INTRODUCTION
The Rising...
If there’s one constant in life it’s that
prices will almost always rise. Prices for Deluxes are going up to
$20 in 2015 (in Canada. They’re about $17 in the U.S.)
On a similar note, Masterpiece toys and third
party items are also on the high side of the scale. Items like MP
Ultra Magnus and MP Star Saber are around $180 Usd. Even a smaller
scale MP toy can be around $80 Usd (MP Bumblebee with battle mask
and coin). MakeToys Utopia is $400 Usd (an extreme
example), Xtransbots MX-I Apollyon is $150 Usd and
MMC’s Terminus Hexatron is $140 Usd.
This begs the question, how much is too much?
The answer varies on one’s income level and
interest in the TF fandom. Perhaps $150 for a collectible is
reasonable. Perhaps $500 is.
For myself, I try to limit my higher end
purchases at $200 Usd. It’s just difficult to justify spending
hundreds of dollars on what is essentially a toy. Especially when
I don’t make that much money (if I were a corporate CEO or
something then things might be different).
An additional factor, unique to Canada, is that
as of this writing, our dollar has fallen twenty percent lower
against the U.S. dollar (due to the oil price falling so
drastically). That means every single thing a Canadian buys from
the States now comes with a twenty percent mark-up (in addition to
shipping costs and customs fees). Now, more then ever, one needs
to be frugal and prudent with their dollars when in this
situation.
The $200 limit allows me to still consider
items like Terminus Hexatron, Apollyon or MP Ultra Magnus. Indeed,
most of the good stuff, be it official or third party, is in that
window. If it’s higher I can usually tolerate skipping it all
together.
The more money something is, the less tempted I
am to open it and display it. A $400 toy (or even the sealed
BotCon stuff) usually stays unopened because I don’t want to go to
the effort. More often then not over the years I’ve left my BotCon
toys sealed (fearing opening something so expensive) and
eventually ended up selling them off later on. Lately though I’ve
tried to get out of that habit. Some stuff I own now is still
unopened but that’s because I’m out of display space anyway and/or
haven’t had the time to get around to opening it (I’m looking at
you MP Acid Storm and Generations Metroplex!)
What’s your toy habits? (Assuming you still
collect the toys, that is). Do you have a set limit? Do you open
them? Leave them sealed? A bit of column “A” and a bit of column
“B”? Feel free to post your thoughts on our FB page.
In the end, I suppose whatever we do it’s
whether or not we’re still deriving joy from our love of
Transformers.
Til All Are One!
Thunder
Transmasters Magazine. Issue #21, FALL 2014
PROFILE: Gee Penny (by Peter Phelps)
REVIEW: Recent TF
toys (part one)
REVIEW:
Recent TF toys (part two)
REVIEW: Third party
toys
PROFLE: Fangthrash (by Jay
Gutzman)
PROFILE: Scaletail (by Jay
Gutzman)
PROFILE: Rangecode (by Jay Gutzman)
PROFILE: Hivemind (by Jay
Gutzman)
PROFILE:
Voraciak (by Jay Gutzman)
PROFILE: Gauntlet (by Jay
Gutzman)
PROFILE: Ballast (by Jay
Gutzman)
Comic
Round-up
Unless noted, this issue was produced by Tony "Thunder"
Klepack. Contributions for future issues are welcome and
encouraged!
(Some stock graphics were designed by Peter Phelps. Thanks
to him for his many efforts).
The TransMasters are a Non-profit club for and by
Transfans. All content appearing in this issue is copyright its
respective contributors and published with their permission.
The Transformers are Copyright and
Trademark 2014 Hasbro/Takara Tomy. All rights Reserved.
This publication is not affiliated with nor endorsed
by the above companies nor any of their licensees.
Magazine
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