And Alternators has zero marketing except word-of-mouth and cross-marketing of other Alternators on the box. Universe...um...same deal. Basically, TF has zero marketing behind it. Whatever happened to the marketing of the G1 days? Doesn't Hasbro know how to push one of their top sellers these days?

And Alternators has zero marketing except word-of-mouth and cross-marketing of other Alternators on the box. Universe...um...same deal. Basically, TF has zero marketing behind it. Whatever happened to the marketing of the G1 days? Doesn't Hasbro know how to push one of their top sellers these days?

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Hasbro really hasn't been marketing many of their lines very well lately. GI Joe is suffering from the same problems as Transformers.

And Alternators has zero marketing except word-of-mouth and cross-marketing of other Alternators on the box. Universe...um...same deal. Basically, TF has zero marketing behind it. Whatever happened to the marketing of the G1 days? Doesn't Hasbro know how to push one of their top sellers these days?

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G1 was twenty years ago. The market was different then. Transformers is just another toy line among many now; back then it was HUGE. Which meant more money for Hasbro, which meant more money for marketing. No toy line is worth that much to a company that it's going to overextend itself on marketing in the hopes that it will start to take off "because the line is worth it". Come on.

A lot of toy lines don't have marketing behind them these days...anyone else noticed the bizarre lack of toy pitches on TV these days?

G1 was twenty years ago. The market was different then. Transformers is just another toy line among many now; back then it was HUGE.

 

Yes and no. Transformers had a number of HUGE lines out at the same time too. GoBots was huge. Voltron, Robotech? Remember those? GI Joe ring a bell? Action figures were 'the shiznit' in the early 80s.

 

Remember, though, that the Atari/Colecovision age died off, and the Nintendo age was a couple of years off yet. Parents could take that $200 for an Atari 2600 and get a large chunk of GI Joes or Transformers instead.

 

Today video-games are back, but so are DVDs, etc.. there's a LOT more pushing for the 'entertainment' dollar, and some of it is damn pricey. Hasbro has to compete for that toy dollar, and I honestly don't think that they know how to.

Yes and no. Transformers had a number of HUGE lines out at the same time too. GoBots was huge. Voltron, Robotech? Remember those? GI Joe ring a bell? Action figures were 'the shiznit' in the early 80s.

 

Remember, though, that the Atari/Colecovision age died off, and the Nintendo age was a couple of years off yet. Parents could take that $200 for an Atari 2600 and get a large chunk of GI Joes or Transformers instead.

 

Today video-games are back, but so are DVDs, etc.. there's a LOT more pushing for the 'entertainment' dollar, and some of it is damn pricey. Hasbro has to compete for that toy dollar, and I honestly don't think that they know how to.

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yeah I know about GI JOe and all that stuff. My point is that Transformers was one of the biggest toy lines at a time when action figures were the "it" thing to have. Like I said, the market has since changed.

 

Though I'm not sure that we're really disagreeing with each other.

A lot of toy lines don't have marketing behind them these days...anyone else noticed the bizarre lack of toy pitches on TV these days?

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I see them all the time when my kid watches the Fox Box. But again, video games are where it's at nowadays, and they typically don't do as much TV advertising.

Do you ever see things like toy catalogues, ads in magazines, or ads in the trailers before movies? Or how about Web site marketing, OTHER THAN the parent company's site? No. Toys have kind of lost their glory and coolness, at least for today's pre-teen set. They want DVDs, video games, etc. instead of a poseable hunk of plastic. Sad but true.

Do you ever see things like toy catalogues, ads in magazines, or ads in the trailers before movies? Or how about Web site marketing, OTHER THAN the parent company's site? No. Toys have kind of lost their glory and coolness, at least for today's pre-teen set. They want DVDs, video games, etc. instead of a poseable hunk of plastic. Sad but true.

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So is your point that the toy companies should push their products more, or that the market is shifting away from action figures? If it's the second one, I agree with you.

 

Personally I love video games as much as anything else, so I'm happy. :thumb

Though I'm not sure that we're really disagreeing with each other.

 

We are, but on a sutble difference. I don't think Videogames alone are making the market anti-action-figure. I think that Hasbro simply doesn't know how to compete in the current market environment. Kids like toys, that hasn't changed, and never will.. but kids have to know what toys are out there.

 

Those three PS2 Energon games out? Wait, none.

 

That Cartoon Network show? Half-assed effort that did so badly it's in a buried timeslot.

 

Commericials? None.

 

CD and DVD tie ins? None.

 

Collector ties to old-school fans who are now buying toys for their kids? Barely existant.

 

Hasbro is doing nothing, really, to push their product. At most, they're doing the abosolute minimum and then wonder why it's not taking off. To illustrate: Hasbro couldn't sell GI JOE toys at a time when the United States is wining a war on Terrorism!

 

It also doesn't help that the entire franchise resets every 18 months. There's no time to get any sense of brand loyalty if they reboot it completely all the time.  Power Rangers restarts too, but they don't say 'no no, that story didn't happen, ignore the past 10 years!' like Transformers does.

 

Ah well.. ranting off.