Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
MP Soundwave has been released twice as far as I'm concerend.Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
TakTOM - extremely expensive now
Hasbro - ludicrously expensive now and almost impossible to find upon release originally
YoTG is not Soundwave.
It baffles me why they won't re release him.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I wasn't even looking for Hasbro Soundwave, yet I was able to find him
Although I was in China when Hasbro Soundwave came out, but I remember seeing people posting about acquisitions here, even after I got back. I think that MPs tend to always sell well when they're reasonably or well priced. So either TRU charges good prices and sells the toys well, but then people complain that the toys are hard to find -- or they sell them at higher prices and the toys shelfwarm and people complain that their prices are outrageous. MPs are always made in more limited numbers because they are directly marketed at adult collectors and not kids.
I don't like the YotG figures either, but that doesn't mean that they don't count.
Actually, I just remembered - TakaraTOMY released MP Soundwave twice in Japan. Once on 26/1/2013, then again with QC issues addressed on 28/9/2013. Then Hasbro released their version around the same time (Sept 2013). Hasbro HK released the YotG version on 23/3/2014, so we've actually seen four (or 3 by your reckoning) releases of MP Soundwave, all within just the first two years of the toy's release.That's not bad considering that the original Soundwave toy was also released 3 times during (1984, 85, 86), and after that no more. The toy would not be reissued again until TFC in 2003; 17 years after that toy was last released.
A mate of mine managed to find an MP Soundwave at TRU in Sydney in late December 2013. He was in hospital in Sept/Oct so missed out on its initial release. I advised him to call every TRU in the Sydney metropolitan area; and sure enough, he was able to find one.
IMO if you really want a toy, then it's up to you as a consumer to either pre-order it or purchase it ASAP at retail. If you're going to come late to the game, then it's your responsibility to track it down yourself (as my friend did after making copious phone calls), or bite the bullet and consider buying it off the aftermarket. I missed out on the first MP Red Alert, so I had to bite the bullet and buy it off the aftermarket at an inflated price of $100. I never ever felt that HasTak "owed" it to me to re-release it because I had skipped the toy. As it turns out, TakaraTOMY are re-releasing it (unless you don't want to count it because it has a different deco), but that's just a bonus for the fandom. Re-releases aren't something that we're entitled to.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
What were the Soundwave qc issues?
Not doubting you, just can't recall them or the second release. Fading memory
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
I'm glad you you were able to find them so easily. That's not always an option living in QLD (Regional QLD at that) where TRU doesn't exist. We have a hard enough time just finding normal releases.
Well to me it doesn't count at all. The Masterpiece line is about official characters with official canon. Just because it uses a common mold, that doesn't make it part of the Masterpiece line.I don't like the YotG figures either, but that doesn't mean that they don't count.
Ok, I'll admit I wasn't aware of that or the QC issues. I was out of the hobby for a while, so I may have missed the initial Jan release, and assumed the September release was the first release. That's my bad.
That's great. But we don't all live in Sydney, or other major cities where this approach is possible.
The Red Alert redeco is only slightly changed and still under the Masterpiece banner. Not a completely changed colour scheme under a side line.
Where did I say that I felt "owed" a Soundwave re-release? I said it needs a re-release, and I was baffled they haven't re released it. You only have to look on Ebay, and talk to other MP collectors to see that the market is crying out for, and would easily support another MP Soundwave release. There wasn't any sense of "entitlement" (A word which really annoys me for how easy it gets thrown around these days. People can want something without feeling "entitled" to it) in what I said. Yes, I want a Soundwave re-release. I also want a million dollars. That doesn't make me "entitled" to it.
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Even living in a major city is no surefire guarantee of finding the toy (although possibly better odds than finding it in a regional store), especially when the entire country skips waves of figures. It started getting so bad in 2013 that even I, someone who'd stubbornly clung onto shopping in brick and mortar stores as long as I could, eventually caved because we were missing so many of the Generations toys that I wanted. I was in China when some of these figures came out, and in a regional place as well where there was only one specialist import store with the same mentality as TRU AU -- charging outrageous prices because there is no local competition. These people seem to forget that this thing called online shopping exists. I tried to haggle with the import store owner (because price haggling is a thing in China
Distribution in Australia isn't completely reliable, and it's been this way for a couple of years now. So for me, if I really want a toy, then I'll pre-order it online. This ensures that I'll get the toy, but it also saves me on time and money in terms of driving around to half a dozen postcodes (and travelling between multiple stores within each postcode) scouring for the toy. I used to do this a lot when I was a S.I.N.K., but having family and work commitments now makes it much harder for me to find that sort of time. Not to mention cost of fuel. If it's a toy that I'm undecided on, then I'll skip the pre-order and see if I can find it locally or not. But I accept the possibility that I may never own the toy. If this is unacceptable to me, then I'll pre-order it.
This is why I preordered the very first released of TakaraTOMY's MP Soundwave and cassettes. At full RRP Soundwave and the Cassettes (3 sets) would cost a total of 24820JPY (approx. $312) before postage; so say about $350 in total, but with pre-order discount I got mine for 18472 ($232), so say about $250 after postage. Now as it turned out, I could've saved $100 if I'd waited for the local Hasbro release, but of course, I never knew that we'd get a Hasbro version here when I pre-ordered MP Soundwave and the Cassettes, and I certainly didn't know it would be so cheap. But I don't regret pre-ordering the TakaraTOMY version even though it was substantially more expensive because I know that it was a toy that I was not willing to miss out on. Most of the time pre-ordering works out cheaper than waiting, but not always. There have been a few times when aftermarket or local prices have worked out cheaper than pre-order prices (the most recent example being MP Road Rage).
I never said that you said any of those things. I was merely describing my own opinion, not yours. Likewise everything in this post is merely a description of my own views and may not necessarily be representative of yours nor intended as imposing any views on anyone else.
Description =/= prescription.
(i.e. I'm just describing my own personal views and practices and do not mean to be suggesting anything about your own views or commenting on your practices)
kurdt_the_goat: Apparently some of the first release MP Soundwaves had the small triangle on the head crest unpainted and other such minor issues. I got a first release MP Soundwave but thankfully it was free of reported QC issues. The September re-release apparently addressed these issues. The Hasbro version has relatively more QC issues (e.g. less consistency in the visor paint app), but considering that it's $200 cheaper than getting the Japanese version at full, RRP I think that it's forgivable.
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
I am surprised that Asia or Japan has not bothered to reissue
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
Dunno about mass release but my Soundwave has a completely unpainted diecast panel on his foot, fortunately it's not overly obvious.What were the Soundwave qc issues?
Not doubting you, just can't recall them or the second release. Fading memory
Rank 10 - Admin
It's an odd one, but I think that if the Megatron gun is inside the box, it could be considered a reissue... but if it is a bonus item given separate with the toy (like the Reflector camera or Vector Sigma), I think that it would be more like the Combiner stickers - the toys are just pre-existing stock, but an incentive item has been issued later by Hasbro Hong Kong... either because it wasn't ready at release, or they are doing it to help move a sluggish item.
The wording from that facebook link even suggests that it is just a sudden promotion that has already started...
It makes it difficult to add it to the Checklist (and the monthly Asian toy listing), as it looks more like the Megatron gun is the new item, rather than the toy and gun.Masterpiece MP-29 Shockwave Reissue Promotion
Get this special design exclusive Megatron Gun free when preorder “ MP-29 Shockwave Reissue " at selected stores in Asia, while supplies Last!
Rank 8 - Deluxe Member
I would say the Megatron gun will be packaged much like the coin and be separate from the boxed figure.
PC, RK and BBTS all have November as the release date; and both RK and BBTS still have the first run available (and in the case of BBTS, with and without coin), so I don't think it's excess stock on hand that they're trying to flog off with a bonus item (PC even mentions there's no coin, only the gun). I would imagine if the stock were pre-existing, we wouldn't have the long wait till November and they wouldn't bother with the gun and just issue it with the coin.
Rank 6 - Dedicated Member
thats is as close as anyone getting a MP megatron.
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