The Energon Pub

This might seem like an odd question, but I've been wondering about it for a while.

When I was a kid, I either don't remember or didn't care how much TFs cost (As a 5 year old, I doubt I had any concept of money) but now I'm curious to see how much individual Transformers cost way back when compared to how much they are now, just out of curiosity.

Would anyone have a list of the original retail prices of G1 and G2 Transformers (BW on probably shouldn't be bothered with... IIRC I think they were the same basic price as today), or remember how much different toy groups cost in the day (i.e. Mini-Cars, Autobot Cars, Decepticon Jets, City Commanders, Leaders, etc.)?

Around The Time I Started Collecting(G1), Optimus Prime Was About $20, Regular Cars (Hound,Sunstreaker) Were $12-14, And The Minibots (Warpath, Bumblebee)Were About $3 Each.

Yup, Omega Supreme, Jetfire, Metroplex were around $35

While it kind of goes without saying that prices have inflated a lot (with guys like Prime being 10 times their original price on eBay) even the reissues and toys of comparable size has taken a bit of a spike upwards. Maybe it has to do with the international value of the US dollar today, or maybe Hasbro wants to squeeze more cash out of products.

Reissue Soundwave has without a doubt gone up, judging from those prices, I doubt he was $30 when he was released.

As a college student struggling to pay rent and feed himself, I find $7 for a 3-pack of mini-cons is a little crazy, but then again, maybe I'm a little crazy for wanting them at 22. lol

They were rather pricey, compared to a couple of bucks for stuff like a He-Man figure.

The minibots were 3-5 dollars
Combiner bots were 4.99
Insecticons and Jumpstarters were 6.99-9.99
Standard bots were 8.99-12.99
Dinobots and Soundwave were 9.99-14.99
Prime and Megs were 19.99-24.99
Jetfire, Magnus, and Galvatron were 29.99
Metroplex/Omega Supreme/Trypticon was 49.99, so were combiner gift sets
Fort Max was 99.99.

this is just based on memory, and looking at some of my boxes from my G1 collection.

I remember Optimus Prime being about £13-14 in 1984/5 - that'd be around $26-28 at the current dollar exchange rate (which it wasn't back then). Normal G1 boxed figures were in the £7.99 / $15 region IIRC.

And hey, if $7 for a pack of mini-cons is crazy, try buying them at £7 - that's about $14. Hasbro UK's prices are almost exactly the same as the US ones, only they use a different currency symbol that happens to be worth twice as much.

I just saw Cybertron Supreme Starscream at an overstock clearance price of £24.99 / $50 yesterday... Still waiting for Primus to show up at that price since he's also warming shelves due to being too damn expensive...

E107_Theta wrote:While it kind of goes without saying that prices have inflated a lot (with guys like Prime being 10 times their original price on eBay) even the reissues and toys of comparable size has taken a bit of a spike upwards. Maybe it has to do with the international value of the US dollar today, or maybe Hasbro wants to squeeze more cash out of products.

Reissue Soundwave has without a doubt gone up, judging from those prices, I doubt he was $30 when he was released.

As a college student struggling to pay rent and feed himself, I find $7 for a 3-pack of mini-cons is a little crazy, but then again, maybe I'm a little crazy for wanting them at 22. lol

$20 for Prime now seems cheap, but 20 years ago the minimum wage was around $3.35/hour.

hmm...i've actually been wondering this for a while myself

I found some backing cards from the Monster Pretenders (ones that form Monstructor) this past Friday and they were $4.95 from Kmart.

Cyber Bishop wrote:I found some backing cards from the Monster Pretenders (ones that form Monstructor) this past Friday and they were $4.95 from Kmart.

*Uh, groan*. The price on those little buggers has certainly gone up since then. Just a piece alone of Monstructor goes for about $5.

Duke of Luns wrote:

Cyber Bishop wrote:I found some backing cards from the Monster Pretenders (ones that form Monstructor) this past Friday and they were $4.95 from Kmart.

*Uh, groan*. The price on those little buggers has certainly gone up since then. Just a piece alone of Monstructor goes for about $5.

I know, I am glad I have them 100% complete and don't have to buy them now.

On my computer at home I have the Sears Catalog scan showing all the prices, I'll post it when I get home.

Also, the Bandai toys (predecessors to Power Rangers) were very high priced, with one figure approaching $100 back in the mid 80s.

they cost about the same as the new ones do today, which back in 1984 made them a extreamy expensive toy. which is because of the fact that they were die-cast, which costs a lot more to produce.

Immortal Starscream wrote:they cost about the same as the new ones do today, which back in 1984 made them a extreamy expensive toy. which is because of the fact that they were die-cast, which costs a lot more to produce.

Actually, I heard the difference isn't that bad because the cost of oil has risen that making a toy out of plastic vs metal isn't that much of a difference anymore.

I would love to have a time machine and go back when all the G1 toys were for sale and buy them all.

$20 for Prime now seems cheap, but 20 years ago the minimum wage was around $3.35/hour.

Classics Prime is $20 today, and while many accessories have been removed (notably the trailer), the articulation and overall design quality for the figure itself has dramatically improved.