Welcome (Goodbye) Megatron, goodbye mission!

I am delighted today.

I managed to obtain a minty, unused, Goodbye Megatron giftset for my buddy today, after months and months of searching.

I am very delighted today.

I obtained my own Goodbye Megatron giftset in December last year and it was a momentous occasion for me. One of my collecting buddies, who is a huge Starscream fan saw the set and really liked it. He requested that I help him find a set.

In the following month, I saw another set on sale at the same shop that I bought mine at. Sadly, it has been reserved and pre-sold. Then, no more appeared in HK. There was none anywhere.

I went to Tokyo in February 2011. I did see many Goodbye Megatrons at all the different Mandarakes, including the Hokkaido Mandarake, but many were incomplete and still selling for ¥40,000+. That's just nuts, for incomplete junked up sets that didn't even have the exclusive poster.

There was this set at Mandarake Hokkaido that was going for ¥69,800, was very pristine, but I though was a tab bit too expensive - especially with the Yen being so high.

From February till late April, still no luck. 

In early May, the shop I originally bought my Goodbye Megatron from had a set in. The box was tattered and the paperworks incomplete; stickers have been applied and have wear; the foam was in bad condition. The asking price was an unattractive HKD$7,800. 

No-bloody-way. My buddy was kind of keen and would have gone for it, but I thought, no, it's not a set I'd buy for myself, and I don't think its good enough at that price point. So I had to let it slide.

In late May, I went on a trip to Osaka organised and arranged by the most wonderful person in the world, E. I was there hunting the ever elusive dino-casettes (ie: C-121, 122, 123 and 124). Of course, I looked out for Goodbye Megatron. Still no luck. All the toy shops in Den Den Town and the 2 Mandarakes in Osaka didn't have a whiff of Goodbye Megatron.

So, no Goodbye Megatron, until today. 

Today I met another buddy, James, to go toy hunting as we usually do (and he gave me my 2 DOTM Powerglides and Generations Warpath!). 

I went to this shop that specialises in Diaclone because I was looking for a P****ed *X for another collector friend from TFW 2005.

I talked to the shop owner who I had known since 2009. He said, "hey, you know Transformers right? How much do you think I can sell a Goodbye Megatron set for?"

My eyes opened wide and I said "Do you have one? In what condition?"

"It's very new, it's unused and the paperworks are all still in their original packing. I'm think of selling it for HKD$****. What do you think?"

Being sneaky, I said "Hey, that's a bit steep. But let me have a look."

Long story short, I had a look and was blown away by the contents. I don't believe I have ever seen a Goodbye Megatron in anyone's collection that has unused accessories and paperworks still in their packets - this-is-how-the-set-originally came! It's like a page off the history books. In fact, its historic!

After some horse trading and bargaining, I walked away with the set, firmly in hand, and very delighted that I'm welcoming Goodbye Megatron, but waving goodbye to my mission, which I had accomplished.

~ HD

PS: Here are some pictures....

My buddy's set on the left, my set on the right

Fresh and unused paperworks. All of Starscream's paperworks and accessories have never been opened!

A small but important piece of paperwork - the exclusive "goodbye" coupon that only came with either the Goodbye Megatron giftset or Goodbye Convoy giftset.