Didn't get a chance to finish my post because of an internet hiccup but pretty much this. But before it gets to that point, I can see Hasbro try something like grocery producers do. To try to keep prices the same on their popular products, they reduce the size of the product. If sales start to droop, Hasbro will do the same and start releasing even smaller less complex figures to try to keep the status quo. One can already see this over the years anyway just looking at the leader class figures from 10 years ago to now. But the last statement is correct though, prices will not come down from a manufacturer's standpoint.

 

Yeah, sure, Hasbro will just find it in their hearts to lower prices instead of keeping them where they are and making more profits.

 

LOL.. Their thinking... "If we can sell NFTs, which aren't really even things, at really high prices, then we can sell actual things for a lot more!"

 

I thought for sure they said they were going to do this back when kingdom was first being announced then they just didn’t. Anyone else remember that?

 

I could be entirely wrong, but I don't recall any point where they've ever decreased prices later (barring occasional sales), heck I'm not sure there's all that many instances of them increasing the overall amount of materials used after prices increased and never later decreased, either?

 

But they did, Kingdom deluxes are $22.99 while Siege and Earthrise deluxes are still $19.99.

 

NO. Just NO. My budget for TFs was already tight as it was, now this. I'll be lucky to add 4-5 new voyagers or larger in my collection for the rest of the year. Hell, if the prices get much higher, I'll just content myself with filling some of the gaps in my collection from previous lines. Dammit!

 

Re: SG Megatron going from $30 to $37

That didn't take long.

 

i never said anything of the sort about hasbro being some compassionate company, believe it or not hasbro is not stupid enough to consider transformers an inelastic good, they know there is a limit to how hard they can push which is probably why kingdom wave 2 dropped it's prices back to 20

it's possible, my main point being that at worse this might mean wave 4 deluxes are kept at 23 instead of going back down like wave 2. i dont think this will have any impact on the price increase for the next trilogy which would've increased anyway

 

You weren't kidding, holy shit. While that may be in-line with the SG sales pattern (Blurr is now up to $30, which I can't remember if he was that way originally), it's still a massive increase from earlier.

 

I think this is just confirming the price increase we've already been seeing because this seems too soon to already do another one.

Either way, I plan on wrapping up a lot of toys collecting this year, and hopefully, it will just naturally taper off until I'm happy with my collection. This just seems like another factor telling me that it's time to slow down.

 

I won't lie, I was just acting on emotion originally, this could potentially just be the increase to $23 for deluxes and smaller bumps for other size classes. I'm hoping that's the case at least, since that other price increase was, what, 3 months ago? It was ridiculously recent.

 

Very wise and something the fans need to recognize and practice as well as everybody in 1st world countries with many products

 

blurr was always $30. the extra 10 is probably for holo cover comic and special box

 

Thank you, I couldn't remember since there were a lot more releases on my radar that day and I kinda ignored Blurr.

 

Blurr did start out at 30 and with Megatron there are a lot of new parts and remolded legs so I can at least see where the money is going with him.

 

Sorry Goldner, but I won't accept further margin expansion.

Shipping costs have skyrocketed because of Covid disruptions, but an aggregate cost per unit is still only a $.15-.20 increase.

I call absolute BS on the packaging cost increase. How about reducing the insane size of the box, or going back to blister cards. The package as is costs around $.75. I put huge pieces of sports equipment in 24"x36"x8" full color corrugated cardboard packages with carry handles and each box costs me $3. Yes, my boxes are much better quality than the ones used to package Titan Transformers.

I know exactly how much it costs to make these things. Those $20 Leader Class at Ollie's, Hasbro still made money on them.

$20 is already insane for a deluxe Transformer. $23 is beyond out of line. I had to take a 20% pay cut to keep my job, thanks to idiots shutting down the world. Along with a lot of other people. Inflation is an artificial construct caused by insane policy and unrestricted money printing. In previous periods of inflation, wages increased to match. But for the last twenty years, wages have actually gone down in real terms. People simply aren't making enough money.

Goldner should have been expelled years ago, but thanks to The Federal Reserve printing trillions and Wall Street bidding nearly every stock up relentlessly, he gets rewarded by throwing his customers in a wood chipper.

You want $23 for a deluxe Transformer. It better be perfect out of the package and last twenty years before a single hinge or socket comes loose.

 

Haha and this is why I stopped collecting everything but 3rd party, Masterpiece, and Hot Toys about 12 years ago.

Besides a few Diamonds in the ruff, the quality of main line toys has gone down, while the price has gone up. No thank you. I'll pay ten times the price for ten times the nice.