TAKARA almost went bankrupt towards the end of BINALTECH (allegedly). That's why they merged with TOMY, to keep shared costs down.

One of their last moves was to release the BINALTECH ASTERISK line with a little figure at a 500jpy cost rise. Then came Kiss Players, plastic instead of diecast with a 1000jpy price hike again.

And now we have Transformers GT for about 8500jpy. Bless 'em.