Toys R Us’s Price Increases Are Killing My Enthusiasm For The Origins Line

[Croc-O-Bite!]

I happened to go to a Toys R Us this week and actually spotted an Origins Stridor. The price on Amazon.ca, GameStop.ca, and Walmart (if they ever become in stock at these stores) is supposed to be $39.99, with Toys R Us previously having the same price.
Basically unless there’s a sale that week at one store, Origins items have all had the same price point regardless of which store you go to.
But Toys R Us has gone rogue….. Stridor was listed at $46.99, and items like the deluxe figures, which were originally $24.99 had increased at Toys R Us to $29.99, and the Sky Sled from $39.99 to $42.99. Meanwhile their competitors are either keeping their prices the same, or lowering their prices to clear out space for new stock.

I had been looking forward to an Origins Stridor, but I wasn’t willing to spend the extra $7 for the privilege of buying at Toys R Us. I’ll either wait until I find it at another store for the typical going rate, or I’ll just do without.

Believe it or not, that’s the first time I actually found an MOTU item I’ve been looking for and put it back, refusing to pay the asking price.

Maybe this means I’m cured and will finally walk away from collecting toys? lol

[Mechanizor]

Wait for Stridor to get discounted over at Target or Amazon.... If it happened here in the US, I believe it will happen as well in Canada!

Overall, I believe Mattel have also increased their MSRP on Origins due to inflation. Things are getting rockier than expected, and it might get even worse! I hope we can survive the BS...

[MIDOR]

As someone who lives in the U.S. I just want a Toys R Us. So when I see a bit a news about the store trying to come back I get excited.

[Mathius]

Yeah, we don't even have Toys R Us here. I can't even keep track of what MSRP is supposed to be anymore. Every online store is charging something different and locally, Target seems really hit or miss anymore if they have any of the figures. The Deluxe figures seem to have come back in stock strong, but now the Target closest to me doesn't have any regular figures at all after months of nothing but the new sculpt He-Man/Skeletor figures.

Also, there are reports all over reddit about Battle Cat and Panthor getting marked down all over, but while my Target's have moved the Battle Cats to the bulk aisle, I've yet to see them with a clearance tag, and they're still stocked in the regular aisle with the $24.99 tag.

I did find another Naked Stratos (I have 2 now), but I've yet to see the other 3 figures from Wave 7, although Wave 6 was starting to become easy to find at the other Target.

Seems like every time someone on Reddit decides to be "nice" and post an online store that has figures in stock or a good price, they sell out within a few hours of the post.

The figure tag I see most is $16.99 at Target, but Amazon was doing preorders for Sun Man at $14.99 (I haven't preordered anything from 8 yet, since I'm still waiting on 7 from EE AND my Eternian Guard.)

[Mechanizor]

I think $16.99 is the right current MSRP for the regular non-deluxe figures, Sun-Man was $16.99 when I've pre-ordered him, but then got discounted (On sale) to $14.99 probably because it's the Black History Month in the US at least.

All the other pre-orders from wave 7 on Amazon were $16.99.

BBTS usually overcharge their figures to make up for the shipping, and EE is rather ambiguous when it comes to MOTU...

[man-e-faces]

I'm in the US, and kind of miss TRU due to their typically having toys that other stores didn't carry. Their heyday was definitely the '80's & '90's - the selection & prices there were amazing.

That being said, as the 200X's & 20XX's rolled around, their selection decreased & their prices became even more expensive than other comparable retail stores (Target, Wal-mart, etc.)

By the time they closed completely in 2018 (in the US only), I had been going there only about 2-3 times a year.

[Mechanizor]

Agreed, however I still miss going there just for fun without making any purchases just to see what's new and what's available!

That said, the TRU that was near by closed in 2006 if I remember correctly! Kids were heavily into video games, and adults like I am were mainly online shoppers...

[Mathius]

I don't really know what's going on with toy companies here. Maybe there's too many toy lines? It seems to me that car dealerships operate by loading up on the newest inventory and marking it down to make room for next years.

Toy companies USED to operate that way. In fact, you could get the earlier waves of the original figures months or perhaps years later from what I can remember. The core characters were always on the show, so why not have them in stores? But now it seems like everything is one and done and on to the new thing.

I feel bad for kids who will never experience the joy of walking into a massive store just for toys and seeing a whole 4-8ft block just loaded with nothing but the figure line you enjoy. It seems like that sort of thing is only available for Lego these days. There's half an aisle devoted to cars, but only a small section are hot wheels these days.

But then the younger generations are interested in things I just don't understand. When I was a kid and MOTU died, I moved onto GI Joe because of the amazing articulation, but now we have people excited over GI Joe Reaction figures. That's right 5 POA on a GI Joe line.

[Mechanizor]

From what I knew, comprehensive action figure lines weren't the main appeal for most millennials and get z'ers expect for Star Wars and probably WWE. Most of the action figure market was thriving online and via specialty stores for the past 15-20 years and probably still is to a certain degree.

I believe most of the 80's-90's era and comic IP toys are still heavily surviving on generation x'ers and the early millennials. Marvel, Star Wars and Transformers are different due to the brand relaunches via movie and TV series. That's why big store don't have a good chunk of toys that appeal to us as much, unless you're into LEGO like I am!

[Mathius]

All true, but how much of this is because parents never took them to toy stores as a kid? How much of what we enjoy is because of exposure?

I don't want to open an argument, I'm just giving an example, but I look at the newer He-Man stuff and most of it I don't like, (CGI, Revelations, NA, Classics), or at the least only like parts of it. And I watch younger generations take over the He-Man that I knew and loved from Filmation and change it, and add to it, and I don't necessarily appreciate these things. Even the 200x show which I initially thought was pretty decent had terrible figures and the more I watch it, the more it seems like it was created by a bunch of what the younger generations call "Edge-lords."

But I also look at the Buck Rogers show from the 80's, which I loved (although the 2nd season was not as good by far), and I brought it up to a much older friend recently and asked him a question about Twiki and he had no idea who I was talking about. When I said, Buck Rogers, he asked me about the black and white show that debuted in the 40's. I'm also really enjoying Doom Patrol, even though I have no idea how faithful it is to the comics. So I don't necessarily have the answer here, just something to think about.

There also seems to be a terrible lack of awareness of the basic principles of capitalism. They don't seem to have any issue whatsoever overpaying for everything for the "convenience" of buying it online.

[Black Zodac]

I tend to just wait for them to go on sale. They always seem to have sales on their Canadian website.