Hasbro says no to Voyager Breakdown

[Pascal]

3rd party (niche) & Takara items wouldn't necessarily be huge sellers over here. Therefore it's understandable why Hasbro can't invest in each and every single "cool" projects/toys that would only appeal to a small minority.

[Matrix_Holder]

There are over 100 Bumblebees on the pegs at the Burlington TRU , I talked to the manager and he said that he has over 100 more BB's in the back room.

[thebobkat]

Originally Posted by Matrix_Holder

There are over 100 Bumblebees on the pegs at the Burlington TRU , I talked to the manager and he said that he has over 100 more BB's in the back room.

That explains why the wall of BB's never seem to run out. Good gawd, did they order solid cases of BBs?? Hasbro could have easily distributed these around the US., there's so many.

[General Tekno]

Originally Posted by thebobkat

That explains why the wall of BB's never seem to run out. Good gawd, did they order solid cases of BBs?? Hasbro could have easily distributed these around the US., there's so many.

No, but they WERE 4 to a case for the FE figures.

Wonder if they'll just hold them back to put out with the FE rerelease.

[justprime]

Originally Posted by Matrix_Holder

Get real, they don't hate money...thats ridiculous.
They just hate Canadian monopoly money.

I have spent hundreds on Takara and 3rd party stuff. How can they not see all the lost sales because of their actions. If there is a "rep" at TFCON I plan on asking them a few questions about this. I know I will get the standard "Its the retailers blah blah blah" response but I want to get this out there since they don't seem to respond to emails or "contact us's"
I love Transformers and never wanted to get into 3rd party stuff because I thought it would hurt their sales and I didnt want that to happen...but I feel Hasbro tied my hands and tossed me out of a plane above 3rd party territory. In that territory I found a job, a new home with a beautiful wife 3 kids and a dog there. lol. (metaphorically speaking of course)

I am praying for the day when they release a "collectors series" for toy and comic shops or whatever that is filled with all the figures we have been asking for, a full on Ultra Magnus, triple changer Springer, Gestalts that look good, headmasters...targetmasters..pretenders....and so on. Until then it is 3rd party upgrades/fixes for Hasbro toys takara and some Hasbro stuff too... if they ever come out.

I am looking forward to the day that they smarten up and reliese they can serve us collectors with a web site store that carries all of the takara and hasbro lines and I can spend my hard earned money there instead of Ebay etc.. there marketing department must be filled with morons if they can't figure thats the future of shopping not to mention it would serve the purpose of keeping hard core collectors happy with available product.

[justprime]

Originally Posted by Pascal

3rd party (niche) & Takara items wouldn't necessarily be huge sellers over here. Therefore it's understandable why Hasbro can't invest in each and every single "cool" projects/toys that would only appeal to a small minority.

I some what disagree Pascal just ask any one who purchased a DOTM soundwave Ha or otherwise,leadfoot, que, striker prime, mp roddy (with trailer), MP Op, or even prid breakdown and vehicon for example,... seems there are an awful lot of North American purchases for such a small minority market spending some hefty bucks even with ship/customs,... big H is missing out on these sales.

[joshimus]

Yeah, people are putting the money on the asia releases but it's not a MASS amount as it seems. It's not like Joe Blow who never goes on Transformers forums somehow notices that he can get little Billy a HA SW from asian markets. The market for those that are doing this is still, in relation to the big picture, small.
That said Hasbro is missing out on opportunity. You can't tell me the ass end of DOTM deluxes wouldn't have sold had they come out. Even the non-collectors would have picked them up for themselves or kids knowing it's different than what's been clogging shelves.
Having options is a good thing, be it Hasbro, Takara or 3rd Party. It's more an inconveinence that Hasbro is taking slower steps.

[Echotransformer]

I'm more concerned that there's something going on with Hasbro's financial performance, or perhaps something with the North American market, that is creating these trends of not getting figures. Admittedly it's a bit of a down time for most companies...Hasbro is not immune to high plastic costs, high development costs, etc.

Every product costs money to bring to market...sure, they hope to make money but not every figure does. I'm sure the meetings where they select figures and make these tough choices aren't fun.

I'm not sure they're making every decision correctly, and wonder if there's a bit of spiral going on with the TF Brand.

Bright side? We are getting the Asian exclusives, and our US friends are getting FE. We win some, we loose some.

Long story short: I hope things pick up, I hope things improve, and will support Hasbro first...BUT...until then, Import and 3rd party will be core the the hobby for me.

--Echo

[Pascal]

Originally Posted by justprime

I some what disagree Pascal just ask any one who purchased a DOTM soundwave Ha or otherwise,leadfoot, que, striker prime, mp roddy (with trailer), MP Op, or even prid breakdown and vehicon for example,... seems there are an awful lot of North American purchases for such a small minority market spending some hefty bucks even with ship/customs,... big H is missing out on these sales.

That's not a lot of people compared to the total of Transformers customers in North America.

[gagagalvatron]

Originally Posted by Pascal

That's not a lot of people compared to the total of Transformers customers in North America.

But there's clearly a market, and one that wants to spend a lot of money. The SDCC Bruticus sold out at Comicon, then again online in about ten minutes. And that's for a $100 item.

There's also enough demand that not one but two companies can sell different not-Devastators that each cost in the multiple hundreds of dollars.

How much money is in this? Not enough to replace the regular lines and distribution, but Hasbro is foolish to ignore a devoted customer base with lots of disposable income.

They could make money, doing nothing more than selling things that they can already produce. Most companies would kill for that and would be overjoyed to set up a web front to accommodate that opportunity. They could make even more with new designs.