They're not. that simple. Thay have done everything the said the would do.

Both conventions were awesome, and whilst last year's exclusives were damn good this year's were outstanding. Problems with the newsletters have been addressed (the newsletter issues now being delivered in proper envelopes) and shipping costs to overseas have been sorted to an extent. From where I'm standing they haven't dropped a single ball yet.

Because he either can't afford or can't be arsed to join, and yet he still wants all the stuff that makes people actually bother to stump up the money to join. Blah blah blah. Wash, rinse repeat; it's alwaysthe same these days.

A description that FAR better fits certain others who have taken advantage of the community over the past few years.
Oh and Phazer; if you honestly think for one second that a 10,000 piece production run would be a good idea, I suggest you ask yourself WHY no-one has done it before. Or perhaps you're just sore because you can't get Astrotrain & Airrazor; after all, you seem to have no understanding of the word "exclusive". I sure as hell don't blame FP for wanting their exclusives to remain that way. I would too, and in their situation I'd be willing to bet that you would.

Prove it! (preferably soon)
 

 

Oh no! They're not Rock Lords, are they? 

 

Wow! This is a long ongoing thread with a lot of great points. Something that's been said a thousand times but must be stated again is that the reason they can sell these for so much is that so many of you have already thrown your credit cards at them. You guys keep doing that, they will keep testing the limits of how much they can charge, and you guys are showing them that they can keep going. These exclusives do not cost that much to make and you are being way overcharged no matter the reasons a lot of you are saying that make you feel better for spending all that cash.

The thing is, I am not complaining. If it makes you guys happy to buy these and join the club then by all means do it. I might one day if I see something I have to have, but for now nobody is forcing me to do so. As for the people who really want these toys but can't afford it, take another look and see that even if you had the money, would it really be worth it? And if the answer is still yes, then oh well, consider yourself lucky that a major problem in your life is not being able to afford an overpriced limited run toy.

 

WOW

You do realize what you're insinuating about the FP crew right? Because to me it reads as in an indirect way you're saying they "Price Gouge"

Fun Productions Inc has been in the business for 10 yrs. I'm not sure how old you are but given that the average Transfan's 25 (assuming you're in your 20s). 10 yrs ago you were in High School. And you don't stay in business for 10 years if you've got bad pricing. 3H had bad pricing and....whoops look among a miriad of other reasons they're out of business.

Hasbro chose Fun Productions for a reason and that reason is a solid pricing and Business plan that they agree with.

So if you don't want to pay the price, that's fine. But it's wrong to act like it's FP's fault you don't want/can't buy the exclusives. As that's all on you, and juding by the positive reaction I've seen in this thread. I really don't think they'll have much of a problem selling their 2,000 units

 

I wasn't complaining, nor do I want the exclusives. I am not a businessman, but I believe it is fair to say that businesses are out to make money- that's why Hasbro chose FP.

 

1. I have no need to "make myself feel better" about paying for these two awesome-looking exclusives.

2. Please share with us when and how you got a copy of FP's invoices for producing these figures, thus enabling you to make your authoritative declaration.

 

Woohoo! I love it when people take things personally! Were you making an excuse for youself? If not then that didn't apply to you, so no worries there.

On the other hand, I have no invoices and I honestly know very little about FP and what things cost them- I myself would really like to see that to. I do have a lot of unfortunate retail experience and I know that businesses are about profit, and they aren't always going to be honest with their own consumers. The rest of my post that you didn't quote pretty much says that I would go along and buy an overpriced toy if I wanted it as well, and that I was not actually complaining.

 

The "con artist" jive is uncool and not called for, jeez... I may be unhappy with the pricing on these, but we're talking about a reputable organization with a proven track record, and they've assembled a crack team of knowledgeable people to work on the club and exclusives. This is what lets me get past the price and make the purchase.

I may be expressing dissatisfaction with the price, but I'm certainly not casting aspersions on the MC team, Brian S., or anyone else.

 

That's a whole lot of assumptions there and while I usually personally take a "to each their own" stance... I just have to get a few things off my chest here, because you just assumed a whole hell of a lot in two paragraphs...

1. I fail to see the connection between the pricing of FP's exclusives and our credit cards. CC's are their for convenience and nothing more... besides... I didn't use a credit card, but a bank card... so there are other ways to pay them.

2. I don't have to justify spending the money on these things to myself. I enjoy collecting exclusive merchandise and I like these figures on their own merits... so a win win situation for myself.

3. Please explain to me where your knowledge of production runs and the cost come from... and not just the toy, but add the cost of the new head mold... and than the boxes... and than explain to me how I'm being overcharged.

See, I'm cool with people who don't want these. I totally understand that someone doesn't feel that these are worth the price. If you feel that way than you probably aren't the target audience anyways.

However, I do take issue with people insinuating or simply out right accusing FP of price gauging because they can. These things cost both time and money and they need to make the money back from that endeavor and -and I know this hurts some of you- a little bit of profit to stay afloat. If a business doesn't make money than they can't continue right? Well, personally I'm really really happy with the club and I wish for the continued success of both the club and Botcon under FP. Their top notch in my book and so far they are the only group aside from Hasbro and Takara that haven't screwed the fandom over with promises that never come about and empty words. I'd think with groups like OTFCC & 98MPH Studios out there that the fans would be happy that we finally have one group delivering to us what they promised us. Again, I guess no matter what some people just can't be pleased with anything.

 

I would rather order a toy for 80$ and ACTUALLY GET IT than order a toy for 30$ and NEVER RECIEVE it.

That is why there are so many failures out there in the TF community when it comes to buisness. They didn't know what it cost to run the buisness and deliver a product, so they went under and they FAILED TO DELIVER the product at all.

I am pretty sure if I spend 80$ on this Astrotrain, I am actually going to get it.

I never got my Megazarak, My TF: genesis and my Plates... Them being a 'cheap' price didn't seem to do me any good.

I want a Overload repaint as Blitzwing and Bendy Prime repaint into Octane and I want all 3 of them to combine into a Shockwave figure...

GET ON IT OTFCC!@

 

In regards to #1
That was meant to be a blanket term to say that you were buying it, not specifically with credit cards.

In regards to #2
I said this before, but this was not meant for EVERYONE- just those who feel spenders remorse.

In regards to #3
I have a lot of retail experince. I can't vouche for everything but there are a lot of products where I can tell you the % of a product that is actually profit.

Ok, you can't price gouge a toy because it isn't a necessity, so I am not and can not insinuate that. I know they need a profit to stay afloat, but trust me, businesses do not just want to "stay afloat", they want to do well, and I can't say enough that I don't blame the companys, that's just how business works. I want them all to do well and keep bringing toys and hopefully there will be an exclusive that I think is worth joining the CC for.

 

Hey Pete, do you know what those Predacons are based on in the Timelines comic? I'd LOVE a set like that... Razorclaw was obviously Leobreaker. Divebomb looked like a remolded Energon Swoop. Tantrum and Headstrong looked VERY familiar... and I couldn't see enough of Rampage.

But yeah, I'd love to at least have that Razorclaw as something for the club to put out...

Oh, and obviously you can't say what next year's Botcon set is, but can you at least tell us if it's connected at all to any other Botcon sets?


Thanks
Chris

 

I didn't take it personally. However, I have stated that I think these look great and am buying them. I have seen many people state the same thing. I've seen no one "making an excuse" for buying them. So, I assumed I was in the group to which your comment was addressed.

Yeah. I read the rest of your post, thanks. I didn't quote it all because it's common board etiquette to trim down to what one is addressing.

I never said you were complaining. You were, however, making pretty damned baseless accusations that FP is "overcharging" us. (I don't think your retail experience qualifies as any sort of base. 'Cause, see, these aren't general retail toys.) That is what I was addressing.

 

As far as I know, (and I am a random guy on the internet to most of you so what does that really matter?) companys charge what they think they can on a product to make a nice profit. If the item sells well, they may try to price it higher, and if that goes well, they may go even higher. I think the pricing on Astrotrain and Airazor shows that. I think a lot of you agree it's too pricey for whatever reason. The reason for this thread is to discuss the newly announced prices for these exclusives. I think a lot of people who spend large amounts of cash on things they don't need experience buyer's remorse and come up with reasons to justify it.
My first post on this thread about this was meant to jar people a little bit because it sometimes makes the discussion a little more interesting.

Jarodimus, I am free to say I think they are overpricing just as you are free to say they aren't. I thought that you may have wanted to quote my entire post because it balances itself- I am not taking a side either way because I am willing to pay for something I want weather it's overpriced or not, and I had no enmity towards FP.

 

Okay the price changed from a lower price tag to a higher price tag.
I figure logically with the shortage of toys due to more people coming signing up right before the dead line in September just a couple of weeks away from the convention and MC knew it would have barely having enough for all who did show up, it appears the price was upped due to demand that MC knew was going to happen.

 

You do have a point about business and OTFCC. I really like Glen and OTFCC but when it came to delivering a product . .. .he wasn't on it and he kept not delivering products. Not once but quite a few times.
You are right on that MC is going to deliver on these products. So far I have been pretty happy with them cause they have been delivering. They have delivered a newsletter when it is due to be released. They have delivered the yearly toy. Discount on the convention. . . .let's see what else. Well they have kept to what they say they are going to do.

I do question the price tag on these toys but I have found that if polite to Brian Savage, he will listen to fans. So far he is listening to us and what we want.

I can't speak for TF: Genesis but for your plates and Megazarak, you should have gotten them from Hasbro a couple of years ago. I got mine from them. At least Hasbro wanted to make us fans happy.

 

Right after Botcon, pretty much every question about the characters in the Timelines comic that you can think of were already answered, including yours on the Predacons.

Razorclaw was indeed a Leobreaker repaint, as you saw. There was even a set of customs displayed at Botcon of the Predacons that included a Leobreaker version of Razorclaw. The others, on the other hand...

Divebomb and Razorclaw were the only surviving members of the original Predacons, and the other three shown in the comic were "replacements" of sorts, but not combiners. They resembled three other custom repaints displayed: Energon Battle Ravage, Beast Machines Longhorn, and Cybertron Backstop.

Divebomb was a totally unique design and was not meant to be a repaint of any existing mold. To replicate his appearance in the comic would require an entirely new mold, as I understand it.

 

How does it show that? Several people have pointed out the fact that these prices are similar or lower when compared with BotCon '05 and '06 figures of comparable size who came without boxes.

I've not seen anyone indicate that FP isn't out to make a profit, BTW.

Let's not play the free speech game, please.

Saying the toys "do not cost that much to make" and that we're "being way overcharged no matter the reasons a lot of you are saying" seemed pretty accusatory to me. And most folks don't appreciate baseless accusations.

 

You sound really frustrated, Jarodimus. These are just my opinions in regards to the prices of these toys, sorry if it breeches the no "free speech game" you're talking about.