>>7918782Huh, that makes sense. Basically bean counters figured that even though shit would normally shelfworm as a regular release, they could double-dip by releasing an extra shelfwarmer at retail while P-Bandai'ing the normal design as originally planned anyway. Sort of playing on the idea of "base design is regular release, variant design is P-Bandai."
>>7918890>>7919135>I'm still miffed at paying MG prices for the actual Act Zaku and GM Interceptor.You gotta wait for aftermarket prices to calm down a bit. Gunpla is honestly really good to buy second-hand because Nips are absolutely anal about item conditions to the point that any sort of dent on the box drops prices considerably, and since kits all come on runners anyway there's much less worry about the items inside breaking. Plus barring event-limited kits Bandai reprints most things multiple times a year (granted, rerun frequency varies depending on the item), so eventually they'll be enough surplus kits floating around that the price evens out.
Also keep in mind that Bandai traditionally hasn't given a shit about markets outside of Asia, especially after Bandai of America failed in the early '00s. P-Bandai works for them as a business because they cut out the middleman and sell direct to the end customer, earning extra on top of that by charging full MSRP+tax when most brick and mortar stores in Japan will knock a few hundred yen off to have competitive pricing. They don't really give a damn what the buyer does with their item once they get paid. Shit'll hopefully get cheaper as they expand into the west and set up more distribution centers, like what they're currently doing with Bluefin.
