Yeah, it's kinda like I was saying in the Groizer review, some of these new "high end" collectibles for adults are all right, I guess, but most don't do anything for me. 9 times out of 10, for the same money, I'd much rather pick up a vintage toy that was actually designed for a child. Of course, vintage toys are limited, but it's kind of nice to be able to take your time to save up and search for a nice representation of a particular piece...instead of hanging on every spastic rumor and prototype pic of every new release.

I voted "I still collect, but buy more low- to mid-priced items"...when it comes to new toys. I mean, I still drop significant coin on "new" vinyl...but that's just the bizarre microcosm that is vinyl. When it comes to non-vinyl toys, I'm getting about as much fun out of my $20 Hasbro Repulsor Power Iron Man, for example, as I do out of any SoC I've ever owned. That says something. ...To my wallet.

--
Sanjeev

Voted "I still collect, but buy more low- to mid-priced items".

In fact, most of what I collect fits in that category, since I normally don't go for high-end stuff anyways.

Sit vis vobiscum.

I voted "Yes, the high end toys are getting out of my price range."

While I do buy some relatively expensive stuff, prices are getting worse and worse and I will have to accept the fact that I will have to pick and choose what few items I can get. A good example is Yamato's Macross line. Every release of theirs gets more and more expensive. When the 1/48s came out, they were between $100-130. The later 1/60s (pretty much the exact same size) started creeping to $160, then $180, and now retail is over $200.

Hell, Yamato is releasing a line of small action figures to compete with the Revoltech line, and they are starting at $50! In this day and age, Kaiyodo is going to make a KILLING on their fun and affordable plastic magic.

And some of this new stuff coming out, like from CM's for example, retailing at $300?! Count me out.

All of the above.

They're getting too pricy in some areas, yet for the most part they are worth it. I am buying less since I'm spending more per toy, but I still enjoy picking up a nice $10 toy at the store.

I also have stopped collecting certain things to free up funds for the increased prices of certain pieces. I'm not made of money, but I have no life so the money others spend on things like family and activities, I spend on toys.

As the resident Gunpla journalist, The affects of rising production costs of the right grade of Plastic has shown an increase in the price for models let alone completed toys comprised of plastic and diecast. Bandai announced earlier this year that the costs of releasing models will increase. Then there goes the local importer costs due to the increase of Local (Japanese) distributors.

An additional factor I've also noticed in the price jump is the level of sophistication that goes into the production process: parts with extensive detail, the volume of unique parts in individual kits as well as the grade size. THe last kit I recieved as a gift (to be built/reviewed) the 1/100 scale Master Grade Gundam Unicorn (version Ka), whose MSRP ranges from 57$ to 70$ as I have seen due to the specialty parts it uses.

I remember back when Bandai USA charged me a leg and a kidney for the MG RX-78 GP02 (Gundam 0083) when they got the release rights. 80$ for box size.

I voted that they're out of my price range. Honestly, I live on a rather small budget and I find it harder and harder to not feel a sense of buyer's remorse when picking up a toy above even $50. At the same time though, the price-range of high end collectibles keeps me leveled out and also forces me to analyze a toy on a deeper level than I would normally feel necessary; It becomes more of a dedication if anything. Because of that I've been able to really flush out my own toy fetishes and curiosities, "save money" and leave my collection to pieces that issue sentimentality and fervor.

It depends on what it is for me. If it's something that I really want, I'm willing to pay the money for it.

Yeah, the high end ones are. And I do believe you get what you pay for. But, for example, the Fewture Mazingers, and forthcoming Mazinger re-paint, we're talking $250 each. Great piece = high price. But I'm getting selective about what I buy...for every Fewture or Max Factory item I purchase, that means 2-3 Bandai SOCs are not bought.
With 3 kids and a mortgage, the days of multiple toy buys per month are a memory.

I voted, "I still collect, but find that I buy more low to mid-priced items".

I've never had real interest in high-end stuff, preferring not to go over $100 on anything except when that total exceeds due to S&H or tax. The most expensive items off-the-shelf I have is my DX Chouzetsu Gougou Gattai DaiVoyager @ US$110 (an overpriced brick of boring crap), and I got that on a discount; before that, the Transformers: Galaxy Force Primus for a flat $100 (much cooler, but near the same size as DaiVoyager).
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CollectionDX Staff

I used to collect a lot of higher end stuff, but i can't remember the last time I bought ANYTHING at all. As it's been pointed out each release gets more expensive and if you don't snap it up as pre-order you have to hunt it on eBay and pay a premium.

Revoltech is pretty much the only line I could see myself making a purchase from anytime in the near future.

http://www.shadowsend.com

Not only they are getting more and more expensive, but there are more and more of them (SOC, Yamato, CM's, SHE, etc.). I still buy them (one per mold and only the transformable ones), but it's getting REALLY tough to keep up. I wish I could afford something like the Jumbo Grade Zeta, CM's Dancouga Nova, CM's Alpha/Beta set or CM's Great Baangaan, but...

I have found I save up now and buy items I am absolutely sure I love. Wasted alot of dough on stupid robots that I did not research and paid too much because I "just had to have" and then when i got...I was like ehh. Now I try to research and have patience. Also for everyone out there, you really have to be patient, especially with Aoshima and Bandai, they keep redoing and reformating every robot under the sun so if you bought when it first hit the market, you usally over paid and feel very wronged later on.

Put me down in the "Thinking of stopping collecting altogether." category.

Logic and common sense is winning out. Why?

Let's do it in a numbered format. I think I have 7 valid reasons or so that do not overlap.

1: Too expensive. Most of the REALLY cool toys are 50+ dollar pricepoints. I have trouble spending 50 bucks for a videogame, much less a toy. Heck, my DVD purchases have dropped to must haves or the discount bins!
2: Dorky and sad. While to be honest buying a toy doesn't hurt anything except one's bank account, my living room is already known by me as "The birth control living room". Its become a source of embarassment to me.
3: Gets in the way of cleaning. Makes dusting a chore. Moving them to dust is a massive pain. Dusting them is an even bigger pain.
4: Better things to buy. And this isn't counting bills or the ever rising price of gas. Or that I should have money going into savings or to charity. Fun things like hobby gaming, books, comics, movies, and maybe learning a musical instrument get a MUCH better dollar to value fun ratio.
5: They don't do anything. Its like all this money and the amount of fun is measured in minutes. Sure they look rad, but they can look rad online and not cost me anything.
6: I have enough and don't have any more space for the things. Most don't have any room to breathe as is!
7: Hunting for toys is stupid, and ebay scalpers make it even worse. Driving around town looking for a toy only for some fathead to grab it because people will pay mad cash on Ebay BECAUSE THEY GOTTA HAVE IT OR ELSE, or the various online toystores pulling the same sucks. With gas the way it is, a pleasant drive for the sake of getting outside isn't feasible. Neither is looking for a damn hunk of plastic.

Will I still buy the odd inexpensive toy or model kit? Sure! But my days of trying to be a completist or getting high end toys and statues is over.
I envy those of you who can gleefully buy Botcon exclusives or have so many Soul of Chogokins a giant magnet would cause your entire house to fly to the mad scientist's lair.
Price isn't the ONLY reason, but it is the biggest.

I'm choose for the mid range toys. Hell, even I can afford the mid range toys every single month. Usually I go to discounted items, flea market and some people who bored with their collection. Only about 10% of my toys that I bought with SRP price. The rest, I get it with low prices.
With the rising gas price, mortgage, and my first child hopefully comes in December, say goodbye to those high end toys.

Yep, definitely getting out of my range... you can't image the effort mades sometimes to put a hand on those damn high-end limited series. When you observe this can grab up to 40% on your poor monthly budget, you're glad enough to eat affordable potatoes for the 2 upcoming months.
But that's a passion, and even without serious budget, I can't stand just watching those wonders passing under my noze (CDX's video reviews are just like torture sessions sometimes, aaaargh! ;).
The real problem I think is about distribution. Masterpieces, limited or not, should be thought in a wider range, I mean larger quantities for then larger public. The Zoids were a good example of popular and affordable intelligent robot toys. Die-cast generations should follow this idea of popular objects.
Also, here in France you can't imagine how hard it is to get some of the last robotic wonders... we have on a side Toy Shops, selling uninteresting China toys... on the other side, few Movie & Anime Shops raising prices up to x3 because they know it's hard to get cool stuff. Our only local solution to keep prices near correct is to buy straight to Japan or HK, but delivery fees often offer a x2 multiplicator to the final bill...
Since we all know that there are at least 2 generations following these mechanical wonders (adult-still-kids & teen-fans), we should make hear our voices to creators & makers to make 'em see that there are more people here expecting to get those products and it should be wise to make them affordable for everyone. Passion is powered by the heart first, not money...

Its a very depressing situation but quite realistic. We're all coming from the standpoint that there are more expensive and important things that can't be sidelined due to our passion for plastic. I'm in a situation myself where I'm covering more than just my fair share of fuel bills, lately my truck's fuel costs of 80$ (two full tank fuel stops) has covered my , family farm operation expenses, and otherwise just covering other financial needs. In that time I've been slow to purchase let alone build anything. Nor have I had the chance to write; check back from December when I hinted at a coming review for the 1/100 scale EXIA Gundam.

I wish you guys had put an option titled: "yes, but only the ones that chip and break out of the box!"

Sorry for this long comment, but I've got a lot to contribute.

After the last two years, QC has gotten to the point that I almost *expect* serious problems right out of the box if I pay more than $100 for something.

however, I voted: "Yes, the high end toys are getting out of my price range." as with the higher prices, obviously I'm buying less, and even the must-have, sure-things i think twice about and pass on a lot of them.

I can't buy a $200 robot, who's arms don't line up, his paint chips, the plastic is cheap... so for these reasons I buy less, because it seems nobody can deliver a robot toy that doesn't break right away like a model kit for a correct, non-rip-off price (except maybe for some Bandai SOC) in a consistant manner. Go ahead and take a look at this site's reviews for the last 2 years if you think i'm wrong. In all the positive reviews for stuff, someone always says that "...the retail price is too much for this toy." Almost every new toy review, except Revoltech and a few SOCs. I'm not going to pay $200+ just because you've got a few ounces of diecast in there, or it's a show I thought i'd never see a modern gokin of.

I've stopped collecting a bunch of lines and shows (Macross is the big one i've stopped, as well as Transformers) because the price vs. value is just way too uneven. Or, online retailers sell out, and I see 50 ebay scalpers charging x3 the retail price.

The price vs. value issue has been very very high on my mind. CM's and Aoshima's MOSPEADA releases disapointed me so much, I was planning on getting 2 TREAD sets but after Josh's review, I'll pass. I'm not going to pay $300 for a *tops* $150 toy no matter what anyone says. Also, both company's Ride Armor sets were the perfect example of overpriced garbage. Really, if you're paying $50+ for a 4-inch figure, you shouldn't have ANY problems, it should be PERFECT, or at least have nice paint, and not break within 10 minutes. If it does, you send it back, and get your money back. If you bought it on ebay, send it back to the company who made it, or at least request a replacement. People don't even do that. Robot collecting is the only hobby I know where people will put up with this level of QC without doing anything about it.

Another popular item lately I've passed on because of price was Tatio's ARCADIA from CAPTAIN HARLOCK. If you know me, you know i'm obssessed with that show and buy tons of stuff from Matsumoto's shows & mangas. But as soon as it came out, it was sold out everywhere for $15-20 each. Within a week, there were tons of pre-orders and such on Ebay, with the lowest price starting at $45. C'mon, that's ridiculous, and stupid- get a job, i'm not going to pay you $25 just because you clicked faster than me, that stupid. And if you're going to pay this guy that extra $25, and I know many reading this have or will, then you have no right to complain about the prices of collectibles, because you're part of the problem.

It's a niche hobby, so expecting Star Wars-type toy numbers of your favorite anime robot from 1975 is not realistic at all. BUT- you do have the ultimate power over these companies- by NOT BUYING THE OVERPRICED TOY! Tell CMs or whoever that you're not going to be ripped off. I did- I canceled my order at HLJ and wrote emails to them and CMs, saying how overpriced the toy was, that I was planning on buying two, and that they just lost $600 in sales because they were too greedy with the price, and the QC was bad. I made sure to stress that i wasn't buying it because it was Mospeada. I wasn't buying it because they made it poorly and were trying to take advantage of a fanbase that has waited over 20 years for this one toy to come out. Obviously that's the only reason it's so expensive. It's certainly not diecast content!

We all know that with rising fuel and plastic costs, prices are going to go up. But Japanese robots is the ONLY, ONLY hobby I've ever seen where as time goes on, price goes up, and the customer consistently, for the last 10 years, has gotten less and less. Engineering, extreme detail... these things cost money, and it is ok to charge more for these things, but when the company expects a 400% profit margin on everything they put out (Toynami! I'm lookin at you!) that's unrealistic, greedy, and wrong. And they should be called out and publicly insulted for their greed and poor product!

The only exception i can note of this trend is Bandai's Soul Of Chogokin line, which while it has its flaws is much better priced overall for what you get and they are nice quality (but the last year has been tons of very expensive sets, and while they are nice, I still think that every one of them could easily have been sold for $40-50 less. Plus Bandai is a HUGE huge company, so of course their costs will be less)

I think also, I've noticed on several of the robot forums, that many in the community seem to ignore these problems, or just deal with it in silence. This creeping-up issue of price is spoken about a lot, but *nobody seems to change their buying habits!* They complain about Transformers being $10-15 a pop, but still buy them all! They complain about ebay prices and scalpers, but then BAM! I see their username paying $20-30 over retail to some guy for the latest Revoltech figures.

There are a few "first adopters" who buy the lastest thing for way too much money and then post on the boards about it. These guys, 9 times out of 10, are the guys who encourage importers to get greedy, and charge triple the retail price, because "OMG! I've got to have it!" or "it's rare and i'll never see it again!" well, it just came out. it's not rare. you shouldn't be paying this guy extra money just because he can click faster than you!

And then, of course, instead of calling the ebay seller or store out in the forums, or encouraging a boycott, people just buy from them anyway. instead, they complain about how they were overcharged $3 on $6 shipping from Hong Kong to Alaska, and how much of a jerk that guy was. But you know, the guy selling the latest Bounty Hunter vinyl kaiju for x4 the retail, that's ok... There's about 4 HK and Japanese Ebay Stores and 2 in the US I 100% refuse to buy from, because they jack up prices so high, or they buy stuff on Yahoo! Japan, and charge x3 to x4 the price the next day on Ebay in English or French. it's way out of line.

Well, also to play devil's advocate, this discussion is not a new one. Godaikins were pretty expensive in the 1980's as well. $70-100 was a lot of money then (and still is!). My father used to work at a toy store in the 70's-80's, during the golden eras of Shogun Warriors, Godaikins, and Mego, and he remembers parents complaining about the prices of the Godaikin line, too. Ha, $70 for a Godaikin Voltes, what a rip-off! ;)

I liked the comments aboved touched upon alot of true issues. All i can say, is I like the look of the robots and two pieces of advice help, like life, love, food, etc..anything is great in moderation don't let your collection become so big it is embarrassing (as stated above)and sucks up anything other than mad money (that you might blow on poker or magic, etc)If it gets to cumbersome do the one in one out of your collection that I am doing now. Second, and I really really need to pay attention to this myself...is be patient, don't pay so much in the heat "must have" or burning need (my biggest issue) because you missed out on realease and just think it will go up and up (like the Konami Gurran)...and usually you either get reviews later that help you choose wisely (or sometimes that you won't even like it) or you can usally get cheaper later. Granted items like EX-gokin getter 1 blk ver can majorly bite you...but more often what happens (in my experience)is you see later cheaper and are like doh!!!
As for blaming ebayers for being sharks, I both buy and sell...and why I hate paying too much and then see cheaper...I have never been anything other than happy if there is a bid war and I make alot on the robot I sold...basically take care of your $$ choices and don't make villains out of people making $.
Lastly, don't mean to sound like capitalist pig, but while SOC has great quality vs. price, they constantly re-release Everything so they usually fall in value. The robots to skyrocket, are common sense ones, a great robot that does not get re-release and people begin to get crazy for like Masterpiece Ultra Magnus (only one not redone and it is 2X the SEP). And do you need to keep track of the EX-gokin line that people laughed at buying for 350USD and now run for at least 100 more than that and the insane BLK ver Getter 1 going for a Grand....1000usd, a down payment on a car. I love the look of that Getter and like it but if I ever pay 1000 for it, I will check myself in the hospital for addiction. I did buy the reg 1,2,3 for 3oo usd each so the straight jacket is warmed up...lol ( I did follow my above rules and sold 5 others per getter to afford one EX-gokin BTW)

+1 with The Big R for main lines...

... he wisely made me remember of Revoltech's nice idea with their affordable and generously distributed figures. This example should inspire other companies for making popular quality toys everyone could buy. Here, in Frogland, local shops are honest with final retail price of those products, near equal to usual direct import price + shipping.

Another good example of really sympathic affordable figures is the Kotobukiya's kit series (Variable Infinity sets, about Armored Core). High detailed model kits, easy to assemble with reasonable colour base... all this at a fair price for very good looking final poseable figure.

I didn't know the word "Scalpers" for Eb. grinches... but not all sellers are that bad, and as told in the message just up this one, with patience it's possible to find fair deals with honest sellers. Anyway, lines are still opened to write the ultimate "Collecting robot figures for dummies"...
;)

Getting (or better, has long gotten) way outta line, imho.

These aren't vintage toys, folks. They're fresh off the assembly line... that can even be easily run again in the event that they sell out.

Problem is, collectors keep paying up, so mfg's will continue to increase prices.

It's rather discouraging, the more I think about it. :-/

It seems to be my thoughts on the whole subject matter is that toys are just one of the fewest things on the agenda to be taken seriously when it comes to money matters. When the costs of a gallon of milk outweigh a gallon of gas, and a full tank of gas exceeds the costs of a month's grocery bills.

I live in the heart of the Agriculture circle, and the prices of necessitites: fuel, feed, and selling prices (livestock) are rediculously out of whack: last week alone we spent $320.01 for Dyed-Diesel at $3.99 a gallon, which will be used sparingly over the next four months in which time the cost will most likely reach the expected $5.99 a gallon, for a fuel that is almost exclusive to farm equipment. Our farm also sees a $200-250 cost for feed each month, which again is likely to increase due to the current state of the agricultural business. Two months ago the feed was less than $7.28 a bag, now its climbed to nearly $9.28. There is almost No corn for Feed because many of the large scale farms around here (from Tifton to Alapaha)that sought to profit from the 'demand' for Ethanol production, and this last year's crops were terrible due to the drought conditions. So no corn for fuel turned into no corn for feed either. As a response to that, the prices of Livestock at Market are miserable and the retuns of a two man operation (Such my family farm) are bearly at the break-even point, let alone on the much larger operations where groups are just 'dropping' their herds because they cannot afford to feed them. So the market becomes cheaper when the market is flooded. So we can't sell our herd to make any money because nobody's buying. Add in the recent string of tainted meat reports, nobody wants to buy sick looking, malnurished cows. Thats just me being paranoid but so be it.

So like I said, Its not so much for me the quality or the price of the toy that I'd collect that sets me off, but the priorities that must be paid for. If something is available somewhere at some other time, then perhaps I can get it then, but first things first: I've got to buy feed for my cows, dog food and maybe something to eat myself. I've been staring at some things for years now, but because I have other things that need to be paid for, I let them go.

My take on new figure pricing is this:

1) Any price of a toy is fine if I genuinely feel like I received that much value out of it, both on the levels of "fun" and "monetary" perception. But the current elitist price trends almost never deliver a product that feels truly justified. Personally I don't give a damn whether a figure is ltd. edition or any of that crap. Whatever the cost of a brand new figure is AT RETAIL, I expect that much value out of it when comparing/contrasting to the other figures in my collection and the comparative prices I have paid for them.
This is exactly why I will not be buying the CM Dancouga Nova for the ridiculous price of $600.

2) There is never an excuse for the extremes of poor QC that are currently taking place. I can handle an overspray, but if a company can't put out a figure that holds itself together, then that company needs to hop back on their damn pony and get the hell out of dodge.

3) Part of the appeal of toy and figure collecting has always been the low-brow kitsch of it all. It's always been a -relatively- cheap and easy hobby, and this accessability keeps us around and brings new people in, but with this current trend of elitist "perceived value" pricing, a large portion of appeal goes right out the door.

Lastly, I agree with Sanjeev about the amount of fun that can be found in real toys. More often than not my $10 purchases at Target are just as fun as the $100+ purchases. Cases in point: I love my $20 Mugenbine Pharoah, and the Ben 10 Wildvine is awesome.

The problem is that high price does not mean quality. A case in point is Brave Gokin's Tread and Legioss. First off I am glad that somebody finally produced the Tread but the quality of the toy is not worth $300.00 price tag.

Yesterday I had the chance to view the toy at Frank in Sons and it just looked cheap, the box art design and the toy itself. The review on Collection DX isn't too positive either. The art design on the box looks like something that one would see on a cheap toy at the swap meet. At $300.00 a unit they could at least put some effort into the box, have some Tokyo art student design some great looking box that just screams " I need to own this!" $300.00 is a lot of money and i expect to get a well fitting nice looking toy as the end product. At $300 I expect a family heirloom!

The Soul of Chogokin Toys are great example of an expensive toy that you certainly pay for but it usually meets and surpasses all expectations and they are usually a classy toy that displays well.

The point is that if a manufacture is going to charge the punters a lot of money for their product, the product should worth the value one paid for it.

Cheers
Leonardo

We'll fight them on the Beaches!

I stopped collecting this stuff after i bought both the fewture great mazinger and mazinger z toys for obscene ammounts of cash. It seemed common sense finally got a grip and I was over my habbit...i mean hobby. Bt NO! Whlst I moved away from gokin and that sorta crap I've now become a slave to the 1/6 figure market. Since December and about 4000.00 dollars later, I've now gone through the hot toy, takara, sideshow and medicom back catalogue and feel buyers remorse like never before. Sure this stuff is know getting out of my price range. But the problem is folks that I'm sure i'm not the only one to admit this; we are slaves to our hobby, our passion if you will. You have to admit that its a hell of a ride and the thrill of opening that much sort after piece to add to your collection is what makes this thing fun?! I do feel exploited sometimes with these stupid high prices but no one holds a gun to our heads forcing us to buy this crap right?

Oh yeah...VIVA PITU ! Its your fault yo! I blame you lol =)

Great poll, inspiring many different opinions. I'm a recent SOC convert, and the way I see it, a $150-$250 SOC is a great value for a toy that is well-built, a nice display piece, and highly interactive. I'm also a Transformers fan, and I'd prefer an SOC over a Masterpiece Transformer. The SOC toys even end up being nice conversation pieces too, because most people don't instantly recognize the robots, and they look really damn good. So I do see positive aspects for the high-end toys.

Even the prohibitively high prices can be a good thing, because I have to be extremely discriminative with what I buy, and not flood my house with toys. So I'll be willing to buy a toy in the $150+ range, as long as the toy represents that value in my opinion.

I don't usually spend too much money on one toy for my collection. The most expansive i got are my Wolkaiser (80$) and Saintkaiser (75$). Even if I'm seriously interested in buying a Magiking complete collection, I feel bad to spend 150+ on ONE toy, even if it's a great one.

"Awww man, that’s one ugly zord..." Tommy about BA Drivemax Megazord.

These toys are getting to cost much... My most prized robots are the "Soul Of Chogokin" which are fantastic collectables. But the prices I've seen lately compared to a few years back are outrageous. Just look at the prices for these robots on BigBadToyStore.com and a few other anime related sites.

I don't want to pay almost $300.00 for "God Mars". There are so many cool old school robots there putting out now, but when does it stop. In the end it's just a toy that sits on display or stays in a box reminding you of simpler days and ultimate robot coolness... In the end I'll spend about $120 for a robot, more is just a rip off to milk you for more bills.

I voted that they are getting out of my price range. I mean, I'll continue collecting of course, but I'm just getting more and more selective about what I get. It's got to be a character with a nice design, with a sculpt I like, by a company I trust and for a price I can justify. And even then I no longer just automatically pre-order everything like I used to. More and more I'm waiting for reviews and shopping around for the best price.

"This must be settled the way nature intended....with a vicious, bloody fight!"
Onyx Blackman
Principal, Flatpoint High

I think my attitude to toys is a little different from most of yours. I play with my toys. Since there are a limited number of hours in a day, playing with toys is not realistic if you have more than 4 or 5. I buy one or two toys a year (only after extensive research, usually based on reviews provided by this site) and I sell or give away 1 or 2 a year. Since my toy input is relatively controlled, if I think it's worth it, I'm willing to invest in an expensive toy. But I think it usually isn't worth it, and have so far only one toy costing more than 100$ (Yamato 1/48 Valkyrie).