The Energon Pub

Hey Guys and Gals,

I was wondering...I can't remember what the different price points for Transformers (G1) were when they first appeared on the market. How much did a minibot go for in retail? How much for your basic car, like Wheeljack or Prowl go for? Optimus Prime? Does anyone have images of old toy ads from the time, or know where I can find these answers?

Thanks!

Here's the price tags on some of my old vintage G1 boxes:
*please note, these are NOT for sale! Especially at these prices!*


Omega Supreme - $37.97
Jetfire - $24.97
Superion - $24.97
Individual Constructicon - $5.48
Inidividual Stunticon - $3.98
Ravage / Rumble - $5.48
Beachcomber - $2.97
Bumblebee - $3.99
Cosmos - $2.37
Megatron - $19.97
Grapple - $9.97
Slag - $17.99
Optimus Prime - $16.96
Astrotrain $10.97
Insecticons - $7.99 each
Thrust - $9.84
Dirge - $15.98
Jazz - $11.99
Mirage - $12.98
Sideswipe - $8.72
Ratchet - $6.97
Wheeljack - $12.99
Topspin - $5.48
Perceptor - $13.97

They were mostly purchased from ToysRus, and Best. Some are also from Kaybee, JCPenny, or Woolworths. And others I have no idea where the price tag is from.

Wow, typing this list brings back memories of walking to the Transformers section and seeing all those awesome figures! And I also remember when there weren't any Transformers to be found and you took whatever you could find!

Wow, that's a great list! Thx, brings back memories. I remember being so jealous of my best friend when he got G1 Jetfire, I thought it was an impossible amount of money to afford.

Funny part is, I'm 36 now, making decent money, with a family- and I still can't afford Jetfire!

I remember my parents paid about $15.00 for Soundwave with Buzzsaw back in 84 at Woolworths.

I purchased my only G1 TF for 4.99 UK pounds, that was insecticon shrapnel. I also bought jazz euro classics 'reissue' around 1991 for 9.99 UK pounds. interestingly by todays prices that makes the approximately the same price in terms of actual pound/pound $/$ which means they are way cheaper now, you have to work far less to earn a TF than you did 20 years ago!!

the next tf was a basic size BW figure in 1995.........took me a while to get this hobby started.

I have a box for a large Pretender G1 Catilla in front of me. The price was $8.99.

Hip-Hoptimus Rime wrote:Wow, that's a great list! Thx, brings back memories. I remember being so jealous of my best friend when he got G1 Jetfire, I thought it was an impossible amount of money to afford.

Funny part is, I'm 36 now, making decent money, with a family- and I still can't afford Jetfire!

kudos, you are amongst the oldest people out here, i too was a teenager when TF appeared and thought they were so very cool.

and with a family its no wonder you cant afford jetfire, food comes first!!:)

That's great seeing the old prices. I remember the Astrotrain price when I got it back then.

Weird...

Vegitron wrote:Here's the price tags on some of my old vintage G1 boxes:
They were mostly purchased from ToysRus, and Best. Some are also from Kaybee, JCPenny, or Woolworths. And others I have no idea where the price tag is from.

Wow, typing this list brings back memories of walking to the Transformers section and seeing all those awesome figures! And I also remember when there weren't any Transformers to be found and you took whatever you could find!

I almost forgot about Best. What a blast from the past. I was 7 in 1984 (yeah, I'm an old guy).

Best? I don't recall any department store by that name, but it likely was a regional chain? I remember buying a few TFs back in the day at Venture, which has gone the way of the dodo. I vividly remember buying G1 Ultra Magnus at a Sears Outlet Store after begging my dad to do so; I remember putting on a big cheese-eating grin the whole time I was there since he wasn't pleased he had to buy it for me!

It's good to see that Transformer pricing has remained pretty stable over the years, particularly the bigger class sizes. It seems like inflation has taken its toll mostly on the deluxe-sized class.

I don't remember much TF pricing back in the 80's outside of the 8 months it took me to come up with the $90 for Fortress Maximus. I'll never forget my dad having to heave that massive MFer off the floor and to the register on the fateful day. I remember there being at least 10 other Maximus' taking up massive amounts of floor space that day at Toys 'R Us.

And those were the good 'ol days of going to TRU: knowing that any TF in retail would be available and, on a side note when it comes to video games, having to take a paper ticket of the video game you wanted with the name of the game and price on it, paying for it, then taking the stamped ticket to a glass booth where all the games were stored. You would give the ticket to the attendant at the booth, they would look for the game, pick it out, and presto! There was hours of Atari or 8 bit Nintendo goodness at your disposal.

Ah, sweet memories, so much more charming than today's set-up.

Optimus Prime $21.99
Megatron $21.99
All Autobot cars from season 1-2-3 $9.99
All Decepticon jets from season 1-2-3 $13.99
Soundwave $16.49
Decepticon cassettes in pairs $5.99
Omega Supreme $39.99
SkyLynx $39.99
Mini cars $3.99
Shockwave $19.99
Jetfire $19.99
Original insecticons $5.99 each
Blaster $14.99 Autobot cassette in pairs $5.99
Superion set $29.99
Defensor set $29.99
Bruticus set $29.99
Predacons each sold for $14.99 never sold as set here
Menasor set $29.99
Ultra Magnus $24.99
Galvatron $24.99
Perceptor $14.99
Rodimus Prime $15.99
Wreckgar $15.99
Metroplex $32.99
Trypticon $49.99
Construticon set $19.99
Decepticon Battlechargers $6.49
Scorponok $49.99
Fortress Maximus $89.99
Dinobots $11.99
Triple changers $10.99
Power Master Optimus Prime $49.99
Reflector was a mail away
After the 1986 movie Optimus Prime, Megatron, Sunstreaker, Ratchet were all mail aways. The stores didn't sell them anymore. They all came in brown UPS boxes with foam inserts and the figure inside in its altmode along with its accessories. No regular Transformer boxes.


They were sold at Toys r us, Lionel Playworld, Zayre, Sears, McCrory, Kaybee.

Ah, those were the days. They were much cheaper to obtain then ,and easier to find in many stores.

Fortress Maximus $89.99

The only one I remember the price for is G1 Grimlock, £12.99 from Toymaster.

I hope they don't raise prices any time soon. I'm pretty much done with Transformers until I move away and get a job...and maybe a life...

Slingshot was $3.99 at Target as were all the limbs of the combiners.

It's amazing to look at some of these prices! It's also interesting to see how much they have gone up since "collectors" came around. eBay prices, especially, have some of these TF's going for up to 8 times their original costs. That's incredible! I had about 40-50 TF's in prime condition when I was a kid. My parents coerced me into selling them at used prices in a garage sale one day. They wanted me to "grow up" and stop playing with toys. Now they would have been selling on eBay for around 3-4 thousand dollrs! DOH!