Well, why not flip this question on it's head an identify the things Hasbro is doing that others are not. For now, I will stick to Transformers.

In terms of what's here. Comparing a Voltron toy to FoC Bruticus is a major negative for a Votron toy. For Bruticus, they had to create 5 charaters, who were all triple changers. They had to be a screen accurate Bot, screen accurate Alt, and a limb. Each of the figures on FoC Bruticus had A LOT of articulation. Then Bruticus himself needed to have articulation. Now, look at Voltron. There is basically 2 modes, cat and limb. The "transformation" is not even one. It's push in a tail, fold the legs into a position where you can see the legs are there, and the then fold the head up. There is no real "transformation". The combiner mode is put legs and arm on, and your done. The articulation is extremely bare bones.

Then you have paint apps, the sword on voltron is not even chrome. the paint apps are poorly applied and there are barely any there. It's mostly molded in. Bruticus had to deal with a lot more paint apps in tighter spaces.

Then you can look at piece count on the figures. I don't know for certain, but I am willing to bet there are more molded parts in FoC Bruticus then there is in Voltron. I mean, Voltron is pretty much 2 lions molded in different colors and the black lion.

Then you get to price. A complete Bruticus at the time was $15 x 5 = $75. A complete Voltron (assuming classics) is $20x4 + $30. That is $110. So the price difference there is huge.

So what exactly did Voltron do bettern then Bruticus? Look better? Sure, but Voltron is an extremely simple combiner. It's almost not fair to compare the two.

 

Industry consolidation, offshored manufacturing, and the fact that the remaining big players hire from a very small geographical pool.

Think about it. There are tens of thousand of people with better ideas. But how many are going to spend 4 years and $80K on a degree (because HR thinks* nobody can learn anything on their own), move to Rhode Island (or Los Angeles for Mattel) to answer local-only postings (because HR thinks* nobody could maybe get the job and _then_ move), and spend years saying "yes sir, I agree sir, very good sir" to every bone-headed decision (without the blame landing in your lap) needed to secure enough promotions to get anywhere near the driver's seat? So we're stuck with whoever gets a C or better from a local college and is willing to put up with political bullshit for some time (possibly because they have no strong opinions of their own that would "threaten" established fiefdoms which really defeats the point**).

*for extremely loose definitions of "think"

**see this alot in my field...the politics of failure have failed so we must make them work again...

If the economy wasn't so wrecked in favor of rentierism, you'd see _alot_ more people striking out on their own.

 

So they should look like nothing?

How is it not working? Sales are doing great!

You keep saying this but you don't propose how you would "fix" it (although, I'd argue that there's nothing to fix), which is what I mean by "what should this line look like" to you?

 

Voltron has a really better plastic quality.

Voltron has electronics.

Voltron is considerable bigger.

Sorry but it is really difficult to argument that Voltron is not a superior toy, with better quality and better price.

Another competitor of Hasbro is Hasbro itself, and how they used to sell Transformers with better quality, like Cybertron Leader Optimus Prime, more than 10 years ago.

 

You know, I was gonna make a point here, but I think we'll agree to disagree here. I like Voltron as well, no need to bash it, but Voltron is a very simplistic toy at best.

 

All I want is functional elbows and figures that can actually stand on their own.. That really truly can't be asking for too much is it?

 

For the most part, no. I've been fairly happy with most of what I have bought the last couple of years. I feel like I'm beating a dead horse here since this is pretty much my third post in a row regarding this, but what I'm disappointed in is a more laid back, or lack there of, take on quality control. Especially for the higher priced figures like Titan Class for Hasbro or the Takara MP line.

I noticed that someone mentioned Playmates above. Their Voltron toys are pretty good looking. But I have noticed that the paint department has been a bit sloppy on their Legendary scale when it comes to scratches and unwanted extra blobs of paint. In regards to their TMNT line, them cancelling certain figures while packing others and making them a huge pain to find (looking at all the $100+ Muckmen figures on eBay) is disappointing.

 

I can can do 4 wheels in 2 min. A machine could do it less than that which is what it would be in the factory, not a person. Plant doesn't have to be all, some vehicles it makes sense but cars I'd rather have silver.

 

Depends who you ask. Shareholders? Yes. Brand loyalists? Yes. Employees that should know better but keep making those mistakes anyway? Yes. As a toy enthusiast, though, I don't think it's too much to ask.

 

Well, it is no secret Hasbro is adverse to taking risks. Would people have bought Fall Of Cybertron Bruticus if it was 1 Voyager Class and 4 Deluxe Class toys? Sure we would, and we would be happy to. I remember all the bullshit discussed in the past; we cannot have too many aeroplanes or military vehicles on the toy shelves, we have not perfected Combiners yet, children will lose their Headmasters, .etc. And looked what happened? The Prime Wars Trilogy is the best Transformers toy line ever!

Here is another problem, Black Panther is airing in cinemas now. If I want purchase a Black Panther action figure to add it to my Avengers collection. What choices do I have? The main toy lines are not scaled together. It is like Hasbro's way of saying we make the main toy lines suck so you are forced to buy Marvel Legends. Think of this from a children or early teenager point of view. It sucks isn't it?

 

You don't need to look at other company's toy lines, just look at the difference between the movie line figures and Generations. Generations looks more and more like their Rescue Heroes line while their movie line figures look like a continuation of what Generations use to. They also tend to have paint, tampos, and great sculpted detail while Generations has been chipping away at such things. Clearly more money is spent on the movie figures.

 

*looks at his MLP collection, at all the extremely screen accurate minis, the accessories-laden brushables and EG dolls, at the gorgeous Guardians of Harmony and Fan Series figs*

Hahaha, no.

Cya
Raziel-chan

 

They also cost more, even if it's only a few bucks more. But yes, realistic alt modes, slightly more paint apps, higher parts count. But you get what you pay for.

 

Are we adults or 5 year olds now?

Does it now? Then I wonder why people are ditching these lines and try to find out alternatives. Having a possitive net gain doesnt mean that you are not doing mistakes. It means that for the time being you are doing ok.

I said it three or four times, each line should have its own focus.

 

That depends on how long you plan to evade my question.

The people ditching the lines are a very slim minority (And fans that are never satisfied, I've found, as they always buy the "next" great 3P toy of the same character. If the 3P toys are so great, then you should buy it and never purchase another one again.) Definitely not enough to prevent Hasbro from high sales again within the Transformers brand (up 10% over last year according to their last stockholder report).

And I'm asking you, what should a Generations line look like, then? Keep in mind that if they increase plastic density, paint apps, bulk, etc, then the price will move out of "toy aisle" range and they lose kids. If they go full kiddie, then collectors may not care for them plus we lose out on the more obscure characters getting updates.

Instead, they are striking a balance that seems to be working for them.

 

Not really. You have the Turbo Changers and Knight Armor gimmick toys for kids, and even some of those (the Team Combiners and Tiny Turbo Changers) I find endearing. As for the "collector lines", your Premier Editions, your Warrior Class, your Generations... I don't have a problem with them. The Movie toys are more accurate than ever with a ton of play value, I have been consistently impressed with the integration of the gimmicks in the Prime Wars line, and I have been enjoying what Warrior Class figures I've picked up. The prices suck compared to what they used to be a decade ago when I started, but inflation and a decreasing market for toys are to blame there. I guess the hollowing kind of sucks on figures like Hardhead and Highbrow?

 

Voltron has far fewer molded details, minimal articulation beyond what's needed to transform, and only has to be two things (a Lion, a component of Voltron). Wake me when that Voltron lion also has a fully articulated individual robot mode.

And I say that as someone who *likes* the Voltron stuff we're getting.

Machines cost money to operate, maintain, power, and oversee. Not to mention the costs of ensuring that machine complies with any manufacturing regulations that would oversee the particular plant.

Also, how many machines do you need to produce enough wheels a day to ensure you meet production quotas?

 

What I am about to state is purely anecdotal based on my experience at the two or three Toys R Us I visit. I rarely see kids buying "Generations" figures. Most of the time, it appears to be adult collectors. You can tell in the way they examine the figures that it is not destined for a child's hands. Perhaps Hasbro could pay a bit more attention to plastic quality, paint application and design and bump the price up a little bit to see what happens. Regardless if the kids don't see it, the parents will still evaluate the quality of the toy and if it breaks quickly, or is cheaply made, they may not buy another one for their children. Hasbro's value proposition right now is not a great one. They appear to have cheapened their toys and raised their prices. You just can't continue doing that and expect people to continue supporting your product.

 

I wonder how well Playmates would have done with the combining Voltron if the lions had individual robot modes. It's a lot easier to design a 2 mode figure than a triple-changer, and honestly the lions don't even really need to change all that much.

FOC Bruticus was an experiment, and successful in that Hasbro learned a lot from it - not to try integrated hands/feet on Deluxe toys for instance, and that the core needs to be bigger (or two `bots).

 

That's a good point, IF the assumption is that the Generations brand is not selling well. But it is, according to Hasbro. Until sales dip, there's little reason to stray from their current formula on Generations. If we're wanting "more attention to plastic quality, paint application and design" with a price bump, Hasbro will point to the (relatively non-existent) Masterpiece line. Again, if the Masterpiece figures were being released at US retail at a competitive price (rather than what it costs to import) and on a regular basis, I think collectors would be much more happy.