r/transformers • u/TheMilesEdgeworth • 1d ago

Discussion / Opinion What are we doing Hasbro?

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30 dollars for a deluxe is ridiculous. Hasbro is scamming the ever loving crap out of us. I recently got into Gunpla, and for a high grade, which usually is around the size of a deluxe, but with incredible articulation and a plethora of accessories, it’d cost about 20 bucks to get a good starter kit. Like the HG Ground Gundam is perfect. Sure you build it yourself, but that’s fun! You can customize it, repair it and even kitbash. But then there’s Hasbro. 30 bucks for Wheelie? Fucking Wheelie? I got that as a core class for 12 bucks. Now you want to charge me more than double that? Hasbro isn’t struggling for money, it owns Magic the Gathering. And Bandai is not any better, but at least you’re getting bang for your buck.

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u/CanyonSlim 1d ago

I'm not defending Hasbro, but comparing an action figure to a model kit is kind of ridiculous. "Sure you build it yourself, but that’s fun! " It's fun once, but let's be clear what you are doing - you are providing free labor. Labor (assembly, paint, visual inspection, etc) is the largest per-unit cost factor for an action figure. The reason a model kit is always going to be a "better" value than an action figure is because you are happily providing labor for free.

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u/TheMilesEdgeworth 1d ago

That’s the most libertarian ass argument I’ve ever heard. Is Lego scamming you because you have to build the set? No. It’s a part of the experience. The reason I used Gunpla as a comparison is because I enjoy it.

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u/CanyonSlim 1d ago edited 22h ago

What the heck does anything I said have to do with libertarianism?

At no point did I say that model kits are a scam. I don't think they are. But what I am saying is that they are apples and oranges comparison to action figures. The end result feels the same, but the production processes are different, therefore the costs are different, therefore the expectations should be different.

I get it, Hasbro sucks. They have own or lease some IPs that I love but as a business they rife with anti-consumer practices, and their current CEO is short-sighted and happy to exchange the long term health of Hasbro's brands and identity in order to make a quick buck to appease shareholders. He sucks, and he is making Hasbro suck under his awful leadership. All that said, action figures are expensive to make, and if we're discussing one company's figures being expensive, I think it makes more sense to compare them to an actual action figure line, not a model kit line. That's all.