Hasbro destroys third party companies by being way better

[JediTricks]

While that Bruticus looks indeed awesome, it's hardly a significant step towards delivering what the hardcore fanbase has been asking for the last decade or so.
G1 Arcee? Nope.
Classics Ultra Magnus trailer/armor? No.
Weapons for Leader-Class ROTF OP or Ironhide? Nuh uh.
Head that doesn't look like dogcrap for Kup? Not really.
Any number of articulated, modern-quality combiners? Maybe this 1 new figure, but that'd be it.
Modern-quality minibots? Not really that great sometimes, and some are canceled on their way to market.
Reflector? Hell no.
Larger Blackout? "Maybe if there's enough demand... ha, no."

That list could go on for quite a long time, Hasbro's response to said hardcore fanbase is MP Rodimus. That's it.

[Onslaught Six]

Hey, they only have so much budget. They're getting to it all, I'm sure. Future combiner sales probably rely on this.

As for people bitching about Classics Arcee, they need to shut the hell up. Arcee sucks.

[BWprowl]

Oh man. Oh man.

It’s funny, I kept seeing the top of this thread on /toy/, but didn’t really pay it any mind since I didn’t recognize the opening picture as one of an actual toy (thought it was just a render of the top of Bruticus from the game) and now I regret that I didn’t let myself find out about this later.

Now, is this likely just going to be a ‘dudes become limbs’ block-former? Yeah. Do I care all that much about Fall of Cybertron? No, not really unless I can scrounge up a PS3 this year. Does any of that matter? No, because I’m still beyond excited for this toy. For god’s sake, it’s a full-size, fully-transforming legitimate TF gestalt from Hasbro. At this point it was the *last* thing I expected them to reveal, and here it is.

I’m glad I’m going to be mostly skipping the Prime RiD Revealers Whatever line, since the majority of my resources must now be allocated to obtaining this…glorious…beast.

I also can’t wait for all the buttmad posts accusing Hasbro of trying to drive third-party companies out of business by cutting in on their market. I’ll laugh. I’ll laugh *so hard*.

[JediTricks]

Hey, they only have so much budget. They're getting to it all, I'm sure. Future combiner sales probably rely on this.

As for people bitching about Classics Arcee, they need to shut the hell up. Arcee sucks.

They have done nothing positive to foster their dedicated market in the last few years, so the market has vastly eroded which leads to a smaller budget allocated to that very market. And in the mainstream market, they frittered away the 2011 movie line, making product neither hardcore nor casual consumers wanted very much, so it backed up and choked on pegs.

Arcee is a character, some folks like her, she's never had a figure from G1. If you don't like it, don't buy it, but considering the weird things you've wanted them to do, it seems hypocritical to ask others to not request their character.

[Dominic]

Prowl, aside from the bootleggers themselves, who have a pretty obvious interest in this, who is going to complain if Hasbro is making quality toys that there is a demand for? The price differential alone should settle most nerves.

Of course, this new Bruticus team has yet to be photographed in detail. It might be a kibble-forming piece of out-dated garbage. And, that is far to likely give how lazy Hasbro has gotten with designs over the last ~5 years or so. (Stripped gimmicks and parts not fitting neatly in both modes are not good precedents when considering an upcoming merge team.)

JT, at this point, there is absolutely no reason to expect Hasbro to do anything. I find short-packed and short-run figures to be annoying enough. But, the Wave 1 "Prime" figures being cancelled just blows my mind. Cancelling a wave of figures that people want (and before they have committed to the line) makes no sense on any level. If Hasbro does not sell toys, they cannot recover the money spent on the development and moulding, let alone make a profit. And, that is not even counting the "damage due to annoyance" for the brand....

I am glad that I am more or less sitting out toy collecting this year. If I were not, this might be enough to put me off it entirely.


Dom
-this makes Thundergate look like an *over-production*.

[JediTricks]

More Bruticus shots, including Onslaught: http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-new ... ns-174325/

[Ursus mellifera]

Looks good so far.

[Shockwave]

Wait, they've cancelled the entire Prime toy line? That's insane! Not that I was even interested in any of it, but like Dom said, to develop that and cancel it is business suicide.

[Dominic]

Wave 1 was cancelled. These are the "First Edition" toys. Apparently, "First Edition" was not just a question of packaging. Many, if not all, of the figures were cast from unique moulds.

But, yes, it makes little sense in business terms.


Dom
-would think just not making the toys would be easier than making them and not selling them.....

[BWprowl]

Wave 1 was cancelled. These are the "First Edition" toys. Apparently, "First Edition" was not just a question of packaging. Many, if not all, of the figures were cast from unique moulds.

But, yes, it makes little sense in business terms.

Dom, you're crazy, and wrong. The First Edition Prime toys came out. I saw them at Toys R Us. I bought friggin' Starscream for crying out loud! The Voyagers were a pain in the ass to find outside of Canada, yes, but they still came out. Whoever told you First Edition was canceled was lying to you, and you should hit them.

They have done nothing positive to foster their dedicated market in the last few years, so the market has vastly eroded which leads to a smaller budget allocated to that very market. And in the mainstream market, they frittered away the 2011 movie line, making product neither hardcore nor casual consumers wanted very much, so it backed up and choked on pegs.

Yeah, I suppose keeping Generations/RTS going, bringing out stuff like Thundercracker, Jazz, Tracks/Wheeljack, and so forth did nothing for the 'dedicated' market, and that was just this year. And now they're bringing back Generations, with a bunch of new WfC/FoC molds, and giving people a Prime line. Hasbro's been doing fine. Also, I liked the DOTM line, it appealed to me greatly, and it sold pretty well around here (just going off what I saw); I don't see where you'd get the idea that no one wanted it. I will admit to wondering where that last wave with Wheeljack, Deluxe and HA Soundwave, and the Leadfoot/Twin Twist two-pack got to, though.

You doin' okay, JT? You seem a little on edge here.

Prowl, aside from the bootleggers themselves, who have a pretty obvious interest in this, who is going to complain if Hasbro is making quality toys that there is a demand for? The price differential alone should settle most nerves.

You would be beyond surprised. There is a *very* vocal subset of people these days who seem to exclusively be 'fans' of the third-party stuff. Hell, just try and look up general TF news on some places, they're choked with yacking about it. These people'll drool over grayscale photos of somewhat accurate construction robots with giant obvious fists strapped to their backs, and happily pay $100 a pop for each one of them so long as they're 'third-party' productions, but as soon as Hasbro comes out offering something like this at retail it's all "B'aaaw these things look like garbage! Stupid Hasblow's going to screw it up! They're just trying to drive FansProject out of business since they're so much better at this than they are!!".