Hell yeah, Dinobot\'s got his Rigid Grille Structure.

 

Huh, something I didn't notice before... How disproportionate Dinobot's hands/arms are. Like, the arms are super thin/long and the hands are huge!

 

I was just thinking about the MP Dinobot and the Original Rock Bubble Dinobot I have stored away for a Then and Now display. Was thinking about getting another Kingdom Dinobot to do the same with this time with that and another Rock Bubble Dinobot. So I was looking on ebay and noticed one Rock Bubble Dinobot with the price tag still on it. My how Transformer toys were so reasonable back then.

 

Could be bad Photoshopped pic...  

 

Not just the hands, but IMO the arms are too thin for the whole body. The legs are pretty beefy, the torso is of course beefy, and then the arms are just sticks.

Not thrilled if I’m honest. Still excited for the figure but I’m hoping he feels more proportionate in-hand.

 

"Siri, what is inflation?"

Seriously guys. We've been doing this every time prices change for like 20 years. You're starting to sound like my dad when he talks about how you could go to the theater and see a movie for a quarter and still get change back.

Yup. The MP got around this by having a second set of robot hands instead of relying on his raptor feet.

But that's not a luxury the Kingdom version can afford.

 

I mean, yes and no. I put $10 into a inflation calculator, set it to 1997, and I get around $15-$16. So that doesn't account for the entire increase.

 

Just a minor tweak of the arms. Honestly, I don't think a set of slightly thicker legs would have hurt the dino mode all that much... But what do I know? (^.^')

 

There are also more parts in newer figures, which also increases cost.

 

Hasn't plastic become more expensive, though? Not taking inflation into account.

 

They both look great to me. Good updates.

 

I don't think they were that cheap back then. Could just be a discounted price tag.

 

Deluxes were $9.99 during Beast Wars

 

Basic were $5
Deluxe were $10
Mega were $15
Ultra were $20.

Also, $10 probably didn't feel like much back then because most of us were kids and our parents were buying them. But I can tell you that when I was making $6-7 an hour at McDonalds it was a point of pride to be able to take some of that and buy a new figure.

Inflation doesn't just impact the consumer. It impacts the cost of materials, transportation, workers, factory space, etc etc. On top of that you're paying people to design, test, promote, etc and they get more expensive as more and more competition for their talents pop up.

Like I've said before, I don't think it's a coincidence we saw prices go up after a repaint/repack heavy phase like Prime Wars. Those appear to have been the last push to get something out the door at the previous price point before they had to bump things up to compensate for the continued engineering and paint.

There's a reason there are SO many repaints in the Siege/ER line. They've gotta find ways to make up those costs without flooding the retail market with repaints. Because that was what lead to "lost waves" and characters like Nova Star/Slugslinger being difficult (or impossible) to find because they were one and done at retail.

It's also why Studio likely was ahead of Generations in terms of bumping up the price: There were so few options to repaint/retool the various figures so they had to raise the price to make it a profitable endeavor. (And it worked, which is likely why the WfC trilogy followed in its footsteps by pivoting to screen accuracy and scale. Because they found that people were willing to spend the money on that stuff.)

It's also why guys like ER Ironhide are only in two packs with other repaints. They've couldn't deliver those at a reasonable retail price so tried to balance the cost by tossing in a repaint of a fairly common mold.

 

Inflation is only half the story, though. Material, labour, and development costs have risen, as have the economic landscape of toys and Transformers overall been changed.

 

That Airazor is one sexy bird lady. Glad they finally are doing her some justice.

Dinobot, I just don\'t know. It\'s obviously a better interpretation of the character than the original deluxe, like..obviously. There\'s just enough wrong with it that bugs me, but given the stupid price of the Masterpiece it is definitely the best option for a new, more or less accurate Dinobot.

 

The materials have gotten more expensive because there's more competition for manufacturing resources.

 

9.99 !!!!!!!!
Memories, misty coated colored memories........of the way we were......  

 

Inflation amount is just an average. Different products inflate at different rates so you can’t just say Deluxes should cost $16 based on inflation and we are being gouged on the rest. So many factors go into it that it really is pointless to compare. Just look at your finances and determine if the price of the current item is worth it to you.

 

Blackarachnia and Airazor are the only two BW figures I'm interested in from this line. Don't really know jack about either but have my own G1 plans for them anyway.