I'm a tad confused by the different stuff I'm seeing on shelves. How many AoE toylines are we getting? I know about the Generations and simplified toys, but... the simple ones have several lines??? WHA??? Adult: Generations deluxe $14.99 Generations Voyager $24.99 Generations Leader $44.99 Simple/kids: Power battlers.... $12.99 One-Step.... $9.99 Flip'n'change.... $19.99 Construct Bots... (varies) Titans (non-transformers)... $19.99? Upsized One-step (coming soon, BB shown at toy fair)... ??? Stomp'n'Chomp Grimlock.... ???? And all of these get there own Optimus/Grimlock/Drift/etc. Someone care to explain how many different lines (and price points) we'll be getting in total? And maybe how this makes sense and won't screw over an unlucky kid who gets stuck with the shelf-warming line? How are these not going to cannibalize one another? Mega confused... The worst part is that the Generations AoE figures don't seem to be clearly marked as GENERATIONS (at least not on BBTS). And going to TRU, the display/set-up is a complete mess - Generations mixed in with 1-step, mixed in with Power Battlers - no distinctions between them or signage to help the typical parent.
I agree that the packaging absolutely blends together. There's a number of steps in the transformation stated on the packaging, the more steps the less kiddie-fied the toy is. That doesn't answer how many lines there are but it should help distinguish the Generations stuff from the other toys.
Taken separately, the idea to split the toys into kids & collectors lines and the plan to unify the TF branding under one unified packaging style make sense, but they're working to opposite purposes when used at the same time. I kinda of agree with Hasbro's thinking that the TF lines had become a clusterfuck of competing packaging, branding, sizes, etc. Unfortunately, they didn't reduce any of it, they just restructured it into a newer, different clusterfuck. Only now there's no packaging cues to tell consumers what on earth is going on. It will be very interesting to see how this turns out for them.
Exactly what I was thinking... how does any of this reduce the general consumer confusion? I am asking from the point of view of John Q. Public (or maybe, more appropriately, Mary J. Public) - the toys are "simpler", but the product selection is a completely complicated mess. A great point. Anyone else notice what's wrong with the toy commercials? The presentations at Toy Fair confirmed that boys aged 11-17 don't actually buy these toys (any toys?)... and yet all the commercials for these products seem to focus EXCLUSIVELY on this demographic. So... WTF??? Is Hasbro having memory lapses (i.e. too much drinking), or is this a case of, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks"? And I say this after having JUST visited a TRU and seen their selection of... Bumblebee's. I swear to God, they're not learning anything from the previous shelf-warmers... (because we have more Bumblebees on the way, FYI).
I took his meaning as, "Hasbro should dedicate a line to the collectors", when instead, Hasbro consistently SAYS one thing and then PRINTS something else entirely. The problem with the AoE "clusterf*ck" of products is that they're ALL going to say, "AGES 5+". (Or some equivalently appropriate age where choking is no longer a legal concern; a number meant to encapsulate all ages that won't choke on these and sue! ). How is that appropriate for Generations toys? I'll tell you how: Hasbro is still selling toys to the 11-17 yr old demographic that their research says have no interest in these. Truly, this is the marketing/production work of a madman. "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result." In a few weeks, we'll see if the "abandoned" demographic actually buys these toys, but until then...
we better hope they do. or transformers is dead. they are dolls. but they are dolls made for adults. these are toys, made for children. children who are going to play with them, rather then keep them on a shelf, and look at them. there IS a difference here.
The Generations stuff says "Generations" on the left side of the card insert. However, I get your point, at my local TRU you can tell that when they straighten the shelves that everything is neat, except they put the Generations deluxe stuff mixed with the ...well, the new Fast Action Battlers, even though they are different prices.
The AoE packaging is admittedly nice but it's too homogenous. I just think it'd be advantageous for the packaging to be more easily identifiable by a glance. When I saw AoE for the first time I saw what I thought was a deluxe Strafe only to see that it was the Power Battler one. I would have NEVER made that mistake if the packaging was more distinct. You don't really have to change much. The overall design could be the same but if you had the name of the line clearly printed on the visible portion of the card rather than on the side of the card or the blister then it'd be better for immediate, quick recognition.
I understand why they did the the white with red letters, it really catches the eye when you are walking up to the aisle, but a sticker or something like that on the front of the Generations stuff may have been a good idea too.
The overall similarity of the packaging is a bother - it's hard to tell apart same-sized items without being right on top of them. Generations Deluxes and Power Attackers look pretty much the same at a distance (and frequently get mixed up on the shelves), and the Leader toys next to the Flip/smash/change toys do to an extent as well. I would assume if it's confusing to me, it's probably at least as confusing to the average buying parent as well.
Or just color-code the packaging. Keep the same layout/typography, but different colors for different lines. Green for the really simple kiddie stuff, yellow for the intermediate "fast action battler"-type deals, and the current red for collector's lines. Or something. Just make it easy to ID at a glance.
How many lines? Feels like it's over 9000 to me... Yeah, I was going to suggest colour-coding too. Considering the 'TRANSFORMERS' banner is so huge on the various packagings maybe they could've used different colours for that to easily denote the different lines. Or just write the line designation in the horizontal line of the 'T' of 'TRANSFORMERS'. Or both banner title colour-coding and a designation in the horizontal of the 'T'.
I get that. But when even long-time TF fans are having trouble working out which version of a figure is which you have to wonder what confusion that's causing for the general toy-buying public. It's not like I'm suggesting anything huge and radical here.
This x 1000 I was so excited to see Strafe on the pegs. Then I noticed it was not the deluxe one. It took several minutes to figure out exactly where the toys I was looking for were.
