Masterpiece Soundwave Pre-Order Pricing and Media Exclusivity

Jack Darby here, and when I'm not taking rides

with RC, I like watching video reviews from up

to bottom us. This is a team bottom us our special

report Yes, so I have out the bottom here with

me I am TF Joe Mike say hello, sir. Hi. Hi. Hi.

Hi. Hi Yeah, this is all your fucking fault.

You know that right? You know what? Honestly

when I said that to you I had a look at it, but

I know what they do. So we can give the listener

some context. Let's back it up. Everybody, unless

you're living under a rock, should know by now

that Takara is coming out with MP13 Soundwave.

Masterpiece Soundwave. If you listen to Toycast

or any of the other GCRM podcasts where I might

have mentioned Transformers toys, I have been

dying for a masterpiece sized sound wave with

cassettes since 2009. So for the last three years,

I've been, that's the one toy I've really like,

really wanted. And in September I put in my pre

-order with Big Bad Toy Store. I've done business

with them before. I, you know, I like using them

even though they are, you know, slightly a little

bit, you know, up the mark. No. Now, hold on.

The Geekcast Radio Network does not... But the

thing is, I've done business with BBTS before

and, you know, if it's something that I know

that a figure is going to get to me in a timely

manner and, you know, isn't half -assed or isn't

stuck in, you know, logistics Nevada for three

fucking... You know what I mean? You know what

I mean? So I don't mind paying the slightly overage

of a markup that they have. I don't care about

that at all. So I get an email from BBTS this

morning saying, we gonna rape you. Thank you

for your email our customer support staff will

get in touch with you shortly They sent me an

email telling me that their staff was gonna get

Okay, this morning I get an email from BBTS I

had already pre I pre -ordered my mp13 sound

wave in September September 22nd 2012 This morning

I conversely pre -ordered mine in December of

2011 Yes, 2011. Okay. All right, so It says hi,

we're happy to announce that master be some wave

will also come with a Megatron in gun mode that

he can We thank you very much for your order

now This is anything special I'll bet you this

is just a reuse Yeah, yeah now I posted part

of like I posted that email in in Twitter and

as soon as I'm looking at my phone going through

Twitter. I mean, literally, point A to point

B, A be in my bedroom, B be in my bathroom. I'm

walking from point A to point B, looking at my

phone. I haven't done anything else. And I see

that from you, and I just replied. Prepare for

a $20 price increase, because they've done it

before. I can't remember. OK. And then I replied

to you on Twitter, really, even after I preordered

it beforehand, before the announcement. And you

said, I don't know, I'm just joking. And I replied

back to you. I said, I'm going to knock you out

if this is true. So I actually emailed BBTS and

asked them. I actually went on their website

and I looked at it. If you go on there now and

you look at it, the For people that have not

pre -ordered it, the price in the listing currently

is now at $184 .99. My pre -order price was $169

.99. So they increased it just over $21. Well,

wait, wait, wait. What is it? It's $184 .99.

It's $184 .99 now. When I pre -ordered it, my

pre -order was $169 .99. That's only $15. OK,

well. But still, that's, I mean. Yeah, that's

still a pretty good guess Now like I mean I pre

-ordered mine back in December and it was only

159 .99 and Now when you pre -ordered it, where

did you pre -order it from? From BBTS Did it

have it listed with laserbeak before? Honestly,

I do it. It's almost been a year. Um, right,

right Wait a minute. This doesn't even make sense

pre -ordered this it actually says pre -ordered

December two thousand twelve Later, they're like

and that and maybe that's what I'm referring

to when I think about it because I have seen

them do this before Where oh you pre -ordered

something great? We're gonna. We'll hold you

know We'll keep the price what it is, but every

new pre -order is gonna be increased Okay, that's

like I don't I don't mind that all right like

I just want to make sure. It's kind of like when

you preorder something from Amazon, if it's at

a certain price, you're locked. Amazon guarantees

you're locked into that price. Even if day of

sale or day of release it goes up $2, you're

locked it. That was my main concern with this

whole thing was, am I locked in at $169 .99?

Because if I'm not, then I'm just going to. No,

and you should be. Because like I said, my preorder

price. Still, you know, from May, you did yours

in September? Yeah. You know, so that's four

months, I did mine four months earlier, and this

has already gone through two price hikes. And

mine still says $159 .99. Now, my biggest problem

that I have with this is that BBT, you know,

through my various contacts with other toy companies,

things like these, I know that you already have

to buy them. They don't give you discounts or

whatever. If you call up, especially when it

comes from like Takara, they want you to front

the cash almost like right away for however much

you're ordering. So if you order - You're talking

about the actual store. You're talking about

Big Bad Toy Store has to front the cash. Okay.

You know, and so basically, I mean, even if they

don't have to front the entire amount, they know

how much the per unit - Right. is going to cost.

Right. Well, that's the thing. And that's how

they allow us, even though we have like, I have

my credit card on file with them, and they need

that to guarantee the pre -order. But that's

how they allow. I just thought of it. That's

how they allow us to not charge us for the pre

-order. Like when you first pre -order something,

they said, we don't charge you until we get the

item in hand. And I now figured that out. Oh,

that's how they do it. They throw down their

own money. You know or right? I mean they they

pay for this shit themselves Yeah, I mean and

it's just if it's bothersome to me that they

keep they continue to raise the price on this

and Add in laser beak. He's a little bit bigger.

I could see that I could see you know adding

extra money onto that that I'm okay with that

that's fine Megatron Yeah, I mean that doesn't

even that's not gonna weigh anything to affect

the the shipping cost on it and You're gonna

you're gonna increase it $20 or $15 for that.

I mean seriously, that's just being cheap and

Pathetic in my mind and you're increasing it

just because you want to increase your your profit

margin to me. That's just pathetic Mean if it's

an out, you know, what happens if it's announced

that um, let me think let me think um Let's say

like a week before it's supposed to come out.

Let's say that it's announced that He will come

with I don't know what let's say he comes with

a crown or something stupid Okay I mean, I know

Soundwave was never... Okay, let's say hypothetically

when it's announced, it's announced that he comes

with a small miniature version of him in vehicle

mode. I didn't know cassette decks had wheels.

What? You said vehicle mode. Alternate mode.

Okay, I was going to say, wait a second. A small

little cassette thing. Right, you know which

you know, it would that would be kind of cool

to have that. I mean the the San Diego Comic

-Con His tank came with one of those. Yeah, that's

one of the reasons why I wanted that thing So

let's say two days before or a week before it's

announced that oh by the way It also is coming

with a miniature version of sound wave in his

tape deck mode Does that mean, oh, okay, we're

going to increase the price because we can? To

me, it's just pathetic. There's no reason to

have to increase the prices on these things like

that. To me, it's dumb. Like I said, in business

world, it's just cutting into their profit margin.

They want to increase it. That's all it is. And

I mean really I mean you know you you know I

can just look at my pre -orders right now and

you know not including whatever $10 or $20 of

whatever the total shipping is gonna be for all

of all three of the current pre -orders I have

169 plus 59 .99 plus 59 .99 in total I'm putting

close to $290 into masterpiece masterpiece soundwave

stuff masterpiece soundwave himself with laser

beak and then Rumbling Ravage and Frenzy and

Buzzsaw. So I mean, I don't mind it because it

is a masterpiece and that's fine. I'm glad that

- How much is it? $290? How much? $289 .97 is

what I get for a total. And people were freaking

out. Honestly, I'm happy. I've known about Masterpiece

Soundwave for a long time. I've known about the

two packs that they were doing for a long time.

I have I have secret insight sources and such

but I mean People were kind of like bitching

at first because of the the two packs It's like

why don't you just include them with salway?

Why do we have to buy more because that's gonna

increase the price? I mean and you look at it

I mean now granted the individual ones you wouldn't

have to have the packaging and stuff like that

So if you did include it, you could probably

squeeze them in there for Maybe 270 bucks or

something like that. I don't know. Well, like

I said, just adding up the prices that I have

in my pre -order page. Yeah. $169 .99 and $59

.99 for each of the current two released cassette

packs. It adds up to $289 .97. My shipping choice

is UPS Ground. So that's like $870 plus whatever.

It's going to be close to probably $18 .70 for

shipping. I don't know. I don't know. I'll have

to wait until I see it. But I mean, I do think

it's better that they did it this way versus

including it. It definitely is. I mean, because

people would not buy the Soundwave. Because some

people, some crazy people out there, don't like

minicons. And I really only like the G1 cassettes.

I don't like any of those Armada. No, I mean,

and the cassette, you know, the cassette bots

really are a very integral part, you know, rumble

frenzy, ravage, laser beam, they're all integral

parts to the character of Soundwave, not so much

Buzzsaw, but I mean... Well, Buzzsaw did have

his... Well, the thing with Buzzsaw was he was

the original that came with the original G1 Soundwave,

plus he had like, I think he had maybe two...

or three scenes in the G1 cartoon. The one scene

I do remember is he and Laserbeak flying over

some ocean and Megatron saying, Soundwave, why

is Laserbeak and Buzzsaw showing us the scenery

or some weird Megatron line? I mean, yeah, I

mean, Buzzsaw is not one that a lot of people

really would remember unless you're a hardcore

fan. But yeah, as you said, you know, Laserbeak,

Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, you know, even even even

Rabbat because of the movie. Well, and Rabbat

was very big in the comics as well. I mean, yeah,

that for a time actually became the leader of

the Decepticons. But, you know, this I mean.

I could see where if you cut the packaging out

for the two -pack cassettes, you could include

it with Soundwave, but it would also make him

the most expensive. I mean, he already is. You

can add all those together. He already does surpass

the most expensive masterpiece figure that we've

ever gotten. If you put them all together, it

for sure is going to. I like the fact that it

lets people decide. Do I want if they want them

or not? No so on and so forth and most people

are Going to want to get you know rumble frenzy

and Ravage at least you know bus I can see bus

all getting sold off to a lot of different people

I'm probably gonna sell off my bus off, but I

would just keep it because it again It's for

me. It's homaging the g1 toy and I understand

that it's just I mean A lot of people, you know

what, I mean, I just did my review, I just finished

editing my review for the Warbot, or the Fans

Project Steel Core figure. And while I like the

figure despite the fact that I broke mine, while

I like the way the figure looks, I absolutely

do. I don't have an emotional attachment to him

because he doesn't represent any real character.

So I'm kind of like, eh, about him. I'm thinking,

that's the same way I am with Buzzsaw. I mean,

I understand where he comes from, but I don't

have an emotional attachment really to him. So

I'm like, eh. I don't really. Yeah, and then

that's fine. My only question is, are they going

to do another two pack to include Ratbat? Or

is Ratbat just not going to? I mean, going based

on what I heard many months before this sound

wave was ever officially announced. I did hear

that Ratbat was supposed to get issued out there.

Now, that was supposed to be with a different,

I don't remember which one it was now. Frenzy

and Ratbat and Roman. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, I mean, it was supposed to come with

one of the actual human version. Well, not human,

but like. The bots, yeah. Not the animals. Yeah.

Now, I don't know if that got delayed or pushed

back or whatever. I mean, I can tell people that

the reason Masterpiece Soundwave has taken so

long to come to us is because Hasbro didn't want

to do him. Now, that definitely means, in my

opinion, that at a future time we are going to

get a Hasbro version, a Soundwave. Because Soundwave

in his G1 incarnation transforms into a tape

deck. That is technology that is now like 25

years old. Well, I don't even want to say 25

years old, 30 years old, because the CD player,

the very first Sony Walkman masterpiece thing

was like, they just had its birthday. So this

is technology that's over 30 years old. You're

looking at an entire generation that doesn't

even know what a cassette player is. But see

that's the thing though where go ahead, you know,

and we've talked about this before you and I

have I don't know if we've done it on air now,

but we've talked about this before where The

Masterpiece toys regardless if they're Hasbro

versions that are in TRU or if they're the Takara

versions They are for us the die -hard collectors.

They're not for mass kitty consumption, but that's

and that's why Takara does theirs, but and period

you know i mean toys or us dot because they wanted

you know that they cater towards the kids more

than anything and people want to sell these or

you know kids want to buy these adults want to

buy these as well but has was the biggest concern

is that kids are not going to know what a a tape

deck is and they're not going to want a sound

wave that's in that form that was their biggest

hesitation for the longest time about doing this

particular character the fact that we are getting

it suggests to me that you know Hasbro's probably

finally bowed down and has agreed to do it now

that might mean with all these extra cassettes

coming out that might mean at some point in time

we may get a masterpiece stop sound wave that's

150 that will come with maybe like laser beat

rumble and frenzy or ravage or something like

that i mean more than just one cassette Knowing

Hasbro. I just think that they should have done

this. I don't know how the pre -order system

works. I don't know how Takara lists their ...

I don't know how they go about deciding what

to put where in their packaging and all that

stuff, but I just think that if you're going

to do this and you're going to do those two packs,

and let's face it, most people don't know Slugfest.

Most people don't know the other ... the stuff

beyond Rumble, Frenzy, Ravage, Ratbat, Laserbeak,

and Buzzsaw. No one really, I mean, outside of

like us fans that know, like the mainstream does

not know about a lot of the other ones. Right.

I think what they could have done was they could

have had, hey, here's Masterpiece Soundwave with

Laserbeak and Buzzsaw. That way you could have

had Rumble and Ravage and Frenzy and Ratbat in

that. They won't do that. No, I know they're

not going to do that because the pre -orders

are already... I know. No, I mean, the reason

they're probably not going to do it is they want

to reuse the mold of Laserbeak. I mean, that's

what they've always done. So they create, you

know, they have buzzsaw, but they know that most

people are probably not going to want to buy

buzzsaw individually. So the sales of that are

going to suffer unless you pack him with a character

that people do want. Yeah. I mean, that's why

they do it that way. I mean, it's just... I mean,

you can't have Rumble without Frenzy. You need

to have both of them. I mean, in the show, Rumble

was more of the fan favorite and more used characters,

whereas Frenzy and Bussaw are kind of a little

off. But here's the question though, and you

look at it, you got the whole Rumble is red and

Frenzy is blue. I mean, which is it now? It's,

yeah. You know, that's the thing. If you want

the cartoon -accurate colored version, then you

need to buy Frenzy because that's what it was

in the original toy. Frenzy was blue. That's

the way that the original toy was depicted. And

yet, a couple of years ago, it has grown. Well,

right, but... And a couple of years ago, Hasbro

straight out and came out and said it, Rumble

is blue, Frenzy is red. Well, and they've done

it now with the new Generations toy. Yeah. But

this is Takara that runs this. No, I know. And

I understand that. I'm still going to call the

blue one Rumble. I don't care what Takara says.

Yeah, I agree. I mean, I don't go by a lot of

the other stuff. I go by what I saw as a kid.

on the cartoons. And that's rumble to me. That's

just the way it is. But if you want that, then

you have to buy Frenzy and the buzzsaw set. And

I don't mind it. I know you don't care about

buzzsaw. I know a lot of the people aren't going

to care about buzzsaw. I don't mind that it's

Frenzy and buzzsaw. I don't care. I was going

to buy them anyways. Well, just have them. I

mean the thing is about you know if they really

wanted to get technical if You look at and I

and I and I have if you look at screenshots a

rumbling in the in the old cartoon series And

even in the movie the dude is fucking purple.

He is he's not blue. He's purple. There's a huge

difference there Yeah, but I mean it doesn't

you know I Don't know. It's just kind of you

know you kind of freaked me out there for a minute

this morning you asshat. I mean it's it's You

know, usually they're good about not increasing

the pre -order prices, but... As long as you're

already locked in. As long as you're already

locked in, yeah. But for people after the fact,

you're like, oh great, they added something else,

now that means that we have to pay more. It just

means no one cancel your pre -order. Excuse me,

I just woke up, so I got crap in my throat. You

know, now the Asia exclusive version of this,

one thing, you know, you're not getting the Asian

exclusive version. The Asia exclusive version,

if you order it from like Robot Kingdom or something,

comes with little energon cubes that look like

they're coming out of his chest. See, that's

cool, and again, that was a cool little ability

that Soundwave did in like the first... like

three part or the series, but I don't really

need that for my enjoyment of the figure. So

I, I don't know. I'm kind of on the fence about

that. I like the way that it looks. But I mean,

I don't think I'm going I mean, I'm not going

to, you know, cancel my pre order. No order from

someone else. Yes. Yeah. Just to get the. Yeah,

and see that's the you know, that's the whole

thing today and you know, it's not just with

toys but with anything, you know DVDs especially

oh my god when I think I bought maybe Four different

copies of Iron Man in 2008 -2009 when it came

out on DVD because each store had its own exclusive

like FYE if you went there they had a steelbook

version of the of the two disc if you went to

Best Buy you got this if you went to Wallet I

Really honestly, I know that's perks for the

store for them to you know have promotion I would

I honestly hate that I hate that DVD exclusivity

of, oh, if you get it here, you get this, or,

oh, if you get it here, you get this. Well, what

annoys me, I mean, a lot of it is packaging,

you know, but now lately they've been starting

to put, like, different features in things. I

mean, I remember that kind of started, well,

I don't remember when it started, but one thing

that comes to mind was the Transformers Revenge

of the Fallen. If you bought the Walmart exclusive

version, you got the forest fight scene. Yeah,

it was originally in the movie It was originally

filmed with an IMAX camera specifically for the

IMAX theater If you got the Walmart version you

got that same aspect ratio of IMAX So you go

from letter or you go from it being regular widescreen

to IMAX spring which just fills up the whole

screen There's there's no box or you know the

the bars at the top and bottom but they did it

recently with the Avengers movie where The Target

version has like a special, like a, you know,

behind the scenes, like 30 minute or something

feature that no other versions had. And I pre

-order, I got mine from Amazon, and I remember

going through it when it first came out, I'm

like, wow, you know, the special features on

this kind of suck in comparison to all the individual

movies. And I come to find out that Target had

a special version that did have special features.

That pisses me off. Yeah, that was the one thing

and that's a Again, I don't have currently I

do not have an HDTV or a blu -ray player I know

my PC if I go to Walmart and get a certain cable

my my DVD tray is a blu -ray player but I have

no inclination to go get that cable from Walmart

or wherever else but I I simply, the first Blu

-ray I ever bought, which I don't have anymore,

was Batman Under the Red Hood. I only bought

it because it had a feature that was not on the

DVD. It was solely for the Blu -ray. It was an

additional Robin feature. And I really, I know

this whole market is, oh, high definition this,

and Blu -ray this, and everything else that.

Well, if that's the case, then as much as I hate

media, and entertainment being forced onto people.

If that is the case, then get rid of DVD and

just sell Blu -rays. Well, you know, they're

slowly phasing things like that out. I mean,

most DVDs now, well, a lot of the DVDs now come

with Blu -rays. Yeah, I mean so it's I mean you

you can buy them individually still but I they're

being phased out slowly in favor of The the high

-definition trend and then that makes sense.

That's just where everything is going. I mean

they phased out I Mean, no, yeah can't buy those

anywhere now No, not even in pawn shops. Yeah,

I don't even care I don't even think you can

go into a Walmart and buy a VCR anymore I doubt

it. I mean, that's probably a threat. You know,

I don't know, it's just... I don't know, it's

just one of those things where it's... Sometimes

they are a -changin'. That's just the way it

goes, though. I mean, it's... You know, in five...

Well, I don't want to say five years. In ten

years, we'll have something else that'll replace

Blu -ray. That's why most of and I mean I I do

have to kind of be choosy and delete movies that

I haven't You know watched in a while, but like

that's why I buy If I am buying a movie that

I want to see like like the Avengers or something

like that I will you know get it through iTunes

that way it's just on my computer I don't have

to worry about oh What special features does

this version have or that I don't care and honestly

half the time I can wait till the stuff hits

red box or I can wait till it hits Netflix I

don't really Couple of years ago. I think it

was 2000 2009 2010 somewhere around there I had

three black shelves or three Three shelves high

and and just three separate shelves all the way

across Filled with DVDs both both actual films

and like television series, and I would walk

by that and I'd be like Hmm, and I just kind

of like finger through it and just look no I

don't watch that no I don't want to watch that

why do I own that no I don't want you know and

it was like Why do I have these DVDs if I don't

even watch half of them? You know what I mean?

My sister does that show the show but she hasn't

quite in or she hasn't done in quite a while,

but She would buy you know and my mom as well.

They would buy DVDs and things and then never

even open them Yeah, I don't know so anyway Yeah,

Masterpiece sound wave currently if you pre -order

it it is that as of today Which is October 8th

2012. It is currently at 184 .99 on big bad toy

store calm We're lucky Hopefully we stay lucky

at our pre -order prices of he's got his at 159

and mine is at 169. So December can't get here

fast enough. Well, you know, it'll probably come

like at the end of December. Yeah, most definitely

come after Christmas. And you know, it's going

to be insane. I mean, they always talk about

shipping and stuff. Yeah. Through them. You know,

make sure you order it by such and such a date

if you want to get it by this, you know, because

the holiday shopping scene can drive you nuts.

Well, and with the pre -order thing, it's not

so much as like we have ours pre -ordered now

for Soundwave. Right. The shipping, they make

you lock it in before, you know, you can actually

place the pre -order. Yeah. And the shipping

is it's whenever, at this point, it's whenever

BBTS gets it in stock. So if it gets it in stock.

How much do they have you for shipping? It's

UPS three to seven day ground I think it's I

think the regular rate is like eight nine or

ten seventy I forget okay, I Forget what it is

I I would have to go back and I would have to

Attempt to preorder something else and look at

it to see what the actual price is, but I'm not

doing that So yeah, there's a report on Masterpiece

Soundwave for the Team Bottomless Hour. We will

see you when we see you, because Toy Hunter just

isn't impressing us enough to talk about it lately.

And last week was a repeat, so talk to you next

time! I got better things to do tonight than

die. Ladies and gentlemen, as an addendum to

this episode of Team Bottomless Hour, I did get

an email back from Big Bad Toy Store as far as

the price increase. The price increase for Masterpiece

XIII Soundwave is only for new pre -orders. I

sent them an email. When we recorded this episode,

I said... you know will this increase my my pre

-order price and whatever else they replied to

me saying the price of your pre -order will not

change so anyone that ordered the mp13 sound

wave at 169 .99 before they announced the addition

of the mini megatron gun will get him for 169

.99 come December. So there you go, ladies and

gentlemen, that's an addendum to this special

bulletin here on Team Bonimus Hour. I'm not sure

if we'll be back next week or not. I did see

Toy Hunter this week. I don't know, I'm just

not that into watching it. I do enjoy the show,

but Wednesday nights for me on television is

kind of filled up with other stuff that's more

important than Toy Hunter. So there you go. We

will see you when we see you. You can now hear

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