To quote Aaron Rogers: relax, R-E-L-A-X. No way Hasbro out prices their fan base. A $10 price increase out of the blue would cause such fan backlash as to have their sales drop to he point that any increase in price of new figures would be offset by the loss of collectors who drop the line.
Hasbro is in a groove. They are producing the best line on the market right now in terms of sculpting, quality, and variety there is no way they show the arrogance to think we would accept that steep of a price increase to continue collecting. Image that Hasbro, who loves to repackage the same figures with a slight color change or in a multipack also decides that we are suckers enough to buy that same figure with a huge increase of cost!?! We all complain to some degree that repacks are out of hand, there is no way this line can sustain the same business model and practices of releasing essentially the same product at a higher price point. Hasbro would have to adopt a entirely new approach to how they release repaints.
another point, the recent MCU/ 80th anniversary sets. Many retailers immediately dropped the price to sell out their stock. Are the big box stores really going to hope consumers will spend the higher price point when they panicked and dropped the cost of new sets days after release?
new releases sell well due to the demand for new products but once the rush is over the those waves are stagnant. Would big box adopt the higher price point just for new releases? Doubt it. They still need to sell their stock, and consumers will balk at high prices. I have left entire waves from FYE and GameStop due to their rediculous prices.
i guess it's wait and see. Personally I can take the price hit if I so choose, but i guarantee I'd be more selective on which figures I bought. With the amount of product Hasbro has been putting out it doesn't seem like Hasbro would force us to be so restrained