War in the Pocket

JoJoFans on the ToysDaily Forum has posted a picture of the NEO4 lineup from the June issue of Hobby Japan. The picture confirms the lineup we posted earlier, and also confirms the multi-colored transparent figure variants.

So anyway, here is my theory about the stupid transparent figures. I am thinking that with 14-16 different figures released in boxes of 15, Bandai has found the NEO sets don't sell well enough. It is too easy for a casual collector to buy one box and get a single copy of every figure he'd want. I, for one, was planning on buying just 1 box of NEO4 and I figured I'd be satisfied (I don't collect SEED figures and I am going to cut back on Z, ZZ and Wing). By adding the transparent variants, Bandai has increased the odds that I won't get every figure I want - I'll get a Heavyarms, certainly, but it'll be a stupid clear version so I'll need another box or two to get everything I want. I don't know if that is really their motivation, but I suspect it is. Between this new scheme and the repeats of unpopular figures like the Zaku Tank and Zaku Marine, plus the overly diverse lineup within a single release (MSV, Z, ZZ, SEED, Wing, and Turn-A all in one box... oh my!), I am a little annoyed with these more recent NEO collections. Just my two cents...