Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect

Thursday, April 10th, 2025 1:37AM CDT

Categories: Comic Book News, Toy News, Site Articles, Collectibles, Retailer News, Voices
Posted by: Seibertron Views: 118,454

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The Toy Aisle Just Got Nuked: Tariffs, Panic, and a Last-Minute Plot Twist in the World of Collectibles

Transformers collectors — and anyone with a pop culture pulse — just took a direct hit in the wallet. On Tuesday afternoon, TFSource and BigBadToyStore sounded the alarm with urgent messages about massive import hikes. Then less than 24 hours later, Trump rolled out a 90-day “pause” dropping most tariffs to 10% — except for China, which got slapped with a brutal 125% rate effective immediately. No delay. No forgiveness. Just full send on the pain.

This tariff rollercoaster affects everything from figures and toys to comics and statues — the lifeblood of collector culture. So we’re cutting through the chaos with a no-BS breakdown of what’s changed, what it means for your wallet, and what insiders are saying. Plus, out of respect for their transparency, we’re publishing full statements from both TFSource and BBTS — two longtime giants in the Transformers game and former sponsors right here on Seibertron.com.

? What Just Happened? The Pause Heard 'Round the World

According to CNBC and India Express, President Trump’s latest tariff shake-up includes:

A 90-day "pause" slashing new tariffs to 10% for most U.S. trade partners — including Vietnam and Japan
A jaw-dropping 125% tariff slapped on China, effective immediately
A global panic moment, followed by a scramble for negotiations after fierce backlash

Translation:

Products made in Vietnam or Japan? Still in the game… at least for now.
Made in China? Say hello to potential sticker shock — especially for Transformers, third-party figures, and collectibles.

? Straight Talk from Retailers

Before the pause announcement dropped, both TFSource and BBTS sent urgent messages to customers on April 9, 2025. We’re publishing both in full below, out of respect for their candor and longtime support of the Transformers fandom. Their messages paint a clear picture: the collecting world was bracing for impact.

? TFSource Customer Update – April 9, 2025

Click to view TFSource message

Subject: Note About Tariffs and Their Impact on Collectibles

Dear Valued TFSource Customer,

First, thank you for being a part of the TFSource community. We don’t take your trust for granted — and we always want to be upfront with you, especially when changes are coming that affect your collecting experience.

Recently, the U.S. government announced new tariffs on imported plastic hobby toys, effective April 2 and April 9, 2025. These tariffs are significant, and they affect nearly every product we carry.

This is a fluid, government-driven situation, and like many other companies in our industry, TFSource is having to quickly react and adapt to these changes in real time. We’re hopeful the current administration will reach agreements with the affected countries — which could lead to reduced or even eliminated tariffs in the future. In the meantime, we want to be transparent about how this impacts pricing and availability moving forward.

What’s Happening

The new tariff rates are now being applied and vary depending on the country of origin:

China: 104%
Vietnam: 46%
Japan: 24%

Because so much of the collectible toy world is sourced from these regions, these changes are hitting our entire industry — including TFSource. Nearly all of our items are sourced from these regions. Once items arrive in the U.S., Customs applies these new tariffs, which must be paid before we can receive and ship the goods.

Impact on Pricing

The good news is that all in stock or currently domestic in transit products will not be impacted by current tariffs. Until then TFSource has no choice but to increase prices on many upcoming preorder items, both new and previously announced.

We understand this is disappointing, and we want to be transparent: honoring earlier preorder pricing on many items is no longer feasible.

We’re doing everything we can to manage the impact, including:
- Absorbing costs wherever possible
- Minimizing increases on in-stock items (while inventory lasts)
- Continuing to offer Free Shipping, Source Points and loyalty rewards

Thank you for sticking with us through this — and for being part of a community that continues to inspire our team every day.

With appreciation,
The TFSource Team
Your Source for All Things Transformers

? BigBadToyStore Customer Update – April 9, 2025

Click to view BBTS message

Subject: BBTS - Update on Tariffs

Hi Everyone,

I’m writing to share with you how we are working to handle the rapidly escalating tariff situation. I want to be transparent and honest with you about the impacts of these tariffs. This is a complex situation, but I feel it is important to be as clear as possible in this difficult time.

Tariffs – What Just Happened
China: Tariffs have escalated to 125%
Vietnam: Initially set at 46%, now reportedly paused for 90 days

What is the Impact
This is going to result in price increases on new and open pre-orders. We are working hard to minimize these increases by negotiating with vendors and optimizing logistics.

Who Pays Tariffs
Tariffs are a tax on the US consumer. Foreign governments do NOT pay them. U.S. importers do — and unfortunately that cost rolls into product pricing.

When and How will Prices Change
We will add a "tariff surcharge" at the time of product arrival for new preorders. You will be notified of the full amount and may cancel if needed. We expect surcharges to range between 15%–40%.

Thank you for your continued trust in BBTS.

Sincerely,
Joel Boblit
Founder and President
BigBadToyStore.com

? What This Means for Transformers Collectors

With Chinese goods still facing a crushing 125% import duty, expect prices on Transformers preorders, third-party figures, and even official Hasbro imports to rise — unless those products are sourced from Vietnam or Japan.

Both TFSource and BBTS have said they can no longer honor previously announced preorder prices for some items, and surcharges will likely be added as affected shipments arrive.

? Comics: Exempt for Now, But Not Out of the Woods

Many reports — including from Comics Beat — indicate that printed books (including comics and graphic novels) are currently exempt from these tariffs. However, toys, collectibles, and premium box sets related to comics are not exempt.

Image Comics, for example, has raised the price of Spawn from $2.99 to $3.99 — a move attributed to rising production and paper costs, much of which comes from Canada.

With trade tensions shifting rapidly, there’s no guarantee that exemptions will last.

? Final Thoughts from Seibertron.com

This is a complex, fast-moving situation. If the 90-day pause holds — and negotiations go well — we may avoid the worst of the price surges. But with China excluded from the pause, much of the Transformers toy ecosystem remains vulnerable.

Stick with us. We'll continue reporting as this develops, and we’ll do our part to support fans and collectors through these uncertain times.

— The Seibertron.com Team

Trumpticon unleashes tariff havoc upon Mudball Earth’s weary fleshlings. Yeah, that’s next-level AI chaos — powered by yours truly. Took about two hours of fine-tuning prompts and stitching together six different AI generations in Photoshop to Frankenstein one killer image that actually captured the vibe. Crazy times call for crazier methods.

Credit(s): TFsource, BigBadToyStore, CNBC, and India Express

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Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189824)
Posted by Dino-Snarl on April 10th, 2025 @ 6:31am CDT

Great synopsis!

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189826)
Posted by ScottyP on April 10th, 2025 @ 7:16am CDT

C'mon man, AI generated art? That makes me a sad panda.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189830)
Posted by Glyph on April 10th, 2025 @ 7:53am CDT

Seibertron wrote:in true reality show fashion, Trump slammed the brakes with a 90-day tariff pause… for most countries.

This isn't correct, though - the new flat 10% tariff remains in place for most countries. It hasn't been "paused", that's just the WH / press framing and is not true.

The only thing that's been "paused" is the enhanced rates on certain countries (other than China). They will get the new 10% rate instead.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189831)
Posted by morganprime on April 10th, 2025 @ 8:04am CDT

Id be curious to how many will manipulate this to add even more price increases to anything. If I paid for a preorder that is the price you get the item at. Its against the law to make a transaction for the price to go up after you have paid. Yes I understand accounts aren't drafted before the product arrives butan agreement has been entered into with the two parties. There needs to be a set date, after that there is no time traveling to get more money from customers. This entire situation is ridiculous.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189832)
Posted by muddyjoe on April 10th, 2025 @ 8:22am CDT

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

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189833)
Posted by morganprime on April 10th, 2025 @ 8:46am CDT

Maybe this is a good time for you to leave your mom's basement and find your own hobby?

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189834)
Posted by muddyjoe on April 10th, 2025 @ 8:52am CDT

morganprime wrote:Maybe this is a good time for you to leave your mom's basement and find your own hobby?

Sounds like a textbook case of projection to me...

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189835)
Posted by Mudwire on April 10th, 2025 @ 8:59am CDT

Aren’t most Transformers made in Vietnam now, though? I get that the Chinese tariffs will affect a lot of the industry, but most TF stuff is probably safe from this due to being in Vietnam, yeah?

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189848)
Posted by #1 Signal Lancer fan on April 10th, 2025 @ 9:53am CDT

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

Brother why are you on a Transformers Collectors website

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189854)
Posted by muddyjoe on April 10th, 2025 @ 11:11am CDT

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

Brother why are you on a Transformers Collectors website

I like to keep up on the comic and movie news.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189859)
Posted by DeathReviews on April 10th, 2025 @ 11:49am CDT

Only advice I can give to you mortals?

No matter which 'side' you're on in this, don't allow your emotions to be manipulated. Especially on internet and social media - which specialize in the infliction of emotional stab wounds for the sake of immediate reaction/provocation.

You'll be much better off, and generally happier, when you don't allow anyone else to control your emotions.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189860)
Posted by Overcracker on April 10th, 2025 @ 11:50am CDT

This was coming, and now it's here.

Many will likely have to scale down toy purchases and the affected ones will be the manufacturers as they won't be selling as much stuff, and won't be making money to make more stuff.

At the end of the day, toy collecting is a hobby for us and we can live without it, but its a livelihood for those in the industry and they are the ones who no doubt will suffer the drop in sales due to increased pricing.

This is definitely not going to end well for anybody.

And don't expect China to negotiate with Trump any time soon to lower sad tariffs.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189861)
Posted by Emerje on April 10th, 2025 @ 11:51am CDT

Let's keep things civil, nobody has the right to tell other adults how to spend their own money.

Mudwire wrote:Aren’t most Transformers made in Vietnam now, though? I get that the Chinese tariffs will affect a lot of the industry, but most TF stuff is probably safe from this due to being in Vietnam, yeah?

Anything made by Hasbro or in conjunction with Takara Tomy is made in Vietnam, anything made only by Takara Tomy is made in China.

Age of the Primes and Studio Series - Vietnam
Earthspark - Vietnam
Swapticons - Vietnam
Cyberworld - Probably Vietnam
Dramatic Capture - Vietnam
Adamas Machina - China
Dock King- Probably China
Masterpiece - China
MPG - China
Masterpiece Movie - Vietnam (it's Hasbro's initiative)

As for third party (official or not) almost all of that stuff comes from China.

Emerje

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189862)
Posted by Dino-Snarl on April 10th, 2025 @ 1:37pm CDT

Emerje wrote:Let's keep things civil, nobody has the right to tell other adults how to spend their own money.

Mudwire wrote:Aren’t most Transformers made in Vietnam now, though? I get that the Chinese tariffs will affect a lot of the industry, but most TF stuff is probably safe from this due to being in Vietnam, yeah?

Anything made by Hasbro or in conjunction with Takara Tomy is made in Vietnam, anything made only by Takara Tomy is made in China.

Age of the Primes and Studio Series - Vietnam
Earthspark - Vietnam
Swapticons - Vietnam
Cyberworld - Probably Vietnam
Dramatic Capture - Vietnam
Adamas Machina - China
Dock King- Probably China
Masterpiece - China
MPG - China
Masterpiece Movie - Vietnam (it's Hasbro's initiative)

As for third party (official or not) almost all of that stuff comes from China.

Emerje

Canadian and US prices are going to be the same or the US price will be higher. Time will tell.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189864)
Posted by Ig89ninja on April 10th, 2025 @ 3:31pm CDT

ScottyP wrote:C'mon man, AI generated art? That makes me a sad panda.

Agreed, so sloppy and ugly. Can't even get the Decepticon insignia right. >:oP

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189867)
Posted by ScottyP on April 10th, 2025 @ 4:38pm CDT

Ig89ninja wrote:
ScottyP wrote:C'mon man, AI generated art? That makes me a sad panda.

Agreed, so sloppy and ugly. Can't even get the Decepticon insignia right.

Probably gets the insignia wrong on purpose because of trademark. I assume any big generators are probably trained to avoid those on purpose, but who knows. Agreed though on the rest, like how does the cape here work? It doesn't :lol:

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189869)
Posted by william-james88 on April 10th, 2025 @ 4:59pm CDT

DeathReviews wrote:Only advice I can give to you mortals?

No matter which 'side' you're on in this, don't allow your emotions to be manipulated. Especially on internet and social media - which specialize in the infliction of emotional stab wounds for the sake of immediate reaction/provocation.

You'll be much better off, and generally happier, when you don't allow anyone else to control your emotions.

Great advice, Death!

Mudwire wrote:Aren’t most Transformers made in Vietnam now, though? I get that the Chinese tariffs will affect a lot of the industry, but most TF stuff is probably safe from this due to being in Vietnam, yeah?

The CEO had adressed that. Their goal is to keep things affordable (and keep selling), so if they incur higher costs due to some items, they will redistribute the costs across other products. It won't be evenly distributed either, they will redistribute costs at a higher level and determine which products can have higher prices.

So it can very well be that to offset higher costs from Furbies (still made in China), they will increase Transformers targeted to collectors since that's the demographic they know will still buy stuff even after price increases.

Basically, it's like anything else. If Hasbro has any kind of higher cost (due to anything), they will raise prices where they can, it won't be dependent on country of origin.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189870)
Posted by Seibertron on April 10th, 2025 @ 5:08pm CDT

Glyph wrote:
Seibertron wrote:in true reality show fashion, Trump slammed the brakes with a 90-day tariff pause… for most countries.

This isn't correct, though - the new flat 10% tariff remains in place for most countries. It hasn't been "paused", that's just the WH / press framing and is not true.

The only thing that's been "paused" is the enhanced rates on certain countries (other than China). They will get the new 10% rate instead.

Good catch, Glyph. I was working from various news sources and a lot of stuff was in flux yesterday. I updated the article accordingly. If you see anything else that needs to be improved in the article, just let me know.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189871)
Posted by Seibertron on April 10th, 2025 @ 5:19pm CDT

ScottyP wrote:
Ig89ninja wrote:
ScottyP wrote:C'mon man, AI generated art? That makes me a sad panda.

Agreed, so sloppy and ugly. Can't even get the Decepticon insignia right.
Probably gets the insignia wrong on purpose because of trademark. I assume any big generators are probably trained to avoid those on purpose, but who knows. Agreed though on the rest, like how does the cape here work? It doesn't

Actually, it did exactly what I asked for ... including the cape and the "not-Decepticon" symbol. The first images it spat out to me had the actual Decepticon symbol, which I was surprised about. I didn't want it to use *the* Decepticon symbol and wanted it to either make a knock-off looking Decepticon symbol or to turn the letters MAGA into a symbol in the shape of a Transformer symbol. I turned the symbol orange and added the sad mouth during my many Photoshop edits where I mashed up elements from 6 different AI images. If anything, it was staying too faithful to the source material and I wanted it to go more into wacky AI land (especially for this usage). I actually asked it to have the red tie coming out of the Sharkticon's mouth (though I was picturing more like a tongue, but it still ended up looking crazy). It even made the "tariff" blaster with tariff written on the side like I asked it to do.

Honestly, my decision to do my first AI image was I couldn't figure out what image I wanted to use for the news article. I felt like a real world image of Trump would have been most appropriate, but I didn't want to have his actual face on my website so I thought doing a mash-up of a Sharkticon and Trump felt more appropriate on Seibertron.com. I could've drawn it myself but I don't have much skill with coloring my pencils in Photoshop. One day! For now, a fully disclosed bat shit crazy Sharkticon / Trump "Trumpticon" AI-generated image is what we ended up with.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189872)
Posted by joevill on April 10th, 2025 @ 6:15pm CDT

Seibertron wrote:
ScottyP wrote:
Ig89ninja wrote:
ScottyP wrote:C'mon man, AI generated art? That makes me a sad panda.

Agreed, so sloppy and ugly. Can't even get the Decepticon insignia right.
Probably gets the insignia wrong on purpose because of trademark. I assume any big generators are probably trained to avoid those on purpose, but who knows. Agreed though on the rest, like how does the cape here work? It doesn't

Actually, it did exactly what I asked for ... including the cape and the "not-Decepticon" symbol. The first images it spat out to me had the actual Decepticon symbol, which I was surprised about. I didn't want it to use *the* Decepticon symbol and wanted it to either make a knock-off looking Decepticon symbol or to turn the letters MAGA into a symbol in the shape of a Transformer symbol. I turned the symbol orange and added the sad mouth during my many Photoshop edits where I mashed up elements from 6 different AI images. If anything, it was staying too faithful to the source material and I wanted it to go more into wacky AI land (especially for this usage). I actually asked it to have the red tie coming out of the Sharkticon's mouth (though I was picturing more like a tongue, but it still ended up looking crazy). It even made the "tariff" blaster with tariff written on the side like I asked it to do.

Honestly, my decision to do my first AI image was I couldn't figure out what image I wanted to use for the news article. I felt like a real world image of Trump would have been most appropriate, but I didn't want to have his actual face on my website so I thought doing a mash-up of a Sharkticon and Trump felt more appropriate on Seibertron.com. I could've drawn it myself but I don't have much skill with coloring my pencils in Photoshop. One day! For now, a fully disclosed bat **** crazy Sharkticon / Trump "Trumpticon" AI-generated image is what we ended up with.

AI generated?? AMAZING! I love it

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189915)
Posted by Dr. Caelus on April 11th, 2025 @ 8:54pm CDT

I'm concerned about whay will happen with Omega Prime, since we've already paid for him.

I'm also concerned Hasbro won't stay in business to finish Devastator, Superion, Bruticus, and the Thirteen.

morganprime wrote:Id be curious to how many will manipulate this to add even more price increases to anything. If I paid for a preorder that is the price you get the item at. Its against the law to make a transaction for the price to go up after you have paid. Yes I understand accounts aren't drafted before the product arrives butan agreement has been entered into with the two parties. There needs to be a set date, after that there is no time traveling to get more money from customers. This entire situation is ridiculous.

I've had two separate occasions on which I ordered in-stock items from Walmart.com, the price went up on the items while they were preparing to ship, and WM cancelled my orders, claiming the items had gone out of stock, and recommending I reorder it at the higher price. Even if raising prices on a preorder isn't an option, they can just cancel the preorders and relist them.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189917)
Posted by Emerje on April 11th, 2025 @ 8:59pm CDT

I'm curious how Hasbro intends to handle the pricing of their Takara Tomy imports. Double tariffs are a thing so they'd be hit with one from China (which Trump is going crazy on) and one from Japan (assuming they're shipped to the US from a Japanese warehouse and not direct from the factory). Future T-Spark releases could effectively double in price depending on where things end up.

Emerje

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189935)
Posted by Dead Metal on April 12th, 2025 @ 9:52am CDT

Good write up Ryan, this is what I was hoping was going to happen, and you didn't disappoint.

It's good to see that you're still passionate about this after all this time.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189979)
Posted by steve2275 on April 14th, 2025 @ 2:13pm CDT

how exactly is all this garbage making america great again?
i feel bad bad for the collectors
(please do not delete)

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189980)
Posted by Overcracker on April 14th, 2025 @ 2:45pm CDT

The tariff thing is now super confusing. China is up to 145% is it? but other things from other places only 10%?

I am honestly very, very confused at this point.

And, yes, the Trumpticon image captures the essence and situation perfectly.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189994)
Posted by william-james88 on April 15th, 2025 @ 6:50am CDT

It's been bad news after bad news for the Transformers Live Action film franchise. While Paramount was working on a Transformers GI Joe film, they lost their director and the only news we had regarding a script was that it was not done yet. Fans waited to see if there would be any news at Cinemacon, since that's where the project was officially announced in 2024, and there was 0 news on it.

Adding to that is the fact that with Hasbro losing money on their film investments, they pulled the plug on any financial backing of their film projects, meaning that Paramount would have to find other investors for Transformers films to happen. And remember, Hasbro's money was the only reason we got more films since The Last Knight.

With all this bad news, how about some more? As a response to Trump's escalading trade war against China, China has released an official statement where they state the following:

“The wrong action of the U.S. government to abuse tariffs on China will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience’s favorability towards American films.”
“We will follow the market rules, respect the audience’s choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported.”

While this won't make or break the majority of US films, the Live Action Transformers franchise has made a big bulk of its business in China. For the latest film in the franchise, Rise of the Beasts, the Chinese Box Office accounted for $91M out of the film's total $441M gross, so 20%. With so many factors working against getting financing for that franchise right now, this is another to add to the list. Not showing this film in China reduce the return on investment and it could potentially limit Chinese investment as well.

Of course, the statement did also say that the Chinese government will also respect audience's choices so if they notice a high demand for a Transformers film to be distributed, it still could. But these choices come after a film is made, and the uncertainty in China's added revenue would come into play at the financing stages.

You'll let us know what you think and if you see a path forward for the live action Transformers film franchise to continue.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189995)
Posted by william-james88 on April 15th, 2025 @ 7:19am CDT

Overcracker wrote:The tariff thing is now super confusing. China is up to 145% is it? but other things from other places only 10%?

I am honestly very, very confused at this point.

You got it right. The 10% is for the next 90 days, then we’ll see.
Also, a majority of tech products are exempt from the tariffs against Chinese imports.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189996)
Posted by Dr. Caelus on April 15th, 2025 @ 7:41am CDT

william-james88 wrote:Also, a majority of tech products are exempt from the tariffs against Chinese imports.

Which is infuriating. All the bluster about 'bringing back' manufacturing jobs by using tariffs to inflate the cost of imports, and tbe one thing that's exempt ia products for which overseas manufacture presents a national security concern,

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2189997)
Posted by william-james88 on April 15th, 2025 @ 9:35am CDT

Dr. Caelus wrote:
william-james88 wrote:Also, a majority of tech products are exempt from the tariffs against Chinese imports.

Which is infuriating. All the bluster about 'bringing back' manufacturing jobs by using tariffs to inflate the cost of imports, and tbe one thing that's exempt ia products for which overseas manufacture presents a national security concern,

I never really thought it was about manufacturing jobs since US unemployment is low and most americans preffer working in the service sector. The initial narrative coming from Trump was that tariffs would help fund and enrich the US government.

What's sad here is that we can see how this isn't well thought out at all. With the current policy in place, a US company assembling electronics (like Laptops) in the US will be taxed on imported parts while a US company assembling electronics in China will be exempt. So the current incentives make it more worthwhile for a US company to move their production of electronics to China. So you don't get any extra money for the government and you potentially lose more manufacturing jobs.

But it's a fluid situation. Tariffs should be for finished products (like Chinese made EVs), not parts or resources that go into local manufacturing, and we are seeing that the administration is tweaking things so that it makes more sense. Like them no longer having tariffs on car parts/components that go into US car assembly.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190000)
Posted by cloudballoon on April 15th, 2025 @ 10:49am CDT

I'll reserve comments on Trump's tariffs because I'm Canadian except one: the WH sure know how to wreck the economy of the world in the short term at least, and I bet very likely for the full term of his presidency and then some.

With that obvious, pointless rant out of the way. Back to the future of the TF movie franchise.

I way I see it. China will probably not let another Bay movie in, with his general "Rah rah America F***k Yeah" and love for American military hardware use in his live-action films.

TF:One CGI animation sequels though? I still think it's likely there's still an "in" to Chinese theatres. Considering the "Internal Market Demands" of TF goods inside China. Things like licensed Yolopark AMKs, Blokees, 3P, 4P are all the rage these days. Chinese love their "deformating" robots.

IMO it's about the financial health of Paramount and how confident is the product first, then Paramount betting on the chances of whether the film have a spot in the Foreign film quota. But as we all know, Paramount has been fumbling left & right for years in its multiple projects/franchises, and its future is already bleak without the tariff war coming into play. So I honestly hold no anticipation of another TF/Joe movie unless the license is passed to another studio.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190001)
Posted by Emerje on April 15th, 2025 @ 10:52am CDT

william-james88 wrote:
Overcracker wrote:The tariff thing is now super confusing. China is up to 145% is it? but other things from other places only 10%?

I am honestly very, very confused at this point.

You got it right. The 10% is for the next 90 days, then we’ll see.
Also, a majority of tech products are exempt from the tariffs against Chinese imports.

Nope, he already reversed that.

Business Insider (because I'm not visiting Truth Social) wrote:"There was no Tariff 'exception' announced on Friday," Trump wrote. "These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff 'bucket.'"

As usual his dementia causes him to say one popular thing and then turn around and double down on the opposite. And what does that even mean? They're currently at 20% (instead of 10%) and will be moving to their own bracket at a higher rate? A lower rate? The same rate plus another rate? I'm sure ChatGPT will figure it out for him later.

Emerje

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190002)
Posted by DISCHARGE on April 15th, 2025 @ 10:55am CDT

Transformers is loved the world over.
They could just pander more to the Chinese govt as done in the past.
Painting China as heroic, brave and steadfast there should be no problem with views, and money, coming from China.. but can you put a tariff on a movie tix? Hmmmm

images.jpeg

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190003)
Posted by william-james88 on April 15th, 2025 @ 11:18am CDT

Emerje wrote:
william-james88 wrote:
Overcracker wrote:The tariff thing is now super confusing. China is up to 145% is it? but other things from other places only 10%?

I am honestly very, very confused at this point.

You got it right. The 10% is for the next 90 days, then we’ll see.
Also, a majority of tech products are exempt from the tariffs against Chinese imports.

Nope, he already reversed that.

Business Insider (because I'm not visiting Truth Social) wrote:"There was no Tariff 'exception' announced on Friday," Trump wrote. "These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff 'bucket.'"

As usual his dementia causes him to say one popular thing and then turn around and double down on the opposite. And what does that even mean? They're currently at 20% (instead of 10%) and will be moving to their own bracket at a higher rate? A lower rate? The same rate plus another rate? I'm sure ChatGPT will figure it out for him later.

Emerje

Man this is confusing. But it does mean that the electronics are spared the really high 145% tariff on chinese imports.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190004)
Posted by Overcracker on April 15th, 2025 @ 11:26am CDT

Emerje wrote:
william-james88 wrote:
Overcracker wrote:The tariff thing is now super confusing. China is up to 145% is it? but other things from other places only 10%?

I am honestly very, very confused at this point.

You got it right. The 10% is for the next 90 days, then we’ll see.
Also, a majority of tech products are exempt from the tariffs against Chinese imports.

Nope, he already reversed that.

Business Insider (because I'm not visiting Truth Social) wrote:"There was no Tariff 'exception' announced on Friday," Trump wrote. "These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff 'bucket.'"

As usual his dementia causes him to say one popular thing and then turn around and double down on the opposite. And what does that even mean? They're currently at 20% (instead of 10%) and will be moving to their own bracket at a higher rate? A lower rate? The same rate plus another rate? I'm sure ChatGPT will figure it out for him later.

Emerje

Ohh dear Primus!.

:HEADHURTS:

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190005)
Posted by Dr. Caelus on April 15th, 2025 @ 12:10pm CDT

william-james88 wrote:I never really thought it was about manufacturing jobs since US unemployment is low and most americans preffer working in the service sector. The initial narrative coming from Trump was that tariffs would help fund and enrich the US government.

The right seems convinced that there are American citizens clamoring to work in U.S. factories, while no one on the right actually seems to want one of those jobs. I incessantly hear, "Bring those jobs back to America," but I don't know if I've ever heard it from someone actually unemployed.

Largely, I'd say the argument is either made in bad faith, or it's made with the implied evaluation that many jobs Americans currently hold should be eliminated, so that the bodies can be reallocated to factory work.

Either way, it's still one of the talking points coughed up anytime tariffs are discussed:

REPRIORITIZING U.S. MANUFACTURING: President Trump recognizes that increasing domestic manufacturing is critical to U.S. national security.

If the U.S. wishes to maintain an effective security umbrella to defend its citizens and homeland, as well as allies and partners, it needs to have a large upstream manufacturing and goods-producing ecosystem.

This includes developing new manufacturing technologies in critical sectors like bio-manufacturing, batteries, and microelectronics to support defense needs.

From 1997 to 2024, the U.S. lost around 5 million manufacturing jobs and experienced one of the largest drops in manufacturing employment in history.

Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/ ... -security/

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190008)
Posted by Emerje on April 15th, 2025 @ 6:38pm CDT

Dr. Caelus wrote:
william-james88 wrote:I never really thought it was about manufacturing jobs since US unemployment is low and most americans preffer working in the service sector. The initial narrative coming from Trump was that tariffs would help fund and enrich the US government.

The right seems convinced that there are American citizens clamoring to work in U.S. factories, while no one on the right actually seems to want one of those jobs. I incessantly hear, "Bring those jobs back to America," but I don't know if I've ever heard it from someone actually unemployed.

Largely, I'd say the argument is either made in bad faith, or it's made with the implied evaluation that many jobs Americans currently hold should be eliminated, so that the bodies can be reallocated to factory work.

What got a good laugh out of me was when a Republican pundit proudly exclaimed on TV that they're going to (paraphrasing, can't find the clip I saw on YouTube) "bring manufacturing jobs back to America and we're going to automate them!" Oops! Said the quite part out loud. It was never about jobs, it's about control and not understanding that a lot of manufacturing is very specialized and can't be automated. Action figures are essentially hand made, they can't make a specialized machine for every single figure ever made. The molding can be automated to a point, but the assembly, painting and packaging is all done by hand.

They also don't understand that even if we move electronics production to the US we don't have the natural resources to do it to scale. China owns the majority the resources, quality silicon especially. By comparison the US produced 310 thousand metric tons of silicon in 2022, which sounds like a lot, that's 310,000 elephants or 6 Titanics. But that's only enough to make us the 5th highest producer behind Norway, Brazil, Russia and China. On the other hand China produced 6 million metric tons in 2022. But that's not all, China bought up the mining rights in a bunch of other countries, too, including Brazil, it's virtually impossible for us to produce more silicon than we already have. And that's just the one resource. For example the vast majority of the world's lithium comes from Australia. And yet we'd rather alienate countries than work with them because the people in power don't understand that we're at our limits. However, there is one virtually untapped country that's full of resources used in chip manufacturing that I'm sure the Trump administration is frothing at the mouth for the chance to strip mine.

Emerje

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190013)
Posted by DISCHARGE on April 15th, 2025 @ 9:46pm CDT

Emerje wrote:
Dr. Caelus wrote:
william-james88 wrote:I never really thought it was about manufacturing jobs since US unemployment is low and most americans preffer working in the service sector. The initial narrative coming from Trump was that tariffs would help fund and enrich the US government.

The right seems convinced that there are American citizens clamoring to work in U.S. factories, while no one on the right actually seems to want one of those jobs. I incessantly hear, "Bring those jobs back to America," but I don't know if I've ever heard it from someone actually unemployed.

Largely, I'd say the argument is either made in bad faith, or it's made with the implied evaluation that many jobs Americans currently hold should be eliminated, so that the bodies can be reallocated to factory work.

What got a good laugh out of me was when a Republican pundit proudly exclaimed on TV that they're going to (paraphrasing, can't find the clip I saw on YouTube) "bring manufacturing jobs back to America and we're going to automate them!" Oops! Said the quite part out loud. It was never about jobs, it's about control and not understanding that a lot of manufacturing is very specialized and can't be automated. Action figures are essentially hand made, they can't make a specialized machine for every single figure ever made. The molding can be automated to a point, but the assembly, painting and packaging is all done by hand.

They also don't understand that even if we move electronics production to the US we don't have the natural resources to do it to scale. China owns the majority the resources, quality silicon especially. By comparison the US produced 310 thousand metric tons of silicon in 2022, which sounds like a lot, that's 310,000 elephants or 6 Titanics. But that's only enough to make us the 5th highest producer behind Norway, Brazil, Russia and China. On the other hand China produced 6 million metric tons in 2022. But that's not all, China bought up the mining rights in a bunch of other countries, too, including Brazil, it's virtually impossible for us to produce more silicon than we already have. And that's just the one resource. For example the vast majority of the world's lithium comes from Australia. And yet we'd rather alienate countries than work with them because the people in power don't understand that we're at our limits. However, there is one virtually untapped country that's full of resources used in chip manufacturing that I'm sure the Trump administration is frothing at the mouth for the chance to strip mine.

Emerje

Europe won't even import U.S.meat, https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/04/15/nx-s1-5364940/chlorinated-chicken-trump-tariffs-uk-eu
Not a new revelation.

It will be an uphill battle to import any U.S. manufactured good.
Now, I have capitulated this for along time, but the effort taken to try to advance this optic is mind blowing.

I didn't quote you to scathe, but to iterate the U.S.is not an exporter,but an importer..
"I believe" the U.S. is planning to isolate like WW2 Germany and industrialize and wage economical and physical war against the rest of the world, unfortunately. Our aggression towards Iran(weakest and equally the strongest, of adversaries) is a result of current administrative desires to flex a power move.(I'm not afraid of nuclear weapons)

Current attempts to strengthen relations with nations like North Korea, Russia and other authoritarian govts is not unwarranted, but is misguided since the U.S.is supposed to advance Democracy and not Autocracy.

I could go on, but I want to say it seems current U.S.policy is less about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and more about one individuals view of existence.
The toys that we love as adults, I'm confident 99% on this site are, are endangered regardless of any tariff imposed

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190015)
Posted by Dr. Caelus on April 15th, 2025 @ 10:29pm CDT

DISCHARGE wrote:The toys that we love as adults, I'm confident 99% on this site are, are endangered regardless of any tariff imposed

I don't think you're wrong.

Looking at social media response to mainstream media coverage of this specific topic is jarring. Some people are saying there are bigger problems right now, and that's fair. But other people are suddenly villifying the toy industry and its consumers. The same people that have diatribed about the evils of communism are scolding American consumers for indulging in materialistic pursuits. The same people who say kids are too young to learn about gender, are now saying it's about time that parents stopped buying their kids such childish things and kicked them out of the house.

Condemning children's imaginative play and adult's hobby collecting in favor of committing to a focus on sports and fitness goals might seem like a simple agree-to-disagree thing, but if it becomes tied into the American nationalist identity that you see them trying to manufacture, then the 30s are going to look really familiar.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190016)
Posted by Emerje on April 16th, 2025 @ 12:01am CDT

DISCHARGE wrote:I didn't quote you to scathe, but to iterate the U.S.is not an exporter,but an importer..

No worries. I get it, you get it, Trump does not get it. He calls it a trade deficit when the developing African country of Lethoso exports one thing to the US (jeans) and they import nothing from the US so Trump calls that a 99% tariff on US exports and counters with a 50% tariff on imports (at the time the largest tariff imposed until China refused to fold). He also imposed tariffs on penguins in Antarctica, it's all nonsense.

Emerje

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190018)
Posted by cloudballoon on April 16th, 2025 @ 1:02am CDT

Emerje wrote:What got a good laugh out of me was when a Republican pundit proudly exclaimed on TV that they're going to (paraphrasing, can't find the clip I saw on YouTube) "bring manufacturing jobs back to America and we're going to automate them!" Oops! Said the quite part out loud.

It was no random Republican. It was the Secretary of Commerce Lutnick himself that said the factory will be automated, and American labor will be used to fixed the robots. LOL. Right, and all the MAGA crowd wanted was to bring back laborious jobs that need hammers & pickaxes so that they can get lung cancers. These are people that dream of the good old days working at simple, monotonous and mono-skilled production lines... the same people who resist changes at all costs (mostly to their own detriment and dragging the world world with them)... and you expect them to repair robots!? LMAO.

Here's the clip from WP (starts around the 1min mark) : https://youtu.be/38R81esuNEs?feature=shared&t=60

Being a Canadian, honestly, I was hoping in 2024 that Americans won't re-elect Trump. Since that didn't materialised, I switched to wanting to see America burn their own economy to the ground after the barrage of Executive Orders, DOGE, illegal ICE kidnappings and the Tariff Wars on Canada, Mexico and then to rest of the world. But it's not out of hate or revenge that I say this, it's that I honestly believe the USA is at that precipice where it need a baptism by hellfire to shake off Trump-style "democracy" for decades.

Will China overtake the US and strengthen BRICS in a decade? Will NATO and Western alliances ever be the same? This Tariff War fiasco - the critical blow is less the % of the tariffs, but the DAILY "will they or won't they, back & forth" inconsistencies - that really burn bridges and eroding trusts amongst US allies.

Makes it really, really hard to find sympathies to my country's Southern neighbour even though I KNOW over half of Americans didn't ask for this and are suffering. But hey, that's American gerrymandered democracy! FIX IT!

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190019)
Posted by Dr. Caelus on April 16th, 2025 @ 5:36am CDT

cloudballoon wrote:Being a Canadian, honestly, I was hoping in 2024 that Americans won't re-elect Trump.

Republucans' relentless messaging that the previous election was stolen pressured the middle and left to publicly commit to the stance that overall our electoral process is totally secure - beyond suspicion. Then the Republ8can candidate openly threatened the owner of one of our largest media platforms, and the world's (publicly) richest man, with direct control over another massive media platform as well as a small army of computer experts, swooped in and made a mind bogglingly large investment in the Republican candidate.

If January 6th and the subsequent four years of Republicans' lies and Democrats' reassurances hadn't happened, we would have raised more questions.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190024)
Posted by Hero Alpha on April 16th, 2025 @ 4:04pm CDT

I can imagine this will only be a good thing for the quality of movies in the future. The Chinese Communist government has been ruining movies for years with all the racist and communist propaganda they have forced(with Hollywood gladly relenting cause they love that red money). Disney and others have edited movies at the behest of the communist Chinese party, covering Black Panthers face on movie posters in China, making Finn smaller in the new Star Wars trilogy posters, removing things they didn't like that painted China in a bad light, etc. Everyone has watched a few South Park episodes right? :lol:

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190027)
Posted by BW Megatron on April 16th, 2025 @ 4:31pm CDT

I for one hope we don't get anymore live action movies for one very big reason. Too many damn crappy movie toys taking up space on shelves and pegs that would otherwise go to stuff people want like Studio Series and Age of the Primes. Bad enough collectors have to look at junk like Earthspark or whatever else that's supposed to cater to kids, but just ends up sitting around collecting dust. Besides which, we've had 7 live action movies already, plus One. That's enough movies. More space for collector oriented figures.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190046)
Posted by JusticePrime120$ on April 18th, 2025 @ 1:12pm CDT

The more Trump does things the more angry I get. Cant wait for him to be fired in 2028.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190059)
Posted by Emerje on April 19th, 2025 @ 12:54pm CDT

BW Megatron wrote:I for one hope we don't get anymore live action movies for one very big reason. Too many damn crappy movie toys taking up space on shelves and pegs that would otherwise go to stuff people want like Studio Series and Age of the Primes. Bad enough collectors have to look at junk like Earthspark or whatever else that's supposed to cater to kids, but just ends up sitting around collecting dust. Besides which, we've had 7 live action movies already, plus One. That's enough movies. More space for collector oriented figures.

Hate to say it, but if that stuff wasn't on the shelves they'd fill the space with something totally different and unrelated. Only time retailers care about stocking multiple pegs of the same line is when there's something new to promote. Those lines don't take resources from the collectors lines nor do they take retail space, if anything they're a draw, they make the "better" lines more noticeable. If not for them Transformers would be nothing more than four Deluxe pegs and two wide on the shelves (two rows of Voyagers and two rows of Leaders).

Emerje

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190063)
Posted by cloudballoon on April 19th, 2025 @ 4:17pm CDT

JusticePrime120$ wrote:The more Trump does things the more angry I get. Cant wait for him to be fired in 2028.

Man you're patient. I look forward to the mid-term when he'll become a lame-duck. But I'm probably hoping against hope as enough of the US government officials have already lost their minds & already too gutless to fight against Agent Orange, he can still rule like the Mad King with nothing but Executive Orders, and DOGE & every branch of "law Enforcement" and the milatary will abide by him. I dont' know...

It's probably too morbid to discuss, but it's America we're talking about here, I'll not be surprised worse news would come to Trump before 2028 since his Tariff Wars & DOGE messed up so many lives.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190338)
Posted by william-james88 on May 5th, 2025 @ 11:35am CDT

Hasbro's CEO Chris Cocks warned early on that Hasbro would pass on any extra expenses they may incur from tariffs to consumers, and that it would disproportionally affect toys bought by fans so that toys targeting only kids and families would rise less in price. And it looks like that will be happening very soon. A message has been popping up on Hasbro Pulse that preorder prices can be locked in for the next few days but that will end May 9th at 12:01. So you have until May 8th to place preorders on the items you want, as prices will probably be higher on those same items going forward. Now prices going up was not said in their notice, but if not then why warn fans?

The message is now at the top of the website and comes up when searching Hasbro Pulse.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190341)
Posted by Cheetron on May 5th, 2025 @ 2:07pm CDT

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.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190346)
Posted by DeathReviews on May 5th, 2025 @ 4:27pm CDT

"...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.

Re: Transformers Toy Prices Set to Rise as Trump Tariffs Take Effect (2190349)
Posted by william-james88 on May 5th, 2025 @ 4:47pm CDT

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

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