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Re: Transformer: The Last Knight Movie Premier Figures Released At Retail
I wish we could organize a proper boycott.
Look, I understand the rationale of the US to CAD dollar, but that price is designed to maintain and then exceed the current profit margin. It isn't to make up for a loss because there isn't one.
You also need to account for the economic reality of any given country. Right now, Canada is poor when compared to the US. Our dollar is not strong in the slightest. However, even when it was close to parity (or surpassed!) the US a few years ago, many prices didn't not change accordingly. Nothing ever went CHEAPER here to reflect the disparity and many products, novels in particular, never adapted to the changing dollar in terms of cover price.
The only instance of fair reflection of the economic realities were when video games went up in price years ago. When the dollar rebounded, the prices dropped. I have been assured that the same thing would happen again should the dollar gain strength.
That said, both Walmart and TRU have the ability to set the price to be whatever they want. They would still make money, but perhaps not as much as they would like. But by increasing the prices so drastically, especially in the view of a casual consumer who might not put the math together (and as a teacher I can tell you that my students were shocked that the dollar value was the reason video game prices surged) and who REALLY needs that extra $10 PER FIGURE.
Finally, what really sucks, is that we are a tiny slice of the action figure pie. Canada barely has over 30 million people, which is about the same as some individual states and even individual CITIES in places like China (seriously, you wouldn't believe the population density over there). That means that retailers don't care about us because we don't make that much of an impact. We can not buy and they will, for the most part, not care.
The flip side of that is they could recognize the dollar, respect the consumer, and maintain the price or present a more modest TEMPORARY increase to offset that wallet-strain but they won't.
Bottom line, if the dollar went for parity, the prices would stay the same. THAT'S why we should boycott. And yes, I'm guessing, but it's not that far-fetched of a guess.
As to others who mentioned Marvel Legends or Black Series... look at the build quality on those, the limit/scarcity of what is produced, the include Build-A-Figures with Marvel, and the target audience (especially Black Series). It's not the same thing with a toyline aimed at little kids.
I MIGHT buy in if Transformers started doing a build-a-bot or included other pieces to make up for it, but still...
Wait for a sale. Use coupons. Don't EVER pay full price for this shit, especially when it's a pile of repaints.
By the by... the Winter Coupon 10% off from Hasbro is still up and available on their website. Stack it with a sale.
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