This makes me very unhappy, as the nem prime was something I was quite excited about. Very very sad. Exclusives make life suck enough as it is, but did hasbro have to do it with an alt?

I would rather have not seen it than see it as an exclusive.

 

You made very clear that you dislike ALL exclusives by matter of principle. Therefore, the discussion up to now has been "exclusive channels" vs. "non-exclusive channels" Hasbro clearly doesn't agree with you if you think this shouldn't be an exclusive. Now, if you want to shift discussion to whether or not this should be an SDCC exclusive, you may have a point. But for the most part, that's not been what you've said.

However, I can virtually guarantee that neither of these two methods would sell anything close to as many units as SDCC (as I said when you brought this up some time back). While not many of us may be able to get there, there are SO many people that go to that particular event that might be attracted to a Transformer exclusive ON-SITE that they'll probably sell quite a bit. Online sales tend to be atrociously low (by retail standards).

Look, I get that you're upset that you won't be able to get this thing (at least, not easily). But I don't think you're being at all reasonable.

 

I don't see any kind of proof that selling an exclusive internationally online results in more profit than getting the product in front of people in person. Not buying, Phazer.

 

I concur.

 

Hmmmm, I would agree with Phaser that there are probably more transfans around the world that would buy this item than people would buy at this one convention.

In the end, its all down to hasbro.

It would be nice for Hasbro UK to do an exclusive item, and if that happened i could see the potential feedback from fans.

But Hasbro UK have less sense than Hasbro US.

 

At last years San Diego Comic Con there were over 100,000 people estimated to have attended, that's more than every TF Fan Convention combined in any given year. If even half of those bought exclusives for the sake of them being exclusive (which alot of them do) then the market at SDCC is much, much higher than regular market demand.

 

Yes, but that's more of an aside - I don't believe exclusives are good for the business overall.

Not that I can see.

Yep, but then again I'm not surprised by that. I never expected this toy to see mass release.

That is certainly what I've intended every statement in this thread to say - I don't like exclusives, but I expected little else. What I felt

I said ALSO sell it online - not that it should be sold online instead. You're correct that such a channel just wouldn't match in person sales.

But if you sell it in both channels - both at SDCC and online (even if it's for a limited time), then eveyrones happy, aren't they? People at SDCC get their toy. People internationally can buy the item and are happy. People at Hasbro sell more units and get more money.

The only person who would hypothetically lose in that scenario is scalpers - which would not make me cry myself to sleep.

I do - SDCC isn't like a chain that demands exclusives and has enough buying power to hurt Hasbro if it doesn't supply them. Hasbro will almost certainly be loosing money on a small run like this. So why not make it more widely available - and I really think there's no chance that taking "SDCC exclusive" off the side of the package and replacing it with "limited edition" would cost them convention sales, where you'll sell more and maybe make a profit?

A fundamental rule of business is that you make it as easy as possible for customers who want your stuff to give you money. This move seems to directly contradict that.

Phazer

 

So then essentially your arguement boils down to "There's no way I can/will go to the SDCC to get the exclusive, so I want them to sell it online so I can get it".

I partially agree though, it'd be nice if they did, but I won't be expecting it. Hell for all we know, this could be an Armada Unicron thing, I.E. selling the initial batch at the 'Con before it's mass released.

 

Phazer, I think we're getting closer to agreement. I only have one issue with your latest set of statements (and it's not one I'll make a huge issue of).

This may depend on SDCC. It may be that SDCC has and does insist that this toy be exclusive to them if Hasbro is to sell it. I don't, in fact, know that this is the case here, but I do know it to be true for other conventions of this type. The convention wishes for an item to be "exclusive" so that it will draw people to the convention.

Basically, the old "if it's available elsewhere, it's not really an exclusive" argument.

Now, we could still debate whether Hasbro should (could?) have made this exclusive to some other outlet, although there are definitely indications that stores are indeed becoming soured on the notion of Transformers exclusives lately.

But if SDCC did request an exclusive, Hasbro wouldn't have the option of doing this online, in addition to SDCC, so at least SDCC becomes an exception to "everyone's happy, arent' they?" in your example above.

As to SDCC's power to influence Hasbro, I think it's safe to say that Hasbro has a strong interest in having a presence at the convention, even if it's for different reasons than those that give the Wal-Marts and Targets their influence....

But this is all, admittedly, speculation.

 

That's exactly why spotty Alt distribution puzzled me. I know Hasbro didn't like the situtation any more than we did, but that it took a complete reboot to fix it is beyond me.

Hasbro Toy Shop is helping that scenario, barring uncooperative convention planners, it seems like they could use it to open up the SDCC exclusive (if it is one?).

 

Meh, don't really feel strongly one way or the other. Kind of lost interest in all the Alt repaints.

 

Problem is:
a) Hasbro is a bigger company than the SDCC.
b) SDCC benefits from haveing the big guns like Hasbro at the con. Why would they try to strongarm them out?
c) Companies like Sideshow and Mezco, both of which are smaller than Hasbro, offer their exclusives online (for non-attendees) as well as in person.

Personally I take the exclusivity as a shot below the belt to those who have loyally and obsessively tracked down these toys to have an entire set, only to have a bunch of Left-Coasters profiteer.

 

? I'm not sure why this matters.

The benefits run both ways. I'm sure SDCC could do fine without Hasbro, if push came to shove. The point is, Hasbro benefits from being at the convention at least as much as SDCC benefits from having them there.

This would argue against SDCC insisting on an exclusive, then. I said that it was speculation.

Bah! No one, retailer, Hasbro, convention-runner, creates exclusives with any eye whatsoever to what it will mean to those who "loyally and obsessively track down these toys." They do it because they think it will help themselves (usually, but not always, monetarily). Those of us who are completionists simply don't factor into the decision-making process....

 

That seems exceptionally unlikely to me - other companies have sold their SDCC "exclusives" online before, and ultimately SDCC isn't a show that Hasbro have to pull strings to attend - Hasbro sell items there from their own store, that they're presumably paying for.

I'm really not sure the SDCC has very much input into the presence of exclusives or giveaways from attendees at all, other than to think it's helpful to getting people along.

Again, since SDCC don't pay for the exclusives that are available there, and any risk of not selling them and the costs of the production are entirely at Hasbro's end, I'm really don't think the SDCC have the clout to really ask for anything here.

As I've said, I don't think the SDCC will have even asked for an exclusive - indeed, I think it's extremely likely that their involvement is limited to charging Hasbro a few hundred bucks for the table to sell it from.

I've no doubt Hasbro want to be there - but anyone can exhibit at SDCC if they can afford to hire a table, and I've no doubt Hasbro are paying for theirs. Other than paying the fee on time I doubt the SDCC can demand much else - it's not like Botcon where, in having a licence, FP are effectively paying Hasbro to attend and help them out.

Because ultimately, if Wal-Mart want an exclusive, they can force Hasbro to give them one by threatening to take away a huge chunk of business. The SDCC really can't say much other than "you can't have this stand for a few days", which while Hasbro would like it, would not exactly be the end of the world.

Phazer

 

Well, if Nemesis is an exclusive, then I guess I won't be buying this mold afterall.

 

In an ideal world TakaraTomy will bring back BT with Mirage and realise that the Convoy mold would actually sell more as Trailbreaker... and make this fanboy happy.

I can dream can't I?

Steve.

 

As already noted in the post immediately previous to yours, it does seem that the arguments are against SDCC insisting that this be an exclusive.

At this point, I wonder if there's any reason Hasbro can't sell these toys online. We'll just have to wait and see. Perhaps they just want to see how many are leftover after SDCC is done....

(All this, of course, assumes that the toy IS being sold at SDCC, which isn't quite confirmed, although I trust those who say it seems likely.)

 

I'd like to point out that, if this rumor is true, this is the first year Hasbro will be selling their own boys toys exclusive at SDCC. Granted, in past years, there have been Star Wars figure exclusives at SDCC, but they were all sold by the Fan Club or Star Wars Shop.com, not Hasbro.

I believe Hasbro is testing the market for their own convention exclusives. Last year, there was a Hasbro Toy Shop booth at SDCC where you could buy an exclusive My Little Pony doll. I gather it did well enough and Hasbro has decided to branch into their boys toys properties.

 

Yeah, scalpers love to buy things like this and plop 'em on ebay. Nothing new here . . .

 

Exclusives were one reason I bailed on MOTU after collecting all of the characters at retail -- variants of a character are fair enough IMO, but blocking people from getting a set leaves a bad taste.

Having said that, my completism fad was short-lived and I wouldn't consider Nemesis Prime a meaningful character if I collected Alts...