How big is the online toy community?

[Jove]

Originally Posted by 79transam

The lack of data available makes Hasbros assertions nothing more than unsubstantiated claims. Taking their word for it is kinda like beliving a door to door salesman ir his word

Except the door to door guy has a reason to lie: to make himself took better. What's Hasbro's reason to underestimate the number of collectors? Why would they? Sheer obstructionism? Their job, their ONLY job is to sell toys. It is in their interest to know their customers.

Having said that, I'm not implying that Hasbro's old numbers are valid for today, or will be valid in 10 years, I'm not because they are likely flawed. But - (and it's a big but) estimating our own numbers based on what "feels" true, or on the activities of people we know personally, is even more flawed.

Unless we have actual market research, it is all conjecture.

[79transam]

Because Hasbro is always under scrutiny for poor distribution and for failing to meet the needs of adult collectors. By under representing the adult collector numbers, it effectively invalidates their argument

[MilanX3]

Originally Posted by Jove

Except the door to door guy has a reason to lie: to make himself took better. What's Hasbro's reason to underestimate the number of collectors? Why would they? Sheer obstructionism? Their job, their ONLY job is to sell toys. It is in their interest to know their customers.

Having said that, I'm not implying that Hasbro's old numbers are valid for today, or will be valid in 10 years, I'm not because they are likely flawed. But - (and it's a big but) estimating our own numbers based on what "feels" true, or on the activities of people we know personally, is even more flawed.

Unless we have actual market research, it is all conjecture.

They likely have tonnes of their own market research, but tend to hold their cards close...so they release some of their internal data in industry articles and for commercial research, but I assure you they have alot of data, likely departments dedicated just to producing this material...but they dont make it completely public as they dont want their competition knowing their numbers they paid alot of money to produce. In Canada they may have hired a firm to produce this research,,,Market Research is a pretty large industry...but we only get data in brief notes in articles.

[Scowly Prowl]

There's a thread on TFW that got sidetracked, and I was a bit surprised to see the spread in ages of the collectors. It's not who you would think, let's just say, and there are a lot of young collectors.

But let's be honest, from a ways and means perspective, a high school aged person will likely have less to spend then a 45 year old professional, so the scope, focus/spread of the collection will differ. Of course, it helps to have a focused collection to keep the costs down, and the spouse/children/anxious relative at bay.

[79transam]

Originally Posted by Scowly Prowl

There's a thread on TFW that got sidetracked, and I was a bit surprised to see the spread in ages of the collectors. It's not who you would think, let's just say, and there are a lot of young collectors.

But let's be honest, from a ways and means perspective, a high school aged person will likely have less to spend then a 45 year old professional, so the scope, focus/spread of the collection will differ. Of course, it helps to have a focused collection to keep the costs down, and the spouse/children/anxious relative at bay.

I have read a few there also. One of them was even mine. I remember that generally speaking, the higher the age, the more Masterpiecey the collections got.
Which kinda made me miss the simpler times when I only had very limited collecting abilities and incomplete, lower valued stuff was actually a lot of fun

[MapleMegatron]

If someone is still looking for numbers regading the community, here are the stats you can find on Seiberton.com in the forums:

STATISTICS

Total posts 1766218 •
Total topics 93031 •
Total members 74140 •

So there have been 74140 individuals who have registered to post on that site, giving an idea of the online TF community (which can interact in english). Of course that doesnt really narrow down the toy only aspect since many TF fans are fans of just the fiction and those who may collect toys might only collect a specific era and thus does not buy the new toys that come out.

[brr-icy]

Seibertron is not a good indicator though, neither is any forum really, since people don't tend to register to more than one big forum and seibertron blocks all 3p, a lot of people won't bother with there.

[79transam]

I've been racking my brain on how to accurately figure this out and without being able to take every forum and page out there, and compile a count of each individual IP that spans them all, it's anyones guess.

So here is my guess- half a million

[Jove]

Originally Posted by 79transam

I've been racking my brain on how to accurately figure this out and without being able to take every forum and page out there, and compile a count of each individual IP that spans them all, it's anyones guess.

So here is my guess- half a million

Even that guess was correct, it won't help unless we know how many TFs Hasbro sells.

[79transam]

Originally Posted by Jove

Even that guess was correct, it won't help unless we know how many TFs Hasbro sells.

And all the 3P, Takara, Knockoffs, Customs...