In my honest opinion, Hasbro should hire me right now. I will save the brand with my superior skill.

 

Put aside your personal opinions on the toy for a second. we all know a lot of us hate movie designs and simplified toys.

Try to remember that collectors are a relatively smaller part of the market. TF fans like us number in the what? 10's of thousands? maybe a few hundred thousand? There's millions of kids out there, Hasbro isn't looking at us to make the bulk of their sales.

The people who buy toys for kids are adults, parents, relatives, friends of parents etc. Most of these individuals are not TF conoissuers like ourselves, they don't care really how complicated or simple a toy is. They don't understand why a flip and change is different from a battle charger, and they certainly don't understand why voyager grimlock is in some ways a nicer toy than leader grimlock.

All they know is they want to buy their 5 year old son/nephew/etc ONE age appropriate grimlock, cuz he LOVES grimlock.

Hasbro has ended up competing with themselves for the same customer. An average consumer decides a TF is a great toy for a kid. They go into a TRU and have one of two grimlocks about the price/age the consumer is looking for. 1 out of 2 toys are left unsold at 50%.

The same consumer now goes in to buy an AOE toy. Now they have 3-5 choices of toy for the same character. 2-5 grimlocks are left unsold at 66-80%.

It's not quite as simple all that but I think you get the idea. And it's certainly not the only factor, but it seems to potentially be a significant factor that Hasbro is spreading itself too thin. It's diversifying it's product offerings, but the PERCEPTION to the average toy buying adult is that it's all more or less the same. They're not friggin' completionist looking to buy their kid one of each Bumbleebee or Optimus Prime. They're gonna get their kid one Optimus Prime and leave the rest on the shelf. A hardcore adult collector might feel compelled to get one of each type of character, or maybe buy the entire release line. But not your average mom walking into a TRU.

It made sense to diversify in the past by price point. Not everyone will want to spend leader money, or voyager money etc etc. But creating the same character at the same price point for the same age group? You're only going to screw yourself.

 

I haven't seen TF4 yet and sadly I don't have the need. I was super exited for the first less excited for the second......

none left..

I guess I will see it eventually... Its kinda sad. I used to be psyched about all things Transformer........

 

Just read most of the thread, good points:

1) Price Points, yes they are scary even at rollback and cartwheeled.
2) 1-step, power punch and Titan being the shelfwarming powerhouse.
3) Technologically addicted youth. iPad and gogads and whatnot
4) The movie itself isn't really aimed towards a younger audience
5) Over-Saturation of Hero Movies and Toylines along the movies.
6) The toy market in general

I agree with all of these points all having various impact on the sale of the Toyline.

But I ask you (and didn't notice anything in the thread) why have you not physically/electronically complained to Hasbro? There's only so much "voting with your dollar" or lack thereof can do. Sometimes there needs to be that next step. Make contact with them. Give them Feedback. Let them know that it was a terrible mistake to put so much into the sub-lines.

I know I will be giving them my two cents in the near future.

 

I understand that the focus is on kids but what Hasbro should know is that a lot of kids who are into Transformers get it from there parents. There parents grew up with this and dads most likely collect themselves. So there kids are probably into the same stuff as there dads. If hasbro focused more on collectors they would make more profit even little kids collect. i Stared collecting because of my dad who is more of a motu fan but had some Tfs. So hasbro focus on the kids of 2-3 generations ago

 

If you're a parent and walk down a toy aisle with your child, and knowing your child will just play with a toy a few times and toss it aside. Would you rather spend $25 on a voyager, $19.99 on a marvel legends, $9.99 on a marvel universe or 4" Star Wars figure.. OR $15.99 on a toy that your kid can play with and also can be used to play with, with video games?(skylanders) outside of all expenses parents have with children and their personal expenses, a parent will NOT go buy their child a whole wave of toys for $10 a pop! $10 is a lot for a toy that will be bent in half at the torso three times and tossed in a bin.

If hasbro wants to stay in business, start paying more attention to your majority of buyers, the ones that will buy whole waves of figures. The adult consumer. And hasbro, for $10 or more, make better case packing decisions, and character choices for your lines, and don't be cheap.

Look at neca. They're doing just fine focusing on adult collectors while hasbro and mattel are tanking.

Playmates, yeah tmnt clog
Pegs but they have a popular show which sells the toys especially at Christmas time. Transformers doesn't have a popular show that coincides with the toy line that helps sell toys, as well as the marvel lines. HASBRO! Do some market research for crying out loud! Battleship the movie?! Really?!

 

For the past 10+ years all I've been seeing is "kids don't care about toys anymore." So if collectors are a smaller part of the market & kids don't give a rat's ass about toys anymore then what's left?

 

Only AOE figures I have bought were Optimus prime. Evasion mode, leader class and First edition. I didn't pay full retail for any of them because I thought they were overpriced. Especially the leader class ones. NONE of the other figures even caught my interest. I've spent more on 3rd party and NECA stuff.

 

I think that was why they had the idea simpler is better and came up with all that simple crap in the first place. I really hope they don't come to the conclusion they didn't go simple enough and turn everything into those things while doing away with the regular figures.

 

I agree 100% right now my sons favorite toy is a G1 Trailbreaker that I had doubles of. You think its because he sees it in a tv show? nope its because Daddy has a whole room dedicated to Transformers toys and the ones daddy likes Mikey likes.

Hasbro would do well to 1st simplify the lines like it was with just about every line up to the AOE lineup Im thinking the way R.I.D. was laid out.

But then I think Hasbro should make collectors edition pieces and plan to continue it throughout every continuity. Maybe only sell them online. It makes sense to target kids with toys but to absolutely ignore collectors is turning a blind eye to a hefty profit that could help in times like these.

 

If you're a parent and walk down a toy aisle with your child, and knowing your child will just play with a toy a few times and toss it aside. Would you rather spend $25 on a voyager, $19.99 on a marvel legends, $9.99 on a marvel universe or 4" Star Wars figure.. OR $15.99 on a toy that your kid can play with and also can be used to play with, with video games?(skylanders) outside of all expenses parents have with children and their personal expenses, a parent will NOT go buy their child a whole wave of toys for $10 a pop! $10 is a lot for a toy that will be bent in half at the torso three times and tossed in a bin.

If hasbro wants to stay in business, start paying more attention to your majority of buyers, the ones that will buy whole waves of figures. The adult consumer. And hasbro, for $10 or more, make better case packing decisions, and character choices for your lines, and don't be cheap.

Look at neca. They're doing just fine focusing on adult collectors while hasbro and mattel are tanking.

Playmates, yeah tmnt clog
Pegs but they have a popular show which sells the toys especially at Christmas time. Transformers doesn't have a popular show that coincides with the toy line that helps sell toys, as well as the marvel lines. HASBRO! Do some market research for crying out loud! Battleship the movie?! Really?!

 

I´m a casual collector, when it comes to new Transfomrers figures. I looked at the local TRU a few days ago and saw the new toys. I have a MP Soundwave and am familiar with the Masterpiece line, but when it comes to the different retail lines, it`s a mess. Generations line, voyager class, titan class... I mean, what?

I had a hard time telling, how many different toy lines were at the shelf at TRU. I´m still not sure. I saw 3-4 different Grimlock and Optimus Prime figures. It`s too complicated and by the time I get into those differences my interest is gone. Too much products.

 

Whoever wrote this article hasn't gone to Amazon -_-

 

kids still want toys, it just has to compete with other distractions like games. There's quite a few parents that want to reduce rather than increase the amount of time their kids spend staring at a screen. I know plenty of kids that still want toys, but Hasbro isn't completely off base in focusing on younger kids as as they get older they're more interested in tech. It's all about selling the concept. A kid who loves TF Animated will in some way love having a physical toy more than playing with the same character on a video game. Sure there are more kids who don't play with their imaginations as much and would rather play video games, but there are still plenty of kids who love having made up adventures with toys.

Toys still sell, otherwise TRU would have gone under years ago and Target and Walmart wouldn't have such sizable sections committed to toys. It also can't be fairly said that a hundred odd dollars spent on say an iPod touch or the $60 spent on an xbox/ps game is directly competing with a $10-$20 toy. There are plenty of parents whose kids still get excited about the toy aisle as part of the regular shopping run to Target/Walmart, or who think a trip and purchase to the local TRU is a treat.

The point is, we, the adult collectors, are not what Hasbro's counting on to make the bulk of the purchases. So the argument that AOE is sucking because it's not what we want is more than a little self serving as Hasbro will never focus on us. Unless Hasbro wants to make the switch to only higher end collectibles, they'll never really give that much of a crap about what we want. But really they probably make more money in any given year from selling just monopoly than from adult TF fans, so we shouldn't ever expect much more than the short of the stick. The point is, a good part of why the AOE toyline is sucking because it's sabotaging itself with self competition and confusing choices.

 

And this is why AoE should have had more Decepticons! All those Autobots and like, two Decepticons for them to fight! Why do you want to buy the good guys when they have nobody for them to be played with?

What the hell does Amazon have anything to do with charted shortcomings as per data from multiple outlets?

 

What's that Hasbro, you say the AoE toyline isn't selling? Well maybe that's because 90% of the figures you put out for it are COMPLETE SHIT.

 

^ This. I was in Wal-mart the other day and I asked my wife to if she'd be able to get me a deluxe transforming Crosshairs had I not shown her which to get and she said 'no way.' They are all packaged too similarly. Even I had to look very hard to make sure I wouldn't walk out with the wrong version. (In reality I walked out with a Generations Scoop and put the AoE back on the Peg). I'm all for simpler Transformations. there's nothing more aggravating then spending 5 minutes on 1 figure (and that's IF all the panels line-up and parts don't pop-up. These AoE figures are not very good, though (except the deluxe/voyager Dinobots - they did Ok here). They are all basically backpacks with transformers underneath them. Hasbro went from one extreme to the other. I think the Unicron Trilogy toys have just the right amount of challenge and simplicity; from Armada all the way to Cybertron. The cartoons may have sucked and the personalities not completely fleshed out, but this was a golden age for Transformers, IMO.

As an aside, if Wal-mart is stuffing the Transformers aisle on a Friday evening, then these really are not selling at all. The pegs were overflowing. May not be just AoE, but Transformers fatigue in general. Blaster from the Fall of Cybertron/Generations line was still on the shelf.

 

Literally have not bought 1 AOE figure and while swiming through that line I saw a glimmer of light....I FOUND GENERATIONS TAILGATE AND SCHAPNEL! I was so thrilled i bought them and didnt even open them because they are special as they signify the coming back of the regular ones...all AOE will wind up in barrels at five below and dollar general where they still wont sell.......

and as for 2015 for combiners...who wants to guess if devastator is made OUT OF ALL 6 CONSTRUCTICONS one will get shafted and 2 more will have a different name.
seriously jets and construction vehicles should be voyager while cars should be deluxe....no legends limbs and scout body....and no more fruticus or fruitinator or frutputetron or predafruit
make the stuff the way it aperrs and give it the weapons it appears with no more of this loose a mechtech lunchbox to half gun led garbage...put the led in the head not the gun

 

For those who are not surprised, it's not the generations deluxe or voyagers that are bringing the line down....all that dumb simple crap is, which takes up 3/4 of the TF section.

I guess this means we can look forward to plenty of cancellations.....Yea!

 

looking at all the great 3rd part combiners, i hope hasbro can at least put out something close to that. not another bruticus piece of crap please. even beast hunters abominus is better.