Masters of the Universe Classics Price Hikes and Review Practices

You are watching Optobotamus. Ho! What did you

do? Oh, no, no, no, not no, no I'm not the douchebag,

but You kind of are No, not in this instance

because I would never ask for a review sample

if I already knew Online had said hey, we're

not releasing the super secret horde prime head.

Oh My god. Wait, what? Hold on. Okay. Let me

back up Alright, it's You know early morning.

I haven't been asleep yet. I figured okay. Well,

I've got all my podcasting work done I've got

everything else that I have to get done for the

night. Mm -hmm on as we'll catch up on masters

reviews Sure, of course as we all know the only

person that really does the masters reviews is

So I'm watching reviews I'm watching reviews

I watch Drago man stink or and Hoard Prime. Okay.

Oh, it's... Hoard Prime? Yes. It's a month until

Hoard Prime even gets released. Yeah. Remember

back when Manny Faces got released? They... all

of the review samples had the packages opened

and the super secret head, the second head, was

missing from the review samples. I did not know

that but... that that makes sense And the whole

time that I'm watching Dan's review, now I bear

no ill will towards Dan. I've worked with him

in the past. He's a pretty cool guy to work with

depending on the topic. But it's one of those

things where I'm thinking to myself, why would

they send you a review sample knowing that they

weren't going to allow anyone to see the head

before the release date of the figure, initially.

Like, it is so pointless to me to do a review

of anything that has a super secret accessory

that isn't gonna be released for another fucking

month. It's just so friggin' weird to me that...

that companies will send this stuff out this

early like okay sure I mean there's really no

point in doing it I know and that's what I'm

saying it's like okay sure let's let's have like

you know Dan did a his april fools video this

year was not as good as yours. Well, the one

you did last, was it last year or this year that

you did the beeper video? Oh, that was last year.

It was last year, okay. But his April Fools joke

this year was, hey, here's the Mighty Spectre

review. And he did it as a Marvel universe. Right.

And it's like, hey, here's all these super extra

accessories. Oh my god, look at all they are

taking out. So whatever. Like I said, I don't

mind Pixel Dan. The reason why I watch him is

because he's the official master's reviewer.

Sure. That makes sense. But it just irks the

hell out of me when anyone. Even if we were getting

review samples, if I get a review sample of Transformers

Prime SDCC Cliffjumper, and there was an alternate

head that had more energon damage, or more dark

energon damage than what the normal head had,

and they had said, hey, we're not including the

second head, not that Hezbro does second heads,

but... you know what I'm saying it's like I wouldn't

sit there and do the review until you connect

because it takes away from the figure to me it's

like it does it because you can't it's you're

not giving a full review exactly yeah um I mean

that's like that'd be like us getting a review

well I don't know it's like look at it this way

like Ben Ben would get some, you know, figures

previously, you know? Yeah. And he wouldn't have

the weapons with him. Right. So is that kind

of? Well, I think that the difference there is,

is that those figures were from overseas, whereas

as far as I can tell now, I could be wrong. You

know I'm not trying to dwell on on on pixel Dan

and his video and Mattel and all that stuff But

we are gonna talk about something else regarding

Mattel here in a second But as far as I can tell

I could be wrong about this toy guru actually

sends out the review samples himself At least

that's the impression that I get if I'm wrong

in that hey fine. I'm wrong I don't know that

sounds about right. I mean he's always talking

about how he's Dan's always talking about how

he's in like Communication and email and stuff

right right, you know and the other thing and

This is more of a toy collecting basis in general

thing, but I'm sorry like Between GI Joe Star

Wars and Transformers all Hasbro properties all

are in stores all have some sort of something

Transformers has a cartoon GI Joe had a cartoon,

but they're having a movie now Star Wars has

The Clone Wars cartoon. They all have stuff to

go along with them, but the way I've stated this

is that Transformers specifically range anywhere,

depending on size class, range anywhere from

$5 .99 to $19 .99. That's like going from like

Cyberverse to Voyager. I'm not counting the bigger

leader class size stuff and all that. That's

the average for a deluxe class figure, which

I assume, and you can probably tell me because

you probably have stuff around you. Deluxe class

is essentially a six -inch figure, correct? Roughly,

yeah. So Voyager would be what? Close to eight,

nine? I'd say about seven, eight. Maybe. Okay.

Okay. So let's take Voyager. Voyager class figures

are usually what? Twenty bucks? Roundabout? Roundabout,

yeah. Okay. Voyager class figure, seven to eight

inches tall, 20 bucks plus whatever tax, wherever

you live, whatever. Whereas an online line. Online

line? Of an exclusive club only figure that you

can buy day of if you're not a member of the

club for an additional $2. See. What I'm getting

around to here is the price hikes. Have you seen

the news about this? Yeah how they're talking

about going up to like 25 said that there's going

to be a dramatic price hike in 2013 and he didn't

say dramatic. Yes, he did People people were

like he never said dramatic. It's no he said

he said dramatic. Yeah Now I've done some math

on this. Okay, and we all know how I hate math

This is going by The current prices of the club,

OK? Like, if you have the club attorney's subscription,

it's $20. And I'm only going by USPS shipping,

the United States Postal Service. I'm not going

by UPS, because I don't know what those prices

are. For maddycollector .com, the USPS shipping

price is $8 .70. That makes each Six inch regular

like stink or he man Skeletor all the regular

figures that makes them 2870 a piece Okay. Yeah,

it's after shipping and it's not counting like

extra like I know out there in in in Hollywood

you guys have additional tax and whatever else

that you got I'm talking about just regular people

that don't have to pay additional taxes 2870

per figure. Okay, okay if They were to raise

the price, because currently it's $22 for non

-club members plus $8 .70. That would be $30

.70 for non -club members. So if they were to

raise the price, let's say $25. per figure and

the club price would be 22 so let's say for non

-club members that just go to the website 25

bucks per figure plus 870 but didn't he didn't

he specifically say that even subscriptions were

going to increase yes probably but that's what

i'm saying like right now subscriptions are at

20 dollars per figure so if they go up two dollars

and then the non -club stuff goes from 22 to

25 See what I'm saying? Yeah, I got you. So the

non -club, say the non -club is $25 per figure.

With the $8 .70, that's $33 .70 per figure for

non -club. Let's say club goes up to $25 and

non -club goes up to $30. So for all you cherry

pickers out there, $30 plus $8 .70, that's $38

.70. That's almost $40 for a six -inch collector

figure that has, you know, all these points of

reticulation, all these paint apps, all these

accessories. It boggles my mind. And, you know,

of course, all this stuff right now is speculation.

Mattel has not made an official word of what

the price hike is. I think they're going to announce

that at SDCC this year, because that's usually

when they do their subscription drives. And I'm

sorry. Yeah, they would have to tell us. Yeah.

it doesn't matter to me personally what they

raise the price to include because that's what

people aren't thinking of like when people are

talking about this that as far as i know i haven't

been on any boards or any forums to read what

what people are saying but i'm just saying like

from what i've heard from other people on twitter

and facebook and everything else people are not

counting the shipping okay if you count in shipping

and it raises it if the regular non -club figures

day of sale figures raised to $30 that's almost

40 bucks after shipping that you're paying for

a six inch deluxe class figure and it's like

oh my god are you like i'm sorry i love masters

but that's way too damn much because i could

go to a store and i could buy two transformers

for that price yeah you know you know what i

mean it like I love the line. I love the figures.

I love the way they look. You've always been

very supportive. Yes, but I'm sorry. This price

hike, whatever it's going to be, it's going to

be too much, because what people aren't counting

on is they're not adding in the shipping, and

that's what I've done here. calculated it for

shipping, no matter what price it increases to.

Hell, if it increases to $25, $30, whatever,

and then you gotta think, that's just for the

regular figures. So if a regular figure goes

from $22 to $25, what are the beasts, the three

packs, the two packs, what is all that gonna

go to? I bet you a beast that is $30 now, Will

end up being like $60 for one beast and that's

I'm sorry. That's too damn much in My opinion.

Yeah for for a toy. Yeah, that is way too damn

much Yeah, a buddy of mine Mike Lacey who's a

huge fan For 2012 he has Four subscriptions to

Masters all of them. Yes one Two for himself,

one to open, one to keep in package, and then

two for his son. Oh, yeah, I know that guy. He

does the little reviews on there. I like him.

He's got his son there with him. That's cool.

Yeah, Mike is cool. Mike is a very cool guy.

Yeah, good guy. He has four subscriptions, OK?

Now, just think about that. That's $2 ,000 total

for 2012, because $500 and change per subscription

in total. He's going to have some. Decisions

to make yeah a lot of people are gonna have a

lot of this is to make when it comes to the next

year subscription because I I just I honestly

think a any price hike at this point, regardless

of toy guru saying, oh, you guys have been paying

2008 prices since 2008. Well, I'm sorry, we're

in a depression. Okay, we're not like in like

a 1929 depression, but I mean - No, but it's

- The economy's bad right now. There's no ifs,

ands, or buts about it. It's so fucking bad,

and it's like - He's toy guru said the thing

it's like right now the horsemen are are making

figures the four horsemen are making figures

that warrant $22 worth of articulation cost and

I'm like, okay, that's fine, but You can't keep

raising the price like has Hasbro raised prices

in the last four years. Yeah, they have okay,

but yeah, but they've Hasbro hasn't really worked

instead of raising prices i think with hasbro

they've and you know this that they've got yet

even though they've been cut stuff yes cut stuff

on the figures versus raising the prices yes

which i don't mind that i mean honestly if i

a you know wanted you know like a a mechanic

or uh... ram manor uh... a man tana You know

the the thing about Masters classics is they

always most figures at least have two heads I

don't mind not having a second head. I don't

need a second head. You know when I got um Back

when I was collecting this stuff when I got the

the Prince Adam Orko Prince Adam SDCC thing a

couple years ago, right? I'm like okay. This

second head is just gonna go into a baggie. I

mean cuz that's to display Prince Adam with was

the Prince Adam smart face. Right. And it's like,

OK, here's another He -Man head. What am I going

to do with this? Put it on a stick and do a rain

dance? I don't know. It just, Mattel just, and

I've tried. I really have. Stayed away. It's

like every time you ask me. Hey, what are the

figures this month or what's what's this? What's

that? It's like I have gone to Mattel's website

in forever I've started going back now just because

of this price hike news But it's like I've tried

to stay away because I do not want to descend

into Maddy Madness like I did when I had my subscriptions

because That was it was making me physically

ill Having to deal with the incompetence of digital

river having to Essentially get the runaround

from from Mattel and everything else. I just

couldn't handle it So I was like screw it. I'm

not going to any of the websites. I'm not don't

care about the news You know hey if I see a picture

of a new figure cool great whatever Obviously

I watched Dan's reviews to see the new figures

right, but you know it's just one of those things

where it's like Oh my god. They're treading on

a very slippery slope. One of the biggest problems

is that they have to understand. They have to

see what the deal is. They have to understand

that the economy is in a very bad spot. you know,

a lot of sense that people aren't going to be

able to really kind of afford. Well, yeah, I

mean, when it comes down to it, I mean, that's

really what it is, you know, and it's sad to

see, but they're a company, they're working for

the almighty dollar. And it's a very dangerous

situation because they just Think that they can

do it now. I mean granted they have kept The

cost at a low cost for a very long time There's

no doubt that they've you know kept it right,

you know for a long time and I applaud them for

doing it, but there comes a time when it's like

Yeah, that's that's all well and good Yeah. But,

you know, now you're gonna take that away from

us when we need it the most. Yeah, exactly. And

that's very sad. I can't imagine, like, what

it's gonna be like for subscribers in 2013. I

just can't imagine. Especially, like, my buddy

Mike Lacey. I mean, if he... I don't know...

all of i'd i know from what he's told me as to

why he has four subscriptions but i mean if he

wants to continue to get four subscriptions even

if they raise the prices to whatever the reason

to that's gonna raise the subscription cost from

five hundred dollars to possibly eight hundred

nine hundred dollars that's you know that's where

is where does he live Oh, man. Where does Mike

live? I don't even remember. I think he's in

Philadelphia. He's gonna kill me, but Mike, let's

see, let's see. He is, no, he's in New Jersey.

I'm sorry, he's in New Jersey. Said Philadelphia,

yikes. Well, they have tax to worry about though,

too. Yeah, yeah. See, and that's the thing, it's

like certain states tax, additional tax, not

just the... percentage of sales you know whatever

sales taxes but certain states have additional

rental state taxes and it's like when people

speculate and i'm not even try to speculate i've

already given my opinion on on what the price

increases could be but and of course as i said

we don't know what they'll be until mattel announces

them but i mean right what people aren't thinking

is is like oh it doesn't matter what would tell

raises the prices to all by anything that they

And I'm thinking, OK, that's all well and good

if you have the money to do that. But are you

figuring in additional state tax if you live

in a state that has additional state tax? Are

you figuring in the shipping cost? Because they'll

look at that sticker and say, oh, $20, $22. That's

not that bad. And they're not calculating in

the extra prices of the shipping and everything

else. Right. It's like, Jesus Christ. That's

why, oh, oh, god. It's a very, very dangerous

situation. It is. Again, it's one of those situations

where you're at their mercy. Essentially, yes.

You're at their mercy. If you want it, you gotta

pay the price. And that's the most unfortunate

aspect. Not only is when they do price increase

That's gonna drive up the secondary market. Oh,

absolutely because I went on the secondary market

and I bought a Marlena for like 45 bucks Yeah,

granted. That's secondary market. It was the

exclusive at Comic Con in the in the Queen dress

version It wasn't the Maddie collector comm Captain

Glenn version. That was 45 99 plus like $4 shipping

from eBay. Can you imagine what that's going

to go to if they increase the prices? I mean,

it's going to be astronomical. I don't know.

This is why I stay away from toy collecting.

This is why I only like YouTube videos instead

of actually commenting on, you know, sure, you

know, your videos. I mean, we've known each other

for a while now and, you know, I'll say, hey,

first! But that's just a joke, but it's like,

this is why I don't comment on YouTube videos

because number one, majority of people on YouTube

don't know how to think or act. Yeah. As far

as the commenters go, you know, and the other

thing is it's like Okay, sure. I will support

my friends and I will like their video That's

that's how I support them versus writing out

a comment of hey great video blah blah Can you

can you review this? Can you review that? Can

you do? So yeah, that's my Matty rant, I guess.

Well, it's one of those situations where, again,

where - It's a lose -lose situation for the customers.

It really is. It is. But, you know, for them,

they gotta have some kind of thought process.

That's the only thing I can think of. You know,

I mean, this is Mattel. they're they're not too

terribly stupid yeah um but and i know like i'm

sorry i knew like because i i came home today

at like i don't know 12 31 o 'clock yeah and

i knew stink or was going to be sold out not

that i really care to have stink or it's a cool

figure but i'm not collecting them anymore but

i just wanted to see it how long he was going

to stay in stock and yeah By the time I got home

this afternoon, like 12 o 'clock, 12, 1 o 'clock,

he was sold out. But see, I know in the back

of my mind, OK, yeah, Mattel is saying that,

but I'm sorry. They hold out product. Oh, they

absolutely do. And I'm not talking about the

stuff they set aside for subscription holders.

I'm talking about a dish, because we've seen

it. What was it? Mad Maddie Monday. Oh, yeah.

They always have. Ever since I've known about

Masters Classics, they've had Mad Matty Monday

the last three years that I've known about the

line. Since 2009, they've had Mad Matty Monday

where, hey, pay $40 or $50 or $60 and you'll

get this mystery bag. And people are getting

web stores and they have all kinds of overstock

that they don't tell us about. I'm sorry, I just

think it's, you know, you can have overstock

to sell at conventions, or you can have overstock

to have sales like that throughout the year,

but for those of us who, or for those of you

out there who do cherry pick, and you know, you

don't wake up till, or you don't... You aren't

able to get online until like one o 'clock in

the afternoon or whatever else and hey the figure

you wanted is already sold out and that forces

you to go to the secondary market to find it

at a higher price or You know, I don't uh, you

know, and I know you don't like BBTS simply for

their their markups and all that stuff, but I'm

sorry. I would rather pay the 31 .99 because

I looked at this today stink or was at 31 .99

plus UPS shipping $7 .39. That's $39 .38. I would

rather pay that than have to deal with mattycollector

.com. You know? I don't know if it's the cynical

person. I don't know if that's the right word.

But they would be like, well, they're still getting

their money. Right. Well, yeah. But I mean, it's

like, I don't, you know. I don't really care

about that if they're getting their money fine,

you know, but it's like, it's just one of those

things where I honestly think that whatever the

price hike is, it's going to kill that line.

It really is. There's no current cartoon to support

it. Yeah. Well, yeah, but that's there. There

hasn't been a cartoon since 2002. Yeah. So, I

mean, they they really have been living the good

life. you know with with that yeah i mean as

much but but see that's the thing though yes

they have been living the good life but you know

this as well as anybody mr oh here's my black

my battle cat video yeah not really yeah but

it's you know it's like that whole you know every

ever since i've known about masters classics

every year or in some cases every other month

or every month, there has been some sort of issue.

That company, that line has not run smoothly

at all in its entire history since 2008. It hasn't.

I mean, you know, I know that there's quality

control issues it has, bro. I know there's quality

control issues at Playmates, at, you know, whatever,

you know, whatever toy company you want to talk

about. But I'm sorry. Hasbro doesn't have nearly

as much problems as Mattel does with Masters.

And granted, you know, you could make the argument,

oh, well, Hasbro's in the stores. Well, it doesn't

matter. I mean, you know, you look at, take a

look at our good buddy Spada. He every now and

then will have, will get figures that are just,

they just fall apart on him. Yeah, but I mean,

you know, it's like, you know that I could understand

if Hasbro was having that but they're not and

they've been going how long with Transformers

specifically, you know years I mean the Transformers

to my knowledge has never had a break No, no

where it's Masters You know the 2002 toy line

sucked and Didn't do well in stores and that's

why I said up we're yanking this from stores

and then they came back in 08 and said hey Here's

the online collector line, Masters Classics,

here you go. But it's online only, blah, blah,

blah. And it's like, I don't know. I don't know.

I honestly found out about it through Sean Long,

way back in the day. That's how I found out about

it. I'm like, what are you talking about? They

have He -Man toys now? And he's like, yeah, dude,

look. You know, I'm like, wow, that's kind of

cool. But it's like... I honestly don't. I mean,

I know that you had originally given me one of

your extra Adoras, but I don't remember exactly

how I found out about that there was a new line

or that there was a classic line. I honestly

have no friggin clue. No, you know, you're retarded.

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