I kind of get the feeling there might have been some pushback at some level of management towards doing the relatively niche characters at such premium price points. Especially as Hasbro seems to be pulling back on the number of Leaders they do in a given year To begin with.
Victory Saber probably would have tied up AT LEAST two leader slots, if not a Commander AND Leader. And when Hasbro only makes two new leader molds in a given year…do they WANT characters with less mainstream appeal tying up those tooling slots?
Plus, by doing these guys as Haslabs, it also frees them from retail restrictions. I could see them TRYING to convert DoubleDealer into Deathsaurus. And I think a lot would have taken that. But with HasLab? NOW they can afford all new tooling and bonus tooling that wouldn’t have made the cut when dealing with retail price points.
With all the controversy over HasLab prices, I think he’s a fair value. Commanders are running $90 now, and then you add the Micromasters (Given size, probably close to Core size, so that’s $25 or so for that pair) and the accessories (including an impressive throne) probably add an easy $40 or so, just due to the size of the Throne. AND you get a stand (which would probably run $20 if sold as it’s own thing, AT LEAST).
I’ll be backing.