New price of MOTUC $27!!!! Is this the death of the line?

**cryanmchsi** · January 10, 2013, 05:39pm

The only figure I want is Ram Man after that I am done. Of Course we have Greyskull coming out.

**Megalodon** · January 10, 2013, 06:09pm

The reason why I ask is that because of certain people that are willing to pay crazy money on these figures limits who can buy them.Because those people are going to be the only one's buying this figures until the end of the line.

I remember in 2008 when these first came out alot of people were on board now because of QC issues,DR Issues such as defects,not enough product available etc. it's turning alot of people off and for those that just started it's REALLY gotta be mood point knowing these started out at $20 and more available to $27 and even if you have a sub may not get one. And can someome tell me why sub holders get a "discount" now when in the past it was the same price for day of sale??

I get this crap about being "Sour grapes" or "Some people like to complain" you know who says that the one's that have more money than most people and don't care that this line can't cater to everyone only them because they can throw more money at it...

**BadVermin** · January 10, 2013, 07:06pm

Yikes, I totally forgot they were increasing the prices. I cut back last year and will cutting back even more this year.

After Ram-man and Jitso, I'm done for a long time.

**beastor** · January 10, 2013, 07:33pm

Originally Posted by sirsniffy

I think Mattel should make subscribing a little sweeter by giving sub holders a greater discount. This would encourage more people to actually carry a subscription. Like a $30 flat rate for Figure and Shipping, but the sub fees are non-refundable and orders cannot be canceled after 72 hours.

I'm sure that if the line survives, Scott and the gang will come up with some tighter controls.

Scott actually asked if we would pay $30 flat fee (shipping included) during the Matty presentation at Power Con last year. I would say the overwhelming majority said yes.

**nato** · January 10, 2013, 07:38pm

It's not the death of the line yet, but with each price increase, more customers will be buying less. Just looking at the toy aisles, I am seeing less and less action figures........and that is because they are just too expensive. Parents see $20 for an action figure and think it's ridiculous. Action figures as a whole are dying and it is the price that will end it. It's like a pack of baseball cards, who buys them anymore?

When Mattel first offered subs, I bought two. I had them for the mini sub and a whole year sub.

Then, the second full year that a sub was offered, they started to include Beasts and Quarterly Variants which raised the cost of the sub per year. That made me drop one of my subs., but I would buy extras minus the variants on sale days.

Now, with the price at $27 on sale days, these figures have started costing more than I think they are worth......which is what ended my baseball card collecting. So now, I have just my one sub and I will not be buying my extras on sale days.

So every year, this toyline loses more sales than it gains new ones.

**markatisu** · January 10, 2013, 07:44pm

Originally Posted by Megalodon

I get this crap about being "Sour grapes" or "Some people like to complain" you know who says that the one's that have more money than most people and don't care that this line can't cater to everyone only them because they can throw more money at it...

Isn't that how business works? people who can afford the items buy them and those who can't don't.

Prices increase, consumers pay them and things move forward. If it was that big an issue prices would not go up because the overwhelming majority would vote with their wallets and the line would die. It happens in retail all the time

**Haephestus** · January 10, 2013, 07:53pm

I'm a cherry picker. So, the price increase simply means that I'll pick less. Which is something I was already likely to do since I'm running out of display room for my collection and since I have most of the characters I originally wanted and Mattel isn't making enough of the characters I still want (i.e. The Great Rebellion).

But, MOTUC is definitely getting expensive once shipping is included. Especially given the large amount of part re-use and some dubious "accessory" decisions (i.e. Netossa's cape as a weapon).

I do think charging $27.00 for the "essentials" is a little extreme and isn't going to encourage new fans to enter the line. It would have been nice if new fans could still grab He-Man and Skeletor for the 2012 prices, but I guess Mattel wants to have consistent pricing across all the MOTUC figures.

**Dynamo of Eternia** · January 10, 2013, 07:55pm

Originally Posted by Megalodon

The reason why I ask is that because of certain people that are willing to pay crazy money on these figures limits who can buy them.Because those people are going to be the only one's buying this figures until the end of the line.

I remember in 2008 when these first came out alot of people were on board now because of QC issues,DR Issues such as defects,not enough product available etc. it's turning alot of people off and for those that just started it's REALLY gotta be mood point knowing these started out at $20 and more available to $27 and even if you have a sub may not get one. And can someome tell me why sub holders get a "discount" now when in the past it was the same price for day of sale??

I get this crap about being "Sour grapes" or "Some people like to complain" you know who says that the one's that have more money than most people and don't care that this line can't cater to everyone only them because they can throw more money at it...

What exactly do you want people to do? The reality is that the costs to make these things have gone up. The costs on most products in general (especially toys) have gone up steadily since 2008. That's not price gouging... that's just the reality of inflation. Mattel did what they could to hold the price at $20 for as long as they could. Last year they finally broke from that by upping the price to $22 for non-subscribers. But it wouldn't be enough to simply charge $2 more only for people who don't subscribe long term to keep things going.... and they were cutting a lot of corners to maintain that price point (reduced paint apps, accessories that were left out from figures and later released in a weapons pack).

I fully understand being frustrated over the price increase. I don't like it either. But it is what it is. It does stink that our dollars aren't going quite as far as they once did. But as I said in my previous post, we also have fewer items to even buy this year in the first place. There is no extra sub of 6 additional figures this year, and the quarterly items have been reduced from 8 total (4 variants + 4 beasts/giants/multi-packs) to just 4 quarterly items total. For anyone who has been completest or near completest with this line, the reduction in items (which was often a complaint for people having a hard time keeping up with it... even I felt the hit as things kept escalating in that regard) has at least helped ease the burden.

As ToyGuru previously said, he wishes that they had just raised the price of the figures by $1 each year, so this wouldn't be as much of a shock now. But if they had done that, the prices would still be in the same range now, only we would have paid more for most of the figures that we already have.

I personally am in this for the long haul, and despite these increases, this year should be cheaper for me overall due to there being fewer MOTUC items, the Voltron sub being over with, etc. This line will last as long as there are enough people willing to pay whatever price is necessary based on the costs of making the figures to keep the line going. I go back to my original question, what do you want people to do? You seem to be upset that some people have the money to buy these figures (not that it doesn't hurt for some people to spend it) while others struggle or just can't keep up and either have to quit or be more choosey on what figures they buy.... but what exactly is the alternative? Should we demand that they lower the prices and protest by canceling all of our subs and not manually ordering any figures on the site? All that will do is guarantee that the line ends immediately, and then we are even worse off than if the lines simply eventually ends when the price goes up beyond what enough people are willing to pay.

Besides, ToyGuru did say that they set this price so that they can keep it locked-in for the next couple/few years. So if the line goes into 2014 and 2015, the figures will still be $25 for subscribers and $27 for day-of purchases, with no further price increases during that time.

And the reason why subscribers get a discount is because it gives people more incentive to subscribe. I have nothing against people who pick and choose their figures, and I can completely understand some people preferring to do that. But the people who are buying it all ultimately do more to support the continued existence of the line (that's not a knock against those who pick and choose, it's just simply a fact), and they are given an extra incentive by saving a little bit of money by committing to it all. The way I see it, it's a win/win. If some people really only want a few select figures, then they aren't locked into the cost of buying EVERYTHING that will come out, and they save money that way. If some people want all of it or at least most of it, then subscribing works out nicely since they get a discount on everything and it helps to balance out the cost of the one or two figures that they may not care for compared to manually ordering everything.

Having said all of this.... since we will be getting fewer quarterly items this year, I almost wish that instead of getting at least one figure every month, we could instead occasionally have a month here and there where we get no figures, and then the month before or after it we could get two of the "monthly" figures shipped together. The combined shipping alone would almost completely balance out the cost increase of the figure. Having a single figure shipped tends to be around $10. Having 2 figures shipped together is either the same price or at most $1 or $2 more (at least with the USPS shipping). So paying $10-$12 once to have two figures shipped together instead of paying $10 each for them to ship separately would really make a difference. It could go like this.... for each quarter, we would get a month were two of the "monthly" standard figures shipped together, a month where the other monthly figure and the quarterly item ship together, and a month where we get nothing except any reissues/re-releases (not necessarily in that order). IMO that would be a great way to save a few bucks.

**mjharwood** · January 10, 2013, 07:59pm

Originally Posted by Megalodon

The reason why I ask is that because of certain people that are willing to pay crazy money on these figures limits who can buy them.Because those people are going to be the only one's buying this figures until the end of the line.

I don't think what we're paying is "crazy money", even if it goes to $30 per figure... I collected the DC Ame-Comi vinyl"figures" and let me tell you, we have it pretty good in MOTUC. Sub-holders are seeing their first price increase since the line started... Ame-Comi went up from an initial $40 to the most recent releases being $70... for those who can't crunch the numbers that's a 75% price increase in about the same time that MOTUC has been out. We've had it good...

I remember in 2008 when these first came out alot of people were on board now because of QC issues,DR Issues such as defects,not enough product available etc. it's turning alot of people off and for those that just started it's REALLY gotta be mood point knowing these started out at $20 and more available to $27 and even if you have a sub may not get one. And can someome tell me why sub holders get a "discount" now when in the past it was the same price for day of sale??

The sub is how Mattel guarantees they make money... It's money in the bank. Subscribers were told for years we'd get extra perks: early shipping, extra items... so far early shipping is hit or miss and extra items have amounted to a poster/map and occasional sticker sheet (which really only helps MOC collectors). Now, I personally don't care either way, but a lot of subscribers have been asking for more perks over the years, and this was a nice way for Mattel to "perk" us. The day-of-sale increase helps offset some of the costs involved.

I get this crap about being "Sour grapes" or "Some people like to complain" you know who says that the one's that have more money than most people and don't care that this line can't cater to everyone only them because they can throw more money at it...

I have bought every figure in this line since the beginning, with King Grayskull at SDCC 2008, my first year at Comic-Con (man, what a great year to finally decide to jump in!). I have had no QC complaints at all: my Roboto and Goddess still stand, uncracked; reversed shoulders don't jump out at me; Stinkor's forearms look fine; I fixed Frosta's forearms easily; I haven't seen any blackstic wear on my 2012 figures; my Granamyr went together without breaking. As far as CS issues, aside from Teela-gate (everyone remember that gem from 2009?) I haven't had any problems at all. No charge issues, no shipping issues, nothing. A delayed figure? Wow... as someone who has retail-hunted only to hear "oh, yeah... that wave that we said would hit shelves a month ago that was originally supposed to hit 7 months ago? CANCELLED!" I can deal with an occasional wait to get my guaranteed figure (sorry for those who missed out on Fisto... that one really sucked, and that is one issue I do think Mattel needs to revisit).

As for more money than most people... I'm not making 6 figures here, but I also budget myself and choose which lines to collect with a big-picture effort. I get MOTUC, Lego DC Super Heroes, the upcoming G.I.Joe Kre-O and that's about it for regular ongoing lines. Do I feel catered to by MOTUC? Well, considering I am excited for each and every reveal we get, I can't wait to open my monthly package and rip into the card and see how I can pose the figure, and there has not been a figure or character yet that I've said "*** were they thinking?"... yeah, I guess I do. But it has more to do with my embracing the line for what it is intended to be and not any preconceived notion of what it should be. As many others on the board in another thread have said, I'm all-in with this line until the end or until it is beyond my means (and I would drop some of my other habits to keep it within my means if possible).