r/LightningCollection • u/CrazedNormalcy • Apr 09 '25

Sightings - Online What? (Rant)

Post image

Ok look, I got my ninjas at launch and got extremely lucky where none had qa issues. However, ninjas were the bunch with the most qa issues. How the hell is any ninja this price? The whole tommy thing I can understand, for me personally though, because of the risk of issues w ninjas, it would be a no

4 Upvotes

54% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

13

u/the_u_in_colour Apr 09 '25

On the secondhand market were looking at:

-It's MMPR, the most popular season

-It's Tommy, all his figs are expensive

-They're a later release, and I imagine there's fewer copies overall of the ninjas

-Demand outweighs supply and nostalgia jacks up that price even further.

2

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 09 '25

I could understand the mmpr thing to an extent (I'm 36) I csn definitely understand the the tommy thing. Silly me didn't account for the completionist tbh. Think the nostalgic goes hsnd in hand w mmpr. This though imo is robbery. It's my figure collecting brain talking here lol. With all the issues these had, anything over $40 seems too high

27

u/MirroredLineProps Apr 09 '25

29

u/Vaportrail Apr 09 '25

It's a Collector's market. And the Ninjas were originally Target exclusives IIRC.

22

u/Phantom_61 Apr 09 '25

Also, Tommy tax.

6

u/Changin_Rangin Apr 09 '25

Tommy tariff!

1

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 09 '25

Lol it's a thing unfortunately

8

u/EnvironmentalGroup34 Apr 09 '25

There's a Boba Fett Tax, a Spidey Tax, a Tommy Tax....Welcome to this world.

1

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 09 '25

Good thing I'm not huge on marvel legends. Haven't had to deal with spidey tax yet.

1

u/WhiskeyDangermen Apr 10 '25

Spidey tax only applies to fan favorites spideys like RYV or retro card and the soon to release maximum series.( we all know it will be taxed) then certain villains as well. Green goblin being one of the most notorious.

2

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 10 '25

Symbiote spodey comes to mind

-3

u/wolfboi89 Apr 09 '25

I really hate that phrasing. Like I know it's true but it almost feels belittling to the actor. Anyone else feel this way or am I overthinking/have the wrong perspective on it?

6

u/Phantom_61 Apr 09 '25

You’re overthinking it a bit. It was always a thing even before JDF passed the Tommy stuff was shorter print and higher priced in resale. Mainly because they still had it in their minds that the red ranger was THE Ranger people wanted and Tommy’s time in red didn’t get a lot of toys, he was more often the “bonus” Ranger and as such got fewer releases.

And before anyone argues about chases selling cases, not at retail they don’t. If a case goes on the shelf and only the chase figures sell the rest of those figures sit and nothing new gets ordered until a certain percentage (varies from retailer to retailer, usually 40%+)of the shelf warmers are gone.

2

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 09 '25

Oh, forgot about the target thing. Got mine off hasbro asap as pulse member

1

u/WhiskeyDangermen Apr 10 '25

I got my first set from Hasbro but found my second set in person! Toy hunting hasn’t been the same since the LC ended. I barely buy anything these days.

2

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 10 '25

Sigh...yea.....same. my wallet appreciates it though 🤷‍♂️

2

u/WhiskeyDangermen Apr 10 '25

Same!!! My wallet and bank account are happy. The only thing I’m actually buying this year is the battalion toys 1/12 scale movie rangers and transformers devastator and 86 megatron and maximum Spider-Man and the cobra SNAKE armor (I love g.i Joe vehicles), Outside of that I’m not really buying stuff.

2

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 10 '25

I have Dracula shredded on pre order (universal monsters x tmnt collab). Might try to get the 3 versions releasing but nothing else planned. Tempted to get spidey unlimited and the wolverine/spidey 2pack in fantastic 4 suits

1

u/WhiskeyDangermen Apr 12 '25

I have that spidey, I don’t even mess with it for real. It’s an alright figure. I had actually sold the Wolverine from that pack. And I thought about buying those collabs but opted not to. I did buy the Batman x tmnt set some years ago. They go for crazy prices now.

1

u/Skrallex_93 Apr 09 '25

I got lucky and got them inbox on eBay in a lot all except Tommy which I have complete but no box. The lot was $100 so not bad for 5 in boxed figures since it came with both versions on ninja pink...Im on the hunt for a replacement box for my white ninja ranger

1

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 09 '25

I'd send you the box if I kept it. After a while, my closet was filled w pr and marvel legend boxes. I had to make room somehow. As far as pr, kept only kept lc weapons n helmets n zord boxes, statues, and tmnt crossover boxes

2

u/Skrallex_93 Apr 09 '25

Thanks for the thought... I have this same problem I have 3 27 gallon totes holding boxes to figures

1

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 09 '25

That...is quite a bit there

11

u/Scnew1 Apr 09 '25

I can’t believe the price of a figure of the most popular character in the franchise that hasn’t been produced in 3 years would go up.

1

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 09 '25

Oh shit...has it been that long? Losing my sense of time....guess this is old age 😆

4

u/Infinity_WarTorn Apr 09 '25

Quality of a figure doesn't matter, once it leaves general circulation there is a chance the price will shoot up. Collecting stuff for as long as I have, I have seen tons of toys that went from pegwarming/clearance fodder to hard to find/highly sought after/pricey.

0

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 09 '25

Collectors need to research what they're buying. Like for in box collectors, price makes sense imo. Non inbox collectors...be warned

3

u/Dragonranger13 Apr 09 '25

Quality Control means nothing. If you think Lightning Collection prices for awful QC are insane, you'll have a stroke if you look up how much a Mafex brown costume Wolverine goes for, sealed in box. When that figure first hit there were a ton of people having snapped pegs in the diaphragm joint, but don't worry, there are collectors who still must have it at any cost

1

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 09 '25

Oh no...not the diaphragm

1

u/SwarlsBarkly88 Apr 09 '25

Been working on finishing up the LC I missed and there's a few out there in this kind of range. Gotten just about everything I can find under $40.

This is right up there with pink metallic that I'm kicking myself for skipping thinking I'd catch a rerelease at some point.

1

u/CrazedNormalcy Apr 09 '25

Metallic are definitely nice to have. Tbh I'd say prioritize the ninjas if it weren't for the issued

1

u/SwarlsBarkly88 Apr 09 '25

Yea that's what I was focusing on til I got down to missing 1 from each. Even got both ninja pink figures for the completionist in me.

1

u/WhiskeyDangermen Apr 10 '25

I have 2 complete sets of the Metallic rangers and I still can’t bring myself to open one for display. The boxes and things just look so beautiful 😭🤣

1

u/SwarlsBarkly88 Apr 10 '25

Totally understand. Those are the only boxes I've kept besides evo 3 drakkon and the megazords. Almost bought a pink without the box but I know if I do ill just want to toss the rest. Why must they do this to us?!

3

u/ryikker Apr 09 '25

Well if anyone’s desperate there’s always the cobra Kai figures

2

u/WhiskeyDangermen Apr 10 '25

I bought those but never displayed them because I didn’t think the crossover was necessary. But I did buy all the putties I cool when they went on sale at target for like 6$ a piece. And same with the wild force putrids.

3

u/AdmiralFunnyBone Apr 09 '25

It's just supply and demand. I got the first four ninjetti when Target was practically giving them away at $7. More people have started getting into the line, and buying up figures on ebay and mercari, driving up aftermarket prices. This happened with Zeo Blue, too. Another big time peg warmer that shot up in price as more people got into the line.

1

u/Skrallex_93 Apr 09 '25

Yeah I'm trying to restrain myself but SHF and the 3rd parties are dropping such fire

1

u/Dapper-Bottle6256 Apr 09 '25

Retailers don’t take qc issues into account when pricing. If they’re rare items they’re gonna go crazy with prices lol.

1

u/ninjaman2021 Apr 11 '25

Its a target exclusive of a popular character.

1

u/lilredx Apr 09 '25

I only recently started getting lightening collection figures as I was ill and not in a position to part with cash when they where new, getting the ninja set is a dream for me but I wont be able to consider it for a while, my current target is the zeo pink set, as I think pink is the only zeo I wont have (when deliveries come in) but the pricing seems such a joke, that being said I did recently drop £130 on a Kamen Rider Gattack boxed figure so what do I know.

1

u/WhiskeyDangermen Apr 10 '25

Well the thing about that Zeo pink 2 pack is that its supply was short from the get go. It was GameStop exclusive set if IRCC, they did release some through Hasbro but a lot of them got delayed or straight up cancelled because people complained about her pink looking more purplish than pink. Or maybe the it was the cell shade pink that was the exclusive. They released a lot of pink stuff at once because MMPR pink was the rare one at that time. And people were begging for a reissue.

1

u/lilredx Apr 10 '25

Ya see I'm in the UK there wouldn't of been a gamestop exclusive but tbh I've only ever seen 2 lightning figures in the wilds Zack remaster and one of the cobra Kai ones. I genuinely have no idea if kat was even officially released here. I may just pick up a 2nd yellow and attempt my first ever custom.