I think there's another big factor for retail release here thats been overlooked in this thread so far.

The original Rising Mighty Kuuga was a con exclusive. Not just that, but a con exclusive which is now renowned for having paint that will almost completely fade over time.

So from Bandai's point of view and probably a lot of Kuuga collectors, this figure being retail is probably a HUGE deal.

Yup it is. This is like a dream come true for me.

I can attest to this, the one I have is starting to show the silver base. :(

I wanted to be a Kuuga collector, I love the show, but since Ultimate is a Web-Exclusive I’ll probably just pass on everything now and be happy with the main form I already got.

Saves space and money anyways. Maybe I bother getting Daguva if he’s retail, but he won’t, Kaijins don’t sell well enough from what I've heard.

Which is breaking my heart.
Not because of Daguva, but because any possibility of seeing Gadoru basically hinges on Daguva selling like blockbusters.

No secret at all. Never not shared it. Don't know where that's coming from. I split my orders for retail releases between my job & amiami, and for exclusives I hold out on some things I don't desperately need right now for Nippon Yassan & Jungle. For everything else I want to get monthly I use Sentai Tamashii. He used to run his middleman services openly on the boards but had too many people trying to back out of orders when the payment came due so he only does it for his good customers now. But I pay fees and shipping to him just like any middleman service. No one gets it for free.

Pretty much. This is Bandai's grand apology for the original and very expensive at the time figure, turning out to be a total lemon.

Man even if this is just a retooled SS Mighty form, I'm super excited for this.

Here are some more pics