I'm looking right now because even though I didn't actually back VS I DID keep posting updates. Deathsaurus hit 38 in only 16 hours
Why yes, that is why HasLab exists in the first place. Glad you get it. HasLab is it's own team. We've heard the design teams for various brands refer to working with "the HasLab team" because it is, effectively, the R&D department for Hasbro. Or, at least, HasLab is the public facing side of it. There are likely meetings between the HasLab team and the various brand teams where they discuss ideas, budgets, etc, and then the bean-counters do the math to figure out the cost/backer ratio and take it back to the brand team. There's also probably been projects pitched that have, at least for now, been rejected or shelved without even going to a campaign. Failed HasLab's don't really hurt anything in that regard. The successes and failures are considered en masse and adjustments are made to the campaigns across the board. That's why you've seen them try different types of Early Bird unlocks, and a few projects even had Pulse Premium exclusive items included. I think Deathsaurus is also one of the first (if not the first) project to show all of the stretch goals up front. (And honestly, they should refer to them as "stretch goals" rather than "tiers" because the former better represents what they actually are. A successful project is funded and turns a profit, a failed project is written off as an R&D cost and the team factors in lessons learned for future projects. The only time you'd see any major shake-ups with HasLab is if they started having a TON of failures. At which point there'd likely be internal changes that we wouldn't be privy to in an attempt to right the ship and remain profitable. Because you don't really shutter R&D, you just change who's R'ing and D'ing.
Dang. TF team for the marketing win. Revising my hitting 11,000 estimate of "by Sunday" to midday Saturday.
I found all my other updates as I only did it up to 50%. Here is how Deathsaurus stacks up again Victory 25% Backed- 6 hours for Victory/1.5 hours for Deathsaurus (I missed when it hit 25) 38% Backed- 28 to 32 hours for Victory/16 Hours for Deathsaurus 40% Backed- 49.5 hours for Victory 45% Backed- 72 Hours for Victory 50% Backed- Samara climbing out of the well for Victory
I'll say it again, though. One of the biggest complaints about Rancor was the lack of a Keeper in either the base project or stretch goals. But once they added that to the base project most of those same people changed their tune and still didn't back it anyway. In short, the fans spoke, Hasbro listened, and then the fans didn't keep their end of the bargain. So don't expect HasLabs to stick their neck out like that much going forward.
Another reason they should call them "stretch goals." "Tiers" give people the impression they should be included in the base project. Where as "stretch goals" communicate that these are exactly that: A stretch. The fewer units get made the tighter the profit margin and the fewer things they can include. The bean-counters at HasLab decided that 17k was the number of backers they needed to make that full package profitable, and then they worked with the TF team to figure out what the "base" offering should be in order to hit the sweet spot of price and backer count. I'm sure there was a brief discussion about making the two Chestmasters their own stretch goal. Just like there was probably some discussion as to if Victory Leo could be a stretch goal. In which case you'd likely have had the TF team push back that those were core elements that would make the figure far less desirable even if meant a lower initial backer goal (and possibly even price). It's why the V Lock cannon was a stretch goal instead of an inclusion. Yes, it was a core part of the original toy release...but by taking it out they likely were able to hit what the HasLab team felt was a much more viable goal/price. And from there the stretch goals were items that, while interesting, weren't anything that would make the initial figure seem incomplete. ---- With regard to the Rancor, I wonder if the initial concern with Keeper and Oola as stretch (or even included) was they saw both as viable figures for a retail release and didn't want to get backed in to a corner where the project failed to reach those goals. Because now you have a situation where you can't really release Oola and Keeper at retail without making it look like HasLab's aren't "make or break" moments. Saber and Deathsaurus aren't really in the same boat. If the projects falter....it doesn't mean we'll never see them. It just likely means if we ever did it'd be scaled back to fit in to retail releases. You can't "scale back" a Rancor or Engine of Vegence when the whole point was making them in the Black Series/Marvel Legends scale. Engine will now be an interesting case study. Do they eventually release the three figures they've revealed as stretches? But if they do that, does it hurt future stretch goals as people will assume (rightly or not) that they'd just wind up at retail anyway?
I made this post 1 hour after it opened. It was 164 away at that point. so I think you can conservatively say it hit 25% in 1 1/2 hours.
I took a screenshot of 2500 backers at 7:51pm ET. Just because I thought it was neat I caught it at a nice round number.
I’ve been really impressed with the Transformer / GI Joe HasLabs so far, and I think you hit the nail on the head with them. For me it’s for figured you would either struggle to see at retail and / or toys you’d struggle to see them do justice to at retail these days. Figures like Victory Saber or Unicron could have probably been released at retail, but the sacrifices you’d have to make to the toys (either with scale, paint job and/or accessories) to get them at the expected price points now would honestly have left them nowhere near having justice done to them. It wouldn’t surprise me in the next few years if Hasbro make a much bigger push for many more figures in the Core / Legends scale because of rising costs. At least that way you could do a Legends scale Star Saber (maybe at a higher price point) for those who missed out and not affect the HasLab crowd. I know they rereleased the T30 Metroplex a few years back, but I don’t see a brand new G1 style one being made as a Titan now due to costs & rising prices, not in a way to do him justice anyway. I’m curious to see where the next Transformers HasLab goes now, do they stick with Victory a third time for Liokaiser (a definite hit, but if you’ve missed out on both VS & Deszaras, would some go for this?) or vary it around? Maybe they’d go with a new Fort Max, Metroplex or even something from another part of the franchise like Rail Racer, RiD Megatron or the Bayverse?
I like your use of the word sacrifice. That's what HasLab allows that folks aren't getting. Yes, like in POTP, you can get a PMOP for $45, but look at what got left off. A commander class Deathsaurus with a shared profit retail model would be fairly hollow and missing a lot of the wow we got last night.
