Haslab Unicron

Discussion in 'Transformers News and Rumors' started by bearytrek, Jul 15, 2019.

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  1. octobotimus

    octobotimus Bad company ruins good morals

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    I am disappointed! I expected 20 more pages today. Better pick up that slack :p 
     
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  2. analogue

    analogue 01110111 01100101 01100010 TFW2005 Supporter

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    It does sort of defeat the purpose, but I’d argue that this hasn’t been a true crowdfunding campaign anyway given how they’ve operated it. I seem to recall that most of those sites started offering them right away, and not all at the same time either, so maybe they went to Hasbro and negotiated individual deals? Maybe, but can’t say for sure.

    I can think of one good reason why they would let them order in bulk. Let’s say BBTS orders 200 of them. Hasbro is going to get the full 575 most likely, and then they can drop ship the 200 units, saving them on some shipping costs.

    More sites advertising him also means more exposure for their project. Almost like free marketing, which most reasonable companies wouldn’t refuse.
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2019
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  3. analogue

    analogue 01110111 01100101 01100010 TFW2005 Supporter

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    Which lends more support to them actually being able to place bulk orders. I agree having them place individual orders of 5 on the last day is unrealistic, yet, supposedly, most have said that’s when they will be placing their orders.
     
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  4. BB Shockwave

    BB Shockwave Behold, Gagatron!

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    Undersized??? A 70 cm tall toy is undersized for you???
    Read the interview with the designer (it's frontpaged) why he isn't taller.
     
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  5. GAUGE

    GAUGE Wargod ARTS

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    Them Artichoke Boots Though! :eek: 

     
  6. Strife

    Strife Well-Known Member

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    There is no possibility, because there was never a real risk at this failing I believe. Purely speculatively, I think that Unicron exposes HasLab for what it is though, even going back to the Sail Barge, for Hasbro's core product lines (which is not Sesame Street).

    Sesame Street isn't a core product line to Hasbro, and adult Sesame Street collectors, willing to drop hundreds of dollars, not a core constituency (in a sense). They were willing to let it fail because it was in a sense, a legitimate "kickstarter". But Star Wars and Transformers are their bread and butter (along with Marvel Legends). Its how they pay their bills. Brand damage would naturally be a concern to them.

    I think there was no way this, or the Sail Barge were ever not going to happen. I think they factored in the (A) before they even proposed the project(s) and chose projects they knew were going to get put into production, in full, even if it took a bit longer than the initial deadline. So perhaps the best way to think about HasLab crowdfunding for their bread-and-butter lines is more along the lines of "An Online HasbroPulse Exclusive, that you have to pay for up front, well in advance of delivery". In other words, Made-to-order.

    This is what I think happened with both products. They looked at where they wanted to take the lines over the next few years. With Star Wars, they decided for Vintage Collection they were going to do a push on RotJ stuff that hadn't been refreshed in a while, and the most significant part of that was the first third of the movie, on Tatooine, some of which hand't been touched since the early 2000s. For Transformers, they came up with the War for Cybertron trilogy, which evidently aims to be a complete reimagined G1 - Part I = the prequel, Part II = The war on Earth, and presumably Part III = Season 3 / Space themed.

    And then they asked "what would be the top level product that's never been done, or never been done right?". For Star Wars, that was the sail barge, which had never been done. For Transformers, for a product that would take years to make, that means Unicron. Doing both "right" and to-scale would mean going well beyond the largest typical offerings. This is particularly true of the Sail Barge, which is pretty much as big as Star Wars vehicles can get while being made and in scale (the non-fighter-sized ships are too big). With Unicron, they could have done a Titan class, but what would a post-Titan class unicron look like? We have our answer.

    The Sail Barge landed, and just around it came a slew of characters from Tatooine in RotJ. Also vehicles - skiff that is the barge's companion, for the first time in many years, and also at scale. When Unicron lands in Quarter 1 2021, it'll hit at the same time as Wave I of WFC 3 hits. Get ready for a new Voyager Galvatron and a new Leader class Rodimus Prime, probably along with a leader-class Cyclonus and maybe a new Voyger-class Scourge, all in Wave 1. If the theme is going to be "Season 3 - the war goes into space" those would be the things we get, and they would be thematically compatible with Unicron.

    There is more evidence of Unicron being essentially made to order. The incredibly short original order window. That struck people as very odd. I bet the original deadline was B.S. I bet it was to pace orders and drum up interest. The announcement of additional international distributors well after the deadline confirms that I think. As done the fact they've piled on way more bonuses to the order than were put up before the original deadline. Not to mention additional public outreach.

    So why go this route and not just puit it in stores? Excess inventory. Titans have been cursed with that. You can STILL get Trypticon for $60 online some places. Predaking was "blessed" with a narrow distribution window at the end of PotP as TRU was teetering. TR Fortress is still easy to get for around MSRP or cheaper. Unicron and the Sail Barge are too big, complicated and pricey to have excess inventory lying around unsold, or sold at a big discount.

    So instead Hasbro ingeniously decides to calibrate both their super offerings to exactly the demand.

    But how did they know they'd reach 8000? Research. But more accurately, if interest tailed off at 6000, I think they would have made it, and put the excess on Pulse where it would have sold over time, maybe at a premium. Pulse, keep in mind, is new. It's this year. They've never had a direct distribution channel quite like this (HTS was different in purpose and management).

    If this is how it went down - and I think it did - it represents an exciting new avenue for large scale transformers with fewer compromises. Imagine, for example, the next stab at Fortress Maximus, who costs $400. Yeah it's a lot. But it doesn't have to make the compromises needed to hit the $160 price point that exists right now (that I believe will be $200 with Scorponok). Hasbro can say 'we're making Fort Max done perfect. Give us $400 and you'll get it in 18 months'. Consumer gets its product. Hasbro assumes no risk. Win win.
     
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  7. Huktonfonix

    Huktonfonix Well-Known Member

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    It went backward from 7497! We’re doomed. This will never happen. Tomorrow morning it will be 5496.
     
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  8. Shockwave81

    Shockwave81 Protecting Cybertron from all hostile threats Moderator

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    4 to go!

    Oh darn it, I didn’t see that hahah.

    Just for fun:

    D2C32B41-E7E8-423B-9FAE-26B44225FCB9.jpeg
     
    Last edited: Oct 5, 2019
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  9. pokemonsdoom

    pokemonsdoom MadameVixen

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    did one of us stroke out here? What artichoke boots?
    Also 7499 now,
    we should all be glad digimon isn't real, can you imagine the outcry if a Keramon ate all the backers data leaving us at 0 out of 8000
    or heck let's go with Love Machine from Summer Wars screwing with data leading to the same result...point is UNICRON IS HAPPENING
     
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  10. shogun221

    shogun221 timewaster extraordinaire

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    [​IMG]
     
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  11. Mobb One

    Mobb One Godmaster

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    upon submitting my order and over $50 in tax later, on this hour October 5th, one day before my birthday/unicron deadline...

    I am backer #7500
     
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  12. Shockwave81

    Shockwave81 Protecting Cybertron from all hostile threats Moderator

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    Congrats!!! ;) 
     
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  13. pokemonsdoom

    pokemonsdoom MadameVixen

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    my statement about me being happy Digimon's Keramon and Summer War's Love Machine being fictional so our number doesnt' disappear leaving us at square 1, still stands
     
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  14. AzT

    AzT Moderator News Staff TFW2005 Supporter

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    :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: 
     
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  15. Mobb One

    Mobb One Godmaster

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    Now we can slowly begin discussing how and where to display him...
     
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  16. Shockwave81

    Shockwave81 Protecting Cybertron from all hostile threats Moderator

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    My collection needs to be sorted something awful. It’s all over the place hahah.

    I have a feeling I’ll be displaying the big boy on the floor near my main shelves, but will need to see what feels right.

    My other dilemma is bot mode or planet mode...
     
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  17. Ikkstakk

    Ikkstakk Well-Known Member

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    There is one point that is confusing me, though. Individuals backing this will be paying $575 on Monday morning. But the 3rd party vendors are offering payment plans so backers don't have to pay the full $575 immediately.

    But... isn't Hasbro getting the full $575 immediately the whole point? My understanding is, they need $4.6M up front to produce this. Presumably a nice portion of that total is profit (unnecessary to pay for production), but how many 3rd party orders can they accept before they don't have the minimum amount of money they need?

    Surely the vendors aren't going to pay the difference out of their own pockets. That's an immense amount of money for them to lay out for eighteen months.

    I mean, theoretically speaking, if 3rd party vendors accounted for half of the total orders, Hasbro would have to make up the difference out of their own account... which defeats the purpose of a crowdfunding... so what am I missing?
     
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  18. pokemonsdoom

    pokemonsdoom MadameVixen

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    But seriously Bottom shelf replacing the current Unicron walking out of the shelving or if i can, Pose him lurching forward ready to grab Hot Rod as he opens the matrix
     
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  19. Huktonfonix

    Huktonfonix Well-Known Member

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    If I thought there was any way my wife would allow it, I’d be doing both. As it is I’ll just get used to transforming him.
     
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  20. Shockwave81

    Shockwave81 Protecting Cybertron from all hostile threats Moderator

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    I hear ya, I’ve used up all my brownie points on this purchase. :lol 
     
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