Why is everyone saying that Prime will end in season 2 when it's been confirmed by Combs himself a month ago that the show doesn't end at Season 3? All Hasbro's saying is that why Season 3's episode count is shorter then the first 2.

 

With the clusterfuck that is the GIJOE sequel and the fact that there is no TF movie out right now you would expect a drop in sales. im sure just dropping the DOTM line before you get half of the characters made is kinda stupid on there part as well there was probably alot of money left to be made on that line considering most of the characters people wanted were never out in the U.S. Who wouldnt have wanted a leader megatron? seriously that was pretty stupid to discontinue a line before it even takes off completely

 

  Pretty much this.

 

I realize that the basic gist isn't end of the world type stuff, but it's not exactly great. I dunno. We'll continue to see Prime (YAY!) but it'll be shortened and we won't see all the toys. (BOO!)

So, it's a mediocre meh.

 

which is crap. 13 eps down from 22 or so is not a good sign at all.

 

Beast Wars's second and third season episode count got shortend to 13 episodes each as opposed to Season 1's 26 episode count and it still had a good run.

 

There are ways to save a lot of money not on Production but on distribution and shipping.

But as I've been saying for months Hasbro need to have a serious conversation with the likes of Walmart and just twist their arms into taking larger cases with more characters (say 10 or 12 item deluxe cases or 8 figure voyager cases) and then release fewer new toys over the year basically I'm suggesting the waves come out each time like Launch waves do and that they remove refresh cases and cases with only 2 new toys in them completely.

They should also be trying to get things out for the major holidays and buying periods and not keep missing xmas - to do this they might need to warehouse more stock and not rely on retailers being reliable enough to order properly.

The number of times a case of 2 has not been properly distributed and then showed up on clearance shows they are doing things wrong.

I also feel that Repaints are not a bad idea - but perhaps the way to do it is to use them in a cleverer and more creative way - an example of a very good repaint was the Robots in Disguise Buildteam sold as twin packs in Constructicon colours.

A repaint or reissue of Classics Optimus Prime seems like something they perhaps really could have done. both versions of Universe had some Ok ideas but they also showed bad judgement with things like repainting the same moid to many times to quickly. or making the character and name fail to match up properly and so failing to homage what they are trying to homage (as with the Micromaster jets).

 

Wish the retailers would get their heads out of their arses and let Hasbro put product on the shelves... that didn't consist of 99.9% Bumblebees... He's turned into the official shelfwarmer of the lines. Add to that their tendency to, despite having the new lines come out, waste time trying to move overstock of whatever movie toys they had gathering dust in the back instead of tossing them in a discount bin. Yes, I've seen it.

My problems with Hasbro still exist. But I'm past blaming them for what happens at retail. Except the First Edition stuff.

 

Cheer up people it's just a year and half or so until the shelves will be filled full of Movie 4 Bumblebee toys  

So there's something to look forward too - though he might look a little boring next to "The Yellow Arrow" from Beast Hunters.

To get my interest in Movie Bee he can't be another tiny deluxe that does nothing special he'd have to be a toy with real quality to it (Like Battle Blade Bumblebee had) one suggestion might be to either make the roof removable so he can form a convertable mode too and the roof is a also a hand shield - or to make him have pop up or swing out pannels to replicate the stealthforce mode to some extent.

A Plain Vanilla deluxe would have no presence at retail and would put many parents off if they'd already bought "Little Jimmy" some kind of plain Vanilla Bumblebee of the many sorts out since 2007.

I'm still looking quizzical over the lack of a really nice 1970's Camero Bumblebee toy of any kind (even a modelkit) and the lack of things like Scrapper, Leadfoot that were in the movie or even just things that might have made for interesting toys like a Voyager scale Jetfire that could still combine with one of the Optimus toys.... what with Voyager DOTM Optimus being covered in jet boosters him having no jetpack to wear seems really odd.. yet they never even made a Voyager scale wing back pack for it either for a giftset release.

I also think it's drives many consumers of all ages quite crazy when they make a huge bumblebee time and time again but no villans of that size, they had no large Optimus in the west until (more or less now) all those months they had zip in the way of a large Optimus Movie toy. Looking back their DOTM Megatron seems positively wimpy.

If they want to redeem themselves with a 4th Movie toyline they will really have to try harder - and actually get Bay to tell them stuff well in advance - heck they need someone inside ILM etc.. who works for Takara-Tomy the whole time. Hasbro are a Co-Producer of these movies they have no excuse in being incapabable of marketing their own movies properly or even making toys that look like the characters in some cases.

Sentinel Prime is a superb display piece in either mode - but he's also a complete pain in the tail pipe to transform - leaving many a little kid or parent completely at a lose as to how to transform him.

They need to make the transformation clever but not impossible and the toys need to be well fun.

Prime is a pretty good example he's a nice fun and good to handle figure with lots of joint movement and he's not to difficult to transform but who don't feel he's an F.A.B. either.

Perhaps they need to go back and look at the Animated toyline as despite the odd glitch they managed to make a line there that had a reasonable level of complexity but that also didn't strain the kids to much either - and they usually left you with a well movable action figure too.

I'm not going to get my hopes to high though (buy hoping they will do some more Constructicons for example). as the Movie toyline is always going to be a mix of mild interest and disappointment and isn't often going to be exciting me.

 

I'd love to gripe that part of the reason profits are down are due to the Yellow Menace peg warming.

But since they're talking NET profits, I could easily see transportation costs (ie: diesel fuel, trucking, shipping) and exchange rates hurting their bottom line as much as anything else.

 

I think TFPrime having a shorter season will be good. Less filler episodes. A lot of TV shows are moving towards shorter seasons with higher production values and tighter plots. It's good for everyone, except for when you're waiting for a new season to start!