Is it possible the margins on these are even higher than on the cheap Pro versions they do? Just seems to me like Gav said, bizarre move.

But having said that, it does set Stern in front of a mainstream audience, and could potentially be rewarding, and introduce new people into home ownership, to stumble across forums like this and discover there are real games from the B/W era that can be had for the same or lesser money. So could end up a good thing.

Good point, but if u wanted a very wide audience to get to know you, your products and your branding, would you want to be judged with that product as your mascot ? It could backfire big time.
I agree that the Transformers Pro was a basic cost cut pinny when released, but the new offerings when it comes to the PRO model like AC/DC and
X Men certainly arent cheap, not in overall makeup. Cheap in price, but not cheap in quality or design, not to me anyway.
You make a good point about B/W games. In the USA, pro-rata, are there many more households who have a pinny than in Australia ?
That would be a interesting one to know ?