The whole DOTM range so far is "zzzzzz" for me.... show us some new characters and I might get excited. :rolleyes:
The whole DOTM range so far is "zzzzzz" for me.... show us some new characters and I might get excited. :rolleyes:
Perhaps Hasbro got enough feedback from parents and kids from the general public that their Movie toys are just too frustratingly over-complicated to be playable (the same way most of us collectors were kids with Gen1 or Beast Wars - fun, simple, play value).
As it could be seen from the stagnant sales after the theatre and DVD release period of the TF2 movie ended, very few people stayed on as collectors after many would have gotten the toys like any other movie's toy merchandise. The toys weren't fun enough for kids to want to keep collecting them after the fad of the movie ended.
Generations sell well because they are simpler, easier, fun toys to play with, and look good too in both modes, without heaps of flimsy kibble in robot mode.
Maybe Hasbro finally got the message that they should be making toys the general consumer AND fans would buy with or without the movie. Not to mention making toys that are practically playable, instead of ones that look good on display for the Retailer's benefit.
The occasional complex, challenging 'puzzle' is desired, but the majority of the toyline needs to be simple and fun to play with, to keep the *kids* coming back for more, clearing the shelves more frequently.
To be fair griff most of what you said are either assumptions or subjective opinions of your own. We don't know that Generations is selling well because they're simpler by comparison - in fact one thing we do know is that the main reason Generations existed as a separate line was due to the immense popularity of transformers with buyers after the (more complex) RotF line led Hasbro to employ the strategy of spreading figures across separate two lines because they were so popular that the extra shelf presence would still sell.
That's true, I am just making assumptions. I'm just seeing first hand and through the sightings here, a greater turnover of Generations toys than AA/Movie toys, since the Movie 'Season' ended. It just suggests to me that Generations can sell without a movie (or any visual medium) selling it, but the Movie toys can't. But without sales figures from retailers (not Hasbro*), I can't say for sure this is true, or why.
* Hasbro figures would be biased towards the Movie line, because that's the line they pushed to stores to pre-order in greater quantities at Toyfair (and as such, imported more Movie stock). Kinda like how Music artists are awarded Gold and Platinum records based on sales to retailers, not to customers.
Since we've seen greater turnover of Generations figures in stores, to the point that stores run out and are slow to restock (they know they are scheduled to receive more pre-ordered Movie toys to add to the ones still warming their shelves, and Hasbro are more likely to run out of Generations figures because stores didn't pre-order as many at Toyfair), I'm just guessing that just like during the time of Beast Machines, Hasbro have looked at why certain toys/lines aren't selling and changing things to compensate.
did they plan on making this line look like it was designed by 5 year olds with crayons?
i am not liking any of these figures. they are all massively dissapointing.
where is the complexity and movie accuracy?
My wallet is overjoyed right now. Might grab a couple of the playset figs, but that looks it so far..:D
Mine too. From the limited amount we've seen so far I'm very underwhelmed (which is disappoint because I've found literally all of the RtS and later waves of Generations stuff underwhelming too, with the sole exception of Windcharger).
I was really looking forward to this toyline but out of the ten ish toys we've seen so far I'm in for Ironhide and Megatron for sure, and maybe that HA Basic. Everything else looks gash.
That Prime mold looks alright engineering wise EXCEPT (and this is a dealbreaker) it has horrid stylised fake windows. If it was just like an updated Motormaster or someone else with a truck alt mode (Thunderclash etc) with a standard roboty looking chestplate and not cartoony faux windows it would look great but they absolutely ruin it for me.
Looks to me like Prime and Bumblebee are getting new simplified lesser toys, could be for the kids I guess. Fine with me I got enough Primes and nothing beats Buster Prime for movie toys.
Human Alliance basics are a novel idea. I wonder if I could customize the figures into Mask or Venom agents?
But does a store guy aware of the individual lines when he takes sales into account or does he look at the whole Transformers brand as a whole?Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
I get the impression that they see the line as a whole given that stores tend to buy the same crap that doesn't sell from Hasbro as well as the stuff that does.
does anyone have links that work for the images?