A report on Hasbro factory

[griffin]

Hasbro have said on quite a few occasions (usually at BotCon and the Q&A sessions) that Takara/Tomy is the only one dealing with the Factories. Hasbro has to go through Tomy like an agent to get their toys produced and then sent to America.
Different levels of "quality" or paint-apps are just designated by Tomy based on what they want and what Hasbro want off their separate production runs.
If Hasbro really is upset about this report, they would be chasing up Tomy first, to get them to investigate "their" factories, and/or attend to the situation.

[pw_sd]

I red this topics. I'm form China.
That's what happened over there. The owner of the factory only needs money, never care about workers.
Now a bad news for Hasbro, in China recently appeared a lots of very cheap Movie 3 DOTM Leader Class Toys in all 3 models ( S Prime, Ironhide, BBB).
They call it " 厂货", which means a toy released by factory, not from you Hasbro! It has no difference from a normal toy in Kmart or Target, but the price is now less than RMB150, about $23.5! All fans went to TAOBAO (a online sale website like EBAY) to buy a cheap one including orders from overseas.
I got one Ironhide in China when I was on holiday there in Nov. The only different thing I found from him is the battery, usually is GP or Hasbro brand, but the factory released toy had a unknown brand battery inside.
It is said factory they used pattern and material from Hasbro to produce much more quantity than the orders. Once they send orders pallets to America, rest of the toys will be released to the market at low price, also some of them have no package with a more lower price (Chinese call it '散货' ), for example a duluxe movie toy sealed in a plastic bag the price is only RMB70, about $11. A factory released one priced RMB110, about $17.2

[ike_ike]

Once they send orders pallets to America, rest of the toys will be released to the market at low price, also some of them have no package with a more lower price (Chinese call it '散货' ), for example a duluxe movie toy sealed in a plastic bag the price is only RMB70, about $11. A factory released one priced RMB110, about $17.2

huh, i saw a few rotf scouts packaged like that in hong kong. didn't buy them because i thought their super low price was dodgy but that explains a lot.

[Arcee]

Yeah, very true. All those human rights and environmental and piracy issues in our great mother country. All Hail China.

[Arcee]

So what really is the conclusion on the Hasbro factories? Are we going to keep buying Hasbro TFs believing that we are acting in our best conscience? Or are we not?

It kinda sounds like neither party is credible now

[kup]

So what really is the conclusion on the Hasbro factories? Are we going to keep buying Hasbro TFs believing that we are acting in our best conscience? Or are we not?

It kinda sounds like neither party is credible now

Unfortunately it is what it is. It is what modern market and industry is like and there isn't much we can do about it unless there is some major crisis and the whole world collapses. The Global economy is not something that can be 'winded back' and neither is human greed or apathy.

There is no point in boycotting Hasbro products because for every Transformer you don't buy due to this reason, there are thousands upon thousands of other consumer goods out there that one uses on a daily basis made in similar or worst conditions. As I mentioned in an earlier post, the only way to boycott this 'system' would be to forfeit everything and go and live of the land in the bush.

The Global economy has changed much of how the world works. Back when we were kids, most of our toys were normally made in the local areas where we lived - Australia was part of the European market so it probably got the toys from the factories which provided to European markets. This is because globalized economy didn't exist and several countries had protectionist policies disallowing the import of manufactured goods in order to preserve local industries. I know for a fact that Hasbro had factories in Peru for example where My Little Pony and Transformers were manufactured and each of these factories had to conform to locally acceptable standards of legal and social workforce treatment which varies from country to country.

Now with the global economy, several nations have closed down their local manufacturing industries and countries like China have become the factory of the world. Almost everything now comes from Chinese factories. As horrible as the working conditions there may be, there is no way to stop that now nor enforce human rights when the local authorities and social norms don't put much regard on them. Hasbro's 'inspections' may improve working conditions for the next month, maybe two and then it will just go back to what it normally is.

The world's consumer good manufacturing industry is what it is and unless the world totally collapses economically requiring a restart, there is no way of fixing that.

[GoktimusPrime]

Boycotting Transformers alone wouldn't be enough - you'd have to boycott a modern Western lifestyle. Short of living in a self-sustainable commune or as a hermit, you are inevitably going to use products made in sweatshops. As someone mentioned before, a LOT of things in our households are probably made in sweat shops... computer parts, TV parts, appliances, clothing etc.

Otherwise other options include:
+ Contact Hasbro and tell them how you feel
+ Starting/signing a petition
+ Organising/participating in a demonstration/protest, e.g. #OccupyHasbro

The first option is the easiest but arguably has the lowest impact on Hasbro (it's easy for them just to ignore you), the third option is the hardest but has a higher impact on Hasbro. Imagine if a group of Transfans were camped outside Hasbro's head office in Epping NSW (or in the case of US fans, Pawtucket RI <--this would be more effective but of course, none of us live there; and unless anyone is in a position to travel there for the sake of an occupational demonstration, it's not an available option for folks here).