How do people feel about hasbro doing more limited releases of alts at higher price points? I think the nemesis prime could have worked out really well if they had just made a few more and done a better job of limiting scalping. What if hasbro did more online exclusive releases. Like Ultra Magnus at $25 or $30. Trailbreaker as a jeep for $30 or hoist as a Pickup with a crain towing apparatus that became a huge gun. I think one a quater would really help them justify the cost of the line and tools. Keep in mind they make a much higher margin on toys they sell themselves, particularly if the price point is even higher.

Lets guess that a normal alt $2-3 to make, and they sell it for 10, it then sells at stores for $20 and they make $7

Lets guess that an exclusive alt $5-6 to make (cost more to make less and they have to deal with inventory and the online store w/returns etc), sell it online for 30: $24. They only have sell a third of the total to break even on what they sell at retail.

 

They could do exclusive repaints of characters people want, but maybe wouldn't bee huge sellers. I'd like to see a red alert as a prowl repaint. And I would definately take this over the line dieing (not that I'm implying that is the decision at hand)...

 

P-

No.

No.

:pfx

 

I was conned out of 2 Nemesis Primes when I ordered over the phone. And I know many people didn't get him. Why is this even a question? :tfhuh

slay him

Do you WORK for Hasbro or something? I mean, come on that's like the worst idea ever.

 

 

Besides, if we did get "exclusives," they're all gonna be straight-up repaints--no retooling, no alterations, NOTHING. Because if they did add stuff like that, they wouldn't sell for $5 more, they'd sell for more like $!0-$15 more.

This is something we were discussing earlier in the 50+ page Nemesis Prime thread. It may not be palatable, but it's not that crazy when you think about it. We obviously wouldn't be getting new molds, but they might be able to squeeze out a few decent repaints, and maybe even some new head sculpts, if they were marketing directly to fans. Of course, they would have to do a better job with supply and demand than they did on NP.

 

I can't say I'm thrilled about the idea, but it may be the way the line is going, assuming it doesn't just end all together. As long as we were getting worthwhile products at a reasonable price (ie cheaper than, say, Botcon exclusives), I could maybe go for it.

 

Examples of a few easy Alts I still wouldn't mind seeing - Grimlock/Wheeljack and Sideswipe/Tracks (abandoned Alt designs), BTA-style Blaster and Red alert, and Trailbreaker to name a few.

But therein lies the problem--if they keep the line going past the point of viability, they run the risk of making the new Alts more of a pariah than something fans would actually choose to buy--remember the crap people talked about Rollbar when he came out? It doesn't really make sense to do a character that would be "meh" on store shelves at best and offer him as a "Super Duper Online INTERNET of Goodness EXCLUSIVE!!" just to milk the cow some more.

I want All my Alts to be in stores for $20 or cheaper. Almost every Tfan out there likes at least a few alt figs. I do not wanna have a near mental breakdown every time an Alt is released and Hasbro's server shuts down. Or lord forbid I dont have any cash in my account when the MF hits the web site.

 

NO No NOOOO!

 

Only Alts the should be Hasbro exclusives are the short run bots like Swerve and DCharge.

You know, maybe something like Alt #0 or #7-a "Autobot Jazz" Featuring the White RX8 mold with reprolables included and a shoulder launcher. Now something like that would be an interesting exclusive that I could go, "Meh" to.

I dunno...I just bristle at the whole "exclusive" thing sometimes, especially if it's the same toy with a different coat of paint and/or some thrown-in exclusive accessory. It's like, "If you really wanted to justify the extra charge, remold the head/body/something to make it a different character or at least make the new paint/costume make sense."

No doubt Hasbro has already done all manner of internal math on this question that either does or doesn't make sense for how many copies of a given toy they have to sell to break even over their web site. It's not like making the toy, selling the toy, getting returns, and all that stuff is free. And releasing too many toys that people don't like (or perhaps that too few people like) dilutes the brand and makes people pay less attention to stuff that does come out.