For those of us who like to add to our collections at reasonable/bargain prices, the upcoming decline in the economy should be a grand opportunity. Buyers who splurged on boxed Overlords and Botcon exclusives may end up regretting those purchases when more pressing obligations come up in the near future, and in theory this should result in downward price movement in the collectors market. I'm keeping my eye on Overlord, and the G2 halloween comic. I've seen decent boxed Overlord go for $700 to $1,000 in the past few years. I might pull the trigger if someone sells for under $500. What toys will you be targeting if/when seller desperation takes hold?
I've never had expensive taste in this hobby and I still consider a lot of prices unreasonable. Classics Skywarp is pretty much the most extravagant item I want relative to original price, at $50-60 now. I would like to see him go down in price.
Botcon/Convention/TFSS for me. Doubt they're really going to come down that much. Unless things remain in shutdown til summer.
I can also see prices maintaining - the desperation is them willing to even list a certain beloved figure for sale, and when they do, they’ll be darned if it goes for any less than what it has gone for before. I know that’s the way it is for me - the more I like the figure, the less I’m willing to budge on price. Also, where the heck are you guys working that you can afford really expensive figures at this time?
I can see that. Probably will be a couple months before we see prices drop, I suppose. I graduated into a crap job market 10 or so years ago, so I've aggressively saved (to the point of neglecting other life aspects, I guess) up a good nest egg such that I'm not too worried about running out of work for a while. I'm fortunate that my work can be 100% remote.
It's happened before with certain "rarer" items. Back when I first started looking for MIB/MISB G1 Pepsi Optimus Primes back in the early 2000's they couldn't be touched for less than a $1000 for one in good condition with the sticker pack still intact on the box. However by 2005/6 when I scored mine, the price had fallen to about half that.
i collect transformers because i think the toys and fiction are fun. I do not collect as an investment. that's fucking stupid. if you want to turn your money into more money, put that shit in a savings account or play the stock market. and leave the toys to those of us who actually like them.
Certain sellers won't be told. I've had my eye on a custom repaint of Leader Jetfire as Hooligan on EBay for the last few years and despite sitting there in all that time, it hasn't dipped below €250 which I refuse to spend on a single toy. That said, if there was a significant dip in prices, I'd love to pick up any of the following: Generations Metroplex G1 or Titans Return Fortress Maximus Titans Return Twintwist Titans Return Grotusque Energon Omega Sentinel Siege Skywarp Unique Toys Hun-gurrr who's hip broke when I accidentally dropped him and I wasn't paying another €135 to replace him. That set of large third party Aerialbots. E-hobby Deep Cover Tiger Tracks Masterpiece Coneheads MP Acid Storm MP Sunstorm Third party MP G2 Starscream Delta Magnus repaint of G1 Ultra Magnus MP Star Saber Botcon Deathsaurus Days of Future Past Tigatron Days of Future Past Cheetor Days of Future Past Rattrap Third party Monstructor/ Dino King Third Party Lio Kaiser Botcon Flak Botcon Battletrap Fansproject G2 Breakdown/ Car Crash Botcon Skybite Siege Seacons Botcon 05 Flamewar Siege Omega Supreme. He was shelfwarming my local for months before be disappeared from the shelves after only going down by a tenner. I was hoping he'd dip like the CW Technobot set that went from over a hundred to around €50 in a few weeks or CW Starscream who went from €75 to €25 in a year. All of the above have been taunting me for years with their ridiculous prices.
I'm not working but am still getting paid, so for now I can collect with no worries. I also have enough saved up for around 10 months of bills if I stopped getting paid as of tomorrow.
I've got a lot more pressing matters to pay attention to than the secondary market prices for toys. But for the sake of conversation, Botcon exclusives. Though I doubt they'll drop much in price.
I appreciate the heads up but converting it to Euros brings it to €96 and then there's postage. Normally I'd be tempted but I've been out of work for the last 7 weeks with my back and now we're in lockdown. I do appreciate your effort though.
I don't wanna capitalize on people's sorrows now, and have my own concerns along with everyone else. But for the sake of argument I picked Boxed G1. Encore is a close second if not tied.
I'm a developer and normally work from home, I've actually picked up quite a bit of work since the shut-down here in Nevada - but I've also given away a bit of work for my smaller clients who have been forced to close their doors - updating their sites with messages, etc at no charge. I also don't buy most new figures - I only collect a small list of characters I like so that also makes my spending more flexible in terms of acquiring expensive figures - like a JG1 Black Shadow. I almost bit on one this morning for $800, which is a significant decrease from where it is normally (well over 1K) Both of my G1 Overlords are out and on display - and both were transformed over the weekend. The only ones I generally won't mess with are any with GPS or other known issues.
Already have found items personally online at interesting prices if you know where to look. Picked up a Milton Bradley Laserbeak & Ravage from G1 Europe this weekend. I NEVER expected to find those rare items....shipping out of Netherlands. Just leaves me a Soundwave Milton Bradley Booklet & I have finished my G1 Europe collecting For how large G1 in Europe was, including all the stuff never released here in the US, patience is a wonderful thing.
Optimus reissue 0 I got book style reissue Megatron that’s been all alone & would really like this to match. But a good price would need to line up with when all this is behind us.
I picked boxed G1 (want an ‘84 Ironhide), pre-TF (want a boxed Diaclone Car Robots “Ironhide”) and MP (36 and 39 would complete the MPs I want right now). But, the prices would have to be spectacular for me to bite. The G1 and Diaclone stuff has skyrocketed so much the past couple years that it would take quite a drop. And honestly, I don’t really even want them all that bad, truth be told. They’d be nice, but I can live without them.
