Next two Masterpiece toys for Australia

[griffin]

Hot on the heals of the Deluxe Stinger update (coming here in March), comes some news that is hot off the presses from Hasbro Australia.

The first of the next two Masterpiece toys from Japan (via Hasbro Hong Kong) will be Star Saber in March at ToysRUs.
Price is yet to be revealed, but when it is, it will be included here.



The second new Masterpiece that should end up at ToysRUs mid-year (to be confirmed) is the reissue of MP-10 Optimus Prime (the black box Japanese version being released in Japan in May).

After asking Hasbro Australia why the October reissue in Hong Kong of the Hasbro version of Masterpiece Optimus (clear box version) didn't come here with all the other Masterpiece imports from Hasbro Hong Kong, I was told that they didn't know about it. So I told them about the upcoming Japanese reissue, and a day later they get back to me saying that they will be ordering it (details to be confirmed later).



That's pretty good of them, to take on board a suggestion and act on it so quickly. (I've been mentioning it to them for a couple years now, about how that mould could sell here every couple years, based on its popularity in its first release and being the iconic Transformers character and Masterpiece toy.)

Since this one is so sudden, it might be some time before we get any date and price details, but given the 2-ish month delay of other import figures from Hasbro HK, this one is likely to be here around July.
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[GoktimusPrime]

I can now reveal that MP Star Sabre was the third translation/adaptation job that I was doing for Hasbro. However, the English bio is completely different and unrelated to the Japanese one. The Japanese bio is based on Star Sabre's appearance in Transformers Victory, where he was -- character-wise -- basically a clone of Optimus Prime (re: flawless heroic saviour archetype). The English bio is based on IDW Star Sabre, where Star Sabre is an incredibly dark character.

In the Japanese booklet, Star Sabre's function is "Autobot Supreme Commander." For the Hasbro version, his function has been changed to 'Duly Appointed Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord' (at times abbreviated to 'Tyrest Accord Enforcer' or just "Autobot Enforcer" in different parts of the booklet). Japanese G1 tech specs don't have mottos, and I only had access to the booklet and not the tech specs card (so I have no idea if TakaraTOMY have newly created a motto for him), but the motto I created for the Hasbro version is "Quidquid facio sancitur divinitus.", which is Latin for "Everything I do is divinely sanctioned." -- and yes, I have written the motto in both Latin and English (as I did for Stinger ).

More reveals to come.

[Trent]

Excellent news about Star Saber!

Where did the picture of MP-10 come from? Isit Hasbro's photo? Because that is the Takara version.

Nevermind. Read the whole post

[jazzcomp]

I hope prime is just $150 like before and not priced like magnus (wishing....)

[TAAUBlaster]

While I'm glad Hasbro seems interested in the MP line now, I highly doubt they will be able to price it any better than the online stores (TFI for example is $195) With Magnus being $300 at TRU - I can't see why they would make Prime much cheaper (if at all.)

[Handsprime]

I've always wanted MP-10 because not only is he in scale with my other Masterpieces, but it works better than YOTH Optimus (who I will most likely sell when I get MP-10 Optimus)

[jazzcomp]

While I'm glad Hasbro seems interested in the MP line now, I highly doubt they will be able to price it any better than the online stores (TFI for example is $195) With Magnus being $300 at TRU - I can't see why they would make Prime much cheaper (if at all.)

Hmmm... maybe because it would shelfwarm???
Nobody bought ghost starscream for A$250.

Maybe it would depend on sales. If Magnus is sold out when it gets released here, then I'd agree with you. The price will definitely be up.

[ampoldj]

Hmmm... maybe because it would shelfwarm???
Nobody bought ghost starscream for A$250.

Maybe it would depend on sales. If Magnus is sold out when it gets released here, then I'd agree with you. The price will definitely be up.

TRU is anticipating sales for Magnus that is why they listed him early as preorder just after Bumblebee popped out. They also have some Coins as a bonus. Not many are online buyers even I just found out some OZ TF online store sites from this forum (feeling thankful). Well lets see how Magnus sells...Bumblebee got sold out quickly from TRU shelves here in ACT

[GoktimusPrime]

Oddly enough, the imported Japanese MPs do seem to sell well here despite being more expensive. I'd say that Ghost Starscream was the exception rather than the rule for this trend. Ghost 'Screamer was basically an obscurish variant of an MP toy that was already released here, plus he sold here for x2.5 the original RRP for Hasbro's MP Starscream at TRU. MP Wheeljack and Bumblebee seem to be selling pretty well here despite being x1.5~2 the cost of preordering from overseas; a fair number of people seemed willing to pay $100 for these toys, although not for MP Prowl.

So what are they key differences? The first would be timing. The Hasbro version of MP Prowl came out nearly a year after TakaraTOMY's. Having a later released toy works only if the local price is on par or cheaper than the Japanese one -- as we saw w/ Hasbro's MP10 and MP Soundwave/Cassettes. But if you're going to sell an MP here for substantially above JP RRP long after the JP version was released, then it's likely to shelfwarm like Prowl. I think that Wheeljack and Bumblebee were more successful because Hasbro AU decided to strike while the iron was hot, and released these toys very shortly after they came out in Japan - and it's worked. So based on this trend, there's a fair chance that $300 for MP22 might work too; ultimately time will tell. Another possible factor might be the more 'exotic' looking Japanese black boxes as opposed to the somewhat more generic looking Age of Extinction style box we saw with MP Prowl.

But either way, the higher prices don't seem to have been as detrimental to sales of the imported Japanese MPs as one might suspect. It seems that timing plays a bigger factor than price - because although TRU's prices may be dearer, it is certainly much more convenient to purchase these toys directly at TRU rather than messing around with online stores. And quite frankly, if you haven't already pre-ordered these toys, at full JP RRP + shipping, you're likely to pay something closer to TRU's prices anyway. So you might as well buy locally and enjoy the luxuries of:
+ Being able to inspect the condition of the box in hand.
+ Not risk the box or toy being damaged in transit (someone here had a big hole in the side of his MP22 box due to poor handling )
+ No need to wait for delivery - you can open the toy immediately upon purchase! (who doesn't hate waiting?!)
+ Being able to easily bring the toy back for exchange or refund if there's any issues.

[DELTAprime]

Gok's world wide famous now. http://www.seibertron.com/transforme...new-bio/32116/