I found a video review from evaluating this set from the perspective of a jurassic park toy collector. Thing is, these collaborative figures are equally targeted at fans of the other franchise that don't normally get transformers as well. I think with a lot of these crossover figures, we have a habit of falling into an echo chamber of evaluating them from the perspective of being only intended for transformers fans, and judging them more harshly as a result, JP93 in particular. Problem there is, this set was designed to be a Transformers version of the regular JP anniversary set. Still, probably doesn't add all that much.Īs for the people saying JP93 should have been sold separately. Because this crossover packaging totally isn't the same sort of scene-from-the-movie backdrop insert as Studio Series. I'd also argue that those backdrops are more interesting and practical than this crossover packaging.Riiiiight.
Otherwise Studio Series figures would cost $5 more than WFC figures since they have the extra stand alone display backdrop included. They're like advertising designed to draw you to the figure inside with the understanding that most people are going to throw it away. Packaging is rarely a factor in prices unless it's something super premium. TF-fan kev777 City Commander Posts: 3338 News Credits: 35 Joined: Thu 5:48 pm Because the final package looks great and would probably generate a lot of impulse buys if it were sitting on a shelf in a toy section. The real shame is that the set was an Amazon exclusive and not at brick and mortar stores. It just hit the right nostalgia buttons for me, and I suspect quite a few others. This is one case where I actually like the final product including the packaging and am accepting of the final price. But then you lose the iconic scene, and have Rexy with no official tie to Jurassic Park. If Hasbro decided to release Rexy as just a normal new head leader redeco not attached to the film, I would have bought it happily.Ī separate, simpler package for JP93 with less art, him in robot mode, and no outer box, might have meant they would be able to release him at a more reasonable price, say $40-$45. Now I'm a fan of the toys first, and the package normally doesn't matter that much to me at all. So while the set cost 2x retail leader price and gave us a leader and a deluxe the extra $30 had to cover all those items above, just to compare against a regular retail release, and then account for whatever profit margins Hasbro requires due to lesser numbers being released than regular retail. Someone needed to transform all the assembled bots before packaging.
Finally the assembly process has an extra step because of the packaging. The package also have a outer plain box on top that retail figures don't. The package has much more surface area covered with artwork to complete the iconic scene.
The packaging, this is one item I haven't seen considered much, and it actually has a couple levels to it. Considering how many colors were used, not only the materials but the paint process steps are added costs above a normal figure. Paint budget, the paint work on both figures is great, but especially complex and detailed on JP93 well beyond what most retail figures go. Double licensing, enough has been said about this. All of these items add cost to the set overall, but are basically invisible or non-tangible costs when you are just looking at the figures.