There are a lot more people willing to speak out against FunPub than for them these days, compared to five years ago, or any time before 2010 really.Originally Posted by Verno
The handling of the credit card security breach was probably the turning point, prompting people to be more critical, making it more noticeable that FunPub were always pretty distant from the fandom, because none of their original staff were Transformers fans, and still aren't. Being more sporadic with news and contact (or even direct replies), has made them be seen as just a regular toy dealer business who just happens to have the license to the Transformers club and convention.
The Hartmans and 3H had a big presence in the fandom, and were embraced to the point of very few people had issues that they wouldn't give 3H the benefit of the doubt over. (at least while the Hartmans were involved, so not Glen's 2003/2004 conventions)
FunPub don't do damage control or try to make up for problems. They either blame the fans or ignore it completely.
So now, after five years of problems and minimal or sporadic communication by FunPub to the fandom they are needing to make money from, is just extraordinary.
The main assets left that still draw in fans are BotCon and their exclusive toys... both of which are suffering in recent years.
The stats don't lie, even if people dismiss criticism as just being a vocal minority... and the stats for BotCon have been showing an inability to sell out their preregistrations and at-show toys for the last few years, despite reducing the amounts of toys each year.
The Movies are driving more and more people to Transformers, and yet the BotCon attendance and sales is not only plateauing, they are falling. The most successful Transformers Movie in terms of dollars, was in 2014, and yet 2014 and 2015 had a fall in success of BotCon pre-selling registration and at-show toys.
Even though I felt that this year had a notable drop in attendees on site, FunPub would never reveal attendee numbers, so the amount of exclusives they have for sale and if they sell out, is the only objective statistic we can rely on.
This site keeps track of the stats, showing that 2013 was the last time they had something sell out during it's initial sale period, and 2012 was the last time that they sold out their boxsets during the pre-registration period.
And I think it is telling that this year's Subscription set of classic Gen1 characters (the Mayhem Attack Squad) was noted as not being able to outsell their first Subscription year which was their best year... when five years ago, these significant characters done as Classicverse toys in a unified set would have been like Punch/Counterpunch - everyone would be wanting them.
Reply With Quote