- Show opening
- What's new
- Our gaming pickups
- "M" grabs Fortress Maximus
- Mike Co's referral on Masterpiece Inferno at a lower price
- What is the turn-off of Masterpiece figures?
- What's the deal with U.S. pricing at TFCon?!
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I get what you are saying about it being nice to have the retail brown shipping box for Fortress max, but I would not pay anything for it. If the TRU rep allowed me to take it, then I would for the heck of it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I order retail figures from EntertainmentEarth I do receive the factory Hasbro shipping boxes. Truthfully unless I'm going to keep a case sealed, I eventually throw them out. PS: I dont buy two of every figure anymore so dont keep a second set sealed in case :)
As for Fort Max's box itself, I wish Hasbro would have given us the extra space inside the box for a Fully assembled figure. When I ordered my Takara Metroplex the Figure was fully assembled unlike the Hasbro version. Yes the box was a little wider than the Hasbro version, but as a collector I favor being able to place my figure back in the box for safe storage.
Moving along to Masterpiece figures. I'm kind of tired myself in buying every Masterpiece release. The pricing is getting higher, and feel like I'm not getting anymore more for the price point. Give me Rubber tires, and with that small gesture, I would take that as an improvement.
I have opened myself to the world of Third party. I'm not talking about a KO, or even an Oversized Prime which was nice, but not officially Third party if that is even a correct way of saying it :)
I have read, and listened to some interesting interviews regarding the underground world of 3P. People who are in the business are coming out to demystify who these 3P companies are, and how they operate.
Since you guys like TFsource we will use them as an example of an Retailer who sells 3P products. Fans Toys is pretty much at the top right now creating G1 representations in a Masterpiece scale. We are talking about the use of high quality plastic that feels better than Takara, along with a good mix of Die cast. When you pick up and hold one of the Fans Toys products, it just feels good. I must say the Joints are very tight, and some have used "Silicone shock oil" drops before transformation to loosen them up a little. I own SOAR which is a MP representation of Swoop in his Blue Cartoon chest color. He is beautiful. I also own Grenadier, Forager, and Mercenary which are the Insecticons. Once again a win.
Another company I got into is MMC with their Ocular Max line. I have their Sphinx which is MP Mirage. Wonderful to hold and transform. I do not have an interest to even own a Takara version at this point. When you were at TFCON you possibly saw Stealth Sphinx limited to 500 pieces @ ages 3 Up booth. Well they divided them up and sold a few on their site last Wednesday. I got an order in and cant wait to get him. Mid transformation Mirage, is such a cool idea that I cant see Takara ever doing because of Budget constraints which 3P doesn't have.
3P figures are normally more expensive because of individual molds, and smaller runs vs Takara making a mold and doing 4 repaints of of it.
Well nice chatting again. I do hope to get some new videos up, and think about turning on comments :)
Lotus
Good call on not buying two of every figure any more. That gets costly and then there's always the issue of storage space.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you're feeling the same way about MP figures as I am. I still love the look, etc but have to truthfully acknowledge how much less bang for our buck we are getting. Remember the original MP-1? Now that was was a toy worth its price point.
We do appreciate the 3rd party figures but unfortunately even Fans Toys has had their share of quality control issues. I remember there was a significant issue with Scoria. I'm forgetting if it was his shoulder ratchets or something else but when I spend $200 on a collectible, I just don't want to have to mod it after the fact. Don't get me wrong though; It's still a beautiful figure. Fans Toys are definitely top notch overall. I collected 3rd party figures very briefly but as a collector had to draw a line in the sand somewhere and stick with it. 3rd party had to go.
I don't recall seeing Stealth Sphinx at TFCon but will definitely check it out. Congrats on securing one for your collection.
Looking forward to your upcoming YouTube videos. Give us a heads up when you post your next one. We'd like to check it out.
Cheers M