http://www.seibertron.com/transform...ear-end-earnings-in-q4-conference-call/34698/

Typical of a non movie year according to the article, but alarming nonetheless considering CW is the best toy line we've seen from them in some time.

Hasbro REALLY needs to find a way to market the brand more effectively, whether by commercial, cartoon, larger box store presence, etc.

 

Exactly. All I ever saw was stupid RID commercials. Instead they should've done some CW commercials like stop motion.

 

We know that 2015 was BETTER than most non movie years (the previous time we were told this, they didn't attribute this to anything, but this article points toward the RiD line). And non-movie years now are still MUCH higher than TF lines were before 2007.

The fact that they're lauding the RiD line means the show IS successful at selling toys, possibly more than Animated or Prime were.

And in regard to store presence, these numbers come from sales TO stores, which is where Hasbro makes its money. Artificially loading stores with more product would actually LOWER these numbers because they would have to incentivize stores, probably with lower prices.

I don't think this is alarming at all, it's still doing far better than pre-movie lines and you just can't advertise the way you can with Paramount also spending millions of its own money on top of your budget.

 

And what about the other lines?

Im not saying flood shelves. Im saying use an intelligent combination of the suggestions I listed to increase sales.

I cant speak to RiD sales nationally, but I can tell you that they dont sell at all here.

 

Considering that the report said that Transformers is fine BECAUSE of RiD, that should tell you something...

 

Well considering I live in a fairly populous city, Im curious as to how/where these things are selling.

And it still doesnt explain why marketing for other lines is largely if not completely ignored

 

On an anecdotal level, RiD sells just fine here. It's usually slower than CW...but it does usually find its way off the shelf.

 

The last time I got into a conversation about this, the RID cartoon is what was selling the CW figures- at least according to all the armchair experts in 2005 land.

But no- RID doesn't sell worth a crap in my area.
But then there are other experts out there that says that is proof of how fast it's selling.

So, I dunno any more.

 

If not the most expensive.

 

What's our criteria for how much it sells? Total number of figures or the same exact (and I mean exact packaged samples) sitting there? Whenever I go to target yes, there's always a ton of RID figures. But how can we be sure that that's due to underconsumption and not just them having a lot of stock of it? Granted it's obvious stores stock CW poorly; I won't argue that. They're doing poor at supplying demand. But if there's less CW figures in the store to go around, of course it's gonna look like RID isn't selling relatively.

 

My criteria is this....whenever I walk in to a box store that sells them (few times a week) the same stock is still on the shelves and no new stock (CW) is being put on shelves because the other stuff is sitting there stagnant.

 

IIRC, someone posted a graph charting out annual TF-related revenue some months back. There was always a spike during a movie year and then back down in the interim years (which you alluded to).

 

As far as CW being the best in some time, I disagree. I thought the Thrilling 30 line was head and shoulders above the CW line which has reeked of repaint after repaint.

 

30 was full of sub par molds, characters, etc imo. A lot of shelf warmers.

 

If CW were the reason behind the fact TF managed to hold itself better than usual during a non-movie year they would've mentioned it was thanks to CW. Look at the full report, they had no problem with admiting My Little Pony's sister line Equestria Girls was the reason the line's growth was offset and declined. It's not in their interest to transmit wrongful information to investors.

Why so defensive about which line is driving sales? RID is the line that aims for kids in a kid's toyline. It's simply obvious and natural that it would be the one driving sales. You should be happy the brand is healthy all around so that Hasbro can afford to keep collector-aimed media and toys going along with the core kid product, not begging for product that isn't even aimed at you to do poorly.

Anedoctal evidence isn't worth much at the end of the day. I've seen stores where CW doesn't sell yet I've seen stores where RID stuff is sitting there. It varies.

 

All I can say is half the year there was almost no cw stock on shelves . the distribution companies like target and Walmart should of ordered more when wave one was flying off the shelves

 

Who is arguing it was the reason?

I dont see anyone getting defensive. I see people asking questions

 

What question? The line did better than it did at the other non-movie years. That is a good sign all around. You said it's a bad sign even though math itself shows that the franchise still has good potential of product sales. You're seeing a problem when for the first time there's none.

 

Poor marketing is a problem. Poor distribution is a problem. Its bad for the brand.

 

RID sells much faster than CW here. I've seen kids eager like crazy to pick up the One Step Bumblebee figures. I've seen Warrior Class waves fly like crazy, and the new Minicon battle packs don't shelfwarm either.
I get that you're against RID2015, but you've got to understand that it is doing above expectations for the demographics that it is targeted to.

Oh yeah, because spending money on Commercials for a brand marketed towards Children is a waste of money! They should spend it on a brand that is marketed towards Collectors, because there are a lot more of them on this Earth!