Theres are two huge problem with this that both go hand and hand. If Hasbro made figures and offered them through a service, but also sold them elsewhere, like Walmart, other retailers(like Walmart) would be beyond pissed at Hasbro for essentially trying to “undercut” their sales by offering it for cheaper.

The other issue, the biggest issue yet somehow the most ignored, is manufacturing costs. We don’t know how many figures Hasbro produces of a single figure, but it has to range into the hundreds of thousands. It costs a lot to have something produced, regardless of the amounts you make. When you make a lot though, you can offset the costs of production because you are making so much and will be making a lot more profit in return. Essentially, it’s practially cheaper to make something when you make more of them, then you can offer your product for a cheaper price.

This is why Hasbro can offer you a deluxe for $20, where the Club, which produced them with their own money and in small numbers(iirc), sold them for around $60-80. Obviously, the larger the company is the more leeway they have, and companies can choose to charge as much as they want regardless of anything. But if Hasbro did persay make their own “Subscription Service” and offered them soley through their own service and not through other retailers, and made a much smaller number of them then mass retail figures, they would most likely charge a little more. Maybe $5, maybe $20. Nobody knows the specifics of that(because retail exclusives are still made in much smaller numbers), but it’s still something you have to consider. This is why most of these exclusives are usually “online” exclusives, like we have been getting for the past few years, and like how these seem to be.

 

"SWOOP, SWOOP!"

 

I’m giving him Nightstick from my extra RTS Cyclonus. I gave the other Nightstick to CW Cyclonus. And United Stepper has the one he came with too.

 

Im repurposing my blue Swoop to eBay

 

I do want to point out that Red Swoop here seems to be a lighter shade of silver as opposed to the other Dinobots, so don't be too quick to rid yourselves of the blue one.

 

This can’t be said enough apparently, hasbro toy shop IS NOT SHUTTING DOWN !!! Shop.hasbro.com is what is shutting down and it is a separate entity

 

Oh. Oh. My bad. I still stand behind everything else in my post though.

 

I know the feeling!

 

Understandable, sorry if my post was a bit aggressive but battling misinformation is a very important thing in my opinion  

 

But TFSS wasn't entering blind. The figures were announced in advance with only the "bonus" being a surprise.

All it would take is for the first year to gave g really good bonus to encourage subs the following year.

 

No, I wholy agree, I was trying to put information out there in my post, afterall.

 

Indeed, misinformation like that could cause the rational consumer to say "I'll buy somewhere else because if they're shutting down and I have an issue, who can I return it to?"

Anyway back to the other part of the discussion, this maybe being Hasbro testing a collectors club would be great for me. I'd love for them to keep the same format of "here is what's coming plus a mystery if you buy all of them"

All mystery would mean too many of us would end up disappointed if, say, they did a beast wars series and the beast wars fans missed out because they didn't know it was coming. A mystery "reward" gift makes more sense to me. And I'd be all in. Couldn't afford TFSS or whatever it was called and they closed it down just as I changed jobs and could afford it, lol.

 

I’d rather they not do a subscription and just leave things like they’ve been doing. We’ve been getting a steady stream of subscription style exclusives already anyway

 

This. I just hope we get some not so obvious surprises too. Dig out some older molds that never got repainted like... Cybertron Menasor into Omega Spreem.

 

Ugh I hate that gray color so much. It makes me think the figure is going to be really floppy like other milk dull gray figures that suffer the flop.

 

Yes. I agree.

 

Shhhh, stop ruining it. It's a new language. Stop killing our fun.  

 

So... is this an EE exlcusive?

 

Considering nearly all of the usual places (bbts, tfsource, thechosenprime, etc) have preorders up I’ll assume you didn’t even look

 

...entertainment earth calls it an exclusive, but after my experience with their bumblebee set and seeing all the listings go up elsewhere, i expect it's a 'shared exclusive' amongst several specialty merchants...

...thank goodness, because my first entertainment earth experience with bumblebee sucked sooooo hard that i'd rather not be forced to use them again...