Hasbro Warns Fans that Current Preorder Prices will end May 9th

My buying has already ended. This news made it permanent
I know the tariffs are out of their control but with every thing going up aside from my pay, I'm done.

"...Prices going up was not said in their notice, but if not then why warn fans?"

Why indeed? I'm not inclined to blame this wholly on the tariffs, though that's certainly part of it. But Hasbro has proved already that they are opportunistic and greedy, and will take any happenstance as an excuse to jack up their prices, jack up their profits, and 'pass it on to the consumers'. The tariffs were simply the excuse they were looking for.

DeathReviews wrote:

"...Prices going up was not said in their notice, but if not then why warn fans?"

Why indeed? I'm not inclined to blame this wholly on the tariffs, though that's certainly part of it. But Hasbro has proved already that they are opportunistic and greedy, and will take any happenstance as an excuse to jack up their prices, jack up their profits, and 'pass it on to the consumers'. The tariffs were simply the excuse they were looking for.

This warning is only on the US site though. So if prices only increase in the US and no where else, then for this one time it will specifically be attributed to that external factor

The tariffs are stupid and Hasbro needs to quit dicking over the consumer.

DeathReviews wrote:Hasbro has proved already that they are opportunistic and greedy, and will take any happenstance as an excuse to jack up their prices, jack up their profits, and 'pass it on to the consumers'. The tariffs were simply the excuse they were looking for.

Exactly.

Well I was fortunate enough to find all the current items I wanted in store as of yesterday. I'd love to pre-order both CC Constructicons, and Silverbolt, but pre-orders are sold out on Pulse at the moment. Not Paying $100+ for a CC after the price hike. Other places like BBTS have them for pre-order, but they already have their price increases in effect. I guess if I don't find them on sale later, I'll be selling the combiner bots I have at a later date.

o.supreme wrote:Well I was fortunate enough to find all the current items I wanted in store as of yesterday. I'd love to pre-order both CC Constructicons, and Silverbolt, but pre-orders are sold out on Pulse at the moment. Not Paying $100+ for a CC after the price hike. Other places like BBTS have them for pre-order, but they already have their price increases in effect.

Are we seeing the same thing? The preorder for the CC Constructicons on BBTS is $89.99 and it specifically says that the price excludes a tariff surcharge.

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/ ... 304651?o=4

william-james88 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Well I was fortunate enough to find all the current items I wanted in store as of yesterday. I'd love to pre-order both CC Constructicons, and Silverbolt, but pre-orders are sold out on Pulse at the moment. Not Paying $100+ for a CC after the price hike. Other places like BBTS have them for pre-order, but they already have their price increases in effect.

Are we seeing the same thing? The preorder for the CC Constructicons on BBTS is $89.99 and it specifically says that the price excludes a tariff surcharge.

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/ ... 304651?o=4

Correct. I could be misinterpreting that statement but I just assumed that meant the Tariff surcharge would be added at the time of payment.

I'm only mildy interested in the Combiners post-Legacy Menasor. Menasor is great, the frame system is fit for it and it's a much needed update to the CW version. But I'm fine with my CW Devastator, Superion, Bruticus and most of the others. With the general price increases in the past years and now the uncertainties of the 2nd Trump era - I see fans complanining about POs, especially the Commanders - I'm just not biting. However, I think Hasbro/TT will come up with gift sets with better/different decos once everything's more settled, and those I might want.

o.supreme wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

o.supreme wrote:Well I was fortunate enough to find all the current items I wanted in store as of yesterday. I'd love to pre-order both CC Constructicons, and Silverbolt, but pre-orders are sold out on Pulse at the moment. Not Paying $100+ for a CC after the price hike. Other places like BBTS have them for pre-order, but they already have their price increases in effect.

Are we seeing the same thing? The preorder for the CC Constructicons on BBTS is $89.99 and it specifically says that the price excludes a tariff surcharge.

https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/Product/ ... 304651?o=4

Correct. I could be misinterpreting that statement but I just assumed that meant the Tariff surcharge would be added at the time of payment.

Yeah, exactly, that’s why I didn’t understand what you meant by the text I an now highlighting. BBTS does not have price increases yet, they also now have a notice about preorder prices only being good til may 9th

Not baked in the price, but the point I was making is that even if I pre-order now form BBTS I will end up paying more than just the 89.99 plus tax and & $4 flat rate shipping on that set. When BBTS decides charge me when the item comes in stock, they'll slap that extra surcharge on, so whether it shows up in the price or not, Id still end up paying it.

o.supreme wrote:Not baked in the price, but the point I was making is that even if I pre-order now form BBTS I will end up paying more than just the 89.99 plus tax and & $4 flat rate shipping on that set. When BBTS decides charge me when the item comes in stock, they'll slap that extra surcharge on, so whether it shows up in the price or not, Id still end up paying it.

Ah I see, yeah for sure.
Though honestly I don’t really understand it. BBTS is just a retailer, like Walmart, buying from an American supplier, Hasbro. For Hasbro products, they aren’t the ones importing right? Isn’t Hasbro the importer?

muddyjoe wrote:Maybe this is a good time for all you man-babies to grow up and stop playing with toys?

Whoa, watch out gang; we've got a tough guy here!

Counterpunch wrote:

muddyjoe wrote:Maybe this is a good time for all you man-babies to grow up and stop playing with toys?

Whoa, watch out gang; we've got a tough guy here!

Adult collectors don't 'play' with figures, they display them, and admire them - there's a difference . And certainly there are other hobbies that are much MORE expensive. Some mortals actually collect cars, or play golf, or ski - all of which have a MUCH bigger price tag in terms of overall expense as in the sum of money and time.

In any case, the price changes will not likely stop adult collectors. We'll just have to do what everybody else does when confronted with a tighter budget, and that's cut back. Unless of course, you're a government. Then you just print more money, raise taxes, and go right on spending...

william-james88 wrote:Though honestly I don’t really understand it. BBTS is just a retailer, like Walmart, buying from an American supplier, Hasbro. For Hasbro products, they aren’t the ones importing right? Isn’t Hasbro the importer?

I believe technically the receiving entity (person or business) once the package arrives in the US is considered the importer and responsible for the tariffs. So if a shipment is going directly from the factory to Amazon, then Amazon is the importer. If they are going directly to Walmart, Walmart is the importer. Everything depends on the first touch point within the US.

For BBTS, it may depend on whether they are going directly to BBTS, or going to Hasbro first then to be split to other smaller retailers. In the case Hasbro receives first, they would be subject to the tariffs, but could certainly pass that onto their retail customers directly.

I work for a product testing and certification company that receives test samples from all over the world. As test samples not for commercial use, they are not subject to any tariffs, but my company is considered the importer, even though we do not own the products, we are just receiving and testing them.

^ Yeah, tariffs are based on the country of origin and are paid 'at the border' - that is, by the domestic entity who bought it from an overseas supplier. Whether they're the end point retailer or just somewhere in the chain, they're going to pass that increased cost on to whoever buys from them, who will then pass that increase on to their customer, and so on.

And as you say, companies will take the excuse to increase prices generally if they can get away with it. Even domestic manufacturers who aren't importing goods will tend to increase prices when tariffs go up, since their imported competition has to.

DeathReviews wrote:In any case, the price changes will not likely stop adult collectors. We'll just have to do what everybody else does when confronted with a tighter budget, and that's cut back. Unless of course, you're a government. Then you just print more money, raise taxes, and go right on spending...

Makes sense that Death would refer to the only other certainty other than themselves.

All jokes aside, thanks for the great reply Death

We had posted that Hasbro was warning fans that preorder prices on Pulse would only be offered through the 8th. Well as the date nears, retailers are raising their prices. Fans have gotten alerts from Amazon that upcoming Transformers toys have risen in prices.
Entertainment Earth has updated their prices on both in stock and preorder prices. Here is the list:

Deluxes 26.99
voyagers 37.99
leaders 59.99
Commanders 97.99
Titan Star Optimus Prime 163.99
Titan Trypticon 218.99

There are also reports about the MSRP for deluxes being 27.99 and voyagers 36.99, so we'll see what the correct prices are once Pulse updates their listings the 9th.

Titans would be $218.99

Wonder about the Canadian side of the increase.

Likewise waiting to see whether UK prices are affected (ours are basically the same number as the US price but with a different currency symbol, exchange rates be damned).

cloudballoon wrote:Wonder about the Canadian side of the increase.

So far so good on Amazon.ca

william-james88 wrote:We had posted that Hasbro was warning fans that preorder prices on Pulse would only be offered through the 8th. Well as the date nears, retailers are raising their prices. Fans have gotten alerts from Amazon that upcoming Transformers toys have risen in prices.
Entertainment Earth has updated their prices on both in stock and preorder prices. Here is the list:

Deluxes 26.99
voyagers 37.99
leaders 59.99
Commanders 97.99
Titan Star Optimus Prime 163.99
Titan Trypticon 218.99

There are also reports about the MSRP for deluxes being 27.99 and voyagers 36.99, so we'll see what the correct prices are once Pulse updates their listings the 9th.

I wonder how accurate these numbers are or if they're just guessing since none of them are really a 10% increase nor are they reflecting the expected additional increase to cover the children's toys. Also weird that they're pricing Marvel Legends and Star Wars Black figures at the same rate ($26.99) when those are made in China and subject to the 145% rate making them $60+.

Emerje

"Whatever shall we DO?" many may be thinking. Well, Hasbro isn't going to lower their prices anytime soon, even if the tariffs are all lifted tomorrow. They've shown in the past that they are greedy and opportunistic, and will eagerly raise prices at the drop of a hat, and always pass the suffering on to the consumer.

We can rant, rave, huff, puff, and complain all we want. But in the end, all we can really DO about this is to adapt. We will all have to start cutting back, adjusting our budgets, and re-allocating how much we buy and when we buy it. What's the alternative? For unlike your foolish mortal governments, we individuals cannot simply print more money, raise taxes on other people, and go right on spending. At least not if we're responsible that is!

I have long known that a reckoning was inevitable. Cheap products made using slave labor in China and other countries without oversight was something that couldn't go on - not if mortals as a collective society wish to continue projecting the attitude that they've 'evolved beyond' human exploitation.

For the time being, I am willing to adapt to this rise in prices as a cost for ending modern-day slavery. I will simply direct the minions to no longer buy figures that I don't really want, and make a general reduction of intake. And if other mortals out there are wise, they'll do similarly.

So the reviews will NOT end! After all - Bruticus is still coming. But there may be a little more space between them, and I may start doing more "Retro-views" of legacy lines like Transformers Animated....

I was out at £33 for voyagers which now look to be £35 yet they can sell them still for profit at £18 on sale.

I am definitely missing the £/$45 pricing of commanders for sure.

Did they say prices would drop if the tariffs are dropped?

Dino-Snarl wrote:Did they say prices would drop if the tariffs are dropped?

Nope. And it would be wishful thinking to think they would. Once they get raised, Hasbro generally KEEPS them raised. I mean really - when was the last time they ever LOWERED the prices for their figures, even during prosperous circumstances?

Oh oh oh! For once, the TF in the USA are a few bucks more expensive than Canada!
Come on, just a little push and Americans will feel the European / Australian pain!

Still, in all seriousness, this mean that my BBTS and Amazon.com shopping will be way, way more limited than what it used to be. Seriously, you Americans were very privileged with your TF prices. So much so that EVEN WITH SHIPPING AND TAXES, buying Transformers form Amazon.com was barely 2 or 3$ more expensive than if I'd bought them at Amazon.ca, factoring the total costs.
I guess those days are over, unless it is a better alternative than eBay.

Speaking of eBay, do you Americans have to pay some extra tariffs when buying from a foreigner eBayer?

DeathReviews wrote:

Dino-Snarl wrote:Did they say prices would drop if the tariffs are dropped?

Nope. And it would be wishful thinking to think they would. Once they get raised, Hasbro generally KEEPS them raised. I mean really - when was the last time they ever LOWERED the prices for their figures, even during prosperous circumstances?

At best we've seen them make better figures instead of lowering prices like we saw When we had a high point with Universe and then a very low point with the initial Generations lines, and then a very noticeable uptick in quality with Thrilling 30 (especially Voyagers) without much of a price change. Maybe we could hope for that again, but it's pretty clear that the tariffs aren't going away, even if all countries agree on deals. There's also potential for those initial tariff numbers going back up from before we saw 10% across the board.

Emerje

Has Hasbro stated the impact of pricing on international markets. Pulse EU, UK, HK (Asia is now defunct). Thanks.

DeathReviews wrote:

Dino-Snarl wrote:Did they say prices would drop if the tariffs are dropped?

Nope. And it would be wishful thinking to think they would. Once they get raised, Hasbro generally KEEPS them raised. I mean really - when was the last time they ever LOWERED the prices for their figures, even during prosperous circumstances?

We knew that would be the response. That's always the case. Fuel charges at Canada Post remained even after the price of oil dropped.

I mean we certainly couldn't have it effect my corporate bonus and inflated pay....oh wait is my mic still on...

My collecting has slowed to a crawl at this point anyway once most of the major characters were done in Studio Series (all I've been picking up lately is the occasional Beast Wars and WFC game character), but this might be the push I need to just drop collecting for a while. The thought of paying almost $40 for a voyager when that was the cost of a leader like 10 years ago is kind of sickening to me.

Hasbro is doing the same across all their more collector-oriented lines, so GI Joe Classified, Star Wars, Marvel Legends, are also getting hit. May be time for me to just focus on other hobbies for a while.

Price increase. Huh. big surprise. What have we been complaining about for the last 4 years? Price increases. Shrinking figures and increasing prices. 10% is actually not nearly as bad as I was expecting.

First-Aid wrote:Price increase. Huh. big surprise. What have we been complaining about for the last 4 years? Price increases. Shrinking figures and increasing prices. 10% is actually not nearly as bad as I was expecting.

Tbf, the 10% is on top of 'everything else' price increases. It wasn't baked into the pricing strategy until 'recipricol tariff' was a thing. It's pain on pain.

I'm done collecting Transformers. With taxes, that's a $30 deluxe. I won't be paying that.

In case anyone was curious, Gamestop posted some updated post-Tariff prices:

$31.99 deluxes
$44.99 voyagers
$69.99 leaders
$119.99 commander
$209.99 Star Convoy
$269.99 Trypticon

6" scale star wars/marvel/GI Joe now at $31.99 starting cost too.

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:In case anyone was curious, Gamestop posted some updated post-Tariff prices:

$31.99 deluxes
$44.99 voyagers
$69.99 leaders
$119.99 commander
$209.99 Star Convoy
$269.99 Trypticon

6" scale star wars/marvel/GI Joe now at $31.99 starting cost too.

They also slashed those prices to the same as Amazon and EE.

Pulse has set all pre-orders and some in stock figures to "temporarily unavailable" with no indication of new prices.

BBTS had taken pre-orders down this morning, but they're back up at the same price as they've been. Maybe pre-orders from now until they get the prices updated will get the tariff price added on at arrival like they were saying before?

Emerje

Solrac333 wrote:I'm done collecting Transformers. With taxes, that's a $30 deluxe. I won't be paying that.

Hahaha!

You will. Sooner or later.

You may already have via eBay or some 3P.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

Solrac333 wrote:I'm done collecting Transformers. With taxes, that's a $30 deluxe. I won't be paying that.

Hahaha!

You will. Sooner or later.

You may already have via eBay or some 3P.

Personally I think for a lot of things it's going to be a matter of just waiting to see what Amazon does since they often drop prices a few dollars after release. Plus Target sales.

Emerje

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:In case anyone was curious, Gamestop posted some updated post-Tariff prices:

$31.99 deluxes
$44.99 voyagers
$69.99 leaders
$119.99 commander
$209.99 Star Convoy
$269.99 Trypticon

6" scale star wars/marvel/GI Joe now at $31.99 starting cost too.

I dont get it though, they are crossed out, so are those really the correct new prices?

Also, while on the gamestop site, I saw the image they are using for leader shockwave, its the least flattering image possible

megatran wrote:Has Hasbro stated the impact of pricing on international markets. Pulse EU, UK, HK (Asia is now defunct). Thanks.

Hasbro has not clarified anything on the matter

The tariffs have been a big part of the discussion for toy collectors all over the internet. We are currently waiting to see when Pulse updates their site with new prices, since right now no one can actually preorder anything anymore. Part of the discussion surrounding the topic was the idea to bring toy manufacturing to the US like never before. The issue is that, unlike Lego, Transformers toys and other action figures are made up of parts that need manual assembling. So labor becomes a much larger expense and it's always been handled in Asia due to cost. There is a video below of a car from Mattel being made and you can see how the labor component comes into play, as an example. All this is just to give context to the recent words from Mattel CEO, Ynon Kreiz, where he was asked if manufacturing in the US would be cheaper now that tariffs are in place. He simply answered "we don't see that happening".

The interview is very interesting for those curious about the toy industry He did follow that by saying that there is a toymaker association that is currently lobbying for toys to have zero tariffs. The logic behind that is that while the manufacturing component is done outside the US, all other steps of toy production are done in the US with Americans being hired as designers and engineers to make the toys. So the end product consumed by Americans is not an entirely foreign product. At least, that's how the CEO's words could be interpreted, he does get very word salad-y. The good news is that he said he didn't foresee Christmas shortages.

Obviously because slave labour isn't available in the US. What a stupid idea these people have about manufacturing returning here. We outsourced everything, no way its coming back. These greedy companies will simply make us pay the difference rather than pay people fair wages.

Trump did reply to those comments but misspoke, referring to Mattel as a country.

Haha lol.

This is all just about money, nothing else. Manufacturing will not return to America and definitely not assembly work.

gr1ml0ck wrote:Obviously because slave labour isn't available in the US. What a stupid idea these people have about manufacturing returning here. We outsourced everything, no way its coming back. These greedy companies will simply make us pay the difference rather than pay people fair wages.

It's not slave wages. The wages they are being paid are a living wage in those countries. We've come a long ways since the pre-80s and 90s when Nikes were being sewn together by kids in dirt floor shacks. These factories now offer incentives like food, housing, transportation and healthcare, and the facilities are being inspected by human rights watch dogs. I hear the same complaints from US tech industry opponents which is ridiculous when they require clean, if not sterile, conditions. There's any number of videos from inside toy factories in China, these aren't sweatshops. You want to talk about slave wages, our government doesn't even offer living wages for crying out loud, inflation outpaced minimum wage long ago, more US factories isn't going to change that! Federal minimum wage in 1968 would be worth more than $12 right now in 2025 when the federal minim wage is only $7.25. 21 states have state minimum wages tied to the federal rate. Bet I can guess which states will be getting factories!

What Trump and his cronies want to do is move manufacturing to the US is automate it, this has nothing to do with American jobs. You can't automate toy manufacturing, it's impossible, you can't make a specific machine for every toy ever made unless it's something very simple and timeless. Every action figure and doll is hand assembled and hand painted, lots of hands touch every single one of them down the assembly line. This isn't a cheap process. All that will happen with high Chinese tariffs is companies will just find a new low tariff, low living wage country to move to and it wont be the US.

Emerje

Yeah, it's easy to comprehend the basic idea behind Trump's tariff and what he's selling.
I can even give the benefit of doubt and say that he genuinely want to make everything better.

But maaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnn, was all of this poorly planned.

Compromises are a inevitability. We just have to sit back and wait.

I'm long, long past giving them the benefit of doubt on anything.


Re domestic manufacturing: Another factor that doesn't get mentioned as much, alongside costs, is long-term stability. Bluntly, even if US vs China manufacturing costs temporarily work out in the light of +145% tariffs (they don't, but assume arguendo), nobody is going to spend millions-to-billions of dollars setting up new US manufacturing capacity based on what Trump says today when they know full well that he might say something completely different tomorrow, and his tariffs will almost certainly not outlive him / his term (whichever comes first - as soon as Trump himself is out of the picture, expect Congress to suddenly remember "oh yeah, the President doesn't actually have the authority to do any of this").

william-james88 wrote:

megatran wrote:Has Hasbro stated the impact of pricing on international markets. Pulse EU, UK, HK (Asia is now defunct). Thanks.

Hasbro has not clarified anything on the matter

Lets hope it doesn't become a contagion.

So when people wonder why toy companies aren't speaking out to Trump about the tariffs, know this: Aside from Trump calling Mattel a "country" when he probably meant "company", when Mattel said they'd move production out of China to another country other than the US Trump said he'd put a 100% tariff on Mattel and Mattel alone so they can't sell toys in the US ever again. That's the sort of abuse of power the industry is facing right now. He also continues to push the lie that consumers don't pay tariffs.

About 54:12

Emerje