TLK Premiere Line And Where It Went Wrong

Discussion in 'Transformers Toy Discussion' started by Shin Densetsu, Jul 3, 2017.

  1. Shin Densetsu

    Shin Densetsu I WILL DESTROY YOU Content Contributor Veteran

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    So I've been looking for TLK Premier toys in my local area and have yet to buy any. I've seen the rosters for waves 2-3 and whether wave 1 is shelfwarming depends on where you live. I've seen it shelfwarming but in some stores where it isn't, I usually see Slash and Grimlock left.

    Hasbro did raise MSRP for an unrelated movie line years back and later admitted it was a mistake. I believe they made the same mistake with TLK Premier too.

    There are a number of things that I think hold this line back from doing well. Most for reasons that I find unreasonable.

    Bumblebee from wave 3 should've been in wave 1. Bumblebee didn't even have his AOE body in the movie AFAIK. So some might say Hasbro needed a figure to fill up that wave/slot. If so, I feel like ROTF Breakaway painted like a USAF F-35A would've been a good addition to the line. The F-35A is in the movie quite a bit towards the end.

    Slash and Grimlock should've been saved for waves 2-3. As of now I doubt they will fly off shelves and will possibly block waves 2-3 from being ordered. Slash AFAIK wasn't even in the movie and all Grimlock did was throw up a car and roll around. Hell Strafe wasn't in the movie either unless I missed something. So another figure could've been used in his place in wave 3. Oh wait...maybe AOE Bumblebee repainted as Stinger...

    Optimus Prime in leader class is a wasted slot. The leader figures weren't planned for release until late June-August so it's not like Dragonstorm would've been a spoiler. I would instead make Dragonstorm and Megatron the 1st wave with a repaint of leader Grimlock later on instead of the mere AOE Optimus repaint. I get why most of you would suggest Hasbro should've brought over Takara's Calibur Optimus instead but I get the feeling the Hasbro tooling budget for new tools in leader class was only enough for 2 new figures along with a mere repaint. Also it is clear that TLK voyager Optimus has been widely more well received here than TF4 AOE leader Optimus.

    For the $5 increase in MSRP we sure as hell see a lack of paint apps. The Premier line in official product descriptions is misleading. Just looking at voyager Optimus(compared to its box art), you can tell the paint apps are largely inaccurate or not even there to begin with. It would've been great to see more paint apps, accurate ones at that!

    So to me, the $5 MSRP increase(compared to TF4 and currently titans return) is a deterrent. As are the TF4 repaints in wave 1. Any repaint ideally should've been placed in later waves with new molds taking priority in the 1st waves. AOE Bumblebee wasn't necessary and other figures could've been used in its place.
     
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  2. GiganGoji

    GiganGoji Well-Known Member

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    Ebay:
    Deluxes:
    Berserker - HARDLY in the movie. Just one scene. Not sure why that warranted him getting a deluxe and a one-step.
    Bee - AOE body instead of TLK body, severe lack of paint apps.
    Slash - not in the movie. Hell, not in ANY movie.
    Barricade - I actually like this figure, haha. Still a bit part, but at least it's something new? I guess that can be said for Berserker as well.

    Voyager:
    Optimus: I think this one is well done.
    Grimlock: not a great mold to begin with, but at least the paint is accurate. However, he never once turned into his robot mode in TLK, but is still packaged in his robot mode. So if parents go to the store trying to find "the dinosaur" for their kid...

    Plus, the price hike. Mostly the price hike.
     
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  3. Shin Densetsu

    Shin Densetsu I WILL DESTROY YOU Content Contributor Veteran

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    I have seen 8+ Grimlocks in quite a few stores in my area, it's a common sight. Grimlock is not moving.

    We could've gotten ROTF Long Haul painted as Onslaught instead.
     
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  4. BumblebeeNotOP

    BumblebeeNotOP Autobot Second-In-Command

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    I've noticed that Bee actually sells better than Grimlock, even though they are just repaints
     
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  5. Ch40sKnight

    Ch40sKnight Well-Known Member

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    I don't get why Hasbro didn't give Grimlock a movie-accurate head when they had the chance if they wanted to reissue him. But instead, his Knight Armor Turbo Changer gets it instead.
     
  6. Purple Heart

    Purple Heart Some other time..

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    Slash shedlwarmed for a while, but now my Walmart just refuses to re-stock the shelves.

    HOWEVER, when my Walmart got the endcap display they ordered about 3-4 cases of TR wave 1.5, Combiner Force revisions, and 30 fucking Optimus and Grimlocks. Those things haven't moved in the slightest in weeks. As a matter of fact the only TF figure they've sold was the last remaining Slash.

    I don't think it's exactly that any of the figures are "bad" as every states. That just comes off a blatant fan ranting. I think it's moreso that the movies just aren't pulling as much interest, as well as the increased prices.
     
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  7. Dudicus

    Dudicus G2 Combiner dudebro

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    I'd also like to see Hastak put out a Canopy retool from that ROTF Long Haul mold.
     
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  8. motorthing

    motorthing Too old for this $hit

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    Not a Movie fan anyway but here's how it's playing out on my observation of a few stores in the UK:

    £23/25 initial price for a Deluxe. This is a Line Killer right off the bat. £100 to get a set of four and three of those are Repaints? Stop huffing your own plastic boys.

    Same again for the Voyagers, £35. For something that looks nigh on identical to the crap that's been sitting, unsold in some Entertainers since the last film.

    Barricade is the only one that's difficult to find, and most have sensibly waited until the line hit almost instant discount in Asda. The other three are likely to be sitting in TRUs until the Bee film rolls around. And the one mercy is that the TF section in those TRUs is puny, still smaller than that for the Power Rangers movie that came and went with nobody noticing. I can't recall a smaller amount of shelf space devoted to a major film push in recent history.

    So, If Hasbro wanted to ensure that retailers had every disincentive to ordering successive waves they've done a bang up job so far.
     
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  9. Deonasis

    Deonasis Well-Known Member

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    I think they were trying to be clever by calling it 'Premier' without actually making it so - mostly old molds with little paint and the price rise. It is ok if 1 figure shelfwarms in a wave but they'll stop stores ordering the next wave if they can't sell crap.
     
  10. Nevermore

    Nevermore It's self-perpetuating a parahumanoidarianised!

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    For some reason Hasbro always insists of having two Deluxe Bumblebee toys with different bodies in a movie line, no matter how short the Deluxe assortment is going to be.

    The 2007 Movie line had Classic Camaro Bumblebee and Concept Camaro Bumblebee.
    The ROTF line had "Preview" Bumblebee (Concept Camaro Bumblebee retool) and Cannon Bumblebee (who retains the same legs).
    The DOTM line had wave 1 Bumblebee and Nitro Bumblebee.
    The AOE line had High Octane Bumblebee and wave 3 Bumblebee.
    Now the TLK line has the AOE Bumblebee redeco and wave 3 Bumblebee.
     
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  11. Menasor

    Menasor Jibba Jabberin' Automod

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    To me the biggest issue is simply the price. They call them Premier but the quality doesn't seem any better than the regular deluxe toys from the previous movies. Sure they come in a little box now as opposed to the bubble cards but that's hardly reason enough to pay $30 CDN for a deluxe. So far I've only picked up Barricade and Steelbane and as much as I love dino tf's I couldn't bring myself to buy Slash or Slug for that price.
     
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  12. Windsweeper II

    Windsweeper II Banned

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    It doesnt take a genius to predict parents are gonna think twice about buying their kids a TF treat at these raised prices.
     
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  13. bman

    bman Well-Known Member

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    I've seen voyager megatron and premier squeeks and premier barricade and passed on all of them. Not giving Hasbro my money anymore. Done with their bs and insults to TF fans. I'll just stick to high quality KOs from now on.
     
  14. Transmetal

    Transmetal Well-Known Member

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    This is kinda how I feel, why pay 20 bucks for a deluxe? Hell, I was messing with my ROTF Bumblebee the other day, that actually feels like a 20 dollar figure compared to Barricade and Berserker, but that might've cost me 10 bucks at Walmart back then. They just aren't worth it to me, especially if there's a chance that a KO company will improve and upscale a figure.
     
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  15. DBarricade

    DBarricade General Nutcase

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    Boxes the figures struggle to actually fill out even with their accessories sprawled out, mind you. To me, it feels like I'd be paying the $10 CAD mark up just for the disturbingly empty box that I'm just going to throw out once I get the figure out, and the boxes can't even be bothered to have more than a couple of words on the side about the figure within when Titans Return figures have the brief bios on the back and RID Warriors have the instructions. (plus the advertisement for being able to scan the insignia sticker on the figure with the game app to unlock features within the game) Regardless of my feelings for the movie toy line itself, I'm surprised any parent would be purchasing these toys for their child when there are Transformers toys of similar size but are less expensive right next to them. (and the Titans Return Voyagers are all triple changers and thus have an extra mode to play with in addition to the line-wide gimmick)
     
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  16. BumblebeeNotOP

    BumblebeeNotOP Autobot Second-In-Command

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    Don't forget the Murder Bee...
     
  17. Starscream Gaga

    Starscream Gaga Protoformed This Way

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    "Murder Bee" was a redeco, not a new mold. 07 and ROTF similarly had several redecos of Deluxe Bee.

    I've also been suprised at how fast AOE Bee is moving, at least at the same rate as Beserker and better then Slash!

    I'm chalking it up to parents buying 'Bee for their kids as well as the fact that in the actual AOE line he came relatively late, so a ton of stores never got him. People may be playing catch up!

    It's a decent mold. I have the Autobots Unite and Lost Age Stinger versions and he's probably one of the better AOE figures.
     
  18. T-Hybrid

    T-Hybrid Gnodab Kidult (He/Him)

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    I don't mind Hasbro leading with characters that aren't in the movie (or barely in the movie) because the idea is the movie would help sell more toys.

    So you can put whoever you want on shelves first, and perhaps include characters who were from the previous films in the hopes that early excitement will help move those off shelves.

    Then after people see the movie, you follow with more characters from it in hopes they'll walk out of the theater and into the toy department. (Personal Anecdote: I was on the fence about Hound until I saw AoE, at which point I literally walked across the mall from the theater into Target to grab the one I knew was there from before the movie. Because I liked Hound that much.)

    Problem: That plan backfired. The wave they lead with is a bunch of black and grey save for Bee and Prime. Slash, Barricade, and Berserker don't "pop" like the multi-colored cars and Dinobots from AoE. If you're a kid walking through the store you're going to see the RiD, the Titans, and these and your eye is going to pass right over that blur of grey and black.

    Think about the TLK packaging compared to RiD and Titans. Is there anything that when you're just glancing at a peg full of figures that makes it easy to see what they've got? How about those legion figures?

    And now the movie tanking. People aren't seeing it, so the initial wave of figures that aren't selling are compounded by a lack of audience interest moving *anything* on the shelves. And because the stuff they stocked ahead of the film is barely moving, stores aren't going to be racing to order new stuff. Which means even if kids want Squeeks or Megatron or Hound or Steelbane they're not going to find them anywhere.

    Meanwhile, Cars 3 has come out. Despicable M3 has come out. Spider-Man is coming out. So any kids (or casual audience in general) who wanted your toys but couldn't find them will quickly lose interest and move on to what's in stores.

    Honestly? The biggest mistake Hasbro made was stripping the Dinobots of their AoE toy colors. At the very least they should've shifted to the more G1 looking reds and golds even if that wasn't movie accurate. Because those guys look dull as hell on shelves and since they're not packaged in dinomode anymore you lose that attention getter as well.

    They've got the right idea with Voyager Scorn being red again. But good luck getting him to retail before general interest in your toyline has completely died off.
     
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  19. Goaliebot

    Goaliebot All Makes and Models

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    1) Price
    2) Price
    3) Repaint-o-Rama in first waves (those Grimlocks will never move)
    4) Price
    5) Even the original characters for wave 1 were ones we already had several of: Prime, Barricade, even Berserker already had a mold and he wasn't a new character new for TLK. Everyone in wave 1 was from a previous movie.
    6) Price

    Bonus: *PRICE*

    And now Waves 1 and 2 are clogging shelves and the later good stuff is god-knows-where.

    All that said, Voyagers Megatron and Hound are great figures, really love them. Got them on sale for a good price, so happy with these 2.
     
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  20. BumblebeeNotOP

    BumblebeeNotOP Autobot Second-In-Command

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    Oh yea. Totally forgot about that. Sorry :) 

    On AOE Bee being a decent mold, I second that. I'm just really baffled with Hasbro's decision. Oh well. The mold works well for the AOE look and color scheme. But for TLK, it just looks really atrocious
     
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