4 Ways The Rumored Transformers: The Last Knight Premier Edition Price Increase Could Be Good For Us

Nobody likes price increases on their favorite toys. Nobody who isn't a Hasbro or toy store shareholder, at any rate. And while RAC is still adjusting to Deluxes not being $10 anymore despite the number of years that had been so, he's been mulling over the idea that the rumored price hike to $20 per Deluxe for Premier Edition could represent a new approach to Generations-style adult-focused Transformers toys - and surprisingly, he doesn't think the idea is all bad. Keep reading for the silver lining!

4. Resealable Packaging Could Become The Norm

Hasbro likes to have unified plans for their products, with as many lines as possible adhering to a certain pattern. Case in point: the similarities between the Marvel Legends and Star Wars Black Series lines of 6" figures. Take a look:

That's a bit easier to do with humanoid figures, so it's likely TF Premier won't be the exact same form. But the boxed figures sure do look similar.

So, that's what makes it good for Hasbro. What makes it good for us? Resealable packaging. Unless you like playing with razor blades - don't play with razor blades, any kids who might be reading this - there's very few ways to get your toy out of current Generations packaging cleanly, let alone without causing anything you could call damage. The move to a slightly more expensive line that meets the packaging standards of the rest of Hasbro's adult-collector output could mean that everything would get shipped in a nice, resealable box from now on.

3. It Draws A Firmer Line Between Kid And Adult Lines

One of the reasons Hasbro has said that it eased off the more complex transformations of the earlier movie and Generations toylines is that the complexity was failing to be fun for children, especially the younger ones. Honestly, RAC found some of them were failing to be fun for him, so he's pretty happy with where Generations is now. But this isn't something that's universally true, naturally- some people really adore super-complex Transformers. With a greater distinction between the adult and kids' lines, this could potentially free Hasbro to once again elevate their puzzle play pattern to the "5000-piece jigsaw of a polar bear in a snowdrift" difficulty level. (Once in a while, hopefully, and not all the time.)

2. It Provides The Potential For More Paint Operations

This is something that Transformers in general has struggled with since at least 2009. There is a wealth of sculpted detail on the modern Transformer, particularly when we're talking about the positively baroque character designs for the Transformers movies. And there's never enough paint to cover it all. If a potential price increase were to translate to a slight increase in paint applications, it could make a difference across the line. In fact, the two Premier Dinobots we've seen so far have lovely full-body metallic paintjobs. ...well, lovely if a little monochromaticmovie-accurate. So we could well be seeing this in action already!

1. It Could Make For Broader Distribution

So, you may have noticed when you were scouring Walgreens for Titans Return Brainstorm that Walgreens carries a lot more of Marvel Legends and Star Wars Black Series figures than Transformers. They're not the only ones, but let's focus on them for a moment. The Walgreens in my area have nearly always had one peg with three figures on it - when Brainstorm was afoot, that was briefly expanded to two pegs. Meanwhile, there are row upon row of Black series and Marvel Legends in the aisles and on the endcaps. If Hasbro were able to rebrand Generations/Premier as an explicitly adult-oriented toyline, with a pricing standard identical to their other adult toylines, it could help convince Walgreens and other sellers like Gamestop to give it a similar amount of space in their stores - potentially expanding availability for us greatly. Value for a dollar is largely a personal thing, but being able to actually find things on a first or second try sounds awfully appealing.

Granted, all of this is based on what are, as of this pre-Toy Fair writing, rumors. The evidence in favor of a line-wide price increase on the Premier Edition is circumstantial, relying on unreliable price data from retailers who've been known to mismark things early in (Target) or simply mark things up unreasonably (Toys R Us). But if the Transformers toyline makes a conscious effort to match Hasbro's other output, hopefully that could bring some of the benefits We've listed here. Or maybe others!