Canadian Transformers News and Discussion Forum

[MaP_Prime]

Well there is certainly a valid point here, but lets not forget that Hasbro doesn't sell these toys directly to us. They sell the toys to retailers (Wal Mart, TRU) who then sell the toys to us. So in many ways Hasbro has to juggle producing a product consumers want to buy, and product that retailers want to sell. So if this means they have to have 4 waves of toys out in a year (for example) with wave 1 having all new toys, and with each following wave having 2 new toys and 2 repaints they have to keep up a pretty steady pace to have new product ready to go. So this means that they have to have toys constantly going onto the shelves that are different in some way from the toys in the wave before.

I bet Hasbro would love to be able to produce a high demand toy that will sell at profitable rates for years and years, but the issue there is that the retailers may not like that idea. To the retailers they want new stuff constantly so customers will see the new thing and want to buy it. So there are certainly pros meaning that we as fans and collectors are lucky in that we have new stuff constantly coming down the pipe, and given the quality of stuff from lines like Generations and RtS that is certainty not a bad thing even in the slightest. The downside is that the new stuff comes and goes pretty quick, not really a big deal for collectors who are in the game now and have been for some time. The issue is for new collectors and collectors on a budget who have to pick Jazz over Tracks, and then not being able to find Tracks when they have the money for him a few months or a year down the line.

I think it mostly sucks for new collectors. I'll use myself as an example. When I first started collecting again just before the 07 movie, I came on right at the tail end of the original Classics line, and was fairly lucky in that I was able to get every mold save for Bumblebee and Megatron in stores. Given that those two were not being produced when I started getting Classics again I had to resort to ebay. So yeah, it kinda sucks in that regard.

I think it is really hard to say what the ideal situation is, given there are so many differing factors competeing for how toys are released. Though in my opinion I think the fact that Transformers are still being made and are still big sellers that have retailers constantly demanding new toys from Hasbro is a good thing.