Isn't that it doesn't want to listen. Hasbro is not made up of a single autonomous unit. They, like any other corporations, are a huge mess of political hierarchy chain of self serving suits, eager to hang on to their position or climb up. Everyone is ready to kill each other's corporate career so if you have 1 fella doing good thing, there's always some other fella wanting to outshine him by sabotaging him etc. Like all corporations, you have sociopaths in the hierarchy chain of command. Hasbro's size is it's own downfall. Every single high ranking employee have their own personal corporate agenda and most aren't for the welfare of the company but themselves. You or me shouldn't be surprised they're inconsistent in their production of toys/products because the internal rivalry, politics are probably so ugly it is common to cannibalize each other within. That's why you have the good generations series of toys and the rest are flooded with garbage probably made it's way through corporate decision making policies by the undeserving sociopaths eager to prove themselves worthy of climbing up the corporate ladder. Too many undeserving powerful people in powerful positions, only interested in their own career and pockets.
Seems like a general discussion topic really. There isn't a giant rolleyes smiley large enough for the tripe spewed in this thread.
I didn't think there was a problem 1) Metroplex 2) Roadbuster 3) Springer 4) Brainstorm 5) Arcee 5 examples of how they are trying very hard to please fans, kids don't know who these characters are so its apparent the effort has been put in on their part but it never seems to register with ''fans'' Shame, sure the make mistakes, some infuriate me but overall they are really trying hard.
The ones they got right as you listed isn't the problem. It's the ones they got wrong, like those shampoo transformers and AOE garbage. Like I said, they're not a united entity, different departments are always trying to outcompete each other simply because someone wants to get some recognition at the cost of the company's resources and time.
Generic Anti-corporate culture rant no: 17658. All that crap may indeed be right, because it applies everywhere. But you may as well complain about the world no longer being flat. Red Leader is Mr. Common Sense as usual. Springer buys a LOT of tolerance from me. Roadbuster less so I would expect some of the follow on comments to really start going to town.........I can hear those horseman coming now........
that whole "size is its downfall" makes sense, it also explains why third parties are better because there smaller groups.
My main concern with the "Hasbro Bad!" Threads is that over at least the past 2 years and at least through what is in the current pipeline there are PLENTY of products to keep the fan/adult collector happy. I don't know about anyone else, but personally between some of the movie figures, MPs (released and coming soon), and generations figures my wallet is aching and there are no signs of this letting up anytime soon! Yeah, some of the product is crap, but you know what? I just don't buy that stuff. And don't dwell on it. My guess is that the Titan shampoo transformers aren't designed for me in mind anyway.
Hasbro's problem is adult fans who think they should be the main focus of Hasbro's products, rather than the kids. I think one of their strengths is that they have a wide range of product. You want collector oriented? Hasbro makes that. You want something simple for your 5 year old? Hasbro makes that. You want buildable, customizable `bots? Hasbro makes them too. A decade ago we were thrilled to get the occasional G1-inspired deco on a figure. Now we're getting whole product lines dedicated to adult collectors, and the complaining is louder than ever. And a lot of it seems to be centered on the fact that Hasbro dares to still make toys for children, rather than marketing entirely to adults. Makes me wonder why Hasbro even bothers with us.
You cant please everybody all of the time. There are loads of wants from various fans past, present and future, especially now that Transformers is multi universe deep, and i think Hasbro does quite a good job in keeping people happy. I cant even fault Hasbro going one step changering for the kids with the new movie stuff. When i hear the designers or hasbro honchos talking about their products i don't feel alarmed. Transformers in the modern day, for me is one of the or the most constantly refreshing in that it keeps going with new products year to year. Not many if any toy brands do that so you have to applaud that. Sometimes you might have to sit some years out.
Let's see third parties deal with safety laws, shareholders and retail demands and we'll see how much better their stuff still is. It's easy to be exceptional when you don't have any restrictions, nor any limit on what you can charge. Do you think third parties would be able to do as well if they had to stick to the (debateably) reasonable retail pricepoints of $15/$25/$45? I doubt it.
That's your problem. You're focusing on what's wrong, not what's right. It sucks for you really, because what Hasbro does right is usually out of the park. If there's stuff you don't like, it's probably not for you. I think you're overthinking it a bit. They're still human beings.
OP, you had me up to the point where your plea turned into 'employees are backstabbing sociopaths destroying the company from the inside'. Hasbro is indeed not a single unit, it's a giant company made up of many branches and people. It's so easy for us to judge and say 'they should have just done this!' or question why a company would make a certain choice (or mistake). But they're people just like us (YES! ). They don't own some kind of magic eightball to look into the future, and all the numbercrunching to make proper estimates aside, they sometimes do try out things which either succeed or fail. Does that mean they're all out to climb the corporate ladder at the expense of coworkers? No.
I could say that complaining about Hasblow is so overdone that it's not even entertaining to tell people who do so to shut up and stop acting entitled, and I could bring up the equally overused argument that Hasbro HAS indeed given the adult fandom some decent toys that homage the older series (even though Hasbro doesn't 'owe' the adult fandom anything), but I won't. Instead, I'll just connect you to somebody who understands you and tell you to have a nice day.
