How about space/stacking, shipping and tax cost? I guess bigger item will cost more. I ordered locally instead of Haslab because in the end I do not have to deal with shipping/tax cost from Haslab which will end up being more than 250$ they are charging locally.

 

It's my understanding that shipping on unicron was free. Plus tax it panned out to be just under $600 or something when I put in my order on haslab iirc. Honestly I didn't look too close because Unicron.

 

I'm not assuming you live in the states, but if you did how could anyone else in this country selling this be offering it any cheaper? they aren't.

It's an expensive piece due to weight, the amount of materials used, paint cost, the steel molds created, promotional costs and many other reasons. Nobody here not even me knows how much this is costing to make. It's all assumption based on literally nothing. Why are people always so fast to assume we are being ripped off all the time? Especially in this case here? I just don't get it. so many like to pretend to be experts and know everything. But the truth is, there's not any facts or evidence or actual proof behind any of these guesses or theories or assumptions. It's all hyperbol. Til we see the charts, the documents actual Execs coming in here and laying all the cards on the table. We know nothing.

So bottom line for me is: I'm gonna just be happy, grateful, and excited for this project. I'm going to enjoy it when it hits it goal and surpasses it, then I'm going to be happy once this crafted piece of toy sex is finally in my grubby hands.

 

When I backed Unicron on the 17th, there were about 1200 backers or so. It took 2 days to get the first 1200, and since then it's taken almost 3 full weeks to get past 2200. Was the lull for the Barge this slow too?

 

Just throwing this out there for the people discussing BBTS, TFsource, and Toy Dojo's mark-up costs.....

Basically, these stores are sinking retail plus taxes into each Unicron, which is somewhere around $622.75 (based on my Texas taxes).

To make it easier, let's say these retailers are paying $630 per figure on August 31st plus shipping (They could go with free shipping). The person ordering from these retailers, you, is only paying the initial deposit ($100) with the difference due early 2021.

If BBTS orders 20 of these, they're spending $12,600 ($630*20) on something that isn't going to be released until MAYBE EARLY 2021. If they receive 20 preorders, they're bringing in 2,000 bucks now, but it'll leave them with $10,600 of dead money UNTIL 2021.

Now, when Unicron is inevitably released, you'll owe the difference, $675. Subtract the retailer's total cost minus their total gross profit ($12,600 minus $15,500) which nets them a WHOPPING $2,900. Of course.... that isn't their net profit because we haven't factored in PayPal fees, credit card fees, shipping costs, customer returns, and the dead money. What's shipping on a 20 pound, irregular shape item? Let's pick ground and say the average shipping cost will be $30 bucks; that $2,900 profit is now only $2,300. Credit Card fees... let's say 3% per transaction (This is why your favorite mom and pop restaurant gives you a deal for using cash) so $3 for each $100 deposit and $20.25 for each full payment.... grand total of $465. Now, their net profit is $1,835 or $91.75 for each figure sold.

Of course, factor in a return or two, return shipping, and you're in a deficit

With that math, I'm surprised any of those retailers would even consider offering this figure. Personally, if I ran a store, I wouldn't carry this figure AT ALL. I'd take my $12,600, put that money in the stock market and take my chances.

 

That's great that you were able to order. Still, just because you managed to scrape together the funds along with others doesn't mean the price is right.

Figures slightly shorter than Unicron AKA Fort Max, Devastator, Metroplex, Predaking, Trypticon, and upcoming Omega Supreme are all around 2 feet tall and under $200. Assuming Unicron is more solid than these mentioned here (several are pretty hollow). An extra entire 25% for his 3 extra inches of height and possible extra bulk (he could be lighter and hollow too) would put him at $240-$250 and that would be reasonable.

Coming in near $600 IS price gouging. Plus this seems scammy because they said they worked on this for 18 months. If it doesn't pass 8000 orders will it really not release after all that work? They're not exactly collecting the money to go design this guy, everything is ALREADY done.

I believe this is Hasbro experimenting and seeing if enough people would pay this much. See this go through and I bet all future titan like figures will be past $500 instead of the $150-180 they've come in at.

 

19 lbs. Let's focus on this for a moment. Are all those hollow as air titans 19 lbs? no. Is Unicron's stand 19 lbs. NO. (It's 10 lbs. and is not included in Unicron''s 19 lbs. weight) at best those titan figures weigh 6-7 lbs each. (at the most) UNICRON himself without the stand is 19 lbs. 19. lbs. (IDC what anyone says) on one single toy that was created to transform into another toy that still maintains it's 19 lbs. weight mind you, isn't some cheap piece of junk. It's far from some Shell former nonsense here. He doesn't have low parts count. He is going to have loads of Thicker plastic, paint, pins, screws, Springs etc. you want to talk mass. He's got 19 lbs. worth of mass. height is only a bonus. The figure itself is the largest of his kind (if you exclude the Lewin-01 Atlas which is an MP KO of Optimus Prime so I didn't count it since it's not official)

So now your point is kinda moot.

Unicron isn't a hollow chunk of 1mm thick plastic, Nor an overly saturated mainline retail release. He is purely for the high end collector in mind.

Price Gouging you say? lol no. But you are entitled to your opinions as much as I.  

 

E-tailers in Europe have him up for nearly a thousand Euro.

So yeah, 575 usd sounds like a steal in comparison.

 

No idea, but I know that I plan to wait until close to the deadline to make the leap, basically to make sure all my financial ducks are in a row, and be certain something won't smack around available funds/credit between clicking the button and having the money actually taken. I imagine a lot of other people are doing something similar, though I'm not going to take bets that there are six thousand people holding on until the 29th or so.

 

Depends on what the strategy of the store is. Personally if I'm the store owner I offer unicron every damn time.

With unicron, rather than going with stocks the store is essentially buying a (let's be conservative and say 2 year) bond. They are "loaning" money immediately to you the prospective buyer in the amount of $475 ($575 - cash deposit) plus whatever local tax is applied. You promise to pay the remainder which is $675 when the item is released (again, 2 years from now as a conservative estimate). That's a gross return of nearly 35% within a 2 year frame. Obviously that doesn't take into account taxes and other fees/expenses, but those are part of cogs which is a business expense write off. Store will also pay Hasbro with credit, which means the store just received $100 in cash from every "pre-order" that they can then use to secure inventory for other items that can be sold between now and unicron's arrival, pay off current liabilities, etc.

And, like a bond, there are no storage costs involved for selling unicron now. That allows for other inventory to occupy that same space that all those already-sold unicrons will eventually occupy, and only temporarily at that. Since they're already sold (i.e., customer has promised to pay and it can be recorded as a sale), unicron won't languish in the warehouse, unlike much of the other inventory as it waits around to get sold.

Sure customers can back out, but they're out the deposit and that means the store's gross margin for those unicrons goes up from $200 to $300 or potentially higher once a replacement buyer is found... and I doubt there will be a lack of buyers looking to get in once the thing is actually released.

Returns etc is less clear...hasbro states in the event that crowd funded products have defects, customer service should be contacted directly. I don't really see small stores ordering a few extra unicrons just for return/exchange purposes...too costly. Provably the terms will be "sold as is" or something to that effect.

 

Yes it was really slow. I think it was moving a bit faster but it was a struggle watching the numbers.

 

Bobby Skullface has this video showing a graph (around 3:00 in) someone has been keeping up with on both Unicron & the Sail Barge.

 

I wouldn't bee too surprised if retailers, at least some of them, managed to strike a deal with Hasbro and pay less in exchange of taking care of the distribution and shipping to other countries. Or maybe they are simply treating Unicron as a loss leader to gain more customers.

I have on preorder the Flame Toys Star Saber figure, it's 21cm tall so about leader size, and it costs $400. There is more to size alone that determines cost, and this Unicron seems to be far more complex and solid that your typical titan class figure.
And yes,they already desufgned it,but there is the whole manufacturing process to come,from making the molds, assembly, painting, packaging and shipping, it's going to be very expensive for a figure of this size and that's what Hasbro is going to save if the crowd funding campaign fails.

 

You're totally right, Gauge.
200 dollars is ridiculous

Unicron should cost at least 4000 dollar.
And I think you'll agree that deluxes should be priced at 60 dollar as of now  

 

GUYS! LOOK! THE DESIGNER TRANSFORMS IT WEARING A SUIT!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/io9.gi...se-man-in-a-tuxedo-slowly-tran-1836967381/amp

Mod edit: YouTube video added, and tons of screencaps on our news post

Haslab War For Cybertron Unicron Transformation Video - Transformers News - TFW2005

 

Freaking sweet!

 

Interesting but not unexpected that the rings partsform...

 

It looks optional to me. *shrug*

 

That stand is huge