Have I been toy swapped?

[BeeTrain]

My Seige SG-EX Phantomstrike Squadron arrived today from the Luna Park store in Japan. I was really excited until I realized that the box was double taped on the top. All other tape seems to be factory.

I have not opened it, nor do I plan to.

I really wanted to keep this prize as a sealed in box item but now, I am not confident that the product I ordered is actually in the box. The box weighs 366 grams and the contents inside seem to be loose.

The box looks like the North America retail box with some stickers to add Japanese words to the box. Is that expected? I thought Takara would produce local packaging.

I just emailed Luna Park and asked them to ship me a new one that is verified as factory sealed. Any further thoughts or suggestions from the community?

[alternatorfan]

Open it see what's inside??
Now I want to know??
Let's see??
Hopefully that's what's inside.

[ssjgoku22]

Originally Posted by BeeTrain

My Seige SG-EX Phantomstrike Squadron arrived today from the Luna Park store in Japan. I was really excited until I realized that the box was double taped on the top. All other tape seems to be factory.

I have not opened it, nor do I plan to.

I really wanted to keep this prize as a sealed in box item but now, I am not confident that the product I ordered is actually in the box. The box weighs 366 grams and the contents inside seem to be loose.

The box looks like the North America retail box with some stickers to add Japanese words to the box. Is that expected? I thought Takara would produce local packaging.

I just emailed Luna Park and asked them to ship me a new one that is verified as factory sealed. Any further thoughts or suggestions from the community?

I don't think Hasbro is producing different packaging for international releases. Usually it would be the same packaging with stickers on it. Was the shipping box opened at all when you received it?

I'd wait till Luna Park gets back to you about getting a new one before opening it (just in case they ask you to return it).

I'm actually having a similar problem with a Takara Masterpiece figure right now. I purchased a brand new MP-14C Clampdown from Robot Kingdom and the box was double taped. I asked Robot Kingdom about it and they told me that Takara inspects the figures some of the time, hence the double tape. I don't know how true that is. Your case it slightly different as the contents sound loose on the inside.

Best bet is to wait and see what the store tells you.

[BeeTrain]

Luna Park was very prompt on the reply. They asked me to open it. The content are legit. The loose item was the instructions.

They are going to call Takara about the double-taping. I think it was to add Japanese stickers to the intructions.

Let's see where this goes, but it seems that the Japan editions will be double taped in order to translate the documentation inside.

On the bright side, I get to look upon Skywarp in all his grey and purple glory. It's still a very good day.

[ssjgoku22]

Originally Posted by BeeTrain

Luna Park was very prompt on the reply. They asked me to open it. The content are legit. The loose item was the instructions.

They are going to call Takara about the double-taping. I think it was to add Japanese stickers to the intructions.

Let's see where this goes, but it seems that the Japan editions will be double taped in order to translate the documentation inside.

On the bright side, I get to look upon Skywarp in all his grey and purple glory. It's still a very good day.

Nice, that's great to hear. I think the same thing happened with my Clampdown figure. Enjoy that Skywarp, he is awesome!

[imfallenangel]

Originally Posted by BeeTrain

I really wanted to keep this prize as a sealed in box item

If you planned to never open it...?

Wouldn't an empty box do the same?

Not that I want to sound mean or anything, it's just confuses the heck out of me... what's the point of buying a toy and never playing with it, heck to never open it means that you never would even see what it looks like, let alone get to experience the figure and the transformation.

That's like buying a really high end video game system and just admiring the box, never playing a single game with it.

Just trying to understand what the goal of getting any such figure is. I've never understood this sort of thing and hoping that you can give me some insight.


Note that it could have been open during the shipping for verification.

[Mumps]

Originally Posted by imfallenangel

If you planned to never open it...?

Wouldn't an empty box do the same?

Not that I want to sound mean or anything, it's just confuses the heck out of me... what's the point of buying a toy and never playing with it, heck to never open it means that you never would even see what it looks like, let alone get to experience the figure and the transformation.

That's like buying a really high end video game system and just admiring the box, never playing a single game with it.

Just trying to understand what the goal of getting any such figure is. I've never understood this sort of thing and hoping that you can give me some insight.


Note that it could have been open during the shipping for verification.

MISB collecting always baffles me... They are toys! Open them, play with them, otherwise, what's the point? I can... somewhat see it for toys with window boxes, where you can see the toy inside, especially if it's displayed really nicely in the box (Pit of Judgement), but sealed for the world to never see? I don't understand.

[BeeTrain]

It's actually only one of two I wanted to keep sealed. They're super hard to find, and very few of the 2nd run made it out of Japan.

I have all the Seekers, so I know how this toy looks and transforms...

Generally, I'm the guy the rips the box open right away fiddles with them at my desk while I am on boring conference calls :-)

I'm actually quite happy that I opened him. He will look better next to his brothers than hiding behind the cardboard.

[imfallenangel]

Originally Posted by Mumps

MISB collecting always baffles me... They are toys! Open them, play with them, otherwise, what's the point? I can... somewhat see it for toys with window boxes, where you can see the toy inside, especially if it's displayed really nicely in the box (Pit of Judgement), but sealed for the world to never see? I don't understand.

I'm the same for anything really... I understand buying a second one to keep mint, and have a spare should the one you have breaks, I do that.

I somewhat understand buying and keeping it mint IF the goal is to resell at some point (though I find anyone that does this is more a scalper than a collector)

But buying anything and never using it for it's purpose blows my mind... example: a painting is to be viewed so that would be like sealing that in a box and never looking at it, etc.

Originally Posted by BeeTrain

It's actually only one of two I wanted to keep sealed. They're super hard to find, and very few of the 2nd run made it out of Japan.

I have all the Seekers, so I know how this toy looks and transforms...

Generally, I'm the guy the rips the box open right away fiddles with them at my desk while I am on boring conference calls :-)

I'm actually quite happy that I opened him. He will look better next to his brothers than hiding behind the cardboard.

Hard to find?.. I don't find that (several super overpriced of eBay right now)... It's just crazy expensive due to the market, numbers produced and scalping really. I know someone selling one in Ottawa and no one has bought it (and he is selling within the proper price range), while I got mine from Amazon for 54$. It's the whole exclusive thing that's been a bitch.

Same with RedWing.. I gave up, painted a Starscream and turned out better anyways. And then some sellers now have him, but too late, I'm good.

For me, the few "rare" figures I have still come out of the box, played with and displayed, or go back to the box, all depending on how I feel about keeping it out.

Unless you plan to resell to profit from the mint in box thing, never enjoying the toy for what it is, kinda takes away from the ownership of it. Note that I can understand fear of breakage if it's such a figure with reported defects.

My view, if you get it because you really wanted it because you were interested in the figure, but yet it just sits in the box for the rest of your life...it's the same as just having a framed picture of the box... then you die one day, and it gets passed on or sold by your family and ends up opened anyways by someone else, or someone else's "trophy".

I'd rather enjoy the hell out of mine... that's all.

[Grimlocked]

I am the same way. I bought a WFC ironhide to attempt to "replace" the box of another one and realized it was double-taped. From what I was told by other collectors, this is usually done for quality control from the factory or it was inspected prior to/during shipping. Over time (and if you look for it), you will notice that double taping happens although it is slightly uncommon - it happens for Marvel Legends as well. Since then, I have really questioned the point of being a "MISB" collector and I hope to break out of the cycle (when I was growing up during the Beast Wars era, I never had a problem with just opening my boxes, not sure why that is a problem now). Sometimes, I really question and wonder the point of it since not opening the boxes means I do not even know if the toys are broken, missing a piece or if it is defective. These boxes also take up too much space.