The Energon Pub

by **megatran** » Sun May 11, 2025 10:26 pm

Hasbro Pulse US is showing prices again for pre-orders?
Prices haven't changed?
Am I reading this right?

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Mon May 12, 2025 4:47 am

Over night it was announced that Chinese tariffs will be reduced to 30% this week. Still too much, but it's not so much that I have to cancel an order this month that I've been fretting about. Not crazy about the extra $60 but it's still cheaper than most retailers.

megatran wrote:Hasbro Pulse US is showing prices again for pre-orders?
Prices haven't changed?
Am I reading this right?

Everything is "temporarily unavailable" including a lot of in stock stuff.

Emerje

News Credits: 33 · by **Glyph** » Mon May 12, 2025 9:01 am

Glyph, 2 days ago, wrote: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

Emerje wrote:Over night it was announced that Chinese tariffs will be reduced to 30% this week.

Shot, chaser.

by **megatran** » Mon May 12, 2025 10:16 pm

Emerje wrote:Over night it was announced that Chinese tariffs will be reduced to 30% this week. Still too much, but it's not so much that I have to cancel an order this month that I've been fretting about. Not crazy about the extra $60 but it's still cheaper than most retailers.

megatran wrote:Hasbro Pulse US is showing prices again for pre-orders?
Prices haven't changed?
Am I reading this right?

Everything is "temporarily unavailable" including a lot of in stock stuff.

Emerje

Thanks for the clarification re Hasbro Pulse US site.

The 30% tariff includes the pre-recipricpl tariff 20%. So effectively 10% since Trump 2nd term. China has also temporarily reduced their tit for tat tariff to 10% for 90 days while the hot mess is worked out.

I want to thank this site for allowing mature conversation on this topic. I know other US TF sites wave the ban stick just mere mentioning the T word.

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Mon May 12, 2025 10:53 pm

And now it sounds like the 30% is only for orders over $800 (to benefit corporations) while the rest of us ordering $800 or less get a "Temu tax" of 120%! I am so sick of this **** administration's corrupt bullshit!

EDIT: Trump made an executive order changing the under $800 tax rate to 54% or a flat $100 fee. The flat fee makes no real sense, why would anyone choose the 54% on anything over $200? It's just all so stupid.

Emerje

News Credits: 4835 · by **william-james88** » Tue May 13, 2025 4:23 pm

The US and China have confirmed the tariff rate of 30% for the next 3 months for imports from China. And now Gamestop has unveiled their latest prices on preorders, which are around 30% higher than last week.
Here are the current prices on preorders:

Deluxes: 31.99 (28% increase from MSRP)
Commanders 119.99 (33% increase from MSRP)
Titan Star Optimus Prime 209.99 (40% increase from MSRP)

At the moment of writing, Entertainment Earth still has the 10% prices increase as opposed to the full 30% while Hasbro Pulse has all their preorders as unavailable.

Also, it is important to note that the 30% tariffs only apply to businesses. Individuals ordering from China now have an additional tax rate of 54% for imports (with a max of $100)

by **morganprime** » Tue May 13, 2025 5:23 pm

See ya collecting!

by **megatran** » Tue May 13, 2025 9:56 pm

I'm probably stating the obvious, Gamestop is gauging in price. 30% tariff (up from existing 20%) doesn't necessarily translate to +30% MSRP.

Wonder if others will follow.

by **Dino-Snarl** » Wed May 14, 2025 2:55 am

We have not heard as yet about CDN price increases and we may never see them. The Titan Star OP price is $205 up here. However, with the EB Games (formerly Gamestop Canada) 10% discount (Platinum Member) that falls to $185 before taxes with free S/H.

To buy it from Gamestop US it would now be US $210 which works out to be CDN $305 MSRP and then $275 with the same discount before taxes with free S/H. These are now way cheaper (CDN $90) in Canada, even with our weaker dollar. Crazy!

News Credits: 100 · by **-Kanrabat-** » Wed May 14, 2025 4:31 am

I do not trust that amazon.com will honor the price of the preorders that I made. So I cancelled everything.

News Credits: 1 · by **Solrac333** » Wed May 14, 2025 8:36 am

Looks like I won't be buying from Game Stop. Pretty much everywhere. I'm gonna have fun looking at my incomplete Superion and incomplete Devastator.

News Credits: 42 · by **TF-fan kev777** » Wed May 14, 2025 5:39 pm

-Kanrabat- wrote:I do not trust that amazon.com will honor the price of the preorders that I made. So I cancelled everything.

I'm actually the opposite, at least on cancelling. Your pre-order authorization is for a certain amount. If the actual price at the time of shipment will be higher and they want you to pay that, it would require a second authorization because you only authorized a certain amount. If they do try to make everyone re-authorize at the higher price, so be it. I'll make my decision then, but I wouldn't cancel until I know for sure.

Oddly enough, for the regular retail figures like SS deluxe VW Bee and AotP voyager Heatwave, Amazon looks like they are matching the available pre-order pricing with their algorithm on figures I did not pre-order. The reason I believe it is their algorithm is because their exclusive Wreck and Doom sets are still at the original price. It will be interesting to see if that jumps up whenever Hasbro raises the price for those 2 sets on Pulse, which should be the only other US based website that they could look at.

by **megatran** » Wed May 14, 2025 9:58 pm

Solrac333 wrote:Looks like I won't be buying from Game Stop. Pretty much everywhere. I'm gonna have fun looking at my incomplete Superion and incomplete Devastator.

They will now be known as Inferion and Deficientstator.

News Credits: 42 · by **TF-fan kev777** » Thu May 15, 2025 7:33 am

megatran wrote:
Solrac333 wrote:Looks like I won't be buying from Game Stop. Pretty much everywhere. I'm gonna have fun looking at my incomplete Superion and incomplete Devastator.

They will now be known as Inferion and Deficientstator.

In both cases, an arm and a leg are starting to cost, well, an arm and a leg.

I'll show myself out.

by **Dino-Snarl** » Thu May 15, 2025 10:38 am

TF-fan kev777 wrote:
megatran wrote:
Solrac333 wrote:Looks like I won't be buying from Game Stop. Pretty much everywhere. I'm gonna have fun looking at my incomplete Superion and incomplete Devastator.

They will now be known as Inferion and Deficientstator.

In both cases, an arm and a leg are starting to cost, well, an arm and a leg.

I'll show myself out.

You both win this convo!

by **ILoveBigBots** » Thu May 15, 2025 5:07 pm

-Kanrabat- wrote:
I do not trust that amazon.com will honor the price of the preorders that I made. So I cancelled everything.

I don't know if their policy has changed as I haven't bought anything there in years, but when I use to buy game books there, I would occasionally find preorders that were obviously mispriced. They always honored the price. Sometimes I would end up with new books at 85-90% off cover price.

by **megatran** » Thu May 15, 2025 10:49 pm

TF-fan kev777 wrote:
megatran wrote:
Solrac333 wrote:Looks like I won't be buying from Game Stop. Pretty much everywhere. I'm gonna have fun looking at my incomplete Superion and incomplete Devastator.

They will now be known as Inferion and Deficientstator.

In both cases, an arm and a leg are starting to cost, well, an arm and a leg.

I'll show myself out.

Don't despair. There are options.
Put aside a few dollars each week and before you know it you'll have a foot in the door or a leg in.
Put your hand up and ask someone for a leg up.

News Credits: 4835 · by **william-james88** » Thu May 15, 2025 11:50 pm

Dino-Snarl wrote:We have not heard as yet about CDN price increases and we may never see them.

I have news but have yet to find the time to write the story, but it's confirmed that there is no increase to Canadian MSRP. Any change to MSRP and distribution is only for the US market.

So while people say that Hasbro is just looking for an excuse to raise prices, they are not increasing prices worldwide. If they increase prices, it's just for the US and just so that the government does not scold them for charging a separate fee on the item highlighting the tariff.

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Thu May 15, 2025 11:56 pm

So Amazon has now raised their prices to match Gamestop. :roll:

I'll say it again, these figures are not made in China, they're made in Vietnam where the current tariff is 10%. Transformers are being given unreasonable price hikes tso they don't have to raise prices on toys for younger kids. Hasbro is taking advantage of us.

Side note, this article from Business Insider shows how dire the situation was at Hasbro. It says they're pausing some of their pricing plans since the tariff was reduced, was planing to cancel lines, and considered making some lines international. They also mentioned this would have changed planed retailor promotions.

Emerje

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Fri May 16, 2025 1:35 am

william-james88 wrote:
Dino-Snarl wrote:We have not heard as yet about CDN price increases and we may never see them.

I have news but have yet to find the time to write the story, but it's confirmed that there is no increase to Canadian MSRP. Any change to MSRP and distribution is only for the US market.

So while people say that Hasbro is just looking for an excuse to raise prices, they are not increasing prices worldwide. If they increase prices, it's just for the US and just so that the government does not scold them for charging a separate fee on the item highlighting the tariff.

I think if the sales drop substantially under the new prices we could see international prices increase so it isn't just Americans shouldering them (though by all rights we should be) allowing US prices to become more manageable. Basically the same as what they're doing to us so they don't have to raise the prices on children's toys.

Emerje

by **hello88build** » Fri May 16, 2025 3:12 am

GODD

by **Delta Supreme** » Sun May 18, 2025 9:35 am

william-james88 wrote:So while people say that Hasbro is just looking for an excuse to raise prices, they are not increasing prices worldwide. If they increase prices, it's just for the US and just so that the government does not scold them for charging a separate fee on the item highlighting the tariff.

IMO This won't stop it. Pretty much nothing will.

For the record, I saw a headline / news report on someone's phone saying "Trump tells Walmart to hold the line on prices and 'eat' the difference (new tariff-related costs)", if this were true it comes across as "use your profits to uphold my promise to the people, or, even better, negotiate with China so they pay you and you forward the collections to the Govt."

News Credits: 2 · by **Hero Alpha** » Sun May 18, 2025 12:58 pm

Delta Supreme wrote:
william-james88 wrote:So while people say that Hasbro is just looking for an excuse to raise prices, they are not increasing prices worldwide. If they increase prices, it's just for the US and just so that the government does not scold them for charging a separate fee on the item highlighting the tariff.

IMO This won't stop it. Pretty much nothing will.

For the record, I saw a headline / news report on someone's phone saying "Trump tells Walmart to hold the line on prices and 'eat' the difference (new tariff-related costs)", if this were true it comes across as "use your profits to uphold my promise to the people, or, even better, negotiate with China so they pay you and you forward the collections to the Govt."

I like the second one, let's go with that.

by **megatran** » Sun May 18, 2025 10:13 pm

Delta Supreme wrote:
william-james88 wrote:So while people say that Hasbro is just looking for an excuse to raise prices, they are not increasing prices worldwide. If they increase prices, it's just for the US and just so that the government does not scold them for charging a separate fee on the item highlighting the tariff.

IMO This won't stop it. Pretty much nothing will.

For the record, I saw a headline / news report on someone's phone saying "Trump tells Walmart to hold the line on prices and 'eat' the difference (new tariff-related costs)", if this were true it comes across as "use your profits to uphold my promise to the people, or, even better, negotiate with China so they pay you and you forward the collections to the Govt."

Were you or someone added to that secret encrypted Signal app chat by accident?

MyFigureCollection.net collection · by **Emerje** » Wed Jun 11, 2025 9:48 am

Well, Trump says his deal with China is done and it so far looks like a terrible deal for us.

US gets-

55% tariff on imports (up from 30%)
Mineral rights from China

China gets-

10% tariff on imports from the USA
Chinese students can attend US universities again

So basically things are even worse for US consumers and China gets a great deal on imports and education. Yes, Chinese factories will hurt from this, but there's still no sign of alternatives to Chinese manufacturing for US consumers. Great deal for US billionaires who not only get to sell to China at a low tax rate but also get access to rare minerals to make the stuff they're selling there. But this deal seriously screw average Americans. It's also been pointed out that these minerals come from the notorious western region of Xinjiang known for their prison and slave labor mining. Republicans that are wrongly claiming Chinese factories are sweatshops as an excuse to move manufacturing out of China should be outraged over this, but they wont be since it's Trump's plan and he doesn't care so why should they?

Emerje