Quote Originally Posted by bowspearer View Post
On one hand this makes sense, yet on the other hand, with the higher end and pricepoint MP figures and Diaclone 2.0 releases we're getting, it doesn't fit that. Why would such projects even be commissioned if the returns simply weren't there?
MP and Diaclone V.2 are specifically collector-focused, is the short answer. The returns are there, but they're smaller/more limited runs that sell at premium prices and are less widespread/easily available. Niche VS mainstream target markets, in other words.
Most electronics stores - which are the main places where they sell mainline TFs, much like we have them in Target/KMart-type stores here - didn't stock anything other than the current kiddie and/or Movie line at the time, though you could place orders for MPs at some of the the stores IIRC. I lived in Osaka for 5 years, and if I wanted the latest 'kiddie' and/or Movie-line stuff it was easy, for Legends/CHUG stuff I had to go hunting a bit more and would have reasonable odds of success depending upon what I was chasing (eg. Legends Arcee sold out right away, whereas Legends Brainstorm was pretty easy to find), for MPs you might/might not get lucky fairly close by or you might have to make a trip to Den Den Town/the otaku district and hope you got lucky before they sold out. Same thing for Diaclone V.2 - if that's what you were after then it was either the hobby shops or else the 'flagship' toy stores in Umeda/Namba - even the local-ish Toys R Us didn't usually stock much in the way of 'good' TFs. Legends stuff mostly tended to go pretty quickly (much like it does over here), MPs depended on the character in question (I can only assume all the MP Soundwaves were sucked through some kind of mystical vortex as soon as they touched the shelves - not ONE anywhere on the very morning they became available). That said, it's worth noting the only shop close-ish by that stocked MPs/Legends was close to a pretty affluent area (which I also taught in 2 days a week - my students kept getting the toys before I could get them ) and also an international university, so the 'competition' for me was probably unusually heavy.

It's also worth mentioning that TFs aren't really a super-popular toyline in Japan these days - Star Wars, Marvel, the ever-reliable Super Sentai/Kamen Rider/Gundam (albeit the models rather than toys per se) all have way more shelf-space than TFs.
So, you know...not a super-high-priority line, sales are down on toys in general, 'they're only kids, who the hell is going to notice anyway' (not to mention that the whole aging population/low birth rate thing isn't helping toy sales in general), plus less admin/production costs...it's just a guess, but I'm much more inclined to put this one down to the bean-counters at Takara-Tomy taking an easy option to cut costs rather than Hasbro's influence.