Surprised you're still able to breathe with that much tinfoil wrapped around your head.

Problem is *you* aren't the general audience. These prices still have to appeal to parents. That's why it's usually engineering/paint that goes first before prices go up.

Quite the contrary. What people often refer to as "lazy designs" are teams of people in the trenches trying to get the most out of the budget they're allotted for their products. You gotta work smart to hit ambitious goals on a limited budget. Dismissing their work as "lazy" ignores that.

"The board" wouldn't give a shit if a Transformer stopped actually transforming if they were still a profitable line. So claiming they're responsible for grey fists or lower shoulders is stupid. They don't care as long as the toy is profitable.

We have an example of this in Kingdom. Originally Polar Claw was going to be a Voyager and Tigatron was going to borrow the Cheetor mold. At some point someone decided to push for Tigatron to be a Voyager so he would scale with the rest of the Maximals. Likely because that had been a major appeal with the WfC line and they assumed fans would rather have scaled Tigatron than a non-show character.

This meant a Voyager mold had to be scrapped to fit in budget, that was Polar Claw. And in order to still make up their character count, Shadow Panther took over as the Cheetor repaint. It's yet to be seen if he'll also be a retool.

 

I'd buy that in a heart beat with my eyed closed, unlike the actual Rodimus who I'm still on the fence.

 

... I'm a dad, too.

My 4 year old recognizes most of my BW stuff because Hasbro/TF have clips up on YouTube that will start getting suggested as he's watching Cyberverse and Rescue Bots.

You'd be amazed what kids pick up on, especially young ones.

Nah, kids are suckers for cool box art. My son wanted Sky Lynx because it was a big box with cool art. Kids, especially young ones, love big toys. Just ask any parent who's kids are currently in to Paw Patrol.

Also, kids are going to recognize Rodimus because he looks almost exactly like Hot Rod who had a pretty big role in Cyberverse down the stretch. Again, I know this because that's how my 4 year old has heard of him, and Cheetor, and Repugnus, etc.

 

anecdotal evidence amirite?

 

I'm not sure why the price is still a debate at this point. We all know Hasbro's pricing structure for all their classes. If you don't like the price point, either skip purchasing it or wait until it goes on sale. Every release has gone on sale (particularly Commander), sometimes within a month of release.

 

Ask yourself this. If you were not a Transformers fan would you have spent 80$ on sky links for son. Say you hated the show as a child.

 

The reason I ask this... I have a friend whom hates transformers he calls it the longest running toy commercial in history. His son was in toys r us and on a whim wanted Fortress Maximus. He bought it for his child at 100+ and now his kid has all things headmasters and is a Avid transformers fan. Price is irrelevant. As long as the Toy has value.

 

I wouldn't consider myself a Paw Patrol fan but spent $70 on the Mighty Lookout because he loves Paw Pateol and it was the one big gift he wanted for his birthday.

So if my son wanted Sky Lynx or Rodimus for his birthday (provided he wasn't four) then I'd probably buy it for him as his one big gift.

Because I'm not an asshole who expects my kids to only like the things I do.

I mean, that's the whole thing about people bitching about its price. It's $80 because that's the price it needs to be for Hasbro to turn a profit worth making it. People trying to make this some kind of concern troll about kids these days are just making their own excuses.

Young kids have no concept of price, they just know what they like.

 

I know you weren’t talking to me, but hypothetically, yes I would have bought Sky Lynx for my son, even if I wasn’t a Transformers fan. If the kid wants it, who am I to tell him no just because I personally don’t see the value in it?

 

A parent? I can’t imagine buying every nonsense thing that my kid wants.

 

Am I the only one who read this in Clarkson's voice?

 

Not EVERY nonsense thing of course but if he wanted it enough there’s no question. Of course I only have one child so that makes it much easier to focus an allotment of money on just him.

 

Isn’t that all cartoons with toys?

 

You're a grown ass man on a forum for people who collect kids toys.

My dude, have an *ounce* of self-awareness.

*nods in Paw Patrol*

Exactly. When my son asks for things it's a combination of what else he's asking for, what I know he plays with, and if I think he's ready for it. Combined with how recently he got something or if another holiday is coming up.

That's why I'm specifically talking about birthday/Xmas. I'm not going to drop $80 on him out of the blue unless there's good reason. Like last summer during the pandemic when we picked up some outdoor toys while we pulled him from daycare.

 

I just noticed the spoiler is more Regeneration One than G1. Him being in kingdom (golden disk) can’t be a coincidence. I’m intrigued by how he might play into the Netflix show.

 

Nope, right there with you.

 

Ya know.....

If we showed this thread and the Unicron thread to complete strangers who know nothing about the hobby, can you imagine what a collection of assholes we all must look like?

Just sayin'.


Carry on.

 

Yup, just a bunch of losers arguing heatedly over arbitrary details on plastic kids toys.
Fuck, I love this hobby so much!

 

Has it even been confirmed anywhere that Rodimus Prime is in the third series?

 

I never thought I would either but then there was a pandemic and...