>>6795903>I can see the arguments for less complicated figure>be it plastic pricesThe thing is, plastic (or more specifically, oil) prices actually came well before the complexity drop and Hasbro addressed the issue by simply charging a little bit more. It started with $10 deluxes going up to $12-15 and voyagers going up to about $23-25, depending on where you shopped. None of us were thrilled about it but we were still getting, for the most part, great figures across several different lines so we still felt we were getting our money's worth. Eventually oil prices dropped back down to the norm but that's about when Hasbro decided to introduce the complexity drop, justifying it as "they were to complex for the target age group". PRiD saw the beginnings of this, as did the current wave of Generations but things still weren't too bad yet and we still saw some absolute gems hitting shelves. Suspiciously though, despite stabilizing oil prices and a noticeable drop in complexity, figure prices remained the same for some reason, even though production should have been theoretically cheaper. Then CW and AoE hit and complexity and quality took a fucking nose dive and the prices actually STILL went up. From then on, we've been sitting at $16+ deluxes and nearly $30 voyagers, all of which transform in about 5 steps, lack decent paint apps, are made with cheap waxy plastics, piss poor QC, and are riddled with hollow gaps. If I recall correctly, the simplification and corner cutting really hit full force when Warden took over and is the result of he and his bean counters realizing that regardless of the price, ignorant parents and starved fans would but it all anyway and just decided to see how much they could get away with before people finally took notice. Considering the shit they're still pumping out and looking at everyone stroking TR and PotP's dicks here, few people have yet.
