Whew, my wallet can breathe a sigh of relief
hopefully this means no issues like ramjet and thrust!
This is indeed a significant delay, but not "a long time since" the last one.
MP Cheetor was delayed a month from January to February.
The MP Reissues at the end of April were all delayed by 5 days, while the Anniversary Movie toys in March were all delayed by 8 days.
It actually seems like quite a few of the TTs toys get delayed, as all of May's items are delayed, with MP Artfire delayed 17 days and Godbomber delayed 7 days. (Artfire might only be 7 days though, as the original date of May 9th was probably meant to be 19th... but it is still a delay)
Plus, MP-38 Primal, Trypticon, Sharktron, Hotrodimus and Char/Kup have also been delayed a week from their original release date.
I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the delay due to 'production matters'.
If I was a betting person, which I'm not, I think they didn't want to release MP Dirge in late May & have to compete with the unwarranted super-saturated media attention of Schapelle Corby heading back to Australia in that same period. It's a real pity for MP Artfire & LG Godbomber. They deserve their time in the sun.
hmm seems like the delay may only apply to Takmall domestic japan stock only, there's been reports of customers ordering from Asia outside of japan getting their shipping notices for MP-Dirge (Hasbro Asia stocks?)
Delay? This just got curious... I just received my shipping notice from RK for Dirge.