Hasbro CA Q&A

[griffin]

Just a few questions answered by Hasbro (US or CA), which was posted to the ATT newsgroup yesterday, and Jay mentioned it in another topic.
Nothing mind blowing, but still interesting.

http://www.seibertron.com/transforme...estions/13910/

1. Why did Hasbro choose to drop the Ultra size Class for the Movie and Animated lines?

HASBRO: Ultra and Voyager scales are so close in size that we decided to focus on driving only 1 of the two - it is more efficinet for retailers that way too. When we initially set up the new UNIVERSE line we thought that was a good place to bring back Ultra to be at a different price point vs. ANIMATED and MOVIE. However, people liked the UNIVERSE line so much that we went back and added a Voyager scale (that's why all the new tools are Ultra in 2008 and all re-decos are Voyager in 2008.

2. Why has gold/silver faction symbols been used for the Animated line instead of the traditional red and purple as featured on the TV show?

HASBRO: We did it for a couple of reasons, but the biggest one is that you don't see the faction symbols on the vehicle modes in the show. We always like to have them on the toys, so we thought that by making them 1-color metallic it would blend in more that red/purple, and feel more like a metallic part of the vehicle.

3. Will Canadian retail be seeing the release of the Premium Movie Voyagers, the Universe Legend 5-packs, the Legacy of Bumblebee 3-pack or the Animated Leader class value packs?

HASBRO: Canadian fans can look forward to seeing the Premium movie voyagers on shelf this fall as well as the Universe Legends 5 packs (Zellers exclusive) and the Bumblebee 3 pack (Walmart exclusive).

4. Hasbro recently announced that toy prices will be rising effective September 1st. Will an increase also happen in Canada? And if so how much will it effect the retail price of Transformers, Star Wars, GIJoe, Marvel Legends etc?

HASBRO: All prices are ultimately set by individual retailers. However, costs associated with producing toys - including plastic costs, shipping costs, and labor costs - have all risen recently and the higher prices you might see on shelves can be attributed to this.

5. Will the trend of creating toys out of all the Transformers characters featured in Transformers Animated continue with Animated Season 3?

HASBRO: We will try to make toys of as many of the Transformers: ANIMATED characters as possible. Not all will become toys but many will.

[autobreadticon]

HASBRO: We will try to make toys of as many of the Transformers: ANIMATED characters as possible. Not all will become toys but many will.

disappointing.....

[Pulse]

Hmmmm, If you were to ask a question - what would it be?






Pulse: Hi!

Um, I'm pretty sure I speak for quite a few fellow Australian Transfans when I ask why (compared to the North American market) does it take months for new stock to get released retail in Australia & why are Australian RRP's double if not triple the North American RRP's?

Hasbro Mouthpiece: How the hell should we know? To us, Hasbro Australia is a backwater that treats their market in contempt - exactly the same way we treat them...









& this...

[MV75]

Actually, we get inventory quite often before the yanks do, and we even get stuff that they don't.

And as for prices, as I was reminded lately, they charge that much because people pay it. If people stopped buying locally and imported instead, or really cut down on transformers, they'd lower their prices so that they'd make sales again, but that ain't gunna happen. Also seems to buffer us from exchange rate decreases.

As for animated toys, I look forward to seeing a G1 arcee style car.

[GoktimusPrime]

*bites tongue* :/

[kup]

They never ask the real questions or they get filtered out.

People should be asking:

- About the systematic decrease of plastic and paint quality in the past year or so, particularly when it comes to deluxe figures.

- The horrendous QC issues with Animated.

- Blantant misadvertisement where the photographed figure in catalogue/package has a more detailed finish than the product within.

These interviews are always 'happy' questions or stupid stuff like what the next MP will be or if they will ever reissue that. They should be asking the REAL questions.

[i_amtrunks]

- The horrendous QC issues with Animated and non repaint Universe 2.0 figures.

fixed.