Mini Comic Wave 2

Marvel Legends is my primary line and also the one that I'm less likely to skip much on. I absolutely buy every single new character but am trying to be more picky with any re-do's / updates.

I'm far more selective on other lines that I collect and usually wait for discounts, with the exception of maybe DC Multiverse, Spawn and MasterVerse. Joe Classified and NECA/Super7 TMNT, for example I only buy if I find the figures under $20 -- but that's actually pretty easy to do. Black Series and wrestling figures have to hit single digits before I buy any of those. If figures never hit that price point then I just do without them.

I've never been the slightest bit tempted to buy any Marvel import figures at those price points.

For this wave, I bought every one but Widow... although I wish I had just stuck to Feral and Rachel and at least waited for discounts for the rest.
 
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hmmberto said:
Just sliding in for the usual PSA to say that the $3 increase isn't price creep - it's a tax imposed on Hasbro by the federal government (aka a tariff) that they are passing on to us in the form of increased prices.
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I wouldn't let Hasbro off so easy. As with blaming layoffs on nebulous "AI", many corporations blithely blame tariffs or inflation for what is mostly just executive and shareholder greed. I'll bet the price doesn't revert when the tariffs are lifted or reduced.

Remember we have this as of Oct 2022, long before tariffs:

Hasbro Announces Plan to Grow Profit 50% Over Next Three Years​

 
bat said:
I wouldn't let Hasbro off so easy. As with blaming layoffs on nebulous "AI", many corporations blithely blame tariffs or inflation for what is mostly just executive and shareholder greed. I'll bet the price doesn't revert when the tariffs are lifted or reduced.

Remember we have this as of Oct 2022, long before tariffs:

Hasbro Announces Plan to Grow Profit 50% Over Next Three Years​

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Sure, and in any other scenario where prices are going up I'd think the AI comparison was useful - they're claiming that reasons xyz are why they have to do it, but we don't have any way of actually checking how true that is. In this case, we know exactly where this sudden requirement to hike prices came from, because we know that the goods they are selling us have been subject to a minimum 30% additional tax vs previous years, with rumblings that it would go up to 145% depending on the mood of the day. There's really no ambiguity there or any way of getting around that price increase, so I'm perfectly comfortable putting this squarely on the shoulders of those levying the tax on US consumers.

I don't doubt that prices might not come down if the tariffs go away, and maybe that's entirely on Hasbro just being a greedy corpo. But just like covid, things aren't going to whiplash back to how they were if/when that happens - tariffs reshape supply chains while they are in effect, and the damage they do can be long term. The difference this time is that the pain is entirely self-inflicted because of the whims of the ruling party.
 
You can easily say it's both. Hasbro is incredibly greedy, they want ever-more profits, and they are 100% not willing to shoulder the burden of ANY amount of tariffs. They easily could, and still be a billion-dollar corporation. They just don't WANT to. And also, until I see their books (which I never will, naturally), I won't believe the entirety of the price increase is just tariffs. Not for a company that's already shown a propensity pre-Trump for raising prices as well as just charging more than is reasonable to begin with.
 
hmmberto said:
Sure, and in any other scenario where prices are going up I'd think the AI comparison was useful - they're claiming that reasons xyz are why they have to do it, but we don't have any way of actually checking how true that is. In this case, we know exactly where this sudden requirement to hike prices came from, because we know that the goods they are selling us have been subject to a minimum 30% additional tax vs previous years, with rumblings that it would go up to 145% depending on the mood of the day. There's really no ambiguity there or any way of getting around that price increase, so I'm perfectly comfortable putting this squarely on the shoulders of those levying the tax on US consumers.

I don't doubt that prices might not come down if the tariffs go away, and maybe that's entirely on Hasbro just being a greedy corpo. But just like covid, things aren't going to whiplash back to how they were if/when that happens - tariffs reshape supply chains while they are in effect, and the damage they do can be long term. The difference this time is that the pain is entirely self-inflicted because of the whims of the ruling party.
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As Damien says, even if we take Cocks at his word that price increases are due to tariffs, that they're passing the tariff cost on to us is also entirely on Hasbro being a greedy corporation. They could shoulder the added cost of doing business and still turn a profit. But I don't take them at their word. At all. I don't know why we would, given they stated explicitly their intention to increase profits (not just sales mind you) by *50%* over just 3 years in 2022 and we saw a steady stream of price increases before the tariffs were enacted. They attributed these to increased paint apps, or accessory packout, or loosely defined "deluxe" designations before. "Cuz Tariffs" is just the latest price increase in search of a justification.
 
Damien said:
You can easily say it's both. Hasbro is incredibly greedy, they want ever-more profits, and they are 100% not willing to shoulder the burden of ANY amount of tariffs. They easily could, and still be a billion-dollar corporation. They just don't WANT to. And also, until I see their books (which I never will, naturally), I won't believe the entirety of the price increase is just tariffs. Not for a company that's already shown a propensity pre-Trump for raising prices as well as just charging more than is reasonable to begin with.
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Fair enough. I'm not carrying water for Hasbro here, but there's a perfectly attributable cause for the 2025 price increase that *some people* just aren't willing to acknowledge. I guess I'm also just not that upset that Hasbro (or any company selling luxury consumer goods) isn't willing to eat additional costs imposed on them if they think they can get away with it.

The "what things should cost" discussion is always free-wheeling and makes me wish I could have a look at lots of company's books. I don't doubt that Hasbro makes a nice profit, but I also don't see a lot of other 1/12 figures out there being sold for $20/pop, so it's hard for me to say what they *should* be charging.
 
hmmberto said:
I guess I'm also just not that upset that Hasbro (or any company selling luxury consumer goods) isn't willing to eat additional costs imposed on them if they think they can get away with it.
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I get it, but this is a legit slippery slope to "only rich people get to have hobbies." I mean, why should there be an expectation of affordability if it's a luxury good?
 
bat said:
As Damien says, even if we take Cocks at his word that price increases are due to tariffs, that they're passing the tariff cost on to us is also entirely on Hasbro being a greedy corporation. They could shoulder the added cost of doing business and still turn a profit. But I don't take them at their word. At all. I don't know why we would, given they stated explicitly their intention to increase profits (not just sales mind you) by *50%* over just 3 years in 2022 and we saw a steady stream of price increases before the tariffs were enacted. They attributed these to increased paint apps, or accessory packout, or loosely defined "deluxe" designations before. "Cuz Tariffs" is just the latest price increase in search of a justification.
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Can definitely be all of the above. The thing I always come back to is - who said a company needs to justify a price increase? There's nothing in the world that requires them to have a reason. Precisely because they are a greedy corporation, if they thought people would buy a ML at $27.99 in 2024, then they would have been charging $27.99 in 2024. The tariffs aren't hypothetical, they're a real, line-item addition to their costs.
 
hmmberto said:
Can definitely be all of the above. The thing I always come back to is - who said a company needs to justify a price increase? There's nothing in the world that requires them to have a reason. Precisely because they are a greedy corporation, if they thought people would buy a ML at $27.99 in 2024, then they would have been charging $27.99 in 2024. The tariffs aren't hypothetical, they're a real, line-item addition to their costs.
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Again, I'd say we should demand that there is a relation between COGS and price (say through maximum profit legislation) precisely because I don't think that a decades long wage stagnation amidst exponentially increasing corporate greed should mean that a majority of people are too poor to afford hobbies.
 
bat said:
They could shoulder the added cost of doing business and still turn a profit.
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This reminds me of something that happened today - woke up to an email from EE saying they "discovered an issue with the inventory in the warehouse" and actually didn't have a non-mint item I ordered from them so they "can't" ship it to me and cancelled the item from my order.

I wrote back and said they should include a non-damaged version of the same item for the price THEY sold it. They haven't written back yet but I can guess what the answer will be - I lose out. A proper company would take the hit for THEIR MISTAKE and not penalize the customer.

That said, if EE is regularly selling non-mint things at 25% off, that means the figures are still making a profit AT 25% off. So there was absolutely room for Hasbro to not have to raise prices.
 
hmmberto said:
t there's a perfectly attributable cause for the 2025 price increase that *some people* just aren't willing to acknowledge.
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You can acknowledge that tariffs are real and also acknowledge that it's likely companies are using them as an excuse to do what they would have done anyway. Prices have -always- gone up. There's no reason to think they -weren't- going to go up in 2025 even if Harris was president and international relations were fuckin' normal.


hmmberto said:
I guess I'm also just not that upset that Hasbro (or any company selling luxury consumer goods) isn't willing to eat additional costs imposed on them if they think they can get away with it.
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I guess I am. I am always upset by greed. Because it's not just 'eating costs imposed on them.' It's overcharging because they know they can get away with it, AND then choosing to also pass any increases on to the consumer. I knew someone at Mattel years ago when oil prices went up; it impacted their costs by about 1% and they raised prices by about 10%. It's always just an excuse.
And no, in this absolutely fuck-ass-stupid economy we've nightmared into existence, these companies don't OWE anyone a product at a reasonable price. But also they're not owed our silence on that matter when they're screwing people. It goes both ways.


hmmberto said:
, if they thought people would buy a ML at $27.99 in 2024, then they would have been charging $27.99 in 2024
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Yup. And now they think you will. They just have to string together the correct words to make you accept it. Same as they've always done. That's why prices only go up, regardless of nebulous ideas about 'the economy.'
 
Schizm said:
That said, if EE is regularly selling non-mint things at 25% off, that means the figures are still making a profit AT 25% off. So there was absolutely room for Hasbro to not have to raise prices.
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Near as I can figure a Marvel Legend costs somewhere between $7-$9 for them to make if not less, as that seems to the the lowest you'll see most retailers selling them before they're in Ollie's an other close-out retailers. I take exception with the Eternals wave which has been lingering for what seems like forever at $5 prices in some cases. I bought a few Icarus' just for the hands and heads.

Hasbro can claim the cost of the plastic or tariffs or whatever it wants, but when you put out a press release 3 years ago saying "we intend to screw our most loyal customers" before the tariffs were even on the radar, it's pretty obvious it's a greed mechanism similar to justifying anything and everything as the "post Covid" aftermath.

I've just adopted buying what I really truly want or feel I can't miss out on. The rest will either end up as getting it on sale or not at all. Hasbro's been doing the downsizing for me. Good luck with those videogames chaps.
 
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