In terms of proportionate price difference it's similar to say the difference between a Movie Deluxe and Robot Replicas - non-transformable figures who don't do much but have more accurate sculpting at a lower price point. In my opinion - and this is purely my opinion - I'd rather go for the slightly dearer figure that can transform.

And to see it from a kid's POV, in 1991 I got Classic Sideswipe and Action Master Sideswipe only a few weeks or months apart from each other (as both toys came out in the same year). And I distinctly remember thinking how disappointing AM Sideswipe was compared to Classic Sideswipe - and these were toys purchased with pocket money so I was aware of the price difference. But I felt that Classic Sideswipe was WAY better value. I didn't buy any more of the 1991 AMs (the few that I have now have since been acquired off the secondary market for cheap ) and instead saved up my pocket money for Classic Tracks - bearing in mind that buying boxed Transformers was a big purchase when we were kids But given the choice of buying multiple cheaper Action Masters or a single dearer transformable figure with my childhood pocket money, I chose the latter.

JMO