For not having to lay down the money now, I'm happy with paying $300 for her because, well it's Arcee. There isn't any price I wouldn't pay for a licensed Masterpiece Arcee. No third party ko, and a beautiful looking one as well.

[jazzcomp]

Unfortunately, we all have different budgets. I didn't buy MP hound, Unicron and others due to price. Hopefully, they'll reissue these and I'll be able to buy them later on. I won't pay the premium to be one of the first to get these.

I still remember pre-ordering and group buys of MPs to get them at a cheaper price. That time has passed :(

[griffin]

I just don't know about getting Arcee, even if it was slightly cheaper from an Asian source like OMP... it's on the same level as Optimus v3, it's "price per kilo" is just way too high. Even if the chest and kibble were perfect, that price (in yen) ....
My list of missing Masterpiece toys that I like, is getting really long now. I get so much play value from so many other Transformers toys, it is difficult to give a value to a toy that isn't for play, which is why I also don't buy expensive statues and licensed non-converting display figures... because that's what most of these recent MP toys are going to end up as - display statues that aren't going to be touched (mostly because they are more likely to break if you transform them now).
Spinout is likely to be my over-priced purchase for the rest of this year, as the toy has a certain history to it, but I don't think I want to use up $300 on just a single toy that doesn't fill a hole in the display shelf, and can be better used on several other toys like all the Generations exclusives we are likely to have in the second half of the year again.


16000yen, that's the "full" price, if you buy from amiami hlj or hobbysearch there is often a small discount to offset that, and according to google 229.08 Australian Dollar is the conversion so it might be a little cheaper than that.

Using the official exchange rate is not the real rate. That's the mid-point between the two exchange rates (AU to Yen and Yen to AU). A bank, credit card or paypal will have a rate that is about 5% off, or for the yen it is about 5 off (64yen instead of the current official rate of 69yen), which gives us about AU$250 (what it would actually cost you if you cart and pay for it at 16,000yen).
And since some online stores offer pre-order discounts, I always refer to the official "retail" price if there is one, otherwise it gets confusing (and takes time) to list a range of online prices.



Yes the gst+shipping will bump it up but there will be other options, as much as I want to support aus retail $300 is making me choose more carefully (especially if zing/eb is affected although local staff tell me they'll be fine if the main company goes down but that's what the toys r us staff told me :S )

The GST is one thing I keep forgetting to note, as it would make this toy about AU$270 when comparing to the (non-GST) listed price on foreign sites. It actually makes the EB Games price even better, as the $30 difference to the Japanese retail price (or 10%) is a lot better than the 40-60% difference we have on our regular retail Hasbro Transformers toys (Generations, Studio Series, Cyberverse, etc).
Fortunately, people on here and on our facebook page are being mature and intelligent enough to not criticise EB Games for a price that is not their fault... it's TakaraTomy's fault.

[graza78]

To me, the chest area looks really out for some reason...it looks very wrong. The generations arcee looks better.

[DaptoDog]

Using the official exchange rate is not the real rate. That's the mid-point between the two exchange rates (AU to Yen and Yen to AU). A bank, credit card or paypal will have a rate that is about 5% off, or for the yen it is about 5 off (64yen instead of the current official rate of 69yen), which gives us about AU$250 (what it would actually cost you if you cart and pay for it at 16,000yen).
And since some online stores offer pre-order discounts, I always refer to the official "retail" price if there is one, otherwise it gets confusing (and takes time) to list a range of online prices.



The GST is one thing I keep forgetting to note, as it would make this toy about AU$270 when comparing to the (non-GST) listed price on foreign sites. It actually makes the EB Games price even better, as the $30 difference to the Japanese retail price (or 10%) is a lot better than the 40-60% difference we have on our regular retail Hasbro Transformers toys (Generations, Studio Series, Cyberverse, etc).
Fortunately, people on here and on our facebook page are being mature and intelligent enough to not criticise EB Games for a price that is not their fault... it's TakaraTomy's fault.

There are ways of getting very close to the mid rate that are not all that difficult and worthwhile for those importing regularly. I have a separate debit card account with Citibank that has zero fx fees, the exchange rate uses the official Mastercard rates (pretty close to the rates you see on Google). Case in point, I made an order with atmos in Yen on 29 March. Citi converted it at 66.15 vs 66.33 on Google for the same day.

I haven't been happy with Citi on my recent chargeback debacle so I'm switching to the same type of account with UBank (part of NAB). ING Direct and Macquarie offer similar debit accounts and there is also a new CBA credit card with zero FX fees for example.

Even if you had to pay the standard 3% fx fee on a credit card I struggle to see how you wouldn't do substantially better than the ~7% implied fee you are suggesting for Yen. What you definitely want to avoid is Paypal converting the currency, you WILL get screwed royally. There is an option in the settings to have your card provider do the conversion - this should always be ticked.

Fair call on wanting to use the RRP for comparison. However, to me apples to apples would be comparing the pre-order discounted prices with EB since they are both pre-orders. The discounts are given as incentive to lock-in orders well in advance of the release. I think importing from discounted sources should save a fair bit of money off the EB price even ignoring the benefits of avoiding GST with certain online sites. Regardless, if people want to buy local to have peace of mind on returns then that's their choice.

[Ralph Wiggum]

I?m quietly confident other retailers will have her cheaper, even taking into account exchange rates and shipping. Zing isn?t the best for timeliness either.

Basically what I?m saying is that its way too early to pull the trigger on Arcee in the absence of other retailers listing their prices.

[The Letter M]

Spoke to someone at EB who told me they'd sold out of their allocation. Not entirely convinced that's the case though.

[griffin]

Unless the item has a really limited production number, there might be allocations to retailers like EB Games, but these JP Transformers are only ordered after the 2 week pre-order period.
But I'll ask.

[The Letter M]

Yeah. Given it's not up anywhere else, I'm inclined to think that Takara or Hasbro jumped up and down.

[Seraphim Prime]

Yeah - the listing appears to have been taken down. Maybe they were called out for being too early. Spinout is still up.

[Krayt]

It’s still in their internal computer systems.... and no messages received by my local that my preorder was dead

[reillyd]

To me, the chest area looks really out for some reason...it looks very wrong. The generations arcee looks better.

I can guarantee there will be a third party replacement for it Graza if you're not happy. Look what happened to the poor FansToys versi.on and her 'upgrade'.
I will be very happy sticking with the Takara version. I would have bought it locally in case there are QC issues, but if she doesn't come back up shortly I'll have to import it.
Arcee has always been one of my favourite characters from the '86 movie. I don't know that I'd pay that sort of price for other characters (e.g. Elita-1) but for Arcee...... sigh.....

[graza78]

I can guarantee there will be a third party replacement for it Graza if you're not happy. Look what happened to the poor FansToys versi.on and her 'upgrade'.
I will be very happy sticking with the Takara version. I would have bought it locally in case there are QC issues, but if she doesn't come back up shortly I'll have to import it.
Arcee has always been one of my favourite characters from the '86 movie. I don't know that I'd pay that sort of price for other characters (e.g. Elita-1) but for Arcee...... sigh.....

The fanstoys version still looks alright on the shelf; pretty sure it came with an interchangeable chest piece. That "upgrade" set was pretty odd and unnecessary.

Not sure a 3rd party can fix the official unless people are willing to pop the chest pin out. Regardless if its anatomically correct or not, it doesnt look like arcee in the movie...her chest wasn't that far down from her neck. Looks like takara took cues from grave hag in the witcher :p

[DaptoDog]

Oh My Primus comes through with Arcee at S$170 (A$185) shipped. Even if you add GST to level the playing field with EB/Zing the local price is still ~$100 more.

[Krayt]

Oh My Primus comes through with Arcee at S$170 (A$185) shipped. Even if you add GST to level the playing field with EB/Zing the local price is still ~$100 more.

OMP was a good enough price to make me think of going there... but Xmas funds will make me keep it at Zing.

[Jellico]

The fanstoys version still looks alright on the shelf; pretty sure it came with an interchangeable chest piece. That "upgrade" set was pretty odd and unnecessary.

Not sure a 3rd party can fix the official unless people are willing to pop the chest pin out. Regardless if its anatomically correct or not, it doesnt look like arcee in the movie...her chest wasn't that far down from her neck. Looks like takara took cues from grave hag in the witcher :p
Rouge used a false chest piece so they could use the more rounded chest used in a few episodes.

MP51 like Generations Arcee uses the front section of the bonnet for her chest plate. That means there is probably a hard limit on how far her chest plate can be extended up her shoulders.

[DaptoDog]

Rouge used a false chest piece so they could use the more rounded chest used in a few episodes.

MP51 like Generations Arcee uses the front section of the bonnet for her chest plate. That means there is probably a hard limit on how far her chest plate can be extended up her shoulders.

If there is a physical limitation then it's curious why Takara didn't go with the false chest like they did with V2 Bumblebee, Sunstreaker etc?

[Krayt]

Here’s a blast from the past surprise…. Arcee is showing available on Zing