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And they looked amazing, really nice in the plastic. But twenty ****ing quid for a Deluxe? i.e. a 150% increase on the RiD deluxes 15 years ago and double if not slightly more on a Movie figure 9 years ago? They can **** the **** off, the ****ing ****s. Seriously, that's a few days food or half of a pretty big Lego set, ****ing absurd money for a Deluxe - toys aren't cheap here but that really does stand out compared to other kids' toys as ****ing ridiculous.

Think what they'll be once the knock-on effect of the pound now being worth less than [redacted]'s opinion catches up with the whole thing.

Prices are getting a bit tough to swallow, aren't they? I was looking at that little Titan Master Flywheels on the weekend, and was really tempted to buy it, but $8 plus tax for something the size of a Minicon? I just couldn't do it. Same goes for the Deluxes. In 2010 I was routinely paying $10 for some of the best Deluxe-class figures Hasbro has ever produced. And now they're asking twice that for figures that might be pretty cool but are still a ways away from the glory days of Straxus and Terradive and Warpath and Tomahawk. It's definitely raised the threshold from "buy everything that looks neat" to the point where I'm a lot choosier and wind up skipping a lot of stuff if I can't find it during a sale. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for you Brits, considering how high your prices were to begin with.

I've bought a handful of TR toys, but mostly using coupons or lucking out on chance grabs like TR Blaster today. The only one I've paid full wack for was Hardhead as he's the only one I could, at a push, says justifies the £17.99 TRU were asking. But it still didn't make me happy handing that amount over. It's getting to easy to go "its nice, but not at that price".

In non toys news, Brexit is already being blamed for Tesco falling out with Unilever who wanted an additional 10% for their branded stock, which would have to be passed onto consumers. A whole swathe of branded product wiped from a major supermarket's stores just like that.

You should all be like me and have nothing else in your life than to spend money on toys.

Spent plenty on Lego, which is providing better value for money despite being famously expensive; £20 actually gets you a relatively decent size kit. It really seems to be largely limited to TFs; even allowing for complexity the prices compared to something like Paw Patrol are astounding. I know it's a consequence of a struggling line in a shrinking market in a wobbly economy but it's still breathtaking.

Telling thing is I'm a terrible, terrible judge of value for money and usually have a fair bit of impulse cash. I can't remember the last time I picked something up in a shop, liked it and didn't buy it. Its' made the basic bread and butter of the line as obscenely unjustifiable as your TFSource end of the market. It's a shame it's happened when they're knocking out some great eighties-style figures, the sort of thing Generations should have been doing all along, based on neglected characters but there we go.

So yeah, just making sure I fill out all the Entertainer customer survey thingies I can...

Because I'm boring, I've looked into Lego's relative price over the years, and licensed stuff aside, it actually compares favourably to the stuff that was available in the '80s. The kits are more expensive, but you get more for your money these days.

I've bought a lot of sets around the £20 mark and not felt ripped off by any of them. Think my favourite has been the Civil War Crossbones jeep thingy one. Thats ace.

Having had the chance to actually peruse a couple of well-stocked Titans Return displays yesterday, the main thing I have to say is that Wheelie being knocked out at £10.99 makes the £160 or so that Fortress Maximus is going for an absolute ****ing bargain.

It's only about £30 more than Forbidden Planet were selling the Computron boxset for.

Are PM Optimus and Blaster meant to be £50?

Warcry wrote:Prices are getting a bit tough to swallow, aren't they?

Yeah, it's happening here too. Deluxe figures are $15 at walmart now, and $20 at walgreens (which has always sold them above MSRP, but still).

That's not even getting into the distribution problems. Most stores arounder me seem to have adopted the UK model of overstocking the first wave and then having no follow up.

Brendocon 2.0 wrote:Wheelie being knocked out at £10.99 makes the £160 or so that Fortress Maximus is going for an absolute ****ing bargain.

Kapow were knocking SDCC Maxes out at 120 at the point I bit, which felt acceptable.

45 seems to be standard for "leader" class in places like Smyths, and it's doubtful will shift much when stuff in other aisles seems to offer considerably better value.

Clay wrote:That's not even getting into the distribution problems. Most stores arounder me seem to have adopted the UK model of overstocking the first wave and then having no follow up.

I found a comic shop near me, a small place, that also sells toys/games and they get in 1 to 2 cases of each wave depending on demand. Try checking places you might not normally look.

Warcry wrote:Prices are getting a bit tough to swallow, aren't they?

**** yes. When I first came across the TR stuff in Wal Mart, the initial happy morphed into "That costs how much? Jesus Christ". Deciding to buy toys nowadays comes with too much careful thought and "Aaargh"s for my liking.

As much as there are several bots I want, I am putting them on my Christmas/Birthday list, and if I don't get them then I'll wait for boxing day. The prices are nuts, and this is via main retailers, not the scalpers. I mean $20(CND) for a Deluxe, and with Hasbro's hallow bot syndrome to boot. Hard to pay these prices.