You are way too angsty about this my man. Of course Hasbro wants to think "kids first", we don't make up enough profit otherwise. They just toss us fanboys bones here and there, which is nice IMO.

 

And yes to 09BotCon Exclusives probably being the other clones.

 

 

Nah...not really all that angsty. I may sound it but I'm not. I guess just stating the tone that I'm getting from the answer.

 

I know we would never be able to see the numbers but I'de be willing to bet that collectors make up much more of their profit than many of us think. When you have collectors buying 2 or 3 of each figure at a time, even multiple cases at a time. Certainly someone at Hasbro has to recognize the profitability of upscale collectors figures. I mean how quickly did the US release of MP Prime and Starscream fly off the shelves? How quickly did City Commander sell out and how much money did he make for FP? Look at the response that the Alternity line and MP Grimlock has gotten. The fact that Hasbro STILL isn't taking advantage of the adult collector market is just amazing to me.

Well according to the last reports - we make up roughly 13.5% of Hasbro's sales, IIRC. Hopefully someone who's got the numbers down like Hobbes or someone could find that link for you as I can't seem to find it.

 

And FP's City Commander really probably doesn't show enough incentive for Hasbro to say it would work for their markets to make something like it at all.

Just out of curiosity, do you know if that's 13.5% of Hasbro's over all sales, or their Transformer sales? You would think TFormer sales would be the obvious answer, but you never know.

Well according to the last reports - we make up roughly 13.5% of Hasbro's sales, IIRC. Hopefully someone who's got the numbers down like Hobbes or someone could find that link for you as I can't seem to find it.

 

And FP's City Commander really probably doesn't show enough incentive for Hasbro to say it would work for their markets to make something like it at all.

 

I'm not talking about just sales though. I'm talking about strictly DEMAND. If Hasbro recognizes the DEMAND and accommodate that demand then sales will follow. JMO though.

Just out of curiosity, do you know if that's 13.5% of Hasbro's over all sales, or their Transformer sales? You would think TFormer sales would be the obvious answer, but you never know.

Pretty sure thats just TFs.

So the first question, about not trusting outside companies to do TF quality control as well as Hasbro? It's bunk.

 

I own 3 High Master Model Zoids, made by Kotobukiya under license from Takara/Tomy. They are much more intricate than pretty much any transformer or model I own, yet are in the same proportions as the old Zoids Tomy (and Hasbro!) made.

 

Companies are doing this all the time. Hasbro needs an equvelent of DC Direct, but I don't think they realize it yet.

Well according to the last reports - we make up roughly 13.5% of Hasbro's sales, IIRC. Hopefully someone who's got the numbers down like Hobbes or someone could find that link for you as I can't seem to find it.

 

And FP's City Commander really probably doesn't show enough incentive for Hasbro to say it would work for their markets to make something like it at all.

 

I'm not talking about just sales though. I'm talking about strictly DEMAND. If Hasbro recognizes the DEMAND and accommodate that demand then sales will follow. JMO though.

 

As much as I want them to make high end TFormers themselves (and I really, really do)- I think the ultimate fates of both the Alternator Line and the titanium line (which I didn't like) indicate they have tried, and that they weren't getting the kind of sales numbers they wanted.

 

This is why licensing would make sense. Adult collectables cost a good deal more than kids toys for two reasons. One they are more intricate, detailed and therefore labor intensive. But more importantly because they don't sell the same kinds of quantity as successful kids toy lines, but have the same costs to develope them, they can't spread the costs of developing them out to much.

 

I'd pay more for a nice TFormer. I already do. At least 1/2 my collection is Takara versions as the paint aps tend to be far superior to Hasbro's.

When you have collectors buying 2 or 3 of each figure at a time, even multiple cases at a time.

How many people actually do that? Multiple cases? Really?

 

I don't have any hard numbers readily available, but the audacity displayed by suggesting that you* know better how to run the company than the freaking CEO of the year is astonishing to me.

 

You may not be happy with or like the business calls they make - and that's fine, I have my own beefs with Hasbro's calls - but how some people can pretend there is some giant, wellspring of cash in this untapped market that somehow only those of us online are aware of and the multi-million (if not billion) dollar a year corporation is just too stupid to see it makes me scratch my head.

 

 

 

 

*This is a general "you" aimed at all the folks who complain about the business decisions Hasbro makes, and not picking on deathknell specifically.

When you have collectors buying 2 or 3 of each figure at a time, even multiple cases at a time.

How many people actually do that? Multiple cases? Really?

 

I don't have any hard numbers readily available, but the audacity displayed by suggesting that you* know better how to run the company than the freaking CEO of the year is astonishing to me.

 

You may not be happy with or like the business calls they make - and that's fine, I have my own beefs with Hasbro's calls - but how some people can pretend there is some giant, wellspring of cash in this untapped market that somehow only those of us online are aware of and the multi-million (if not billion) dollar a year corporation is just too stupid to see it makes me scratch my head.

 

 

 

 

*This is a general "you" aimed at all the folks who complain about the business decisions Hasbro makes, and not picking on deathknell specifically.

This is why I love you...

 

 

...well this and your Hobbes Moobs.

In short, we could release versions similar to TakaraTomy's (TT) versions. In fact, we worked with TT to ensure that their versions were different enough from the BotCon versions to ensure their exclusivity. But we recognize that there have been some fan favorites that are hard to find since they have only appeared in BotCon sets so far. We work closely with FP to ensure they get good exclusivity but we also don't want to miss good opportunities nationally. So there may be a chance that Hasbro releases different versions of those characters (including Thundercracker as well), but it won't be in 2009.

Dear Fanboys,

 

Seeker Angst is officially outdated, and it quit being tasty a while ago. I don't want to hear anymore about it. You're clearly getting your Thrust and Dirge from Hasbro in a couple of years. Let's all move on with our lives.

 

Thanks,

Hobbes

Seeker angst died for me the moment I pre-ordered Henkei! Digre and Thrust :shrug

Hrmm...this latest Q&A was a real downer...in my opinion. No Constructiocons for Animated?! What the blood clot!!?!? No cassette entourage probably means no new Soundwave either. I guess they're avoiding them with the movie versions coming out...oh well. At least they gave us a smidgen of hope for the Seeker gang...but will we really have to wait over a year to see any progress? ARGH! Hopefully the new movie and its accompanying toys will distract me enough from impending Animated and Universe angst.

 

Oh, and I still hate Con exclusives.