Yep  

 

Bumblebee has one thing that I don't think any Bay movie, even the first one, ever really had: positive word of mouth.

 

You are avoiding my question, though. What retailer ordered Bumblebee product in Q1, other than apparently Target?

Siege hit in December with market saturation by February. Q1 is January through March. Which retailers ordered more BB product between January and March? ASFAIK, the only new BB product to hit shelves was red Bumblebee and possibly the viewfinder Shatter.

Hasbro didn't launch any product in the last week of December. And if they did, that would go under Q4, not Q1.

What Hasbro is doing is correlating data sets. They are saying "increase in sales + good movie = movie caused sales to increase". Which sounds great and proper (and the best way to spin more positive coverage for Bumblebee) - except the bulk of the Bumblebee movie product was shipped in Q3 and Q4 2018, not Q1 2019. So that means OTHER Transformers product sold during Q1. I'm not saying the BB movie didn't help Transformers sales - but again, do YOU think sales would have been as crisp in Q1 if only leftover BB toys and Cyberverse were offered? For once, I'm fairly certain it was the strength of product that propelled the sales. And that's a good thing but not something you announce at investor meetings because that implies previous product was less strong.

Now, don't mistake me for some kind of "hater", as I think you're trying to paint me. Titans Return is my favorite Transformers line ever. But the effort to release stronger product while concentrating on core characters is clearly having an effect that Hasbro is more willing to say is Bumblebee's responsibility rather than other more likely correlations.

 

Hasbro is doing better. Good for them.

 

Glad to hear that us Transformers fans have been able to help out Hasbro in a big way! They and Takara Tomy have been providing us with high quality products as of late, and its great that we\'re supporting them as effectively as we are. Good work, Autobots!

 

Perhaps not locking down so much of the product in TRU has helped? I can actually find figures at other places, both physical and online. Amazon having plentiful supplies alone probably was a big boon, since it's the biggest retailer on Earth.

 

Hopefully they keep up the great work

 

and decepticons

 

I'm curious, what was it like transformer hunting when TRU was around? Did they actually have good reliable stock? Where other stores worse than now?

 

Honestly, it depended on the store. The one that was near me fluctuated heavily. It certainly had slightly better line coverage than say, Target, but not by much.

 

My TRU was absolutely useless. They never had anything new.

 

The details don't always line up with the PR story. You can see for yourselves that Bumblebee merchandise was at a minimum and Walmart didn't really even carry most of it. Meanwhile, Siege sells out everywhere.

Also it should be understood that Hasbro's numbers are not a reflection of retail sales, rather ordering. Considering when the movie came out and the product push (vs last year and TRU stopping orders), it's a duh that the numbers are up year over year. A worm with a penis for a brain could have increased the numbers under these conditions.

Be skeptical of anything reported here as not only is there impartial bias involved, due diligence is not reflected. It is not in the fandom's benefit to tote corporate spin without critically analyzing the details. Hasbro has to spin the low box office film as a success because they don't have a plan forward (they haven't since the first one).

 

The Bumblebee movie was great, loved the modern take on the classic design. Decepticons were actually done some justice.

That said, is it just me or is the MPM overall quality not quite on par with the normal Masterpiece line including the Beastwars MPs? A lot of them lack detailing and paint (namely MPM-7 Bumblebee).

 

I dunno, my Walmarts had TONS of Bumblebee movie toys when they first came out. They clearanced them out 2 months later with a bunch of the super crappy Cyberverse figures that only halfway transformed.

 

The release of a movie lifts sales right across the brand, not solely merch branded with the movie’s logo.

 

100% this! One in my area was seemingly alway light on stock, especially Transformers and NECA, but then it came to light that one of the managers had been stealing product to sell on eBay for over a year. He made over a hundred thousand dollars before getting nabbed.

 

So is "partner brands" a polite way of saying Star Wars?

 

And Marvel. And sometimes Disney.

 

A friend just linked me this.