Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

So basically, does anyone remember how much the BW shit used to cost when it was still available at retail, namely their Canadian pricing?

Also, how much did places like Superstore & TRU differ from Wal-Mart & others if we can remember? It's not a big deal or anything, but I've been wondering this for a while now, and since I don't remember anything definitive on my own, I figured I'd ask the peoples here instead of getting lost in the sea of Google that'll probably just give me US & current pricing anyway.

Re: Beasr Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

I still have a lot of my card backs from the Zellers days. Only Deluxe class was effected by inflation during the Beast Wars run from 1996 to 1999. Again these are all Zellers prices

Regular Class - $6.99
Deluxe Class - $12.99 (Jumped to $13.99 during 1998/Transmetal era)
Mega - $19.99
Ultra - $39.99
Combiner 3 packs - $29.99
Microverse sets - $12.99

*EDIT*
Forgot Optimal Optimus had his own size class at $49.99

Re: Beasr Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

TM2 Megatron and TigerHawk were $40 at walmart, and optimal optimus was $45 at walmart and $50 at TRU

Re: Beasr Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

www.wishbookweb.com might have some pricing in one of the old catalogues.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Ultras were 40$???

Are you guys sure about that, I mean seriously, my collection includes every Ultra except for the original Optimus Primal and I can't see how I could have afforded them at 40$ a piece if that were the case.

I seem to recall the prices working out like this...

Basic 5$ with taxes rougly close to 6$
Deluxe 10$ with tax around close to 12$
Mega 15$ with tax it would be about 17$
Ultra 20$ with tax closer to 22$
Optimal Optimus would have been either 30 or 35$ I can't be certain.

I mean seriously, I can't see how the Mega figures would be around 20$, especially since I managed to buy most of them myself with my own money. And I wasn't getting that much back then.

Heck I'm amazed I even managed to afford half of what I did if the Ultras were 40$ a piece, I mean seriously, that size class evolved into the Voyager size class of today and they are only 30$ roughly a ten dollar mark up compared to the old BW Ultras. No way they could have been 40$ and then went DOWN, that's not how inflation works.

Re: Beasr Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

This is a 100% what I remembered them to be.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Thanks guys, and the same goes to whoever fixed the typo in my title hah.

As far as these numbers themselves go, I remember Depth Charge being about 50 bucks after taxes (so 40 before taxes seems about right), but other than that, I was drawing a complete blank. Like, these prices seem a lot cheaper than what I remember (I've always seen deluxes at around the 20 dollar mark of today(, but I think much of that has to do with how young I was at the time, and how actually having an entire bill in my pocket (even 5 bucks) was a big deal.


... now, this also begs the question of whether or not it was the same across all provinces (I remember certain things being cheaper in Edmonton compare to where I lived in Saskatoon, where as others were more to account for the cheaper tax or whatever), but I think if we take inflation into account, what we're paying now isn't too bad.

Plus, I was looking for a present for my cousin last week, and couldn't believe the retarded pricing for kids toys, especially popular brand things. Compare to what I came across pretty much everywhere (in terms of both pricing, quality & availability), I found the transformers of today to be a much better buy, so I can't wait till he's old enough to play with this stuff on his own.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Zellers was always a couple of bucks or more... than walmart just as today... however they usally got new product in first before wally and being as you can never count on the line showing up any where else or short packs its a reason I will buy there fromt time to time,.. protomans prices are correct,.. checked my records to confirm and they mostly match what the BW were here in Ontario at that time.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

I think you have things a little mixed up. 2004 was the last year that the term MEGA was used as a price point and that was during Energon (Toy examples like Jetfire and Ironhide). In mid 2005 when Cybertron made it's debut, MEGAs turned into Voyagers (Example Vector Prime) while the Ultra price point still remained (Example Scourge/Flame Convoy).

Also keep in mind the naming conventions during that Armada to present era changed back and forth and sometimes JUST for a wave. Deluxes were called Deluxes from 1996 to 2001, then Super-Cons till 2004, then "Combat" for Energon's first half, then back to Deluxe in the 2nd half, from Cybertron onward it stayed that....

and that's one micro example.....

I will stop now.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

See here is where we differ, I don't go by what the size class was called, but how large the figures are comparatively to the modern figures.

The Mega Size-Class of the Beast Era is more akin to our Deluxe scale nowadays than it ever was to the Megas of Energon. Toy Scale Wise, BW Inferno is roughly as large as, say, Armada Demolishor or Cybertron Hot Shot.

They are nowhere near as large as the later Megas that came out in height or bulk.

BW Ultras pretty much can meet eye to eye the Voyagers of this new era.

At least I want to say this, but I could be a bit off, as height in figures have never been consistent even in their own line.

Still, I'm pretty sure I never once spent 40$ on those BW figures in the Ultra scale, either I got them on sale more often than not, or I had a lot more money than I realised with my mediocre High School Cafeteria job.

EDIT: I mean at one point I had, Magnaboss, Tripredacus, Megatron, Depth Charge, Rampage, Tigerhawk, Megatron and a second Magnaboss. Now at 40$ a pop, if that was the going rate for Ultras, I would have spent 320$+ for all eight of those. I hardly think that's how it went down.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Size Classes were invented by Kenner (part of Hasbro) in 1995 to be price points and simplify the case assortment and store pricing process , but those price points never had any link to the size of the toy (See Beast Machines Mega Class Megatron as a prime example)

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

No way dude. Do you actually own a BW Inferno?

Deluxes have stayed about the same size and some of those BW mega's were friggin' huge! Like B'Boom for instance.

And I definitely think we got more bang for our buck out of the old Ultra's than we ever have out of the Voyagers. The Voyager size class now seems more akin to the BW mega's.

There is no way you can stand PRID Megatron next to BW Deapthcharge, Tigerhawk, or Rampage and tell me that they are essentially the same size class.

OpOp's Super class is obvious what they merged with the supreme class to make the current leader class.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

You are waaaaaay off. Demiloshers head comes up to Inferno's mid chest, so that is wrong. BW megas are roughly the height of classics voyagers (Prime). BW Ultras (Primal and Megs) are about the same height as the universe Ultras (Powerglide and Silverbolt)

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

This.

Inferno is nowhere NEAR a deluxe sized figure.

From any line.

Ever.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Really? Guys, I hate to break it to ya, but I just pulled Inferno out from storage. He may be taller than the Prime deluxes in my collection, but his height is equal to a good number of the Animated figures on my shelf.

In fact, he and Samurai Prowl are relatively close to the same size. Therefore my initial statement stands. Beast Wars Inferno height wise is similar in scale with certain Deluxes. I'd have to get Demolishor out of storage too to see if I was originaly correct in my observation. But not at the moment.

As a matter of fact, Scorponok happens to be shorter than him. Unless you count his tail, so Scorponok from Beast Wars is roughly identical in height to BW Deluxes.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Well, Megas have always seemed to be somewhere in between Deluxe & Voyager to me, and I think part of that has to do with how many of them simply weren't as bulky as the vehicle formers. Actually, even the ones like Polar Claw were still smaller than typical voyagers, so I think the comparison still stands.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

I think Animated is a bad example as they used a form of mass shifting that made for some BIG deluxes (IE Lockdown) and some short Voyagers (Bulkhead)

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Well, Inferno's also got quite the large ass to take into account, and like Protoman said, Animated probably isn't the best measure. Actually, robot modes in general probably aren't as good measures as the alt modes are in some cases.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

I notice how you didn't include any actual Voyagers or Megas of the Energon line in that photo.

So Inferno qualifies as a slightly taller Deluxe than average, that doesn't make him as tall as Armada Red Alert, Scavenger or Energon Ironhide.

Things are what they are. I'm still going to say he's more in line with deluxe scale than Mega/Voyager of the modern era. Even Prime, Prime is taller than him.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

There is no such thing as an Energon mega. Megas ended with Skybite in RID. There is no mega of the modern era.


AND of course hes taller than deluxes, and shorter than voyagers, CAUSE HES A MEGA.

Inferno is not as tall as armada red alert, CAUSE HES A MEGA.

Inferno is taller than 95% of deluxes, because he is a mega.

Inferno is taller than deluxes, and shorter than voyagers ON AVERAGE. Because he is a Mega.

These are facts.

If you are planning on telling us we are wrong again, don't. Or make a list of all the figures you want compared to Inferno, and i will take another pic tonight.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

I can't really say whay they cost early on as my parents mostly bought them as surprise X-mas gifts. The ones that I had been there for were Transmetal Airrazor ($12.99) and Transmetal Rampage ($39.99). The ones I remember having at all were Manterror, K-9, Airrazor (pre-tm), Airrazor (TM), Transmetal Optimus Primal and Transmetal Rampage.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

For Primus' sake, when the Pit Did I ever say he wasn't a Unicron Slaggin' Mega! Seriously dude, all I did was compare the Mega price point to the Deluxes of the Modern Era, what I said specifically was that Inferno was more akin to a Deluxe made nowadays. Size and Price Point Wise, than he ever was to the Voyagers that many fans in this very thread said/claimed the Megas evolved into.

Hell, go back and read some of those posts, there were too Energon Megas, the Mega class was featured there, it was called Energon Mega Combat Class or whever the hell it was. It featured Ironhide, Jetfire, Dreadwing, Mirage, Shockblast, Six Shot, Alpha Quintesson, Grimlock & Swoop, Overcast, Energon Ironhide, TRU Exclusive Treadbolt with Mini-Con Partner Rollbar. All of those figures were branded as the Mega Combat Class in all of the official Hasbro Product Catalogues. It was a re-branding/re-naming of the Armada Max-Con class.

The term Voyager was not coined until the Cybertron toyline.

Anyway, the entire point is moot and irrelevant anyway. My point was based on my own observations of the size class. Which I'm not about to change just because someone's bunch gets twisted into knots.

I never said you were wrong either. I simply said that my opinion wasn't changed/swayed by your photographic evidence. Hell Lockdown is taller than Inferno and he was a Deluxe, you even prooved that in your photo. The sizes and price point have never been consistent.

I'm done. I've had enough of this round and round argument over a difference of opinion. I don't need any further photos taken, I can just take a look at my own collection if I really want to compare. Thank you anyway.

*SIGH* Yeesh, is it any wonder our fandom is so damn divided on things when we can't even agree that we have different thoughts/opinions on things.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

You are technically right and wrong.

Mega -- in the BW meaning of the word -- ended then. Unfortunately, Hasbro had to use the term again in Energon. Energon Megas most definitely existed. However, the Energon "Mega" class is equivalent to the Voyager class in terms of size and pricepoint.

BW Megas -- the point was never the size. The point was the gimmicks. This is why they cost more and why they were not necessarily that much larger. Scorponok had his stinger and launching bee. Polar Claw his spring-loaded paw, launching paw, and all the other stuff that's usually missing when you see him at Value Village.

I think BW Ultras are bigger than modern-day Voyagers. Their price reflected this too.

In the US (where I was) here were the price points:

BW Deluxe: 9.99
BW Mega: 14.99
BW Ultra: 24.99

Modern Voyagers are 19.99 to 22.99 in the US. In modern terms, that makes Mega less than Voyager and Ultra more than Voyager. Which makes sense. Ultras were huge and heavy.

Megas eventually evolved into Voyagers. The price went up slightly. The differentiation from deluxes changed from obsession with multiple gimmicks to increased size.

Ultras went away. They were around in Energon at the $25-$30 price point (US), but then the larger classes became Leader and Supreme.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Like I said before, all these names are linked to price points, just MOST TIMES size is also linked with those price points.

A Beast Wars era Ultra was defined different then say an Energon Commanders (called Giga-Cons in the catalogs).

Anyhow the ORIGINAL POST topic was Nomad wanting vintage pricing on Canada era Beast Wars, I (along with a few others) gave him that. Anything else is just a complete derailment.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

HAHAHAHAH
My apologies. I thought voyager stared with Armada. My bad.
And you're right, I totally misunderstood you. I Totally agree that as far as price point, The BW megas were like $3 more than current deluxes. So by price point, Yes, 14 years ago the megas were 20, and deluxes were 13. now deluxes are $16+.

And I only put Ani Lockdown in the pic cause it was mentioned that Animated was a bad comparison, as some deluxes are taller than voyagers. Even Ani lockdown is taller than leader bulkhead, when face to face.

Sorry again about that, I dont know what i was thinking. lol

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Nomad. Back on topic.

The pricing I remember from back in the day on Alberta was $14.99 and $39.99 and that was on deluxe TM rattrap and TM Rampage.

I found a complete set of TM beast wars figured on Craigslist a few months ago for $80 and that was a steal. Unfortunatly looking to replace the beast wars stuff I lost in a moving accident I discovered that prices for them seem to rise exponentially with quality (especially TM) there are a few on my list I havent seen under $60. And I'm still looking for a Ultra Op for parts (need a left arm and mutant face)

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Sometimes a price can go down while other prices go up, or you can get more of an item for less money. An inflation % is just an average of a basket of goods.

But I do agree that that does look unusual.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

This is totally true. A good example is the Deluxe Class which debuted in 1996. Priced at Zellers at 12.99 to 13.99 It's 2012 now, more then 16 years later and the standard Walmart deluxe price ranges from 14.99 to 16.99 (TRU/Zellers). Not a BIG jump for a decade and a half.

There is a deeper logic to all of this, but to explain it all would be a big rant better for a podcast or panel.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

F-f-foreshadowing

Well being the green lil whelp I was when Beast Wars started I can tell ya the prices I remembered

Basic - some dollars
Deluxe - A buncha dollars
Mega - A whole buncha dollars
Ultra - All the dollars

That toonie a week allowance didn't get ya very far

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

:rofl:

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Your answer is wayyyy better then mine =P I was 14 when Beast Wars came out, with 5 bucks a week for allowance, I had to really wheel and deal to get my first Beast Wars toys (Red Eye Cheetor, Terrorsaur, Bat Optimus Primal/Megatron 2pack, oh and the McBeasts Manta Ray, Beetle and Panther..... didn't get Rhino till years later)

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Since the end of the 'Mega' class it's always bugged me that it went from Deluxe ($15) to Voyager ($30). I liked that inbetween price point. I don't remember paying $40 for Rampage and Depth Charge, but it was 15 years ago so who knows. I'm pretty sure Ultra Optimus Primal (season 1 ape) was $30. Definitely 'more' toy for $30 than say, Classics Prime, who feels more like a $25 toy than 30. W/e.

But at this point I don't even know. Half my Beast Wars toys were bought at small town drug stores so I was paying $17.99 for a deluxe in 1997. I'm pretty sure I bought TM Waspinator for like, $21.99 small town mark-up. That all changed when I moved to a bigger city and got a job at Wal-Mart. Was able to get good prices plus employee discount on most of the Transmetals and TM2s.

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Awesome info for filling out the CDN pricing on these catalogues on ShelfLife guys...we'll get on that!

James

Re: Beast Wars pricing in the 90's?
 

Was going through some papers and stuff for taxes and found some TF receipts from 1998-99 last night. Yeah. Most of the prices already listed above are in the right ballpark. :)

Found the BBTS Brave Maximus receipt for $184.99 too. :)