Foreign first-release TOY sightings

[Bladestorm]

As there was a bit of interest in another thread on the Japanese Optimus Primes I thought I would post a few photos here of what is on shelves and prices here in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Apologies for quality of photos - the stores here don't like people taking pictures of their shelves/stock so they're a bit rushed.

AD-31 - HK$799 (AU$133)

Lost Age Battle Command Optimus - reduced to HK$398 (AU$66)

...One of the shelves in one of the Wan Chai stores.

This is what I purchased today with prices. I suspect the ghost Starscream is fake but picked him up anyways as I was impressed with the packaging and he's for my son anyways. It came from a store notorious for it's fakes but the packaging is impressive right down to the official Japanese ST code, internal card + instructions, etc...
Two pack Kreo was only in one store and they had very few pieces left. Individual Kreo seems to be priced based on character and the cheapest I could find Optimus was HK$109 (AU$18). Again, not all the characters were easy to find and not a huge amount of stock left on shelves.

Combiner Wars wave 3 was due out today but none of the shops received delivery and actually hadn't been informed by Hasbro HK when to expect them yet. I suspect they will pop up next week.
Hope this info might be interesting to some of you.

[Bidoofdude]

How much are specialist sets in HK? Interested to see the price difference between there and US online stores.

[Bladestorm]

For anyone interested Kidslogic TF03 Mini Figure set is now available.
I picked up my pre-order yesterday from their Mong Kok store.




More pictures and a review (biased coz I LOVE these kinds of figures) on my blog.

[Bladestorm]

How much are specialist sets in HK? Interested to see the price difference between there and US online stores.

If you are talking about Autobot (Ironhide, Hound, Mirage) or their Decepticon equivalent - then the list price in this store is HK$990 (AU$164). This store is generally one of the more expensive though.

I've seen them around mid $800 (around AU$145) over in Kowloon but they are hard to find these days.

I wouldn't mind the set with Ironhide but I just can't justify the expense to get the one figure in the set as I have no interest in Hound or Mirage.

[Megatran]

For anyone interested Kidslogic TF03 Mini Figure set is now available.
I picked up my pre-order yesterday from their Mong Kok store.

More pictures and a review (biased coz I LOVE these kinds of figures) on my blog.

These mini figures are really growing on me. My wife has the larger 6-inch Optimus Prime from a while back. I'm not sold on Ironhide's face sculpt though. He looks a tad too mean. Megatron looks awesome. Might have to get the gold version too. But sheesh, they're expensive.

Nice blog too.

[Bidoofdude]

If you are talking about Autobot (Ironhide, Hound, Mirage) or their Decepticon equivalent - then the list price in this store is HK$990 (AU$164). This store is generally one of the more expensive though.

I've seen them around mid $800 (around AU$145) over in Kowloon but they are hard to find these days.

I wouldn't mind the set with Ironhide but I just can't justify the expense to get the one figure in the set as I have no interest in Hound or Mirage.

Wow. I expected them to be quite cheaper, considering they were at American stores for $130 (now clearanced at BBTS, hoping to save for them).

[UltimateGalvatron]

How much are the TAV Warrior Class figures in HK? If specific character matters Roadblock.

[Bladestorm]

How much are the TAV Warrior Class figures in HK? If specific character matters Roadblock.

Cheapest I have seen him is around AU$18 - $20.
Haven't been to the stores that stock the Japanese lines recently though so not sure if he is still easily available or if they have started marking up their figures.

As for prices, HK isn't always cheaper than Oz/US (especially Toys'R'Us) and you really have to shop around/pre-order if there is something you are definitively after. It's a much different environment than walking into a shopping mall and having a full range or big stores in front of you - no Target, Big W, Myers, etc here. The only "chain" store is Toys'R'Us. Toy hunting even for those of us who live locally involves sifting through lots of small stores some of whom will have stock, some of whom won't... some of whom know what their Transformers are worth, others who just price them at whatever they think (can be great bargains, can be ridiculously expensive). You can have 2 small stores opposite each other with the same product and have differences of AU$5 to $10 or more between the stores which is why I ALWAYS encourage people coming here to shop around and not impulse buy the first figure you see from the current lines.

[griffin]

The smaller (6 inch) Titans for RID have been found in America.
Four in the set - Optimus, Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Steeljaw.

[Bladestorm]

That really huge RID Bumblebee is out here in HK. Saw him today for HK$499. He looks impressive but I'm waiting for Optimus. Sorry for no pics - the store owner was right next to me and doesn't like pics being taken of his merchandise.