Pete from BotCon answering questions

[griffin]

From the TFW topic...
(because I don't want to get involved unless directly responded to, to be required to reply... and Pete looks to be selectively answering questions now, and ignoring anything previously posted by asking people to repost their questions... specifically noting that they can't be in "novel" form - I wonder who that was aimed at.)

I have a concern as to what I think was a pretty big misstep by the company..
I know it's on the top of your priority list, Pete, so bare with me.
Why is it that the GIJCC got the new website treatment before the TCC? I'm not trying to belittle the Joe fan club (as one day I plan on checking out JoeCon), but the TCC is obviously the largest of the two clubs, so I'm having a problem with why the "little brother" had dibs on getting the club-member portion of it's site re-upped first.
From a "business man" stand point, I would have catered to my largest customer-base first.

If this had been asked a while back when more people were following the topic because they had some confidence in there being a response or it being read, I think it would have stirred up other critics on the band-wagon. Because objectively, a business should cater to it's greater customer base... however subjectively, I hate to say it, but I'd probably do the same in that situation.
The owners and original operators of FunPub (those who aren't Pete) have confirmed that they are still not Transformers Fans (as of 2012 & 2013 - I was really hoping that some would have by now, which was why I asked four of the most senior FunPub people)... so their passion remains with GIJoe, and to them, it would be easier and quicker to work on that Club first, and then copy the format and concepts across to fandoms they are not familiar with.
It would be like if I set up separate toy collector websites or clubs because there is an absence of it and there was demand for it, but it wouldn't matter if one of those other toy sites or clubs became bigger than my main love of Transformers... I'd probably prioritise the Transformers site/club, because it is more familiar and interesting to me, and then use that frame-work to other sites/clubs that I was not familiar with.

Admittedly though, I'm a "toy fan" in general, so I think I'd develop an interest in other toylines that I'd take on the responsibility for... which the FunPub people haven't done at all - develop an interest, or take seriously the responsibility Hasbro have given them to promote and nurture an interest in the Brand from *their* customers. (which is one of the reasons I still bother to try to help improve BotCon and the Club, for the benefit of fans and the Brand, not the benefit of FunPub anymore)

[SuspectimusPrime]

Serpent O.R. finally makes sense.

[Zippo]

The club lost me after 5 years when they determined that the membership I paid for did not belong to me because I was getting it sent to someone else in the USA, a practice that was allowed in the first 4 years of membership.

Since I no longer 'gotta catch them all' I don't even try any more.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

so their passion remains with GIJoe, and to them, it would be easier and quicker to work on that Club first, and then copy the format and concepts across to fandoms they are not familiar with.

That's a very good question I think and glad someone asked it. I assume the GI Joe board went down all those YEARS ago when the Transformers one did. Annoyingly I suspect that Transformers club members are subsidizing the GI Joe club quite a bit...

[Deonasis]

That's a very good question I think and glad someone asked it. I assume the GI Joe board went down all those YEARS ago when the Transformers one did. Annoyingly I suspect that Transformers club members are subsidizing the GI Joe club quite a bit...

Now that is a question to ask..

[griffin]

The question I'd be asking if I had any faith in the topic is...

What have been the membership numbers of the Transformers Club each year (at the March cut-off) over its ten years, because it was heavily broadcast early on when it was growing so fast that it had overtaken GIJoe membership within about 4 years.
If the Transformers Club is still such a great success, I'd like to see the proof by seeing the figure of registered members, which they'd know each March, so that they can order enough membership toys each year.
My thinking is that the club membership has plateaued or dropped off in the last three years like the attendee numbers and sales at BotCon since 2011 (probably their peak year of success).


Feel free to post that in the TFW topic if someone wants to. Quoted or unquoted, but probably best to keep my name off it if you want a chance of it being answered.

[griffin]

Now that is a question to ask..

I would think that with it being the one business, it would have to be.
I think it was their fourth year (2008) that they were saying that the Transformers membership numbers were overtaking the GIJoe club numbers (not convention numbers)... and I've seen in their convention photos in recent years that they have a much smaller convention attendance.
If it takes similar costs to run both clubs and both conventions, and they are both under the same business umbrella, logic would dictate that the more successful one subsidises the other one.
After all, for the first three or four years of their ownership of the Transformers license, their GIJoe club and convention would have been more profitable and subsidising the Transformers side.

[BigTransformerTrev]

He is mostly right about the percentage of pages being about the same over the ten years, with 6 of the 16 pages being comic story. Probably once a year, they've had an extra page or two to promote something else (like a recent issue having a BotCon comic preview).

Since they lost a page to be a cover several years ago, the format has been pretty consistent.

Standard contents to equal 11 pages...
2 pages - cover & intro page
6 pages - comic
2 pages - bios
1 page - back cover "funnies"

Then the variables to equal the remaining 5 pages...
3-4 pages - articles and info (including BotCon review once a year)
2-1 pages - advertising of their toys or conventions (including preview comics)

Sometimes the comic is a decent story, so becomes an interesting element (but only worth reading after you wait 12 months for the entire story), while the 3-4 pages of articles are sometimes the interesting element.
But the articles would be more interesting if they could get more input from Hasbro on future toy reveals. What's the point of paying a license to promote the Brand, if the Brand doesn't give them products to promote, as that's what readers most want - future toy products to get excited about.

Well, here is my response to Pete

Ok, issue 59# is out. Here is the breakdown of it:

•Front Cover: Picture of Tranantulus from the 3.0 Subscription Service being sold by TFCC
•Inside Cover: Editors Note talking about the comic which stars club toys being sold by TFCC. Short blurb from Brian talking about the subscription service toys being sold by TFCC.
•2 pages about the old TF Animated cartoon.
•3 pages about the old G2 toys.
*6 pages of the Comic (starring the Transmutate & Rampage toys being sold by TFCC)
•2 pages of Character Bio’s about characters from the comic
•Back Cover – short strip comic and also comic like TF quiz trivia

So out of 16 pages we have
•8 ½ pages dedicated to the comic, talking about the comic or comic character bios
•1 ½ pages talking about or drawings of TFSS club toys
•5 pages of articles about old toys or cartoons
•1 page of a mini-comic and comic-styled quiz

If you take into account all the comic stuff together it is indeed over half the magazine. But what is more worrying is if you take the 6 pages of comic with Transmutate & Rampage, the front cover with Tarantulus, the blurb about the comic, the blurb about the TF 3.0 – you get 10 of the 16 pages which are in one way or another advertising figures being sold by the TFCC!


What I always hope to see in the magazine and how much content it recieved in the latest issue:
*Articles about new (non-club) toylines coming out – Zero
*Articles about new cartoons coming out like RID or the latest series of RescueBots – Zero
*Articles about developments in TF video games (such as new characters in Universe or even the Angry Birds TF game released) – Zero
*Articles about developments in the (non-club) TF comic world – Zero

So in summary, absolutely no new news whatsoever, a couple of articles about very old stuff and the rest of the magazine is given over to trying to either directly or indirectly sell TFCC merchandise. That is not a magazine, it’s the literary equivalent of an infomercial.


Please bear in mind that it sounds like I'm having more of a go than I actually intend. Others have stated that they prefer the current format and if others enjoy it thats good. Maybe there should be a poll about what people want to see in the mag so we could see what the majority would like. But I hope that you will take this constructive criticism on board and maybe consider putting in more current TF related stories and maybe wind back the comic and selling of your figures. I know that when I have mates drop over for a beer that if I have an issue of the magazine lying around they will often pick it up, flick through it, then sit it back down dissapointed. It would be great to have a Collectors Club magazine that actually talks about relevant stuff that is happening in the world of TF's today