Moving forward?

I have several unfinished posts from earlier in the year, the most recent of which was from 9/17/25 (Transformers Day). That was the day when the latest Studio Series preorders were made available, along with the new price hikes. I didn't bother with a new post, but NYCC in October carried more bad news, as the heavily anticipated Armada Nemesis Prime/Star Saber exclusive was found to be $90, and the SS86-based Skybound Optimus (with Megatron arm) is $80. Furthermore, we got confirmation that commanders would also get a price bump. 

Around the same time, into the middle of saturation for AotP wave 3, price hikes were applied to several/most products already on store shelves. I bought most of wave 3 for normal prices (either by online preorder or at WM/GameStop in person), but did not find Flatline (so far) until after WM wanted to charge $43 for him, which I wasn't willing to do. They'd already tricked me into paying $30 for Seaspray at brick and mortar. The price hikes were supposedly for 2026, but I guess that didn't matter. It's also very inconsistent; I was able to preorder some 2026 SS figures through WM for the older price, and you can still find some figures at Target and GameStop for those prices as well (weirdly, GameStop charges $35 for voyagers, but $65 for leaders, a further $5 increase). Even reissues of older figures (Runamuck from 2020 and Beachcomber and Devcon from 2023) have been subject to the new $28 MSRP.

This really sucks. Prices have gone up on everything, and now Hasbro wants me to pay more for a 2025 voyager than I did for a 2005 leader (which were also much larger toys, usually with electronics and other gimmicks, compared to modern leaders). I feel committed to finish out the Thirteen (let me note that it feels particularly shitty for Hasbro to raise prices in the middle of a collection that people have wanted for years) and the Combaticons, but I really don't want to pay full price for them, especially the extremely overcharged voyagers (of which the Combaticons have 2). Unfortunately, these aren't any of the figures that have preorders at the older price; the Target and WM sites simply don't have them listed at all. 

The last time I really struggled with continuing in this hobby was in 2014, when the Generations T30 line had (what I thought was) a weak slate of voyager and leader figures, and the Age of Extinction line was not up to the standard that the previous movie lines had set. I was also heavily collecting Legos a the time, which diverted funds away from the TF line regardless. And while I did largely abstain from the more expensive T30 figures and the AoE line, this decline was a matter of interest; the brand just wasn't doing enough to keep me collecting most figures. That's not the current situation. 2026, for both Studio Series and Age of the Primes, looks pretty terrific so far, with very few skippable figures (like Animated Wreck-Gar, and maybe Jalopy, Sureshot and SS Titan Grimlock). Star Wars was a major part of my Lego collecting, and by 2015 I felt priced out. I'm feeling that again here, with a toyline that was a major part of my childhood, and which I've been collecting as an adult since 2003. But political malpractice and corporate greed, on top of any "natural" inflation rate, are conspiring to make these items, already luxuries, really out of reach for most people (and I have what I think of as a decent salary). 

So I don't know exactly what I'll do. Deluxes and leaders I may continue to buy as normal, as they have had a relatively minor increase, though I'd certainly prefer not to. $43 (and higher, at some retailers) voyagers, however, won't do. They are simply not worth the price; look at AotP Brawl for any convincing you may need. And sure, he's a bit of an outlier, but if the Hasbro design team feels the need to convince their superiors that some deluxe-sized toys (SS86 Hot Rod, Legacy Override, SS86 Scrapper & Mixmaster, and now AotP Brawl and Swindle) require a voyager budget and MSRP, then they have to be amazing figures to justify that. But to then hike the price by nearly $10? So yeah, I'm not exactly sure how it'll play out, but I don't think I'll be paying full price for the voyager class figures. And generally, I'm going to have to pull back from collecting. Again, I feel committed to Bruticus and the remaining Thirteen, but anything else is subject to the chopping block. My Pulse Premium lapsed a few days ago and I don't feel the need to renew it. Why pay $50 for free shipping and first preorder access if you aren't willing to pay their prices? After 2026, my collecting habits will probably look fairly different.