I'm loving the Ultra price. The deluxe price I'm ok with, not thrilled though of course. But for a neo-G1 line I'll pay it happily enough. It might be possible that this price is only for the Classic line, and the movie line will be back at $10. Given the short run of the Classic line (probably 6 months tops) I can see how they might want to hike the prices a little to get their money's worth out of it.

 

I assume the deluxes will be bigger than the cybertron dlxs and pack more detail. I am happy with this.

THe universe ultras, those molds have already been used before(especially the build team guys) in some cases more than once, and from what I understand were slated for release a year ago or so. Being as it may, perhaps they were already made but canned last minute? And perhaps they were just laying around in the warehouse until target decided to pick them up and hasbro merely either will ship them what they have or repackage them. In either case what we are getting are essentially toys that may have been already made a year ago just awaiting someone to sell them rather than to just discard them(which would be a financial loss for hasbro). So I can understand why they are cheap this time around. Hey it works in our favor!!! Also those deluxe build team guys weren't really too big either.

I can't wait for the classics!!

 

Transforming Speedbreaker is like trying to reassemble a broken egg. If the Neo-G1s are as shellish and as spindly-limbed, I doubt they'll be well-received. The thing with shellbots is you're trying to get them into car mode, you're 95% there, and the damn car kibble won't fit together because one elbow is pivoted wrong by 15 degrees. That stinks.

 

Well, if you'll notice, instead of increasing the prices of the $20 size category, they've instead slowly made them smaller and smaller-- compare Vector Prime, Mudflap, Evac, and the like to the Beast Wars (and especially Beast Machines) Ultras and you'll see what I mean. Deluxes, however, have not gotten smaller.

 

Yeah, when you're married, you don't have to buy jewelry, flowers or any of that crap anymore! You've already given her your immortal soul!

So, where are you paying $20 for Voyager size? I get them for regular $18, usually on sale for $15. To me, both Classic sizes are more expensive (which I take to imply they're collector-oriented).

And regarding size, Red Alert and Hot shot are about two heads apart in height, made the same year and at the same pricepoint, so I don't see the point that Depth Charge or Nightscream are taller than Vector Prime. Supreme Cheetor is taller than Galaxy Convoy. Which is the better $40 toy?

 

Um, everywhere. That's regular price at Target, W*M, TRU, and Meijer. K-Mart was $22 for Voyagers, last time I checked. (It's been a while.) KB is $25. I've not seen any store where the regular price is less than $19.76 (W*M's price). (Of course, there are occasionally -- but not "usually" sales.)

Well, then you just suck.  

And where, pray tell, is this fantasy store where retail prices are 10% less and sales are oh, so frequent? 'Cuz I want one.  

Well, yes, but they added electronics to Mega/Max-Con/Voyager-sized toys when they bumped the price from $15 to $20. (YMMV, though, whether this really adds value....)

 

Yeah, I have to agree with you there. However, I would point out that the engineering on the Cybertron Basics is lightyears above any of the Energon Basics... heck... I'll even go as far as to say that the new mold minicons (Jolt and his companions) are better engineered than the minicons of Armada. Just my opinion, but that makes them worth it to me. Hopefully, the $12 deluxes will be equally so.  

 

yeah the cybertron minicons are great. i mean sure, Metroplex's isn't great, but the recent showing of Menasor's looks great, Roots/Safeguard has a great build (and ball joint arms that dont' flop about!) Sixspeed/Bumper has a great transformation that's similar to some basics and Reverb/Blit is just a tiny little piece of heaven.

 

The Cyb basics are vastly superior to the E. basics with the exceptions of the gestalt limbs. Granted, we're only talking six independant molds, two of which (Duststorm and F-22 mold) were OK but not great, but the other four molds I consider to be better than any of the Cyb basics, even without the gestalt factor.

But otherwise, yes, the Cyb basics clearly represent the natural design improvement HasTak has shown since Armada.

 

I don't suck, Indiana does. Apparently. Those are some high prices, yuck. The everyday prices I cited are here in Minnesota, at Target, Walmart and TRU. It's not a fantasy store, you just have some regional collusion there. The antitrust implications are disturbing.

And I didn't mean there are usually sales. I meant I usually don't buy until they're on sale. Did Indiana TRU stores have a buy two, get one free this fall? Did Target and Walmart and TRU have 25% off or more holiday sales last month? I have everything released in Cybertron so far, except the minicons, and I didn't pay full price for a single one. If you're not buying smart, I can't say that's my problem, dude.

 

OK, someone else help me out here. As far as I'm aware, the prices I quoted are pretty standard, except, apparently, for Minnesota. Aren't those the regular prices that most other folks see? (Every time I've ever seen a receipt pic on the boards to confirm a new sighting, it's been for the same prices as stores here.)

 

Ah. I was confused by your wording.

Yes.

OK, settle down. Nothing in my posts indicated that it was. (If you took my highly facetious "... you just suck.   " personally, sorry.)

 

Wait. I thought Reverb and Bumper were both the truck, while Sixspeed and Blit were the race car. Am I confused?

Either way, I dig both molds. And assuming you were talking about the truck, yes, the transformation is definitely cool, even if it were a Scout.

 

No worries on my end, I was just trying to use the same facetiousness. Not worth us getting hot about it. It would be an interesting thread in GD, price points and how they vary in different areas.

I don't think prices are a standard, set in stone across the nation. I've even seen Targets here in Minneapolis have three different price points for Alternators, 19.99, 20.79 and 21.49. At the same time, sometimes within miles of each other.

OT, it's been documented that big box retailers and grocery stores will charge higher prices for things like milk, diapers and baby formula in lower-income neighborhoods than in the suburbs, where consumers can more easily drive a little further for a better price. It's really exploitative. I can't say it extends to toys as well, but who knows?

 

Yeah, the limbs are some of the nicest basics to come out of energon. I'd say that the reason would definently be because they were made last minute at the end of the line basically. (heh... punny...) Although, I'm not quite sure I agree that they're better than all of the Cybertron basics. I love Ransack... so much so I even went and paid ungodly amounts of money for the Takara Police type... and Armorhide and Hardtop are awesome IMPO. Swindle's a nice repaint to the Hardtop mode too. But yeah, I get what you mean basically.

 

I'm under no assumption that there's a standard exact price, but $18 for Voyagers seems to be statistically significant. Out of curiosity, what are the typical prices you see for other size classes?

Those Alt prices are the same as what I see.

I've seen a similar phenomenon within the same Target. One week the price would be $19.79, and the next, $21.19 or some such. The most variable seemed to be Alts and Universe Ultras.

Well, all I can say is that my price sampling includes a variety of neighborhoods in small towns and larger cities (though all in Indiana). Numerous stores in Indianapolis, Fishers, Carmel, Noblesville, Lafayette, Frankfort, Kokomo, and Evansville have prices that are the same (within $0.50) for all size classes, with the aforementioned K-Mart and KB exceptions, plus TRU stubbornly clinging to the $29.99 Ultra price. During RiD and early Armada, TRUs in Indy also tended to be on the higher side -- $10.99 for Deluxes, $7.99 for Basics. Back in the days of Beast Machines, a road trip through Ohio revealed prices that were essentially indentical to those in Indiana.

I will also note that the prices I see in Target, Wal-Mart, KB, and (for the most part) TRU around here match their online prices.

Who knows, maybe you're just lucky to be in Minnesota....

 

The other prices aren't typically any different than MSRP, which is why I thought $20 for Voyagers was high. I'd have to do some surveying to see if $18 is still the case on a wider Mpls. metro scale. Target is headquartered here, so there are about 37 (insert Clerks joke here) Targets within driving distance. When CD Scattorshot and Dark Crumplezone come out, I'll scour the area and report. I'm all caught up on current TF releases.

Perhaps Target and Walmart are trying to undercut Toys R Us in my metro area. I did notice $20 Voyagers and $30 Ultras there at TRU, when I got Galvatron last week. Target across the street had $18 Voyagers and $25 Ultras. The other prices, $50 Supremes, $40 Leaders, $10 Deluxes, $7 Scouts and $5 Minicons, are the same at both Target and TRU.

 

Thirty-seven?!?!