Transformers Beast Wars Masterpiece MP-46 Blackarachnia Official Images

Booster Gold

Yup the theory is the recent announcement about a possible Beast Wars movie has reignited interest in the casual collector. They've come looking for Beast Wars figures found Primal and his price has rocketed due to demand… That's the theory anyway.

I'm sure it's a factor, but it's more likely that his price went way up cuz it's the cartoon accurate release and he's not readily available anymore. How many people do you think passed on his retail release cuz they thought it was a on-off, that are now coming back around cuz it's clear the BWMP line isn't going anywhere? Casual fans sure aren't paying his current market price, besides I haven't seen MP-38 go up in price and if it was just casual collectors you'd likely be seeing his price go up too since it looks like the toy that a lot of those fans might have had growing up.

Trunkkey

Holy crap I didn’t realize primal’s price shot up that high.

Yup the theory is the recent announcement about a possible Beast Wars movie has reignited interest in the casual collector. They've come looking for Beast Wars figures found Primal and his price has rocketed due to demand… That's the theory anyway.

She's far from a failure. I wouldn't be surprised if she suddenly dries up and her prices jack up like they have with Primal. She uses the same body for 3 seasons, is a fantastic companion piece to 2 other popular characters in the show, and she is one of the first breakout characters from the show. She's also popular enough to have gotten a KO on the market now too so I'm sure that has affected the price people may be willing to pay for an original.

Booster Gold

Largely conjecture based on availability and price. You can still get her fairly easily at a reasonable prices, therefore she possibly wasn't a massive hit. It's hardly conclusive.

Fair enough. She does appear to be sold out in most Japanese online stores. But yeah, she can still be had for decent prices on the secondary market here in Japan.

lord ginrai

What's making people think BA wasn't a success? She's sold out at Amazon Japan at least.

2ndary market prices?

SPLIT LIP

*keystrokes*

But seriously, at the very least Tigatron requires entirely new moulds because of his size. Whatever paltry legwork was saved in CAD from the few identical robot parts he and Cheetor share, it’d all be eaten up by the slew of new pieces and size.

You don’t buffer against poor sales by making an entirely new figure, you do a Road Rage or a Targetmaster Hot Rodimus, something small and simple. If Tigatron was some attempt to minimize risk then he failed by virtue of the figure still being 100% unique tooling. It’s like saying Ultra Magnus’ R&D was cut down because shares MP-10’s cab design.

No expense was spared on big cat, which is great of course.

I don't think they are buffering against poor sales just yet! I don't really buy that BA was a huge flop or anything, just maybe not as big a hit as previous releases. I think they are dipping their toe into more 'obscure' characters with Tigatron and agree with me or not (we've had this discussion and I have no appetite to have it again) I still believe and feel there's some grounds to believe it was less work/cheaper to create Tigatron than it would have been to do say Terrorsaur or Scoponok. Whatever new mould they decided to design they'd need new pieces, at least this one shares some elements with a previous one that can be transferred/repurposed. I don't disagree that a repaint would be cheaper but IMO Tigatron is towards the top end of the scale of expenditure between a straight repaint and a totally brand new and entirely different mould. More expensive than the former for sure but slightly cheaper than the latter. Again you don't have to agree with me, its not mandatory  

I'm also not suggesting that they cheaped out on Tigatron, I'm delighted that they went as far as they did in totally re-designing him (even it I'm not 100% on board with all those deign choices) and giving him the new mould he deserved to be considered a proper Masterpiece. You are right no expense was spared, but my personal believe is some money was saved by virtue of already having Cheetor under their belt.

Booster Gold

I think they went with a Tigatron (who although a totally NEW mould) likely shares some R&D, CAD design work, MAYBE some transformation elements and MAYBE some slightly re-sculpted/designed 'upscaled parts' etc etc (PLEASE DON'T @ ME) with Cheetor, and therefore not be as much of a risk for them if he doesn't sell well.

*keystrokes*

But seriously, at the very least Tigatron requires entirely new moulds because of his size. Whatever paltry legwork was saved in CAD from the few identical robot parts he and Cheetor share, it’d all be eaten up by the slew of new pieces and size.

You don’t buffer against poor sales by making an entirely new figure, you do a Road Rage or a Targetmaster Hot Rodimus, something small and simple. If Tigatron was some attempt to minimize risk then he failed by virtue of the figure still being 100% unique tooling. It’s like saying Ultra Magnus’ R&D was cut down because he shares MP-10’s cab design.

No expense was spared on big cat, which is great of course. The issue with Blackarachnia is that- and I fucking love this figure -to anyone who’s not familiar with the show model and it’s impossible task of marrying her two modes into one figure, the spider mode compromises are too much. Compare to a G1 MP which usually have flawless alt modes at the expense of kibble-y robot modes. A robot still looks like a robot even with a backpack, but that spider ain’t a spider to the non-BW-savvy. We understand the bot mode was given priority given the impossibility of the transformation and importance of the character, but would the average Japanese TF fan realize that?

Fafnir72

Maybe there just isn't enough BW fans to support the product? I don't think it was because she wuzz just a guyl   type robot. The other MP BW brothers are fairly popular with cross appeal from G1 fans (me included though I also own BW). Maybe a mix of many factors (BB was also released almost simultaneously with her and Hound).

I guess we'll see with Tigatron, unlike G1 they front loaded BW with their heavy hitters right off the bat, it's hard to say if it's a good or bad thing yet. They may end up jumping all over, the survey questions made it seem they were already looking at other branches of BW. Just surprised, after the previous BW releases dried up pretty quick. Primal is like $200 now.,

jackisking

i dont think it was anything about muddying waters, I think they probably thought she would have a little more crossover appeal. I thought being female would give her a push in sales but judging by her availability and price, I don't think that's what happened.

I see… you might be right and that is sort of what I meant by 'muddying the waters', they didn't make compromises to her aesthetics/show accuracy to play up the cross over appeal, maybe her 'failure' to tap into that market had an effect of how Arcee turned out? In that case I'm glad we got BA first… That said though if BA, who actually has the exaggerated 'naked lady' body required, didn't work why do TT think giving Arcee one is going to?

To be honest don't really buy your theory, I reckon her mess of an alt-mode rather high price, SLIGHTLY lower popularity as a character to previous releases and arachnophobia were likely larger factors in any perceived lack of sales than lack of 'cross over' appeal.

Mako Crab

I got a text yesterday saying that she was going to show up today. Got all excited, but no. She never showed. Checked the amazon tracking and it says she’ll be here Monday. What the hell?

Looks like late arrivals is a pattern for this figure lately.