WTF @ TFW - 217 - September 13 2012

WTF @ TFW - 217 - September 13 2012



Typin' like madmen and Fittin' like Bittins are the crew of Vangelus, GogDog, and Seth Buzzard with another week's look at the news of the Trans4mers franchise and fandom.

00:00:00 - Opening
00:00:45 - Intro
00:06:48 - TRANS4MERS
00:16:16 - New Pic Picks
00:37:09 - Beast Hunters
00:50:07 - TakaraTomy Upcoming Releases
00:58:14 - Listener Question from JimTheJIRRMan
01:12:53 - Intermission
01:14:54 - What We Got This Week
01:54:01 - What Tools For Self-Improvement We Got This Week
02:40:37 - Ending and Outro

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I know what that thing in the show picture is!

can't wait to listen!

I was real board and about to call it a night but then this shows up. Thank you guys, your awesome.

Couldn't have come out at a better time to hole away for later.

And aw yeah, 2/3 of this podcast is all about the fitness. I'll be over here, eating all the junk you guys won't.

Originally Posted by Aernaroth Man, I'd MUCH prefer an echo chamber where everyone just says the same things over and over to a sea of nodding. That sounds like an awesome model for a Discussion Forum.

oh that intermission oh kissplay radio drama

Right when I had nothing to listen to either.
Kissplay.

nice!

Cool!

The funny thing is that if you're a purchaser or a merchandiser for a retailer, as far as the statistics (and stats don't lie) show, Bumblebee is your biggest seller.

According to your stats, the last wave of 8 deluxes sold only 1 of each new character, but sold 2 or even 3 Bumblebees. So Bumblebee will see twice or trice as many figures sold as any other character. So if Hasbro comes to you with a wave of 8 deluxes with only 1 Bumblebee, you're going to insist on more Bumblebees than that. You need at least 3 or 4 Bumblebees to make sure you can keep up with demand, even if it means having 1 or 2 extra Bumblebees.

The flaw in that logic is... in previous waves, the waves consisted of 4 new characters and 4 Bumblebees. Everyone bought 1 of each character (including Bumblebee) and then everyone else bought 1 or 2 Bumblebees because there's nothing else to buy. Or if you're a parent who doesn't care about Transformers, Bumblebee is one of the only characters you know. Or hey, all the shop has is Bumblebees, therefore Bumblebee must be the most popular toy!

As a result, Bumblebee is your biggest seller because he's the one with the highest supply. No other character can possibly outsell Bumblebee because they only have 1 per case while BB has 4. If a collector buys one of each char in a wave, then each time a casual buys a BB, BB's ratio shoots up by 100%.

But here's the thing, purchasers aren't Transformers fans. Oh, maybe some are, but how many of 'em are as nuts about Transformers as we are? And purchasers have to deal with loads of brands. There's Hasbro boys, Hasbro babies, Hasbro girls. There's Mattel boys, girls and babies. There's Megabloks and Lego and those vaguely KO/Bootleg toys. There's Ben 10, Transformers, Power Rangers, Hot Wheels, Sylvanian Family, MLP, Barbie and loads more. And they have to order for all their branches. It's not just one Toys R Us, it's every one for however large their area covers.

So, the purchasers are overwhelmed. They have no choice but to look to the statistics when making purchasing decisions. And the statistics say, Bumblebee is their biggest seller. So they won't order any wave unless it has at least 2 or 3 Bumblebees.

It's a vicious cycle.