Ah. That makes sense.

 

Whatever, its not like its any different than most internet markups.
That, and Lego has already raised the American prices to match the rest of the world's this summer anyway, I've come to terms with that and that makes this so much easier to get over.
DN

 

They have already raised prices for the 25th joe line. I guess my collecting habits are going to change further.

 

I wonder when they say "increase the price" if that's the cost to whole sellers (ie stores like Target, TRU & Wally World) or "Suggested Retail Price" - We've seen TRU sell for more than SRP (Deluxes being $10.99 instead of $9.99) to help increase their sales margins and Wally World do rollbacks to help get people into the stores but make less profit per item.

Somehow I'm thinking this is whole sales prices which would, IMO, mean higher SRP than a 50 cent to a $1 increase.

 

As I recall, in the beast years the prices were:

$5-$7-$15-$20-$30

With Armada, I think it changed to:

$7-$10-$20-$30-$40-$50

Which is essentially where the prices have been for the last 5 years. My guess, the new prices will jump up between $2-$5. We may end up losing a price point too. But remember the jump in price for Armada brought larger figures, and later more complex ones (Energon and Cybertron), so I would expect the price increase will garner some increase in value as well.

 

I guess I knew the 'low' prices on TFs wouldn't last forever, but we'll see what happens. Being able to have a deluxe figure on the shelf and the tag says under ten bucks is a very effective sales gimmick, same with voyagers under twenty (people don't think about sales tax until they're at the register). Basically the less bills a customer has to have in hand when paying for an item, the happier they are.

+-MWG-+

 

And with the increase in price I expect a commensurate rise in quality.

The Animated, Classics Universe, and latter wave Movie figures so far are hit-or-miss -- usually cheaply-painted, poorly-assembled pieces of garbage. I've returned more Transformers to the store for exchange or refund in the last 6 months than I have in my entire life combined.

If they raise the prices and keep lowering their standards, they're gonna have one less customer, and one more disgruntled fan who resorts to importing the Japanese versions.

 

It was inevitable, and I don't see prices coming down for the next few years, for a long while, maybe temporarily, but in the long run, prices might be staying high, and gradually getting high.

 

Hasbro's raising the price because, in part, the price of oil has skyrocketed.

And again - prices haven't really moved for what - 5 years or so?

I don't like the idea of a price increase any more than anyone here. But with rising production costs and inflation, I don't blame them one bit.

The only real complaint I've had about Transformers pricing is the Canadian prices being so disproportionately high by comparison... I won't be surprised if they go up as well, but I'd like to know before Sept. 1 so I can do my expensive purchases (read: Ultras and Leaders) before then.

 

Crud, guess this means place your preorders pre-hike to keep to that price. >_< Well this is going to be an expensive august.

 

Prices will in the long run go up due to economic inflation.

That, and the US Dollar has gone down in value at the same time relative to the rest of the world's currencies (except relative to Zimbabwe's, of course - that country's economy is a total mess).

But I'm not really surprised anyway.

I mean, I remember when Magnaboss/Tripredacus were 30 bucks Canadian. Nowadays, that set would go for 40-50, I'm sure.

 

Well that sucks to be me, I'll have to stick to the deluxes.   I hate life.  

 

so instead of $9.99 or $10.99 it will now be 10.99 to 11.99 for deluxes, or will it be taxes?

 

Yeah, we all should have been expecting this. Hasbro has been bracing us for it for a couple of years now at least.

Before it was going to be because of higher safety standards after all of last years toy recalls, but it still didn't happen. Before that, they were talking price raises for Alternators and eventually for the movie line. But again, nothing happened then.

It's finally caught up with us! I just hope they don't take too big of a bite out of our collective asses. Even though most people seem ready for it, I can't help but think the days of seeing Transformers noted as a big key to Hasbro's successful profits being in jeopardy.

....Not to mention my own ability to keep collecting. If it turns out to be more than a dollar across, I may have to start re-thinking my spending habits. We can only hope this will get offset by an increase of stores marking them down on sale more often.

 

Hopefully just the usa, as our prices are usually higher anyway.

 

it's started already... Seriously I hope they at least increase the quality control or something to make up for it...

 

As long as we're talking a smallish percentage here, it shouldn't bug me much. Heck, around here deluxe-class toys have stayed in the $10 range since 1996. (other prices shuffled with the size classes)

 

Guess I'll just need to be even more selective with what I do buy. This was bound to happen and apparently it's coming soon. Hopefully it's not too big of a markup.

 

i dunno ive sort of noticed newer figs seem smaller than older ones too, and the QC is worse as well, oil i can understand but given the preceeding this is insult to injury

 

Just talking to my wife the other day, and that my parents bought me ten dollar toys when I was a kid more than twenty years ago and what we have today is a freakin steal. We get so much more bang for our buck. I don't care if they raise prices a couple dollars, won't make my spending habits change a bit. I'm not rich by any means, but I also don't care about the price of gas. It's called inflation, and just because it's kinda hittin everywhere at once just tells ya how good we've had it the last 10-15 years. Of course I'm an adult, so for kids trying to get stuff on an allowance or birthday type money, you have my sympathies. But getting Jetfire when I was a kid, still cost $55 at KBtoys, and there you go.