Remember that:Originally Posted by STL
a/ Bootleggers don't have the produce to the same production and quality standards that Takara sets for themselves and that their consumers would demand.
b/ Bootleggers have far less operational costs than Takara. For one thing, they don't have to pay for R&D/engineering which is an entire division in Takara.
c/ Bootleggers don't have to pay for licensing. Believe it or not, but licensing cost craploads. Remember those little comic books that I published for the Sydney TF conventions? Do you know how much Hasbro asked me to pay to purchase the licence just to publish those little comic books? AU$10,000. That's right. Just imagine the cost of licensing for action figures with registered trademarked and copyrighted names etc.
d/ Bootleggers don't pay for marketing. Advertising costs a lot of money.
e/ afaik most bootleggers operate entirely from very low-wage countries like China and paying their employees entirely in cheaper currencies like RMB. Companies like Takara are based in Japan paying full wages to employees in JPY. Sure, their primary production is done in factories in China, but their design and main operational staff are located in Japan. Then there's the cost of coordinate their operations between Japan, China and the United States with Hasbro - all legit, which means they pay taxes. Somehow I doubt bootleggers pay full tax. (-_-)
Takara themselves have stated that reconstructing a toy from scratch is heniously expensive. Do you remember how they were... well, not complaining, but they certainly weren't hiding the fact that recasting Optimus Prime's arms were a massive expense for them. And we've seen how they've kept remilking that mould... since they did the arm recast on the G2 Prime mould, we've seen...
+ reissue Convoy
+ Convoy black version
+ New Year Special Convoy
(+ Commemorative Edition Optimus Prime <--as requested by Hasbro)
+ Transformer Collection Convoy
+ Pepsi Convoy
(+ Pepsi Optimus Prime <--as requested by Hasbro)
+ iPod docking station Convoy
+ Encore Convoy
...Optimus Prime has been reissued more times than any other G1 mould, and it's easy to see that Optimus Prime is also the most sellable character simply because he's Optimus Prime (not rocket science).
If you really doubt all this, feel free to contact Takara, ask to speak to the head of their Transformers division (last time I checked it was Mr. Takagi) and ask him directly (yes, Takagi-san speaks fluent English - I've spoken to him myself).
Err... G1 Megatron's kinda in a legal limbo... afaik it's still technically illegal to import this toy, but it's just that Australian Customs aren't actively seeking this toy like they did with MP Megatron. But before MP Megatron none of us ever worried much about importing a gun Megatron... I think that the Megatron Gun Club should extend itself to include G1 Megatron (and all other forms of gun Transformers, for all those Megaplex and Browning lovers).
I've never heard of people saying that Megatron and Soundwave would never be reissued period. I've only heard people say that Megatron would never be reissued in the Hasbro markets. And how long did those rumours last anyway? 8 months? Because the first Takara reissue (Convoy) came out in June 2000 and the first Megatron came out in Jan/Feb 2001... so... that's kinda weird.
People said that Omega Supreme and Shockwave would never be reissued because they're not Takara moulds. The fact that TakaraTOMY has somehow since managed to acquire the Sky Lynx and Omega Supreme mould and been able to reissue them is fantastic news, but it doesn't mean that people's doubts were unfounded. It's not unreasonable to assume that moulds that don't belong to Takara can't be reissued by Takara!! Remember that Takara were never even able to release these moulds during G1 (they were Hasbro exclusives)!
So I'm not saying that a Grimlock or G1 Dinobots reissue is impossible, but I'd say it's highly improbable. If Takara was able to reissue any of the Dinobots why wouldn't they have already done so in the last eight years of continuous reissues from Takara?? We've seen them go through the first reissue series (no special name), the Collector's Edition series, the Transformers Collection series and now the Encore series. That's four different series of reissues in eight years and not once have we seen a Dinobot reissue. And it's not as if people aren't asking for them. I've been asking, other fans I know have been asking - a lot of fans have been asking them for years and years in the old self-address cardboard survey slips that we kept filling out and mailing back to Takara many, many times. I'm sure we're not the only ones who have been asking. They've released other less-popular characters like God Ginrai, Star Convoy, G2 Laser Prime, Landcross, the Micromaster gestalts and Wheelie for crying out loud. As if you'd reissue Wheelie before Grimlock! The fact that they did indicates to me that in all probability, they are just unable to reissue Grimlock.
But hey, if they did, I'd be pre-ordering one lickity-split. Prove me wrong, Takara! But er, yeah... I wouldn't hold my breath.
Unfortunately the current online survey system doesn't let you submit suggestions for future reissues like the old snail-mail ones did (probably got fed up from all the relentless requests from dirge for a Time Warrior reissue/Binaltech/Masterpiece). If you're really keen on suggesting it, feel free to call TakaraTOMY.
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Osaka centre: 0011-81-6-6395-1031
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I haven't heard an exact amount, but I've heard that Takara said it was a lot.
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