The inflation of Transformers

[grahamthomson]

Let's assume a total inflation of 132% since 1984 and compare this year's ROTF prices to those of the first year of Transformers.

Scout Class = £7.99, which in 1984 would have been £3.44. Mini-Autobots were RRP'd at £1.99 in 1984.

Deluxe Class = £12.99 would have been £5.60. A boxed Autobot (IIRC) was RRP'd at £8.99 in 1984.

Voyager Class = £22.99 would have been £9.91. In 1984 Soundwave was RRP'd at £11.99.

Leader Class = £44.99 would have been £19.39 in 1984. Optimus Prime and Megatron were £16.50 and £17.99 respectively. (Incidentally, Ultra Magnus and Galvatron were £21.99 and £23.99 when they came out.)

Must be joking Devastator Class = £99.99 would have been £43.99. Well, Metroplex was £29.99 in 1986 and, guessing, Fortress Maximus would have been £49.99 or maybe more if he was officially released in the UK.

I just thought it would be interesting to run a comparison. Any thoughts?

[Nigel]

Rarrhh!! Don't you just hate it when you accidentally lose a large piece of text?

To summarise:
Prices haven't changed much since Beast Wars.
Deluxe prices actually went down for RID.
Recent price hikes could have been worse if not for Hasbro economising on their packaging. Packaging has got smaller this year, so materials and logistics costs should be lower.

[Hero]

From what I've been told Devastator is just a glorified 'Megazord' boxset, and those things retail for half as much. Not that I care for those other toys of course

Beast Wars has influenced the size and price class of Transformers ranges beyond that line. Although Mega became Voyager and got a little bigger.

8 pounds for a small Transformer does'nt feel right. I remember the £1.75 toys (Firecons, Sparkbots etc) made it almost feasable for a guy like me who had £2 pocket money a week to have a new TF every fortnight and still have the comic every week.

Thank goodness for Legends being the new pocket money range.

===KEN

[The Doctor]

Other than the Legends, the price rises have put TF's past the point of 'impulse purchase' for me. So money is saved as I buy less toys so er, yes.

-Ralph

[Deleted]

I don't mind the current prices of the toys. The ones that I want are usually within my price range. It's the lack of space which has put me off buying TF toys recently although no doubt I'll be getting a handful of them at AA this year.

[dyrl]

I think TF prices are crazy - but not because of inflation, which effects everything and has more to do with the value of money going down which is reflected in nominal rises in price.

What you really want to do is run a comparisson for other Transforming robot merchandise and see what your money gets.

Keep in mind that at one time, Transformers was at the forefront of transforming robot toy technology in terms of engineering, interesting alt modes, realistic alt modes, gimmicks, poseability etc etc etc.

Now...let's see what we have here...

The Deluxe range of Transformers is still relatively strong IMO in terms of what you get for the price. Often times, the deluxe figures are very well poseable and the alt mode is decent. Constant problems are a) unposeable hands, b) lack of realism in the alt mode. By "lack of realism" I mean things like "windows" which are just painted onto a part of the main body but aren't really windows (clear) and are kind of a cop out... But - again - for the deluxe price point this is ok. I mean - what else is there at the deluxe price point that DOESN'T have these draw backs yet still has all of the relative pluses of a deluxe? Not much.

The problem starts when we get to Voyagers.

Voyagers are significantly more expensive than deluxes; yet often times they are really no bigger and in fact tend to sometimes even be SMALLER than deluxes - and you really don't get anything out of the Voyager class. Look at Voyager Bulkhead or Voyager Movie Starscream. Still "windows" that are painted on. No hands for Starscream. Poseability is no better than a deluxe and might even be worse in some cases. As for size - well - deluxe Bumblebee managed to be taller or about equal to Voyager Bulkhead - boo.

If you're going to have a more expensive class called 'Voyager' best make it worth it - give us some articulated hands finally. Give us some "real" windows rather than the paint-overs. Give us noticeable difference in size. Give us more detail, better paint jobs etc etc.

If Lockdown had been placed in a Voyager box; people would pay the extra money for him - you could say "he's a voyager because look how big he is" - maybe they might have thrown his chainsaw in... oh - they did that with Flaming Lockdown, didn't they?...

The point is - it's concievable - which just goes to show how interchangeable these are.

For the ball park price of a Voyager you can get other stuff which is realtively better. Binaltechs, Gundam models (definitely 1/144 at least), Revoltechs (which while not transformable, are at least perfectly sculpted and super poseable and usually have tons of sweet accessories)...

Things get worse as the classes go up - moving to Leader class. Oh how aweful Leader class is. Other than Movie Prime (last one and current one) there hasn't been a good Leader Class figure since Unicron in Armada (and he was actually "Supreme" class wasn't he?)

I mean - seriously - Leader Megatron was retarded (first movie). A half-baked effort. In that size class you could have given him tons of details, great paint job - really gone all out. Nope. Nothing.

In fact - more and more it seems to me that the difference between a "knock off" and a "real" Transformer is fading.

Hasbro basically is using the same level of technology as a two-penny knock off factory, but taking advantage of having a recognizable and world-famous brand name (Transformers) to plaster to its' knock off level products.

I predict this will end badly for Transformers sales. As people discover what is out there and what modeling and toy and figure technology have wrought and made possible in terms of transforming robots - they will eventually refuse to pay such high prices for what are essentially very primative toys.

Hasbro has got to decide - are they selling affordable low quality and low class toys for the mass of people and capitalizing on the transforming gimmick and fun (in which case fine) or are they making excellent transforming toys?

Takara-Tomy probably feel the need to compete with their more savy Japanese rivals more closely in Japan itself where you have Transformers competing for attention with Gundams, Macross, SOC, CMS, Aoshima, transforming models - and tons of other stuff. This is why Takara-Tomy seems to be compelled to present a more serious and refined offer (thus Alternity, Device Label and the progress of Masterpiece).

Hasbro, on the other hand, doesn't face that kind of domestic competition in the USA - so they don't care.

[primenova]

I always expect DX toys to be around the £7.99 mark - which toysrus have been selling them around this price over last few months.