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TakaraTomy Animated Black Rodimus digibash

The face of TakaraTomy Black Animated Rodimus Minor?

With every new announcement from Takara Tomy I feel myself responding with less awe and far more shock.  With the recent announcement of a Hyper Hobby Black repaint of Animated Rodimus, the total number of exclusive figures outside of the main toyline reaches a whopping 25!  I haven’t been keeping more than a mental record over the past 10 years or so, but I’m pretty sure that makes the Japanese Animated toyline the most exclusivized toyline ever.

The worst part about all of these non-mainline toys is that none of them were released in the United States, and each one has its own set of difficulties in obtaining it.  Some of them are quite exciting, such as the elite guard edition of Prowl in white, which we never saw but always wanted.

TakaraTomy Animated EZ Seekers

Delicious AND expensive!

Also, anyone looking to make a collection out of the full Japanese Animated line will need deep pockets.  See the current list of TakaraTomy Animated exclusives below with their estimated prices.

  • Red clear EZ Convoy – $40
  • Yellow clear EZ Bumble – $40
  • Purple clear EZ Starscream – $40
  • Smoke clear EZ Prowl – $40
  • Lucky Draw Gold Chrome Deluxe Earth Mode Convoy – $300
  • Deluxe Elite Guard Prowl – $75
  • Lucky Draw Silver Chrome Deluxe Bumble – $200 (estimated)
  • Clear EZ Sunstorm – $35
  • Clear EZ Ramjet – $35
  • Clear EZ Thundercracker – $35
  • Clear EZ Skywarp – $35
  • Clear EZ Black and White Starscream – $75
  • Voyager Black Convoy – $200
  • Voyager Elite Guard Convoy – $100
  • 2010 Clear deluxe convoy and Rodimus 2-pack – $60
  • Lucky Draw Matte Deluxe Earth Mode Convoy – $100 (estimated)
  • Lucky Draw Activator Skywarp – $100 (estimated)
  • Lucky Draw clear painted EZ Convoy – $40 (estimated)
  • Lucky Draw clear painted EZ Bumble – $40 (estimated)
  • Lucky Draw clear painted EZ Prowl – $40 (estimated)
  • Lucky Draw clear painted EZ Starscream – $40 (estimated)
  • Clear deluxe Earthmode Convoy – $75 (estimated)
  • Clear Activator Convoy – $45 (estimated)
  • Activator Ramjet – $30 (estimated)
  • Black Rodimus – $50 (estimated)

The total of these estimated prices is $1870!  This doesn’t even count the mainline figures or shipping!  Realize that all these prices fluctuate on both sides of the scale since the only way for people outside of Japan to get a hold of these guys is on the secondary market.  Even if you take out the exuberant lucky draw figures, the total is still well above a grand for this plastic crack.

This trend looks like it has nothing stopping it either.  With the amount of Starcream clones and molds available to combine, we probably have only scratched the surface of expensive rare animated figures from TakaraTomy.  I’m praying that we DON’T hear anything about a Lucky Draw Starscream but I’m sure my nightmares will become reality.

TakaraTomy advertisement for clear red EZ Optimus Prime

If we had only known this was the start of something we would grow to fear...