I've been thinking about the cost of TFs lately. Compare a deluxe to another action figure of similar size- say a 6" Thundercats or any of the 3.75" action figures (Marvel, SW, etc). A TF is between 1.25x and 1.5x the price, depending on where you go. Then compare the parts count and engineering that goes into the figures. The Marvel and Star Wars lines re-use bodies like mad in a way TFs never could (except maybe a Starscream mold). They require far less engineering since it's just joints and a head sculpt, while a TF has to have 2 solid modes and a viable transformation.

Really, it's rather amazing they're as cheap as they are.

Now the imports.. yeah, the price hike on Henkei is painful, but there's so much more involved- specialty importing, extra middle men, exchange rates. The variable amounts are weird though, some figures are only $38 which isn't much a hike from the old $33, while some are up to $50 for no reason I can figure out.

 

I can't believe I got five pages through this thread before I realized I didn't care.

 

Don't forget SoC.

 

I think both you and I are on ignore on this fellow. Excellent points.

 

It's been stated that Takara treats there figures on a per figure basis instead of a per wave basis when it comes to paint apps, etc. That's another piece of the price difference from figure to figure.

Another factor is the size of the production run (which we've see first hand here in the US with the club figures). A production run for Takara's figures is typically far less than a production run for Hasbro.

 

Point noted. I space-cadeted on the fact that people with longer/wider/unique builds often have to pay higher prices... which is lunacy in and of itself. I feel for you guys.

 

well thank the 3rd parties aka the KO masters for that bit of screwage...they started charging $50 plus for the NOT constructicon characters...then the NOT insecticons...

If takara sees folks will line up at the feed trough like a bunch of crazed steers...they would be freaking stupid as a FOR PROFIT company not to increase their prices if they see the market will support it and folks will still buy their products.

Personally this is the point of break for me...$50 a pop for a repainted deluxe is NUTS.

I love the colors on the megatron and primal repaint but not $50 love them...

I will get thunderwing and warpath.

then i am done with UNITED...the prices are too freaking high for what you get...better paint apps or not.

 

Y'know, I normally hate it when staff on forums do things like what I'm about to suggest, but this is getting ridiculous and annoying. Please, staff, at least for a month or so, can we have any thread specifically made for bitching about prices locked?

 

Cindersaur, why would you get TWing and Warpath when they are readily available in barely-different colors in the US? What kind of "message" are you sending?

TT doesn't give much of a damn about what US people scramble to import.

 

I love how the OP starts a thread complaining about the rising price, but says he doesn't want to hear about exchange rates and such. All I heard was "I don't care about facts, my opinion is all that matters".  

Truth is, if you look at the price in yen, they haven't gone up that much since the days when Henkei figures were $25 at BBTS. The problem is it takes more US dollars to equal the same amount of yen. But I won't let the facts stop you from ranting about how "we're getting screwed".

 

Why don't you just "unsubscribe" and stay out of the thread? Is someone there with you making you read this?

 

The problem I see is these threads pop up all over the place. If nothing else, one dedicated thread that has all extraneous threads shoved into it would be nice.

Regardless, if you had actually read my post, you would know I was asking for all threads dedicated to price bitching to be closed, not just this thread. Don't try to embarrass me, I do that well enough for myself on my own.

 

I'm not sending a "message" to anyone...I was stating that the $50 price point is the STOP point...TOO MUCH $$$ per figure for something the size of a deluxe...warpath and thunderwing are $37 each...and they are two characters that i want.

The optimus primal and megatron have been repainted excessively (megs BW10, cybertron, botcon) and primal is not that much of a favorite to pay $50 for.

 

The amount of bitching about prices is pretty insane. I wish it was all limited to one thread especially since it's impossible to change a person's mind when all they really seem to want to do is vent. There are a lot of reasonable posts and explanations about shipping, exchange rate, etc. Fact is people have a lot of choices to either get the premium figures or not.

I know I'm spoiled now. I've picked up so much stuff up using coupons that I'm having a hard time paying retail for even the hasbro figures.

 

Yes, I think a single thread that has all of these price bitching threads shoved into it would be ideal, including any future threads.

Forget what I said about a lock, I want to see how insane and cluttered a massive price bitching thread gets.

 

But people don't like listening to logic when they vent, hence threads like this and every other one that go in circles for pages and pages. Fact is that the basic Deluxes (Henkei to United) have increased from 2200 to 2800 (not counting the BW figures and Unicron, which I am guessing should have something more tied to them that we havent seen yet) over 2 1/2 years. Sure it is up a bit more than US over that time, but not many of know what other reasons the japanese have for increased costs (though we have heard a lot from Hasbro, and a lot of those are similar). As others have stated, the US Dollar is getting smacked around by the Yen a whole lot (I think we may have even hit an alltime low last week vs the Yen), and it has lost about 25% of its value since the Henkei days. If people fail to recognize these things and want to continue saying how screwed they are in every thread, then their mind cannot be changed, and it is easier to just ignore them.

 

I'm not trying to embarrass you. I just don't understand why people post in a thread just to bitch about it. It seems simple to me. Don't read it.

 

It's not a matter of reading it, it's that the threads never go away and they flood out other, more interesting threads.

It's the same reason it drives me crazy when people post new threads asking when figures are going to come out. One is fine, a bunch are not.

 

^ The logical reason for people to discuss price is that we know Hasbro, TT, and "3rd party" people use this place as a sounding board. They'd be mad not to. They may not be able to do anything about what people will pay and why, but better that than them not knowing.

I mean yes it's complainy and bitchy, but that's just the site. Heck, drop in on the movie forum, that'll drag you down right quick.

I like some mod-consolidated threads like "MP" and "Movie Mirage" bitching (and we really need a "Classics speculation" one), but it would be a nightmare to do that whenever someone talks about price.

THIS.

 

Now that's just mean.

I mean, sending someone to that subforum, why would you do that to a human being.