TFCC WILL be closing at the end of this year

This was at the end of an email I recieved from the club this morning:

Please note that March 16 is the last day you can join the Transformers Collectors Club. If you are interested in receiving the discounts for BotCon, the 2016 FREE Membership Incentive figure and/or purchasing the TFSS 5.0 (to be revealed in full at BotCon 2016) you will need to be an active member as of March 16. All memberships will end December 31, 2016. Hasbro looks forward to sharing new plans for the Collector’s Club with you in the future.

We appreciate your support over the last 12 years and wish the brand well in their new endeavors.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing each and every one of our Club members at BotCon 2016!

Brian

Not sure how that works getting the TFSS 5.0 if all memberships will be ending at the end of this year :confused:

But at least it sounds like Hasbro will ensure there is a collectors club in some shape or form after Funpub closes up their TF shop :D

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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

But at least it sounds like Hasbro will ensure there is a collectors club in some shape or form after Funpub closes up their TF shop :D

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Be careful what you wish for.

IDW will have any convention/club comic book duties to themselves from now on it seems. Makes sense.

The writing was kind of on the wall.

the question now is do I sign up for their last year and get the subscription service that I'm so far liking the look of or do I just drop it.

They're asking for a lot there, paying for a full year of membership, but only getting 3/4. Can you opt in to the sub service anytime up until the 31st?

Glad to see tehm go to be honest. I wonder if they keep the GI Joe license? I wonder how much of this is attributed to the popularity of TFs and the cost of the license now. Perhaps the club hasn't been able to make enough money to combat the cost of the license after the movies?

Well my membership ends in December... so this works out pretty well for me :D

I will be signing up for Subscription service 5 and picking up all the exclusives as per normal :D

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Originally Posted by Paul Agnew

Be careful what you wish for.

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Agreed. I don't trust Hasbro.

When rumours happened that Disney was buying them off, I wanted it to be true.

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Originally Posted by MayzaPrime

Well my membership ends in December... so this works out pretty well for me :D

D

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Yeah mine would end next January so only paying for a few weeks I won't get

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Originally Posted by kup

When rumours happened that Disney was buying them off, I wanted it to be true.

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You're halfway there, but nobody has quiiiiiite got it yet.

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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

Not sure how that works getting the TFSS 5.0 if all memberships will be ending at the end of this year :confused:

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They are fast-tracking the shipping of the fourth series, giving them plenty of time to ship the fifth series (and sell them during the release of the fourth series).

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Originally Posted by griffin

The current issue of the Club Magazine has apparently noted that the fourth Subscription set (Thunder Mayhem & Impactor) will start shipping in April (after BotCon which is in the first week), with each toy being send out 3 weeks apart... further supporting the suspicion that they are trying to squeeze in the fifth Subscription set before the end of the year, as if their license ends this year.

This could mean that the fourth set could be sent out by the first week of August, giving them 21 weeks to get the fifth set sent out, when they only need 18 weeks at this 3-week schedule.
That could give them enough time to get the pre-orders done in March/April (which are often only about 2-3 weeks), and get the toys made and sent to them by August/September.

So, giving FunPub a week to get back from the convention and get back to their usual routine, these are the likely postage dates for the fourth set...
Toy 1 - Week starting Monday April 18th
Toy 2 - May 9th
Toy 3 - May 30th
Toy 4 - June 20th
Toy 5 - July 11th
Toy 6&7 - August 1st

That gives them until September 12th to then start sending out the fifth set at 3 week intervals, to still get the last one posted out in the last week of the year.

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The question is, do we trust them to actually achieve this? I'm on the fence for sure.

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Originally Posted by UltraMarginal

The question is, do we trust them to actually achieve this? I'm on the fence for sure.

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Another question is: how many of their members can afford two Subscription Service lines in one year? Don't think I will unless it's unbelievably good and I save my pennies.

Plus what do you do about exchanges of defective figures if they've closed down? :confused:

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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

Plus what do you do about exchanges of defective figures if they've closed down? :confused:

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I'm guessing it's a case of "Thank you very much, you're on your own, later"

They just posted this via their Facebook account:

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Thank you to each and every one of you that has supported us over the last 12 years. The party isn't over yet though as we have a big year still to come, with the TFSS 4.0 starting to ship next month and the TFSS 5.0 starting soon! At BotCon 2016 we will be revealing all six TFSS 5.0 figures, so stay tuned for that.

In regard to memberships, some quick follow ups. If you are a member as of March 16th, 2016 you will be able to purchase the TFSS 5.0. If your membership expires during the time period when the 4.0 or 5.0 are shipping, you STILL can pay the installments (if that is the option you selected) and you will receive all your figures as you normally would.

As far as concerns over auto renewals after March 16th. As we have said, we are not taking any new memberships after this date, so there are no auto renewals as there will be no memberships to renew.

Finally, back to the very first point. Thank you! Thousands upon thousands of you have supported the Club over the years and right now, as of today, the TCC is the strongest it has been in a few years! That is because of all of you! Those who enjoy what the TCC offers and enjoy what we do. You are an amazing fan base and thanks to all of you who continue to have an important impact on the hobby! You all are what makes this fun to do!

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Originally Posted by UltraMarginal

The question is, do we trust them to actually achieve this? I'm on the fence for sure.

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I think Hasbro will clean up any mess at the end, or extend the deadline to allow them to ship

From the latest email looks like Funpub are closing their GI Joe club as well

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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

From the latest email looks like Funpub are closing their GI Joe club as well

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Poor GI Joe fans. They just can't get a break.

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Originally Posted by Trent

Poor GI Joe fans. They just can't get a break.

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but from what I've heard over the last couple years, they're about as happy with FunPub as transformers fans are.

The only difference is they are less likely to have Hasbro follow up with something else.

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Originally Posted by UltraMarginal

but from what I've heard over the last couple years, they're about as happy with FunPub as transformers fans are.

The only difference is they are less likely to have Hasbro follow up with something else.

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I thought G1 Joe was supposed to be Funpubs favoured brand. I would have thought that club would have gotten better treatment and thus had happier members than the TF one.

Spose it makes sense that they are losing all their Hasbro brands, not just the one

Yeah Joe fans are really screwed. No mass market toys, no pending movie or cartoon, no club. Even the modern continuity Joe comic by IDW canned.

The GIJoe fans were getting emails as well that were saying Memberships were ending December 31st, but unlike us, they didn't get reassured that Hasbro had plans for the future of the Club/Convention.

I was surprised that the GIJoe club was ending, as it is FunPub's favourite Brand (they were doing Joe conventions for about 10 years before they did BotCon, and their senior staff (aside from Pete) are GIJoe fans... and never got interested in Transformers, despite running the Club and Convention for several years (at the time I was asking each of them)).
That was what made me think that they probably had the licenses taken from them, as I would have expected them to try to keep doing GIJoe stuff since they are big fans.

I guess the GIJoe toyline will just become one of the usual Movie toylines, that will only see product out for 6 months around a movie, and then that's it.

The cut-off for being a member of the Club for this year to be able to buy the fifth Subscription set or any other 2016 Club toys, has been extended to the 18th (America time - sometime Saturday morning here).
Unlike previous years, which people could sign up for a membership at the time of a Subscription set that they want to buy, this year people will need to take a chance and buy a membership just in case the fifth set is worth getting (which we won't see until next month).

They have also noted on their website, to reassure people who have memberships that expire after March 18th (and can't renew because their website won't process any more after the 18th), that if they had a valid membership as of the 18th, they will still be able to access Member exclusive toys like the Subscription set later in the year.

http://www.toycollectors.com.au/news/2016/031701.jpg

Just like recent years, they have left it until the last minute to promote joining the club before it's annual cut-off date for the "free" toy, with just two days notice in America with the fancy image above that should have come out weeks ago.
Two years ago ago, I was actually posting the reminder as news on TFW the day before the cut-off, because Fun Publications were totally silent on it.

The Armada-style design for the Skywarp box is pretty well done.

A review of TFCC Ramjet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAaFrrS2jDU

I really want to get the Transformers GI Joe figures... Another thing to add to the eBay list!

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Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev

I thought G1 Joe was supposed to be Funpubs favoured brand. I would have thought that club would have gotten better treatment and thus had happier members than the TF one.

Spose it makes sense that they are losing all their Hasbro brands, not just the one

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I'm only aware because of Bryan Kilby, host of the Radio Free Cybertron podcast. He is/was also a massive Joe fan so occasionally talked about the Joe club and convention in comparison to the way FunPub were handling transformers and Botcon.

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Originally Posted by griffin

The GIJoe fans were getting emails as well that were saying Memberships were ending December 31st, but unlike us, they didn't get reassured that Hasbro had plans for the future of the Club/Convention.

I was surprised that the GIJoe club was ending, as it is FunPub's favourite Brand (they were doing Joe conventions for about 10 years before they did BotCon, and their senior staff (aside from Pete) are GIJoe fans... and never got interested in Transformers, despite running the Club and Convention for several years (at the time I was asking each of them)).
That was what made me think that they probably had the licenses taken from them, as I would have expected them to try to keep doing GIJoe stuff since they are big fans.

I guess the GIJoe toyline will just become one of the usual Movie toylines, that will only see product out for 6 months around a movie, and then that's it.

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Well here's a surprise from GIJoecon.... Apparantly Fun Pub are still doing joe for another 2 years (announced by hasbro during panel)

http://generalsjoes.com/2016/06/18/h...-2-more-years/

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Originally Posted by Krayt

Well here's a surprise from GIJoecon.... Apparantly Fun Pub are still doing joe for another 2 years (announced by hasbro during panel)

http://generalsjoes.com/2016/06/18/h...-2-more-years/

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I'm actually happy about that, as next year was going to be FunPub's 20th anniversary for doing JoeCon, so I was a little disappointed that Hasbro pulled the license from them just a year before their big anniversary celebration.
And it is good for the GIJoe fans who don't have as much going for them as we do, in terms of toys and fan-focussed activities.

I would also be okay with FunPub still being allowed to do BotCon, because that was the one element that they could reliably deliver on. A convention similar to what it was like before the first licenses existed in 2003... something that Hasbro could still back and provide toys for, but the organisers had more freedom without having to be tied up by Hasbro legal with everything. And Hasbro could still do their own "general public" multi-franchise convention that the hardcore fans like me aren't likely to travel for (because we want the tours, custom class, dinner events, and other fan-focussed items that won't be in a "HasbroCon" for the masses).

Joe fans don get no love, or toys. So they will be well happy at the news.