I'm sorry, but, that's all bunk. The "success" of the third parties amount to jack squat on Hasbro's definition of success. And for all the praise you are heaping on MOTUC, I can guarantee that the line doesn't make half as much as it could if marketed at ANY RETAILER.

I'm not against more collector offerings, but you are failing to see what is in front of you

Hasbro has zero need, want or incentive to replicate what the third parties do.
Hasbro generates more income by selling stuff to Walmart and Target than they could EVER make by selling to collectors, regardless the product or price or venue.

Collectors not only have Hasbro providing product, but they have the Collectors club AND a Japanese partner who already caters quite heavily to the collector market.
Between these 3 sources, Transformers collectors are second ONLY to Star Wars in being VERY well taken care of as far as new product goes.

 

I said this many times. You know the old saying "That's pocket change". Well the money that 3rd party groups like FP make is the change that fell out when getting your keys out of your pocket.

 

The argument for a collector's line seems to be it doesn't matter if it was attempted twice already, or if the logistics do not work out in Hasbro's benefit, as long as they "do it right" it will be a success.

 

right between the touching point of unicron's ball sack...never ever going to happen

 

The thing to remember about the 3rd party companies is that every release they do is done by a relatively small staff of designers and manufacturers. They don't have nearly the same sunk costs in terms of capacity or staff (which influences the number of figures they need to sell to break even). Also, the margin they make on each figure is completely different, especially when you factor in that "limited" quantity. And at the end, the profits are split over much fewer people than Hasbro's thousands of shareholders, there's little to no marketing budget, there's no fees for governmental licenses or safety testing, etc. etc. etc. It's a completely different business model than Hasbro, and one that really wouldn't work for mass release.

 

Yep. I was part of the focus group that got paid by Hasbro to give input on a collectors site and it failed, badly. Besides, they've got HTS and put the exclusives on there and they've got massive distribution.

You also really don't want Hasbro to be anything like Mattycollector.

 

I'm just curious, what exactly would a "Collectors Only" line look like? Are we talking masterpiece products, FansProject products, etc?

I see everything being released now by Hasbro as catering to us collectors just as much as it's being catered to kids.

 

the big proof is stuff that is happening now? with masterpeice rodimus....transformer fans are CHEAP, i mean, some of the cheapest fans of all time  

ok, if you look at the engineering cost, the time, labor, pure amount of shit you get with it, Masterpiece rodimus EASILY warrants the $200 asking price....but do fans see that? HELL NO! they want ALL of that figure, for about the price of masterpiece skywarp here in the US (about $60)

4 out of those 5 collectors are THEN going to wait for CLEARANCE PRICES because even then they think that $60 IS TOO MUCH!

THAT is why a collectors market does not work in america for transformers, transformers fans want masterpiece level quality, engineering, paint, and everything, for the price of a deluxe

 

I have to agree with this. Who can forget the $10 Seacon Botcon sign debacle of 2010  

The way some threads degenerate into complaints about pricing make us sound like a bunch of old ladies at the grocery store.

 

oh god that thread consisted of me and several fans practically reaching out and slapping fans in the face through the computer for complaining about that haha  

 

'collectors only' seems to sound like a lose-lose situation between hasbro & end buyers. If the point is to generate profit, then I don't think Hasbro would get anywhere with that. Anyway,what's with the 'collectors only' term? You wouldn't know if granny next door would be buying a TF right after she paid a visit to the dentist

 

Don't forget the nerd rage when a clearanced toy becomes a hot item.  

What amazes me is that people will pay ridiculous prices for those 3rd party G1 Arcee toys but they wait till MP figures go on clearance.

 

What exactly do you want?

I've browsed through MattyCollector.com, the products aren't all that high end compared to Hasbro's Transformers. IMO, quality wise, Transformers already have the upper hand.

Transformers are made of better plastic. Checked. Transformers are made using hard plastic compared to the rubbery plastic used on most action figures.

Transformers have better paint job. I say decent but TakaraTOMY usually gives us better.

Transformers are made as screen accurate as possible at the time of design. semi - checked(Cost and time constraints apply.).

Modern updates are made for nostalgic characters. Checked.

Unless you want something like a Soul of Chogokin line, then that's a different story, but I doubt even Mattel would do that.

Labeling toys as "Collector's Edition" only gives company an excuse to raise the price of a product and limit the distribution of the product. Its not really a good thing.

 

They want some nigh-perfect line of dream figures that they would more than likely still complain about.

Also, I don't get the attraction to MattyCollector. People camp their web site so they can snipe purchase a totally mediocre figure.

 

I thought TFcons with the box sets were basically for the collectors?

 

Mattel doesnt have something Hasbro has: a partner with independent direction.

As long as tf is a hasbro/takatomy jv, we'll always have collector orientated product (not to mention superior distribution channels official n non official).

Shouldnt we be glad we dont have to step over each other to get primary characters unlike mattels practice? (even our repaints are better in terms of creating new characters).

 

I need to clear the air here. I Didn't start this thread to bitch or complain or imply that I was unhappy with anything Hasbro has done or will be doing with the TF line.

I am EXTREMELY happy with TF's as they stand now. I especially LOVE the Classics/Universe/Generations line and all of the bones Hasbro has thrown our way.

I just wanted to suggest a natural progression of the market into a possible collectors only segment.

 

I completely understand what you're saying here. And it makes complete sense and may very well be the reason that there is no collector's only website that has product that caters to collectors the way that mattycollector does.

I bolded the heart of your argument which is that Hasbro can't afford to do this because TFs are too complex and cost too much to make.

I honestly can't comment on this statement. It makes alot of sense.....don't get me wrong. But, IMO you or I can't comment on this subject because we don't have access to Hasbro's business porfolio.

We're not on the board of directors and we don't have access to all of the graphs and pie charts that have cost VS profit margin on them and would justify this argument.

 

To my knowledge, retail doesn't work that way. A $200 pricetag can't be "warranted".

In retail there is a 100% to 150% markup on EVERYTHING you buy whether it's toys, sneakers, or an awesome TF T-shirt.

That means the actual value of a $11.99 deluxe figure is $6 and the cost to create said figure is even less than that.

Same goes for a $200 figure. The actual value would be $100 and actual cost to create it would be less than that.

 

I just don't see it working.

The cost to come up with a Transformers figure is just so much higher than it is to make a human figure. With He-Man it's not hard to reuse parts like arms or legs. With Transformers if you tried reusing parts you'd have a figure that can not transform. So you'd need to sell a lot more Transformers to make back the development cost. While online sells have been increasing over the years I don't think they are strong enough to support a Transformers collectors only line.

Besides Transformers already has the best of both worlds going on now. With Classics they can introduce a character fans have been wanting like G1 Jazz while at the same time it's a figure kids will buy as well. For the characters that we get, the level of quality, and being able to buy it at the store to save shipping I feel like collectors are getting an insanely good deal.