Botcon SG Treadshot gives us a taste of what a Classics Armada Sideswipe would be like. I would've thought they might do updates of more Armada characters for the 10th anniversary, but that has come and gone. At this point I'd settle for an Armada Classics Botcon set, but I don't see it in the cards. I can totally see HfTD Tomahawk as Cyclonus, RotF Dirge as Thrust, Universe Sideswipe as Wheeljack... there are tons of possibilities.

 

I rather forget about Botcon and just do like a Target or Walmart exclusives instead.

But I rather much have true updates under the Generation banner, given they are hyping up the 30th anniversary of Transformers.

I know I would love a new take on the brick known as Armada Smokescreen.

 

Man it´s criminal such a figure didn´t not happen.

 

Getting back on topic: Everyone speculating about Aaron's reasons for quitting Hasbro seemed to focus exclusively on the Transformers franchise. How about the other side? What if Aaron tried to prevent or at least minimize the massive layoffs and ultimately sacrificed his own position, either in a "if these people can't work here any longer, I'm quitting as well" way, or to save at least some people he genuinely cared about?

 

Makes sense, with the current wave of layoffs like the dude who created the triple-changer molds.

 

Just a comment on the pressures facing the toy biz these days. Since the economic downturn 2008, there's been a lot of challenges facing toy companies. I've worked directly with a friend who owned a toy company with his brother and ran into the realities of post-2008 global economy and the United States specifically.

There aren't as many toy stores as there used to be. Brick and mortar stores have been replaced by online stores. The big boxes have gotten bigger. Since 2008, 90% of the independent toy stores have gone out of business. We've also lost Kay-Bee chains and a large amount of Toys R Us locations. What this means for toy sales is browsing a physical shelf is not like browsing toys online. When you browse a toy store, you find things and brands you didn't know about. Digital browsing is more efficient for finding what you are looking for, not discovering new things. As a result, the franchises dominate now. The movie/TV tie in stuff has always been strong, but now it comprises nearly all of the shelf. It becomes very difficult to introduce brand new products without the massive investment of licensing an existing movie or tv, or making a movie/tv show to bolster the sales of a toy. As a result, there is less innovation on shelves in the last five years.

Shelves have gotten smaller. Two of the biggest toy retailers are Walmart and Target. Over the last few years, both of these retailers have reorganized their stores across the board to sell food. If you notice the size of the food market areas, think about in the stores that were constructed before this was added. The toy sections have gotten much smaller to accommodate the layout changes.

Oil prices have gone up. Labor prices have inched up, but production infrastructure is markedly more expensive because the cost of plastics and shipping goods is directly affected by the prices of oil.

General unemployment means that consumers are simply not spending as much, obviously. Spending is continuing to make a comeback since lows after 2008, but economic reality repeatedly dogs sales.

Competition with digital entertainment. Physical toys have huge competition with gaming, but this is nothing new of course.

All of this weighs heavily on creativity and freedom to explore. This is the big point I'm trying to make in this ramble.

Indirectly and somewhat directly, this has had a huge impact on the toys we buy. These creators are under a lot of pressure to produce greatness with higher expectations and fewer financial resources. So when you hear about people shifting jobs, there's all sorts of reasons, but understand that the fun and games industry is not all fun and games and is difficult challenging work.

 

I agree with nearly everything you said here, but I have to throw in that the big toy companies have created a lot of this issue themselves. I get it, the big box stores grabbed toy companies by the short hairs, but by pricing many of us smaller retailers out, it's no wonder so many independant toy stores have closed. Long before I was a small toy retailer I did the orderring for an independant store. I remember placing one of the first orders EVER for Power Rangers (Hey, I'm a sentai fan and went out on a limb with my boss...the rest for that line is history), That first order with Bandai met their $500 minimum...my attempt at a follow up order I was informed that their minimum order was now $100,000! Pricing pretty much every small guy out...and I was told that eliminating the little guys was the point, we were "too small to matter". With Mattel and Hasbro it's very similar...I'd be happy to meet Mattel's minimum, it's only $1,000...but since we can't order any DC heroes or MOTU because they keep that for themselves it really defeats the purpose of having a direct account...Then Hasbro needing a $25,000 yearly comitment with the first order being $5,000 is a pretty hefty one to swallow when they have so many of the same character in the cases that it makes it tough...when we get 1-2 new figures and the million Bumblebee march it just doesn't make sense.

The direct market / small retailers can be a boon for the toy companies if they just let us, but as long as we hear how unimportant we are compared to companies that are reducing orders every year. I'd be more than happy to offer up solid plans to fill that gap if I thought Hasbro and Mattel would listen...

 

Seconded. The sky high minimum orders kept me out a long time. Instead, you have to find a distributor which, before so many online stores started opening distributor programs, was kind of like wandering the desert with a dowsing rod. I mean, you know Hasbro and Mattel, their names are right on the box, but do you know Consolidated Amusement Distributors Ltd? Then you get sort of the opposite problem where that middleman takes another cut to the point a small order isn't really worth it.

I don't know what to tell the toy industry. It's like they've reached the end of some reductionist cycle. They're up to the scale where the toys are practically free to produce but that same scale forces them to reduce risk to near zero to sell them all. What can somebody in Archer's position really do? Any step in a positive direction (better quality, more features, niche characters, etc) costs money and the investors throw a hissy fit. And God help you if something "safe" fails, like a third All-Iron-Man-All-The-Time line hot on the heels of (or even right beside) the previous one, the investors throw a hissy fit.

 

A really terrible thought just occurred to my head:

The Transformers fandom, technically, is full of copyright violations. Screenshots of TV shows and movies, scans of comics (even if we're just talking single panels), even photos of toy packages depicting the artwork and the bio on the back. And then there's the Transformers Wiki.

The only reason Hasbro hasn't taken legal action like some other major corporations have is because some people within Hasbro really like the fandom and think these websites do the brand and its profitability more good than bad.

What happens if none of these people work at Hasbro anymore? What if the bean counters and legal pedants take over, and there's no-one left to stand in their way?

 

I hope to God not. All this free, visible information you just mentioned works as a SUPERB guide for referencing. Hell, 90% of my decisions to buy a product, let alone a Transformer hinges on this free, readily available information. If not for such things, I honestly think I would have far less Transformers and other Hasbro products. Heck, I probably wouldn't even know certain stuff ever existed to where to buy it. And then you have pictorial and video toy reviews which help even more. And then you have sites that list variations, production errors, modifications, toy fixes, hidden features on toys, etc. The fandom helps sell the product IMO. We're practically free, unpaid advertising and pitch men.

 

I could have seen that being an issue if the rumors about Disney trying to buy Hasbro had come to pass. Disney is much more draconian about going after fans, even if it means cutting off their own nose....

 

That's been my guess since I read the rumor and factored in the information we had about the previous layoffs (Rik & Andy Schmidt were working on the IP side of things directly with Aaron).

Sad to see all of them go, as I liked what they were contributing to the brand.

-airfox

 

I'd still be a fan even if Disney buys Hasbro but I wouldn't like it if they did.

 

I would be okay with Disney buying Transformers. Well they did own RID when they bought Saban. I'm still surprised that Disney has never thought of airing it on one of their stations.

Plus we could perhaps get a reboot that's much more family friendly or well less disturbing than what we already had gotten before. Hell I'd settle for an animated Transformers film by them.

 

I think it's the opposite - there used to be people at Hasbro who were real picky about online copyright infringement and they left. Idiots who were wasting lots of money with lawyers and legal actions against Transformers fans using Autobot symbols as a computer wallpaper or something minor like that.

Cartoons and comic books - it's not Hasbro's department. It's up to the TV channel or comic book publisher to take legal actions against copyright infringement. Online piracy is actually good for Hasblow - more advertising, and for free.

 

I'd laugh my ass off.