Classics Sightings.

[jaydisc]

And she said she had ****loads in the back as well.

(well, not in those words)

[iceburn]

more cybertron voyagers and ultras?? hahaha

[FFN]

Hasbro was blind but it can now see.

Before they had absolutely no clue of the market and thought a concept such as classics only good enough as a 'filler' line before the movie. After its massive success and demand they have now awaken.

Although to the average fan/customer it would be obvious that a G1 based line would sell like hot cakes and have far and wide appeal; to the Hasbro executive (& Archer) they were completly clueless and kept pushing their weird futuristic ambiguous crap. Their legacy for the past 8 years.

Now profits have spoken on what people want thanks to Classics and the movie line and thankfuly Hasbro has wised up (looks that way from the Botcon previews).

The old argument from collectors that Hasbro don't know anything about the market is a load of bull. If they didn't know anything, then their toylines would not have sold. Case in point: Armada, predicted, nay, screamed from the rooftops by collectors to be a doomed line from the beginning (DOOOOOOMED) because it did not cater to the collectors and was aggressively marketed to children with its gimmickery. It ended up being one of the most commercially successful Transformers toylines ever made, until the Movie (which was something else predicted to be a failure by collectors).

Universe 2008 is not a strictly Classics line, as evident by the Armada and Beast Wars sub lines that exist within it. We know what the marketing requirements of Hasbro needed a Transformers Movie-style 'realism' line for consumers who may be turned off by the style of Animated, which is expected to be the big earner for Hasbro the rest of this year and the start of next year, as it's the 'Main line'. Its to provide realistic-style product to a market that may only know Transformers from the Movie.

As for Aaron Archer: Mate, he has presided over Hasbro's biggest successes in Transformers history. That's why he was promoted from lead designer to overall design director. I think he and his team have a good bloody clue what the market want, and their legacy is called success.

[liegeprime]

Saw an interesting sight today....

Myer had about 30 each of Voyager Prime and Voyager Jetfire!!!

I talked to the manager and she said she thinks something is coming up <wink>

I asked if she had more in the back and she said heaps!!

I said, so I should come back Friday?

"I don't know" <wink>

WTF? Are Classics making a resurgence? Is this part of a plan to rejuvenate interest in the Classics line in preparation for Classics 2.0?

Well a few things just crossed my mind while reading your post jay...

Lazy part - meh! got one already, if it was Henkei.....

Schizoid part - its a conspiracy I tell yah, some effed up conspiracy between Hasbro and Myer to choke the market with TFs so the line doesnt die out!

Dirty part - either the above or she's coming on to you with all that winking

Mean idiot part - has she got a tic?!? or sumthink?

Just letting you know I have yet to have dinner when I posted this, so the low sugar in my blood could be contributing to my scatterbrain

[MV75]

30 Jetfires? 30? All that running around and all I actually had to do was wait 18 months?

Something is coming up? Wink? Very interesting. Could well be the debut of Classics 2.0 which don't have any new toys at the price point so could be using Classics stock to fill the gap. Exciting news.

Gah, maybe a sale?
________
MAZDA ROADPACER SPECIFICATIONS

[dirge]

In terms of commercial success, Armada did well, FFN. From a collector POV, it hasn't fared so well. I'm not disputing what you're saying, but if you view TFs as artistic endeavours (and approach things purely from a collector POV), Armada was not a success - Armada isn't held in the same esteem as say, G1 or Beast Wars, within the fandom. There doesn't seem to be the same number of fans trying to get their hands on Armada as is the case with ... many lines.

I can't say I kept pace with predictions before the live action movie, so I can't comment either way there.

With regards to the longer term fandom, I think that elements within Hasbro have done a poor job - the success of Armada was fairly shortlived and arguably did less for the franchise's long term than many other less profitable lines. The complete change of direction from the movie to Animated is kinda baffling for me - build up interest with a landmark in the franchise's history and then disgard any momentum gained with a complete change of direction.

The same could be said of the quickfire cancelling of the successful Beast Wars line and replacing it with the flop that was Beast Machines - a baffling decision which seemed to be based more on a "keep it fresh at all costs" mentality rather than a focus on building on successes.

[kup]

The old argument from collectors that Hasbro don't know anything about the market is a load of bull. If they didn't know anything, then their toylines would not have sold. Case in point: Armada, predicted, nay, screamed from the rooftops by collectors to be a doomed line from the beginning (DOOOOOOMED) because it did not cater to the collectors and was aggressively marketed to children with its gimmickery. It ended up being one of the most commercially successful Transformers toylines ever made, until the Movie (which was something else predicted to be a failure by collectors).

Universe 2008 is not a strictly Classics line, as evident by the Armada and Beast Wars sub lines that exist within it. We know what the marketing requirements of Hasbro needed a Transformers Movie-style 'realism' line for consumers who may be turned off by the style of Animated, which is expected to be the big earner for Hasbro the rest of this year and the start of next year, as it's the 'Main line'. Its to provide realistic-style product to a market that may only know Transformers from the Movie.

As for Aaron Archer: Mate, he has presided over Hasbro's biggest successes in Transformers history. That's why he was promoted from lead designer to overall design director. I think he and his team have a good bloody clue what the market want, and their legacy is called success.

I would say that Archer suceeds in mediocrity but I can't argue with the returns as Armada was indeed a succesful line despite its overbearing crappyness.

Putting profits aside, in my view most of the main lines since Beast Wars have been rather mediocre. These days all you need to move a product is the right marketing and that is how I explain the success of stuff like Armada.

[roller]

right on Kup


If we were in charge of Hasbro we'd have cool stuff that everyone would want

everyone!!!!


heaps o classics jetfires and Voyager optimus in Perth Djs

[Robzy]

Armada was not a success - Armada isn't held in the same esteem as say, G1 or Beast Wars, within the fandom.

I agree! The only thing I liked about Armada was finally getting a UNICRON figure!

As for Aaron Archer: Mate, he has presided over Hasbro's biggest successes in Transformers history. That's why he was promoted from lead designer to overall design director. I think he and his team have a good bloody clue what the market want, and their legacy is called success.

I don't! Reports from the BotCon Hasbro Panel included the following paraphrased statements...

1) "Hasbro was surprised at how successful the movie was"
2) "There are so many movie repaints because they had not planned for the demand on Movie stuff to last so long. For TF 2 they will be better prepared"
3) "Still no plans for G1 Dinobot reissues"

[STL]

I wouldn't mind adding my own thoughts in support of FFN to the discussion but I fear we are venturing off topic. Maybe a new thread?

On topic, I spotted a bucketload of Skyfires and Optimus Primes at another Myer too. I talked to one of the girls there and she said she didn't know. I was w/ a new friend and didn't want to seem too obsessive so didn't pursue the discussion though I'm very interested in what price they'll be discounted too.