Hasbro To Raise Prices As Costs Rise

Didn't they just raise prices on deluxes for kingdom? Now they're going to raise them again?

Maybe instead of raising prices you can *not* pay your execs more money in a month than most of us will ever see in our entire lifetimes

Everything starts with Oil . Thanks Biden !!!!

Well continual price raising is one way to become more selective in your customer base.

Maybe Hasbro is yearning to become the next Super 7.

EB Games in Canada has Voyager Rhinox listed at $44.99 (Voyagers are typically $39.99), so this is probably why.

I guess it's time to stop collecting Transformers.

kurthy wrote:Didn't they just raise prices on deluxes for kingdom? Now they're going to raise them again?

That might be the raises they're talking about (at least for deluxes).


While I'd rather they raise prices than cut corners on the figures themselves, it's hard for me to imagine there won't be at least a slight drop in quality at some point, whether it's later this year or 2022.

Tuned Agent wrote:

kurthy wrote:Didn't they just raise prices on deluxes for kingdom? Now they're going to raise them again?

That might be the raises they're talking about (at least for deluxes).


While I'd rather they raise prices than cut corners on the figures themselves, it's hard for me to imagine there won't be at least a slight drop in quality at some point, whether it's later this year or 2022.

I think this is correct and will be extending to SS deluxes as well. If you pre-ordered any of the upcoming figures from the Amazon wish list trick, they have the deluxes for both Kingdom and Studio Series at $22.99. Voyagers and Leaders are still at the current prices.

Ya know - normally when a company is selling really well they LOWER their prices to attract even more customers....

DeathReviews wrote:Ya know - normally when a company is selling really well they LOWER their prices to attract even more customers....

That won't please the investors though who expect infinite growth forever!

So that's why SG Megatron shot up in price from $29.99 to $36.99 a couple hours after it was revealed . Man they don't waste time do they.

DeathReviews wrote:Ya know - normally when a company is selling really well they LOWER their prices to attract even more customers....

That's what competent and non-greedy companies do...

Kyleor wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:Ya know - normally when a company is selling really well they LOWER their prices to attract even more customers....

That's what competent and non-greedy companies do...

Companies lower prices when their costs go down. Sometimes if things sell well enough and they can get a discount on mass produced items, that might allow them to lower costs, but Labor, Material and Taxes are what really decide on a price.

Why do you think so many businesses are refusing to say anything to the Chinese government about their concentration camps for the Uighurs. If they did they wouldn't be getting all the cheap labor from China they get. (of course so many politicians stay silent on the subject because they've been paid off by the Chinese government)

Plus when Corporate Taxes go up, they spread that out to the customers in higher prices for products.

With oil prices rising once again with the end of the keystone pipeline, plastic is going to be more expensive.

No surprise the prices are going to rise. But better than than the quality steadily decreasing as it happened starting with Generations FOC.

o.supreme wrote:So that's why SG Megatron shot up in price from $29.99 to $36.99 a couple hours after it was revealed . Man they don't waste time do they.

To be fair, the thing come with way more accessories than a regular Siege Megs.

-Kanrabat- wrote:

o.supreme wrote:So that's why SG Megatron shot up in price from $29.99 to $36.99 a couple hours after it was revealed . Man they don't waste time do they.

To be fair, the thing come with way more accessories than a regular Siege Megs.

And at a smaller production run.

I watch a lot of those doom & gloom prepper/economist videos on Youtube. And everything is falling right into place as they've been saying for the past couple years. Massive inflation, supply line breakdowns, food shortages etc. I hope it doesn't get as bad as they've been predicting.

This concerns me as well, but I don't see it improving. Ever. For a number of reasons.

1. On January 21st this year, gasoline prices jumped 30 cents a gallon in a single day. The reason was the end of a 30 cent per gallon moratorium placed on the national gasoline tax by the last admin. Once that was discontinued, by the current admin, it resulted in gas prices skyrocketing overnight. That cut made a huge dent in shipping costs nationally in the U.S. With it's intentional discontinuation by the current admin and the resultant increase in oil prices from the end of the Keystone project (supply and demand; oil prices have increased by 20% since January 31,2021 when the project was ended), companies have seen a 30% increase in costs for gasoline. This, of course, resulted in increased shipping costs in the U.S. A further complication is the Covid-19 issue (aka Scary Death Virus). With people being stuck at home, shippers have had a dramatically increased demand placed on them for "safety and convenience". This has led to an increase in gasoline usage in a time where the government is very intentionally trying to cut back on national oil supplies for environmental reasons. The result is a much lower supply and higher demand simultaneously. Shipping costs are going to start affecting everyone.

2. As these companies become more specialized in their offerings (multiple lines of Transformers, for example, rather than one large all-encompassing line) due to market shifts, it requires more tooling, more engineering (a high expense), more specialized machinery, and overall increased manpower to produce roughly the same total number of items.

3. Increased marketing costs: there are more ways to advertise than ever before. YouTube, Netflix, internet cookies, and much more; these are a bit higher risk and higher cost than good-old television commercials (honestly I can't remember the last time I saw a Transformers toy commercial on TV). The advertising has to be more intensive though, too, due to the HUGE diversity of toys available to choose from anymore. In order to hang on their market share, there has to be constant- and expensive- bombardment from advertising.

4. Manpower costs are increasing, even in China (which I think several people have mentioned). Yes, comparatively Chinese and (by-and-large) other southeast Asian countries (Thailand, Vietnam, and a couple others) provide less expensive labor than domestic- even when you factor in shipping costs, international tariffs, and the layers upon layers of bureaucracy needed to ensure (relatively) speedy travels through customs and the like.

5. Lastly, on a personal note, I will never hold executives at fault for their "exhorbitant pay". It takes enormous effort, education, skill, and focus to reach the near-top of a Fortune 500 company. If someone is able to finagle a really nice paycheck out of their skills (such as NBA, MLB, and NFL players who are the cream of the crop and parlayed their best-in-the-world skills to huge paydays, or actors who are the best at what they do, or physicians or lawyers who are the best), I am going to admire their drive and, of course, be a little jealous of their good fortune (forgive the pun). I also realize that their decisions affect tens or hundreds of thousands of people. I for one am happy making healthcare recommendations for a couple hundred people and caring for them. I couldn't imagine carrying the livelihoods of the employees PLUS the related manufacturing, shipping, and advertising employees on my shoulders. And, in the end, their "salaries" are largely in stock options and are not truly liquid assets. They draw on credit from those assets to live as they do. These are brilliant people. I will never blame them for maximizing their worth; their "work lives" at the highest level are often shorter than NFL players. It's do or die, and in the end they make far less than Patrick Mahomes or Russell Wilson for doing something that produces fare more and influences more jobs directly.

Funny how other companies are selling six inch, well detailed figures for half what Hasbro is. Look at the new Predator line at Walmart. Somehow, that company is delivering pretty decent figures at low prices, and somehow making money.

Hasbro is shooting itself in the foot. I think a lot of people collect their stuff because it's pretty cheap, otherwise, they'd just stick to the superior third party stuff.

Now, let's think about it. When the deluxe toys were $10 each, I bought every single one of them, and multiple copies of some of them. Bear in mind I made a lot less money back then.

When they were $12, I purchased pretty much everything.
At $15, I started being selective, skipping out on representations of characters I already had, and focusing on core stuff.

When it moved to $20 ... I bought one figure because he went so well with my Trypticon. That's actually not true, I bought another for $9 at Ross.
When Walmart sold their figures for $17.88, I purchased three others. Now I have a lot more purchasing power today than I did when they were $10 each.

But if we see a move to $25 for a deluxe that would have been sold as a basic a few years back, I'll be completely out. If I'm paying that much for deluxe figures that, lets face it, all have some compromises — whether it's deco, gimmicks, size or even durability, I may as well spend a few bucks more for a third party figure that is exactly what I want.

DeathReviews wrote:Ya know - normally when a company is selling really well they LOWER their prices to attract even more customers....

I understand prices go up. Labor, production, materials, shipping ... sure it all goes up. But Hasbro just laid down a huge price increase at a time when fuel and oil prices were way down.

It's not the increase, it's the increase on top of the increase I have a problem with. They jacked up the prices on a deluxe by $5, 20 percent, just recently.

I wonder how much price increases cannibalize their other lines. Someone who use to get Transformers, GI Joe, Star Wars and Marvel figs may now trim their collecting down to one key line and one "special characters only" line.

And maybe, maybe if the geniuses in the boardroom actually addressed the continued distribution problem they might be able to hold of on cost increases-or make finding those now higher priced figures less obnoxious, but I guess they know best. Raise prices, make finding new waves at regular frustratingly hard and then wholesale a bunch of those figures no one could find at retail to bargain retailers like Ross or Ollies.

I mean, who doesn't love seeing ads for Ollies that are nowhere near them showing low prices for Transformers you never saw in stores despite multiple trips, and only saw on Ebay for at least 2x as much as SRP?

Betenoire wrote:I wonder how much price increases cannibalize their other lines. Someone who use to get Transformers, GI Joe, Star Wars and Marvel figs may now trim their collecting down to one key line and one "special characters only" line.

And maybe, maybe if the geniuses in the boardroom actually addressed the continued distribution problem they might be able to hold of on cost increases-or make finding those now higher priced figures less obnoxious, but I guess they know best. Raise prices, make finding new waves at regular frustratingly hard and then wholesale a bunch of those figures no one could find at retail to bargain retailers like Ross or Ollies.

I mean, who doesn't love seeing ads for Ollies that are nowhere near them showing low prices for Transformers you never saw in stores despite multiple trips, and only saw on Ebay for at least 2x as much as SRP?

Problem is, as far as distribution is concerned, that's the retailers problem not Hasbro's. Retailer x buys so much stock from Hasbro, that's the business transaction over. If Retailer x sits on the stock or just ships it to stores in one part of the company, isn't Hasbro fault. They already made their money.

The only place this isn't the routine is Hasbro Pulse, but that has its own problems of course.

I think First-Aid hit the nail right on the head with this whole thing. Going forward for me, if there is a hefty or even moderate price jump, it will mean I will not be purchasing as many mainline toys. And it CERTAINLY means the days of impulse purchasing a Deluxe or Voyeger just to check out based on a hunch, are over Hopfully things will get pulled out of the gutter in this country sooner than later and this price scare will just be a quaint memory ..

The rich elites get richer and the poor stay poor..

Cyber Bishop wrote:The rich elites get richer and the poor stay poor..

Welcome to America, home of the 2 party system.

Like many of you, I had assumed that when Hasbro announced price increases, they were simply referring to the increases we were already seeing. Like deluxes going from 19.99 to 22.99. But nope, there are more increases coming, as they warned. Canadian toy retailer, Toy Snowman, broke down the increases for all Hasbro collectible products. These are Canadian prices, so while it may not be the same increase for US MSRP, there is a good chance that the same dollar increase is mirrored in the US MSRP, especially since this increase has nothing to do with a change in exchange rates with the US dollar actually being rather weak right now in comparison to the Canadian dollar. These new MSRP Prices are effective August 2021.

Star Wars
Black Series 32.99 - 33.99 (1$ increase)
Vintage 17.99-19.99 (2$ increase)
Helmets 149.99-174.99 (25$ increase)

Marvel Legends 32.99-33.99 (1$ increase)

GI Joe 32.99-33.99 (1$ increase)

Power Rangers 32.99-33.99 (1$ increase)

Transformers
Core 14.99-15.99 (1$ increase)
Deluxe 32.99-33.99 (1$ increase)
Voyager 39.99-44.99 (5$ increase)
Leader 69.99-72.99 (3$ increase)
Commander 120-125 (5$ increase)

No change for other classes within the same lines so far.

It will be interesting to see which retailers follow suit and which ones hold steady.

I have a number of August or later releases on pre-order from Amazon using the wish list trick, and while the deluxes are at $22.99 already, the Voyagers and Leaders are still at $29.99 and $49.99 respectively.

I guess Hasbro thinks that the same volume of product will move no matter what the cost is. I, for one, think that they are kind of "shooting themselves in the foot" over their offerings, and that many of us will be a bit more choosing in our purchases. I get the whole "best version of a character" mind frame, but with the versions we have already, Hasbro is really going to have to knock it out of the pack on their future products. Between the blatant QC issues, hollowness, distribution and availability issues, and seemingly inferior plastics used as of late, the "fun-factor" of collecting is starting to go by the way-side.

TF-fan kev777 wrote:It will be interesting to see which retailers follow suit and which ones hold steady.

I have a number of August or later releases on pre-order from Amazon using the wish list trick, and while the deluxes are at $22.99 already, the Voyagers and Leaders are still at $29.99 and $49.99 respectively.

Interesting, we'll see what happens with those prices.

increases for joes you cant find

Oh don't worry, mortals! According to certain of your politicians, who shall remain nameless, all of this 'inflation' isn't real! And even if it is real, it's only 'transitory'! They're politicians - we can trust them, right?

DeathReviews wrote:Oh don't worry, mortals! According to certain of your politicians, who shall remain nameless, all of this 'inflation' isn't real! And even if it is real, it's only 'transitory'! They're politicians - we can trust them, right?

come on man!

DeathReviews wrote:Oh don't worry, mortals! According to certain of your politicians, who shall remain nameless, all of this 'inflation' isn't real! And even if it is real, it's only 'transitory'! They're politicians - we can trust them, right?

Since when does Death care about inflation?

william-james88 wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:Oh don't worry, mortals! According to certain of your politicians, who shall remain nameless, all of this 'inflation' isn't real! And even if it is real, it's only 'transitory'! They're politicians - we can trust them, right?

Since when does Death care about inflation?

And why is everyone linking inflation to politicians? Just asking, but it seems a whole lot like scapegoating

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

william-james88 wrote:

DeathReviews wrote:Oh don't worry, mortals! According to certain of your politicians, who shall remain nameless, all of this 'inflation' isn't real! And even if it is real, it's only 'transitory'! They're politicians - we can trust them, right?

Since when does Death care about inflation?

And why is everyone linking inflation to politicians? Just asking, but it seems a whole lot like scapegoating

Scapegoating? That strawman over there told me to trust him!

All jokes aside, I was expecting worse hikes to be fair

I know this isn't really the point but what is that Power Rangers price point? Is that for the morphers? I can't think of anything else at a $30 price point. Lightning Collection figures are $20, basic action figures are $10, megazords are non-existent at the moment.

King Kuuga wrote:I know this isn't really the point but what is that Power Rangers price point? Is that for the morphers? I can't think of anything else at a $30 price point. Lightning Collection figures are $20, basic action figures are $10, megazords are non-existent at the moment.

Going by the Beast Morphers Price Points, it's either the Deluxe Zords (T-Rex Standalone, the rest in 2-packs) or the larger Role Play Weapons. The former are set for a Fall release.

I stand by my previous post. Demand has not gone anywhere, but supplies are drastically reduced because suppliers have been shut down. That's a large reason of why the new NextGen gaming systems are hard to find; as non-essential suppliers (you know, like makers of metformin were designated) they had been shuttered. Now there is a massive backlog of supplier orders, meaning increased costs (partially from demand and partially because of re-startup costs, rehiring costs vs sustained employment which is always more expensive, and some new tax hikes). I am expecting a cost rise across the board (ALL products with the possible exception of perishables/food) of between 15-40% before the end of 2022. I hope it doesn't happen, but signs are pointing that way.

King Kuuga wrote:I know this isn't really the point but what is that Power Rangers price point?

Lightning collection; it's the same price point as black series, tf deluxes, marvel legends, ect


https://www.toysrus.ca/en/Power-Rangers ... 5480F.html

Also, come one guys, there's a short video there with all your answers. If something is unclear, just give it a look, it will answer all your questions.

Jelze Bunnycat wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:I know this isn't really the point but what is that Power Rangers price point? Is that for the morphers? I can't think of anything else at a $30 price point. Lightning Collection figures are $20, basic action figures are $10, megazords are non-existent at the moment.

Going by the Beast Morphers Price Points, it's either the Deluxe Zords (T-Rex Standalone, the rest in 2-packs) or the larger Role Play Weapons. The former are set for a Fall release.

Didn't realise the prices were in Canadian dollars. Wasn't that clear on first sight, maybe add CND?

I can easily stop buying these and end my Transformers collecting.

william-james88 wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:I know this isn't really the point but what is that Power Rangers price point?

Lightning collection; it's the same price point as black series, tf deluxes, marvel legends, ect


https://www.toysrus.ca/en/Power-Rangers ... 5480F.html

Also, come one guys, there's a short video there with all your answers. If something is unclear, just give it a look, it will answer all your questions.

That's too much work.
Also I was naively thinking that a $20 USD toy wouldn't be $30 CAD, because even if they were shooting for a round number, $25 CAD is the closest equivalent.

King Kuuga wrote:Also I was naively thinking that a $20 USD toy wouldn't be $30 CAD, because even if they were shooting for a round number, $25 CAD is the closest equivalent.

Yeah that makes sense, since you knew the others were Canadian prices. Just comes to show that the prices outside the US are pretty damn unfair. Alas, out lighting series toys will now be $34 CAD. Honestly, it doesn't make sense. The basic figures are one third the price but are as big and have decent enough articulation.

In general, the lighting collection should not be the same price point as the licenced figures. Star Wars and Marvel figures both have that extra heavy licencing fee Hasbro has to keep paying (passing off that cost to us), but they don't have that for Transformers or Power Rangers. That's why a Transformers toys sells for as much as the licenced lines and yet has more than double the parts plus an entire additional phase based in Japan (so double the design cost as any other action figure toyline).

But Power Rangers? the only explanation is that this is the line used to generate the biggest margins to sustain the same prices for all Hasbro figures of the same size/class as a whole.

william-james88 wrote:

King Kuuga wrote:Also I was naively thinking that a $20 USD toy wouldn't be $30 CAD, because even if they were shooting for a round number, $25 CAD is the closest equivalent.

Yeah that makes sense, since you knew the others were Canadian prices. Just comes to show that the prices outside the US are pretty damn unfair. Alas, out lighting series toys will now be $34 CAD. Honestly, it doesn't make sense. The basic figures are one third the price but are as big and have decent enough articulation.

In general, the lighting collection should not be the same price point as the licenced figures. Star Wars and Marvel figures both have that extra heavy licencing fee Hasbro has to keep paying (passing off that cost to us), but they don't have that for Transformers or Power Rangers. That's why a Transformers toys sells for as much as the licenced lines and yet has more than double the parts plus an entire additional phase based in Japan (so double the design cost as any other action figure toyline).

But Power Rangers? the only explanation is that this is the line used to generate the biggest margins to sustain the same prices for all Hasbro figures of the same size/class as a whole.

Well even though PR actors aren't exactly A-listers, they still have to pay them for the rights to their likenesses when those figures come with a face sculpt. Also, as I've remarked on some Facebook TF groups, $20 (USD) has become the de facto price point for collector-targeted action figures. Star Wars, Marvel, DC, Ghostbusters, He-Man, even Jurassic Park is starting to get in on it. That's why I think TF deluxes and PR Lightning Collection settled there. It's a proven price point that signals that it's similar to these other higher quality lines. As you said, maybe the margins are better, but that's just the icing on the cake.

Some of these prices increases are already in effect. But many are still at the old prices like 40$CAN voyagers and 30$CAN deluxes.

Better buy the things NOW at the old prices while we still can. If there's something you even just kinda want and it's at "full price" but that price is the old one, consider the thing on sale and get it NAO!

Maybe if they stocked the shelves of Walmart and Target more, they'd sell more figures and make more money..

I know I'm not alone when I say -The aisles around here are pretty empty of the good figures.
There's not enough for kids to buy.. let alone all us more adult fans .

khrome wrote:Maybe if they stocked the shelves of Walmart and Target more, they'd sell more figures and make more money..

I know I'm not alone when I say -The aisles around here are pretty empty of the good figures.
There's not enough for kids to buy.. let alone all us more adult fans .

It's like this everywhere. The stupid savage lockdown on served to screw up every layers of the global economy. Add money incentive for people to NOT work, and you have the Perfect Storm for disaster.

It's not over. Companies like my shop are buying raw materials en masse in case of an upcoming hyper inflation. The irony is that will be one of its cause.

It's not over.

Prices will probably have to be raised again for transformers to compensate for the loss of sales in hiking up size classes to the next price wise. I'll just hope the pound goes to goold old days conversion rates of $1.6 or higher.

We wrote an article a few days ago about the price increases in the Canadian market. It gave us an idea of how high the increases would be for the US market, which is about $1-$5 increase depending the class, but it didn't give us the exact price. Well, now we know.

Preorders for Transformers figures coming out in the second half of 2021 are now up at Hasbro Pulse, Entertainment Earth and other places, showing the new prices ($USD).

Deluxes, like Gnaw, remain at the same $22.99 we already saw earlier this year.
https://hasbropulse.com/collections/tra ... movie-gnaw

Voyagers, like Wreck-Gar, will now be $31.49.
https://hasbropulse.com/products/transf ... -wreck-gar

Leaders, like Dinobot Slug, will now be $52.99.
https://hasbropulse.com/collections/tra ... l-witwicky

Moving onto exclusive lines, the come at a premium price too.

The Pulse exclusive Shaterred Glass Starscream is $38.99. It is the same as voyager Shaterred Glass Megatron.
https://hasbropulse.com/collections/tra ... iant-cover

Premium Finish Bumblebee, a redeco of a deluxe SS Bee, is $34.99.
https://hasbropulse.com/collections/tra ... -bumblebee

Premium Finish Optimus Prime, a redeco of Siege Optimus Prime, is $53.99.
https://hasbropulse.com/collections/tra ... imus-prime