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Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

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Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#41

Post by hackyhacky »

Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #34
hackyhacky wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern Transformers are amazing. Way better than in the '80s. You have to buy the collector-targeted stuff, though. The current line is called Legacy. If you are willing to pay, the Masterpiece line is also excellent, and there are fantastic third-party transformers as well: these have lots of metal, ratcheting joints, complex transformations, and usually cost over $100, up to $300. I will plug https://tfsource.com/…

Sorry I forgot to mention, independently of my comment, that suggestion is good, I saw a bunch of cool designs. The funny thing is that everything that actually looks good is marketed at collectors. The problem is also that my children are still young, so I need stuff with some resistance, somewhat.

The latest collector-oriented, wide-distribution lines from Hasbro are an outstanding value, with interesting transformations, durable enough for kids, and pay homage to the characters their parents know from the '80s. I'm talking specifically about Siege, Earthrise, Kingdom, Legacy, and Studio Series 86.

https://tfsource.com/hasbro/transformers-studio-series-86/

https://tfsource.com/transformers/war-for-cybertron-trilogy/...

https://tfsource.com/generations-legacy/

Cyclonus in particular is an amazing toy for kids or adults: https://tfsource.com/tfsource/cyclonus-and-nightstick-voyage...

You can find these at Target or Walmart in the US for even cheaper.

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#42

Post by [deleted] »

ggm wrote: post #11
jacurtis wrote: post #10

Can't say the same about LEGOs. The LEGO company just raised prices 10-25% across the board. Glad to see Hot Wheels resisting the temptation to gouge customers and stay timeless. Top-selling LEGO sets (those between $20 - $70) got hit the hardest with inflation this year. Looking at the newly released sets coming out Jan 1st, there are several new sets priced at $30 that would have previously been $20, so you could a…

I'm here to remind everyone the plural of Lego is Lego. That aside yes, Lego is ruinously expensive and appears to increase above inflation since it stopped being about blocks (the 60s)

[deleted]

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#43

Post by JonathonW »

ggm wrote: post #11
jacurtis wrote: post #10

Can't say the same about LEGOs. The LEGO company just raised prices 10-25% across the board. Glad to see Hot Wheels resisting the temptation to gouge customers and stay timeless. Top-selling LEGO sets (those between $20 - $70) got hit the hardest with inflation this year. Looking at the newly released sets coming out Jan 1st, there are several new sets priced at $30 that would have previously been $20, so you could a…

I'm here to remind everyone the plural of Lego is Lego. That aside yes, Lego is ruinously expensive and appears to increase above inflation since it stopped being about blocks (the 60s)

If you want to get pedantic, LEGO is a brand name and used as an adjective. The things the LEGO group sells are not Lego or Legos; they’re LEGO bricks or LEGO sets.

Only really makes sense to resort to such pedantry if you’re LEGO’s marketing department and concerned about genericization of your trademark, though. Everyone knows what you’re talking about if you say “legos”.

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#44

Post by defrost »

JonathonW wrote: post #43
ggm wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm here to remind everyone the plural of Lego is Lego. That aside yes, Lego is ruinously expensive and appears to increase above inflation since it stopped being about blocks (the 60s)

If you want to get pedantic, LEGO is a brand name and used as an adjective. The things the LEGO group sells are not Lego or Legos; they’re LEGO bricks or LEGO sets. Only really makes sense to resort to such pedantry if you’re LEGO’s marketing department and concerned about genericization of your trademark, though. Everyone knows what you’re talking about if you say “legos”.

As a non USA-ian I can't say I ever heard a single person talk about "legos" until I joined predominately US forums.

Hearing people talk about Lego as "Legos" still sounds weird AF.

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#45

Post by Fire-Dragon-DoL »

hackyhacky wrote: post #40
Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with collector models is that they break way more easily. Also $300 means I can buy stuff the caliber of Soul of Chokogin ( https://live.staticflickr.com/5553/15149130081_124d4867f0_b.... ), which is super high quality. Or I might as well buy some of the power ranger mechas from my days, to inspire some interest in mechanics. My daughter did fall in love with a small Gundam SD she built "oh I have an acti…

I'm not talking about model kits: I'm talking about high-quality toys. In my experience toys from Hasbro's Masterpiece line, as well as toys from third party-companies from like FansToys and Mastermind Creations easily exceed the build quality of Bandai. For example, comparing my FansToys Stomp ( https://tfsource.com/fanstoys/stomp/ ) to my DX Chogokin Macross VF-1J, there's no contest: the FansToys is more durable,…

We are not making an apples to apples comparison though. The bandai power ranger toys would be in the $100 range today. For the same range of price, they released a full megazord + dragonzord + titanus in metal, and they can transform an merge, that's what should be compared to.

I wish I liked some design of the transformers lines you linked. Unfortunately that's entirely subjective, I understand that's nobody's fault. I used to like the transformer "animals" (I had the gorilla, the trex and the eagle), but I love veichles, I just don't like their mecha-form design and rather prefer gundam or power rangers style. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be decent toys for those nowdays.

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#46

Post by joe-collins »

jacurtis wrote: post #10

Can't say the same about LEGOs. The LEGO company just raised prices 10-25% across the board. Glad to see Hot Wheels resisting the temptation to gouge customers and stay timeless. Top-selling LEGO sets (those between $20 - $70) got hit the hardest with inflation this year. Looking at the newly released sets coming out Jan 1st, there are several new sets priced at $30 that would have previously been $20, so you could a…

This analysis is now a decade old, but as of 2013, the claims that Lego was increasingly expensive just didn't pan out. Sets were getting larger, and there were more sets, but average price per set, and the cost per-brick and by mass, were all flat over the decade preceding the report.

https://therealityprose.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/what_happen...

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#47

Post by ggm »

defrost wrote: post #44
JonathonW wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to get pedantic, LEGO is a brand name and used as an adjective. The things the LEGO group sells are not Lego or Legos; they’re LEGO bricks or LEGO sets. Only really makes sense to resort to such pedantry if you’re LEGO’s marketing department and concerned about genericization of your trademark, though. Everyone knows what you’re talking about if you say “legos”.

As a non USA-ian I can't say I ever heard a single person talk about "legos" until I joined predominately US forums. Hearing people talk about Lego as "Legos" still sounds weird AF.

I'd love to know if any non European language pluralises Legos the way American English speakers do. It's possible their linguistic constructs don't invite it. I have no particular issue with either English changing under use, or neologism becoming normalised. In 50 years Legos may be the predominant form.

After all, "dove" replaced dived. Linguistically maybe it made more sense?

But for now, the Queens English being understood, it's like sheep. It pluralises itself. A piece of lego, a box of Lego, a lego set, a bridge made of lego. It's a lego bridge.

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#48

Post by 082349872349872 »

astrange wrote: post #9
Waterluvian wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of video games that consume a currency as a form of deflationary pressure. I guess we never destroy dollars but games will happily destroy gold you hand to a vendor, or Stones of Jordan, or crafting components to items that then become untradeable.

That's how their revenue recognition works. Buying gold with USD isn't profit till the gold is gone. https://bam.kalzumeus.com/archive/accounting-for-saas-and-sw...

Wow, funny how pencil-pushing[0] accounting conventions so strongly affect fantasy worlds!

I recall an anecdote about a Venus probe. It needed some large sapphire (or some such) to serve as an instrument window. US Customs naturally charged an arm and a leg upon import of such a large gem. NASA was able to get their money back after launch, however, as they kept receipts, then sent them back to customs along with proof that the gem had left US soil (indeed, it was never coming back).

[0] https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iBDQOXCHTEU/S7-zQt9R-8I/AAAAAAAAA...

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#49

Post by [deleted] »

wlesieutre wrote: post #19
jacurtis wrote: post #10

Can't say the same about LEGOs. The LEGO company just raised prices 10-25% across the board. Glad to see Hot Wheels resisting the temptation to gouge customers and stay timeless. Top-selling LEGO sets (those between $20 - $70) got hit the hardest with inflation this year. Looking at the newly released sets coming out Jan 1st, there are several new sets priced at $30 that would have previously been $20, so you could a…

LEGO sets have always been expensive. I remember saving forever for a $60 set with ~360 pieces (6975 Alien Avenger) about 25 years ago. For a spaceship set today, the same $60 can buy a 412 piece set (75325 Mandalorian Starfighter). And that one has to pay Disney’s license fees.

[deleted]

Re: Hot Wheels are one of the most inflation-proof toys in American history

#50

Post by piceas »

dangus wrote: post #20
sircastor wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t want to minimize the work of engineering the product design of Lego sets, but my goodness Lego sets are shockingly expensive for what they are. It feels to me like they should be 50% or less the price they tend to retail at - it’s not hard to understand why the Chinese knock-off sets were so popular.

The knockoff brands have issues fitting together due to lower tolerances and QA issues. [1] [2] LEGO bricks are built to a completely insane tolerance for a children's toy. 10 micrometers, according to the company. Have you ever found a single LEGO piece that was defective and didn't fit into another one snugly? I've been playing with them for 25 years and I don't think I've found a single one. IMO, LEGO is expensive…

The tolerances are impressive. Not perfect. I had electric Lego parts as a kid, bought new in the late 80s, that had trouble fitting together. It was annoying at the time.

My kids have a lot of old Duplo. Unlike the Lego it has not aged well. The fit between parts is all over the place.

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