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Yeah, it sucks. The end consumer is really the only one who can positively effect pricing by speaking with their wallets. Unfortunately Hasbro & retailers are all businesses so all they see are the dollar signs. But I can't put the blame on Hasbro for this. They've got the suggested retail price set at $15 which was raised from the previous years, but we understood it for the most part. The stores are the ones going above and beyond with higher price spikes. In the past, stores were good at keeping prices either at or even below MSRP, & we got spoiled. While Hasbro is a business, they do make attempts at showing fans & collectors they listen and care. If they didn't, there's no way we'd ever see any of the Masterpieces stateside, or things like the First Editions being brought back. But they've also made their share of mistakes (TFP Breakdown I'm looking directly at you!). But on this one, I've got to cut Hasbro slack, this is the retailers doing.

xBigbotx wrote:Yeah my local Target had the prime figures at @ 18.29 after months looking for a vehicon finally found one but pass cuz of the price. Hasbro is starting to make the figures smaller for deluxe and more expensive

that is ridiculous!

I expect jacked up prices at smaller stores like Rite-Aid (where I saw a Universe 2.0 Starscream and Hound going for 18 bucks a pop, when they were still ten at Wal-mart). But that Target store... how do we know it's not just THAT store?

... checking Target.com, they still have Dark of the Moon deluxes. ... Ranging from $16-30$ each!?!?

I'm thinking it might just be Target that's inflating these prices. O_O

Grimlock64 wrote:I expect jacked up prices at smaller stores like Rite-Aid (where I saw a Universe 2.0 Starscream and Hound going for 18 bucks a pop, when they were still ten at Wal-mart). But that Target store... how do we know it's not just THAT store?

... checking Target.com, they still have Dark of the Moon deluxes. ... Ranging from $16-30$ each!?!?

I'm thinking it might just be Target that's inflating these prices. O_O

With Walmart following suit? Probably. Target was the first one to jack prices, I guess Wallyworld just thinks it's a good idea to screw over their consumer base as well.

I haven't seen Wal-mart charge as much as Target yet. YET. But that seems to be the trend here. Meijer's still cheaper, but my Meijer usually tends to suck when it comes to new toys. ><

User897 wrote:RhA, I won't even dignify that with a reply.

Why not? You're blaming Hasbro for the prices stores charge.

RhA wrote:

User897 wrote:RhA, I won't even dignify that with a reply.

Why not? You're blaming Hasbro for the prices stores charge.

Come on RhA, don't you know that Hasbro is the root of all economic suffering in the world

Well, regardless of WHY this is happening, the effect is that it will significantly affect sales.

I was actually attempting to purchase ALL non-repaint Prime toys and FOC toys, in all sizes.
I had purchased most, fortunately, when they were at the $12 price point. When it bumped up to around $15, I had trouble justifying it, but still bought the Vehicon because of how great a toy it is.

At this point, personally, I'm going back to what I used to do before these lines came out:
I buy motorcycle bots, Ultra Magnus, and Prowl. Occassionally, random figures at Marshall's. That's a BIG drop from me picking up the entirety of two lines in all sizes.
Income-wise, that's much more money lost than would be by keeping the figures at reasonable prices.

Like I said, regardless of the cause, the effect is the same.

Grimlock64 wrote:I expect jacked up prices at smaller stores like Rite-Aid (where I saw a Universe 2.0 Starscream and Hound going for 18 bucks a pop, when they were still ten at Wal-mart). But that Target store... how do we know it's not just THAT store?

... checking Target.com, they still have Dark of the Moon deluxes. ... Ranging from $16-30$ each!?!?

I'm thinking it might just be Target that's inflating these prices. O_O

It's actually gotten to the point where not only is it easier to find new Prime figures at Walgreens rather than Target, it's cheaper too.

It is a very sad day... Kmart DOES actually have the lowest prices for transformers in my area now.

Never thought I'd say that haha.


Thankfully I got to pick up shockwave,jazz and Prime the other day for 14.99 at target.