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Solrac333 wrote:Hasbro is nuts.

For raising voyagers by $1.49 ?

william-james88 wrote:

Solrac333 wrote:Hasbro is nuts.

For raising voyagers by $1.49 ?

Maybe he started collecting only after TLK hit with their 10$CAN price hike for every class.

I wish transformers cost that much over here. Even after the price rises they're still cheaper for you.

Bounti76 wrote:I preordered Slag, Wreck-Gar, and Gnaw at Target, and they're still $49.99, $29.99, and $19.99. Hopefully Walmart will follow suit. The Walmart closest to me actually sells SS Voyagers for $26.86.

This is why I'm not too concerned. Retailers have been undercutting prices for a while now so prices probably wont change that much right away. In store Target and Walmart sells SS figures for under $19, they'll continue to do whatever they feel like with prices. Eventually Amazon will lower their prices on these new pre-orders to match Target as they have been for a while now.

And yeah, I went with Target for the three as well.

Emerje

The rising costs are understandable.

For me, the worst part about this is that the deluxe class is increasing the most, when these figures are the ones that usually lack the most, a lot of times, not just size.
Sure, the engineering is better, the overall sculpting is improved as well...
But I can't really think of a deluxe that I have that should more than $15. Even ER Ironhide has enough issues that I don't put him being worth $20.
I guess the one exception would be SS86 Hot Rod... With the accessories, $20 is probably fair.

As others, I think osupreme included, have said, this simply means I'll be spending less and less in the upcoming years. Which I'm definitely okay with. Just last night I added up what I've spent in the last year (well, over a year including what's preordered and will arrive late summer/early fall) and it doesn't sit well with me. And this is considering I've been selective, skipped a lot, and missed out on a few like Sunstreaker and Trailbreaker (I'm just not spending $30 on either of these guys).

Moving forward, I'm ready to start phasing out of collecting all together...
Dinobots, Galvatron, Sweeps, Insecticons, Blitzwing, and Astrotrain are my main wants.
Wreck-gar, Perceptor, Blaster, Gnaw... I'm in for those as well, but even those are almost "icing".

But in terms of prices going up, it's going to happen no matter what; outside of the costs of the materials, inflation kicks-in either way...
I'm not going to be surprised at all if prices don't ever go back down, and only increase.
In fact, I don't think materials costs are going to decrease either...
So I'm ready for the price of a deluxe to go up to $24.99 by the end of 2022.
Which again, will be the beginning of the end of my collecting.

Sowndwave76 wrote:The rising costs are understandable.

For me, the worst part about this is that the deluxe class is increasing the most, when these figures are the ones that usually lack the most, a lot of times, not just size.
Sure, the engineering is better, the overall sculpting is improved as well...
But I can't really think of a deluxe that I have that should more than $15. Even ER Ironhide has enough issues that I don't put him being worth $20.
I guess the one exception would be SS86 Hot Rod... With the accessories, $20 is probably fair.

As others, I think osupreme included, have said, this simply means I'll be spending less and less in the upcoming years. Which I'm definitely okay with. Just last night I added up what I've spent in the last year (well, over a year including what's preordered and will arrive late summer/early fall) and it doesn't sit well with me. And this is considering I've been selective, skipped a lot, and missed out on a few like Sunstreaker and Trailbreaker (I'm just not spending $30 on either of these guys).

Moving forward, I'm ready to start phasing out of collecting all together...
Dinobots, Galvatron, Sweeps, Insecticons, Blitzwing, and Astrotrain are my main wants.
Wreck-gar, Perceptor, Blaster, Gnaw... I'm in for those as well, but even those are almost "icing".

But in terms of prices going up, it's going to happen no matter what; outside of the costs of the materials, inflation kicks-in either way...
I'm not going to be surprised at all if prices don't ever go back down, and only increase.
In fact, I don't think materials costs are going to decrease either...
So I'm ready for the price of a deluxe to go up to $24.99 by the end of 2022.
Which again, will be the beginning of the end of my collecting.

Hot Rod was a Voyager though Prices will also go up because of rising wages. I think the fandom has been spoiled with the notion of Class = size of toy with little to no regard of engineering and parts count. Not to mention the human tendency to stick with prices from our past like a fixed point in time.

Man, those are ugly prices. I'm not talking about the amount of the price, I just mean those are ugly numbers.

While I'm glad Leaders aren't $2 more, $54.99 is a more appealing price to see on a shelf.

If I was still a buyer for retail, I'd be getting in trouble for oddball retails like those.

ZeroWolf wrote:Hot Rod was a Voyager though Prices will also go up because of rising wages. I think the fandom has been spoiled with the notion of Class = size of toy with little to no regard of engineering and parts count. Not to mention the human tendency to stick with prices from our past like a fixed point in time.

Right, but outside of the 7 accessories, most would agree that he is a deluxe. A damn good one, but still a deluxe.
Either way, imo, he's worth $20.
Where as a figure such as ER Cliffjumper is worth $12.

Sowndwave76 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Hot Rod was a Voyager though Prices will also go up because of rising wages. I think the fandom has been spoiled with the notion of Class = size of toy with little to no regard of engineering and parts count. Not to mention the human tendency to stick with prices from our past like a fixed point in time.

Right, but outside of the 7 accessories, most would agree that he is a deluxe. A damn good one, but still a deluxe.
Either way, imo, he's worth $20.
Where as a figure such as ER Cliffjumper is worth $12.

Size maybe but not build. Calling him a deluxe is like calling MP Primal a Voyager.

william-james88 wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Hot Rod was a Voyager though Prices will also go up because of rising wages. I think the fandom has been spoiled with the notion of Class = size of toy with little to no regard of engineering and parts count. Not to mention the human tendency to stick with prices from our past like a fixed point in time.

Right, but outside of the 7 accessories, most would agree that he is a deluxe. A damn good one, but still a deluxe.
Either way, imo, he's worth $20.
Where as a figure such as ER Cliffjumper is worth $12.

Size maybe but not build. Calling him a deluxe is like calling MP Primal a Voyager.

Okay. Fair enough... He's more than a deluxe... But minus the accessories he's come with, he's still not a voyager imo.
If he were, then with those accessories Hastak would've sold him as a leader class figure.

Sowndwave76 wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

Sowndwave76 wrote:

ZeroWolf wrote:Hot Rod was a Voyager though Prices will also go up because of rising wages. I think the fandom has been spoiled with the notion of Class = size of toy with little to no regard of engineering and parts count. Not to mention the human tendency to stick with prices from our past like a fixed point in time.

Right, but outside of the 7 accessories, most would agree that he is a deluxe. A damn good one, but still a deluxe.
Either way, imo, he's worth $20.
Where as a figure such as ER Cliffjumper is worth $12.

Size maybe but not build. Calling him a deluxe is like calling MP Primal a Voyager.

Okay. Fair enough... He's more than a deluxe... But minus the accessories he's come with, he's still not a voyager imo.
If he were, then with those accessories Hastak would've sold him as a leader class figure.

The accessories dont figure much into the final price, they require no assembly. They are just there to appease those that only look at size and think they are getting ripped off.
His voyager price point is due entirely to his parts count and the higher cost that brings.

william-james88 wrote:The accessories dont figure much into the final price, they require no assembly. They are just there to appease those that only look at size and think they are getting ripped off.
His voyager price point is due entirely to his parts count and the higher cost that brings.

In short, the amount and size of the molds needing to be cut in order to make the figure. That's where most of the budget goes.

I get it. I really do.

But you're telling me that just the figure itself fit the voyager scale budget, and the 7 accessories were basically thrown-in for free???

I'm genuinely saying this...
I wish someone with the facts could educate us on how this really plays out.
As of right now, I don't believe that Hastak charges $29.99 for a voyager figure, and only makes $2-$5 off of each in profit. *I'm not inferring anyone claimed this.
Even for a company as huge as they are, I would think they'd still have to make at least 200-300% (if not more) of the manufacturing costs in profits.
Think about it... If ER Cliffjumper costs $10 all said and done per figure... They charged $20... And not all of that remaining $10 is actually pure profit. I'd be shocked if this is the relative formula for figures of any class size.
Seems to me, a figure like Cliffjumper would cost $5, and that's why they have to charge $20...
All said and done close to 3x the amount of the production costs come in as profit.

But maybe it's lower since they're putting out x number of figures per wave.

Sowndwave76 wrote:I get it. I really do.

But you're telling me that just the figure itself fit the voyager scale budget, and the 7 accessories were basically thrown-in for free???

It's not 0$ but it ain't much to make the figure jump from deluxe to Voyager. It couldn't have been sold as a deluxe even if it came with no accessories, that's what I mean. The bulk of costs come from extra assembly due to more parts. And there have been times when accessories wee literally thrown in for free, like with RID warrior angel supermodel prime.

As for your question, on a 30$ figure, Hasbro sells it to Walmart for around half (so 15$). So for the toy to be profitable, it has to cost Hasbro less than 10$. And making Transforners is more expensive than every other Hasbro action figure due to the human labour in assembly (nothing is automated).

There was a wonderful and eye opening article from Bandai about the cost of production lines and how an incremental detail (like sanding speue marks) could make all the difference in cost (and thus price). Can't find it though.

Do you remember that preorder for the Black Ironhide from generations Selects? MSRP on that figure was $24.99. Now, it could have meant two things. One, that while this toy was labelled as a deluxe, the higher price accounted for the extra accessory that didn't come with the Siege Ironhide mold, which was also sold as a deluxe. Two, that the MSRP for deluxes going forward would be 24.99. Well now we have more evidence for the latter. Firstly, we have confirmation from Canadian retailer Toysnowman that Hasbro has announced a price increase to retailers. You can check out their video below, but here are the Canadian prices going forward:

Deluxes 33.99 to 35.99
Voyagers 44.99 to 47.99
Leader 72.99-76.99
Titan 249.99-264.99

Secondly, Marvelous News has reported that Marvel Legends 6" figures will be going up to $24.99. Those toys are usually offered at the same price as deluxe Transformers figures and 6" Black Series Star Wars figures. And that $24.99 is indeed the same price as that Generations Selects deluxe Guard.

We do not have the specifics as to the US price increase for voyager, core class, leader, commander, and titan class Transformers but we are sure to find out soon.

Meanwhile, Toys R Us are boosting their prices even further.

16$CAN for core.
43$CAN for a deluxe.
50$CAN for voyager.
85$CAN for leader.
140$CAN for commander.
115$CAN for the shelfwarmer Ectotron (who started at 80$CAN when it came out)


Like, come on.

That does it. I'm done collecting.

Solrac333 wrote:That does it. I'm done collecting.

Or, do what others like me are, and only buy what you know you really, really want.
But I understand, this can be frustrating.

Also, maybe you were close to being done before this.

I'll be so close to retiring once we get all 5 Dinobots, and all 3 main Insecticons.
Once I have those, I could step away and be happy.
I'd like a new Astrotrain and Shockwave.
I could see dipping back in for those guys down the road. But yeah, that will also depend on price, appearance, how annoying the play gimmick is, etc.
But maybe the biggest temptation would be a new set of Constructicons...
Who knows... By the time that happens, maybe I'll be able to justify the cost because I will have been out of the game for a while.

A slight error in the article: 'former' means the first item in a list or pair, 'latter' means the last item.

I could be wrong but this really feels like record fast timing for boosting the price again within a certain amount of time. Like, there's usually either a very small price hike from year to year, or one big price hike every trilogy or so. This is both a high price hike AND within a year of the last one. I'm not one to complain about these things, but this may be where I start the steady decline to my cap on collecting TF's. Or, as the user above me mentioned, where I start getting REALLY selective about what I pick up. Which sucks, cause sometimes I'm just in a bad mood and had a rough week at work, and on the way home stop at Walmart to pick up a lil' deluxe to make my day better. If this is true, it looks like the end of that for me. Dang.

Haslab Victory Sabr is gonna look like a real bargain once released

william-james88 wrote:Haslab Victory Sabr is gonna look like a real bargain once released

You can say that again.
That 30 or so dollars "markup" would looks like nothing compared to TrU's insane double price hikes.

Top Spin slaps Ironhide, "You are a Deluxe!"

Ironhide replies "you are a sad similar height man!"


Price hikes kinda expected when they've been selling smaller deluxes for a while now, they either make them smaller or raise prices.

£1 sodas now £1.20 in my local shop and that's the stuff with out sugar tax

Just remember, mortals! Your leaders have declared that all of this inflation you're directly witnessing is NOT happening! There is no inflation... (Jedi mind wave)

DeathReviews wrote:Just remember, mortals! Your leaders have declared that all of this inflation you're directly witnessing is NOT happening! There is no inflation... (Jedi mind wave)

Nor are there disruptions in supply, no "less supply equal demand" that drives prices up...