@RyomaNagare:
I don't understand why WCF's set are:
a) very expensive
b) so rare
I bought them but for me they are not worth all that money!
as a official collector of WCF (only i collect from OP)
they are expensive because you are buying whole set. if you buy individual you can get them for around 500 yen up to 9,000 yen depending on which figure you are adquiring. why the big gap in the price? because (assuming you know they are prize figures and can be ordered by other sellers who dont really own any equipment as in prize or amusement) when the sellers get the boxes with the sets, there are figures that are only 2 or 3 of them in each big box, which means they only get out of 24 around 3 or 4 sets complete, the rest are missing 1 or two figures (usually one) that figure then becomes the rarer form the set to obtain. the same applies when you go to the amusement machines or prize machine, that particular figure might not even be available or might be in few amounts.
Now if you buy set, they can be going from 6,000 + yen , that is because like my friend above me said, they are made ONLY for Japan (hence why they are as well so rare) and they are ONLY made for Price machines. you have to pay everytime you want to earn a figure and you might try 10 times and not get anything. so because they are made for prize machines they become less available even in Japan and its a whole ordeal to get these figures (the non- connections style) and if you do have the conections then you paying for the priviledge and commodity of simply few mouse clicks.
we have to keep in mind that the popularity of these figures is increasing and the OP as well, and many sellers are now realizing that hence why Vol 8 can be found on yahoo JP more expensive than when vol 6,7 first came out.
Now to the point of rarity, consider these facts as why they are so Rare
1.they are ONLY available in Japan
2.they are not made for stores nor a big market such as commercial items and big sales (POP, figuarts,action figures etc) they are made mostly for a smaller market.
3.you only can get them on prize machines, and must play and pay to get them and might not get the "one" you "want" in the first tries.
4.they are not available in USA so for us will be of course much more Rare than for Japanese consumers. and might be expensive because we are paying for it as a "Import"
5.when they do become available in other sites such as Playasia, etc , worldwide consumers purchase them so fast that they go sold out hence becoming more rare for international customers.
6.once a month pass by they are not produced anymore. each WCF as long as i know is only made for that particular month, the next month a new set is released and the prize machines are filled with the new WCF figures.
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I do agree that the coming up volumes will have more interesting figures, but i got to say that i currently love the current line up so far (except the excesive amount of Luffy's and Zorro's lol)
overall, they are awesome and worth the price (if you know where to buy). the trick is to get them the same month when they come out, proof of that is how hard is to find the Strong World movie ones and of course how expensive vol 1 have become (TV). if you are looking for big size miniatures , with amazing detail and paint and volume, this is the series for you. the figures can go from 2.5 inches to 3.9 inches.