My pleasure, they're located under each foot. Thin pieces that can be pulled down.

 

Check out the review!

 

This is my first magic square (and first 3rd party legends) and I am impressed. But is it just me, or are the legends-scale figures like new age and MS significantly overpriced?
Gears and Windcharger have a combined mass way less than a deluxe , but are priced much higher than a voyager. I get that the engineering and parts count adds value, but that much more? Am I missing something here as to why it's priced the way it is?
I'm looking at these two tiny bots sitting in the palm of my hand and thinking "is this really $55 USD"?

 

That includes shipping, they’re about $45 before the shipping cost (according to Bombusbee). Two bots, each at $22.50. With engineering and articulation that far surpasses chug. Is it worth it? That’s up to you. For me it definitely is.

 

The cost of plastic is probably the smallest part of the cost of the final toy. Design, prototyping, complexity of the design (so part count, the type and number of springs and screws, etc), factory time, I suspect that's the biggest expense. There's also the question of economies of scale - Hasbro probably prints hundreds of thousands units of a deluxe, while a typical 3P makes a few thousand units. That makes the cost of production for each individual unit much higher.

As for whether these toys are worth the price, no one can decide that for you except you, really. For me, the sophistication of the design and the quality of materials make these SUPER worth it.

 

Plastic, paint, and assembly only account for ~23% of the cost. I got these numbers from one of the toy manufacturers, can’t remember which one:


***Making - 47%

Tooling Molds
24%

Manufacturing
23%


***Taxes & Fees - 26%

Taxes
9%

Margin of error
7%

Distribution fees
5%

Payment processing fee
5%


***Fulfilling - 16%

Packaging & Shipping
16%


***Multiple/Other - 11%

Sea Freight Transit
11%

 

Short answer: Likely not. Closer to $40-$45 per pack when you consider all that's been said in the above posts, plus a core class figure being $10-$12 these days with a lot less going on. Third-party legends of that size being around $20 or so is probably in the right (or better) neighborhood.

It doesn't stop companies like NA from charging extra on top of all the other costs, especially when buyers have proven they're more than willing to pay it. Then, companies like Magic Square just need to make sure they're charging "a little bit less" to stay competitive. You DEFINITELY know it's a game when MS reissues some of their figures for a damn steal (totally to their credit), but NA always somehow ends up charging more for the umpteenth release of the same mold.

So, yes, you're kind-of on to something with the pricing game, and it's been that way since the 'beginning.' I'd start at Iron Factory's EX-02 Sixgun and Scamper being $55, and that was eight years ago. I have them, and their plastics are not the same quality as IF figures today, or even a few months after that release. They were simplistic, and not worth that pricepoint at all. But pricing has seemed to follow that model ever since (with the exception of Palm Series, which seemed to price in that $20-ish range even back then, but those were larger figures than the ones in this 2-pack).

Whether it's worth it to you...as everyone has already said, that's a personal answer. You'll just have to decide if this is a rabbit hole you want to go down.

 

Got mine, and they are nice enough in bot mode, though gears is alot more stable and windcharger is harder to balance. Interesting transformation on both, and i love the alt modes. Jazz remains my favorite from MS, but dont have Ironhide and Mirage yet to compare.

For windcharger, is there storage for the gun in car mode? Was able to fit gears gun on the back, but not 100% sure on windcharger as the place i found doesnt really plug in.

 

Got my 2 Pack in the mail today and I like them a lot. I'm a little annoyed with Windcharger's backpack not tabbing in anywhere and don't really like his heel spurs too much, but other than that I think the figures are pretty good, Gears especially.

 

Ahh, that's good point, something I didn't consider. I would think Hasbro and MS deal with most of the same things from a business standpoint, but the scale of production is probably a big factor that affects the pricing.

Deluxe Baldwin did a video review and talks about both the issues. If you move down his heel spurs so they aren't flush with the foot (almost forming like a triangular-type base) he stands no-problem. For his storage, the best option seems to be slightly untabbing the back to put gun in the gap at end of rear windshield. I messed around with it for a while see if you could tab underneath and you can in one spots but not enough clearance so it hits floor. Also under the car, where his head is there is a gap, it looked possible but didn't quite fit. So ya, Deluxe Baldwin's suggestion seems to be only option. Kind of a shame they didn't officially incorporate weapon storage considering how small the gun is and can easily get lost

 

That is a small gun. No wonder he, you know…

 

This is why I love magic square. They don’t have to go this hard on the articulation. But they do and I absolutely adore them for it. Where other company’s at larger scales only give the bare minimum. Magic square never fails to bring their A-Game, even for the smallest of bots

 

Yeah, all this chat about these figures--forgot to post I got mine earlier last week.



No interest in Gears because he's too big for my collection (I'll sell him off later), but I'm liking Windcharger. Wish he were a touch shorter, but he's good enough. Nice articulation, looks great. Also have trouble with the feet and those heel spurs, and one of my knees didn't get a full spray of paint (and a little bit of bleedover from the eye paint, but you can't see it too well in person). But as an overall, I'm very happy with this figure.

 

Is he meant to come with extra hands or do they belong to another figure?

 

Got mine few days ago. Windchargers nose is missing paint which isn't a big deal till you take pictures, guess what I like to do with my figures lol. Anyway, articulation is good on spider gear apart from the lack of neck obviously and funnily on Energy the neck is good but the rest is lacking.

Transformation seems easy but I find the usual Magic Square problem of tabs not wanting to fit, I managed it eventually but it took way longer than it should of.

 

Hands of other figures fit Gears, he doesn't come with extra hands out of the box.

 

I feel you on that, it’s one of the reasons I haven’t gotten into legends scale collecting, but I also think looking at the size and weight is the wrong way to evaluate these things. When you really think about everything that goes into the toy, it’s sophistication, and then you compare it to a mainline legends class figure, it’s very clear that it’s at least twice as good.

it’s interesting, but I kind of feel like the master P scale has spoiled me in terms of pricing. It’s really hard for me to justify legend scale pricing when you compare it to a masterpiece scale alternative, but when you look at the third-party legends figures objectively just in terms of what they accomplish, it’s really hard to say they’re not worth it either. It just comes down to what you want your collection to be. For what it’s worth, if I was starting from scratch, there’s a very good chance I will be collecting legends scale, but since my MP collection is nearly complete (And I prefer the presence of the larger figures, And actually have room to display them) It doesn’t make sense for me to start over.

 

Damn @Craigmcgowan1984 outside of Wuss copy that MS sent him to do videos, haven't seen anyone else's copy have the nose scratch. I'd open an after sales case wherever you got it and request that a replacement head be sent.

Some quick shots next to the other minibots.

 

I'm very happy that Gears comes with an alternate face but how come the one character who's notorious for being grumpy gets a happy alternate face.  

Personally, I prefer a variety of faces and expressions for the bots in my display, preferably something unique to their personality and its always been a bummer to me that while MS offers alternate faces, they are usually yelling faces. I found it a little odd that Jazz came with two alternate faces, one thats nearly identical to the default, and neither of them were a smirking face. Hopefully we'll start getting more happy faces in the future!