I just don't know about getting Arcee, even if it was slightly cheaper from an Asian source like OMP... it's on the same level as Optimus v3, it's "price per kilo" is just way too high. Even if the chest and kibble were perfect, that price (in yen) ....
My list of missing Masterpiece toys that I like, is getting really long now. I get so much play value from so many other Transformers toys, it is difficult to give a value to a toy that isn't for play, which is why I also don't buy expensive statues and licensed non-converting display figures... because that's what most of these recent MP toys are going to end up as - display statues that aren't going to be touched (mostly because they are more likely to break if you transform them now).
Spinout is likely to be my over-priced purchase for the rest of this year, as the toy has a certain history to it, but I don't think I want to use up $300 on just a single toy that doesn't fill a hole in the display shelf, and can be better used on several other toys like all the Generations exclusives we are likely to have in the second half of the year again.

Quote Originally Posted by hYpNoS View Post
16000yen, that's the "full" price, if you buy from amiami hlj or hobbysearch there is often a small discount to offset that, and according to google 229.08 Australian Dollar is the conversion so it might be a little cheaper than that.
Using the official exchange rate is not the real rate. That's the mid-point between the two exchange rates (AU to Yen and Yen to AU). A bank, credit card or paypal will have a rate that is about 5% off, or for the yen it is about 5 off (64yen instead of the current official rate of 69yen), which gives us about AU$250 (what it would actually cost you if you cart and pay for it at 16,000yen).
And since some online stores offer pre-order discounts, I always refer to the official "retail" price if there is one, otherwise it gets confusing (and takes time) to list a range of online prices.

Yes the gst+shipping will bump it up but there will be other options, as much as I want to support aus retail $300 is making me choose more carefully (especially if zing/eb is affected although local staff tell me they'll be fine if the main company goes down but that's what the toys r us staff told me :S )
The GST is one thing I keep forgetting to note, as it would make this toy about AU$270 when comparing to the (non-GST) listed price on foreign sites. It actually makes the EB Games price even better, as the $30 difference to the Japanese retail price (or 10%) is a lot better than the 40-60% difference we have on our regular retail Hasbro Transformers toys (Generations, Studio Series, Cyberverse, etc).
Fortunately, people on here and on our facebook page are being mature and intelligent enough to not criticise EB Games for a price that is not their fault... it's TakaraTomy's fault.