Alts were succesful until they started re-releasing the same thing over and over again but in diferent boxes and then theres all the repaints thats what killed that line imo

 

That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea. Especially the Rattrap.
If they could make his Beast Machines robot mode look cool at the deluxe price point. I'd be all over it.

 

Smokescreen, eternal shelf-warmer, disagrees that it took that long for the line to falter.

 

I agree. These breaks we get in between are great, IMO. Gives you planning time and lets you focus onother things.

 

When we think about Transformers we tend to think about Hasbro because they have their name on the product and us because we are the people who buy them.

But a lot goes into the time between what to make and what we get to buy. Names and copy writes have to be checked so Hasbro doesn't get sued over a name they let go. Products have to be tested for safety. Contracts have to signed with the factories making the toys. Estimates have to be worked out on when the tooling will be ready to start production. They have to make sure the shipping will be ready when the toys are. Deals have to be made retailers about how much of each product the retailer will take and when.

Got to be tons of ink to dry with the making of any Transformer and companies don't always like some other company spilling the beans on contract deals.

Oy and you think fans get upset now imagine if Hasbro said Universe will be back spring of 2010 only for a factory not sign the contracts to make them, or a retailer turns around and puts the screws on Hasbro because they wanted more movie toys in 2010 instead of Universe.

I can see where months in advance is just safer for Hasbro to call. Plus it gives them a way to constantly have new things to reveal at Toy Fair, Bot Con, and Comic Con.

 

I think many of us are aware of all that; however, as Pravus Prime stated...

To me it just seems like a weak ass excuse, either way, to use legal issues as a crutch. Business concerns could factor in, but more under the 'Hasbro's in trouble financially and is trying to cut costs/maximize profits wherever possible' scenario. Hasbro could've had the 'screws' put to them by retailers with Classics 2.0 after the first film. Yet Classics 2.0 came out anyways, until this year with RotF forthcoming. All the 'planning' necessary for Classics figures or Animated before they hit the shelves is also required for RotF. With RotF, once the release date for the film was named, Hasbro basically had a target date/deadline to make sure everything would come out in time. As far as we know, everything will be coming out on time. We've seen many of the RotF figures already. With Classics at least (and Animated, to a certain extent), they can release figures whenever the hell they want, with no target date to meet other than a self-imposed one which can be pushed back anyways when necessary. They've had last year and still have time this year, with the hiatus, to get necessary planning and legal issues finalized well ahead of time even with RotF clogging the docket for this year. There is no third film coming out next year, so they have to start planning by now (if they haven't already, which you'd think they would) what will be coming out for later this year and next year. Yet, besides that one interview naming Soundwave and Rhinox as favorites to get made once the hiatus ends (which hardly guarantees anything, but at least it's an indication of potential ideas/plans), we've yet to hear jack squat about even possibilities being thrown around for Classics. Hasbro's not talking. Animated is on hiatus/in limbo, with no one knowing for sure if we'll get figures of all the new characters plus characters who've yet to receive figures.

Toyfair/Botcon/ComicCon is also a weak excuse, because we saw many images of figures that were displayed at Toyfair well before Toyfair, so unless Hasbro's going to extra lengths to keep non-RotF figures secret (which makes little sense, if any, since you'd think it'd be the other way around), we should be hearing something by now. Yet all we've heard is the postponement of Golfire Grimlock and Hydrodrive Bumblebee through online retailers, and silence regarding anything else.

I'd just like better communication from Hasbro. This keys into some thoughts from the 25th Anniversary thread in the General forum, so sorry if I'm repeating myself, but the complaint stands. If there are 'legal/business' issues holding off a statement confirming when Classics will come back and/or what Hasbro's thinking of releasing, just say so. If similar issues are holding up Animated's line being finished up, say so. If the figures come out eventually, yes some of us will whine and be annoyed (justly or not) at the delay, but eventually we'll get them. If they don't come out, some/many will whine and be belligerent, but we'll get over it and some (if not many) will latch on to other future lines from the franchise. Perhaps with a little bitterness, but those who aren't turned off will still buy. Either way, just say something. If Classics is aimed more at the longtime fans than anyone else, which I understand and is logical, than how about telling the damn people who buy your damn product if/when it'll come back, and what you'd like to do/will do if/when it comes back? I'd rather have a bone thrown my way, even if it's not a guarantee, than just sitting here wondering what the hell's going on while seeing angst and frustration build among the fan base toward the company that does provide this stuff to us. Talk to us Hasbro.

 

Hasbro's gonna need something to fill that gap between ROTF and Transformers 3: Unicron Strikes Back and Transformers 4: A New Hope (lol)
And without a new tangent- cartoon, comic, or movie, they gotta use something.
The movie line could expand, but i doubt that they want shelf warming movie-connected stuff like that real gear role play drek. Animated may not be strong enough to bridge the gap and The Universe line hasn't even dredged the depths of G2-RiD.

With apologies to those that support the Masterpiece line and Encore reissues, i have a small spark of hope that TFU would have become THE collector's line, as in allowing at an affordable price the chance to collect incarnations of the originals.
i hope that alone would keep the TFU line going even with threats of hiatus and cancellations all around.

 

Oh trust me I totally agree that the excuses are really weak and it's a bad way to do the people who have been toy fans for years and in some cases decades.

Maybe they can't tell us release dates, case assortments or what they are going to call the return of classics/universe, but I agree it's silly they can't tell us anything. For years they have told us that collectors don't make enough of a dent in over all sales so is really going to do anything to the sell of movie related toys to say hey guys and gals we can't you the stuff you want right now, but as soon as the movie stuff slows down we have some stuff coming that we think you'll totally love.

While the Q&A stuff and going to the cons is nice it does seem like Hasbro isn't that good at communication. Some times you sort of wish they could sound less like an ad and sound more like they understand. They say they listen to fans and yet almost every statement or answer they give us makes it sound like we all love anything they slap a Transformers logo on. You'd think it would kill them to admit everyone doesn't love the movie line, animated, classics, robot heroes, real gear, or everything ever made.

 

1) Alternators, cool as they were, were from from being a success.
2) You're an idiot. The new Universe line, despite fans for whatever reason continuing to do so, is NOT "Classics 2.0", that's just a term used by the fandom as some of the ideas brought over to the new Universe line are those of the original Classics line, making it almost a spiritual successor. The new Universe line is a line meant to celebrate the entirety of the Tranformers Universe (hmm, maybe that's why it's called Transformers Universe?). The line contains several different "series'" such as the Classics series, which is similar to the original Classics line in that it features updates of characters from Generation 1, as well as the Beast Wars series giving updates to characters from that part of Transformers history, and even Generation 2 is getting its share of love. So before you start mouthing off about Hasbro "ruining" the "new classics line" by including characters from different parts of the franchises history, stop and think. The line is called Universe. Not Classics 2.0

 

their excuse that we make a small percentage of their sales is bull since the movie, there have been a ton of new collectors, on and offline. i never joined up anywhere for a couple years after restarting, but i sure as hell was buying, i think we now make a substantial amount of their sales now, they just think it's kids, how exactly do they know that? do they have a micro chip in each transformer that can detect if it stands on a shelf for a certain amount of time? no.

 

If anything the Universe is better than the just pure Classics line because it gives them the entire history of Transformers to pull characters from and not just G1. Best of both worlds since we get the style of the classics figures while getting more stories to pull those great characters from.

Yea I've got a long list of list G1 characters I'd like to see get the classics/universe treatment, but like a lot of other people I could make a long list of characters from G2 to Animated that would also kick butt in that style as well.

Long live Universe or whatever it's called when it starts back up.

 

Trust me, Hasbro know. They've been doing this sort of thing for decades. Whilst I'm sure your business acumen is second to none, Hasbro are doing OK with market research...

You are right, there are lots of new collectors - but also lots of collectors leaving fandom as well. In addition, while there are no doubt thousands of collectors worldwide... there are HUNDREDS of thousands of kids buying them, see?

Strictly speaking from a spend viewpoint, collectors are still the minority (remember, lots of collectors spend their money on Takara products and through second-seller purchases e.g. ebay... none of which Hasbro sees).

It's nothing to be ashamed of, and I don't get why some collectors get so worked up over it. Transformers is first and foremost a toyline. Created for kids, for fun, for good memories (like the kind I have from 25 years ago). The day Hasbro aim this franchise exclusively at spoiled collectors is the day I quite the hobby.

 

Oh okay cool, I see where you're coming from now. I think we're on the same page after all. And yes, I agree when we do hear anything from Hasbro it can sound awfully naive or pretentious to the point of being patronizing.

This whole start of the year has been so frustrating for me. I was, and still am, pretty excited and amused to get back into collecting again. To see such little good news for anything beyond the movie line, and Hasbro's subsequent silence/indifference, has been very annoying and dampened my enthusiasm a bit. I know it's possible things can/will get better, but my confidence in Hasbro is seriously lacking.

 

Heres an assumption and just a good statement. What kid is going to buy 5 Ultra Magnus-Sky Warp Classics box sets? Not one. It was either a collector,dealer or hoarder. Plain and simple. Try counting how many senior citizens are ready at the break of dawn standing in front of Wal-Mart and Target ready to scour the Hot Wheels line up just uncased 2 hrs. before the store opens or there allowed in drinking there McDonalds coffee and smokin a coffin nail.

 

i know what you mean, but their old 10% i don't think still stands, maybe at most 20, but no more than that, but here anyways (could be different elsewhere) for at least the first two months certain figures are out i would say 50-75% of the new figs get snatched up by collectors, the only reason i know that is we all talk, and at least one works at each walmart, tru or zellers
in the toy dept. we all know when they are in. i know for a fact that in this city, there are a few hundred collectors and it is a small city.

the second seller purchases they actually do see initially, when they are bought from the store (not the S.C.T.s). and while in those stores, i might see parents once in a while, but not as often as i see other collectors. i am sure hasbro is good at their research, but i have a couple doubts, like when was the research last performed etc. and that's alright, right? lol

completely agree with you there, i like the little nods and sometimes collector aimed figures like mps being released here, but i can't enjoy them like i did when i was a kid, and i love buying lots with a few doubles (nothing rare or expensive lol) and giving them to my friend's kids, and later to my own. they will enjoy them more than i can

 

Yep a very frustrating year so far.

I don't think anyone is saying Hasbro shouldn't cash in on a movie line if they can, but it would sure be nice if they could throw us a little good news when so much seems like doom and gloom these days.

I've had many days myself when it's hard to hold on to the hope that one day they will be making things I want to collect again. Other fans try to help and tell you why we shouldn't let our hopes fade away, but something from Hasbro on why we should hold out hope would sure help.

 

Classics/Universe has been a huge success so it will be back. There are so many characters to still do. Some of my picks would be Shockwave, Insecticons, Stunticons, Wheeljack, Jazz, Sunstorm, the other Rainmaker (there isn't a name for him yet), Perceptor, Kup, Grapple, etc. There are so many choices that the Universe line can keep coming back for a long time and as long as Hasbro makes money off of it I am sure it will.

 

as long as they eventualy do some form of G1 arcee, i'll be happy. I'm debainting trying to track down one of the cyberfembots A.R.C.
If hasbro NEVER does... then That'll be my only option... and i've no idea where to even start looking.