The Energon Pub

News Credits: 3 · by **Kibble** » Wed Mar 21, 2012 10:27 am

Rodimus Prime wrote:Yeah, I'm very tempted to sell my Optimus and Jetfire. I could make at least double what I paid for them. But it's a damn awesome figure...

ROTF Prime is the one figure I wouldn't want to part with...but it works out because he seems to not go for all that much over retail due to all the other souped-up versions of him available.

by **Breakdown 2099** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:27 am

GuyIncognito wrote:
SkyWarpsGhost wrote:I'll be the first then, MP11s Sunstorm

I second that.

Me too! $250 for a rinky-dink repaint of a minor character. Baaahhh

News Credits: 1 · by **njb902** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 4:10 am

2007 brawl...........arms of that thing make me so angry.....even if it was 10 bucks that was still way to much for what should have been a good toy.

News Credits: 3 · by **metaphorge** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 4:44 am

Botcon exclusives take the win on this one for me.

As Counterpunch pointed out, they usually run 3-5 times the normal retail price of the figure they're a repaint or retool of when they go on sale.

Third party products generally seem to run 3-5 times the normal retail price of a figure of the same rough size class.

The former requires small tweaks to an existing design for which the majority of the tooling has already been made; the latter is usually all-new engineering and tooling.

While both are overpriced compared to the normal retail price of a Transformer in a big-box retailer, just about any third party figures requires a _much_ larger amount of work than anything we've ever seen at Botcon. Yes, if Hasbro was producing the figure in massive quantities it would likely be less expensive per unit, but in most cases Hasbro does not seem interested in producing such items.

I wonder what the average production run of a Botcon exclusive is vs. the average production run of a third-party item?

News Credits: 22 · by **Rodimus Prime** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 5:24 am

Kibble wrote:
Rodimus Prime wrote:Yeah, I'm very tempted to sell my Optimus and Jetfire. I could make at least double what I paid for them. But it's a damn awesome figure...

ROTF Prime is the one figure I wouldn't want to part with...but it works out because he seems to not go for all that much over retail due to all the other souped-up versions of him available.

Yeah, I decided against selling him. Just looks too awesome.

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:56 pm

metaphorge wrote:Botcon exclusives = cheap ass repaints of existing molds.
3rd party products = 100% original engeneering and desing.
Both are super expensive, but only one is overpriced. Guess which one?

I'm custom-quoting you just to say that I agree completely. I had 110$ to spend for a very unique and expensive Transformers collectible.

I had the choice between a repaint of a mold I already own made in horrid colors (pick any Hipsters Exclusives) or Delicate Warrior, the ultimate Arcee.

You can rest assured that only one TF is allowed to have bright pink as a main color. Yeah, Delicate Warrior Arcee IS super expensive. But she's worth every penny.

News Credits: 7 · by **Zeedust** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 9:03 pm

All the FE Prime stuff has basically jumped to ridiculous prices, but one in particular takes the cake. I'd like to know how to get that Vehicon mold without paying more than my body and soul are worth.

(And why am I not worth more as a human being than a hundred and twenty bucks plus shipping?)

News Credits: 3 · by **DISCHARGE** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 10:30 pm

Single packed mini-cons for $5.00. When you think back to Armada you were getting 3 mini-cons in a pack for like $6.00

$6.00

VS

$5.00

News Credits: 349 · by **Bed Bugs** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:16 am

^This man speaks truth. I like the repaints that were released by themselves, but $5 is too much. If they were $3, I'd buy them all.

News Credits: 1 · by **njb902** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:44 am

My take on this is

1. lets say I buy a megablueterrorscream for $500 and its an awesome toy.

2. I also buy a $20-30 voyager hepalemotron that is horrible

I fell the bigger overpricing is the hepalemotron. so I think the price is less important than what I take from the enjoyment of the toy.

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 12:33 pm

DISCHARGE wrote:Single packed mini-cons for $5.00. When you think back to Armada you were getting 3 mini-cons in a pack for like $6.00

$6.00

VS

$5.00

I don't get it. 5$ is a pretty good price for a legend figure. :/

News Credits: 3 · by **DISCHARGE** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 1:45 pm

-Kanrabat- wrote:
DISCHARGE wrote:Single packed mini-cons for $5.00. When you think back to Armada you were getting 3 mini-cons in a pack for like $6.00

$6.00

VS

$5.00

I don't get it. 5$ is a pretty good price for a legend figure. :/

Legends aren't mini-cons the same way Minibots are not Legends
class. The closest to Legends are Spychangers, but they have the articulation of a minibot. Mini-cons are meant to accompany larger size bots , to enhance them. The original idea was that they were teams. That lasted through Armada and Energon.
In Cybertron they reduced the pack size to 2 Mini-cons and they were about $5.00 at that point. Esentially they knocked a dollar off to compensate for the reduction of a third Mini-con in a pack.
Now they offer a single Mini-con at the $5.00 price point. I personally think $3.50 would be a reasonable price for a single Mini-con.
Mini-cons are smaller than a Legends figure, and I'll concede that some do have some good details, but the ones with the greatest fine detail are the ones from Armada\Energon. Look at Astroscope vs Panhandler

Astroscope combined with his team members to form a weapon and he himself has a spring loaded missile. Panhandler can dig a very tiny hole.

News Credits: 1452 · by **Blurrz** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 5:21 pm

Panhandler's just looking for money bro..... he gotta feed himself... poor guy...

News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Sat Mar 24, 2012 7:48 pm

i didnt realize there was such a hate on for 3rd party stuff...

granted my experience is limited with them, but i have a warbot defender. he fits in well with my other classics/generations and is one solid piece of robot. and at the end of the month ive got some knight morphers coming followed by hercules next month.

devastator is an iconic tf that must be owned by any collector in at least one way or form. but how anyone thinks the energon dev/constructmax/atron/whatever is comparable to hercules... is delusional. five figures out of three molds? biggest f'ing copout ive ever seen.

ive even got the rid landfill repaint. which i do love still.. but doesnt fill the void.

i dont see how someone can hate the price of a 500 dev/herc, but condone any given botcon set. bottom line folks: dont like the price? dont buy it.

back on topic though.. whoever said henkei wildrider. thatd be my pick.

by **Breakdown 2099** » Sun Apr 01, 2012 5:43 am

Don't know about you guys, but when I pay $2000 for a Transformer, I'd actually like the toy to come with it

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Transformers ... 19c65177ac

News Credits: 1 · by **RhA** » Sun Apr 01, 2012 8:46 am

breakdown99 wrote:Don't know about you guys, but when I pay $2000 for a Transformer, I'd actually like the toy to come with it

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Transformers ... 19c65177ac

2000$ worth of cardboard. I pictured that somewhat different.

News Credits: 101 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Sun Apr 01, 2012 3:33 pm

breakdown99 wrote:Don't know about you guys, but when I pay $2000 for a Transformer, I'd actually like the toy to come with it

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Transformers ... 19c65177ac

Okay. Now I know that seller is trolling.

News Credits: 273 · by **Delicon** » Tue Apr 03, 2012 9:41 am

That ebay link made me laugh.

I agree that $5 for a sole mini-con is a smidge pricey.

As far as the BotCon toys vs. 3rd party debate goes, I have to think that the average BotCon toy has a much smaller production run as all of those seem to be under 2,000.