Shame about the price increase...$440 AUD is wayyyy too much. Over a hundred bucks more than previous releases, even including shipping.
That's not the price. You won't be paying VAT, so you would be paying the ex-vat price, which Big Chief once again shot themselves in the foot over by stupidly not listing the ex-vat price explicitly on their promo page (hence why so many international buyers are understandably confused and put off and now think this will cost them significantly more than it actually will).
Now I don't know what the ex-vat price will be, exactly, as it has never seemed predictably consistent as far as I could see based on previous releases, but I would guesstimate somewhere just sub or up to the 200 pounds mark, so even taking the latter, that would be 367 AUD, based on todays exchange rates. So in the same ballpark as most retail hot toys prices here. Given that it comes signed, with two head sculpts and free shipping, that seems like a pretty reasonable price to me in the current market, personally.
Oh, and just by comparison, the Paul McGann signature edition (which still hasn't come out...) cost 183.33 ex-vat originally, or 336.50 AUD (they have actually raised the price considerably since, and is now 208.33 pounds ex vat!), and we still need to pay shipping on that when it does finally hit, which based on the last Doctor to ship (The War Doctor) to Australia cost another 27 pounds , or 50 AUD. So assuming McGann will cost at least the same, postage wise, Thirteen will actually end up about twenty bucks Australian cheaper than Eight will ultimately cost, with shipping taken into account, for those of us who jumped on board originally, and even more for those who jumped on that one late, after the hefty price hike.
They probably can’t produce the scarf without having to pay Paul Smith.
That is very likely it. And on BC's margins, I can't imagine doing so would feel worth the extra investment, even if it were viable (which it may well not be). Still a bit of a shame, though.