Page 2 of 6 FirstFirst 12345 ... LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 55

Thread: Transformers Toy updates from Hasbro Australia

  1. #11
    Join Date
    23rd Sep 2010
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    9,352

    Default

    I sent in an email asking about the Rescue Bots and got the following reply:



    Thank you for your email.

    You may be getting some information from the US site, all products available in the US may not necessarily be available in Australia.

    The 2 packs will be available from March and the Rescue Bots from May.

    There are no plans to release Play Sets in Australia at the moment.

    Regards




    it's interesting that with such a global market these days that there are still such differences as an entire sub-line not being released here.
    My Fan interview with Big Trev

    my original collection from when I was more impressionable.
    My Current Collection Pics (Changing on occasion)

  2. #12
    Join Date
    30th Dec 2007
    Location
    Japanicus Minimus
    Posts
    7,673

    Default

    I don't undestand why they don't push the rescue bots more... Cinsidering how hard it was for me to find Bumblebee and Optimus and their little human pals, they must sell well enough...

  3. #13
    Join Date
    18th Nov 2008
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    708

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by UltraMarginal View Post
    They'll have to be a pretty good price to beat ordering through BBTS for $10 a set.
    And having received mine the other day at $10 + shipping they are a bargain, there is so much freedom to customise them to your specific taste. They are amazingly vibrant and look brilliant in scale with the other Kreons, particularly Galvatron.

  4. #14
    Join Date
    2nd Jun 2011
    Location
    Rylstone
    Posts
    8,382

    Default

    Well that shows that BBTS must in some way change their prices according to demand, much like Robot Kingdom does. I pre-ordered them ages ago and I got the set of 4 combiners for $34.99, now they are $39.99. Admittedly it's only an extra $5 for the 4 but still, I wonder how many other figures they do it with

  5. #15
    Join Date
    24th May 2007
    Location
    Brisbane
    Posts
    38,239

    Default

    Yeah, I saw that change in price too - I was going to get them from BBTS (I had noted their price a few weeks back and was waiting for some other items to arrive), but they raised their price to pretty much match Amazon... so decided to get the three in-stock at Amazon (for cheaper shipping), and the remaining one from BBTS with some other items I wanted.

  6. #16
    Join Date
    11th Aug 2011
    Location
    townsville
    Posts
    803

    Default

    the beasthunters deluxes are at ayr toyworld.i sais to the lady that they were suppose to come out about april and she said" they send them and i put them out"they had 2 wheeljacks 1 bumblebee and 1 soundawve.no laserbacks and as of earlier today they only had 1 wheeljack left.i grabbed the rest.

  7. #17
    Join Date
    24th May 2007
    Location
    Brisbane
    Posts
    38,239

    Default

    Some minor updates from Hasbro, while at Toyfair today.

    The Beast Hunters toys have only just started being shipped to Retailers, so for them to appear in Nth QLD was pretty quick turnaround. But it means they should be showing up in more stores and chains across the country in the next few weeks.

    We should see all of the main lines this year (Generations, Beast Hunters, BotShots, Construct-Bots, Kreo), but we will have to wait and see how successful they are after their first waves.
    We might even see less of a bottleneck of first wave toys clogging shelves this year, as Hasbro Reps try to get retailers to spread out their requested pre-order quantities over more than just one assortment (to increase product variety on shelves, and greater turnover from people only wanting a new toy). It was interesting to note that the Rep in charge of the new TMNT toys (by HeadStart), actually commented on the "Collector Factor" of toy sales, in that they create early sales of a new assortment, but won't cause another rush of sales until the next assortment is released... which was giving retailers a false sense of popularity on the more collectable toylines. (he was talking about how he was able to better manage the release of TMNT toys here, based on the inconsistent sales rates in America, thanks to the different buying habits of Dedicated Collectors to Parents/Kids)

    Construct-bots are being aimed for a similar September release here as in America.

    Metroplex is being aimed for Sept/Oct, for the Christmas period. Pricing hasn't been set yet for Australia. But the good news is that it is coming here, as Hasbro were really pushing it at the show.
    (apparently the one at Toyfair America is the only completed prototype so far produced, but was too expensive & risky to have it sent to Australia for our Toyfair, or to build a second prototype).

    Beast Hunters Ultimate Class Optimus AND Predaking will be released here as general release items in August (in American, Predaking is a Target exclusive).

    BotShots are doing better than they expected (they even ran out of stock at one stage), so fans of those toys should be happy to know that we are likely to be seeing most or all of this second series here.

    On a related note, there will be a couple more Marvel toys using "Transformers Technology" this year. There were four Spiderman "Jumpstarters" last year, and this year there will be two Ironman 3 toys that pull back and transform while rolling forward (they look a bit like the TFPrime Remote Control toys, or the original Gen2 Autorollers).


    And now the bad news...
    Other than cheap excess stock dumped in this country a lot later by Hasbro America (which we see at Toyworld from time to time), we shouldn't expect to see any of the Prime toys that haven't been seen here yet. Or any other 2012 toy that we missed - like the second series of Kreo or the second series of Rescue Bots.
    Also, Rescue Bots will see some of the Energize series, but looks like it will only be the 2-pack figurines and the Electronic two. They were promoting the convertible Bots as well, but had on display first series versions, so I'm not sure if they are re-releasing them, or do plan to get in the Energize versions (with the translucent blue parts).

    (the disappointing thing this year is that we didn't really have anything "new" on display since the American Toyfair - so nothing Globally News-worthy this year, aside from some second wave BotShots packaging of toys that were at the US Toyfair)

    I have some photos to post up of the display, but I have to edit them first.
    Big Thankyou to Ben at Hasbro for making an exception to the no-photos policy (with restrictions of course*), and Daniel for taking the time to answer all my questions and be happy to just talk about toys between Retailer appointments today.

    *Australia (still) has a different "publicity environment" to America that has the Toy Companies preferring to do their own direct promotions or have the Retailers do it. So regardless of how much was made public at the American Toyfair, the exhibitors here (not just Hasbro) are not keen about their products being promoted indirectly through a third party, in case the 'general public' sees mockup packaging or prototypes, assuming that that is the final product (it could either put them off the product, or have them complaining later that what they bought didn't match what was initially "promoted" months earlier).
    This may change in the future, but for now, I have to work with the parameters at hand... and for me at least, they are already making exceptions. Which is greatly appreciated.
    I just gotta remember not to include items that I'm not supposed to, no matter how much the fans would really like to know about it.

  8. #18
    Join Date
    1st Mar 2010
    Location
    Dapto
    Posts
    12,777

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by griffin View Post
    I have some photos to post up of the display, but I have to edit them first.
    Big Thankyou to Ben at Hasbro for making an exception to the no-photos policy (with restrictions of course*), and Daniel for taking the time to answer all my questions and be happy to just talk about toys between Retailer appointments today.
    Indeed, a big thank you and to you too Griffin for continuing to traverse the nation obtaining & sharing what information (Good or Bad) you can with us.

    I hope that Hasbro (AU at least) takes further head as to what Playmates (HeadStart? ) has already noticed with the Collector market - There's a reason why TMNT is absolutely dominating things left, right & centre; a number of lessons could be learnt.

    Talk to your fans and NO not just the parents & kids, we don't bite that hard.

  9. #19
    Join Date
    30th Dec 2007
    Location
    Japanicus Minimus
    Posts
    7,673

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Hursticon View Post
    Playmates (HeadStart? )
    The distributors aren't always the same for Australia I noticed. As an example, Headstart are the same company that distributed the recent Thundercats toys. It looks like a company can go and buy the toys/license for certain franchises and they aren't tied down to a particular US distributor (EG, Bandai who did Thundercats). That can be annoying in that tracking down the local distributor can be tricky as they aren't always the same. I suffer this when chasing up Sonic The Hedgehog figures....

    But good news to see some things happening there and that they were receptive and gave us info.

    Cheers Griffin and all those involved.

    AS for the Bot Shots doing well, well, they are the only TFs under ten dollars now...

    I am now curious to know how much we will get ripped off in pricing now.

  10. #20
    Join Date
    24th May 2007
    Location
    Brisbane
    Posts
    38,239

    Default

    Photos from this year's Toyfair.
    (if there had been anything significantly new, I would have created a new topic)

    I wasn't expecting much this year, as I forgot to bring my business cards (which would help me get in to the closed-off exhibits), most of the good exhibits were walled-up,
    and the Hasbro exhibit was walled up this year to prevent people from walking in to just browse (I had to leave a message at the front desk and wait for a call back).

    I had checked in at the Toyfair at 9.40am, and after the hassle with Hasbro, I checked in with Ian/Demonac to see what he was doing (he said
    the day before that he would be looking at going to the Sandown Collectables Fair. He was just near the Convention Center at that time, so swung around to pick me up, as I'd just go back to the Toyfair after midday.

    I ended up coming back at a bit after 1pm, and was there until 6pm when it closed up for the day.

    So it started out, feeling like I wasn't going to achieve much this year, but by the end of the day though, it was probably the best Toyfair for me, as I
    got talking to a number of the different Reps about the toy industry over the last decade or so (which I've been reporting on for 17 years now), to
    the point of having two of them suggesting that I should work for them as a Rep because I knew more about certain action figure lines than they did.

    The main entrance signage this year.


    Outside the Convention Centre was a TMNT Pizza vendor, organised by Nickelodeon.


    They had free stickers and posters for the general public (who wouldn't be allowed into the Toy Fair). The pizzas were $10, but I was too early to see
    what they were actually like.

    .


    Inside the Foyer, a few interesting displays.
    The new Combat Creatures (electronic, remote controlled battle droids).


    A giant Dinosour to promote some dinosaur toys.


    A cardboard display to have your photo taken with it (you step behind it and stick your head into empty ID square.


    I didn't see any people walking around in costumes (promoting certain Brands) this year.

    The Entrance.


    The Hasbro Exhibit.


    The Transformers Wall, covering the largest space inside the Hasbro exhibit this year.

    .
    The box mock-up had to be blurred out because it showed a greyscale image of Metroplex and Scamper, and I wasn't allowed to show it.
    .

    .

    .

    .
    Bios of the two Triple Changer Voyagers.

    .

    .
    Wave 2 BotShot singles, both sides of the packaging (and their numbers).

    .

    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    .
    The 3-packs aren't new... I just needed a visual reference to their BotShot numbers.

    .
    A second Kreon 5-pack. I think only one was shown at the American Toyfair.

    .
    Command Base.

    .

    .
    New Marvel toys with "Transformers Technology".

    .
    Some of the promo booklets.


    For non-Transformers news from Toyfair, check out this topic.
    Last edited by griffin; 4th March 2013 at 03:56 PM.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •