I don't understand how they can't get a grip on their distribution across the world - they've been in the game for nearly four decades or something! The randomness gets me the most, like Amazon UK has access to Siege Optimus but other UK sites don't? Why are Generations Select figures insanely marked up when sold by Amazon UK but standard prices on other sites? And the availability is totally random across sites. Lancer, a combiner figure, shouldn't only be available from In Demand! I've had Thundercracker for months, bought off a legit UK discount site, but others around the world struggled to find him? And exclusives just make me wanna scream... Ratchet is and always will be a main character. He should never be a very limited exclusive that benefits almost nobody but scalpers. You could sell Soundblaster all day, same with the cartoon repaints. It's an unnecessary and very fake practice.
Photo 1: Missing piece? Photo 2: Misassembly? Stuff like that is why I stepped away from the MP game.
I wish. Back during Combiner Wars, Optimus Prime and Silverbolt cost me $18.86. What was MSRP for voyagers then, $21.99? It was such a fight to get $20 for either of them. Combiner Wars and RID 2015 were why I stopped ordering TransFormers for resale. I had margins of barely a buck on anything by then and that was _if_ somebody would pay retail. You couldn't have paid me to touch TR or POTP after that. Hasbro might be giving Walmart and Amazon free toys but they're certainly _not_ doing any favors for anybody else.
I only bought official until recently. I got MPM4 and he was a mess. I then bought LT2, which is a much better product, and sold the MPM4 at a loss. I also bought MPM Bee, who was fine but then I found out LT1 fixed issues with him and gave him a better paint job. I decided to not but any more MPMs brand new. I bought MPM Ironhide second hand after I didn't think there was going to be a knock off. I like him, but sure enough another company is coming out with an improved version. In each case I wish I waited for the knock off. I need to follow the pattern.
offroad bee is the first figure that i feel like i'll have to get an upgrade kit for, the fact that they only include his canon sucks.
I ordered 3 figures from Walmart.com from the "cyber Monday" sale. I got a notice that one had shipped and the other 2 are "delayed". Then they teased me further when Mirage arrives today, alone but in a box large enough for at least 3 Deluxes... I suppose I should be thankful it wasn't the opposite and he arrived in a bubble envelope.
Side picture? (providing a picture of what I mean using mine here) Looking at mine and as it's a perfect fit of the grey part into the orange, I can't even guess why yours is like that. Misshaped? misaligned? forced in then the metal pins forced? If you'd live close to me, I'd say come on over and let's see what we could do... (Canada, Ottawa area) After I learned what the true prices that the large company pays for items, I know that they are making a crapload of money even with a 50% off sales. Seriously... clothes that sell for 40$ are actually bought for 50 cents to a dollar, 50-60$ items are set in the 1 to 1.50$. Fast Food as another example, (this was 30-some years ago) but a "large flagship burger meal " that sold for 3-4 dollars at the time, was at the cost of about 50 cents, and that's AFTER/INCLUDING everything (employees salary, rent, etc.), which in today's economy would be close to double that, so that a 80 to 90% profit. I know that the small businesses aren't given anything close to that sort of pricing... and it's really amazing how some are able to survive at all. So while Hasbro and such are not making that sort of profit with the large resellers like Walmart and others, when I learned of that Unicron youfundme thing, I have no doubt that it was a test to see how much they could push the prices, and sadly, enough fed them so that they know that people will pay just about anything they ask.
I had the same thing happen with one of the Impactors I bought. My Autobot one was fine, by the Decepticon version that came with the 3-pack was like yours on one leg. Amazon is sending a replacement. I certainly hope this one is in proper shape, especially since I already made arrangements to sell it to another member. I do like Impactor over all, but I'm not thrilled with that leg design - meaning the construction, not the look. The hollowness I could live with but the way those swinging side panels are the way the feet work kind of bug me.
I get that it'd be nice if Cliffjumper 'just transformed' but FFS, how many figures don't and historically didn't? How many figures would you display without their weapons? And my avatar's a good place for consideration... But think Siege Astrotrain and Apeface's alt modes if you want something more recent. While I'm 'ranting', the obligatory reminder that Hasbro don't give a tuppeny fuck if X doesn't really scale with Y that you bought years ago, or that you won't buy something 'again' as a result. Enough people will as a general rule. The whole 'We don't need character X because...' is just nonsense. If you don't want it, cool, but someone else does. And half the people saying it will likely buy it anyway! If you really don't like something, don't buy it. If you're 'right' Hasbro will soon learn. But you're gonna find more often than not you're 'wrong' I suspect. Just as a final sum-up, a truly new collector isn't likely to know or care about previous figures, lines, history, whatever. They just saw a cool-looking robot at some point and maybe bought it. I mean seriously, what are they to make of all the acronyms used in a single page of a thread, for instance? People just want cool toys, and some of us uber fans go quite some way to accidentally put them off. Hell, that's likely true of people coming back to the fold.
If you don’t like a figure, don’t buy the figure. If you’ve got the time, money, resources, and energy to build a better toy, be my guest. Otherwise, buy or don’t buy, because this is all we’re getting folks. But don’t bash someone else for not agreeing with your opinion that the toy is complete shit. That’s not what constructive criticism and debate is all about. If you’re aware that your opinions can change, your an open-minded individual who is willing to have healthy conversation about the aforementioned critique and debate. If you believe your opinion is absolute, undeniable fact and everyone else is wrong, then you’re just an unwavering closed-minded asshole.
100% It's theft, no way around it. The argument that cheap KOs prove that official products are overpriced is completely ignorant of the cost of the business of making toys, the r&d behind their production. I feel the same way about pirating music, movies, and comics. Fans who post about how they hope something happens to a franchise/product in order to spite another segment of the fandom come across as incredibly sad and pathetic. How small and bitter those people are.
It irritates me that every Earthrise figure has something deliberately wrong with them. On top of that, there's talk of another price increase. We already had a 15% hike from POTP to Siege and they're right back to cutting corners again like it was all for nothing.
Source? or are you one of those internet experts? Years ago, I've actually worked in relation to patents, copyrights and trademarks, where I'd see the development, blueprints, etc. and the numbers were quite available to myself. I've actually seen the paperwork for several toys, which were popular action figures of the time (to be released). And even with inflation, the numbers were very low in relation to the MSRP, and the profit margin was quite high, so you should consider such matters, before you start assuming and make your unfounded accusations or "assumptions". And by source, provide figures, resources, detailed analysis of the impact of KO sales againt Hasbro, price differentials with cost analysis for the material used by Hasbro and the KO companies. Don't bother with article links either, you need to provide actual data.