MOTUC 2013 Price Increase Discussion

[Dr Kain]

I think it is very annoying. They are rising the prices but not increasing the amount of accessories. At least not for several of the figures. Fisto is very much worth the $22, but Photog and Sorceress were not.

Anyway, I think they should keep the sub prices at $20. Give people an incentive to get the sub other than an exclusive figure.

[Swifty]

Prices go up. The price of everything goes up so its only at matter of time. I will still collect til they make the last figure in the line.

I feel the same here. I will stick it out until the end regardless of price.

[EldestSon]

what am i gonna do? NOT buy motuc? doesn't seem possible.

[MOTU_Maniac]

I love this line more than anything else I could spend my money on. So, I will buy them until I can't afford them any more. I don't know what price point that would be, but I do love these figures

[dolfanar]

I'd be ok with an increase to $22 or $22.50 for sub prices and up to $25 for day-of-sale, BUT the following would have to happen:

A) *ALL-IN* subscription, which would give a discount on all figures, including convention specials, Vehicles, weapon paks, etc...
B) The overall cost of the subscription should stay more or less consistent. don't raise the price and add another 10-15 figures. KiThe sub cost for 2012 was $510, $630 with the 30th anniversary, plus a bunch of non-sub stuff.

I'd be ok with
12 x Monthly @ $22.50 ($25.00 DOS)
4 x Quarterly @ $22.50 ($25.00 DOS)
2 x SDCC/Subscription Exclusives @ $22.50 ($25.00 DOS)
1 x Vehicle @ $67.50 ($75.00 DOS)
1 x 2-Pack @ $45.00 ($50.00 DOS)
2 x Beasts @ $33.75 ($37.50 DOS)

That would be $585. If that was *it*, and we still got a bunch of high-profile vintage characters, I'd keep my 2 subs.
C) Fix Digital River!!!

[Zodach]

We pay $28.95 per figure right now (shipping included). Non-subscribers are paying $30.95 per figure. That's a LOT of money per figure as it is. I can't even think of another exclusive action figure line that comes close to that cost!

I don't pay that price per figure. It's more like $24 or even less in months with more than one figure since I have three subscriptions. I know not everyone has multiple subscriptions, but not everyone is paying $29 per figure either.

Also, the 2012 GI Joe subscription service is going to be $20-25 per figure before shipping. Those figures are 3 3/4" and feature very heavy parts reuse. There's an exclusive online comparison for you.

Charging exorbitant amounts of money for toys when a LOT of people are struggling right now seems absolutely insane. Struggling world economy + big price increases = MOTUC death. That's my prediction.

Toys are a luxury item, especially an online adult collector toy line. If people are struggling so much financially then they really shouldn't be thinking about buying $20+ toys. Sales will be down as the prices go higher, but by how much it's hard to say. I think plenty of people will still be willing to pay higher prices for MOTUC which will allow it to continue.

Eventually enough people will be priced out of buying the figures, but can you really tell me current collectors wouldn't pay $30-$40 for Ram Man, Two Bad, or Horde Troopers if the alternative was not getting them at all? I think plenty of people will still sign up. The casualties are going to be the less popular characters as is evidenced by the eBay prices for the Star Sisters. The market indicates they're not worth the $60 subscribers paid for them.

[fball13z]

I think it is very annoying. They are rising the prices but not increasing the amount of accessories. At least not for several of the figures. Fisto is very much worth the $22, but Photog and Sorceress were not.

Anyway, I think they should keep the sub prices at $20. Give people an incentive to get the sub other than an exclusive figure.

Well if you would listen to what TG said, they had to cut items out b/c they had to honor the Sub prices at $20. The day of stock they are selling for $22 is no where near the amount of sub figures sold.

And do you work in a business that imports form China? b/c I do and my manufacturing costs have gone up at least 25% a year on most items in the past 2 years. We finally had to do pricing increases on our products to start breaking even.

People seem to think the only thing that goes into figures cost is what the factory charges to produce the figure, a lot of people never stop to think about how much money it really costs to run a business, just the cost of salarys for employees is HUGE, and dont get me started on shipping costs, just in the next 2 months my prices for getting containers to me is going up 10%, thats an extra $1000 per container to get it just to the docks but its just easier to think Mattel is evil and is trying to get "too" rich

[Prince Adam's Dad]

Toys are a luxury item, especially an online adult collector toy line. If people are struggling so much financially then they really shouldn't be thinking about buying $20+ toys. Sales will be down as the prices go higher, but by how much it's hard to say. I think plenty of people will still be willing to pay higher prices for MOTUC which will allow it to continue.

Quoted to applaud a realistic, responsible approach to collecting.

I'll keep buying the figures I (or now, that my youngest and I) want, so long as they fit into my disposable income. When they no longer fit, I will not buy them anymore. As for the ones my Jackson wants, he can ask Santa for them. I hear Santa's funds come from a different pot of money.

[fball13z]

Quoted to applaud a realistic, responsible approach to collecting.

I'll keep buying the figures I (or now, that my youngest and I) want, so long as they fit into my disposable income. When they no longer fit, I will not buy them anymore. As for the ones my Jackson wants, he can ask Santa for them. I hear Santa's funds come from a different pot of money.

And this is how responsible adults handle hobbies, if collecting or doing anything extra hurts your home life/family you are making a huge mistake. If my wife or I lost our jobs, toys would be gone to take care of my family.

[MOTU_Maniac]

And this is how responsible adults handle hobbies, if collecting or doing anything extra hurts your home life/family you are making a huge mistake. If my wife or I lost our jobs, toys would be gone to take care of my family.

I agree 100%!!

[Zodach]

You are a voice of reason fball13z. You know how much production costs and shipping costs have gone up recently. If you only collect MOTUC it's easy to get upset about the price increases, but if you collect other lines I think you see similar trends across the industry. Back when ROTS came out in 2005 Star Wars figures were $5-$6 and now they're around $10. Marvel Legends were $8-10 during the Toy Biz run and now they're $15-17. Sideshow 12" figures were $50-60 and now they're $90-120. There are plenty of examples of prices going up substantially in the last decade and MOTU is not immune to any of the driving forces behind that.

[Smashtoys]

Price hike? I'll be quitting the line. Probably move on to the new Playmates Turtles, or track down the missing Vintage MOTU figs that I still don't own.
I love the MOTU Property because it reminds me of the great feeling I had when I used to own them as a kid.Truth is, I really don't like how the line has been handled lately.
I don't want the pleasant feeling I have for the property be replaced by ill feelings that is being stoked by how the MOTUC line is being (mis)handled.
The idea of "Quitting while I'm ahead" has been playing in my mind lately. A friend of mine who wants to backtrack MOTUC agreed to buy all my sub stuff from me this year, so right now I'm already in the cherry picking stage (Fisto and Khan).

The added issue of an upcoming price hike will be the nail in the coffin. I understand the economics behind the move, but I don't think I'll be willing to shelve so much money on something that i have been "meh" with lately.

[Barbecue17]

I have no problem with a small price increase each year. What I do want, however, is for Mattel to set these at a price where we don't have weapons removed from figures and don't have to hear about certain figures not costing out. If Mattel raises the price, but adds something to up the value a little more, I'll be ok. If the price increases and the quality drops, then I start deciding whether or not I will be dropping a line. I dropped DCUC after the Kilowog wave. I dropped Marvel Universe and Star Wars after the crazy price hikes of earlier last year.

My wife and I were talking about this last night. I think if Mattel ever raises MOTUC to above 25 for a standard figure while having a significant decrease in quality or reaches $30 with no increases in the value of the figure, I will happily enjoy what I have already purchased in the past but move on to picking up Hot Toys stuff quarterly and finishing a few vintage lines. While it is definitely more expensive, it feels worth the money.

[Berserker79]

I'm in cherry picker mode since 1 year and I sold many non-vintage stuff. I sold Catra a few days ago, because I decided to go pure vintage with the 4 factions. So I'm not in the situation to worry about Shadow Weaver & Scorpia anymore.

I don't know if Mattel can deliver a kick-a$$ character selection for late 2012/2013, that always depends on personal preferences, sure. With increased prices, the character selection is very important, Mattel better not consider to go cheap like SMAA or with questionable new characters like MS or SLL. Remember Photog? A "demanded" character? And how long he last?

This kind of decisions in combination with quality issues & price increase, reasonable or not, could do a lot of damage to a line

[mjw41]

But do you seriously think that losing items will never happen again, and be used as an argument to raise prices yet again? To me it's just an excuse to raise prices....again, so raising prices to $22 didn't ensure we got extra pieces deleted, I know it was for day of sales, but where will it stop?

I heard to Roast Gooble Dinner#81 they Had Scott on answering questions and cutting of accessories came up. Scott said They don't like to take away from the figures shown but with locked in prices of $20.00 for 2012 they just can't give everything when they finally see how much the figure costs to tool & manufacture, so to avoid figures losing accessories going forward they plan on a price increase for 2013 subs.

As long as the price doesn't go beyond $25.00 i'm good with it. Everyones wants this stuff cheap staying at $20.00 and complains when the final product is missing stuff but to get everything costs Mattel more because the figure costs more to produce so if they facter that extra cost in for 2013 we shouldn't see anymore items cut from what is shown.

Well if you would listen to what TG said, they had to cut items out b/c they had to honor the Sub prices at $20. The day of stock they are selling for $22 is no where near the amount of sub figures sold.

And do you work in a business that imports form China? b/c I do and my manufacturing costs have gone up at least 25% a year on most items in the past 2 years. We finally had to do pricing increases on our products to start breaking even.

People seem to think the only thing that goes into figures cost is what the factory charges to produce the figure, a lot of people never stop to think about how much money it really costs to run a business, just the cost of salarys for employees is HUGE, and dont get me started on shipping costs, just in the next 2 months my prices for getting containers to me is going up 10%, thats an extra $1000 per container to get it just to the docks but its just easier to think Mattel is evil and is trying to get "too" rich

Very well put. Not everyone understands it from a businss angle, you do and I'm glad you explained it like you did

[EldestSon]

Toys are a luxury item, especially an online adult collector toy line. If people are struggling so much financially then they really shouldn't be thinking about buying $20+ toys. Sales will be down as the prices go higher, but by how much it's hard to say. I think plenty of people will still be willing to pay higher prices for MOTUC which will allow it to continue.

i think like you, but some don't mind struggling. some are ok with sacraficing things like tv or new clothes for toys.

[mjw41]

You are a voice of reason fball13z. You know how much production costs and shipping costs have gone up recently. If you only collect MOTUC it's easy to get upset about the price increases, but if you collect other lines I think you see similar trends across the industry. Back when ROTS came out in 2005 Star Wars figures were $5-$6 and now they're around $10. Marvel Legends were $8-10 during the Toy Biz run and now they're $15-17. Sideshow 12" figures were $50-60 and now they're $90-120. There are plenty of examples of prices going up substantially in the last decade and MOTU is not immune to any of the driving forces behind that.

I agree, thats why i'm fine if sub prices go up to $25.00 in 2013 They could be less since Scott hasn't talked much about it except for mentioning on Roast Gooble #81 that there is going to be a price increase in 2013 so that they don't have to cut any accessories from MOTUC's anymore, but I doubt the price increase will be higher than that.

[blackiecats]

I will definately buy Scorpia and Madame Razz/Broom no matter what the price. Those aside, once the figures go above $25 each for the regular figures, I'll probably be out and collecting something else. I definately won't pay more than $25 for anyone, other than my top 2 wanted figures.

[Tribal Spaceman]

If prices go up by too much I'll just end up buying less from MattyCollector. I don't think I'd ever give up, but customs charges would cripple me financially.

[Jean]

As long as I can budget and afford the toys, I'll buy them.

[CrashWatchman]

I already cancelled my DC-Comics subscription, stopped collecting Transformers, Star Wars, Movie Replicas and so on. Collecting MOTUC is the only hobby I got left, and it is worth it.

same here. I don't collect anything anymore except MOTUC

[iron_pride]

same here. I don't collect anything anymore except MOTUC

We still collect MOTUC and DCUC (some of them) but everything else (Star Wars, G.I. Joe, Transformers, Wrestling) has met an abrupt ending.

[melmoth666]

I am cool with the sub going to $25 as is---BUT if we don't see some quality improvements, (which so far this year, we have only seen some isolated incidents with Photog, which is very encouraging), I would probably drop the line. As long as things continue as they have for Jan and Feb, I will be content to go as high as 30 for a standard figure,

[Exinferis]

Pick Up-Trucks are a rarity, there is no market in Europe for such big cars. It's obvious with those gas prices

I'll remember that next time I'm stuck behind/being tailgated/getting jammed between two 4X4's; those bloody things are everywhere in Britain. I currently live in East Anglia, the flattest part of England and everyone seems to have those things! What for? The steepest incline in Anglia is about 5%! Insanity!

For the record I drive a MKIV 1.4 Polo CL, which is the newest in a long line of Polo's (a Beetle, a MKII Polo, two MKIII's and the MKIV love VW's! Have never and will never drive anything else). Filled it up today, £53.89 to brim it! Complete madness. The next time an American complains to me about the price of petrol there I'm going to show them the fuel bill for my little car!

But back on topic: if the figures go up any further I'm out. I've already stopped buying the GB figures; I didn't think they were worth $20 past the four boys, I certainly don't think they're worth $22 for rubbish like Dana/Zuul. And I think charging $22 for old stock that was $20 a couple of months ago shows just how greedy Mattel really are. I mean, that's just plain insulting!

I won't sub next year on principle so I'll be super cherry picker in 2013. If the figures go up from $22 I won't buy any as that'll crash the UK customs limit and there's no way I'm paying circa £30 for one toy! With all the QC issues they're just not worth it. Classics Lion-O is only £15 here and that's an infinitely better figure in terms of QC. Most Transformers can be purchased for about £6-£10 depending on what I can find in the Factory Shop 'round the corner, so I could easily get three or four 6" TF's for the price of one MOTUC figure. Don't get me wrong, I like these figures, I just personally think they're too expensive as it is, making them $25+ is just going to stop people buying.

[MasterCollector]

Here in Germany gas prices increased ridiculous high over the last months, currently around 8.4$ a gallon.Also prices for food increase slightly, only the money I earn each month doesn't become more.

How long will you support an expensive hobby like MOTUC when Mattel increase their prices again on the figures?

I'm okay with the $2 increase for now. What worries me is the possibility of Hyperinflation. If/when that time comes, I'll end my MOTUC hobby.