Transformers disruptions and updates due to COVID-19

[griffin]

We already heard that the global comics distributor Diamond is suspending its sales of comics until at least May, and that IDW was going to also have to suspend it's comics for at least a month, but as the situation in America continues to drag on with no end in sight for the virus in that country, IDW have announced that they have had to suspend a number of their staff until they can resume production of comics again... which at this point could be anything from next month to next year.

Unfortunately, while IDW are effectively closed down, and while Diamond aren't trading, new Transformers comics might be a while... for the few of us who were actually still buying the current ones.

[griffin]

With SDCC now cancelled for this year, it comes as no surprise that the Tokyo Toy Show in Japan (held in the same week), has also now been cancelled for this year.
The Japanese Summer (mid-year) Wonderfest has also been affected, but they are postponing theirs to Autumn (November 1st).

[Paulbot]

With SDCC now cancelled for this year, it comes as no surprise that the Tokyo Toy Show in Japan (held in the same week), has also now been cancelled for this year.
The Japanese Summer (mid-year) Wonderfest has also been affected, but they are postponing theirs to Autumn (November 1st).

I remember I almost didn't go to the meetup with the Australian Toy Fair because hayfever gave me a runny nose and we were starting to become a little wary. Who knew it was going to escalate the way it did

[griffin]

I remember I almost didn't go to the meetup with the Australian Toy Fair because hayfever gave me a runny nose and we were starting to become a little wary. Who knew it was going to escalate the way it did

Indeed... and with me (selfishly) hoping that the reborn BotCon in 2021 is worth attending, I am constantly keeping an eye on the stats and updates in America as well as Australia. Because America won't re-open while the virus is still around (or the Australian Government won't allow people travelling to infected countries)... so a trip to a convention in America will only happen when there is a vaccine or cure (could be 1-2 years away), or the virus disappears completely from lockdown measures, which now seems to be possible if we don't rush the wind-back of our lockdown restrictions (as we are seeing in countries that don't have cooperation between different levels of government).

But saying that, our stats are amazing compared to the rest of the world, as most of our states have had zero or single digits of daily new cases for the last week, and that's with over 10,000 tests done every day. If we keep going at this rate, and we don't have any more arrivals bringing in the virus (there's still quite a few Australians yet to get back), I don't see why we wouldn't be back to normal before the end of May - we would then only have to financially support the tourism industry until we can let visitors back in. I think it's amazing to see our different state and federal politicians put aside their political differences to unite against this problem, so that we don't have any senior politicians encouraging their supporters to reject or resist the restrictions (that are there for their own good). It has certainly been a significant factor in America, who had virus cases a week before Australia, and yet their daily numbers are still increasing, a whole month after we hit our peak day at the end of March. It certainly doesn't make it easy to coordinate a scientific national approach when you have a misguided and uneducated president asking one of the doctors at the daily live press briefing, if they can look into injecting disinfectant into people to kill the virus... while also encouraging people to protest the preventative restrictions, sabotaging efforts to fight a virus that will keep spreading over there until a vaccine exists.

At least if we end up having most of our industries free to fully re-open without a resurgence of the virus that we've seen in other countries that re-opened too early, it will once again make us the envy of the other developed economies (we were the only one to not have a recession after the GFC in 2008)... which should help our dollar, to make our toys and imported toys cheaper.

[griffin]

We already heard that the global comics distributor Diamond is suspending its sales of comics until at least May, and that IDW was going to also have to suspend it's comics for at least a month, but as the situation in America continues to drag on with no end in sight for the virus in that country, IDW have announced that they have had to suspend a number of their staff until they can resume production of comics again... which at this point could be anything from next month to next year.

Unfortunately, while IDW are effectively closed down, and while Diamond aren't trading, new Transformers comics might be a while... for the few of us who were actually still buying the current ones.

Are IDW still releasing new comics digitally, or did they suspend those as well?
I'm guessing that if they have stopped releasing physical copies, and shut down a number of their operations, they would run out of issues ready to release digitally after a while anyway.

IDW have just noted that what was first hoped to be a short term closure of their office resulting in suspending a number of staff to save money, has now ended up requiring a more long-term outcome of letting go of a number of staff (some may or may not have been people who were suspended in April)...

layoffs for Managing Editor Denton Tipton, Associate Publisher David Hedgecock, Senior Graphic Artist Gilberto Lazcano, Senior Graphic Designer Christa Miesner and Brand & Marketing Manager Spencer Reeve.

In April, IDW made the difficult decision to furlough several valued staff members, and two weeks ago, IDW welcomed several of those staffers back full-time. However, as we continue to adapt and deal with these challenging times, we have been forced to lay-off some of our longtime co-workers and friends. Although tough decisions like this are an unfortunate business reality and there is never a good time for them, these changes are necessary to ensure the long-term health of the company.

Regular readers of their comics may recognise some of those names. I only recognise Denton, as he has been with IDW since 2008, working on quite a few Transformers issues (including writing an issue).

[reillyd]

IDW did suspend comics digitally (you can?t sell those print copies at stores if people have already bought the digital versions) but DID release two or three non-tf on Saturday. Of note is that one of these is the highly anticipated Clone Wars comic, which should see heavy sales and thus revenue to idw to keep it going. It?s also a weekly comic for five issues, to promote new clone wars cartoon. Things should revert back to normal shipping this week to all comic stores through Diamond, and we should start to see new comics again. I?m pretty sure IDW will survive this one.

Of note, to ?See? the new Star Wars Adventures: Clone wars comic you need to be using a VPN but can then download it normally.

[griffin]

This year's NYCC has also been cancelled, as the virus didn't just disappear as quickly in America as it was assumed it would earlier this year.

It looks like they will be looking to do some online presentations like SDCC did last month.
I'd also expect Hasbro to do some product reveals online during that time like they've done in the last month in place of their usual SDCC reveals.

[griffin]

A very early announcement - New York Toyfair next year (February) has been postponed for a few months... which I don't think that there would be enough change in Covid between a few months. If it doesn't go ahead in February, I'd be surprised if it goes ahead at all.

[griffin]

The Australian Toy Association has just announced that they will be waiting until October 31st before making a decision on if next year's Melbourne Toyfair. If the virus is still active enough in Victoria to believe that it would prevent a public event in March, then it will go virtual like the New York Toyfair.
Since that is a four month gap from the decision to the event date, there is no way they could know for sure what the situation would be in March. Even if the virus was reduced completely to zero new cases in Victoria by the end of October, it only takes a couple of weeks of cross-border cases or foreign returns to have a city or state in lockdown or limited crowd numbers in public.

The only way we will have Toyfair next year in Melbourne is if before October 31st we have a vaccine approved for Australia and a full rollout is announced to happen by the end of the year.
It will be a shame though, as I've been travelling to Melbourne for the Toyfair (and meeting up with fans) since 208 and next year will be the first year I won't be.

[griffin]

An announcement by Hasbro that an upcoming licensing fair in October for Europe will be digital/virtual/online... and it notes that 2021 will be the 35th Anniversary of Transformers, which I'm sure was meant to refer to the 1986 Movie anniversary.
With Unicron coming out next year and a number of 1986 characters rumoured to be released in the Studio Series line, this isn't much of a surprise... but a useful confirmation.