rotf lines... why must u be so expensive?

Discussion in 'Transformers Toy Discussion' started by mfa8578, Jul 14, 2009.

  1. Waverider

    Waverider Supreme Dude

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    To my knowledge, the ROTF leader Primes are imported and you will have to pay some kind of markup for that. Plus ROTF is hot right now so I can see retailers raising the prices to them now. Here in the US, Paying $45 for a Leader Prime is normal price. Maybe you should go to the Junkion Exchange and see if someone is willing to ship you any of the toys at our cost plus shipping. That would be much better than going to Ebay.
     
  2. videriant

    videriant Well-Known Member

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    Availability makes a big difference also. Here in the US, you can wait for a sale and get items for cheaper. The bigger the item, the bigger the clearance. ROTF Prime is $45 retail but was $30 at TRU two weeks ago. Animated Leaders are now half-off at TRU ($21). Target clearanced them at $11 about a month and a half ago. If you're patient and watch the sales/deal threads for sale when requesting something you can save yourself a good amount.
     
  3. ManiactoaLaco

    ManiactoaLaco Well-Known Member

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    Superem Devasatator is really over priced.

    I think $50 dollars is way to much for a leader.

    But reatailers will change that if the toy isn't selling.

    But odly enough, they won't do that for leaders here in Kelowna

    MTL
     
  4. Waverider

    Waverider Supreme Dude

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    More Prices From The 80s

    Here are more price comparisons from the 80s.


    From Karl's Toys & Hobbies Los Angles, CA 1985: Here we have Omega Supreme. He would be comparable to a Supreme class TF today. Shockwave is somewhere between a Voyager and an Ultra class today. The mini vehicles are comparable to Legends today. On a side note, that Zartan with the swamp skier would be about $15-16 to comparable GI Joe toys today.
    [​IMG]

    Toys R Us El Paso, TX 1987: All I can say is that Fortress Maximus would be compared to a Ultimate class today.
    [​IMG]

    After looking at some of these old prices, I noticed the pricing for TFs was al over the place. There was no pricing buy class like it is today. Since $20 in the 80s was worth a lot more than $20 now. I have more of a appreciation for Hasbro in trying to keep our hobby affordable.
     
  5. Optimus Sledge

    Optimus Sledge Yar har fiddle di dee

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    And what that also shows is that prices for GI Joes have gone MENTAL.
     
  6. Waverider

    Waverider Supreme Dude

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    I love those "wait till it's on clearance" Transformers collectors. Feast you eyes on these G1 goodness.

    Best Los Angeles, CA Dec 1986:

    Here
     
  7. Razerwire

    Razerwire 99 Problems... Veteran

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    I just dropped $210 on a Macross figure. So in that case, TF is hella cheap in comparison.
     
  8. slowso

    slowso TF or DIE!

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    recession plus its taking the advantage of the ROTF hype...

    it also depends on your country's exchange rate i guess...
     
  9. mfa8578

    mfa8578 transparentprime

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    -TF1 ultimate bumble bee costs me USD 74, but ROTF ultimate BB costs double that price... huhu... feel sad, but the new front skirt design is just too awsome to be ignored... n i feel like an asshole...
     
  10. Sportimus

    Sportimus Well-Known Member

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    Recession has nothing to do with it. You don't RAISE prices in a recession. Recession is over, deal with it. TF2 made hundreds of millions of dollars, and beat the 2007 film in profits.

    It is more along the lines of either production costs and greed. I'm leaning more towards greed than production costs. Movie is now a box office hit, kids want the toys, Hasbro and/or stores raise prices for more $$$. I do mist the glorious $8.99-$10.99 prices of the deluxes not so long ago. Now they're over $13.00 a piece at Target. They'll go down again though. Give it time.

    Back in the '80's I paid $16.99 for G1 Thrust. $14.99 for G1 Hot Rod. $38 for G1 Galvatron. That was 1980's price. Still have the price tags on some of the boxes. And the recession of the late '80's was a lot worse than our most recent one. Many here weren't even born then, but those of us who were around know.

    Other toys have remained the same or risen only very little. The new GI Joe figures went down from $7.99 to $6.99 at Target yesterday. Star Wars figures are still below $8.30 a piece. That's pretty good in my book.
     
  11. Optimus Sledge

    Optimus Sledge Yar har fiddle di dee

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    Greed? I doubt that. TF prices had remained unchanged in nearly ten years. That state of affairs was never going to continue unless all the toys became a lot smaller for their class.
     
  12. Autobus Prime

    Autobus Prime Transit Former

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    OS:

    Or if the number produced went way up, or if the manufacturing process became more efficient...both of which surely did happen.

    But it isn't the ten years that people are looking at, it's the two years. Hasbro said in their panel that the $2 / Dx increase was preferable to reducing "size or complexity". (Note 1) Sounds good, although the increase was $3, and the question remains: why were they able to sell the 2007 movie toys for the lower price, earning huge profits, when the actual inflation since 2007 has been very little? Ten dollars in 2007 is $10.25 now. Look it up! (Note 2) This is particularly clear when so many figures are retools or recolors.

    Clearly there was something else to offset. Of course, Hasbro didn't say what, but they are always good at vaguely answering a different question than the one asked.

    Here are some possibilities:

    -Retail price tends to lag the cost of materials. Perhaps it took a while for last year's high plastic cost to trickle down to us, and we are now waiting for today's lower plastic cost to result in lower prices.

    -The dollar may have decreased relative to the yuan, despite the low overall inflation rate, making Chinese manufacturing costs higher than inflation would indicate.

    -Michael Bay is getting a pretty significant cut of Transformers-toy sales, which may be taken into account to get this price.

    One thing that's clear is that QC is not better than last time. It's about the same. It's always going to be the same, I think.

    (1)
    http://www.allspark.com/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=5283

    (2)
    Cost-of-Living Calculator
     
  13. Optimus Sledge

    Optimus Sledge Yar har fiddle di dee

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    According to that cost of living calculator, $10 in 1999 is equivalent to $12.74 today. I believe that supports my point. :) 
     
  14. Autobus Prime

    Autobus Prime Transit Former

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    OS:
    But since mine is equally supported (10.00 2007 -> 10.25 2009), what's the explanation?

    I don't disagree with your statement, in the longer term. But how do you explain the short-term events? Hasbro did not lose money on the 2007 line. They made out like a Bandit Lockdown.
     
  15. Optimus Sledge

    Optimus Sledge Yar har fiddle di dee

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    I'm not sure how there's anything to explain. Hasbro had kept prices the same, this was clearly never going to last forever. Given the Transformers are now at their highest point since... what, Armada? It makes sense to put the price rise in now rather than during a low.
     
  16. Autobus Prime

    Autobus Prime Transit Former

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    OS:
    Sure there's something to explain. If we'd seen a small-percentage increase every year, since 1999, consistent with the long-term trend you mention, then I'd agree with you - the long term trend would explain everything.

    I've agreed with you there. But we didn't see that. We saw price held steady, and then a sudden 25-30% jump. You must admit that there is something more to be told here, something more than a long-term trend. In two words - why now? In three more, why so much?

    Suppose you're emptying a bathtub with a slow drain. You expect it to empty in ten hours. It stays at full for nine, then drains empty in the last hour. Expectations were met...but something weird happened, all the same.
     
  17. Optimus Sledge

    Optimus Sledge Yar har fiddle di dee

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    As for why so much... you're the dude who posted the cost of living calculator. It's surely not rocket science to see that prices have been adjusted to be equivalent to what they were ten years ago. I'm just not seeing the complex issue that you are. TFs were the same price for ten years. Hasbro have finally adjusted the price so we're paying what we would have ten years ago (for Deluxes at least, larger figures now cost less).
     
  18. Edgewise

    Edgewise Fanner

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    The price was held steady artificially. A small-percentage increase every year is ridiculous. $10 is kind of a magic number for a toy purchase, so Hasbro/Retailers kept prices at that level because the increase in sales keeping it at that price was better than lower sales at a price with a small percentage increase. But now 13 years after the Beast Wars price points were introduced the increase in costs became too much. It reached a tipping point where the "artificially low" prices' potentially higher sales no longer outweighed the "normal" prices' lower sales.

    Hasbro did start raising prices during Beast Machines and RID. BM had basics go up to the $7 range instead of BW's $5 price. With RID basics did go back down, but that was because they were mostly smaller(Spychanger 2 packs/Ruination limbs). However Hasbro attempted to raise the price of other price points: Hasbro's MSRP for RID deluxes were listed as going up to $12 instead of $10, Megas to $16 instead of $15, and Ultras to $22 instead of $20. However retailers competed for sales by lowering these initial prices back to the traditional prices.

    Now, there certainly may be additional factors to the price increase, but the long-term inflation is one of them. Doubtful it's the only one, and who knows if it's the main one, but it is a factor.
     
  19. Autobus Prime

    Autobus Prime Transit Former

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    OS:
    You keep on restating your point, OS, and I keep on agreeing with you. Yes, I agree. Over the long term, you're exactly right.

    But I feel I have made an equally valid point, and you keep on sidestepping it, and I can't help but feel disappointed...mostly because there is interesting stuff to talk about here, but we'll never get to it this way.

    EW:
    It's not artificial, it's how consumer goods have generally been sold. Still, there may be something in what you say about tipping points...but this only moves the debate...what caused it to tip? Remember, the TF07 line made huge sales figures.

    Agreed on all counts, and this is what I want to discuss...the other factors. Threads like this are often unsatisfying - "inflation" is the easy answer, and it's the correct one, in the long term, but there's so much more at work here...so much more than meets the eye. :D 
     
  20. Edgewise

    Edgewise Fanner

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    Artificial might be a bad word choice. I just mean they held the price steady intentionally despite inflation/rise in costs.

    What caused it to tip? 1) The accumulated inflation of so many years 2) The other factors. But cool... I was getting the impression you thought inflation wasn't a factor at all, but that's not the case..