Hasbro UK fan-poll

This looks to be legit, but even if it isn't, it's a bit of fun to pass the time.

Hasbro UK look to have set up a survey on a 3rd party site (Survey Monkey), to ask a number of questions.
It is aimed at European fans, but it doesn't stop non-European people from filling it out... and since many of their non-US collector questions are applicable to us, it could be worthwhile feedback (or they will just screen out all the non-European entries later).

The survey can be found here, and probably won't be up for long.

There are 24 pages of questions, and note that on one of the early pages, there is a photo of Batman merchandise. The photo is a poorly chosen sample, and the question on that page does NOT relate to that photo... it relates to ALL the Brands on the previous page.
Apparently if you answer "No" to the Batman merchandise photo page, the survey ends, because you are really answering "no" to collecting anything. (many are wrongly assuming that they are only answering "no" to collecting Batman merchandise)

Most of the UK-themed questions relate to us, so you shouldn't have much problem answering them. If you do, leave it blank and if it won't let you go to the next page, just answer the closest thing that is applicable to you.
(there is a question about where you buy most of your retail toys, and it requires you to tick a box even if you fill in the "other" box... so tick one of the two options that are store chains we have here)

I did the survey because most of the "European" questions relate to other non-US countries like ours, in terms of availability and difficulty in being a fan outside of the core hub of the Brand (America).

One thing that had me puzzled, was that the survey is aimed at people in Europe, so I find it odd that they ask if you've joined the Hasbro Pulse website.... which last I checked, is only available to people with a US postal address.
(it's still possible to join as a non-US person, but most wouldn't bother to work out how to do it... making that an odd question to have on a European survey)

Apparently there is a huge section on Unauthorised (3rd Party) toys, which I didn't see because I answered "no" to collecting them... so it skipped over that section for me. Comments from other fans though, say that that section is surprisingly thorough, for a branch of Hasbro to want to know about.

If you plan on doing the survey, do it before reading further on this posting.



Some of the stats were shown at the end, including...
- There were 2,353 done when I finished.
- 54% of the people who listed their gender were FEMALE (3% didn't note their gender). Considering the gender ratios I've seen on fansites and at almost 20 conventions, I'm puzzled to see that over half of the people filling out the survey are saying they are female.
- The most favourite "mass entertainment" version of the franchise is currently the MTMTE comic at 42%, with the TFPrime cartoon in second at 13%, and the Gen1 cartoon in third at a distant 11%.
- Favourite toylines so far are Classics at 25%, Takara Masterpiece at 16%, and Animated & TFPrime at 12% each. Gen1 toyline is currently in 6th place. Combiner Wars was a separate category, gaining 5th spot, but if it was rolled into the "Classics" category as it is a continuation of Generations, that would have been 33%.
- Only 56% are aware of He-Man/MOTU... it was one of the least recognised of the 40 brands listed, despite it being around longer than Transformers. I guess I'm just getting too old, for me to be more familiar with that Brand than several others on their list. :p

I just finished and I was quite surprised about how in-depth the 3rd party section was. They had pretty much all the major players names. To name a few things, they wanted to know why you collect 3rd party (they ask for reasons to be ranked) and whether anything would change your mind collecting them.

I basically said that I collect them because they fill a gap in my 'masterpiece' collection that I believe HasTak are unlikely to fill or unlikely for a long time to fill. Basically if HasTak gave us a road map for years in advance and prospective releases that might influence my purchasing.

Will be interesting to see what comes from this.

FWIW, I just filled it out. As a consumer of 3rd party goods, I was able to answer the questions in that section and made a point of discussing some of the deficits in quality between the official products and some 3rd party offerings. In particular I suggested that Hasbro increase their production of stickers (such as the ones for Generations Metroplex, Whirl, and Roadbuster) but also increase the quality of those products.

I just filled it in.

As I had to take a late lunch break I thought I would do this survey while eating my soup.

Thanks for the heads up about the 3rd Party stuff Griffin, it was a good section of the survey and I am glad that I answered it.

It came up on Derrick Wyatt's Twitter, so I gave it a go. I though it would take 5 minutes. It was closer to 20. I also thought it was a U.S. based poll so ragged pretty hard on Funpub.

Good fun although I somewhat question the legitimacy of a global company like Hasbro using Survey Monkey.

Didn't let me do it, reached the maximum amount apparently.

I answered it and was quite intrigued by the detail of the questions asked.

I'm a bit confused as to why there are so many female respondents too. I worry it will skew the legitimacy of the survey if people are just filling it in for a bit of fun. I think I only know of 3 other female fans and one is from Oz...

I wonder if they will filter out the non EU results. I was honest and answered with my real location in the hope they would take a non-US/more global perspective into consideration.

It will be interesting to see if anything comes of the results in terms of Habsro taking any of the information they learn from this on board. Thanks for letting us know about the link Griffin.

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Originally Posted by Trent

Good fun although I somewhat question the legitimacy of a global company like Hasbro using Survey Monkey.

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That's why I was originally thinking that it must have been a hoax or a fan doing up the survey claiming it was by Hasbor, because surely a Hasbro survey would be done on their own site.

Maybe Hasbro UK got a fan to do it on their behalf (it was way too detailed to be done by a regular Hasbro employee), and it therefore needed to be done on a 3rd party site by that fan.

It wouldn't be the first official survey done using Surveymonkey by a long shot. I did one on Surveymonkey for Ubisoft last week, for example - and yes, it was official, because I got it through my email linked to my Ubi account.

Anyway, it now says it's reached the maximum number of respondents allowed or something, so that's the end of that.

Interesting that Hasbro UK are conducting such a survey because my experience of living in the UK was that they had nothing but contempt for the fans.

Guess I managed to get in before it closed. :/ I hope that's ok with Hasbro UK.

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Originally Posted by griffin

Some of the stats were shown at the end, including...
- There were 2,353 done when I finished.
- 54% of the people who listed their gender were FEMALE (3% didn't note their gender). Considering the gender ratios I've seen on fansites and at almost 20 conventions, I'm puzzled to see that over half of the people filling out the survey are saying they are female.

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My first thought was that Mairghread Scott must have signal boosted/reblogged something about this on tumblr (she did, it's a post demanding all female fans respond to the survey). Add that to the assumption that most of her transformers fan followers are also female.
According to the post, the split was 70/30 male to female about 10 hours ago

But at the same time, I don't think seeing a close to 50/50 split is unusual. It's the same with video game and comic book audiences (and the population in general, haha).
Just because you're personally not seeing equal representation at one US convention a year, or on major fansites, doesn't mean there aren't a lot of them. There are plenty of female fans that interact on other sites like tumblr and deviantart.

Some further thoughts since I first posted: I really hope it is official and someone at Hasbro takes it seriously. This is not a dig at Griffin or anyone else who responded honestly about not buying 3rd party toys, but I think that may have been the most important part of the survey. The questions they asked and the way they asked them seemed to indicate to me a desire to fully understand the draw of 3rd party toys, hopefully with a view to improving the official products. Having said that, I suspect whoever put the survey out already has in mind the results they want and I doubt that it will change the way Hasbro operates on any level. But then I'm a cynic and a pessimist... ;):cool:

I just completed the survey and was quite impressed by the questions. I think the information (if interpreted correctly) could be extremely useful for those with the authority to make changes at Hasbro. I took the opportunity to express my desire to see additional character development in the TV / film franchises as well as desire to have a Leader class ROTF Breakaway made (keep dreaming).

According to Sol Fury on TFW (who is in England), the people who registered to attend the recent Transformers convention in England, were invited by Hasbro to participate in the survey, so it was indeed something commissioned by Hasbro UK.

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Originally Posted by Zommael

Anyway, it now says it's reached the maximum number of respondents allowed or something, so that's the end of that.

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Have you tried again, because there are people still saying they are participating... so maybe it reached its maximum people at one time, or they did have a total maximum and they expanded the number due to the popularity of the poll.
(I can't check because when I go have a look it tells me that I've already taken the survey.)

They reopened the poll.

I just completed mine, and was rewarded with this image

I loved that they asked about specific G1 sublines (Pretenders and Headmasters was mentioned). It would be awesome if they could see the interest in these.

Why has no MP Optimus Prime come with that alternate face?

Suprised by the doubts raised by the use of Survey Monkey. I only screw my nose up at a Survey Monkey survey when it's a free one that ends with one of their company ads (if you're a company using one of these tools pay for it!)

Edit: Okay did the survey and got an ad at the end. Maybe Surveymonkey always does that!?

Anyway it was an interesting survey to do. I was really surprised by some of the options to the questions.

And some made me laugh. "What activities do you do that you think qualify you as a Fan rather than a casual follower of the TF brand?" Where do I start!

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Originally Posted by Paulbot

And some made me laugh. "What activities do you do that you think qualify you as a Fan rather than a casual follower of the TF brand?" Where do I start!

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That reminded me of the occasional fan debates on the matter... so it is a weird question to ask as if you have to prove yourself as a "true fan".

Since the survey didn't allow for you to enter your contact details for further feedback, it was the one question that you could enter in something unique (creative) that you've done, for them to track you down with if they wanted.

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Originally Posted by Bumbleb33

I just completed the survey and was quite impressed by the questions. I think the information (if interpreted correctly) could be extremely useful for those with the authority to make changes at Hasbro.

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Yeah I was impressed by the quality and diversity of the questions as well. Seem like they were written by people who both knew the brand well and were genuinely interested in the answers.

I used the opportunity to prod Hasbro in the direction I wanted when it came to the questions regarding 3rd party products (fibbing a little to do so as the only 3rd party characters I actually own are Quintessions) and also used the opportunity to mention the deficiences of Funpub and their administration of the TFCC when answering questions about the difficulties of being an overseas consumer.

A question I struggled with was to suggest a character that needed a reissue or new toy, because most of the early Gen1 has either been reissued or redone in Classics or Masterpiece style... but now I thought of one that I should have noted - Reflector.
I think I put down Omega Supreme, even though it has been reissued, and sorta done recently as the Chinese New Year Omega Supreme three years ago.

The really hard question for me was picking my top five toys.


The survey reminded me a bit of the old Trannies awards, and our own Ozformers awards that Paulbot does up each year.

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Originally Posted by griffin

A question I struggled with was to suggest a character that needed a reissue or new toy, because most of the early Gen1 has either been reissued or redone in Classics or Masterpiece style... but now I thought of one that I should have noted - Reflector.
I think I put down Omega Supreme, even though it has been reissued, and sorta done recently as the Chinese New Year Omega Supreme three years ago.

The really hard question for me was picking my top five toys.

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I did write Omega, but deleted it at the last second and changed it to Trypticon

Quote:

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Originally Posted by griffin

The really hard question for me was picking my top five toys.


The survey reminded me a bit of the old Trannies awards, and our own Ozformers awards that Paulbot does up each year.

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I did look at it with some thought to the questions I ask ;)

The top five was a hard question, I went with what toys do I want to see more toys like