I loved PoTP and so far I'm liking Seige, I do feel like we're getting short changed with the costs increasing(E-tailers are now asking for 22 for deluxes, which and there's no sign of prices ever stabilizing or going down over the years, only up.), and we are getting significantly less for more. Shockwave, /Shockwave/ I own two. He is not way in hell a leader class Transformer. He barely fits the mark of Voyager, and Studio series? Let's not even go there with the rip offs. And people can be like "Oh it's costs and engineering!" And that is a load of bullshit. Third party figures and kits have remained consistent over the years, and have smaller production runs yet Hasbro and Takara who produce much more, can't get their costs to stay stable? Bullshit. They're just trying to line the pockets of their brass and trying to squeeze out as much money as they can from everyone around the world.

 

PREACH!

 

While there is lots of clear price gauging going on, I don't mind paying more as long as the figures are great. What I definitely will not do is pay more for figures that have cut serious corners like wheel paint, unpainted windows or even unclear windows, missing features, glaring inaccuracies, etc. Thankfully overall Hasbro is doing better in these areas than they have since Kenner stopped existing, which is pretty important considering TakaraTomy can't do their thing anymore.

 

Demand for Takara product in the west evaporated overnight, so they would have to have at least replaced it with additional demand on the Japanese side just to stay even. I suspect the looney toon pricing on recent MPs is as much to mitigate sluggish volume as it is to appear in the same class as Bandai. Everything I've read about Japan says Japanese in our age group are struggling with wages/stability like the US. Are they cutting back slower than prices are rising? That I don't know. I know what I see in aisles and at shows though and it's not encouraging. YMMV.

 

So, third parties have remained consistent by having always offered a collector level product and engineering at a higher price and we're all fine with that, but when Hasbro and TT increase prices a few dollars to start offering toys that can more closely compare to that higher quality that fans have wanted for years, somehow that's just price gouging?

 

Well remember that they're production costs are no doubt significantly lower with Hasbro splitting the bill, so in theory they could possibly sell the same amount or less at domestic retail and yet make out better than they had previously.

 

These don't have nearly the same shine or spit that 3rd party figures have. Engineering wise, or Deco wise. You're comparing Hasbro to small third party companies, who pay more than Hasbro to get their stuff done. Hasbro is constantly shrinking products and removing features. Shit, Cyberverse legends DON'T EVEN TRANSFORM. Hasbro has been raising prices for a while and screwing people more and more. Seige is just the latest offering.

 

Those small third party companies pay more comparatively but they also charge a premium for that product they put out, too. Quality costs money, no matter what the size of the line or the company, big or small. Honestly, if you think Hasbro is going to offer that the same level of quality as a third party Legends scale toy for Cyberverse while still only charging the retail Cyberverse price then you must be out of your mind.

Siege specifically has been an improvement on Generations for barely any price increase. Leaders especially have traded in unpainted, stretched out hollow bits and needless gimmicks for vastly more streamlined figures at the same price, and given that this is only the first wave I believe it is only the beginning of what they will offer in the future from the WFC trilogy. And most will realize that and be happy, but until then, I'll continue to enjoy reading that "this Shockwave is so small, it sucks, Hasbro is screwing us! ......oh hey, new preorders on Amazon. I'll take two, please."

 

Seige is not an improvement. It and Studio Series have resulted in smaller Transformers. Shockwave? A leader? Do you own him? If you did, you'd know accuratey that he barely qualifies for Voyager, and that's under last year's and the year priors standards. You can't see the forest for the trees and that Hasbro has been moving to higher prices for years, and what are we getting? Smaller transformers with less engineering? Seriously, have you seen Starscream from Seige? Or the Cyberverse figures? By all means, like what you like, but the objective truth is that we are getting less for more and the people at the top are pocketing that money.

 

This x 100%

 

This debate is why Siege angers me to no end. I'm glad we're getting figures we never had before, but people are losing their minds and letting reality fly out the window. I keep having to repeat myself over and over again, but I will do so yet one more time...

Before I continue, I'm fully on board with Calabask, here.

Look, I understand some people truly love these figures and that's fine, that's great, no harm and it's all cool.
Some people think these are the best ever figures and that's an opinion, not fact. I can't get anyone on that side of the fence to even remotely admit it.

They say I'm pissing all over their opinion and their right to "blah, blah, blah" and how I'm calling them crazy or some such nonsense and I'm not. I'm asking them to actually look at the facts and be honest. You can still love these figures and buy them and admit we're paying MORE for LESS. Just because THAT is the actual truth and FACT doesn't mean you can't still have a positive opinion of these figures and it baffles me how many people are not getting this.

I admit these are nice figures, I do like them, I own the majority of wave 1 and even bought the Select Series G2 Megatron (which is a better use of the mold over the Siege original, but whatevs...) so I don't hate them, I don't begrudge anyone their love of them, but doggone I can admit they're nothing to write home about. I feel literally NOTHING positively different about these figures over the previous toys. I feel negatively different about these figures, at best, they're the same. Megatron has limits to his range of motion, there are paint apps that are unnecessary to some degree and the plastic still has waffles in it and there are still gaps.

It should never be a crime (people would have you believe otherwise) to point out facts and be constructively critical of an item rather than gloss over all the issues with a "whateva. Bye, Felicia!"

Love 'em, hate 'em, that's your right, just be honest about the situation.

This is par for the course and prices will continue to climb, Siege is not the miracle people are proclaiming it to be, it's just a shareholder's dream and Hasbro are the wolves while we are the sheep. (In terms of price vs value)

 

Thread is a charade of mythical facts !





Otherwise, migrate it over to Toy Discussion for crying out loud.

 

I do own Shockwave. I bought him because I think he's a good figure, and yes I think he is an improvement over previous Leaders from the Prime Wars lines. Sure, they were bigger, but size is just a measuring stick for the insecure, Shockwave despite his objectively truthful less mass he is still a step up in quality as a figure from the likes of Blaster and Rodimus Prime.

And sure, not every single figure is better, Starscream isn't great, but he is gimped by that somewhat silly tetrajet altmode, no amount of engineering is going to help that thing. So I might skip him and his repaints. Same with Cyberverse, they're cheap toys made for kids, so I don't buy them any more than I'd buy a Rescue Bot. (See that's how I dealt with rising prices, I stopped buying everything that has a Transformers logo on it just cause.)

It's nice that you're so put upon that you feel you have to always explain to people why they're opinions are opinions and that these aren't the best figures ever (something no one actually believes, of course there are better figures out there), but the ultimate question is, if you really feel that it's so bad and that Hasbro is the wolf and you're just a sheep, instead of voting with your wallet why do you seem to insist on continuing to be devoured?