The Energon Pub

You may be Stunticonned into paying high import costs but you can tune into episode 373 of the Seibertron.com Twincast / Podcast for free. Host Scotty P is joined by Kuhlio and Aaarnhide19 to talk all about recent Tariff announcements as well as the responses from toy industry figures on how these import costs will effect toy prices going forward. Things get back to their usual lighter mood after that with plenty more to discuss like 2026 leak lists and Kickstarter campaigns. There's even a listener question or two to round out a loaded up episode.

Episode #373 “Fair Trade Blend” is available directly and in our RSS Feed, and should appear on Apple Podcasts and many other Podcatcher sites within 24 to 48 hours of when you see this news post.

Here's what we discuss in this episode:

• The episode begins with a discussion of the new tafiff announcements set to greatly impact the toy trade between the U.S. and the various countries Hasbro and other companies choose to produce their product. Also discussed is the Hasbro as well as other BBTS and TFsource's responses to the news.
• The crew moves onto some comic talk with the Marvel Transformers G1 Comic Compendium crowdfund from Skybound, and they ask themselves "How heavy are these books gonna be?"
  
• The toy talk begins with the recent leaks of upcoming Age of the Primes and Studio Series toys set to release in 2026. Highlights include Big Convoy, Brawl, Sureshot (Finally!!), Armada Sideways, Kranix, and TFone Alpha Trion!
• Open your wallets because the full reveal of an upcoming MPG-17 Optimus Prime and what it may mean for the future of Masterpiece design going forward is discussed.
  
• Recent in hand photos of a Deluxe Earthspark Soundwave show the toy line isn't going out without a fight!
  
• A pair of Listener Questions from TK415 regarding how to utilize Galvatron as a character and what would the crew change about any particular piece of fiction are answered next.
• Bragging Rights finishes things off as it usually does
  
  

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Agreed. **** Donald Dumpsterfire for this.

The reason you haven't had any issues with showZ or any other Chinese shipper is that de minimis is still in effect for items under $800. That is scheduled to end by executive order on May 2. After that, you'll get stuck with 145%. UNLESS IT CHANGES...

The thing I didn't hear in the conversation is that the worst possible path forward is for Hasbro to simply stop production of certain toys. What's the threshold where its no longer worth the risk to ship $40 deluxe toys out and have them not sell at all? There is some math mixed in that we don't know the equation for where the market collapses in on itself. All the product we're looking forward to, the combiner teams, the Primes, the 86 versions...all of that could get relegated to the dust bin if the P&L for the line isn't worth the effort.

Tariffed price hikes are probably temporary. A restructuring of product lines may not be.

Also, not sure who said the disparaging remark about Marvel Legends, but like Transformers, they're putting out the best product they've made in years. It's almost all good.

Counterpunch wrote:The thing I didn't hear in the conversation is that the worst possible path forward is for Hasbro to simply stop production of certain toys.

That's what I was alluding to with Commander and beyond when I speculated on what the price increases would be. It wasn't clear, but this is what I meant. Some of those higher price points could disappear, at least for a while.

ScottyP wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:The thing I didn't hear in the conversation is that the worst possible path forward is for Hasbro to simply stop production of certain toys.

That's what I was alluding to with Commander and beyond when I speculated on what the price increases would be. It wasn't clear, but this is what I meant. Some of those higher price points could disappear, at least for a while.

Totally fair. For some reason when you mentioned higher price classes, I just didn't view it in the same context and I probably should have.

Fwiw, you can probably tell that this is the main concern I have.

Counterpunch wrote:The thing I didn't hear in the conversation is that the worst possible path forward is for Hasbro to simply stop production of certain toys. What's the threshold where its no longer worth the risk to ship $40 deluxe toys out and have them not sell at all? There is some math mixed in that we don't know the equation for where the market collapses in on itself. All the product we're looking forward to, the combiner teams, the Primes, the 86 versions...all of that could get relegated to the dust bin if the P&L for the line isn't worth the effort.

Tariffed price hikes are probably temporary. A restructuring of product lines may not be.

Also, not sure who said the disparaging remark about Marvel Legends, but like Transformers, they're putting out the best product they've made in years. It's almost all good.

Its been so long since I have really seen a stocked toy aisle, I am not sure what most Marvel Legends look like anymore... I love the Death's Head, and am looking forward to ROM. The only reason that I returned my AOA Gambit was that I am trying to stay focused, and I didn't know where he fit anymore.
I am worried about loss of certain price points- and I didn't think about the possible re-structure of the brands. They have cut back on the waves per year, and based on leaks it seems like they have quite a few re-packs to reduce the amount of new tooling needed- but how we can still continue with how things have been going. The only price-point I could see go would be Titan without too much missing, but based on how prices are going its not hard for the Commanders to hit the new Titan price.

Counterpunch wrote:Fwiw, you can probably tell that this is the main concern I have.

I feel like the recent trend of "reissues of toys from just the past few years", like Siege Jetfire and Omega, et al, is something that's definitely gonna die in the midst of this chaos. If their prices have to go up a bunch too, anyone that missed out can just hop right over to the secondary market.

Whoever said they could new head retool the (positively dreadful and actual worst figure of Legacy Part 1) Prime Knockout into a Prime Smokescreen: don't even BRING that energy into the world right now.

I have more faith in it being Armada Smokescreen, but if it is Prime Smokescreen, I hope he trends towards Cliffjumper and Dreadwing in terms of aesthetics and interpretation. Specifically, Prime Smokescreen is 100% unique in how his door wings and wheels function, I WANT THAT, PLEASE

ScottyP wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:Fwiw, you can probably tell that this is the main concern I have.

I feel like the recent trend of "reissues of toys from just the past few years", like Siege Jetfire and Omega, et al, is something that's definitely gonna die in the midst of this chaos. If their prices have to go up a bunch too, anyone that missed out can just hop right over to the secondary market.

SS86 Ultra Magnus says Hi. I am dreading if the tariffs hit him and he'll STILL cost me $150.

Big toymakers like Mattel, Hasbro & Lego should've pooled some money into a big bag-o-cash and gift it to Trump, looking at how much the Tech Bros gave to the POTUS, a million or 3 should do it. Tariff problem for plastic crack solved. It's just a fraction of the worth out of the CEOs stock options. It's a win-win-win.

The reason Skybound did a Kickstarter (in my opinion) is that they now have a cast-iron number of books to print (no overspend for possible stock sitting around) while generating significant FOMO. The GI Joe one has 100% proven that there is a hunger for this kind of super flashy product. This also adds prestige to an already prestigious product with all the unlocks.

Finally, they get the claim of "Most Backed comic book Kickstarter in history!" which is a nice bit of additional promo material.

I backed it because I love these comics, even though I have the old Titan reprints from the early noughties, I wanted the extra guff, the purple covers look gorgeous (yup, I went Decepticon.) AND I backed the Joe one, even though I'm not a massive Joe fan and was blown away with the quality of the product.

As a bonus, I can keep them in pristine condition while reading the PDF editions on my tablet.

Cheers!

~ Grim