Baba?

 

Basically people are upset because the accessories that were expected to be included with the trailer turned out to be a separate purchase (even the additional faces that were explicitly stated as coming with the trailer) and the total cost of trailer + accessories can go as high as $300 depending on the store.

 

I got mine from bababobo00712. But he's raised the price $10 at his store ($199.99 to $209.99) plus he's no longer calculating the $10 off purchases of $200 ($15 off $300, etc). Still better than any of the US sites. But at least it is in stock.

 

So what's the total cost of the entire thing? I would guess $100 per limb plus $130 for the center plus the $300 you mentioned? That is $830??? Seems insanely expensive and if the company didn't tell people the prices ahead of time that's just plain wrong.

 

People are mad because when this first started coming out Breakdown was $40, a price that XTB specifically said was to beat a KO, but he did say that the rest of the set would be affordable. Wildrider was $60, Dragstrip, Dead End, and the toy-style and G2 repaints were all $80. Motormaster was $130, but came with no trailer. XTB said the trailer was being redesigned and would come with all sorts of extras. After a year of waiting the trailer is $200-$230 shipped, plus another $75 for the extra accessories that were supposed to come with the trailer (but technically aren't necessary to make Menasor). In other words, after selling us relatively inexpensive Stunticons and promising us an affordable trailer with accessories the trailer is expensive and the accessories are sold separately- it's a bait-and-switch.

There's no 2.0 per se, just the Youth versions based on the toys and the G2 versions.

If you missed the early bird pricing on the first two, but still assuming you can find them at retail, I'd say $80 for each car, $130 for Motormaster, $230 for the trailer, and $75 for the accessories, give or take a bit. So roughly $750 for a everything, but again the accessory kit is not entirely necessary, so if you skip it you can deduct that from the cost.

 

Still faster than from TF Direct. My last package from them has been in transit since last January.  

 

Yikes. That's bad business practice right there. I really hope a company KO's them and undercuts the hell out of them b/c that's not how you treat customers.

 

Irony at its best. The story comes full circle.

 

TFS-Express always seems like the sweetest deal when you see price prior to shipping fees at checkout.

I really miss the days when ShowZ's free shipping option to customers used FedEx Smartpost.

 

Yeah... I don't think that one's coming.

I do think it's a shitty move on their part, but KO's can hurt a 3P a lot more than a company like Hasbro. I'd rather XTB simply reconsider their prices in the future.

 

Do you think XTB's pricing will be more reasonable for their Protectobots or is their higher pricing model here to stay given the price of Dr Egg and Kup?

 

Yeah, that one is a loss (a $150 loss). Now I use show Z instead of TFDirect, as they refused to replace the lost item.

 

Generally speaking, 3rd party companies aren’t KO’d. If they were, it would do more damage to the hobby than good. The shitty thing XTB did here wasn’t their pricing as much as it was a bait and switch of expectations. That said, if it is as amazing in hand as it is in pictures, we’ll get over it. There is close to a zero percent chance this will have a KO.

I think higher pricing is absolutely here to stay. Every company is raising their prices significantly. This can’t (just) be a money grab. This has to be an increase in expenses somewhere along the line.

 

It absolutely can be, and most likely is.

 

I think it depends on a couple of things, namely how well stuff like this, Kup, and the Egg sells, how much competition they think MMC is, and how they split up the combined-mode cost. I mean, you can't sell just a cab for Hotspot and a trailer of combiner kibble later. My guess is that Defensor will come in five releases, but expect prices to be $100+ for the limbs and $200-$250 for Hotspot, and even though it'll wind up being about the same people will be generally more ok with it because it's more in line with their expectations.

Although me, I'm just going to buy MMC's. Yeah, their Bruticus wasn't as big and some sacrifices were made for the all-in-one gimmick, but I like it far better than any other completed combiner I've owned (which is close to all of them). Not because I'm necessarily anti-pants or anything, just because they had the most cartoon-accurate Combaticons and the most toy-accurate Bruticus, which is exactly what I wanted.

 

All combiners should wear pants

 

Or at least a loincloth.  

 

That’s preposterous.

 

You're right about MMC has the most screen accurate looking Combaticons. I just didn't like how MMC made some of the accessories fro their Bruticus as separate items that you had to buy in order to get them.

I guess we'll have to see if XTB's current pricing continues with their Protectobots, Omnibots and any other future releases.

 

Yes, it’s preposterous that a company who didn’t increase its quality, and produced a $175 egg that explodes with the wrong batteries in it, would possibly put profit first after seeing the success of a competitor.