Dark Of the Moon figure price RIPOFF!

 

Ok, I know for a fact that in Australia we get gipped on prices for pretty much everything, games, toys, lately food.  It’s all seriously priced up over other countries, but I have to say that I was shocked when I saw the pricing for the Dark Of the Moon figure assortments.

 

Let’s compare with our friends in the U.S.A (which is nice and easy due to the Aus Dollar being so close next to it). 

 

US $ and Australian $ Price Comparison of ‘Dark of the Moon’ toys.

Class size:	Legion	Commander	HA Basic	Action Playsets	Deluxe	Voyager	Leader
US  Dollars	5	8	10	16	13	24	50
Aus Dollars	8	18	19	19	29	50	89

 

So bearing that in mind, and the fact that the Aussie dollar has only (!) been about equal to the US dollar for the last 5 or so months, I will convert the Australian Prices into American using the current rate of $1 Aus gets you $1.06 US.

Australian Prices Converted into US dollars and compared with US prices.

Class size:	Legion	Commander	HA Basic	Action Playsets	Deluxe	Voyager	Leader
US  Price	5	8	10	16	13	24	50
Aus Price changed to US dollars	8.50	19.17	20.23	20.23	30.87	53.22	94.76

 

So in essence, although the Legion and Playsets are pretty close in price scale, the HA Basics, Voyager and Leader sizes are pretty much double what those lucky chaps in America pay.  I should also add that as a standard price, $89 Aus is deemed cheap for a leader as they usually retail for $99 Australian (equivalent to $105.40 US).  I believe there are a number of stores that intend to charge that price as well.

 

Really it seems ironic that with the stronger Aus dollar, retailers have been whinging that they are losing sales to online/overseas stores.  Well here’s an idea BE MORE COMPETETIVE!   The service is bad, the range is bad and the prices are bad.  No wonder people are buying online.  I know that if I want more DOTM figures (of which there are only about 5), I will be going online.  So far the ones I am after I can get for about $150 including postage I suspect.  And yet here in Australia they expect me to pay that for a leader size and a voyager alone!

 

That my friends, in the words of Penn & Teller, is Bull S**t!!

 

Size comparison and a examples of toys follow:

 

 

To keep things in perspective of what is what, here is a brief cover of the sizes.

 Legion size.  Same as the previous legends size of  Transformers.  Easy to change, a couple of pieces of plastic, basic paint applications.  Cheap and cheerful.  About 5cm tall in robot mode.

 

 

 Commander size.  Fair bit larger than a Legend, but smaller than the previous Scout class.  Looks about the same level of paint applications as the Legends/Legion class, but with better engineering.  Stands about 10cm tall in robot mode.

 

Human Alliance (HA) Basic.  The robot modes are a little larger than a scout, but not much.  they come with a Human partner.  Reminds me of the old (awesome) M.A.S.K toys.  They are triple changers and have vehicle/robot/weapons mode for the humans.  Equivalent to pre-movie Power Core Combiner size really.  Approx 12cm.

 

 Deluxe size.  Same size as the previous deluxes of previous lines.  Come with a transforming weapon. Stand about 15cm tall in robot mode.

 

 Playsets.  I have to apologise as I don’t know what these are officially called.  All the lines are ‘Cyberverse *something*’ and I didn’t get this one.  So I refer to them as playsets.  They have a Legion sized figure and a vehicle that can transform into a weapons station and vehicle mode for the legion toy to interact with.  The station vehicle looks about (old series) scout sized, but with simpler engineering.

 

 Voyager size.  These actually look smaller than the previous voyager sizes.  Haven’t bought one, so I can’t say how tall they are.  In my Powerglide post, Lugnut (the green plane) is a voyager, but he isn’t in the DOTM line.  These ones look a lot smaller than Lugnut.  I would guess about 17/18cm in robot mode(?)  Same price as they used to be though!

 

 Leader class.  These guys look about the same as the previous years/series leader sizes.  Large, usually packed to the gills with electronics and recently have been generally pretty good.  ROTF Optimus and Starscream were absolute engineering beauties!  Haven’t got one to measure but would expect to be about or more than 30cm.