Just a crazy idea but maybe they should just fix whatever the problem is between them and retailers right now. The toy business and the retail business are always changing and evolving so it seems like a big win for everyone if they could just figure out a better method of releases in the current market instead of doing things the same way they did years and years ago.

Fix the problem between Hasbro making toys and retailers ordering toys then they could show whatever they wanted instead of the current method of just cross your fingers that retailers will order.

 

Canceling a bunch of product already tooled and even manufactured for another company is a sign of very real problems in planning. Someone is screwing up here, and it has nothing to do with the retailers.

 

Don't show us less and certainly don't show us more. As fans we just need to learn to level set expectations more appropriately and never assume just because a product is shown and or mentioned that this equals a promise from its creator to deliver said product. These showcases are a thank you to the collectors in some forums, and a simple show/tell in others (like Toyfair where the audience is retailers, not collectors necessarily). We collectors need to mature a bit and remember that there is a difference between business and pleasure. We exist in this hobby (99.9% of us) because we love the toys, but we don't own Hasbro, its shareholders do. And we fans don't even represent one quarter of the buying public for these toys, so unless you are a shareholder or a parent with like a thousand little kids, we have zero say in what does and doesn't make it to market. Hasbro over indulges us as it is if you ask me. Let's just let things be what they are and forge ahead.

 

Maybe the problem is too much product. Too many different molds. Too many waves.

 

If they continued doing them, people will still bitch and complain.
I still want to see preview toys. Hasbro should always be ahead of the stolen Chinese toy black market so fans would not need to speculate.. Also if Hasbro cancels some toys, they should announce it as soon as possible publicly on their website so things can clear up sooner rather than cause speculation and angst.

 

Bah, there will be speculation and angst either way! The problem is that production lead times and other logistical factors are such that Hasbro HAS to have some product on tap for lines at almost all times. By the time sales for waves 1 and 2 are really tallied...Hasbro already has 5 and 6 in production or on the boat to the US.
With the GI Joe: Rise of Cobra expansion line, Hasbro already had a Night Raven repaint, and a whole additional wave (or more) well into production when sales data and retailer orders dropped off.

I'm certain Hasbro has had wave 6 ready for some time, but just could not get it out with the volume of product retailers still had going into Christmas.

To an extent, it does. Hasbro's had First Edition ready to go, it seems, since last summer. If they had retailer support, it WOULD have been released. The fact we in the US aren't seeing things like movie trilogy and First Edition indicates a lack of retailer interest.

I agree, to an extent.
I think the big issue is that Hasbro was still developing product like it was the hey-days of 2008 and 2009 (fueled by still significant retailer pressure), but at some point in late 2010, brand interest DID cool.
Not pre-movie 07 levels, but certainly less than what they were developing for, but by the time the retail effect of that reached Hasbro, a lot of stuff was already well into design and production. And it didn't help retailers are still in the "buy shit ton of movie stuff in case of repeat of Transformers 07 and Iron Man 1" mindset.
The cancellation of Que and Soundwave (and movie trilogy) I believe can be put at retailers' feet (due to overordering on initial waves).
First Edition? I'd be more apt to put that at Hasbro's feet considering how aggressively they've rolled out "Robots in Disguise" this early in the year. FE should have been scrapped (and announced as such) months ago, and the molds cycled into the "mainline" development cycle.

 

While we don't represent the biggest part of Hasbro's profits we are still enough of a market that Hasbro finds it profitable to find a way to appeal to both kids and collectors. A fairly stable market at that since Hasbro has to worry about kids out growing Transformers but we are just weird enough to stick with the their brand for a long time.

It just kind of works sometimes that Hasbro gets ideas of what their fan base is interested in and then they can find a way to make where it has kids appeal as well. Kind of silly to say sit down, shut up, and don't make any suggestions when the mix of Hasbro, fans, and kids has been doing a fairly bang up job of some pretty cool selections.

And you kind of make it sound like no one at Hasbro would be disappointed when their hard work doesn't make it to market. I kind of see us in it together since they want to make cool stuff and we want to buy it.

 

Can someone cause ruckus and film it on YouTube ?

 

Exactly. That goes back to my point about planning. They go through the trouble of designing, sculpting, and tooling something only to wait until the line is winding down to plan on getting it on pegs. It's absurd.

 

I could picture Hasbro pulling a William Shatner SNL skit on some of the nerd rage at the Botcon panel.

 

Are we seriously suggesting that we want less information from Hasbro regarding plans for future figures because we're not mature enough to understand unforeseen circumstances?

 

What gets me is that some people behave like Hasbro did a great wrong to them. Like they killed a family member.

 

We also need bigger longer toylines, all these sort as toylines makes the problem so much worse. I want to go back to the days of unicorn trilogy: just one big line that lasts about 18 months.

I don't see the need for everything to be its own line. It's not like nobody else can tell the design differences

 

Truth has been Spoken.

 

Asside from story, isn't the Unicron trilogy marketed as three separate toylines? Different toy designs, gimmicks and box art.

 

I couldn't agree more, the toys from the first two movies were on the shelves over a year and some stores still have ROTF figures still on the shelves, DOTM line didn't even last one year.

 

First Edition was scheduled for November, with the mainline due March. That should've been ample time to do something with, if the retailers were on the ball.

On top of that, the First Edition figures were originally planned as Generations releases for Spring, which would have allowed a full year between them and RiD. And ironically, they were probably shuffled out of that assortment to avoid loading up on new-mold product in waves leading up to Dark of the Moon.

 

I don't think that the previews in the slide show is the problem. Anything I see in a slide show usually says work in progress or I take as a work in progress and not ready for the figure to be sold.

It is never good when you see the figure in the display case with the release date card and then we never see a retail release. This happened with most of the RTS voyagers.

Were the FE Voyagers ever showcased at a convention? In figure or on a slide?

 

Yeah, they were on display at BotCon, and maybe NYCC last year.