2.

17 and 18.

Been there, done that.

 

I blame the illusive man.

 

I just wanna throw in my  

I dont mind the new size plastic feel or price that much its an unfortunate trend but with oil prices and overall economic conditions its not to shocking, What is unnacceptable is the current engineering in the WFC figures they are far to simplistic to transform and this is what makes the toys less enjoyable to me. I understand that HFTD and ROTF was an issue for kids but this over simplification in WFC is to far, DOTM was simpler but still enjoyable overall in terms of the transformations. Smaller i can handler feeling a little cheaper ok cost a bit more fine but simple boring transformations just sucks.

 

I don't read this board often. I only go to the Toyark section or the sales topics. I come to this discussion part once every few weeks.

 

Search function is there for a reason. Namely, we already have ten of these threads.

 

Why?

 

Then you must've been a better parent than most. I don't have kids yet, so I can't make any conclusive statements, but based on observances throughout my life, I've seen parents put down a lot of money just to keep their kids happy and/or quiet. And that still seems to continue through the current economic situation.

Do all parents do it? Oh hell no. But enough do. I still see it regularly.

 

Oh I'm sorry, but it is quicker for me to type up a thread than use a pointless search function and have to search throuhg pointless crap that is only found because it contains a letter from my search. Besides, what would I search for? Piece of Crap toys? Size Matters? What?

 

My mom used to do it until she came to the self-realization that she was buying me off because she was an alcoholic. I don't get free toys anymore, but she's clean, so that's a good trade-off.

 

Soon this topic will out pace the Bumblebee topics for most annoying.

http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-toy-discussion/636744-why-foc-figures-so-small.html

 

Personally I love when a mediocre line is released. Saves me time/money. And deluxes are $17 with tax in my nape of the neck, neck of the woods.

But look at other toys. Marvel Legends, DC, Ben 10 are all $15 or so and those are just molded plastic. Even the worst TF is a complex piece of engineering.

 

Here, let me help:

The problems with the figures is that Hasbro stated that the higher oil prices are causing the cost of the molding of the figures because the resin is made from oil byproducts to go up, which means that the only way they can balance it out is to make the figures smaller and charge more per unit for them, which the retailers are unwilling to assist with bringing the prices down because really they're getting less markup now than they were before. The arguments are that Hasbro shouldn't be charging as much for what costs pennies on the dollar to create, and we as collectors are complaining because no one likes clipped on wheels, hardly no paint apps, and higher priced scout sized figures marketed as deluxes. If you live in another country, because your leader decided that the Euro was a cool thing to do, they pretty much screwed you over two ways to Friday and now all your Transformers are double that to get, and thats not even the cost to have them shipped to you, so most people are all "well, if you lived in my country, it costs me two goats and 57 dollars to get an FOC Jazz, so you bourgeois American can just shut your fat cake hole", and we're all "seriously, stop bringing goats into this." And then theres people who are all "man, you should collect GI Joes, those are really screwed up", which makes no sense, because we're talking about Transformers. Then you have the people who are all "I like the figures and I don't really care about the goats because it's not Hasbros fault, stop picking on Hasbro", and then finally there's the group that is all "Stupid Walmart and Target is raising muh prices, don't they know I work at Domino's?" which shows the utter lack of knowledge that those people have about how retail, the economy, Hasbro, and collecting works. Because ultimately people will pay what they want to pay to get the characters they want while still complaining they can't get the characters they want, and then complaining when they cant get the stuff that was released because they commented on how cool it was, and now someone else bought it thinking the same thing before they did, and somehow it's still not big enough, G1 enough, or purple enough to satisfy them.

I'm not trying to be mean, this really is the synapsis of what the last few threads on the topic (and really, lets be honest, most topics in the same vein) have been like. I actually semi-agree with the OP as to the general aspect of how the fandom has been (although, I might suggest a different tact than your post). We're not all bad people, we're just on here, and try to stay informed. Plus, it's the curse of the internet, with a message board, there's so much history that gets lost pages and pages back, it's hard not to find the common thread to start from.

My take on it is this: There's been figures released that feel like they're worth 15 bucks. The latest generations do not feel this way.

 

Ya know... as a parent you do what you can when you can. You use your best judgement at the time.

 

I don't know, talk to somebody who's tried to sell a product to a big box retailer. Having had wholesaler accounts, it fluctuates from product to product. Depends what you call a thin margin as well. I'd call 5% or less a thin margin, but I've had business people quote as high as 50%. After that comes volume and whether or not you can support your fixed costs on that margin and your expected volume. Walmart needs the volume because of the buildings, utilities, advertising, bribes, and millions of shareholders it's carrying.

 

Or anything in the movie forum....

 

I work at The Mart part time, and I've seen *some* numbers. Some items do have a healthy markup. A LOT of electronics (TV's especially) are only a % above cost- if that much. I've never seen what TF markup is, tho.

 

I went to both Target and ToysRUs and they both had 2 FOC Shockwaves apiece,but alas I totally passed on all 4 of them,I was not about to pay no $16+ for a figure the size of a basic,no matter how good it looks.Granted I did preorder the Bruticus Set from BBTS,but those basically came out to be $12 apiece,way better than paying $16.

While I am here I wanted to see if anyone knows what box style the Bruticus Set will come in,are they individual or in one box.Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

I disagree that they are as small as a basic.

 

Outstanding!

 

I was at Target, saw the FOC toys and put them right back. I was hoping they'd look better in person, but they did not. Shockwave was the best looking one, but even he couldn't hit the "buy" button in my brain. Oh well, more money saved I suppose.