The Japananese market just seems smarter

 

I wouldn't say it's smarter it's just a completely different market. Hasbro's major consumers is kids. In Japan toy collecting is a lot more normal than in the west, so they have a collector's market which is a boon to reissues. Every reissue we got Japan had first including Hoist. The only one's they got that we didn't were the one's Hasbro couldn't sell for safety reasons and such, well except Soundwave.

That's crazy.  You can't tell me kids are buying these G1 reissues anyway, if they are, they are getting home disapointed.  I'm beginning to see why everyone hates Hasbro.

There are a lotta factors at work resulting in the lack of Hasbro reissues.

 

- Megatron

Laws banning toys from looking like realistic guns.  Part of this is due to the disparity between the US and Japan.  The US has a relatively large gun culture from the historical "right to bear arms" thing plus our expansionist history.  Japan has, by comparison, almost no guns due to extremely strict gun control laws harking back to the post-WW2 demilitarization.  Since real guns hardly exist, toys that look like real guns don't pose as much of a problem as they do here in the States.  I believe non-real guns are allowed for transport across state and federal lines (according to my friends who are into airsoft), if the end of the barrel is painted orange.  Guess it's some kinda declaration that it's not an actual firearm.  They do this with their airsoft guns which tend be designed to be realistic looking replicas.  The bootleg Megatrons had the barrel tips painted orange in this fashion.  The orange can be removed with alcohol, but I've found it obnoxious and there are still bits of orange left all over it.

 

- Soundwave

From what trench mentioned in another thread, I believe his not showing up here was due to toy safety regulations.  He apparently failed one of the tests to see if he would break into pieces small enough for kids to choke on.

 

I suspect most of the line is getting killed due to poor execution on the marketing and distribution of it here in the US -- the poor TRU disitribution; rather high price points; TRU's inability to move the product.  For me personally, I wanted nice crisp boxes to keep mint but every TRU I went to had boxes that were banged up or torn by out-of-control kids (if we're in need of appropriate regulations, I think it should be regulating these kids and their negligent parents).  If I'm gonna pay $30-$40 for a reissue, I at least want it in a clean new box.

 

Unfortunately, price matters a lot.  The perception was probably that only nostalgia collectors like us would really go for these toys, where the current main lines of Cybertron would have more articulation, somewhat more complex transformations, and lower prices thus appealing to kids and their cheap parents where nostalgia isn't a concern.  Without being able to bank that large volumes of the reissues could be sold, it probably didn't justify producing them in numbers for lower prices.  Market demand isn't just about wanting the reissues -- sure everyone WANTS them -- but being willing to pay for them too.  Whatever molds that they had and used probably had limited remaining life too, as Archer mentioned at the recent Botcon, I think.

 

My perception is that UK reissues are generally based and contingent upon what the US gets; thus they're releases are but a shadow of ours.  So if we get jinxed on the reissues, it cascades down to them too.

That's crazy.  You can't tell me kids are buying these G1 reissues anyway, if they are, they are getting home disapointed.  I'm beginning to see why everyone hates Hasbro.

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No, but due to US toy safety laws they had to be modified so kids could play with them, thus many collectors imported the Takara versions with smaller missiles and such hurting the US reissue sales.

I think the thing with the japanese market, is that they know that most people are actually smart enough not to stick Masterpiece Convoy's smokestacks in their eyes, or try to eat World's Smallest Transformers Soundwave's Ravage cassette. They seem to trust that a consumer can tell the difference between a collectable and a toy. I had G1 Prowl when I was 11, and I don't remeber ONCE trying to shoot a mate up the arse with it's spring loaded missiles, so what has changed with kids today? Nothing. So why treat them like idiots? It's probably because most people will happily sue someone for the smallest thing. :tfmad

 

Rant over. I sound like an old man. :tftongue

:pfx 110% I was hyped to get cyb vector prime. Didn't notice the paint app diferences or the flimmsy wings till it was open. Second transformer ever I retuned for a refund.  :tfmad

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What was the first you refunded? That piss-poor crab/piranha thing whose name escapes me right now? :tflaugh

I think the thing with the japanese market, is that they know that most people are actually smart enough not to stick Masterpiece Convoy's smokestacks in their eyes, or try to eat World's Smallest Transformers Soundwave's Ravage cassette. They seem to trust that a consumer can tell the difference between a collectable and a toy. I had G1 Prowl when I was 11, and I don't remeber ONCE trying to shoot a mate up the arse with it's spring loaded missiles, so what has changed with kids today? Nothing. So why treat them like idiots? It's probably because most people will happily sue someone for the smallest thing. :tfmad

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Because someone apparently thought it'd be a good idea to promote irresponsible and negligent behavior at the expense of and rather than competent or intelligent behavior.  And the more irresponsibility and negligence there is, the more laws we will need.

Well it just seem slike for Cybertrfon figs, fine , go with saftey regs, but the other G1 rereleases are intended for older collectors, and hell probably shouldn't even be sold in places like Toys R Us. If you did that it would cut down on a lot of confusiion.  I mean I see packages all the time with labels like "for mature collectors" or for "collectors 16 & up" and not all of them are figures of half naked girls ;)

The reissues would do better if they weren't restricted to TRU (or Tuesday Morning.) Perhaps if they were sold in movie stores, like Spencer's Gifts, Tower, etc, where the people who go to buy movies will recognise these characters.

Agree on the safety laws.

 

I too played with what are now "dangerous" toys but it never hurt me. So what is the big deal?