New generations figures

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zommael

It's less to do with Hasbro and more to do with retailers. Hasbro have offered the Generations line to retailers for the past two years, but none have picked it up, basically because it has no media to support it and therefore the retailers fear having to work to sell the stock. Griffin has written extensively about this.

---

Well it still falls to Hasbro to produce a suitable media to help promote their products. For all the commercials we are seeing on TV in between cartoons, it's all just botshots and movieline.... even if there was no cartoons they should've come up with eyecatching commercials which would help sell the toys and something to show the retailers that this is how exciting it will be , so kids will be asking their parent to buy them these... as such it's all just botshots commercial ;(. Even leap frog has much more exposure commercial wise than TFs IMO.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

As others have said, Hasbro AU's track record doesn't offer much hope.
Here's a list of all the Thrilling 30 toys which have been released overseas.

---

The Generations line, which as been pointed out, has been passed on by the major retailers. Looking at an itemised list like that can be frustrating, but here's a list of some of the Kreo figures that i've seen released here

Fangwolf
Highbrow
Jarugar
Jetwash
Mindswipe
Misfire
Nightbeat
Silversnout
Skrapnel
Torosaur
Trypticon
Wingspan Hawk
Grimstone
Lazerbolt
Obsidian
Volcanicon
Autobot Drift
Lockdown
Optimus Prime
Autobot Ratchet

Are we going to start singing Hasbro's praises now?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime

I made three attempts to call Hasbro AU last week to speak with them about this very issue, but I was answered by a machine which diverted me and hung up on me each time. :mad:

---

Just send them an email next time. I've found that they usually reply within a day or so :)

There is a difference between 2 or 3 waves of Kreons received compared to 4 waves of Legends, 5 waves of Deluxes, and 3 waves of Voyagers that weren't.

How are Kre-o's seen more financially viable than actual Transformers? I really don't understand retailers sometimes :mad:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Paulbot

There is a difference between 2 or 3 waves of Kreons received compared to 4 waves of Legends, 5 waves of Deluxes, and 3 waves of Voyagers that weren't.

---

Is it? Gok's happy to write a list detailing every character that wasn't made available here, i'm happy to present the
figures that are available, regardless of it's subline. Granted Kreo may not have been the best option, but you get the idea.

Those 4 & 5 waves of figures you mention aren't exactly bursting with variety either. Legends : 2 per wave, Voyagers about the same. Yes, there are revision waves, but if Hasbro present retailers with case splits of just two characters with no media support, it isn't the most appealing of propositions. The one i would agree with is Deluxes, at least there are 3/4 different choices per case
.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zommael

It's less to do with Hasbro and more to do with retailers. Hasbro have offered the Generations line to retailers for the past two years, but none have picked it up, basically because it has no media to support it and therefore the retailers fear having to work to sell the stock. Griffin has written extensively about this.

---

Yeah... listen to my publicist. He speaks the truth. :p

Retailers are equally to blame, as Hasbro have had Generations on display at every Toyfair since the series started.
Hasbro show the retailers each toyline, talking about the products in each (I'm there long enough to watch the routine a number of times, because I want to pick up on anything interesting that is meant for retailers ears only).
If you see the photos, often Hasbro will highlight the toylines that have cartoon or commercial support, which the retailers ultimately prioritise if they are only able to spend X amount of dollars on each Brand.

If you want Generations toys picked up by Retailers, you have to send emails to the Retailers like the old letter-writing campaigns, or else they will just go by their default setting and assume that the interest is just in the toylines that get advertising (cartoons, movies or TV commercials).

It might appear true to use the last year and a half of Generations to then claim for future product "Hasbro AU's track record doesn't offer much hope", but since we've had a fairly good track record for the Brand here and our toy industry products are decided on a year-by-year basis by the Retailers, it is selective/subjective/misleading to focus on one rotting tree in a healthy forest and claim that the entire forest is rotten.
Generations is one line that Hasbro here (and America) is pushing to the retailers quite hard, but the retailers are limited by what they can buy of each Brand.

It's like Andrew Bolt constantly showing a graph of the last 16 years of global average temperatures to "prove" that the Earth is not warming, but if you look at the entire graph of 150-ish years of recorded temperatures, we have had significant rises in global temperature during the second half of the 20th Century. That's the type of journalist he is, manipulating evidence to fit his opinion, instead of showing the facts and generating opinions to fit.

Of all the Transformers products, Generations is indeed the worst with release here, followed by Kreo (we missed almost all of the 2nd and 3rd series)... but if you are only look at one year of Generations toys it makes it look like Hasbro have neglected the entire Brand.
But looking at the entire range of Transformers toys (below), we've been quite prolific, with product going to at least one store if there wasn't enough demand for all stores (eg. Rescue Bots).
We've even been getting a lot of items before America in the last few months, including store exclusives.

So far from this years toys that have been released globally, we've got...
4 of 17 - TFPrime (even America missed most of these)
0 of 15 - Generations
25 of 38 - Kreo (we should be getting at least 6 of those other 13 soon)
0 of 8 - Beast Hunters Construct-Bots (even America missed these)
13 of 17 - Movie Construct-Bots (we should get the other 4 here)
7 of 8 - Movie Deluxe (Lockdown should show up soon)
4 of 4 - Movie Voyagers
3 of 3 - Movie Leaders
7 of 7 - Power Battlers
8 of 8 - One-Step basics
1 of 1 - One-step Mega
0 of 1 - Stomp & Chomp (its here, but not being released until September)
2 of 5 - Flip & Change
0 of 3 - Dino Sparkers
3 of 4 - 12inch Titans
2 of 2 - 12inch Titans with weapons
2 of 2 - 16inch Titans
15 of 17 - Movie store exclusives (only missing Battle Masters Op & Grim, and Kreo Elite Optimus)
5 of 8 - non-Movie store exclusives (MP, Legends, YOTH - will be 7 of 8 with other two MP toys soon)
12 of 17 - Rescue Bots
4 of 6 - Mr Potato Heads
10 of 10 - Hero Mashers
1 of 5 - Battle Masters

That's a lot of product lines for Retailers to contend with for just one toy Brand... so priorities have to be made, and its the ones that sell themselves through movies and cartoons, then higher margin items, that are prioritised by Retailers.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sinnertwin

Just send them an email next time. I've found that they usually reply within a day or so :)

---

I agree with this. I get a slightly better return on emails than phone calls.

But keep in mind, their "customer service" is primarily there for "customers" - Retailers who buy and sell their products, and Consumers who have purchased an item and have a question or complaint about it. They are not required to give advance info on items (because it could be a competitor asking), and only do it as a courtesy to people they assume are collectors... if they have time during their busy schedule (they don't just sit around all day drinking coffee and reading magazines waiting for the phone to ring).
Hounding them or complaining about not getting a reply will just prompt them to ignore you... and other people asking about future product.

I try to ask about future product as often as possible without it being harassment (we hear about new toys every week, but I can't send an email about every new item we hear about).
Besides, it's just toys... being demanding or impatient about release info gives us all a bad image to Toy Companies.