Bumblebee Helps Propel Hasbro Revenues Higher

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by G1 Cassette Hunter, Apr 23, 2019.

  1. Max Tower

    Max Tower Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2016
    Posts:
    11,170
    News Credits:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    272
    Likes:
    +15,204
    Bumblebee made lots of money in China (all be on lower revenue retention) - the USA Ticket Sales were slow but with a decently long tali and Im sure it will sell better than The Last Knight on home release. But the later waves may as well be Amazon exclusives as they disappeared the toys off shelves and so something like Blitzwing isn\'t easy to find. It may help that they put the Movie Generations like stuff in the Studio series line this time.

    But if I had to complain (again) it would be the same darn issue as last time which is they over-produced the Scout/Legion scale and made to much of wave One and not enough new Characters or decos in later waves. Exactly what they did with the Last Knight.

    What I\'d have prefered they did - is have a more generic Movie Legion/Scout line as soon as possible and put any missed characters in that line (mostly AOE characters) as well as make things like the Dinobots specifically in the small size that they skipped over doing properly.

    They could have done things like a Drift Helicopter too. Instead you get a single wave hanging around in clearance stores for more than a year. Perhaps a better idea is just kill the Movie Scout/Legion line off and re-issue the Legion class G1 inspired stuff - but this time don\'t just stop with Bumblebee/Optimus/Starscream like they always do when they reissue those.

    Ultra Magnus, Cliffjumper, Nemesis Prime etc.. heck even Cosmos, Warpath, Smokescreen, Skywarp all have some merit there - and at least it wouldn\'t lead to so much shelf huggng if they reissued those and made more unique character per wave (and no darn Prowl again either).

    I\'ve even previously suggested doing a pan generational line with them and slipping in things from Unicron Trilogy and G2 and so on into the line - as Legion class didn\'t exist when Armada was made originally and, Cybertron missed key characters out. I\'d not say no to a legion class basic cab Optimus Prime for sure.

    As for Bumblebee toys - I anticipate having a really hard time getting Onestep Ratchet or The larger Blitzwing at all.
     
  2. SuperTitanHans

    SuperTitanHans Upgraded

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2018
    Posts:
    2,536
    News Credits:
    5
    Trophy Points:
    257
    Likes:
    +9,463
    One would think that Hasbro will be pushing Paramount hard to accelerate development on BB2. The Netflix series will also be a massive boon to TF revenues.
     
  3. ZapRowsdower

    ZapRowsdower Selling oddities in a shack. In the woods.

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2014
    Posts:
    4,915
    Trophy Points:
    262
    Likes:
    +4,929
    This.

    Let me add to your argument:

    1) Empirically speaking, BB movie toys did NOT move like gangbusters. There was no physical signs of good sales (i.e. shelves stayed pretty full). MAYBE during the month of December, but I saw too much product shelf-warming, in every store, to say (without a doubt) that BB movie toys sold well enough to propel the company into profit.

    Meanwhile, Hasbro's Generations products continue to sell well, with most stores running behind in stock. The months of Jan - Mar are terrible months for TF fans: that the time of the year where many stores have empty pegs. Either BB movie toys made up all the 2019 Q1 sales, OR the Siege line sold so well that that Hasbro was behind on their supplies to stores. I'm certainly more pressed to believe that EMPTY PEGS = SALES, not vice versa.

    2) Hasbro loves to spin. They lie. And they lie. And they lie some more. This means that any answer they give you at a convention may be a half-truth or full lie. You don't know. But in context, this also means they are willing to underplay or overplay the impact of certain events: such as the TRU bankruptcy. Hasbro claimed to be ready for the bankruptcy and spoke gobs of positive/self-beneficial BS during the entire thing. Don't believe me? Check the stock action: on the day of the bankruptcy announcement, every toy manufacturer's stock dropped, save one. Guess which one! :D  And fine, we can argue that Hasbro was best prepared for the bankruptcy... until you get to that fun point in history (*2018 Q4) where Hasbro sales did take a hit and they did blame TRU! In other words, Hasbro bullsh*tted the entire event (when it happened) and later admitted to not being immune to the event (when data revelations forced their honesty).

    3) Hasbro is committed to selling the idea that movies = profit. They're building up their media division AND investing in movies. What would it do to investor sentiment if they admitted that their approach was entirely hit-and-miss? What would happen if the BB movie performed well AND toys sales declined? :eek: 

    4) Given the 3 points above, it's entirely reasonable to suspect that Hasbro purposefully manipulated the story to make it look like the BB movie created the upward swing in TF sales. And, as history teaches us, Hasbro is very unlikely to say (publicly) that TF fans carry the franchise; toys are still primarily for children (according to Hasbro), so it makes no sense to say "less children are buying; let's give praise to the adult fans!" Again, it's an issue with selling a certain image to investors: Hasbro sells toys to children, who buy more toys after a successful movie/cartoon.

    But as WishfulThinking skillfully picked out, the data doesn't match that statement at all!

    It's a complete surprise (to everyone) that Hasbro pulled a profit out of this last quarter. I would agree that the BB movie did better than TLK, and that kids were slightly more interested (from the little I experienced locally)... but it's very clear that Hasbro continues to underplay John Warden's efforts with the Generations line. This is tragic on multiple levels! Warden isn't getting enough credit; the fans are not being respected (or rewarded) for their loyalty and spending; and failed projects get more attention (for investor storyline reasons) than actually successful projects, putting a massive blur on the value of good decisions in this industry versus decisions that promote a false marketing message about the brand.
     
    • Like Like x 3
  4. ZapRowsdower

    ZapRowsdower Selling oddities in a shack. In the woods.

    Joined:
    Feb 5, 2014
    Posts:
    4,915
    Trophy Points:
    262
    Likes:
    +4,929
    With Avengers: Endgame, Frozen 2, SW, and other stuff I'm not remembering right now, Hasbro should make a pretty mint in 2019!!! Hasbro lamented the poor movie releases of 2018 as a cause of declining sales...

    I'm waiting for a good dip on their stock price to buy in for 2019 Q2.

    We know TF sales are strong, Magic is gaining ground, AND it's a big year for blockbusters... plus, Hasbro is a bit of a Wall Street sweetheart, in that it's stock doesn't seem affected by bad news. :rolleyes2 

    Kudos to Goldner and his team for making the company so successful, even if I don't agree with what they're doing with the TF brand specifically. I only hope Mattel can make a good He-Man movie to boost their sales, too. I'm a bit worried about Mattel...
     
    • Like Like x 1
  5. WishfulThinking

    WishfulThinking The world has moved on...we've always said.

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2014
    Posts:
    20,771
    News Credits:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    372
    Location:
    Wichita, KS
    Likes:
    +26,849
    Facebook:
    Twitter:
    I think the term "lies" is a bit strong (and implies malicious intent) in that they wouldn't be incorrect to say the BB movie didn't lift sales. But rather, the strength of their product is being spun down versus the benefits of the media they are investing in - that's where the bulk of the Q1 sales HAS to be coming from because there just wasn't that much BB movie product being shipped during that time that Hasbro can accurately point to as honest correlating data sets without spinning. But you understand that - I just think "spin" is a better term here.
     
  6. Terradives

    Terradives Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2004
    Posts:
    3,112
    Trophy Points:
    312
    Likes:
    +2,961
    these would be sales made in the first quarter, after bumblebee was released, and retailers noticed the demand. Talk about anecdotal more.
     
  7. BigRed

    BigRed Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2015
    Posts:
    3,402
    News Credits:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    222
    Likes:
    +8,829
    You're uneducated about how stock order is made. Wal-mart and friends do not buy all product they want literally one day before the quarter, acquisition contracts and what not are planned and fulfilled months before the actual quarter. Toys showing up in your stores on January were made based on data and contracts from months and months before.

    Before all, you're a faceless internet man to me. I'm not trying to paint you as anything, I would be writing this same reply no matter who you were, don't try to take this as a statement on you because I have no statement to make about you other than that I think you're extremely wrong about how Hasbro's business work.

    ''What Retailer ordered Bumblebee?!" is everyone. For fact. Around the world, your home is nothing. Nobody actualy pays attention to whatever number you saw personally in your neck of the woods. Bumblebee product was still being shipped and stocked and of god damn course it was being shipped and stocked because for the last 15 years we have always seen retailers pay more attention to the lines with media tie-ins at wide than the collector stuff. I don't know how you can even pretend that this hasn't always been the case. Where have you been for the last decade of this franchise? "There were no new toys!" is wrong too by the by,

    Siege did not remotely hit in December. Toys are shipped and they might show up in some areas early thanks to the way the shipping works, but their actual release date scheduling and actual sale sheets point towards February Worldwide, and that is when most of the world saw them. You still had people in this very board going "wheres siege wheres siege" because some guy showing photos that it arrived in their particular walmart somewhere does not mean the distribution at wide has already been accomplished. You love Siege and Studio Series and whatever, good for you, but that does not mean Hasbro is "lying about what increased profits" or whatever. Just because you like a line it doesn't mean it's a sales behemoth because there are factors that decide how much money Hasbro makes out of something and I'm sorry to tell you but lower price point and media tie-ins are bigger ones than what nerds on the Internet praise.
     
  8. WishfulThinking

    WishfulThinking The world has moved on...we've always said.

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2014
    Posts:
    20,771
    News Credits:
    6
    Trophy Points:
    372
    Location:
    Wichita, KS
    Likes:
    +26,849
    Facebook:
    Twitter:
    Thank you. You just made my point for me. BB toys weren't sold in Q1 2019...all that happened in 2018.

    So who is ordering more BB toys in Q1 2019 when plannograms shrank to EXCLUDE BB toy product from Q4? You keep avoiding this question while defending it for some reason. And "everyone" is NOT AN ANSWER because Walmart did not. Target may have but it was minimal...and as you already said, that product that showed up in Q1 was probably ordered in Q4.

    By whom? Who was still ordering BB product for distribution in Q1? I can tell you not "everyone" with certainty. But there was plenty of Siege and Studio Series distribution, not to mention Walmart's reissues.

    You're right. They started hitting in November 2018, actually.
    Transformers Siege Wave 1 Autobots Revealed

    If you don't even know when Hasbro counts its distribution, then this debate is moot since it's YOU who doesn't understand. Hasbro's sales are not counted at the register...it's product out the gate at the warehouse. You can have as many contracts as you like but when it comes to money in the door reports, you're counting actual distribution and payments. In this case, product between January and March. They are obviously correlating the product sales to a strong movie...but the product being moved isn't Bumblebee Movie toys. It's Studio Series, Siege and Cyberverse. This was all product for Q2 EASTER and Q3 Summer Sets. No Bumblebee toys as that movie has flown the coop by the beginning of April.

    But MY correlation stands as much as theirs does. Would BB Movie and Cyberverse product only on the shelves result in the same 20% bump? Remember that Hasbro has stated in the past that a third of Transformes product sales come from the collector segment. I think the strength of their product is very much in play over simply Bumblebee being a good movie. I wouldn't have said that in past years. But I think that may be the case this year.
     
  9. Dinobot Snarl

    Dinobot Snarl Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2008
    Posts:
    18,315
    News Credits:
    4
    Trophy Points:
    387
    Likes:
    +45,157
    I must agree, John Warden is Legit and does not get appreciated enough.