Masterpiece Cheetor confirmed

[Verno]

And let's not forget that PC gave us the deal of AU$107 (~ 8,600 yen), free shipping and bonus mace.

MP Primal from PC comes with the mace? I didn't know that. That's great news!

[MEEEGGGAAATTTRRROOONNN!!!]

MP Primal from PC comes with the mace? I didn't know that. That's great news!

They confirmed it in a FB post. If the deal wasn't good enough as is, they made it even better!

[Verno]

They confirmed it in a FB post. If the deal wasn't good enough as is, they made it even better!

Well that's wonderful. Let's get the Cheetor pre-order up!

[MEEEGGGAAATTTRRROOONNN!!!]

Well that's wonderful. Let's get the Cheetor pre-order up!

I'm with you there -- where is that preorder! Happy to put money down on BW MPs all day!

[GoktimusPrime]

Why would anyone buy at retail when even the Japanese stores are well below that price?

Sales prices vary and greatly depend on where you get them from. I was quoting RRPs because those are the basic benchmark prices set by the manufacturer. Many stores sell for less, some sell for more. I can't speak for other collectors, but the RRP is the official set price for these toys.

I'm all for pre-ordering toys that you want to get early bird discounts, but sometimes people might be in a situation where they're unable to pre-order and miss that window of opportunity, thus later paying full RRP for the toy, or worse still, paying above RRP off the secondary market. They may be in a situation where they're financially unable to make a pre-order, as there are lots of other things to pay for too (e.g. housing, bills, kids etc.).

Bear in mind that I often paid below RRP for my original Beast Wars toys too, again, due to sales hunting. I paid thirty-something bucks for my original Ultra Class Optimus Primal, so if you want to compare sales prices for MPs then we can also compare sales prices for the originals too. My original Cheetor cost me about $15. But this is probably not indicative of what most people paid, so I go by the RRP.

[MEEEGGGAAATTTRRROOONNN!!!]

Bear in mind that I often paid below RRP for my original Beast Wars toys too, again, due to sales hunting. I paid thirty-something bucks for my original Ultra Class Optimus Primal, so if you want to compare sales prices for MPs then we can also compare sales prices for the originals too. My original Cheetor cost me about $15. But this is probably not indicative of what most people paid, so I go by the RRP.

It's probably better to compare within a shop then, for example Anime Export had both the LG-02 Primal and MP-32 Primal at a 30% discount, which would make the MP about 1.85 times as much as the regular toy -- which I think is within acceptable limits for a "premium toy" with electronics, a specialist paint job, extra fiddly accessories, screen accuracy and better quality.

I think MPs in general have increased in price moreso than the regular line. When I bought MP-02 Magnus, i'm pretty sure I paid a retail, non-sale price of AU$99 (I could be wrong, it could have been as much as AU$150), but in today's prices, that doesn't get you much considering how well built MP-02 is.

[Trent]

It's probably better to compare within a shop then, for example Anime Export had both the LG-02 Primal and MP-32 Primal at a 30% discount, which would make the MP about 1.85 times as much as the regular toy -- which I think is within acceptable limits for a "premium toy" with electronics, a specialist paint job, extra fiddly accessories, screen accuracy and better quality.

I think MPs in general have increased in price moreso than the regular line. When I bought MP-02 Magnus, i'm pretty sure I paid a retail, non-sale price of AU$99 (I could be wrong, it could have been as much as AU$150), but in today's prices, that doesn't get you much considering how well built MP-02 is.

I think I paid $180ish delivered for MP-22 Ultra Magnus. That's a decent price considering what MP-02 went for all those years ago.

[MEEEGGGAAATTTRRROOONNN!!!]

I think I paid $180ish delivered for MP-22 Ultra Magnus. That's a decent price considering what MP-02 went for all those years ago.

I think MP-22 is very reasonably priced (at least the "street prices" are) particularly when compared to a figure like Shockwave, who I think was way overpriced for what we got.

[GoktimusPrime]

It's probably better to compare within a shop then, for example Anime Export had both the LG-02 Primal and MP-32 Primal at a 30% discount, which would make the MP about 1.85 times as much as the regular toy -- which I think is within acceptable limits for a "premium toy" with electronics, a specialist paint job, extra fiddly accessories, screen accuracy and better quality.

And how much did Anime Export sell the original Ultra Class Optimus Primal for? I'm comparing the price of MPs with originals. And let's say that Anime Export discounts everything by 30%, the proportionate difference in price would still work out the same anyway.
i.e.
Original Beast Convoy: RRP = 2980JPY / -30% = 2086JPY
MP Beast Convoy: RRP = 12960JPY / -30% = 9072JPY

So when we compare both toys at full RRP we can see that the MP costs four times the price of the original.* At 30% discount we can see that the MP costs four times the price of the original.※ The proportionate difference in price between the two toys is identical. And as I said before, if you want to compare prices within the same store, then you need to ensure that the store also sold the comparative product (in this case, the original Ultra Optimus Primal toy) with the same discount rate. Basically, if you did not buy the original Optimus Primal toy at the same rate of discount, then comparing toys at discount prices doesn't make sense because you have this inconsistent variable at play.

I think that the original Optimus Primal is still a fantastic toy, bearing in mind that it is a quarter of the price of the Masterpiece. A friend of mine recently asked me how I could possibly consider the original Rhinox to be just as good as the Generations figure, saying that the Gen. figure blows the original out of the water. I told him that it's because the Generations figure is a Voyager while the original is a Deluxe. At the Deluxe price point, which is about half the price of a Voyager, the original is still a really solid toy that's just as good as the Voyager. Relative to their respective price points, I don't think that one toy is better or worse than the other - they're equally good. Couple with the fact that the original is nearly 20 years old, then my appreciation for the original toy increases more so.

Having said all this, I must admit that if they ever made a Masterpiece Dinobot, I would really really be tempted. And if MP Dinobot were redecoed as MP BW Grimlock, I would absolutely buy it! Because sadly BW Grimlock suffers from GPS and it's improbable that they'd reissue what is a relatively obscure toy. Yeah, I'd probably get both. And how cool would it be if they included paleontologically correct interchangeable parts/add-ons!

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*12960/2980=4.348993288590604
※9072/2086=4.348993288590604

[kurdt_the_goat]

It's like you're comparing apples to very very old oranges though. Prices are up, that's just the way it is. If you think like that for every purchase you make, it's a wonder you buy anything at all! I bet the house you just moved into would have cost someone 1/4 of the price 20 years ago!