The Energon Pub

[cloudballoon]

Happy to see Space Chicken got over 22K! Even if Hasbro feels generous and just give us a bonus 3rd tier, I doubt it'll be King Solon due to its size. Maybe Hasbro will throw in any leftover Battle masters they got in the warehouse.

[Grahf_]

I kind of want the small rifle the G1 toy came with still too. The one that the Gundam Hammer attaches to or whatever is going on there.

Kind Solon does look pretty cool though. I would've enjoyed that much, much more than the throne actually.

Maybe some of the Decepticon inmates on Planet Micro? They can be done from some random Micromasters. The only downside is that it looks like Fire and Holi are loose, floppy messes so these might be too which would suck. My set is coming in sometime today so I'll have to wait a bit still to tell for sure.

Since there might be a problem with the Micromaster molds for the inmates, maybe use the core class Pretenders then as not all were Micromaster sized? Iguanus and Bomb Burst and whoever else will be out in the first two waves next year so that the molds are available to use with Deathsaurus. Rattrap and Vertebreak could work too. Shame no other core class Fossilizer molds exist. Or rather, beastformers at all really.

Maybe go Battlemaster with them and finally reuse Smashdown. Just a bunch of Smashdowns in different colors.

The Decepticon desperados could work from some core class figures too. Of even from some Weaponizers and deluxe Fozzilizers. Maybe from the deluxe Junkions from next year too.

Yeah, a secret third tier would've been fun.

[chuckdawg1999]

Well, against my better judgment I backed Deathsaurus. All my concerns aside I know this will be the only way to get this character this way and I frankly don't want to miss out. I just really hope I don't get burned.

[griftimus prime]

look at those numbers. alot of people waited till the end. i cant do it. not pulling the trigger this time.

[william-james88]

Wow, that is surprising. I figured it would be a smaller dump. Still great to see. Makes me wish Hasbro would have offered a 3rd tier at 20 K though..

the key word I'd throw is "secret" tier, because it could be that we are only seeing this many because Deathsaurus has been funded at all tiers. If we had a higher tier that was harder to achieve, it might prove counterintuitive, like Haslab's early bird thing with Ghost Rider, and people not wanting to back a figure that is not "fully" funded.

Personally, I would like if they reveal that they had a bonus IDW styled head, in the works as well, since most transformers are made with more than one head.

[MaximalNui]

...wow I did not know about King Solon! We really need a line for all the human-driven Transformers mechs, there are so many.

Anyway, finally ordered mine this Saturday. And then I learn the final tier is funded just before the time finishes!

[King Kuuga]

Wow, that is surprising. I figured it would be a smaller dump. Still great to see. Makes me wish Hasbro would have offered a 3rd tier at 20 K though..

the key word I'd throw is "secret" tier, because it could be that we are only seeing this many because Deathsaurus has been funded at all tiers. If we had a higher tier that was harder to achieve, it might prove counterintuitive, like Haslab's early bird thing with Ghost Rider, and people not wanting to back a figure that is not "fully" funded.

This exactly. The numbers get better once it's fully funded because there's people that are on the fence that don't want to commit until they know they're getting EVERYTHING. Some people are willing to be the ones that push it along, others aren't. People are unique like that.

At time of posting it's just over 24k. I'm going to do a livestream of the last hour of the campaign on my twitch tonight in celebration. Just commenting on the progress, maybe I'll throw on an episode or two of Victory so we can see what this guy's deal is.

EDIT: quoted the wrong post

[Rodimus Prime]

Well, against my better judgment I backed Deathsaurus. All my concerns aside I know this will be the only way to get this character this way and I frankly don't want to miss out. I just really hope I don't get burned.

I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunity to sell him. I wanted to back him but Hasbro will charge the full amount tomorrow and I don't have it to spare right now. So when he actually ships I might be in the market for him, if the mark up is not insane.

[Sentinel_Primal]

Okay, I admit, I was wrong about Deathsaurus' numbers I'm really surprised that he's actually almost at VS's numbers despite being A) a bad guy (those tend to sell worse in America and much worse overseas) and B) charging at Christmas. To a lesser extent I'm also surprised we haven't seen the poor QC for VS impact Deathsaurus too badly. Wondering what the next HasLab will be, and desperately hoping it'll be something I don't want

[Mr.MicroMaster]

Well I did not think I was going to be able to back Deathsaurs but I was able to. Who needs birthday and Christmas money anyway.

[Emerje]

This is really proof to Hasbro that we'll pay the price for somewhat obscure characters if they're made well enough. The odds were really against this campaign and it has performed spectacularly. Sure, they could have probably sold more for less at retail, but it wouldn't have looked even close to as good as this. I don't think anything is truly off the table now, managements' eyes must be wide opened after we've gone 3 for 3 on Transformers HasLabs. Marvel can't say that, Star Wars can't say that.

2 hours to go and we should be ending at around 25K.

Emerje

[SpaceEagle]

This is really proof to Hasbro that we'll pay the price for somewhat obscure characters if they're made well enough. The odds were really against this campaign and it has performed spectacularly. Sure, they could have probably sold more for less at retail, but it wouldn't have looked even close to as good as this. I don't think anything is truly off the table now, managements' eyes must be wide opened after we've gone 3 for 3 on Transformers HasLabs. Marvel can't say that, Star Wars can't say that.

2 hours to go and we should be ending at around 25K.

Emerje

The recent comics having a good amount of Deathy action probably also helped, too, for those unfamiliar with Victory, but this also just further proves that you can sell obscure characters if you sell 'em right!
Hell, even with the shorter time frame compared to Sabey it still reached near that amount of backers!

[o.supreme]

Impressive, ending upwards of 25K (25,163). The trends overall pretty much matched that of VS during the campaign, including jumps and last day rush. Still it will be a little sad to know there will be 1,048 VS in the world, that wont be able to square off against their Nemesis.

(26,211 VS-25,163 DS)

[King Kuuga]

Hell, even with the shorter time frame compared to Sabey it still reached near that amount of backers!

Deathsaurus's campaign was actually two days longer than Victory Saber's. They all average at 45 days.

Also, general note for everyone, the numbers are still slightly in flux. About half an hour after midnight it went up to 25,169. When they start charging folks the numbers will inevitably go down a bit because some folks's cards won't charge.

But yeah my predicting for 20-21k was very low. I'm not at all upset. Can't wait to get my hands on this guy!

EDIT: Oh hey they're charging already.

[SpaceEagle]

Hell, even with the shorter time frame compared to Sabey it still reached near that amount of backers!

Deathsaurus's campaign was actually two days longer than Victory Saber's. They all average at 45 days.

Oh my, really? Huh, then in that case it's not as surprising but still pretty dang neato.

[Emerje]

Yeah, I got charged for both of mine at exactly 12:15AM on two different methods (PayPal and credit card).

Emerje

[Bumblevivisector]

Got my confirmation email from HP at exactly 12:30 AM.

Another secret tier bonus figure idea: Heavy pretool into Esmeral.

Not too possible, but if there's never been an official depiction of her alt mode, that leaves a lot of wiggle room, and it does seem a shame not to use these crowdfunded molds again.

[Immortal Starscream]

This is really proof to Hasbro that we'll pay the price for somewhat obscure characters if they're made well enough. The odds were really against this campaign and it has performed spectacularly. Sure, they could have probably sold more for less at retail, but it wouldn't have looked even close to as good as this. I don't think anything is truly off the table now, managements' eyes must be wide opened after we've gone 3 for 3 on Transformers HasLabs. Marvel can't say that, Star Wars can't say that.

2 hours to go and we should be ending at around 25K.

Emerje

this exactly.
one: I hope this shows there's demand for the characters, and that entices hasbro to keep them coming.

second: I hope this shows hasbro how to have a campaign be successful. being upfront with the stretch goals is great. so is keeping them secret until they are unlocked. If it feels like a purchase is incomplete without hitting the stretch goals will make people not want to back. to that end, maybe hold back on making essential or core accessories stretch goals. like the v-lock cannon or dethsaurus' mace.

[Emerje]

Early bird bonuses have been very hit or miss for HasLab. It worked for the HISS Tank, but the way that thing sold it probably would have hit its goal in the first week even without it. On the other end it didn't benefit the Ghost Rider campaign at all and then the backers started going backwards fast. The Mattel Masters of the Universe Eternia playset had a better idea where the early bird figure was for early backers which is more like Kickstarter campaigns do it and it seemed to work for them (though they ultimately changed plans that could have seriously pissed fans off and the third stretch goal wasn't achieved). The whole idea of only getting an early bird figure if the entire thing funds in a week is just ridiculous and people are going to feel like they've had something taken away from them if that isn't successful as was the case with Ghost Rider.

BTW, I think Liokaiser would be a good candidate for MPG after Raiden. It'd probably be our best shot at a figure in the same quality as Victory Saber and Deathsaurus.

Emerje

[Immortal Starscream]

Early bird bonuses have been very hit or miss for HasLab. It worked for the HISS Tank, but the way that thing sold it probably would have hit its goal in the first week even without it. On the other end it didn't benefit the Ghost Rider campaign at all and then the backers started going backwards fast. The Mattel Masters of the Universe Eternia playset had a better idea where the early bird figure was for early backers which is more like Kickstarter campaigns do it and it seemed to work for them (though they ultimately changed plans that could have seriously pissed fans off and the third stretch goal wasn't achieved). The whole idea of only getting an early bird figure if the entire thing funds in a week is just ridiculous and people are going to feel like they've had something taken away from them if that isn't successful as was the case with Ghost Rider.

BTW, I think Liokaiser would be a good candidate for MPG after Raiden. It'd probably be our best shot at a figure in the same quality as Victory Saber and Deathsaurus.

Emerje

I would so be down for that. Liokaiser absolutely needs a modern re-do. not counting the halfassed combiner wars one. Even more so if they give us deathcobra as an optional member =P

[o.supreme]

They've only done the "Early Bird" incentive on 2 Haslabs (IIRC). On the GI Joe Hisstank it worked, for Marvel Legends GR, it failed miserably.

I'm kind of glad they didn't do an early bird for DS. While more accessories would have been neat, I think, since the Transformers projects rely much more on international orders than others, it would be very difficult to back an entire project, say in 5 days, because of the challenge of the time it takes to get international orders up and running. As you can see, Transformers VS, and DS are some of the most successful Haslabs, partly due to price per unit, but also because of the worldwide appeal of the brand. It took much further into the campaign to fully fund DS (than the 3 days it took to fund the Hisstank), but in the end, the final numbers were only about 1600 units apart.

[Emerje]

They've only done the "Early Bird" incentive on 2 Haslabs (IIRC). On the GI Joe Hisstank it worked, for Marvel Legends GR, it failed miserably.

That's just it, we don't actually know if it worked or not for the Hiss Tank because it was funded so ridiculously fast, it's impossible to say what kind of effect it had on that campaign. But for the GR EOV campaign not only did it not help it succeed we could actually see the campaign hit a wall after the first week was up and then start going backwards when people started cancelling their orders because now, in their eyes, something had been taken away from them and it was no longer a complete set.

Emerje

[o.supreme]

That's just it, we don't actually know if it worked or not for the Hiss Tank because it was funded so ridiculously fast, it's impossible to say what kind of effect it had on that campaign. But for the GR EOV campaign not only did it not help it succeed we could actually see the campaign hit a wall after the first week was up and then start going backwards when people started cancelling their orders because now, in their eyes, something had been taken away from them and it was no longer a complete set.

Emerje

While I'm sure the HISS Tank would have funded regardless of early bird incentive, I'm quite certain the Early Bird was what caused it to be the fastest funding Haslab ever. I did some updates on the Haslab General thread.

If you look at the HISS Tank and the backers for the Transformers Victory Saber and Deathsaurus, you'll see that the final numbers are not all that different, whereas HISS Tank got all its backers early because of the incentive, VS and DS just had a steady incremental stream throughout , helped out by International order boosts on Mondays, and a big push in the last 48 hours.


For Ghost Rider, that disaster wasn't going to fund, no matter what, because in most fans eyes it wasn't the GR they wanted. The Early Bird incentive just made things worse.

Again, I just dont think its realistic to think that Transformers Fans who have direct access to order from Pulse in various regions can support an 11K order (for example) in just 5 days when so much depends on timing and receipt of international orders, unlike other Haslabs.

[o.supreme]

Those sneakly little...... We are getting a 3rd tier after all...sort of.... Just got an email, all DS backers are getting Pipo and Boater Micromasters as well, the Rescue Patrol is complete .

[SpaceEagle]

Two whole new micromaster molds? That's wicked!