Your patronizing aside, the more Hasbro has to blow out to the close outs, the less likely they are to get made. Ask them. They’ll tell you it’s exactly that consideration combined with the percentage of sell-through to retail.

Go talk to Star Wars collectors about playsets. They just got their first stand alone play set since 2005 (and odds are pointing to most of that stock going to close outs).

So yeah. It matters if it’s Amazon or Ollie’s or TJMaxx or whatever. And you definitely need a sarcasm tag because there are plenty of shitbag collectors on here who seem to think they need to collect Transformers but are totally above paying retail for them. If retail is a dealbreaker for you, maybe you need a different hobby.

 

So, is the wording used here really necessary? Do you really think of your fellow collectors and people in general as shitbags for trying to save some money? The wording is completely uneccessary. There is no need to personally attack people because of what they do. It makes for a nicer forum to be a part of.

On topic, all large figures have gone on clearance since I have followed this hobby. Just the nature of the beast. It's not only for the price point, but also for the fact that you have this huge toy, and what are you going to do with it. If some collectors decide to wait, that is not what is going to kill titans being made. Hasbro expects a certain % to go on clearance.

And as an aside, Hasbro's earning reports are available for you to look at. Revenue is 7%, Net earnings also up 3%. So I think we're okay for now.

 

If I’m attacking a behavior exhibited by a group of people that is literally not a personal attack. It’s the opposite.

Collectors complain about lower quality and cheaper deco, etc., but they never take responsibility for it. If you’re being cheaper with your buck don’t be surprised when the companies want to give you less for what you’re begrudgingly forking over. I made a distinction between Amazon sales and Ollie’s. I trust you can work out that by context clues the behavior I’m addressing isn’t buying things on sale. It’s waiting until retail has given up on a product altogether.

And yeah, I can use that language because adult with freedom of speech, etc...

 

Well I did hold off Fort Max till he was 129.99, but I also had another 80 buck in credit card points then. Still got Trypts.

 

Is that Transformers only or is it including marvel, nerf, star wars, etc...?

 

Total Brand overall. I didn't dig too far there. I am sure TFers was up. Its always up during movie years.

 

Maybe. This movie kind of flopped and the later wave toys were very poorly distributed.

 

Oh cool, apparently Amazon has restocked Pedantic Arguing with Strangers™, thanks for the heads up guys I was waiting to order more of that!

 

No problem. Just know that they’re totally overrun with “Guardians of the Thread Topic” so look for those to hit Ollie’s for bargain basement prices in a couple months.

 

The good news is that they are both available with free Amazon Prime shipping.

 

Totally true retail is a deal-breaker not just for him, for A LOT OF fans. The lack of quality of Hasbro makes difficult to pay full price. Is that going to affect future Transformers? Oh please , thanks Primus!

Of course the lack of quality of official products is affecting the sells, that is why many fans are buying KO products with better quality , something UNBELIEVABLE in the past.

Not a secret how the Hasbro and Takara cheap hollow plastic syndrome is a norm in all Transformers lines, including the so called "Masterpiece " line.

If Hasbro and Takara don't take actions about their quality problem, fans will totally need another option, and there are A LOT OF option out there and you can see how fans are happy to pay more money for 3P with a similar quality of no so old official Transformers lines.

Problem is not retail price, problem is what you get for your money. Is really a surprise that Amazon is not selling all its Trypticon even at 100 ? not a secret the quality issues of Trypticon ! There are many better options out there for that 100!

Worse part is that Trypticon was a fan voted winner and fans got a defected toy.

 

Grimlock currently available for $24.99, though on back-order. Only showed up for me when I went to "other sellers," but it is direct from Amazon.

 

If the muppets had THREE old men in the balcony, it'd be you guys. That was a great run!  

 

So it is available, but it won't be shipping?

 

Ironically, my Trypts order has a copy of the near 35th anniversary edition of the Muppet Movie with it.

 

Fort Max went to $40 or just shy of 75% off and I saw more at one Ollies than everywhere else combined by at least an order of magnitude. So far, Trypticon's local availability has been every bit as dismal. How long have you been following this hobby? Because that's not normal. Stores not carrying entire size classes is not normal either. Sure there were people that dithered over Energon basics/scouts going from $6 to $7 but not at the scale that we're seeing with everything the last few years.

Telling people to wait for Ollies could be sarcasm or sadism and it's up to the reader to decide...

Oh, and I want to address this. Not only is 3% barely keeping pace with inflation, Hasbro's numbers are sales to RETAILERS. You know, those places that still had Fort Maxes in their warehouses a year later (brick and mortar - online shops are _still_ carrying them) and are still dumping Trypticons seven months after release with Christmas in between? Don't you think that some of them might cut back future orders and those cuts would not be accounted for until the following annual report? Remember also that Toys R Us is in bankruptcy and can't/won't pick up the slack that Walmart and Target are going to leave until they remember they have a toy aisle around November.

(I also hope this POTP unification has alot of Takara fans just say no to settling for Hasbro and helps pull down the FY2018 report.)

 

Sorry, I have been in this hobby then to know better. Too many people in this hobby always "know better". Time and time and time and time and time again they have been proven wrong. TBH, the drama from these types of posts is why I actually left collecting. Other collectors trying to tell collectors what they should do and not do, and how they hurt the collecting, blah blah blah.

If you'd like to panic, go ahead. But to force panic on others is a bit too much.

Here is what I recall being said by this fandom:
- Figures will continue to get smaller and simpler, Hasbro can't afford to make em how they use to.
- Combiners? We'll never get combiners. Hasbro doesn't know how to do them.
- The Leader class is gone. They won't make those anymore. The money is just not there for it.
- We will never see LARGE figures like Fort Max. Those were the good old days. It'll never happen.

Every single item, wrong.

So instead of assuming any of you know the profit and loss per figures, why not just enjoy the hobby?

And one last thing, maybe people aren't interested at a figure at a specific price point. I just got Overlord. I got him at $22.49 from the HTS clearance. Would I ever gotten him at the $45 price point? Nope. I really had no interest in him. I kind of thought he looked cool because he reminded me of a night raven in Alt mode. At $22.49 I thought, hey, why not. At $45, I could allocate that money to buy other things I want vs. something I want to splurge on.

I can see the same thing for Trypticon. I doubt EVERY collector is saying, I'll wait for clearance. More of the ones that are cash strapped or maybe not interested in the first place. The price becomes too attractive and they pull the trigger and get it. It's part of the whole sales cycle.

As for me, I'll enjoy what I have, and I won't blame other collectors if we don't get any more Titan figures. I will realize that Hasbro made a decision on what they thought would be best for the brand.

I cannot force collectors to go out and buy something just because I like it. They have to like it, and afford it.

Until then, I'll be saving my pennies for Titan Class Predaking. For when he goes on clearance. Ha!

[Edit] Oh shit, just got Titans Return Blaster from Walmart on clearance as well for $22.99! Ironic how these figures also have a fixed clearance price, and how they are all coming up at this point in the year.

 

Hmm, so I see 3rd party sellers for PotP Rodimus for $59. Being in NY I would have to pay taxes for Amazon as a 1st party seller, HTS or in store.

Is this worth picking up at this price all in?

 

Now here's something really interesting:

As you can see above, Blast Off was previously listed at Amazon as "Transformers Special Edition Blast Off Action Figure".

That title has now changed, and while there are no images yet, the line it's apparently marketed under might come as a surprise:

Transformers Combiner Wars Blast Off and Megatronus Prime Master

 

There’s also a lot of flavor text. Instead of die cast, the *master is clear. It also says release date March 1st.