SkyLanders succeeded where Web Diver failed.

[Tigermegatron]

SkyLanders succeeded where Web Diver failed.

Speculation on why SkyLanders succeeded.
1- Partnered with a existing game console company.
2- Interactive technology was more developed at the right time.
3- Individual interactive toys were leaps & bounds cheaper.

Speculation why Web Diver failed.
1- Created a super exspensive toy that was also the main plug & play game system.
2- The individual interactive toys cost insane amounts of money.
3- The interactive gaming technology wasn't their at the time like it is now.

DO I THINK IT'S POSSIBLE FOR ANOTHER INTERACTIVE TF VIDEO GAME WITH A TOY TIE IN TO SUCCEED LIKE SKYLANDERS? YES,BUT IT NEEDS TO BE TAILORED FOR SUCCESS & NOT FAILURE LIKE WEB DIVER WAS. I'd opt to do a G-1 styled game either in the FOC past or in the present IDW styled universe. list of ways below to tailor it for success.
1- Partner with Nintendo Wi,realease a TF video game with them. then include a interactive square/round platform tiny pice with a minicon port for the interactive TF toys with a minicon port to plug into. each toy would have a code in it,that will get unlocked in the game. since their transformers,when their transformed in either mode,that form will get unlocked in the game.
2- Release the interactive TF toys only at the deluxe,basic & legends price points/sizes. clearly to keep exspenses down for buyers,deluxes will be outnumbered 9 to 1. with the deluxes being treated like the giant sized game characters.
3- Hasbro would have a better shot at success due to Hasbro's prices being 75% less than Takara's.

[Onslaught Six]

3- Hasbro would have a better shot at success due to Hasbro's prices being 75% less than Takara's.

Takara's prices are only so high because of the weak dollar and also import fees.

[Tigermegatron]

3- Hasbro would have a better shot at success due to Hasbro's prices being 75% less than Takara's.

Takara's prices are only so high because of the weak dollar and also import fees.

06,even when the dollar was at it's strongest,Those Takara TF toy prices were still insanely higher than Hasbro's TF toy prices.

I don't feel the need to spend double nor tripple prices for Takara's TF toys with glorified color schemes. I'd much rather use that money to buy two or three of hasbro's TF toys instead.

[JediTricks]

06,even when the dollar was at it's strongest,Those Takara TF toy prices were still insanely higher than Hasbro's TF toy prices.

That's not true, I picked up the Car Robots super car bros deluxe figures for $20 a piece a year before their RID counterparts were even announced, import fees and all. Until the Yen went into freefall a few years ago, buying Takara made a lot of sense.

[BWprowl]

One thing that separates the two franchises (besides nearly a decade of video game technology advancement) was what they were trying to do. Web Diver was clearly focusing more on being 'toys' with the video game component simply being another 'gimmick' built into them as-such. You could have a few Web Diver toys and even if you didn't have a TV to plug them into you could still have some fun, transforming, combining, and makin' 'em fight.

Skylanders, on the other hand, is very clearly designed as a video game first with supplementary material released via the plastic trinkets. It really is just physical DLC. You can get just the basic Skylanders game with no 'toys' attached, and you've still got the basic game to go through and enjoy. It really comes at the whole toys/video games angle from the complete opposite end as Web Diver.

If I could, I'd like to bring up here that I'd find Skylanders a lot more interesting if its toy components were more like, well, *toys*. I can't see any fun or playing or fiddling being had with the little statuettes they shill for this thing, even some basic articulation would be appreciated. And they don't even *do* anything for their 'interaction' with the game besides plop on the little pedestal/portal thing, kids could get the same functionality out of trading cards, or even regular DLC. I guess I just don't grasp why they'd push the 'toys' concept of the thing when that same part is so weakly implemented. Having to go out and hunt for and pay for functionally useless plastic trinkets just to buy the extra characters for the games puts a lot of needless barriers and headaches between the audience and the full functionality of the game. What do you even do with the 'toys' after you've sat them on the throne to poop their character into the game? I'd much rather have a Web Diver toy left sitting around to fiddle with.

Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see more done with bringing toys and video games together to help keep the former alive as a medium, I'd just like the toys themselve to be better and more interesting.

[Tigermegatron]

06,even when the dollar was at it's strongest,Those Takara TF toy prices were still insanely higher than Hasbro's TF toy prices.

That's not true, I picked up the Car Robots super car bros deluxe figures for $20 a piece a year before their RID counterparts were even announced, import fees and all. Until the Yen went into freefall a few years ago, buying Takara made a lot of sense.

Jedi,You were still paying double prices. you were paying $20 for a TF Import deluxe toy,when USA Hasbro deluxes cost $9.99.

Jedi,I also bought the entire Car robots toy line from various onb-line sites & various import shops. I remember pay around $25+ for a car robots deluxe car brothers toy. I remember buying a few takara CR deluxe bothers super colors mode for around $29.99 at various on-line & at various import shops. So clearly you got the toy on sale for $20. GETTING THE TOY ON SALE DOESN'T COUNT BECAUSE IT CAN WORK BOTH WAYS,I can count all the Rid sales that were going on,like the 25% to 50% off sales,the buy two get on free sales,buy one get one free sales,etc...

In the past year or two,Often times the Japanese YEN price is much lower than the prices BBTS & other sites sell the imported TF toys for. I HAVE A YEN VS USA PRICES CONVERSION SITE I VISIT FREQUENTLY TO CHECK OUT THE CONVERSIONS RATES. FWIW,VARIOUS on-line sites like BBTS,toyarena,tfsource, are taking advantage of impatient/desperate TF fans who are willing to pay anything for those Takara TF imports. BBTS & other on-line sites are infamous for raising TF import prices to insane amounts when they hear the news Hasbro won't be selling those molds. recent examples: The Takara FE TFP imports. Takara breakdown voyager. Those super rare TFP repaints. Takara TFP Microns. Alternity toys.

IF anyone remembers about 18 months ago. Various on-line imports sites like BBTS,TFSOURCE,Toyarena,had pre-orderes for the Takara TFP FE Imports at decent prices. fans put in pre-orders 3+months in advance. Then 5 months later,News broke that Hasbro wasn't going to selling some TFP FE toys. ALL OF A SUDDEN BBTS,toyarea.tfsource & others cancelled all pre-orders. Then a week or two later BBTS,toyarea,tfsource & other import sites put back up those same TFP FE imported pre-orders for double/tripple insane prices.

[JediTricks]

06,even when the dollar was at it's strongest,Those Takara TF toy prices were still insanely higher than Hasbro's TF toy prices.

That's not true, I picked up the Car Robots super car bros deluxe figures for $20 a piece a year before their RID counterparts were even announced, import fees and all. Until the Yen went into freefall a few years ago, buying Takara made a lot of sense.

Jedi,You were still paying double prices. you were paying $20 for a TF Import deluxe toy,when USA Hasbro deluxes cost $9.99.

Jedi,I also bought the entire Car robots toy line from various onb-line sites & various import shops. I remember pay around $25+ for a car robots deluxe car brothers toy. I remember buying a few takara CR deluxe bothers super colors mode for around $29.99 at various on-line & at various import shops. So clearly you got the toy on sale for $20. GETTING THE TOY ON SALE DOESN'T COUNT BECAUSE IT CAN WORK BOTH WAYS,I can count all the Rid sales that were going on,like the 25% to 50% off sales,the buy two get on free sales,buy one get one free sales,etc...

In the past year or two,Often times the Japanese YEN price is much lower than the prices BBTS & other sites sell the imported TF toys for. I HAVE A YEN VS USA PRICES CONVERSION SITE I VISIT FREQUENTLY TO CHECK OUT THE CONVERSIONS RATES. FWIW,VARIOUS on-line sites like BBTS,toyarena,tfsource, are taking advantage of impatient/desperate TF fans who are willing to pay anything for those Takara TF imports. BBTS & other on-line sites are infamous for raising TF import prices to insane amounts when they hear the news Hasbro won't be selling those molds. recent examples: The Takara FE TFP imports. Takara breakdown voyager. Those super rare TFP repaints. Takara TFP Microns. Alternity toys.

IF anyone remembers about 18 months ago. Various on-line imports sites like BBTS,TFSOURCE,Toyarena,had pre-orderes for the Takara TFP FE Imports at decent prices. fans put in pre-orders 3+months in advance. Then 5 months later,News broke that Hasbro wasn't going to selling some TFP FE toys. ALL OF A SUDDEN BBTS,toyarea.tfsource & others cancelled all pre-orders. Then a week or two later BBTS,toyarea,tfsource & other import sites put back up those same TFP FE imported pre-orders for double/tripple insane prices.

Don't speak for me, you don't know what you're talking about. I found them at a booth at the Frank & Son semi-weekly collectibles show here in the LA area, they weren't on sale, the booth had imported them personally as most booths there had at the time. Some booths freighted them while others brought them into the country in personal luggage at individual expense, I didn't bother asking this booth which that was, but at the time they were the first in the area with the figures for several months.

[Tigermegatron]

06,even when the dollar was at it's strongest,Those Takara TF toy prices were still insanely higher than Hasbro's TF toy prices.

That's not true, I picked up the Car Robots super car bros deluxe figures for $20 a piece a year before their RID counterparts were even announced, import fees and all. Until the Yen went into freefall a few years ago, buying Takara made a lot of sense.

Jedi,You were still paying double prices. you were paying $20 for a TF Import deluxe toy,when USA Hasbro deluxes cost $9.99.

Jedi,I also bought the entire Car robots toy line from various onb-line sites & various import shops. I remember pay around $25+ for a car robots deluxe car brothers toy. I remember buying a few takara CR deluxe bothers super colors mode for around $29.99 at various on-line & at various import shops. So clearly you got the toy on sale for $20. GETTING THE TOY ON SALE DOESN'T COUNT BECAUSE IT CAN WORK BOTH WAYS,I can count all the Rid sales that were going on,like the 25% to 50% off sales,the buy two get on free sales,buy one get one free sales,etc...

In the past year or two,Often times the Japanese YEN price is much lower than the prices BBTS & other sites sell the imported TF toys for. I HAVE A YEN VS USA PRICES CONVERSION SITE I VISIT FREQUENTLY TO CHECK OUT THE CONVERSIONS RATES. FWIW,VARIOUS on-line sites like BBTS,toyarena,tfsource, are taking advantage of impatient/desperate TF fans who are willing to pay anything for those Takara TF imports. BBTS & other on-line sites are infamous for raising TF import prices to insane amounts when they hear the news Hasbro won't be selling those molds. recent examples: The Takara FE TFP imports. Takara breakdown voyager. Those super rare TFP repaints. Takara TFP Microns. Alternity toys.

IF anyone remembers about 18 months ago. Various on-line imports sites like BBTS,TFSOURCE,Toyarena,had pre-orderes for the Takara TFP FE Imports at decent prices. fans put in pre-orders 3+months in advance. Then 5 months later,News broke that Hasbro wasn't going to selling some TFP FE toys. ALL OF A SUDDEN BBTS,toyarea.tfsource & others cancelled all pre-orders. Then a week or two later BBTS,toyarea,tfsource & other import sites put back up those same TFP FE imported pre-orders for double/tripple insane prices.

Don't speak for me, you don't know what you're talking about. I found them at a booth at the Frank & Son semi-weekly collectibles show here in the LA area, they weren't on sale, the booth had imported them personally as most booths there had at the time. Some booths freighted them while others brought them into the country in personal luggage at individual expense, I didn't bother asking this booth which that was, but at the time they were the first in the area with the figures for several months.

I don't doubt you bought them for $20. you clearly got a great buy. Getting a great buy should not reflect the average price for things. when looking back thru time,it's best to compare dozens of prices for this item & then coming up with a fair AVERAGE that this thing averaged out to.

At the time in the year 2000,dozens of on-line imports sites/import shops were selling those Takara deluxes for $24.99. in the case of the CR Deluxe car bros the regular colors on average sold for $24.99,while the super powered up colors sold for $29.99. I know all this from personal eperience,because at the at,I bought a few Takara BW deluxes & All of the Car robots new molds. At the time I was searching/checking dozens of import sites/import stores looking for the average price these things were going for.

The whole points of these replies was to say,the Takara imports yen prices were always more insanely higher than Hasbro's. in the year 2000 in the USA,TF deluxe toys cost under $9.99. At the time in 2000,Takara TF deluxes on AVERAGE cost $24.99. so in 2000,Takara's TF deluxes were insanely marked up to 150% more than Hasbro's USA prices.

FLASH FORWARD TO THE YEARS 2012 THRU 2013. Hasbro's USA TF deluxes cost on average $14.99. Takara's TFP/BH imported deluxes cost $34.99 for the regular mass released deluxes. The takara TF deluxes verse the Hasbro usa TF deluxes claculates to a 150% mark up in price------>THIS IS THE SAME EXACT 150% THAT THE TF DELUXES WERE IN THE YEAR 2000.

So basically even though the Yen keeps getting stronger as the years pass & the dollar keeps getting weaker on the global market---> None of this effects the Transformers toys world wide,as the 150% import rate stayed the same from 2000 thru 2013. due to Hasbro USA recently raising prices on TF toys more than Takara everything balanced/even out to the SAME 150% import rate.