Zobovor wrote:
> On Friday, February 16, 2024 at 10:20:50 PM UTC-7, CodigoPostal wrote:
>> Agreed. Toys are utterly inessential, which is much of the joy of owning them. But when fans have to contort themselves into Hasbro apologists to justify the cognitive dissonance of spending so much on little chunks of plastic, you know something's gone haywire.
> I don't see a lot of that. I usually see quite the opposite—fans framing Hasbro as this greedy capitalist corporation who is deliberately making collectibles more expensive and more cheaply-made than ever before. Everything from the lack of plastic windows in toy packaging to the tone-deaf character selection is seemingly a purposeful and deliberate dig at otherwise faithful and loyal collectors.
People are stupid.
I mean, Hasbro is a greedy capitalist corporation, of course, and they will always be trying to sell less for more, but it has nothing to do with a desire to annoy the collectors.
Granted, the current direction of over complex toys that maintain cartoon accuracy is exactly what I don't want (and why I gave up on Masterpiece toys), but the pendulum will shift the other way soon enough (much like Doctor Who -- I hated Matt Smith, but then they gave me Peter Capaldi and all was forgiven). Not some deep desire from Hasbro to poke me.
(Now we need a new cartoon based on these toys, where animators simplify the designs further, and then toys based on those new designs...)
I do think that some of the price increases are an effort to recoup on losses in previous years and across other brands.
>> Also, the G1 market is rapidly becoming a non-renewable resource. We've gotten our final, or near-final updates to the Sunbow cast. Most of us aren't going to need a new Hoist, or Grapple. Another Optimus? Another Magnus? Another go at the same Titans they've already given us? The market just won't be there, not anymore, and definitely not at the current prices.
> There does seem to be a small but ever-present contingent of fans who are entering the collector market now, or only within the past few years. I see people posting pictures on Reddit and saying things like "this is my whole collection" and it's like 20 toys that were available at retail in 2023. It's honestly kind of adorable. So, to them, characters who were widely available in 2022, or earlier, might as well not even exist.
I find the people say who have been collecting for ages, and then show a collection of Earthrise and newer, with a few of the Titans Return re-issues, the most adorable, because they have some notion of the history. Where do these people come from?
I have no idea what causes someone in 2020 or so to start collecting toys from a 1984 cartoon. Maybe they have a Movieverse collection that they just don't show anyone, and are going backwards?
> But, yes, for most of us, they're giving us the definitive versions of many characters, and there will be little reason to keep buying the same characters continously.
I like things that are new. If they gave us a line closer to Classics and Universe 2.0, I would be delighted. Give me my wacky reinterpretations that still try to be the same character.
>> Even those fans who wouldn't shoplift will cut into Hasbro's profits by buying KOs and 3P.
> I'm definitely interested in some of those amazing 3D-printed characters and accessories I posted about earlier. I'd buy official versions of B.O.T. or Deceptitran if Hasbro was selling them, but if they don't exist, then yeah, my money will just end up going to these other guys.
I really want Skuxxoid and Slizardo action figures. Hasbro has been doing the Retro and FauxRetro line for Star Wars, and that seems like the right level of detail.
(I really wish they had weaseled them into the PotP line as Prime Armor, even if that would have either made no sense, or retroactively made the Skuxxoid the Prime of Complaining About Family Responsibilities)
>> I miss the days of $20 Beast Wars Ultras, $15 Megas, $10 Deluxes, and $5 Basics. Though in retrospect, those prices were probably only possible through massive exploitation of Third World factory workers.
> I think inflation is the biggest contributing factor. Ten dollars in 1996 money is equivalent to about $20 in 2024, so in some ways we're "really" spending almost the same amount, adjusting for inflation, on a Deluxe toy. But, it's still a hard pill to swallow.
I would say that the 1996 toys were also better. They always had at least one gimmick, and they were larger with more paint apps and more plastic.
Modern toys have more posability, and allocate the parts count towards ankle tilts rather than flapping wings, so that might be a draw, but they are also a lot smaller and more fragile.
And yes, I will sit there and make the wings flap for hours, and while I seldom shoot missiles across the room intentionally, I like knowing that it can happen at any moment. I also like bright colors.
Gustavo (was recently captivated by the light sparkling through the clear blue missiles of 2010 SeaSPRAY -- has there been a recent toy that is as simply beautiful? Siege G2 Sideswipe, maybe, with that ruby red windshield with the silver paint behind it?)