Quote Originally Posted by Sky Shadow View Post
That was true ten years ago, but now it's a fallacy. We're a whopping great big part of the market, and common sense dictates that if 80% of people posting about a leaked toy say that it looks like utter poo then it is idiotic to put that toy more than one-to-a-case.
Hasbro consistently states at BotCon that fans (the ones who post on boards, attend BotCon for the weekend, etc) make up, at most, 10% of their total customers. We are still a relatively minor side of sales to them, and as long as Bumblebees and Optimus Primes are still selling, they will continue to make them, despite how much we may protest.

The issue comes more when hasbro places its bets on a character that flops (eg: RotF Skids), or a minor character that already has plenty of saturation (eg: Movie Ironhide).

In Australia I'd say adult fans are more important (as hasbro AU has stated that Generations sells faster/better than HftD & RtS), but worldwide (which is what Hasbro US cares about) fans are a small percentage.



Quote Originally Posted by Mechbiter View Post
As a retailer myself, I've noticed a significan problem with the case lots themselves.

Take for example the recent Thor movies toys:
1x Loki
1x Odin
1x Frost Giant
3x Lightning Clash Thor
3x Battle Hammer Thor
3x Sword Spike Thor

While unconfimed, Wave 2 looks like it will be
1x Volstagg
1x Hogun
1x Frost Giant
3x ??? Thor
3x ??? Thor
3x Sword Spike Thor

Can anyone see at problem yet?
Yeah - that is a little ridiculous, and is inevitable when your cast of characters is small, but way too weighted on the wrong side. Luckily Transformers aren't quite at that stage yet.