Henkei/Classics/United Insanity

[gdmetro]

Are people mad?

Over at HD's blog: http://heroicdecepticon.blogspot.com...nsformers.html (amazing by the way)
HD documented the crazy demand in Hong Kong that drove United/Generations prices- through the roof! Within a week or 2 of wave releases, they skyrocketed in price and were scarce to hunt down.

But the one line that takes the cake are my beloved Henkeis. A year ago they could still be purchased at seemingly retail prices. But when generations were announced the rush began. Once supply dried and was left to secondary market- Henkeis have now gone insanely expensive- at this rate, within the next few months they will reach g1-esque prices.

I was over at tfw and noticed a thread titled: $200 Henkei Ratchet.
I was slightly amused at a possible BIN of that price. But no. When I actually saw complete listings on ebay- that range from $180 to over $220 it hit me...

I have been personally hunting Henkei Ironhide for months now. Patiently waiting for the right BIN or auction. I got Henkei Smokescreen that way. But the price never was right. For the past month the price hovered at $75-95 price range after shipping. You can understand my reluctance to slam down cash for 1 deluxe at that price. Last week there were 5 listings at these prices- now they are all bought up.

I did a quick check on Henkei Mirage and Starscream. The former now breaches $100US. The latter is in the $90 mark- coming close to $100.
NB: these trends are for the more popular/scarcer figs.

For you g1ers/long time collectors have price hikes this crazy ever happened before? Was the g1 boom in the early to mid 2000s ever this bad?

A poster on HD's blog mentioned that this craziness might be warnings of a market that is about to crash. What do you guys think?

[liegeprime]

It's principles of economics. Supply and Demand... So far Henkei stuff have a limited supply and as such pieces will go for high prices if it is of high demand as well. Inflation in prices for G1 compared to more current lines - Henkei/Classics/United have similarities and variances.

For g1, a figure could be really expensive due to the scarcity of the figure - e.g unbroken Bristleback, Japan only released G1s. Popularity of the brick - Bludgeon. It could also be because the Item is known to be sought after so the sellers sell it highly priced, or in piecemeal - e.g. Fort Max.

Similarly newer items are expensive due to scarcity/ limited release - Henkei/ United - for Japs only yet sought after by non Jap collectors so with only a few pieces these are priced higher. But, arguably the QC is better so they charge more as well.

I have seen prices go high before and sometimes be on hiatus and plateau but with the advent of re-releases - eg Encore et all. Some figures go down in price - not much but still knocks a few dollars enough to make the figures affordable. Of course there is still some persistence on high pricing for really proven vintage pieces. KOs on the other hand are a bane to pricing of TFs.

G1s get reissued now for less (Encore) but the newer figures, well... unless these were to become classic pieces themselves and if the molds survive would end up in the future as highly priced as G1 TFs and could remain that way. Unless reissues ( quality ones okay - Im looking at RtS Rodimus while shaking my head) flood the market again for sought after figures matching the demand with enough supply. but it all boils down to not enough supply = higher demands = higher prices for few supplies left.

[GoktimusPrime]

Moral of the story: buy toys while they're current rather than waiting later and getting them on the aftermarket at inflated prices.

I bought Beast Wars Metals X-9 Ravage for 1800JPY ($22). In fact, I bought two of them so I could keep one sealed (I later traded the sealed one off for a bunch of loose G1 and G2 toys ). The cheapest one on eBay's goes for US$129.99!!! For a freakin' Deluxe!

Man, those Henkei Ironhide and Ratchet prices are crazy. I just had a look on eBay for Universe Ironhide and Ratchet and they're ridiculously expensive too!! (Ironhide goes for US$49.55 and Ratchet for US$79.95... wtf?!)... but still cheaper than those Henkeis (although the cost of shipping Ironhide from the US compared from Hong Kong might off-set any saving).

I rarely look at aftermarket prices, but just looking at these prices for Ironhide and Ratchet has left me in utter disbelief... I'm not sure which one I find more incredible, these outlandish prices, or the fact that there are people out there who would pay them!

[Pipesqueak]

Especially considering what woefully disappointing toys Universe/Henkei Ironhide and Ratchet were - more lines on the alt-modes than a jigsaw puzzle, annoying transformation, huge design defect that has them permanently looking at their feet - along with Galvatron, the worst classicsverse toys so far.

On the bright side, I know I'll make a mint if I sell mine!

[lcz128]

I actually really like and have always liked the mould. The seams on alt mode don't bother me that much and I have always liked the transformation for him. Once you've memorized what comes when - it's a beauty to transform!

In terms of these prices, I am glad I bought my henkei when they were released. Good time to come onboard or me I guess cause that was when I first started hanging with the crew. (: good times.

I do think it's kind of crazy how quickly prices have risen though. It makes sense to capitalise on the crazy demand- and unfortunately for those of us who just didn't put the money down at the time to buy them - we get burnt later. Ouch.

[GoktimusPrime]

I also quite like the mould. Yeah, it is tricky/fiddly, but that's to be expected considering that HasTak have engineered a toy based on a comic/cartoon model that completely:
a. changed the proportion of the original core robot (i.e. raised shoulders and head)
b. ignored the trailer portion, i.e. when transforming to robot mode the trailer essentially disappears (except for this very brief moment (blink and you'd miss it) )

Toy designers obviously can't ignore laws of reality and make half the toy vanish into thin air. In order to make the robot mode resemble the G1 Marvel/Sunbow model they could either:
1: give the toy a detachable platform similar to the G1 toys - as we saw with BotCon Timelines Ratchet and Ironhide, or...
2: incorporate all that vehicle kibble into the robot mode, which is what they chose to do with Universe/Henkei Ironhide and Ratchet

And don't forget that the toy needs to be Deluxe class which restricts the size and engineering (as it has to conform to the Deluxe price point). So considering that it's a fairly ambitious endeavour that has substantial inherent challenges I think the moulds a fairly well designed. My only criticism is how the heads are fixed staring down. Other than that I quite like them.

Comparison between G1 and Henkeis; G1 had half their vehicle form as detachable platforms whereas Henkei incorporates the entire vehicle into the robot mode


BotCon Timelines Ironhide: more simpler and less kibble-laden robot form (repaint/retool of Energon Tow-Line), but about half the vehicle form detaches as a platform (click on image to see view BC Ratchet w/ platform)