Is Yamato too greedy?

[Black Valkyrie]

Amazon has the 1/60 VF-1A ver. 02 for 99.99$

[VFTF1]

Yamato didn't take 10 years to make a 1/48... experience and actual time taken are two totally different matters. Shouldn't talk about Yamato valk making journey like how The Eagles wrote their songs...42 years to write and 4 minutes to sing... If there is any hint in sincerity from the former, we'd take your words for it already

In monetary terms, the experience impacted the time taken. Obviously the physical production of one VF-1 valkyrie takes...I dunno? How long? 15 minutes? But to get to that point took a lot of work - not the least of which was probably experimenting with numerous designs to make perfect transformation possible.

It was a huge investment in time and energy spread out over ten years - so my only point was that if people can complain in the manner of "man - I have to work 3 days to afford this thing" then they should take into consideration how long the company had to work to get to the point where they could offer it to you for three days of work.

Or - to put it another way - how would you feel if you had to work 10 years in order to be able to offer something (say and SV-51) to someone for three days of time?

I'd feel like charging 21,000 Yen for it

Pete

[sketchley]

(...)to someone for three days of time?

(...)

Or a couple of weeks of mowing lawns/babysitting - stuff that any entrepreneurial youth can easily do to make a bunch of money in a short period of time.

2 years just sounds lazy and/or a spendthrift.

Edited December 13, 2008 by sketchley

[eugimon]

Or a couple of weeks of mowing lawns/babysitting - stuff that any entrepreneurial youth can easily do to make a bunch of money in a short period of time.

2 years just sounds lazy and/or a spendthrift.

2 billion people live on less than 2 dollars a day, so maybe 2 years isn't lazy....

[sketchley]

If one can afford access to the internet, I doubt that one is living on $2 (USD? AUD? HKD?) a day.

[eugimon]

If one can afford access to the internet, I doubt that one is living on $2 (USD? AUD? HKD?) a day.

In africa they have a service where the villagers write their emails and it gets stored on a local computer with wifi,, then a guy on a motorbike or jeep drives by and downloads/uploads emails and moves on to the next site.

And in some countries that are painfully poor, internet and cell phone service is readily available. i've been to communities in rural china where farm hands slept huddled together in rooms still warmed by coal burning stoves, where a flashlight was considered a luxury, yet they still had satellite TV to watch their korean soap operas and time on a computer that had internet access.

Technology and the access to it is not a good indicator of the economic development or access of a people or region. The days of a predictable, linear growth in technology and infrastructure are long gone.

I'm not saying this guy is such a case, I'm was just pointing out that people in different parts of the world can make drastically different amounts of money for the same amount of work put in.

[SchizophrenicMC]

Or a couple of weeks of mowing lawns/babysitting - stuff that any entrepreneurial youth can easily do to make a bunch of money in a short period of time.

2 years just sounds lazy and/or a spendthrift.

Problem is, I live in Texas, where the grass doesn't grow, so no one wants me to mow their yellow lawn... And no one would let me babysit, as no one knows me, and those that do, don't trust me. (It's because I'm not 16 yet, isn't it. ) I am a young, entrepeneurial person, however, the universal response of people with grass in their yard is, "I already have a lawnmower." I'm not selling mine. I'm selling my services. No one wants them.

So, eventually, over the course of 2 years (And, actually, my dad steals a lot of the money I make) I can earn around $200. Roughly the price of a Yamato and shipping.

[eugimon]

kid, couldn't you just have said you life in the congo to help me make my point?

[VFTF1]

Technology and the access to it is not a good indicator of the economic development or access of a people or region. The days of a predictable, linear growth in technology and infrastructure are long gone.

Eugimon is right.

Where I live, there was NO ELECTRICITY until...1968.

1968!

There was electricity in London in the late 1800s! This place had no electricity until...1968. And the electricity would routinely die for weeks on end up until around 2005.

Only now - for the past three years - has the electricy been working regularly, without fail.

Also - there are no highways i my country. I remember Justice Stevens (US Supreme court) remarking that he still remembers America without highways, where you just had two lane rural roads everywhere. That's what I have here.

In spite of this, people have cell phones, luxury cars, internet access and other modern goods and services. The explanation for why some things change very slowly while others progress and advance (like road infrastructure vs. cell phone technology) is actually quite simple: all you have to do is recognize who builds roads and owns roads vs. who builds cell phones, laptops and other trinkets... but I don't wanna get into that 'cause it's forbidden by the rules here

As for how much money people make - we should always measure the value of per capita income relative to purchasing power in the given area rather than relative to your purchasing power where you live. The question is "what can they buy for that money?" and not "what could I buy, living where I live?"

In Poland, there ar lots of Chinese immigrants working construction - they worked for about 13% of what a Polish person makes on average. I'm sure that they would save this money up and go back to China and live like kings. Of course the newspapers here made a fuss about how it was exploitation...

And Polish people would go work in England or Ireland for a summer and then return to Poland having made more waiting tables than their counterparts who would work here as bankers or accountants.

So - it all depends on what you an purchase for the money you've made and where you go to purchase it...

Um - and Yamato's not greedy I think it's sad that the poll result is different - but then again, I'm almost always in the minority, so I guess this time it's no different

Pete

[crescens]

I never said it was. However, this dude

is complaining about how he has to work for a week to get enough money for a valk. Comparatively, an unemployed minor like myself must work around 2 years, doing random odd-jobs for such things.

this isn't whining about prices./// if i was whining it'd be like "waaa yamato's are soo expensive i need to burn my eyes in front of my pc for 1 week doing this gay dtp stuff to buy one, and lol that's 1/4 of my paycheck..." this is whining...

im taking those prices on my chest >_>

"yamato is a japanese comapny aiming at japanese market" this is another thing... i'll be a bitch now and say i dont care how much some1 need to work to get one, for me it may be 1 week or 3 days depending on project im working now... sorry but never said its too expensive... just stated its 1 week of work for me... sigh...

:rant off:

edit*

never voted in poll... yamato's greediness is a personal statement that depends on income :X

:a$$hole mode off:

Edited December 13, 2008 by crescens

[sketchley]

kid, couldn't you just have said you life in the congo to help me make my point?

I understand your point, but my comments where aimed squarely at the socio-economic situation of the kid. I'm sure people in the Congo have better things to do with their internet access than complaining about how expensive Yamato's products are.

VFTF1 - you're refering to PPP: purchasing power parity. For further insight on it, Google "the Big Mac Index". Sadly, as the content of this discussion is on an export/import item, PPP doesn't apply; other than in discussion on how comparatively expensive (or inexpensive) the products are versus the actual sale price.

[SchizophrenicMC]

The point stands: Yamato toys are Japanese, therefore expensive

[VFTF1]

Brera: Ozma-Wan never told you about your brother!

Ranka: He told me enough! He told me YOU killed him!

Brera: No, Ranka, I am your brother!

Ranka: That's impossible!

Brera: Search your feelings, you know it to be true!

THAT is cool

Somebody should just give you a Valkyrie for Christmas

Pete

[eugimon]

The point stands: Yamato toys are Japanese, therefore expensive

hah, I remember when "made in japan" meant cheap shoddy knock off.

[edwin3060]

Eugimon: Dude.. nice way to reveal your age!

SchizophrenicMC: +1.. although to me, anything made in the Western world is expensive, not just Japan.

Sketchley: Just wiki-ed the Big Mac index, and from my brief scan of it, and from this extract:

" The Big Mac PPP exchange rate between two countries is obtained by dividing the price of a Big Mac in one country (in its currency) by the price of a Big Mac in another country (in its currency). This value is then compared with the actual exchange rate; if it is lower, then the first currency is under-valued (according to PPP theory) compared with the second, and conversely, if it is higher, then the first currency is over-valued.

For example, using figures in July 2008:[4]

* the price of a Big Mac was $3.57 in the United States

* the price of a Big Mac was £2.29 in the United Kingdom (Britain)

* the implied purchasing power parity was $1.56 to £1, that is $3.57/£2.29 = 1.56

* this compares with an actual exchange rate of $2.00 to £1 at the time

* the pound was thus overvalued against the dollar by 28%

o ie the actual exchange rate divided by implied purchasing parity → 2 divided by 1.56 = 1.28"

I don't think it works very well-- maybe it works well in the Western Hemisphere, but MacDonalds actually prices its meals based on local conditions as well. For example, a Big Mac meal costs about 5-6 British pounds in the UK, and costs 5-6 Singapore dollars as well. Similarly, a Snickers bar that costs about 1 pound here costs 1 dollar in Singapore. But I digress.

Edited December 13, 2008 by edwin3060

[Jasonc]

Look, I can understand people who may not be too happy because they can't afford all the toys that are coming out. I was at that point once too. However, you can't call a company greedy just cause their product is expensive in your opinion. The hard fact is, is that Yamato is a company to make money, they aren't a company to produce toys for nothing. Even arguing about their cost to profit ratio is a waste of time. If I owned my own company and sold a product that was in a sort of demand, I'd want to make as much money as possible. How can a company that's selling their product at a good rate be greedy? It's a company that has to produce/sell items based on the market, and if the market is dictating to them that they can sell a Valkyrie at $200, why would they just decide to sell it for much less? I'm sure if you were in their position and knew that people will buy your product at $200 max, you'd sell it at that, and would be just happy knowing that you are making a great amount of dough.

Sometimes I get a sense that we (yes even I) feel a sense of entitlement from these companies because we are fans, or because we buy so many products from Yamato. If you take the mindset that they are still a company trying to make themselves, shareholders, and investors happy, it's easy to see that they are not being greedy at all. If I'm coming off harsh, I apologize, but in the same light, someone who makes $8/hour isn't going to go out and buy a Mercedes overnight. It's the way the world turns. Cheer up though, we're debating toys, it's not like we're complaining about being able to afford food. God, forbid that from happening.

[edwin3060]

Sometimes I get a sense that we (yes even I) feel a sense of entitlement from these companies because we are fans, or because we buy so many products from Yamato. If you take the mindset that they are still a company trying to make themselves, shareholders, and investors happy, it's easy to see that they are not being greedy at all. If I'm coming off harsh, I apologize, but in the same light, someone who makes $8/hour isn't going to go out and buy a Mercedes overnight. It's the way the world turns. Cheer up though, we're debating toys, it's not like we're complaining about being able to afford food. God, forbid that from happening.

What about if, in buying the toys, we can't afford food? I know I know I'm joking... heh.

[VFTF1]

Everything Jasonc said is true - but also please remember one thing:

When you say that a company is out to make money and not make stuff for you for free - you should follow it up with a simple question: how are they going to make money?

The simple answer to that question is always the same: by providing something that people want at prices people are willing to pay, and doing so for costs that are lower.

This goes for every company - and even the largest companies worth billions of dollars will vanish from the face of the Earth eventually if they aren't serving the needs of their customers in the long run.

So it's not like this situation that Jasonc described is somehow bad for us. It's good. It's a situation in which other people are working day in and day out to make YOU happy - hoping that by doing so they'll make a buck.

If there were a way to produce what Yamato is making and sell it for less - someone would be doing it now. If more people wanted Macross toys to the extent that huge production runs could off-set costs and lower the price - it would happen - because it would be profitable.

And a final word - to re-iterate: when a company is making "insane" profits - those profits are a signal to the rest of the market - a signal which says: "hey look guys! Check out how much people are willing to fork over for X!" - and other companies will therefore have the incentive to enter that market in the hopes of capturing some of that profit share.

So without excess profits people wouldn't know where to invest their time and resources - that is one of the results of profit; it tells us what is in demand and beneficial to do.

I think it's legitamite to WANT cheaper Valkyrie and desire that they have better QC, durability and all that - we should not just silently accept anything dished out to us "just because."

But at the same time, I think it's counter -productive to be voting in a poll about Yamato being greedy. Now I'm gonna be a little sentimental and say that I think it would hurt the feelings of Yamato people if they saw a poll like this and saw that the "too greedy" option was winning. Of course everyone has the right to their opinion - and the right to set up this kind of poll and express their opinion.

But I think it would still make Yamato folks feel bad and not at all in a productive way. A thousand posts of "damn you Yamato my valkyrie sprung a leak because of your QC" are better than one poll like this. Griping about QC should encourage Yamato to do better and is an honorable legitamite gripe that they as a company need to take to heart.

But calling them greedy - in my personal opinion - is not fair to the people who work there.

Pete

[ntsan]

In africa they have a service where the villagers write their emails and it gets stored on a local computer with wifi,, then a guy on a motorbike or jeep drives by and downloads/uploads emails and moves on to the next site.

And in some countries that are painfully poor, internet and cell phone service is readily available. i've been to communities in rural china where farm hands slept huddled together in rooms still warmed by coal burning stoves, where a flashlight was considered a luxury, yet they still had satellite TV to watch their korean soap operas and time on a computer that had internet access.

Technology and the access to it is not a good indicator of the economic development or access of a people or region. The days of a predictable, linear growth in technology and infrastructure are long gone.

I'm not saying this guy is such a case, I'm was just pointing out that people in different parts of the world can make drastically different amounts of money for the same amount of work put in.

I can vouch that

I went to India early this year. People are quite poor in rural area, but they still have mobile phone and satellite TV, even if they only earn 3000 rupees per month. (3000/40=USD75 per month), and net cafe are all the rage..

[SchizophrenicMC]

It's a company that has to produce/sell items based on the market, and if the market is dictating to them that they can sell a Valkyrie at $200, why would they just decide to sell it for much less?

I dunno. Bungie Studios, employed entirely by greedy Americans, seems pretty content with the idea of selling downloadable content at well below market prices for content of the same class. However, their publishers disagree. Personally, I think you've got to look at this from a pre-profit perspective: The plastic is cheap. Molding it is cheap. Assembly's probably the most expensive step. Packaging is rather cheap. However, profit is expensive. For example, Legos. All of them are made in Denmark, Sweden, and the Czech Republic. They are molded out of higher-grade plastic than even the Yamatos, (It's actually approved as a construction material in some places), packaged by hand since machines can't sort them correctly, (And these sets can have hundreds, even thousands, of pieces.) and then processed in Billund, Denmark, London, Britain, and finally Enfield, Connecticut in the US. Yet I see few sets priced above $100. A single Yamato 1/60 is more expensive and has fewer possibilities. So what's my point? Legos pwn.

[eugimon]

that's actually a rather poor comparison. 90% of legos are classic blocks that have been around for DECADES. very few sets have unique pieces, so there's endless re-usability for any given mold. While specific kits may have a limited production run, the actual components do not.

The same isn't the same for a valk, a wing panel for the 1/48 VF-1 has very few applications other than as a wing panel for the 1/48 VF-1. Any non modular toy has far more costs associated with it in terms of modeling, tooling, manufacturing, and construction in comparison.

lego also has far broader appeal and it's markets are not constrained by decades long legal disputes in two countries.

[VFTF1]

So you're saying that what you'd really prefer is that the VF-25 Shoji Kawamori built out of Lego be the final version that is sold to us?

Pete

[SchizophrenicMC]

Well, the VF-1 I showed you is about 1/32 scale and it transforms... So, a VF-25 isn't much of a stretch. Not Kawamori-sensei's lego Messiah, but a more refined one...

And on your note of the molds, they take a lot of strain and are generally replaced within 2 years. The molds lose quality over time. A wing panel is a wing panel, but those molds last for years. A 2x4 Lego Brick mold, aside from taking the strain of a denser plastic being extruded through it, produces more of the bricks and doesn't last a long time. And Harmony Gold's copyright is disputed, finally. Big West is now saying that Tatsunoko never had the right to give HG the copyrights, since they didn't own them. If BW wins...

[ntsan]

Isn't someone else's Lego VB-6 much better than the Yamato's offering?

[eugimon]

Well, the VF-1 I showed you is about 1/32 scale and it transforms... So, a VF-25 isn't much of a stretch. Not Kawamori-sensei's lego Messiah, but a more refined one...

And on your note of the molds, they take a lot of strain and are generally replaced within 2 years. The molds lose quality over time. A wing panel is a wing panel, but those molds last for years. A 2x4 Lego Brick mold, aside from taking the strain of a denser plastic being extruded through it, produces more of the bricks and doesn't last a long time. And Harmony Gold's copyright is disputed, finally. Big West is now saying that Tatsunoko never had the right to give HG the copyrights, since they didn't own them. If BW wins...

Lets say you're right and the molds are completely broken down, they still don't need to make anything else new. They aren't paying an engineer to design a new brick, a materials engineer to pick the plastic (granted yamato doesn't seem to pay this guy enough) and they're not paying to retrain their workers to learn how to assemble a new toy. They're not paying to reconfigure their machines for the new molds, they're not in contract negotiations with their suppliers to deliver the new plastic formulas. They're not paying QC engineer to stress test the new bricks.

this is the WHOLE POINT of a modular system. Distributed costs, lower overhead by reproducing the same basic component for different projects. It's why and how fast food restaurants are so profitable, minimal unique ingredients and procedures, plenty of unique products.

And please go look up "economies of scale"

And yes, disputed... as in lawyers are being paid, where do you think BW is getting the money to fight this thing for 20 years? That's right, us. On that note, the majority of products sold by lego are owned by lego, the IP that is. EVERYTHING yamato sells they have to pay someone to be able to sell, you don't think that factors into the costs?

[VFTF1]

this is the WHOLE POINT of a modular system. Distributed costs, lower overhead by reproducing the same basic component for different projects. It's why and how fast food restaurants are so profitable, minimal unique ingredients and procedures, plenty of unique products.

De Culta!! You made me hungry!! I sooo want two cheesrburgers and super sized fries now!!!

Damn you Yamato for making me fork over so much money that I can't even afford a cheesburger now!

Pete

[sketchley]

「．．．」

I don't think it works very well-- maybe it works well in the Western Hemisphere, but MacDonalds actually prices its meals based on local conditions as well. For example, a Big Mac meal costs about 5-6 British pounds in the UK, and costs 5-6 Singapore dollars as well. Similarly, a Snickers bar that costs about 1 pound here costs 1 dollar in Singapore. But I digress.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. "The Big Mac Index" is a static, imperfect generalization intended only as a guide. (That's both in my referencing it herein, and also it's use in the Economist.)

[mojacko]

i think the title is a bit confusing,......is yamato greedy??? follow up by being content on their prices....IMO i think it deserves a separate thread...

[SchizophrenicMC]

They aren't paying an engineer to design a new brick, a materials engineer to pick the plastic (granted yamato doesn't seem to pay this guy enough) and they're not paying to retrain their workers to learn how to assemble a new toy.

But they are. Almost every new set has a new part. We're not still using the same parts from 1971. No. Look at that Falcon, for example. I can list at least 21 new parts made especially for that.

They're not paying to reconfigure their machines for the new molds, they're not in contract negotiations with their suppliers to deliver the new plastic formulas.

Except, they've changed material 3 times in the last 5 years.

They're not paying QC engineer to stress test the new bricks.

Go to the Billund, Denmark building and tell me you still think that.

this is the WHOLE POINT of a modular system. Distributed costs, lower overhead by reproducing the same basic component for different projects. It's why and how fast food restaurants are so profitable, minimal unique ingredients and procedures, plenty of unique products.

Yet only one unique toy is made per model. The rest are different paint masks, and that's it.

And yes, disputed... as in lawyers are being paid, where do you think BW is getting the money to fight this thing for 20 years? That's right, us.

Disputed? I meant in litigation. Harmony Gold's been barred from any distribution of Macross products, on its way to total forfeit of its Macross copyrights (Except Robotech's Macross Saga), should Big West press the charges further. They've been getting this money from sales of merchandise. However, merchandise only goes so far. Toys, anyway. Only a small part of the money in the cost of a Yamato is royalties. Same goes for Lego, now that I think of it.

On that note, the majority of products sold by lego are owned by lego, the IP that is. EVERYTHING yamato sells they have to pay someone to be able to sell, you don't think that factors into the costs?

Lego Star Wars, Lego Speed Racer, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Ferarri, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Spongebob, Lego Batman. This constitutes roughly 6.2/8 of their products. That is to say, of every 40 Lego Products, 31 are externally trademarked. Um... That don't sound like most.

[eugimon]

the new parts are not unique, they get recycled into other sets, thus molding and development costs get distributed over multiple kits for years and years. And yes, we are still playing with the same bricks from 1979, I know because I still own kits from 1979 and I've made plenty of modern kits.

wow, 3 plastic formulation over 5 whole years? as opposed to multiple plastic formulations and metal molds for each product. I count at least 4 unique materials in just leg of a vf-0, threres metal, rubber and at least 2 unique plastic formulations.

Let's see, Lego.com, front page, 11 lego IPs and 3 licensed... sounds like most to me.

[blacklotus]

the new parts are not unique, they get recycled into other sets, thus molding and development costs get distributed over multiple kits for years and years. And yes, we are still playing with the same bricks from 1979, I know because I still own kits from 1979 and I've made plenty of modern kits.

wow, 3 plastic formulation over 5 whole years? as opposed to multiple plastic formulations and metal molds for each product. I count at least 4 unique materials in just leg of a vf-0, threres metal, rubber and at least 2 unique plastic formulations.

Let's see, Lego.com, front page, 11 lego IPs and 3 licensed... sounds like most to me.

Well, so have I. I've a Lego cowboy and red indian brick set from the early 80s. Remember those giant Lego humanoids? Those are common parts to represent humans back then. Not the new mini figurines that are the norm nowadays.

And best of all, I'm still using them in my new sets which I recently bought last week for Xmas for myself.

So, I agree, a better poll should be if Yamato should improve on their QC, not ask if Yamato is greedy. All companies exist to make profits. Lego included.

And that's the main reason I stopped buying Japanese (Kaiyodo, Yamato, MaxFactory, etc) poseable toys. Their QC sucks big time. Most of the LEGO bricks I have when I'm in pre-school/elementary school still works perfectly, and the colors are still bright and looks brand new, except for a few that I broke by brute force.

This is unlike that Yamato mechas/robots or Kaiyodo revoltech/MaxFactory figma poseable figures. They feel used the moment I take them out of the box. (loose joints, bent parts, broken antennae, wrong polarity magnets, etc).

I still buy plenty of Japanese toys (US$1000 or more per month) (Mainly Megahouse/Goodsmile/Alter figures)

But I have sold off or given away most of my poseable Yamato/Kaiyodo/MaxFactory stuff.

Improve on the QC, and I might get back to collecting Yamato's macross/bubblegum crisis stuff. Else, I will only buy their cheaper fixed pose figures, which have much better quality control than their more expensive transformable counterparts.

[eugimon]

yeah, I remember those big dudes, but those were mostly for the technic kits back when I was a kid. I remember the mini figures back in the mid 80s... ?

[blacklotus]

yeah, I remember those big dudes, but those were mostly for the technic kits back when I was a kid. I remember the mini figures back in the mid 80s... ?

Yup. I believe the 1st mini figures appeared in the 1st castle kit - 4 knights, their squires and horses, and quite a number of CannonFodders. I pestered my mom for months to get that one. I believe it was S$169, which is a lot of money spent for a kid from a working class family in Singapore in 1983. She finally bought it for me when I did well enough in elementary school to go to a pretty prestigious high school. (Yeah, in Singapore, there's such things as prestigious high schools. We call them Special Assistance Plan (SAP) secondary schools.)

p.s. The castle is transformable, with a working drawbridge, a central tower, and the 4 corners can fold out to allow one access to the castle interior.

Best toy I had in my childhood. And most of the parts are still perfect, except for a couple of swords and a rotating castle joint which I broke by accident.

I was pretty sad then, but now I know I can get replacement parts for it.

p.p.s. for a nostalgic look at the giant LEGO people, go to http://www.thebricktestament.com/ - one of my favourite websites to get a quick and fun refresher on the bible stories. http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/t...gn06_01-02.html

Edited December 14, 2008 by blacklotus

[SchizophrenicMC]

And you'll find the parts used in the Yamato valks in any model for that scale (Say 1/60 VF-1A) uses the same parts. All that's different between the different versions are their paint masks and plastic color. Remember Skyfire? New paintmask for the old 1/55. With Lego, they've got to maintain production facilities for hundreds of different parts. The 2X4 isn't the only Lego brick. And at least Lego has good QC. Have you ever had a lego fall apart? (Sets notwithstanding, as they do that. It's expected of them. What fun is a modular toy that you can't take apart?) Can you take a Lego 2X4 and snap it in half? A friction hinge with no friction is outrageous, and Lego agrees. QC starts from the minute they buy their molds. Each is measured with a micrometer. If the mold isn't within .2 millimeters of perfect, it's thrown out. This is why a Lego hinge has resistance.

Lego has 23 Properties. Of them, 13 are externally copyrighted/trademarked. Moving from there, more sets are made for the external properties than internal. Why? It sells better. Lego Star Wars is damn popular with the kids, and their parents, even more so. On the same token, a 25 year old is not very likely to buy a Lego City Airplane.

Yet, we see that Lego charges much less. If Lego made a Macross line, we'd have something GREAT!

It's just my belief, that based on other companies, Yamato overcharges, and is totally okay with it, because their customers are totally okay with it.

[VFTF1]

But a Lego Macross line would necessarily have little round stubbs that say "lego" all over it.

I admit that I'm not up to date with the very latest that lego is doing, but to my mind they are not making accurate, streamlined aerodynamic airplanes with complex transformations into mecha based off of the line art of an anime.

In fact - lego have NO EXPERIENCE doing anything remotely close to what Yamato does.

Clearly you do know a lot about Lego and you are capable of presenting a well easoned argument - kudos for that.

But please note that, in my opinion, your comparisson not only ignores the economies of scale, that others mentioned earlier, but more fundamentaly, it presumes that just because a company is successful in doing one thing, then it can be successful doing other things without much effort.

This isn't always the case. In fact, many large corporations - say Coca Cola - that branched out into different fields (suddenly purchasing film studios or what have you) ended up discovering that in the long term, ownership of such entities was a risky business and that their base occupation suffered because of it. This is why when new management was introduced, the first thing they did was to sell of the non-Cola related stuff and focus on the basic business.

Of course, this is not a rule - there are companies which are adept at multi-tasking - sure.

Perhaps if Lego were charged with making a Valkyrie, they would do a stellar job - perhaps.

But I think you have to keep in mind that there is an opportunity cost for everything and also something called diminishing marginal returns. In theory, a company could try to do EVERYTHING better than anyone else. But in practice, it turns out that there will come a point where the cost of doing more is either that you do it worse or that you actually create less value for your company by doing it.

If anything, it would make more sense to compare Yamato to something like Bandai or CMS - companies which do make transformable mecha that are based off of anime rather than saying that since lego can make an inaccurate stub-ladden vehicle and sell it for an amiable price, then this necessarily means that they can make Valkyrie and design things like the perfect transformation 1/48 or 1/60 v.2.

Pete