Kapow Toys to drop DOTM line

So much for Hasbro improving things for us.

I understand their POV. If the line isn't selling well here in the US, I can't even begin to imagine what kind of damage it's doing to the pegs and shelves over in the UK.

Some US locales are doing well, but for the most part, these things warm so much, you could fry a steak on the shelf.

Everywhere I go I see DOTM toys just sitting there. No one wants them. Walgreens and Toys R Us are both running buy 1 get 1 half off and they just sit there. Meanwhile the RTS and Generations stuff is flying off the shelves minus Skullgrin and Thunderwing. I cannot go to a store to find Generations stuff and when friends find it locally by the time I get there it is gone. I think Hasbro should focus on the great Wave they currently have with Generations as I know every figure just about is sought after.

Consider this. Would you rather buy a case with 2 Wheeljack , 2 Thundercracker , 2 Warpath , 1 Scourge , and 1 Kup or a case of DOTM Rehashes that no one likes or has any nolstagic value. The collectors have made their choice and the kids just do not care about overly complicated Transformers that look like Gorillabot Jumbled messes. Most of my friends kids prefer the Classics figures as they actually look like PEOPLE rather then Monkeybots! I was watching the G2 Transformers toy commercials and thought to myself how awesome it would of been to get a CGI based G1 cartoon or movie. When I see Bayformers movies I just think to myself man not more shiny cinematography and crappy GM vehicle designs that makes no sense.

Primeultimus wrote:Everywhere I go I see DOTM toys just sitting there. No one wants them. Walgreens and Toys R Us are both running buy 1 get 1 half off and they just sit there. Meanwhile the RTS and Generations stuff is flying off the shelves minus Skullgrin and Thunderwing. I cannot go to a store to find Generations stuff and when friends find it locally by the time I get there it is gone. I think Hasbro should focus on the great Wave they currently have with Generations as I know every figure just about is sought after.

Consider this. Would you rather buy a case with 2 Wheeljack , 2 Thundercracker , 2 Warpath , 1 Scourge , and 1 Kup or a case of DOTM Rehashes that no one likes or has any nolstagic value. The collectors have made their choice and the kids just do not care about overly complicated Transformers that look like Gorillabot Jumbled messes. Most of my friends kids prefer the Classics figures as they actually look like PEOPLE rather then Monkeybots! I was watching the G2 Transformers toy commercials and thought to myself how awesome it would of been to get a CGI based G1 cartoon or movie. When I see Bayformers movies I just think to myself man not more shiny cinematography and crappy GM vehicle designs that makes no sense.

LMFAO !! What you said totally contradicts the situation here at Malaysia. Here at Malaysia theres ALOT of generations stuff just hanging around warming the shelves. While DOTM toys keep dissapearing one by one. Seriously I think the DOTM line is awesome. And since when the Bayverse look like monkeybots? Say do you even know what a MONKEY is? I bet you dont. Either that or you just have poor eyesight.

Good. Terrible line save for a few gems. I'm sick of seeing 5000000 bumblebees on the shelf and no laserbeak, thundercracker, HA roadbuster, space case, or leader Ironhide.

I was speaking to Andy from Kapow on the phone last week, and he keeps getting this done to him, for example Toys r Us basically stole the last shipment Hasbro sent out to the smaller retailers because they admitted that they were outselling DOTM massively.

As ive just posted on another site, talking to managers of toy shops, they all thought after the rts/gens lines that Transformers was gonna be a huge seller this summer, so they stocked up on as much as they could get, and its become almost impossible to make anything on them, whereas they mostly admit they could double the price on the Gens line and still have them fly off the shelves.

To which end ive totally given up on hunting now, if im near a shop, ill pop in, but i havent bought anything from a shop in well over a month, whereas ive bought about 25 from the tintersnet in the same period!

READ AND TAKE IN HASBRO!!!!!!!!!!

CrimsonPrime wrote:

Primeultimus wrote:Everywhere I go I see DOTM toys just sitting there. No one wants them. Walgreens and Toys R Us are both running buy 1 get 1 half off and they just sit there. Meanwhile the RTS and Generations stuff is flying off the shelves minus Skullgrin and Thunderwing. I cannot go to a store to find Generations stuff and when friends find it locally by the time I get there it is gone. I think Hasbro should focus on the great Wave they currently have with Generations as I know every figure just about is sought after.

Consider this. Would you rather buy a case with 2 Wheeljack , 2 Thundercracker , 2 Warpath , 1 Scourge , and 1 Kup or a case of DOTM Rehashes that no one likes or has any nolstagic value. The collectors have made their choice and the kids just do not care about overly complicated Transformers that look like Gorillabot Jumbled messes. Most of my friends kids prefer the Classics figures as they actually look like PEOPLE rather then Monkeybots! I was watching the G2 Transformers toy commercials and thought to myself how awesome it would of been to get a CGI based G1 cartoon or movie. When I see Bayformers movies I just think to myself man not more shiny cinematography and crappy GM vehicle designs that makes no sense.

LMFAO !! What you said totally contradicts the situation here at Malaysia. Here at Malaysia theres ALOT of generations stuff just hanging around warming the shelves. While DOTM toys keep dissapearing one by one. Seriously I think the DOTM line is awesome. And since when the Bayverse look like monkeybots? Say do you even know what a MONKEY is? I bet you dont. Either that or you just have poor eyesight.

Definition of a Monkey Bot.

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... 2136/1/42/

Really long arms looks like Guerilla. Overly detailed. Unfriendly face. Non humanoid looking Transformers all look like monkey bots. Notice the small torso and long arms.

If you want I can dig up some more pics of these Bayformers Monstrocities!

Primeultimus wrote:Definition of a Monkey Bot.

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... 2136/1/42/

Really long arms looks like Guerilla. Overly detailed. Unfriendly face. Non humanoid looking Transformers all look like monkey bots. Notice the small torso and long arms.

If you want I can dig up some more pics of these Bayformers Monstrocities!

No.

Definition of Monkey Bot = Optimus Primal. QED.

You can show yourself the pictures.

ephbot wrote:

Primeultimus wrote:Definition of a Monkey Bot.

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... 2136/1/42/

Really long arms looks like Guerilla. Overly detailed. Unfriendly face. Non humanoid looking Transformers all look like monkey bots. Notice the small torso and long arms.

If you want I can dig up some more pics of these Bayformers Monstrocities!

No.

Definition of Monkey Bot = Optimus Primal. QED.

You can show yourself the pictures.

yeah, that bot is no monkey bot. that would be primal.

still supporting the HA line? I hope that includes the HA basics. I don't want to have to rely on Argos.

The case assortments are horrible for this line. Like every wave has a case with 2 Bumblebee/Optimus and one of each other toy. There is already a ton of shelf warming and the movie has been out for weeks. This line is flopping hard. Nothing is moving off the shelves and I've got to think that is because most people already have most of these characters. Parents who already bought their kids Optimus Prime and Bumblebee and all the other movie characters the last time around, aren't looking at buying them again.

Transformers movies aren't keeping the toyline going anymore. It's time for something new. Just like Generation 1, a series can only last so long before interest is lost.

Here is to hoping they bump up the release of Prime because of this, and cancel the movie line where it is. Right now there is no hope of finding anything new because the shelves are clogged with wave 1 figures that aren't moving.

ephbot wrote:

Primeultimus wrote:Definition of a Monkey Bot.

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... 2136/1/42/

Really long arms looks like Guerilla. Overly detailed. Unfriendly face. Non humanoid looking Transformers all look like monkey bots. Notice the small torso and long arms.

If you want I can dig up some more pics of these Bayformers Monstrocities!

No.

Definition of Monkey Bot = Optimus Primal. QED.

You can show yourself the pictures.

I am going by what my friends and I go by. I despise Michael Bay and his stupid ugly horrid Transformers.

G1 Classics for life!

Dear Fandom,

Can we stop having the same discussions over again? "BAYFORMERZ SUKK" is not that far removed from "ANIMATED=TEEN TITANS" which itself is only a hop and a skip from "TRUKK NOT MUNKEY". Some of you only like G1. Wonderful. Others like some variety in our transforming-robots.

In the end, they're toy robots. That transform. From one thing to another.

Get over it.

Let's try to keep the bickering to a minimum folks. If you want to debate the aesthetics of a certain line there are other areas of the forum for that.

Primeultimus wrote:Definition of a Monkey Bot.

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... 2136/1/42/

Really long arms looks like Guerilla. Overly detailed. Unfriendly face. Non humanoid looking Transformers all look like monkey bots. Notice the small torso and long arms.

If you want I can dig up some more pics of these Bayformers Monstrocities!

Hailstorm is no monkey, he is just stocky, be nice.

If you don't have the figure, I actually quite recommend him. He has a fun transform and a lot of posability.

I actually keep a pair of him, his repaint, and a few of the movie line Armorhide figures & his repaints with my Classics Hound as Hound's military squad.

Glad I don't live in the UK. The economy must be really bad over there based on what I hear on the news.

Lousy_Autobot_Lover wrote:Glad I don't live in the UK. The economy must be really bad over there based on what I hear on the news.

I dont think bad covers it. I dont even think i can us the language that would describe our economy atm.

As for Hailstorm, my partner bought him for me from smyths in a buy 2 get 1 free deal, and he was the best of the rest as it were, i was really surprised how good he was, just wish Mindset had a nicer colour scheme, i wouldve bought him in a flash then.

Primeultimus wrote:Everywhere I go I see DOTM toys just sitting there. No one wants them. Walgreens and Toys R Us are both running buy 1 get 1 half off and they just sit there. Meanwhile the RTS and Generations stuff is flying off the shelves minus Skullgrin and Thunderwing. I cannot go to a store to find Generations stuff and when friends find it locally by the time I get there it is gone. I think Hasbro should focus on the great Wave they currently have with Generations as I know every figure just about is sought after.

Consider this. Would you rather buy a case with 2 Wheeljack , 2 Thundercracker , 2 Warpath , 1 Scourge , and 1 Kup or a case of DOTM Rehashes that no one likes or has any nolstagic value. The collectors have made their choice and the kids just do not care about overly complicated Transformers that look like Gorillabot Jumbled messes. Most of my friends kids prefer the Classics figures as they actually look like PEOPLE rather then Monkeybots! I was watching the G2 Transformers toy commercials and thought to myself how awesome it would of been to get a CGI based G1 cartoon or movie. When I see Bayformers movies I just think to myself man not more shiny cinematography and crappy GM vehicle designs that makes no sense.

Personally, I'd rather see the DotM rehashes as I've already had the complete Generations line since May.

Wow, my heart goes out to all the UK collectors out there, I knew it was bad for you guys but now it's getting worse. It just...sucks

After reading this article, and watching the trends TFs have taken in the past year, I've come to the conclusion that Hasbro really needs to take a good long look at how they're doing things now. The way Hasbro is timing and trying to create artificial demand for toys is really doing a lot of damage in my opinion. I can remember back to when the Gen/ RtS line where (aparently) running side by side. Because of all the Shelfwarmers the HftD line and some of the early waves of gen. had, my area had maybe 2 or 3 shipments of the first wave of RtS (only at Wm not TRU). Never any past that. Now with news of some new waves of Gen. I'm worried that after all that the stores in my area will take a pass on them.

Now part of that is the retailers fault, It's up to them what they order from Hasbro and put on the shelves. But the way Habsro seems to be saturating stores with shelf warmers in every case and the timing Hasbro is choosing to release things I understand why retailers are not ordering a lot of new things. with so many sub lines and Dual lines at the same time it just really makes a mess of the shelves and stock. I honestly can't help but point the finger to Hasbro on this one. They really need to clean up and simplify their lines (especially when it comes to BB and OP). Less is more imo. I just worry about the future distribution of TFs (especially in regards to Prime). With how slow a lot of TF stock seems to move in my area we don't get new things for months sometimes and I don't want to wait longer than I have to already.

Yeah, this was a bit long winded, but this is a very concerning topic for me. I'm not big on Dotm Toys (last one I want is Lazerbeak) so for me rest of the year is shot until Prime hits shelves. I Know that's really because of my choice, but it seems to me everybody is coasting by this year and waiting until next year before they put out good things( movies especially). Yeah, I'm a bit disgruntled with TFs this year, can you tell?

Hmm, perhaps people should have seen this coming. A few years back I used to walk into TRU and there would always be something to make me want to part with my cash. For a while now I have gone in, seen the same old stuff and walked out. Only a few of the movie toys have really caught my eye and most of those were the leader class figures and the larger HA figures, most recently Jazz.

In the last year or so, I've put more money into the Generations line and 3rd party toys. Thinking about it, that tells me that something has gone wrong with the movie lines. Having said that, Im a collector not a kid playing with them so maybe my view isnt in sync with Hasbro who are in the business of selling toys to kids who seem to love Bumblebee or at least Hasbro think they do. We collectors are not the priority.

From my point of view, DOTM is doing very well. I went into The Entertainer the other day - Most DOTM stuff on the main shelf had been bought, and the promo shelf was basically empty. Only leftover ROTF and HFTD stuff still standing. Went in later, and they were opening new cases and shoving even more stuff on the shelves.

In my opinion, retailers are perhaps very possesive of this line because they know how well it will sell, so Toys R Us etc. are trying to get hold of as much of it as they can. Either that, or the line isn't popular with the majority of fans, meaning online stores like Kapow! don't get high sales like high street stores.

Meh... Idk.. I agree with all of you to a certain degree... they SHOULD NOT have produced so many voyager optimus', deluxe bumblebees, deluxe ratchets, deluxe sideswipes, and any other deluxe or voyager characters that have been around for all 3 movies.
This line would be doing EXCELLENT if they produced 1/3 the number of those guys and bumped up newer characters that NONE OF THE OTHER 2 MOVIES have featured.

I personally have found ONE voyager sentinel prime after searching for him and Leader Ironhide for the past month or so... and I mean yah the leader has been on the shelf and whatever which is great, but you'd figure they'd go all out with him considering he was like the main villain in DOTM and an overall very important character.

and FINALLY ... WHERE IS SOUNDWAVE?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!?!?!?!?! ... people like ratchet who BARELY SAID ANYTHING IN THE MOVIE should get LESS FIGURES and just wawdioajwhdoiawhdaiwjdoiawjdBLARHHHHGHGHGHG

and now that I've seen the movie, I honestly dont even want a leader shockwave.. the voyager will do (considering his lack of characterization in the movieverse) ... but oh man if I dont get me a leader Megatron with a cloak and a ballin-ass shotgun, after ALL these shelfwarmers go on ANOTHER clearance, I may have to buy a few bumblebees and throw them in a box with a big pile of burning dog sh*t and deliver em to hasbro's CEO with a note thats like .......... well I have a few things I'd like to say.. but for now I think I'll just keep my mouth shut

kookookajew wrote:Meh... Idk.. I agree with all of you to a certain degree... they SHOULD NOT have produced so many voyager optimus', deluxe bumblebees, deluxe ratchets, deluxe sideswipes, and any other deluxe or voyager characters that have been around for all 3 movies.
This line would be doing EXCELLENT if they produced 1/3 the number of those guys and bumped up newer characters that NONE OF THE OTHER 2 MOVIES have featured.

I personally have found ONE voyager sentinel prime after searching for him and Leader Ironhide for the past month or so... and I mean yah the leader has been on the shelf and whatever which is great, but you'd figure they'd go all out with him considering he was like the main villain in DOTM and an overall very important character.

and FINALLY ... WHERE IS SOUNDWAVE?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!?!?!?!?! ... people like ratchet who BARELY SAID ANYTHING IN THE MOVIE should get LESS FIGURES and just wawdioajwhdoiawhdaiwjdoiawjdBLARHHHHGHGHGHG

and now that I've seen the movie, I honestly dont even want a leader shockwave.. the voyager will do (considering his lack of characterization in the movieverse) ... but oh man if I dont get me a leader Megatron with a cloak and a ballin-ass shotgun, after ALL these shelfwarmers go on ANOTHER clearance, I may have to buy a few bumblebees and throw them in a box with a big pile of burning dog sh*t and deliver em to hasbro's CEO with a note thats like .......... well I have a few things I'd like to say.. but for now I think I'll just keep my mouth shut

Totally agree. Shelfwarmers prevent good stuff from being put out.

OlivusPrime wrote:Either that, or the line isn't popular with the majority of fans, meaning online stores like Kapow! don't get high sales like high street stores.

This is a very good point. Kapow is a store that focuses on the collector, not the average fan or kid on the street. The current toys have now been out for nearly two months, which means that any of the collectors that wished to buy them probably already have. Hasbro really needs to add some new figs to this line...and quickly. I'm honestly sick of looking at the same figs constantly. THe diversity of characters in ROTF was a hell of a lot better than this line. In addition, the speed with which new molds were released is much slower this time around, too. We've basically had the same figures released since the May 16th toy line release date. If they were to put out some new molds, I'm sure they'd sell more. But without that, it's not going to happen.

As for the popularity of the line, all of the mainstream stores I've seen are selling well. However, they ordered SO MUCH initial product that is restocked on a daily basis that it seems as if they aren't selling. The WalMarts here restock nightly to the tune of 2-3 cases of deluxes and 1 case of Voyagers. They can't keep the Leaders stocked because they are selling faster than they expected. Same with Target. WHat they are finding is that the Transformers-RELATED toys are not selling. THe figures are, the RPMs, powerbots, etc are not. And the Generations line has enough dust on them here to choke a camel. They have more in the back, but haven't had to stock them in nearly four months as they just don't sell. Sad, but true.

Lord Onixprime wrote:

Here is to hoping they bump up the release of Prime because of this, and cancel the movie line where it is. Right now there is no hope of finding anything new because the shelves are clogged with wave 1 figures that aren't moving.

As much as I'd like to see Prime hit the shelves sooner(or any new product, DOTM is shelf warmin' away out here), I'd hate to see DOTM just stop before any of the new character molds hit. It'd kill me to not have a Dlx. Leadfoot. I do, however, think more stores need to follow suit in dropping the DOTM line. Send Hasbro a message, let them know that their crappy case assortments, poor distro, and bad choice in redecos(do we really need a BB repaint in every wave? I understand he's a popular character but this is to excessive) won't cut it anymore. Get new characters out, characters that kids and fans would want.

So it's bad in the UK.

Here in The Netherlands I've only seen wave 1, no Sideswipe if he's in wave 1 at all. To many voyager Optimus Prime's and deluxe/leader Bumblebees.
Generations was totally skipped in The Netherlands by Hasbro so we have to ebay/importshop.

Our DOTM toy line is also shelfwarming, but not because of the diversity in characters. A deluxe sized transformer costs 20,- euro's (28,27 dollars!!!!!!)
A voyager is 37,- (52,30 dollar) and a leader is 70,- (98,94 dollar).

That, and as said above, Optimus / Bumblebee / Ratchet have been released from the first movie so I think parents got the hint right after ROTF that they are buying the same character over and over again + the increased prices here = fail.

D-340 wrote:

Lord Onixprime wrote:

Here is to hoping they bump up the release of Prime because of this, and cancel the movie line where it is. Right now there is no hope of finding anything new because the shelves are clogged with wave 1 figures that aren't moving.

As much as I'd like to see Prime hit the shelves sooner(or any new product, DOTM is shelf warmin' away out here), I'd hate to see DOTM just stop before any of the new character molds hit. It'd kill me to not have a Dlx. Leadfoot. I do, however, think more stores need to follow suit in dropping the DOTM line. Send Hasbro a message, let them know that their crappy case assortments, poor distro, and bad choice in redecos(do we really need a BB repaint in every wave? I understand he's a popular character but this is to excessive) won't cut it anymore. Get new characters out, characters that kids and fans would want.

I agree with you, I mean I'd really love to get Dino/Mirage, Soundwave, and I'd really like a Leader Megatron to finally take the place of my '07 Leader Megatron (ROTF Leader Megatron sucked, but I really loved DOTM Megatron in the movie, which surprised me because I thought I wouldn't). But then, if the DOTM line continues, and they keep shelf warming and clogging up shelves with Bumeblebee and Prime then we are going to be screwed when TF:Prime does come around. Hasbro will only make this work if they stop with the shelf warmers (Hasbro, every kid in america has an optimus prime and bumblebee, if not 2 or 3 of them already. Give up, they are not the hot item they were) and only pack cases with new stuff people will want. They are not going to be able to drag out DOTM like they did ROTF. That is already quite apparent.

Prime was pushed back to December because they thought DOTM was going to sustain them through the fall (they originally said Prime was going to hit in like August or September). They need to get them out sooner than later. It should pick up kid interest in both the toy line and thus the Prime cartoon as well.

noctorro wrote:So it's bad in the UK.

Here in The Netherlands I've only seen wave 1, no Sideswipe if he's in wave 1 at all. To many voyager Optimus Prime's and deluxe/leader Bumblebees.
Generations was totally skipped in The Netherlands by Hasbro so we have to ebay/importshop.

Our DOTM toy line is also shelfwarming, but not because of the diversity in characters. A deluxe sized transformer costs 20,- euro's (28,27 dollars!!!!!!)
A voyager is 37,- (52,30 dollar) and a leader is 70,- (98,94 dollar).

That, and as said above, Optimus / Bumblebee / Ratchet have been released from the first movie so I think parents got the hint right after ROTF that they are buying the same character over and over again + the increased prices here = fail.

And I thought we in the UK had it bad. Those prices are truely disgusting. I feel for you.

As for Kapow dropping the line: I'm really not surprised.

Lord Onixprime wrote:

D-340 wrote:

Lord Onixprime wrote:

Here is to hoping they bump up the release of Prime because of this, and cancel the movie line where it is. Right now there is no hope of finding anything new because the shelves are clogged with wave 1 figures that aren't moving.

As much as I'd like to see Prime hit the shelves sooner(or any new product, DOTM is shelf warmin' away out here), I'd hate to see DOTM just stop before any of the new character molds hit. It'd kill me to not have a Dlx. Leadfoot. I do, however, think more stores need to follow suit in dropping the DOTM line. Send Hasbro a message, let them know that their crappy case assortments, poor distro, and bad choice in redecos(do we really need a BB repaint in every wave? I understand he's a popular character but this is to excessive) won't cut it anymore. Get new characters out, characters that kids and fans would want.

I agree with you, I mean I'd really love to get Dino/Mirage, Soundwave, and I'd really like a Leader Megatron to finally take the place of my '07 Leader Megatron (ROTF Leader Megatron sucked, but I really loved DOTM Megatron in the movie, which surprised me because I thought I wouldn't). But then, if the DOTM line continues, and they keep shelf warming and clogging up shelves with Bumeblebee and Prime then we are going to be screwed when TF:Prime does come around. Hasbro will only make this work if they stop with the shelf warmers (Hasbro, every kid in america has an optimus prime and bumblebee, if not 2 or 3 of them already. Give up, they are not the hot item they were) and only pack cases with new stuff people will want. They are not going to be able to drag out DOTM like they did ROTF. That is already quite apparent.

Prime was pushed back to December because they thought DOTM was going to sustain them through the fall (they originally said Prime was going to hit in like August or September). They need to get them out sooner than later. It should pick up kid interest in both the toy line and thus the Prime cartoon as well.

Exactly, even a DOTM line refresh, the last 2 waves of Generations, something. I'm sure when this hits Hasbro's bottom line, they'll take notice.

if everyone is doing what i am doing and trying to obtain the last of the generations an RTS figures
before the buy into the DOTM figures then sales will be poor

Interesting, despite the ridiculous prizes, I don't see it faring worse than the RotF line here in Hungary. But yeah, there are a lot of shelfwarmers - activators, mainly. I don't even know why Hasbro is making them.

On a side note, Tesco here started distributing Cyberverse wave knowsthehellhowmany - the one with Stealth Bumblebee (I think having ten Bumblebees in one wave can count as bad box distribution), Flak, Crowbar, and Roadbuster.

went to nyc tru with my nephew for his birthday today to get him some movie tf's today. we walked in and he spent a good 45 minutes looking at all the stuff and walked out with a generations kup. thats it when i asked him if he wanted anything else he said "no i already have all those movie figures"

he's 7 and even he recognizes the same basic molds in different packaging. in his words "hes tired of bb" this coming from someone who has 9 of bb. its not a localized thing im getting the feeling this is more widespread than people realize. stores are starting their back to school promos and with more movies and toylines (this especially irks me) still to come this will be a hard sell for hasbro imo.

One reason Kapow may be having low sales is that the prices are too high. £15 for a deluxe that I can get in Asda for £10. £55 for a leader that I can get in Argos for £40. That's not good marketing.

Mykltron wrote:One reason Kapow may be having low sales is that the prices are too high. £15 for a deluxe that I can get in Asda for £10. £55 for a leader that I can get in Argos for £40. That's not good marketing.

As Andy from Kapow stated though is that the big retailers are cutting deals with Habro to get the toys cheaper than the smaller ones can....hence the prices

thats basically what they said in their announcement.

the other stores are under cutting them.

i cant blame them myself. speaking as a fan in ireland theyve been slashing the shyte out of the prices here (which NEVER Fecking happens till somethings been out for months) and there still not shifting.

voyagers deluxes and leaders started at 26 16 and 54 euro's respectively.

within about a week they were down to 19.99, 9.99 and 44 euro.

its even screwed up some of the other releaese.

the cyberverse sets (BB and starscreams) started at 20 , making them more expensive than the voyagers ! till surprise surprise a week later there going for 15 euro.

and thats just the normal toy stores, word is tescos are even cheaper if you can find them there.

it doesnt help that we get sod selection all like the UK too. we never got half the generations stuff when it was knocking about (no thunderwing etc here) and theres still a hell of a lot of HFTD/ROTF . you literally cant get rid of leader starscream here. its going of 29.99 now. theres even some RTS knocking about, saw spec ops jazz just yesterday.

so what i think we've got going on is .

1. people are sick to the back teeth of the SAME characters being released ad nausium. i never really thought about it till reading this thread but i remember back in the day if you wanted a bumblebee you got the minibot and that was it.

no bearly disernably different remolds every year.

in the WHOLE of G1 you got original, classic pretender, and action master BB.

Which was considered overkill back then as most characters got one release and that was it.

we were getting NEW transformers characters all the time , with new gimmicks, or nothing. now its just redux after redux and i think thats led to burnout as even children can tell theyre buying the SAME thing again.

2.it looks cheap.

sorry but theres a shocking difference optics wise between the DOTM stuff and ROTF. asetehtically is just doesnt look worth it. even the first playset weve got in years, the ark , looks like it was slapped together in one night.

3.

cut the crap.

the amount of powerbots/ activators/ stealthforc/stars on the shelves is ridiculous. im all for getting the youngest kids on board but there should NOT be half the self space given over to that crap. concentrate on the bloody core product. transforming robots.

sorry for the rant.

im not even a hard core collector. i stick mainly to the comics now, but i got a fair few in both the ROFT line and the classics.

the ONLY guys so far im interested in getting in DOTM are roadbuster and topspin, with prehaps leadeer ironhide.

every other character i either dont like or could get pretty much the same for much cheaper in another line.

given all this i cant blame kapowtoys refocusing their products. makes sense to try and flog the stuff the other retailers either wont deal in (very bloody hard to get HA here) or fly out of. that way they dont have boxes of warehousewarmers.

Tesco's are doing mad sales, they had the deluxes for £8 up until this week, and i dare say they'll go down to that price again.

But as you sad in the last 5 years count how many Primes, Bumblebee's and Starscream we've had. Since the line appeared ages ago i have seen the wave 1's, and the only other dotm are Barricade, Jolt and Sideswipe, and voyager Skyhammer, Shockwave, and some limited Starscreams and Ratchets. You think they would have started with the newer bots, ie Mirage, Wheeljack, soundwave maybe even a wheelie and Brains

its mad to think back in the day there was NO optimus prime bar the original till the powermasters came along.



i think they just need to rebalance the characters.

if they took this aproach in G1 we never wouldve got thunderwing , scorponok, fort max and co as it wouldve just been about five characters with the gimmick involved. hell hole gimmicks like the combiners proably wouldntve got off the ground.

i know with the films they HAVE to make em but theres no need for the overkill, particularly when they can flesh out the line with other characters.

wheelie as you said for instance was far more likable in this fim, theres should at least be a two pack with brains, and dear gods that soundwave looked sexy. its just begging for a HA issue with a captured carley and laserbeak to perch on his arm.

i think theyv just fallen into "batman" mode where we get loads of essentially the same bloody thing.

thats understandable in batman as theres only ONE of the bloke and ya have to pimp him out. but TF has hundred of characters to pump up the line. im amazed we never got a movieverse dinobots set. it dosnt matter if theyre not in the movies as neither was half the legends line, kids'l buy it over their 5th bumblbee.

Spot on, id even be up for the usual Magnus repaint from prime (which i usually complain about). If you wanna use the bumblebee mold again, do cliffjumper, or a Windcharger, or something, yeah im sure there has to be a Prime, Bumblebee etc, but im so sick of seeing Primes, Bumblebee's etc on the shelves, and thats not including the DOTM. WHen the DOTM line first came out i went into TRU, in there they had

1x DOTM Voyager Prime
1x RTS Deluxe Prime
1x HTD Leader Prime
1x Generations WFC Prime
1x Cyberverse Prime

on top of that, pretty much the same for Megatron and Bumblebee. Thats 15 different molds, on 3 figures!!! C'mon Hasbro (and retailers) thats just plain Barmy!!!

Mykltron wrote:One reason Kapow may be having low sales is that the prices are too high. £15 for a deluxe that I can get in Asda for £10. £55 for a leader that I can get in Argos for £40. That's not good marketing.

Your looking at the imports , all the UK stock has now been deleted and will get moved to ebay, its an impossibility to sell items we've paid shipping and import taxes on at the same price as EU stock.

Its sadly as simple as the product line being mishandled and no matter how big the movie has become it doesnt equate to toy sales sadly.

Red Leader wrote:Its sadly as simple as the product line being mishandled and no matter how big the movie has become it doesnt equate to toy sales sadly.

^ THIS.

Hasbro went overboard on production levels with this one. If the big box stores are having a hard time, I can't imagine what the little guys, such as yourself, are going through.

I'm a little shocked and stunned, to be honest. I had a feeling the retread figures wouldn't sell, but even the new characters are clogging shelves.

It's a shame too, because the DOTM line has some pretty great molds, and they're being largely ignored.

It would be nice if hasbro would actually reply to these kinds of issues, but on the other hand, im sure they'd come out with a brilliant comment, which would translate to we dont care...give us your money and stop whining!

Power to the little stores!!!!

Couple of points...

1) The reason the larger stores can afford to undercut the independents is not necessarily any deals with Hasbro or whatever - it's simply that these are larger stores. Supermarkets and the like can afford to loss-lead, they have advantageous economies of scale, and because they sell hundreds of units every day, they can afford smaller mark-ups on the price. Stuff is always cheaper in large, national stores, be it Transformers or anything, for that matter.*

2) As shoppers, we can only base our observations on our own experiences. The figures that warm shelves in our local stores may not be the ones that seel the least globally.

The point is, if Bumblebees and Primes didn't sell, then Hasbro wouldn't make them. And yet we've had tonnes of these characters all through the movie lines. even in the first film, there were two deluxe moulds (one of which was repainted four or five times), a Legend (+ at least 2 repaints), an Ultimate, 2 Fast Action Battlers etc. etc.

Face it, if Bumblebees didn't sell then Hasbro would stop making them. The moment Hasbro stop making money on these re-treads of old characters is the moment they stop selling them.

Besides, everyone complains about Prime and Bumblebee, but strangely no mention of Starscream and Ironhide, both of which have had some great new moulds for DOTM. Maybe if a toy is fun and well-engineered, it's easier to look past the fact that it's an old character!



* With the singular exception of HMV stores in the UK. £70 for Robin of Sherwood Season 1 on Blu-ray? No wonder that chain is in financial crisis!

Apparently Hasbro didn't do anything wrong:

http://www.seibertron.com/transformers/ ... son/22359/

Now, do I think they should do something to make sales better for overseas buyers? Sure.

But this whole thing is hard to discuss because people misinterpret what they see on the shelves.

Full shelves at WalMart or TRU isn't a bad thing.

For one, you have no real idea of how often or when they stock. For another, you don't know if that was their whole order up front or if replenishment cases are hitting the shelves.

On the same train of thought, full shelves with product everywhere means that Hasbro has had a successful line. It means stores bought from their distributors.

Now, occasionally stores over purchase. But larger retain chains are buying these figures in bulk for 50% or less than their retail cost. They're making money hand over fist despite the impression that the stock isn't moving.

(Spoiler: It is moving.)

Now, I'm not surprised that Euro dealers, especially online stores are having a hard time competing in this climate. At least Kapow Toys was smart enough to realize this from the get-go.

Counterpunch wrote:Now, I'm not surprised that Euro dealers, especially online stores are having a hard time competing in this climate. At least Kapow Toys was smart enough to realize this from the get-go.

But here's the problem - in the UK for some reason, there are usually many specific figures and waves that we just never see over here. For example, our ROTF line pretty much stopped halfway through (we never got the wave that contained Voyager Bludgeon - I think that was the cut-off point).

Which means that, for a lot of figures, UK fans are reliant on the smaller online retailers and the specialist dealers, because even the supermarkets and Toys R Us only go so far. The recent recession has also bit hard, with well-established brick-and-mortar retailers like Woolworths and Toymaster having ceased trading in the last few years.

With Kapow ceasing trade in DOTM toys, where do UK fans go now for the later waves (which inevitably will never reach UK shores)? I used to frenquently buy from the online retailers Xybertoys and EpicHeroes (both of which used to be great for the old die-cast Takara Alternators), but those sites are way overpriced these days - EpicHeroes' pre-order price for MP-10 Optimus Prime is £15 (24USD) higher than that of Kapow, for example.

I have bought from the US on occasion, but then we get stung with crippling import taxes. Non-Transformers related I know, but as an example I bought some CDs online the other day from HMV Japan, and got charged £35 import tax (56 USD) for 4 CD albums. It definitely pays to shop from local UK or European retailers if you can help it!

I can completely understand Kapow's decision, but it's a sad day indeed for UK fans who might like to buy DOTM toys which won't otherwise be available in the UK.

starfish wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:Now, I'm not surprised that Euro dealers, especially online stores are having a hard time competing in this climate. At least Kapow Toys was smart enough to realize this from the get-go.

But here's the problem - in the UK for some reason, there are usually many specific figures and waves that we just never see over here. For example, our ROTF line pretty much stopped halfway through (we never got the wave that contained Voyager Bludgeon - I think that was the cut-off point).

Which means that, for a lot of figures, UK fans are reliant on the smaller online retailers and the specialist dealers, because even the supermarkets and Toys R Us only go so far. The recent recession has also bit hard, with well-established brick-and-mortar retailers like Woolworths and Toymaster having ceased trading in the last few years.

With Kapow ceasing trade in DOTM toys, where do UK fans go now for the later waves (which inevitably will never reach UK shores)? I used to frenquently buy from the online retailers Xybertoys and EpicHeroes (both of which used to be great for the old die-cast Takara Alternators), but those sites are way overpriced these days - EpicHeroes' pre-order price for MP-10 Optimus Prime is £15 (24USD) higher than that of Kapow, for example.

I have bought from the US on occasion, but then we get stung with crippling import taxes. Non-Transformers related I know, but as an example I bought some CDs online the other day from HMV Japan, and got charged £35 import tax (56 USD) for 4 CD albums. It definitely pays to shop from local UK or European retailers if you can help it!

I can completely understand Kapow's decision, but it's a sad day indeed for UK fans who might like to buy DOTM toys which won't otherwise be available in the UK.

Pretty much nailed it right on the sweet spot there mate.

But i will add, if you speak to alot of managers and co at places like Tesco's, tru etc, they are extremely dissapointed with how slow dotm is moving (well in Telford at least). Speaking to one of the assistants at tru near me (who is a tf's fan himself) he has said the DOTM is not moving, but every time they put 2 or 3 cases of Generations out, they are gone within hours. I know that isnt the case worldwide, or maybe even nationwide but it can still be a problem.

There is a lot of anecdotal information flying around here.

There's only a few bits of hard fact:

1. Hasbro is doing well because of DotM.
2. Kapow Toys is not carrying the DotM line due to profit margin issues and competition.

Thaaaat's about it for now.

If at the end of the year fiscal report, Hasbro shows that its profits fell because large companies were not ordering replenishment merchandise and later waves of toys, then we can assume that the line was failing.

For now, much of this conversation seems to be a way for people who dislike the movie and its toys to vent that distaste by proxy.

Counterpunch wrote:If at the end of the year fiscal report, Hasbro shows that its profits fell because large companies were not ordering replenishment merchandise and later waves of toys, then we can assume that the line was failing.

Not necessarily. As undoubtedly happens with any line of movie tie-ins, the bulk of sales are going to occur in the month or two immediately prior to the release of the film (as the hype and media presence ramps up), and in the first few weeks after the film is released, as people watch the film, and then buy the toys based on the characters they've just seen.

Whatever happens from here on in, Hasbro have already made their millions from this movie, just on the first few waves alone, riding the crest of the wave (so to speak).

As the number of weeks since release gets ever bigger, there's always going to be a tail-off in sales around this sort of time. It's pretty much inevitable. And people are bearing witness to that.

Anecdotal evidence it may be, but it makes a lot of sense. Sure, there may or may not be a few toys warming shelves around now, but either way it won't affect Hasbro's margins, because maybe they've already made the bulk of their profits that they're going to make from this film.

Counterpunch wrote:For now, much of this conversation seems to be a way for people who dislike the movie and its toys to vent that distaste by proxy.

A-ha! Now who's the one jumping to conclusions

Sure, there may be an element of fandom who don't like the Movieverse toys (which I can understand if not necessarily agree with), and some of this anecdotal evidence may well be a case of wishful thinking on the part of such individuals, I agree.

But to tar everyone with the same brush is a tad harsh, I feel. I'm a huge supporter of the movie lines and am sick of going into stores and seeing the same old wave 1 figures that I've owned for weeks now, collecting dust on a shop shelf.

Where there was once a huge display of DOTM toys in my local Tesco, it's nearly all been taken down now and replaced with a display of Cars 2 merchandise.

I love the Transformers franchise and only wish it the best of success - we only grumble because we're concerned about its well-being, not because we want to see it fail. Perish the thought!

That, and my selfish desire to own a Voyager Shockwave, when all I see in my local stores are Voyager Primes, Ironhides and Megatrons! Grrrr!

starfish wrote:

Counterpunch wrote:If at the end of the year fiscal report, Hasbro shows that its profits fell because large companies were not ordering replenishment merchandise and later waves of toys, then we can assume that the line was failing.

Not necessarily. As undoubtedly happens with any line of movie tie-ins, the bulk of sales are going to occur in the month or two immediately prior to the release of the film (as the hype and media presence ramps up), and in the first few weeks after the film is released, as people watch the film, and then buy the toys based on the characters they've just seen.

Whatever happens from here on in, Hasbro have already made their millions from this movie, just on the first few waves alone, riding the crest of the wave (so to speak).

As the number of weeks since release gets ever bigger, there's always going to be a tail-off in sales around this sort of time. It's pretty much inevitable. And people are bearing witness to that.

Anecdotal evidence it may be, but it makes a lot of sense. Sure, there may or may not be a few toys warming shelves around now, but either way it won't affect Hasbro's margins, because maybe they've already made the bulk of their profits that they're going to make from this film.

Counterpunch wrote:For now, much of this conversation seems to be a way for people who dislike the movie and its toys to vent that distaste by proxy.

A-ha! Now who's the one jumping to conclusions

Sure, there may be an element of fandom who don't like the Movieverse toys (which I can understand if not necessarily agree with), and some of this anecdotal evidence may well be a case of wishful thinking on the part of such individuals, I agree.

But to tar everyone with the same brush is a tad harsh, I feel. I'm a huge supporter of the movie lines and am sick of going into stores and seeing the same old wave 1 figures that I've owned for weeks now, collecting dust on a shop shelf.

Where there was once a huge display of DOTM toys in my local Tesco, it's nearly all been taken down now and replaced with a display of Cars 2 merchandise.

I love the Transformers franchise and only wish it the best of success - we only grumble because we're concerned about its well-being, not because we want to see it fail. Perish the thought!

That, and my selfish desire to own a Voyager Shockwave, when all I see in my local stores are Voyager Primes, Ironhides and Megatrons! Grrrr!

I might aswell repost my last post.

NAIL ON THE HEAD!!!

I love the movies, and some of the toys, hell, even my partner has a few of the move toys (wheelie and 2 bumblebees) and she thinks collecting is geeky (in a cute way). The point is, and ill say it again even the shop managers are saying the line is selling very badly compared to the last 2 movie lines, ive even been told they wish they'd gone half and half with the rts/gens lines because those two were flying off the shelves. Nothing against the movies, look at my other posts, i really do love them, and have most of the wave 1 toys ive seen, and picked up some jap exclusives from Kapow.

Seems to me that as soon as you say anything negative about the movieverse in any way, your automatically a hater. I for one am deffinately not.

I can only respond from a personal and business point of view but to back up our stance 2 of our wholesalers have also dropped DOTM unless they can get solid packed characters they know will sell.

Due to the current economic climate in the UK we have to pay 20% import vat and 20% sales tax so you can imagine how a case including 2 optimus 1 shockers and 1 skyhammer has a wafer thin profit margin in the first place, throw into the mix supermarket and big box store deals and we're pretty much buggered.

We'll probably pick it when and if the later waves stop surfacing here because as cheesy as it sounds we did get into this whole thing to make sure the UK can get stuff at what are hopefully reasonable prices.

One thing on the Hasbro profit announcement which will be of interest is that you've got to take into account the fact the 2nd quarter includes all the pre-sales of DOTM to retailers worldwide, its the biggest hit they get on a new product, the telling time will be the 3rd and 4th quarter after the initial hype has died down.

Red Leader wrote:I can only respond from a personal and business point of view but to back up our stance 2 of our wholesalers have also dropped DOTM unless they can get solid packed characters they know will sell.

Due to the current economic climate in the UK we have to pay 20% import vat and 20% sales tax so you can imagine how a case including 2 optimus 1 shockers and 1 skyhammer has a wafer thin profit margin in the first place, throw into the mix supermarket and big box store deals and we're pretty much buggered.

We'll probably pick it when and if the later waves stop surfacing here because as cheesy as it sounds we did get into this whole thing to make sure the UK can get stuff at what are hopefully reasonable prices.

One thing on the Hasbro profit announcement which will be of interest is that you've got to take into account the fact the 2nd quarter includes all the pre-sales of DOTM to retailers worldwide, its the biggest hit they get on a new product, the telling time will be the 3rd and 4th quarter after the initial hype has died down.

You mean all the retailers buying from hasbro?? Didnt think of that. Kinda backs up what my local smyths says in that they really aint shifting.

All i can say is keep up the great work at Kapow!!