Originally Posted by
GoktimusPrime
I think most people are willing to pay higher prices if it means better designs.
e.g.
MP36 vs MP5
MP10 vs MP01
MP39 vs MP12
...etc.
I suppose the question is, is there a limit to how much people will pay for a toy, regardless of its superior design? I don't know. Hearing stories about how much money some people are happily willing to throw on WAY simpler second hand toys on the aftermarket, I honestly don't know. It seems that for some collectors there doesn't seem to be a visible upper limit. Some people seem to have incredibly deep pockets and are willing to pay any price for something that they want.
It seems that TakaraTOMY are experimenting in what this upper threshold is. And from a designer's POV it also means that they can do more with a toy if they have a bigger budget to play around with. And if there is to be a toyline for which they can experiment with high end adult collectable figures, why not Masterpiece? MPs have always been the high end luxury item toyline of Transformers.
But maybe this is all too much for them and it will blow up in TakaraTOMY's faces. But at the end of the day we all vote with our wallets. As long as people are willing to buy these fancier "Rolls Royce" level MPs then TakaraTOMY will continue to make them.
:eek: I paid about $200 for MP Thrust and Ramjet, which is roughly double what I normally pay for MP Jets. MP Dirge was about $250 because a certain retailer never delivered.
Meh... even if a toy is initially expensive, you could always just wait and see if you can get it cheaper off the aftermarket. I recently grabbed MP Clampdown for $35 - loose complete in excellent condition. Also grabbed MP Delta Magnus earlier this year (loose in box) for cheap too.
I honestly just want the humans that come with MP44! :D I might wait and see if I can get a loose one for cheap later... maybe keep the humans and sell the actual Transformer off. :p ;) Having said that, selling does royally suck, so... maybe not.
P.S.: I think it's also really important as to how we answer Question 19 on the survey. If people keep on nominating "cartoon accuracy" as a reason for why they've purchased past MPs, then obviously TakaraTOMY are going to continue pushing for greater slavish cartoon accuracy, which in turn means a LOT of otherwise needlessly expensive feats of engineering. Previous MPs were a mix of cartoon likeness and more unique design aesthetic - e.g. MP1, MP10. But recently we've seen a push towards greater slavish cartoon accuracy with MPs looking like the bloody cartoon character just jumped out of the screen and became real. If you keep asking for this then TakaraTOMY will respond in kind!
