Concern about new Yamato valks prices

[Valkyrie addict]

this threat looks like an economics class resume

I agree, consumer/demand blah blah, but Yamato has always overprice their products, and they are probably pricing their new Macross7 line to cover the big West license, it was mentioned a long time ago that Macross items were expensive cause the license to do them was too high, I don't know if it ever got confirmed

anyway, I stopped buying valks after the vf-1s fokker v2, I'm sorry, but I will go there, I would pay 200+ gladly for any Yamato valk if I had 100% assurance that it will not f*ckng break on my hands, so, for me, Yamato faulty achy-breaky-delicate toys are overpriced, economics my ass, do things rights and then your price will be justified, it's our own fault for accepting this bully behavior from Yamato, we keep buying their expensive sh!t expecting it to break, Yamato knows this and they don't give a rats ass about it

any product that's design poorly, gets recalled, replaced or given a way to get it properly fixed free or at a minimum rate, except Yamatos of course, because Yamato appears to believe that Macross fans can sh!t plastic, glue and screws to fix their 200+ faulty toys with a stupid grin on our face

[jenius]

any product that's design poorly, gets recalled, replaced or given a way to get it properly fixed free or at a minimum rate, except Yamatos of course, because Yamato appears to believe that Macross fans can sh!t plastic, glue and screws to fix their 200+ faulty toys with a stupid grin on our face

As has been stated elsewhere, that's not entirely fair since every indication is that Yamato treats its customers like gold in Japan. It's the people outside of Japan that have the gripe but Yamato is not allowed, due to its licensing agreements, to do anything to help you or to encourage you to buy its products in the first place. I'm not arguing that all the broken shoulders of Yamatos past should be overlooked, I'm just saying they'd probably do a lot to help you... if they could.

[anotheran]

I vote with my wallet. I didn't feel I got good bang for my buck out of the VF-11B and to a lesser extent the VF-22S. As such, I won't be buying any more of those toys unless they're on mega sale.

same here.

valks are pretty expensive... like for the VF-11B. but if I like the design enough I'll pick it up.

I was considering downgrading to 1/100 scale but you just get so much better feel and quality with a 1/60 scale that i couldn't do it.

[VFTF1]

If people are going to go on a ranting-blaming-hate spree...

Might I suggest you blame Harmony Gold for the high price of Yamato valkyrie?

I'm fairly sure that if they weren't doing everything in their power to keep Yamato valkyrie out of the USA and European markets we'd have better distribuction or at least a chance at better, more mass scaled distribution and lower costs.

As things stand - I think it's great that people outside of Japan are able to get all these amazing items for as low a price as we can given all the hurdles, trouble, hassel and problems we go through to get the stuff.

Pete

[Gunpod71]

I think Yamato should just slow down on their release. Like bring out a new valk every 2 or 3 months to give ppl a chance to catch up and or save money.

[Bri]

If people are going to go on a ranting-blaming-hate spree...

Might I suggest you blame Harmony Gold for the high price of Yamato valkyrie?

I'm fairly sure that if they weren't doing everything in their power to keep Yamato valkyrie out of the USA and European markets we'd have better distribuction or at least a chance at better, more mass scaled distribution and lower costs.

As things stand - I think it's great that people outside of Japan are able to get all these amazing items for as low a price as we can given all the hurdles, trouble, hassel and problems we go through to get the stuff.

Pete

Hmm, maybe sue HG for emotional damages? Force them to set up a fund to assist traumatised Macross fans by subsidizing Yamato Valkyries puchases?

[nugundamII]

NuGundam, you have to STOP buying from a seller that declares real value if you want to avoid taxes and duty. I have bought so many products from pll who will declare low, that i always avoided the tax/duty from them. Why risk it? I think Overdrive doesnt declare actual, so you are safe there.

As for the rest of you, why are you fighting over whether or not to try to get Yamato to drop suggested selling/retail prices? Dont you want more discount? If you dont want the discount, thats fine, its not like the one who really really wants something is NOT going to buy something they really want eventually anyways, however, it "may" help for more people to buy that same product, and not keep skipping and skipping. Besides, we could use some discounts, would sure help me justify some...but.....but the problem is....how much discount do we want really??? Can the poster please specify for everyone what he had in mind making this thread, what kind of discount are we talking about exactly here, what is sought to be a fairer price???

Yeah I did buy one product from over-drive on the advice of MW board members where my experience was positive one in shipping and there were no customs fees. The reason why I switched back to ebay as PS on ebay do list lower prices on the box or mark it as gift unlike HLJ.

Recently the canadian government has gone after ebay to release the names of PS for tax purposes. It seems governments have nothing better to do but waste public money on their buddy cronies

Anyway I wont be able to afford to buy anything as i have been told my last day of work is OCt 29

And yet housing sales have gone through the roof yet there are no jobs

Edited October 21, 2009 by nugundamII

[nugundamII]

If people are going to go on a ranting-blaming-hate spree...

Might I suggest you blame Harmony Gold for the high price of Yamato valkyrie?

I'm fairly sure that if they weren't doing everything in their power to keep Yamato valkyrie out of the USA and European markets we'd have better distribuction or at least a chance at better, more mass scaled distribution and lower costs.

As things stand - I think it's great that people outside of Japan are able to get all these amazing items for as low a price as we can given all the hurdles, trouble, hassel and problems we go through to get the stuff.

Pete

Yeah thats the other thing . People holding license and not really creating anything other than having people pay you to use the name. Horrible. Such business practices should be eliminated. Maybe they should stick the harmony Gold people in the LHC for a sping.....

[ff95gj]

If people are going to go on a ranting-blaming-hate spree...

Might I suggest you blame Harmony Gold for the high price of Yamato valkyrie?

I'm fairly sure that if they weren't doing everything in their power to keep Yamato valkyrie out of the USA and European markets we'd have better distribuction or at least a chance at better, more mass scaled distribution and lower costs.

As things stand - I think it's great that people outside of Japan are able to get all these amazing items for as low a price as we can given all the hurdles, trouble, hassel and problems we go through to get the stuff.

Pete

I agree. HG affects people not only people in North America and Europe. As Yamato cannot reach those markets, they have a smaller customer base, and in turn less efficiency and higher costs.

Would ever HG's license expire?

[jenius]

HG has a license that will never expire.

Yeah thats the other thing . People holding license and not really creating anything other than having people pay you to use the name. Horrible. Such business practices should be eliminated.

Uh, HG is creating Shadow Chronicles and has licensed a movie to be made. HG is not a toy manufacturer. Much like Big West makes money for the name Macross and doesn't make toys.

[BlueMax]

Haha... somehow I figured that we would be pointing our fingers at HG for this.... yes, i believe they are part of the problem, but only a part of it. Ultimately, it is up the business to see how they can work around the restrictions placed upon them..

Unfortunately, without delving too much into the licensing issues about HG (there is a dedicated thread for this), I believe they are the non-Japanese version of Bigwest. All SDF: M (though most are cautious about its claim to its derivatives as well) right outside of Japan are OWNED by HG.... i.e they don't get a license.... they hand out licenses for people to make Macross and/or row-boat-tech stuff.

[Chet]

In the Philippines, I think a 1/60 V2 costs around P6,500 (approx. US$138). A Big Mac meal is around P100 (approx. US$2). So a 1/60 V2 costs around 65 Big Mac meals.

[niVL@Boy]

In the Philippines, I think a 1/60 V2 costs around P6,500 (approx. US$138). A Big Mac meal is around P100 (approx. US$2). So a 1/60 V2 costs around 65 Big Mac meals.

ahhhh.....so this is what this thread is all about......

see what a simple precise analogy can do, shorten 2 pages into 1 single post.

[bluemax151]

If people are going to go on a ranting-blaming-hate spree...

Might I suggest you blame Harmony Gold for the high price of Yamato valkyrie?

I'm fairly sure that if they weren't doing everything in their power to keep Yamato valkyrie out of the USA and European markets we'd have better distribuction or at least a chance at better, more mass scaled distribution and lower costs.

As things stand - I think it's great that people outside of Japan are able to get all these amazing items for as low a price as we can given all the hurdles, trouble, hassel and problems we go through to get the stuff.

Pete

I like this, HG is an easy fall guy Their practices remind me a lot of Edge games.

In the Philippines, I think a 1/60 V2 costs around P6,500 (approx. US$138). A Big Mac meal is around P100 (approx. US$2). So a 1/60 V2 costs around 65 Big Mac meals.

I tried albeit not hard to find the average income in the Philippines and found a figure of 172,000 peso (US$3,939) for 2006. Pretty disconcerting for sure. I still have extended family and a friend there but try not to dwell on it as it's kind of depressing obviously.

[ntsan]

Well if Yamato macross toys can sell on US legally I bet the price will be lowered.. like Takara vs Hasbro price.

The only way to get over HG license would be BW/Bandai buying Tatsunoko from Takara-Tomy

Or TF makes Valkyrie in again like G1 and sell them legally, since Takara owns Tatsunoko so there should be no problem on incorporate VF-1 again lol

Edited October 22, 2009 by ntsan

[VFTF1]

All I'm gonna say is this:

The whole anime industry is doing everything it can RIGHT NOW to lower prices and you guys should NOT wish for it to continue because it is NOT in your interest as fans.

There are two ways that this can go:

1) The Good:

Prices for anime goods fall at the same rate as prices are deflating in general as a result of the economic depression. This will not be particularly harmful to anime goods as such, because the hope is that as more excess capacity is liquidated in the economy as a whole, so prices will simply come to reflect current reality and an equilibrium will be restored everywhere - including in the world of anime goods.

2) The Bad:

Prices for anime goods fall at a rate faster than the general depreciation in prices - this could mean that prices in dollars or Euro fall to accomidate consumers while prices in Yen and Chinese Yuan stay the same which means production costs stay the same and that means prodiucers and retailers are SQUEEZED. When these people are squeezed then eventually one of two things must happen - EITHER the lower prices bring back customers who were lost due to the worsening economy and increase the volume of sales to an extent that compensates for the lower prices by indicating that demand is still high and liable to grow OR the lower prices FAIL to bring in more customers and fail to stimulate existing customers to buy more. Now if the latter happens then eventually the signal that will get through to producers is sad and easy to guess: it's this - THERE IS NO MONEY TO BE MADE FROM MAKING THIS STUFF. If we take into account sales of bootlegged crap or cheap production crap and compare it to the sales of high quality stuff - and it turns out that EVEN at lower prices the high quality stuff fails to move - then we will end up with a return to crap. Meanwhile, the high quality stuff will become an even bigger niche market than it is now. This scenario will ultimately end with prices for high quality stuff being what they were when Studio Half Eye was making its' revolutionary garage kits (which they are still making, but which - quality wise - have been matched by mass producers like Yamato to the benefit of fans like us).

I'm not saying you guys shouldn't wish for a fall in prices - it's only natural. Believe me - if retailers and producers thought that dropping prices would increase sales substantially - you'd see it happening because by bringing in more buyers, you offset costs by just banging out more units. The problem is - this might not happen because people have NO SAVINGS in American and to a large extent Western Europe - and any "savings" they had in the form of stock or real estate has evaporated.

Ergo, people are instinctively saving what they can - not spending so much.

There SHOULD be a light at the end of the tunnel eventually - if governments could just stop propping up the high prices that were artificial results of the credit boom/monetary expansion. Sadly, given what I see of the interest rates in the USA - that's not going to happen. America continues to commit suicide. Europe, as usual, is taking the "moderate/middle of the road" approach - aka they are driving in the center of the road and will be hit by traffic oncoming from both left and right. Only China is doing things correctly - expanding their gold reserves and now signaling that they will begin to gaurd against inflation given that they've achieved 8.9% growth that seems to be nothing more than an asset bubble.

In any event... the little anime industry is just one small part of everything that is going on - and they ARE lowering their prices actively.

The problem is - there might not be enough of us crazy people left to keep it all going at the rate we'd like to.

Does this mean the dissapearance of all anime toys? No.

But it could mean that some awesome projects and designs will be shelved due to cost - or limited.

In any event - things are in rapid flux.

I just think that fans should be worried - not happy - about falling prices for anime goods. Because remember that a price is a signal to enterpreneaurs: when prices are high - this signal says: people WANT THIS - invest. That leads to innovation, better products, more products, and ultimately cheaper costs per unit.

When prices get depressed very low - this is a signal to enterpreneaurs that says: nobody wants this.

That's not a signal that anime fans should want to send out to the market.

Not saying it's anybody's "fault" - I'm sure people would buy more if they could..

But it's not a simple case of "if only they lowered their prices"

Pete

[ff95gj]

I can't bring myself to agree that anime toys are getting cheaper, even judging only at the yen price.

Maybe they are getting better too, but the price do get higher. And I am sure that some of them are just packaged to be better, not really so.

[eriku]

I like this thread because now every time someone publicly debates about weather or not they want to buy 'valk X', I'll immediately get a cartoon image in my head of that person with a furrowed brow looking back and forth between 'valk X' and a big pile of Big Macs.

WHICH TO CHOOSE!!!!!

[logos]

OMG if I choose Big Macs over Valks I will just stop collecting.........needless to say that would be an impressive pile for those buying the M&M VF-22s. add shipping and it will be epic!

Edited October 22, 2009 by logos

[nugundamII]

All I'm gonna say is this:

The whole anime industry is doing everything it can RIGHT NOW to lower prices and you guys should NOT wish for it to continue because it is NOT in your interest as fans.

There are two ways that this can go:

1) The Good:

Prices for anime goods fall at the same rate as prices are deflating in general as a result of the economic depression. This will not be particularly harmful to anime goods as such, because the hope is that as more excess capacity is liquidated in the economy as a whole, so prices will simply come to reflect current reality and an equilibrium will be restored everywhere - including in the world of anime goods.

2) The Bad:

Prices for anime goods fall at a rate faster than the general depreciation in prices - this could mean that prices in dollars or Euro fall to accomidate consumers while prices in Yen and Chinese Yuan stay the same which means production costs stay the same and that means prodiucers and retailers are SQUEEZED. When these people are squeezed then eventually one of two things must happen - EITHER the lower prices bring back customers who were lost due to the worsening economy and increase the volume of sales to an extent that compensates for the lower prices by indicating that demand is still high and liable to grow OR the lower prices FAIL to bring in more customers and fail to stimulate existing customers to buy more. Now if the latter happens then eventually the signal that will get through to producers is sad and easy to guess: it's this - THERE IS NO MONEY TO BE MADE FROM MAKING THIS STUFF. If we take into account sales of bootlegged crap or cheap production crap and compare it to the sales of high quality stuff - and it turns out that EVEN at lower prices the high quality stuff fails to move - then we will end up with a return to crap. Meanwhile, the high quality stuff will become an even bigger niche market than it is now. This scenario will ultimately end with prices for high quality stuff being what they were when Studio Half Eye was making its' revolutionary garage kits (which they are still making, but which - quality wise - have been matched by mass producers like Yamato to the benefit of fans like us).

I'm not saying you guys shouldn't wish for a fall in prices - it's only natural. Believe me - if retailers and producers thought that dropping prices would increase sales substantially - you'd see it happening because by bringing in more buyers, you offset costs by just banging out more units. The problem is - this might not happen because people have NO SAVINGS in American and to a large extent Western Europe - and any "savings" they had in the form of stock or real estate has evaporated.

Ergo, people are instinctively saving what they can - not spending so much.

There SHOULD be a light at the end of the tunnel eventually - if governments could just stop propping up the high prices that were artificial results of the credit boom/monetary expansion. Sadly, given what I see of the interest rates in the USA - that's not going to happen. America continues to commit suicide. Europe, as usual, is taking the "moderate/middle of the road" approach - aka they are driving in the center of the road and will be hit by traffic oncoming from both left and right. Only China is doing things correctly - expanding their gold reserves and now signaling that they will begin to gaurd against inflation given that they've achieved 8.9% growth that seems to be nothing more than an asset bubble.

In any event... the little anime industry is just one small part of everything that is going on - and they ARE lowering their prices actively.

The problem is - there might not be enough of us crazy people left to keep it all going at the rate we'd like to.

Does this mean the dissapearance of all anime toys? No.

But it could mean that some awesome projects and designs will be shelved due to cost - or limited.

In any event - things are in rapid flux.

I just think that fans should be worried - not happy - about falling prices for anime goods. Because remember that a price is a signal to enterpreneaurs: when prices are high - this signal says: people WANT THIS - invest. That leads to innovation, better products, more products, and ultimately cheaper costs per unit.

When prices get depressed very low - this is a signal to enterpreneaurs that says: nobody wants this.

That's not a signal that anime fans should want to send out to the market.

Not saying it's anybody's "fault" - I'm sure people would buy more if they could..

But it's not a simple case of "if only they lowered their prices"

Pete

that was great but could be summed in a couple of words

Nixxon administration

Move away from gold standard to 0 reserve system

[BlueMax]

I can't bring myself to agree that anime toys are getting cheaper, even judging only at the yen price.

Maybe they are getting better too, but the price do get higher. And I am sure that some of them are just packaged to be better, not really so.

Likewise, I really cannot see that anime toys are getting cheaper as well.

Pete, you said that the anime industry is doing all it can to lower prices. maybe you can elaborate a little more so that all of us can have a good insight as to what the hell is going on?

[Omegablue]

Here in South Africa.

Mcdees Combo is R40.00 (Rand).

My recent Low-Vis/prototype Focker VF-1S 1/60 v2, with shipping and customs was R1100,00.

So that's 26 Mcdees Combos for one Valk.

For me the trick in this hobby has always been to be selective if you're not planning to damage your kid's college fund.

Or have a rich girlfriend or boyfriend that really loves you.

Or don't have one as dating is fairly expensive.

[Funkenstein]

You may be confusing something with marginal cost. Marginal cost is the cost to produce another unit. This marginal cost reduces based on volume of production. Say you have a 1 million dollar factory and produce only 1 VF-1 model. The cost of that model is 1 million + cost of the model itself. If you make 1 million VF-1's, its 1 dollar + material costs ,for each unit creating a lower per unit cost.

In all likelihood the cost of the newer models are due to cost of materials,cost of time spent creating the CAD design and cost of the license. The cost of licenses for older series is usually lower because those shows don't air on TV or very rarely. Newer or more popular shows have higher license costs. Its been known that Macross license has been notoriously expensive in the past few years.

[BlueMax]

If you are referring to my writing about marginal costs, yes, marginal cost: the cost to produce 1 more unit. That is exactly what I mean

For example, all the VF-1s are are based off largely off the same mould, thus they all share the majority of the fixed costs, like the licensing/ mould/ CAD costs. With each new VF-1 produced (at the very least with the A S and J variants, since it is really only the head that is different), the average cost and marginal costs would continue to drop, especially when the fixed costs are high.

[Chet]

Just got the latest pre-order sheets from our local toy import shop. It lists the VF-11C for P11,500.00, or approximately US$245.00

That's 115 Big Mac meals...

Edited October 27, 2009 by Chet

[m0n5t3r]

That's 1,150 Big Mac meals...

@ P100/BigMac that should only be equivalent to 115 Big Mac meals. for 1,150 big mac meals i should get ~20 valks!

the VF-11B is down to ~91 Big Mac meals already so the 11C's price should go down eventually... but still, i find it very odd here in the PH that pre-order prices are not discounted like w/ various online shops... overestimated even, like they're maxing out the probable s/h and customs taxes...

Edited October 27, 2009 by m0n5t3r

[bluemax151]

Just got the latest pre-order sheets from our local toy import shop. It lists the VF-11C for P11,500.00, or approximately US$245.00

That's 1,150 Big Mac meals...

Well with shipping added that's about how much it would cost for me to get one from HLJ at the current dollar to yen exchange rate. Definitely a lot of pesos though.

[Chet]

Oy. Me and the math!

Fixed it

Edited October 27, 2009 by Chet

[lord_zed]

ironicly being from a country that's dollar is up against the Yen and the USD, Yamato toys have actualy become more affordable to me (barely), at least compared to this time last year when the big ones were completely off limits. If you think Yamato's prices are bad? try living in a country with a bouncing currency, its makes it even worse.

The only question is which to grab before the staus quo resumes, and the bigger Valkyries become unaffordable again.

[VFTF1]

that was great but could be summed in a couple of words

Nixxon administration

Move away from gold standard to 0 reserve system

Yeah, but I'm incapable of short and sweet.

Uh, HG is creating Shadow Chronicles and has licensed a movie to be made. HG is not a toy manufacturer. Much like Big West makes money for the name Macross and doesn't make toys.

Yes, but BW could have licensed their Macross Brand to..oh...say....Craptastic Incorporated - specializing in the production of low cost, low quality quick buck crap.

instead, they gave the thing to Yamato.

Meanwhile, I think they gave Frontier to Bandai because Bandai probably managed to outbid Yamato.

But Yamato getting the licenses to all the previous Macross stuff is good because it sets the bar pretty high.

I dunno... I guess I just appreciate that they are not treating their brand like low quality crap.

Then again - I guess I can't really blame HG... they're stuck between a rock and a hard place.

That's 1,150 Big Mac meals...

I always prefered Wendys.

Those guys KNEW how to make Burgers!

Although recently - just today - I was in Macdonalds and had their NY big beef burger or whatever it's called - good stuff.

I could never really like the Big Mac... always prefered regular Cheeseburgers... they also have something called a McRoyal here...maybe that's a Big Mac only with a different name?

Beats me.

Anyway - I have the distinction of being part of history because:

1) I was at the opening of the very first Macdonalds in Poland - in ALL of human history! There were hundreds of people in line and they were only selling fries and cheeseburgers or hamburgers .... that was like 1992...or 1993....

2) I was one of the lucky few to be at the world premiere of Attack of the Clones which - for some bizarre reason - premiered in Warsaw one day before it got shown anywhere else... very wierd... but it did happen.

When I die - I expect that above two super important facts to be entered into Wikipedia under my name, so that future generations of human beings can marvel at my achievements.

And Yamato doesn't charge high prices.

We just don't make very much money is all...

Pete

[VFTF1]

Oh - sorry - missed this:

Likewise, I really cannot see that anime toys are getting cheaper as well.

Pete, you said that the anime industry is doing all it can to lower prices. maybe you can elaborate a little more so that all of us can have a good insight as to what the hell is going on?

Simple:

Exporters in Japan have lost a hell of a lot of customers - and not just retail customers, but wholesale customers especially. Their sales slumped so they started ordering far less from producers. The main reason the customers were lost was due to the exchange rate which made it harder for people to order more. Even though the exchange rate has stabilized in the second and third quarter of 2009 (with the worst being during 1st quarter 2009), the Yen is still roughly 15 to 20% more expensive than it was in 2008, and probably at least 10% more expensive than its' average from 2002 to 2008. On top of that - everybody's loosing their jobs, in debt and generally unable to buy. So the demand is only there in theory - everybody wants, but no one can afford it.

The effect of this is that stores which used to overstock on PURPOSE as part of their business plan stopped doing it. Look at BBTS - they've been having a massive blow out sale on all their overstocked merchandise - now, 3 years ago overstocking was the smart thing to do because - I don't know if people still remember this - but collectibles were actually appreciating assets. These things went UP in price - not down.

Now, ironically, the high returns caused producers to plan out more and more new stuff. Then bam! - the recession comes. The SDF-1 1:2000 scale from Yamato is a good example of this. It's been planned, executed and... it won't be mass produced it seems - because while the theoretical demand is there - it is just impossible.

Anyways...first everybody gripes. Everybody gets mad at one another. For an example of people getting mad at one another, just check out the VT-1 group buy thread where the whole group buy at one point was in jeapordy because my supplier and I had a fight.

But eventually two things kick in - the pecking order and reality.

The pecking order is this: customers bitch to retailers. Retailers bitch to suppliers. Suppliers bitch to distributors and they in turn bitch to producers.

As long as everybody is just bitching - nothing changes.

But then, as time goes buy, people start looking at balance sheets and they see that sales are falling.

Meanwhile, they look at ebay and see that things ARE selling - but at much lower prices.

Then some hard questions need to be asked by everybody in the bitching-pecking order chain.

1) Can we lower the costs of production in order to lower prices, and if we lower prices will we raise sales to a level that once again makes us minimally profitable?

2) Can this happen fast enough?

Now - for those people who didn't take their bitching too seriously and just waited for reality to do what bitching never achieves - well - things are bearing fruit.

Everybody from Takara Tomy to Bandai to Yamato is lowering their prices. Plain and simple. No other way to put it.

But the problem is that at the same time their output is falling due to less orders coming in.

So you don't get to see the lower prices because if there's also less stuff, then there's no incentive on the part of retailers and distributors to share their lower prices with you - unless they feel that by doing so they will significantly increase sales. If something is gonna just sit on the shelf independent of whether it costs a bit more or a bit less - then stores will keep it on the shelf for a bit more.

I've literally seen things like distributors saying - "Takara-Tomy is going to only produce exactly as many units of product X as you order - so order by deadline Y or there will be none left."

If Takara-Tomy is doing this with certain Transformers, and Transformers are a "big name" brand with two box office blockbuster movies - you can imagine what smaller brands are going through.

I don't know what producers did to lower their prices. I don't know whether they cut people's pay, fired people, asked people to work over time, used cheaper plastic, shut the power off for half a week - beats me. But whatever they did - it resulted in prices going down.

Now the only question is - will the lower prices translate into higher sales? If they do - if producers and the whole chain gang from distributors through suppliers through retailers sees sales jump thanks to price cuts - then that will be a signal for producers that - ok - this is a bad economy - but people WILL still buy this stuff. You just need to tighten your belt and keep going.

If it doesn't result in higher sales - then somewhere down the line - this stuff is going to stop being made - at least in such quantities and on such a mass scale. [EDIT: By "this stuff" I mean high quality collectibles as opposed to cheap "toys" - I mean stuff that has super attention to detail and design. Stuff that once was the domain of only garage kits but slowly but surely became available to the public en mass for prices significantly lower than what garage kits cost]

It's already happening with Yamato's SDF-1. I'm sure the 2000 dollar price tag is the result of it being a "if you order one, we'll make one for you" kind of thing. They put the R&D into it, they set it all up - and suddenly it's like...sorry..but nobody is gonna buy this for 500 bucks. Or - no...let me put it another way...They probably have to sell however many thousand or hundred of these to get costs back at 500 bucks. They looked at it and my guess is that no body even wanted to risk carrying it. It's that bad. I might be wrong of course - but I wouldn't be surprised.

So they did the only logical thing they could - they offer it on their site for the few diehards who might have 2000 plus bucks to toss at it - because if you invest X yen into making something, then although a loss is a loss - it's always better when your loss is higher than Zero. They are hoping for higher than zero.

But the point is - people who have stuck through this business are now being rewarded for their perseverence - these companies are offering lower prices.

We'll see whether customers respond to this by buying more or whether it doesn't make a difference.

If it doesn't make a difference - we're all screwed.

Pete

Edited October 28, 2009 by VFTF1

[Sandman]

Wow that's pretty interesting Pete. It puts things in perspective. Thanks for the info.

[Vifam7]

Yeah, but I'm incapable of short and sweet.

Yes, but BW could have licensed their Macross Brand to..oh...say....Craptastic Incorporated - specializing in the production of low cost, low quality quick buck crap.

instead, they gave the thing to Yamato.

I think licensors (particularly Japanese ones) generally have a certain set of standards. To my knowledge, a licensee generally works hand-in-hand with the licensor. So, if a low quality crap does come out, the blame is equally the licensor's fault as well as the licensee.

Meanwhile, I think they gave Frontier to Bandai because Bandai probably managed to outbid Yamato.

More likely that Bandai agreed to sponsor the anime rather than outbidding Yamato. I don't know of any anime funded with the backing of Yamato. Probably such an undertaking is beyond Yamato's capabilities. There's more to sponsorship than just making nice toys. Bandai is one of few companies that can support an anime series across a broad spectrum.

But Yamato getting the licenses to all the previous Macross stuff is good because it sets the bar pretty high.

I dunno... I guess I just appreciate that they are not treating their brand like low quality crap.

I can't think of a Japanese anime brand that was treated like low quality crud though. I think Yamato gets the licenses because they agreed to pay the license fees and their product strategy was agreeable on both sides.

And Yamato doesn't charge high prices.

We just don't make very much money is all...

Pete

I don't know. Maybe the price is too high. Maybe it's too low. Maybe it's just right.

A smart company will continuously look at all options and weigh it against the needs/health of the company. Those companies that make the right decisions (which includes either doing something or doing nothing) (and at the right times) don't suffer much. Ofcourse it's not so easy and sometimes there's a bit of luck needed as well.

In anycase, Yamato has shown they know what they're doing.

Edited October 29, 2009 by Vifam7

[Valkyrie addict]

Yes, Yamato knows what they are doing, so, fragile toys, rising prices and no concern for a satisfied customer is what they do and don't care

I don't like Big Macs, too much mayonnaise ... how about relating them to a whooper?! I'm more of BK man! hehehe

[ff95gj]

I am lost, Pete...

Let me see if I understand correctly; your rationale is that manufacturer is losing the distributors, so they cut the price.

Distributors are too facing a declining demand, but they don't cut the price.

P.S. I am not very convinced with this flow of argument given the MSRP of various toys. Regarding Macross toys; Yamato keeps the same price for VF-1 from last year. The ones with a different mold cost more (understandable, but still not "lower"). GNU VF-1 is very expensive. Bandai DXs cost more than they worth IMHO. VF100 is insanely priced. MF model kits are expensive. Some Bandai exclusive goods' MSRP are ridiculous. Revys got bigger boxes and charged more lately.

P.P.S. MSRP matters. Manufacturers don't just want to sell to the distributors, they want the distributors to be able to sell to end-users too (or else the distributors won't buy again). The MSRP is supposed to give a balance on a healthy margin and price attractiveness. If the price cut doesn't transfer to the customers, it hurts the manufacturer in the end.