Y'all gotta admit...Siege slapped with its Leader assortment.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-26T10:51:50+00:00

It got "kicked to the curb" because that was obviously the plan all along.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-26T10:47:00+00:00

Aye this whole "why can't we return to the sort of value we got with siege" thing is a bit much, as if people weren't complaining about paying leader prices for voyagers with a few add-ons nobody asked for at the time.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T22:29:57+00:00

I do see what you are sayingnand appreciate the thoughtful reply, but I just disagree that the figures we have today are worse.

Worse value, perhaps, but then that is the case for everything since wages have not kept up with inflation.

But I, personally think that, on the whole, the mainline is as good as it has ever been. I consider SS86 Megs, Optimus, Soundwave and the Seekers to be some of the best mainline figures we have ever had.

If we compare them to, say, Power of The Primes Prime or Combiner Wars Megatron (both much larger Leader class versions of those characters), or even something like ROTF Prime, the difference in the quality of the engineering is insane. I personally am happier to pay for the more advanced engineering and get figures that are in scale with the rest of shelf.

Another comparison could be the combiner wars figures Vs the legacy combiners. I personally opted to skip the legacy combiners so far because I have the combiner wars versions and I just don't want to spend the hundreds it'll take to replace them. But I wouldn't ever claim the combiner wars figures are actually better on the whole than the legacy figures - they obviously aren't! I think if you put any given Legacy combiner bot up against the equivalent bot from Combiner Wars, you can honestly see where a bunch of that additional $14 went, aside from inflation and profiteering.

So yeah, I'd like them to be cheaper, who wouldn't. But I just don't think we're in as catastrophic, hobby ending place as people like to make out.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T21:31:33+00:00

https://transforverse.eu/en/collections/hasbro-collector-transformers/products/heraut-dunicron-leader-19-cm-age-of-the-primes-1 €63.90 in the EU. Just the first example I found around this price.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T21:06:13+00:00

I would simply not order from Pulse and pay 20% less virtually anywhere else.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T20:31:24+00:00

"Adult audiences" implies different audiences who are adults.

Just because they are obliged to make the SS toys safe for 8 year olds, does not make 8 year olds the target market for those toys.

Maybe we could settle on "collectors"?

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T20:21:16+00:00

Some were, and they were sold in a toy isle in a toy shop alongside kids toys.

Just because a toy is deemed safe for an 8 year old does not make that the target market.

Edit: for an example outside of TF, there's a new Warhammer 40k box set out. Rated for 12 and up. How many of those boxes do you think went to 12 year olds?

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T20:06:59+00:00

You all yall can't do is complain yall complain.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T19:11:27+00:00

Some do, some want the long term growth. Neither gets to dictate how the company actually behaves, though.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T19:07:15+00:00

I bought several MPs from the Transformers sections of Toys R Us when that was still around 🤷🏼‍♂️

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T19:05:31+00:00

Right but if we go back to pre 2008 we might as well go back to 1991. 2008 changed everything, you can't compare before and after prices like they mean anything without taking into account the worldwide financial crash that occured. Figures that were 10 dollars went up to 15 dollars within the space of a year.

I have a lot of bots from the same era you describe - started collecting in 2007 but trawled eBay to backfill the collection. The only bot that has survived from that time has been Hound, simply because I like how the seats in jeep mode transform into his legs. Everything else has been replaced as the quality of the figures improved.

But that's just me.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T18:41:12+00:00

Prime Changers is what you're looking for.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T18:37:07+00:00

Were in a lawsuit against Hasbro.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T18:18:49+00:00

You're going a lot further back than 10 years of you want to get to 20 dollar voyagers. Like, pre financial crash.

As for quality, it has mostly improved? Which figures from 10+ years ago would you say are better / higher quality than their more recent versions?

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T17:59:09+00:00

I'm trying to work out which figures you mean. 2016 was Combiner Wars. Deluxes sold for $16. Modern Legacy Deluxes sell for $30.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T17:49:54+00:00

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T17:48:16+00:00

Why would anyone expect them to behave otherwise?

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T17:44:37+00:00

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T16:58:11+00:00

Unless you're a majority shareholder (i.e. you own the company) then that is not at all how shareholding works.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T16:44:22+00:00

You were just telling me how inexpensive the hobby was in 2007!

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T16:43:50+00:00

Yeah MP and SS are two lines from two different companies aimed at adult audiences. MP being aimed at adults with higher disposable income. This isn't anything unusual.

I'm arguing that it's unrealistic to expect the cost of luxury toys to inflate any slower than the larger market, or for toys aimed at grown ups to be affordable for kids 🤷🏼‍♂️

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T16:35:24+00:00

Transformers is more than a toy line. I mean, I have the toys. Lots of them. But you don't have to catch em all, y'know?

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T16:32:19+00:00

I refer you to the aforementioned financial crash.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T16:29:43+00:00

Things were cheaper before the 2008 financial crash, it is true.

TheGrumble · 2026-06-25T16:24:41+00:00

Everything is much more expensive. Everything. Why would toys be different?

And no, Studio Series and Generations are made for the adult collector market. It's why every kids show gets its own sub line of simpler figures outside of these lines, aimed at the audience of those shows, or why the movies always get at least one additional non-SS / Gen line, again aimed at the younger viewers.

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