Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

PPL !!! Let's BOYCOTT WALMART !!!!

YEAHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!

That'd work about as well as it did in Family Guy.

Glad I bought Knock Out today for $15. $17 is ridiculous for the Deluxe-scale. If its going to be like this in the future, I think the Combaticons and several upcoming Classics figures will be the last Deluxes I'll buy in a while.

I know that with the increase in price and the decrease in size of the toys, I'm starting to be more selective with what character I buy rather than attempt to get a whole wave of a series. Stuff like Marvel Universe, forget about it, $11+ is way to much for toys of that size.

I'd be more upset about this if I could actually find any figures I want. I haven't bought a single Transformer in over 2 months.

So there are quite a few things to think out here.

1. The cost of plastic and what not. That's already been discussed in earlier posts.

2. The cost of manufacturing the toys. Also already discussed in previous posts.

3. No one seems to want to talk about the fact that the 3rd party toys might actually be a part of the price increase. And no, I'm not saying that 3rd party TFs are a problem. If Hasbro is looking at the collecting community and seeing us buying all these expensive 3rd party toys, which are pretty expensive, and sometimes about the same size as the toys they are trying to sell now, they probably haven't actually purchased those 3rd party offerings and seen the difference in quality. If you saw a competitive manufacturer selling similar products at higher price points, and selling more of them than you are, you either up your prices to match, in an attempt to make your own product not seem so cheap, or you stop manufacturing your product. Simple business economics.

Now I realize I'm about to get a whole hell of a lot of flak for that little paragraph, and please let me explain, I wish I could afford all of those 3rd party toys. They are better quality. They are more fun to transform. They are usually made of better material, though that may just be the few 3rd party pieces I actually own. I just can't afford to get the current crop of Hasbro offerings, let alone the toys I really want in my collection.

I'm not trying to persuade anyone to not buy any certain thing. I just thought it might be food for thought...

I can confirm these prices in san antonio texas.

Deluxes get smaller, Prices get bigger...seems legit...




*note sarcasm...

Well, third parties win, at least for me. A price increase would be fine if we weren't paying almost $20 for a poopy, unpainted, scout-sized bundle of regret. I pay a LOT for the amazing figures that third parties offer, and have yet to regret one single purchase (and I have a lot of them). I have sworn off game-related figures after acquiring and selling my SDCC Bruticus, Prime, and Jazz. I am also VERY close to being done with collecting Prime. I just don't get any satisfaction paying over $15 for a figure like Knockout, and then paying more to get the pretty much necessary reprolabels. Hasbro needs to up their game. If it weren't for the new direction of the masterpiece line, they wouldn't be getting my money for a loooong time.

LordBludgeon wrote:Hmm... I was just at Wal-Mart yesterday and for me they are still listed at 12.99. Hopefully they don't get increased too much in my neck of the woods.

Your location is Cybertron. You're on another planet. Here on Earth, prices are truly outrageous!

ARCTrooperAlpha wrote:PPL !!! Let's BOYCOTT WALMART !!!!

YEAHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!

NAAHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!

LiKwid wrote:Deluxes get smaller, Prices get bigger...seems legit...




*note sarcasm...

So, Hasbro thinks it's a smart idea to continue to raise prices and lower the quality. -_- This is why I haven't bought a single damn thing in months. Except for Weaponizers Optimus of course.

I was gonna say "Welcome To Canada!!" but actually, that's $1 more than we've been paying ever since I started collecting some 10 years ago. So I guess you guys have a reason to start complaining now.

...I'm only pretending to be a dick about it, price increases do suck. It's just that we've been paying 25% more than you guys up here forever, so I didn't feel much sympathy until now. However, this combined with the decreased sizes and complexity and terrible lack of paint apps...yeah, things are getting pretty bad.

Walmarts in the Springfield, MO area are actually getting stuff. The prices have remained pretty consistent here from store to store. TRU is the same price as Target and Walmart.

Tag prices have gone up but that doesn't necessarily mean you're paying more. I buy on sale only except when I see little chance of finding a sale.

In any case, a couple years ago I dug up scans and pics of U.S. ads and price tags from the '80s and found Starscream was $12.95 at TRU--about the same as a modern Deluxe--and sale prices for deluxe equivalents were around $7 to $8. Keep in mind that's not factoring in inflation. Each dollar was worth more back then.

Just wait for the holiday sales. You'll be able to get Deluxes for $8 to $10 when all is said and done.

amtm wrote:Just wait for the holiday sales. You'll be able to get Deluxes for $8 to $10 when all is said and done.

But what Deluxes will we see? If they do it right with the holiday reset, we're good.

We just need more shipments. We know how fast Dreadwing, Rumble, Vehicon, Dead End, and others will fly off shelves.

For what it's worth:

usinflationcalculator.com wrote:If in 1996 [Beast Wars Deluxe] I purchased an item for: $10
then in 2012 [Prime/FoC Deluxe] that same item would cost: $14.68

That is, $15 Deluxes isn't so much price gauging as it is just adjusting for inflation, and that's exactly where the MSRP (Hasbro's suggested price) is set, implying anything above that is purely on the retailers.

Of course, Hasbro has been noticeably cutting corners with a brand that's been doing phenomenally well lately, which is certainly strange. I could understand if they were made to keep the prices down, but that obviously hasn't happened.

The only way I'll $20 or more for a deluxe is if it's an imported figure. Hasbro, you can kiss my f*ck!ng a$$ if you want me to buy your stuff.

Plus, a majority of figure nowadays aren't even worth the high price. This is why my lego collection outnumbers the bots and cons. The prices stay the same and only increase with the size of a set, the bigger it is, the more it costs. Not, the samller it is.

HASBRO! GET WITH DAMN PROGRAM!

Those prices are disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
Buuut, the fandom have proven time and again that they're more than prepared to fork out huge sums of cash for very little, or shoddily-assembled plastic. So I guess we're partly to blame. You can buy an "exclusive" pink Prime from BBTS for seventy bucks. That thing is as exclusive as a McDonald's cheeseburger, but you can be sure that a healthy portion of the fandom will fork out for it.

Ultimately though the market is our responsibility. It's up to us to vote with our wallets, so if we're really not happy about the situation we know what to do.
As for me, I'm definitely going to be more selective about what I buy. The odd MP here and there. My favourite characters as/when they show up. The most I've ever paid for a TF is about $120 and I'll never pay more than that.

Almost $20 for a deluxe is the point where I have to seriously think about the importance of having another plastic robot on my shelf.

I doubt we'll be seeing a price drop unless hasblow decides to cancel their $hit toylines such as MLP and the like. Then they can use all that wasted plastic to actually give us some decent robots. But until then, my Lego collection will always be first priority.

I'll buy bots too, but the only ones I want are Magnus, Thundertron, and the FE figures.

Take a breather guys...


MSRP is still the MSRP, the retail chains can change prices as much as they want. This isn't Hasbro's fault. Hasbro made the figures smaller, with less paint apps, and articulation to keep the figures at the MSRP level.

Which If I believe right is supposed to be 12.99$


You want to throw fire, cast it towards the retail tyranny of Walmart and target. They are the only main retail competition, TRU has got their own game and is usually more expensive which doesn't seem to hurt them.


Also, unless ton's of reports start flooding in with this price point.
it could just be a bad Dept manager who is raising prices trying to impress the MOD.


I'd calm down... and go transform something.

Manterax Prime wrote:I doubt we'll be seeing a price drop unless hasblow decides to cancel their $hit toylines such as MLP and the like.

You're mean.

Then they can use all that wasted plastic to actually give us some decent robots.

And for all of us that like they're other toylines? We're screwed because you want better quality TFs.

this is absurd. im buying old toys for awhile. i need some more RID TFs more.

PrymeStriker wrote:

Manterax Prime wrote:I doubt we'll be seeing a price drop unless hasblow decides to cancel their $hit toylines such as MLP and the like.

You're mean.

Then they can use all that wasted plastic to actually give us some decent robots.

And for all of us that like they're other toylines? We're screwed because you want better quality TFs.

Take it up with hasbro bud, I'm just stating my opinion.

At this rate, you guys will soon get the prices we pay in Europe: $25 Deluxes and $43 Voyagers converted. Worse, soon the high VAT rate of the Netherlands (which is included in the price shown), will be raised from 19% to 21%... Not fun.

There are simply too many variables for such a price, but I suspect the relatively high prices depend on location and the local economy. Or just people being greedy Even I have limits though, anything above 15 is a no-go.

Never thought I'd have to be price-conscious in the US from now on

Luckily prices near me havnt gone up yet. if they do get much higher i may switch to online buying.

Manterax Prime wrote:

PrymeStriker wrote:

Manterax Prime wrote:I doubt we'll be seeing a price drop unless hasblow decides to cancel their $hit toylines such as MLP and the like.

You're mean.

Then they can use all that wasted plastic to actually give us some decent robots.

And for all of us that like they're other toylines? We're screwed because you want better quality TFs.

Take it up with hasbro bud, I'm just stating my opinion.

Sure, okay. It's your opinion. Respect.

But if they cancel other toylines, then we have even more unhappy people. We can't be selfish and tell Hasbro to kick the other toylines and their fandom in the balls and give us all the attention.

I'm all for better quality figures and lower prices, but we have to be considerate of other fandoms.