Collider.

 

Except the percentages don't match in your analogy, and percentages are what they are using here. In your example 90 of 100(10 profit) is 10% profit, whereas 190 of 200(10 profit) is only 5% profit, so your following year, would be down 5%, not up, and then down again to 2.5% the third year. Whereas Hasbro's percentages are going up, not down. Unless they've decreased the margin of profit per item sold, an increase in their percentages is a good sign of a healthy growing business.

Distribution/saturation of figures is an issue on our side, not so much theirs so long as retail outlets keep buying their products to put on shelves. That goes back to middle man syndrome and is something else entirely. Though yes Hasbro is trying to find ways to make sure material reaches the consumers. But their bread and butter comes from retail chains, not us directly. We are the bread and butter of the retail chains.

Which is why the Toys R Us issue is such a big deal. As they are one of the major outlets of business for toy manufacturers.

If Titan's Return is any indication of how fast they adjust case ratios though, that's a good sign. At least early Titans Return was when they adjusted Galvatron to higher case ratios because he was moving more than his case mate. That seemed to happen in less than 2 months.

 

What exactly does this all mean?

 

Hasbro is doing well but if that's because of Transformers or all the other brands trying to pick up the slack is not clear.

 

I see what you mean.

 

Good point. I was focused more on explaining how profits worked versus revenues and I forgot entirely about the percentages. Very much my error. So much for my maths.  

 

Honestly, this is what mostly surprised me given the fact that distribution for this toyline has been really shitty since it’s release.

 

At least the toys are nicer in some respects. At least, the ones that aren't just AoE repaints.

 

It happens, and you made me have to look stuff up to verify mine, so I made sure to learn something today too.
Like how Net Earnings being up is a good thing, as it already accounts for business operations cost.

 

I agree, and also, I was really looking forward to seeing another season of "Transformers Robots In Disguise 2015", right after "Combiner Force".  

 

We've known for some time that Combiner Force was the end of RID, though.

 

I see what you mean. And also, while I was on Linkedin, I just sent a note to the CEO of Hasbro Brian Goldner, and asking him if he and everybody else at Hasbro Studios are really able to bring back "Transformers Robots In Disguise 2015".

 

Building off this so as to throw everyone off my inability to math, this might be more of the culprit than anything else. If the retail chains aren't sharing the data (or Hasbro isn't asking for it?), then that might account for terrible distribution.
What honestly confuses me is the shortpacking issue of guys like Cogman. This is a dude that was all over TLK, and yet he's 2 to a case? That doesn't make much sense to me - wouldn't kids want the guy that was in all of the movie and not Berserker, who is barely recognizable and literally didn't do anything in the movie whatsoever?

 

Since he's only just now reaching shelves, marketing data isn't there yet probably. Sales data is how they adjust the cases, and until those start coming in, they can't adjust it. So we'll probably see a case revision in about a month. Right now stores are still working through those initially ordered cases.

That goes back to what you were saying about how long it takes from Hasbro warehouse to store warehouse, to shelf. To then sales data back, and warehouses adjusting/ordering more. It's a lot of little places before we get to store and in our hands, except for the smaller digital outlets (e-shops that don't order as much in bulk as say Walmart or Target or Toys R Us).

 

Still better than DOTM where characters in the film itself did not get toys.

 

I was unaware that cases were adjusted on the fly like that within a wave. For some weird reason, I thought they only adjusted things each wave. Live and learn!

I still think it's weird that they'd start Cogman at 2 a case though.

 

If you browse BBTS often, you see the case revisions. I used to shop there a lot, so I saw them happen often, and recently someone on the board pointed out how fast the Galvatron/Sentinel Prime wave was readjusted.

Well, recently as in when TR first started. xD

It is a little weird, but it also induces demand, which makes retailers order more. Like a sampling platter. Try the different flavors, and then order more of the ones that tasted(sold) best. They also do have to balance it against the fact that the thought is for every autobot sold, a kid may want a decepticon for it to battle against on shelves too. Until they get the sales data back of how many autobots to decepticons sold for how much to meet the demand for sales.

 

"This fall we continue with new entertainment initiatives to engage our fans."

The only way you're going to engage this fan is by getting the fucking toys in the stores. I don't care about movies, comics or cartoon shows, they're all shit. I'm only in it for the toys, which are never available anymore.

STOP feeding the scalpers!

 

Critically acclaimed. Lol.

 

You don't have to be an asshat about it.

I still stand by what I said - that they're doing well overall. And, I admit, I don't entirely understand the ins and outs of all these financials, but it seems like a lot of their losses are from things such as the Toys R Us bankruptcy.

And yes, Goldner purposely obfuscated what part(s) of the Transformers brand was succeeding. We all know TLK didn't do well. He's not going to specify something, especially when that something isn't the big blockbuster movie which was meant to do well - the shareholders don't want to hear bad things, and that's ultimately half the point of this to begin with; to tell shareholders the good news and as little of the bad as possible.