They have a lab they run up in Rhode Island where they are constantly prototyping, playtesting, and focus grouping.

Also, never underestimate the willingness of a parent to send negative feedback on a toy that's disappointed their child. You and they will find lots of that on Amazon and other online retailers.

 

That's why I always steer clear of Amazon's reviews section. It's a minefield of parents complaining because "the $50 collectible figure was too complicated for their impatient 5-year-old" and shit like that. These people seem to be unable to process basic things like recommended ages and large, obvious labels stating "NOT A TOY" and "FOR ADULT COLLECTORS".

 

Uh... what kind of $50 collectible figure? Because I think I can say that no, and I mean no Hasbro Transformer figure has 'not a toy' label on it.

 

I agree with this.

That's rather interesting that your kids only care for characters that are their gender.

 

The way I read it, the son will by a female character as long as they are in fiction (like Arcee and Strongarm.)

 

I meant in general, not just Transformers. I think my point still stands.

 

The SDCC Dinobot set, just as an example, has "Adult Collectible" on the box. So you're wrong.

The thing about feedback is only the people who had either a really great or really terrible experience tend to provide it without some sort of kickback. So your feedback gets greatly skewed. I am sure there are parents who complain, but ignorant people will complain about anything. Focus groups also provide challenges in that you are creating an environment that is not naturally occurring. You are not necessarily getting real-world results that can be applied across a broad spectrum of society.

Once again, it should be stated that this is really corporate speak you are getting here. They are making more profit off of the figures because they are selling less and need more profit per figure to keep up with shareholder demands. Think about this - if so many people were complaining about complexity (despite having tons of non complex items available since 2007), why not add text to the instructions again? Seems like a simple and inexpensive way to cut down on lots of confusion. But that has yet to happen...

 

I remember somebody 1 star'd the Platinum Supreme Starscream because he simply didn't like the idea of redecoes.

Customer feedback is bullshit most of the time.

 

I didn't say 'adult collectible', I said 'not a toy'.

Considering this is thread about an interview with a Hasbro Director means he's obviously referring to Hasbro product, not other 'general' third party product.

So again I say, while a Hasbro Transformer figure may be $50, it will not say anywhere that it is not a toy.

Anyway.

The thing is, Hasbro invite kids to their sites to actually test their toys in controlled environments. How do I know this? Because me and my daughter are listed in Hasbro UKs own testing list. Every few months I get an email from them inviting us to another on of their focus group tests, and once one comes up that actually matches the age of one of my kids off we go.

Hasbro may look at things like Amazon customer reviews, but I don't think they put much stock in it. Any intelligent person should realise that any 'results' made in an environment where many, if not all, factors are uncontrolled will result in skewed data.

And the thing that people seem to be forgetting, is Hasbro's traditional target audience is shrinking every year. I can't remember what the exact ages were, but during Hasbros last (?) shareholder meeting their powerpoint presentation showed they weren't making toys for 8 to 16 year olds or something.

Because Hasbros focus is increasingly toward the younger range obviously there must be more toys made for that market. Hasbro view children as their main source of revenue, not 'adult collectors'. They may throw a bone our way every so often, but Hasbro have never made an item specifically 'not for children'. That's what licensed third party companies are for. And this is a reality that everyone should accept, although I'm not saying you have to like it.

 

Okay, yeah, the "not for kids" isn't really seen in Transformers. It just irks me when stuff like Masterpieces (which are the proverbial bone you mentioned) get horrible reviews because parents buy them for their preschoolers.
Just for the record, I think the idea of adult collectibles that aren't kid friendly is dumb, and it is all too often used as an excuse for bad quality control and blatant design flaws, because "hey, you're just going to put it on your shelf, right?"