Please tell me this is a joke…..

 

Bullshit. There are patents for fricken anti-gravity devices. ANYTHING can be patented. Hell.. a lot of companies do nothing but patent shit they don't intend on using, just in case another company comes up with something even remotely close. And yes, almost -everything- a company comes up with from R&D, even if it's literally a drawing on a napkin, gets patented so that they have it should they need it.

 

The last bit pretty much agrees with what I said and goes against your earlier bits. They patent it in case they want to use it, which translates to them wanting to use it at some point.

 

No, no it doesn't. They could have absolutely no intention of using it, ever. But then something comes up and they go, "oh hey.... we have the perfect thing for that." Or even another company comes up with the sane thing and they can go, "hold on there, we got the patent on that. "

 

If this at all prevents the unfortunately all too frequent figure swapping epidemic, then I'm all for it and won't care if the figure has some kind of visible 'scar' on its back because of the mechanism. People who figure swap will likely just find some other way to enact their crime, but again if this helps move the hobby further down the road to the eventual prevention of swapping then excelsior!

 

Nope. R&D comes up with ideas all the time, what goes to market is a completely different set of decision makers. But they'll still patent the idea because then if they don't use it the competition can't without giving them a cut.

And this could be for any number of reasons: Such as an idea having potential but not being something the company can afford to investigate further. Or something they stumbled upon during the R&D process but don't see any viable use for at the moment. 3M thrives on this kind of stuff. You have an idea but no application. So patent the idea and if an application ever comes along...awesome. If not...well, at least you have protection if another company has a similar idea later.

Paw Patrol toys and Hot Wheels sets do this now. I keep telling people this isn't anything new, it's just Hasbro patenting a slightly different take on something because that other option may be patented and thus require additional cost. Though this also sounds like a plastic-free solution, which would be a pretty handy patent to hold as more and more companies look towards green solutions.

 

jada diecast cars is also one of the brands that already does this too. plastic washers screwed thru the cardboard on the bottom into the undercarriage of the vehicle. i think their "1:24" G1 optimus had 3 of them. annoying.

 

There are a number of die-cast lines that do things similar to this. I know the Disney Cars line did this. It's annoying, but it's a fantastic anti-theft device. As a bonus, a number of die-cast lines that do this actually have the vehicle screw in to a display stand.

In those situations, what begins life as an "annoying" anti-theft measure turns in to a handy display feature when you don't want your stuff rolling off the shelf. Which is easy enough when you've got kids jumping around the house.

 

if they use this for transformers figures, I hope they\'ll include a piece that clips onto the back and completes the look, and not have just some sort of clip hanging off of the back

 

If they use this for Transformers, it'll most likely be for stuff like the newer Cyberverse figures that come in the open packaging style. And those already have ample surface area for this kind of thing to lock in to.

 

that seems like what they'll do, but when have you seen people want to steal CYBERVERSE figures? it's always studio series and the mainline releases

 

They have measures like this on Paw Patrol, NERF, Hot Wheels, etc....they wouldn't do it if it weren't a problem.

And, again, besides being anti-theft it's also anti-tampering. If someone tries to replace the toy and return it you can't because the key-locks can't be replaced.

On top of that, the keylocks will help hold toys in place on shelves. Should something got bumped around, dropped, etc and the packaging get damaged, the locks still hold the toy in place.

I've bought Paw Patrol toys for my kid even with damaged packaging because the figure was still locked in to the cardboard. Because when your kid wants a specific pup you sometimes gotta do that.

 

This thread is 10/10. On the one hand we have one of the designers carefully and patiently explaining how this is primarily for streamlining the process of securing toys to packaging and won't be used on things like generations. On the other hand we have an army of screeching neckbeards waddling around whining about how Hasbro has crossed the line this time and how dare they ruin Transformers this way stupid execs this won't stop theft of LeBron heads!

 

No anti-theft or anti-toy-swapping tech will work when the people at Wal-Mart etc don't actually care to check any of that stuff.

"I'd like to return this"
"Okay"

That 23 year underpaid person at the returns desk just trying to get people through as fast as possible doesn't give a single shit.

 

My guess is they get in trouble for letting a line form, so speed is their #1 priority. Also, the cost of a few bad toy returns is nothing compared to the potential bad press of "turning away a return".

 

yeah the toy swaps would seem ridiculous to store clerks too if they had the context, but when you risk your rent for the month on identifying if a bumblebee is real or not you're not gonna care. and shouldn't.

 

I saw someone on the Transformers subreddit say they were going to do that with the Netflix Earthrise Optimus because they were angry Hasbro didn't give us the "right" paint job on the mainline figure. I called them out but they didn't respond. Thing is, Hasbro already got the money from the store ordering the figures to begin with. Doing that doesn't hurt them, it hurts the store, and enough people doing that hurts the associates when corporate decides to cut hours to recoup money lost from shrink (in this case, damaged items having to be sent back to the warehouse or destroyed). I've been working retail for years and I've seen first hand the kind of gymnastics corporate pulls to save a penny.

 

That is why I don't believe this is for anti-theft or anti-swap purposes. Nothing on the design suggests that, and the engineers description states that it's more about plastic free connections.

Swapping can only be fixed by store policies, and Hasbro also doesn't get impacted by figure swaps. I'm not sure they would invest in a solution that primarily serves a store problem.

Also a note: it's not that the employees are incompetent or apathetic. It is often built into store policies not to question returns.

 

"Koalas in the raiiiiiinnnn...."