i completely agree - everything falls on hasbro. i still think there should have been more notice for people because as we've seen there are people that can't just pull out those funds in a limited time frame. this was an unexpected thing and should they have been working on it for a year or more, fans could have gotten more notice. that's just my opinion.

and yes, I don't care about star wars or anything to do with it. my thing is TF and that's why i am here

 

No. If the project fails it's because there wasn't enough fan support. End of line. I'm saying the fanbase will want to "blame" somebody, because introspection is hard.

Except we both know that's not what will happen. If Unicron ends up being funded, the story people will tell themselves is that the fan community rallied to succeed despite the hurdles they claim Hasbro put in their way.

This forum has an inflated sense of self-worth. Just look at any time a figure is revealed that deviates from what this forum has deemed "G1 accurate."

 

him thinking too hard was in reference to him thinking stores like bbts are submitting orders to hasbro as soon as they get them rather than waiting till they have a total. that wouldnt make sense as it would require them to have someone posted at a computer doing nothing but submitting orders to hasbro as soon as they got an order for unicron

 

They are taking pre-orders. that doesn’t lead to the conclusion that they have placed a final order for all of their preorders in total with Pulse.

Unless you believe every time they receive a preorder they are going to Pulse and placing a single order. HINT — It would be silly to believe that as they are placing orders through their wholesale reps.

 

Don’t worry Hasbro is watching you and will get your money....on the Haslab USS Flagg!

 

It’s the same thing. We don’t have data analytics groups, pricing teams or marketing specialists to strategize something like this, assess demand and determine pricing. We can only give our money, which many of us have done. There’s literally nothing else we can do. If it fails, it’s because Hasbro made a miscalculation. Which is fine. It happens.

And I just don’t understand this idea of the mystical collective fan community and its collective narrative. If this thing fails, that’s it. We go on with our lives. It’s just a toy, not a cause for collective soul searching.

 

From reading all the SW boards, The Barge was an item loads of Star Wars collectors wanted... me included. I feel it was a really good choice to start with and it ended up being amazing. When Unicron was started as the first TF Haslab project, I thought that made total sense. It seems to be the big fig that never got made but could now be made with this project. What I find interesting is the difference in marketing and involvement in the two campaigns. The Barge was slow out of the gate but ended up with loads of info tidbits from the Hasbro team plus we got a book and a package reveal and an exclusive packaged figure along the way. Mr Steve, the SW guy for Hasbro during the campaign, was on instagram answering questions and generally being available to chat with in a limited way. The website was being updated with new content (not loads but some bit here and there). I thought Unicron was going to take what was learned and apply it to make an even better campaign that would keep fans engaged but it seems a bit lackluster. I know they are different teams running it but did no one from the TF side pick the brains of the SW people?

 

Then why all of this information isn't posted as news along with the rest of the Hasbro pulse? This can be misleading for those who dont' eat, sleep and breathe Transformers news.

 

What's the miscalculation? This is the project they wanted to make. They need 8k backers at X price to make it viable. If it fails to get that number, it means there wasn't interest in the project. Would you rather Hasbro compromise the figure they wanted to make to try and decrease price? Because that's not the goal of HasLab.

You're doing the thing I already warned this forum would do. You're looking to blame Hasbro when there's no one to blame. The forum will look for someone to blame, but that's because they'd rather blame someone than acknowledge that the collector fandom isn't as large or as influential as we think. And the reality is that some of the big fantasies they often have about what a figure "should" be like come with a price.

We saw that here. The dream Unicron figure is doable, but it's friggin' expensive and the interest simply isn't there.

Except the forums won't get over it. You know this. It will absolutely need to take a breather and self-reflect and it won't. Because that's a problem fandoms have in general.

 

Because it's not news. Those retailers are not affiliated with Hasbro. They're essentially placing orders just like any individual, the only difference is it'll be in bulk.

 

If it fails due to fans not supporting it, isnt it still the company's fault for putting forth a project that wasnt really wanted by the fans or enough of the fans? You cant blame the fans who did back it, and to blame fans who didnt back it is silly because by doing that you are essentially saying that a fan must back a project just because they are a fan whether they actually want the figure or not or can afford the figure or not. The failure of a campaign falls on the company running the campaign whether it be through poor marketing, poor research, or just a product that isnt wanted.

 

No. The collector community wanted a big fancy Unicron. Hasbro presented it and told us "It's going to cost you this and we're going to need X of you to buy it."

See, you're all doing it. You're desperately looking for someone to blame instead of just accepting that some of the things we aren't simply aren't feasible.

 

We must have been typing at the same time, lol.

 

Me: "The fandom will desperately look for someone to blame when there's no real fault."
You: "No we won't, and also it's entirely Hasbro's fault."
Me:  

What's funny is this whole "Is there support enough to make this project viable" is a conversation that companies like Hasbro have all of the time. This is just the first time Transformers specifically has opened that process up to the public.

Like, you guys all realize there are conversations going on at Hasbro/Takara right now that are basically "Hey here's a figure we should make..." and then a bunch of numbers being crunched and prototypes being made before someone either goes "Yup green light!" or "Nope sorry not viable."

And guess what, that's nobody's fault either. It's just how this process works. And those proposed figures will go in a file cabinet somewhere and we may or may not even ever know they were on the table.

 

There's not going to be any blame to pass around. There is no scenario that would be perfect. This is literally an "it is what it is" situation.

 

Fixed it for you. I am not looking for anyone to blame. I know who is to blame for a company failing to get a product sold, the company. I never asked for a giant Unicron and yet I am still a member of the collector community. Your logic is flawed and frankly I think you are the one wanting to place blame on someone other than who it belongs, the company.

 

I've never heard of buying a crowdfunded item through wholesale before, but I guess?

 

Agree this was a dumb video (no offense). Could only watch the first minute of it but the commentary on pricing was particularly ridiculous.

I think this is exactly right. I still think it could be funded, but if it isn’t, it’s likely because intersection of engineering ambition, economics, and consumer interest just wasn’t there.

 

Yeah I can see that. Hasbro can’t treat Star Wars like a red headed stepchild. Disney would not allow bad publicity.
Transformers isn’t one of the top properties, I bet Warden and co had to beg to get this thing made and some CEO was like only for 8000