The Energon Pub

Associated Press- According to the associated press, HASBRO's profits have fallen 47% in the first quarter of the year. In comparison, the nation's #1 toy retailer, Mattel only reported a 15% loss.

"We expected revenues to decline in the first quarter due to economic challenges, the impact of foreign exchange and retailers reducing inventory levels," said Chief Executive Brian Goldner in a statement.
In the U.S., Star Wars, Playskool, Nerf and board game sales were strong, but sales of Littlest Pet Shop, Transformers and Marvel brands declined. Internationally, Star Wars and Nerf sales were strong while Transformers and My Little Pony sales fell."

"Hasbro of Pawtucket, R.I., expects results to improve as the year goes on, since they have products tied to several movies this year, including "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra" and "X-men Origins: Wolverine."
"Based on the strength of our product line, we believe the two most recent quarters will prove to have been the most challenging for Hasbro in this economic cycle," CFO David Hargreaves said in a statement."

You can view the article here. Are there conclusions to be drawn from this information? Discuss below.

In the Classics line, release a bunch of seeker repaints with good color schemes, give them new names/bios, and I'll buy 2 of each.
(you guys have several molds to work with!)

*throws an Energon cube down*
"Here's my contribution"

they could also chalk this up to transformers jumping from 9.99 to 12.99 and the marvel figures shrinking in size to g.i.joe size and going for 8.99 instead of the joes' 6.99

I'm sure the movie will revive this...even though I'm not planning on buying any of them.

Were TF sales down BEFORE or AFTER they raised the prices? I don't know how they expect sales to improve when they're charging $12-13 for Deluxes figures.

I was in TRU this weekend, and I had Wreck-Gar in my hands, but I noticed how small it is for a Voyager and said to myself "This is NOT worth $23." So it went back on the shelf, next to six other Wreck-Gars, six Lugnuts that nobody wants, about dozen Animated Jetstorm/Jetfire packs that nobody's buying (there or any other store), several Movie Ultra Wingblades and Jetstorms that they've been trying to unload since last year ($27 each), and about 30 or 40 Star Wars TF Millenium Falcon two-packs.

Walmart, with the $12.88 Deluxe price, has so many Deluxe figures on the racks they're literally falling off, and it's been that way for weeks. Oh, and like TRU, they've got plenty of the Animated Jetstorm/Jetfire packs!

Target: same story. Nobody wants the $12 Animated Deluxes, and nobody wants the Animated Jetstorm/Jetfire.

Meanwhile, I can't find Universe 2.0 Deluxes anywhere, even though I'm ready and willing to buy them!

I don't know if Robot Heroes count. That was a good line, but they burned through all of the obviously popular characters and were on to the second and third stringers. Sharkticon? Really? There were actually a couple in future waves that looked good, Predaking, Laserbeak, but apparently those are canceled.

It seems to me by casual observation that the Legends class were good sellers, but the shops around me just stopped restocking them. I never did see the Bumblebee/Brawn/Beachcomber wave, and I looked.

grimlockprime108 wrote:they could also chalk this up to transformers jumping from 9.99 to 12.99

Exactly what I was going to say.

Is too much of a good thing too much? Hasbro is milking the brand too fast or is it too little too late? TFA for instance IMHO was a mistake, strayed too far from the tried and tested formula and turned it into too much Teen Titans and less TF. Of course the price increases don't help either plus the current economic slump.

Another stupid move was the release of pinky Prime 'nuff said. Just an underwhelming experience. On the contrary, G1 re-issues are selling like hotcakes if I'm wrong well show me a place where they are gathering dust?( IH and Ratchet may be the exception though) and last but not the least, all this re-paints.........stoooooooooooopid!

Hasbro is diluting/squeezing too much from a particular mold that sooner or later something has too give. TF the Movie toys well with the exception of Prime 'nuff said.

The $12-$13 price tags on Deluxes (as well as all the other classes going up also) has certainly made me pickier about who I pick up...I'd buy a LOT more if the prices were like they were before and around xmas...Now the figures I don't really want that badly, but WOULD have been willing to pay $8 for, I can easily pass up to save $13...


I also wish they'd continue with the Robot Heroes (I was looking forward to Predaking) though I have never actually heard officially they were cancelled...But I think it would do them some good to reissue the first couple of waves that came out around the time of Classics...

Bummer for my stock.

Everyone's homework, go out and buy 10 Animated figures, 8 Classics figures, and start saving right now for a minimum of 3 Devastator sets when the movie comes out. Buy more stuff!

The down side, Takara continues to blow Harbro away on most fronts. There haven't been many figures where Takara hasn't done a better job. Ande it's unfortunate that Hasbro keeps blowing working capital on stupid products like the SW crossover line, needless repaints, etc. They do a good job catering to the fan base for the most part but a lof of their products have been overpriced disappointements IMO-and a lot of the movie line doesnt' provide a lot of hope.

fenrir72 wrote:Is too much of a good thing too much? Hasbro is milking the brand too fast or is it too little too late? TFA for instance IMHO was a mistake, strayed too far from the tried and tested formula and turned it into too much Teen Titans and less TF. Of course the price increases don't help either plus the current economic slump.

Yes! How dare they try and make Transformers appeal to modern children!

Do you remember when Beast Wars came out, horrified the fandom, and then proceeded to revitalise the franchise and win critical acclaim? The tried and tested formula is, to be frank, bollocks.

fenrir72 wrote:Another stupid move was the release of pinky Prime 'nuff said. Just an underwhelming experience. On the contrary, G1 re-issues are selling like hotcakes if I'm wrong well show me a place where they are gathering dust?

Here in Japan many of the Encores are just gathering dust. Not just the vans, but the seeker-double pack, Hoist, Trailbreaker and Meister are still sitting around. Starscream stayed on the shelves for ages too.

fenrir72 wrote:and last but not the least, all this re-paints.........stoooooooooooopid!

All what repaints? I can't speak for the children, but the collectors seem to be snaggin' 'em all recently.

fenrir72 wrote:Hasbro is diluting/squeezing too much from a particular mold that sooner or later something has too give.

But they should re-re-release G1 toys? Aren't you contradicting yourself here?

fenrir72 wrote:TF the Movie toys well with the exception of Prime 'nuff said.

Are you saying the movie toys apart from Prime were repainted too much, or only Prime was repainted too much?

Autobot_OptimusPrime wrote:

grimlockprime108 wrote:they could also chalk this up to transformers jumping from 9.99 to 12.99

Exactly what I was going to say.

Same here.

In my experiences here in Louisville, most of the stores are full of mostly empty pegs, with the same 5 figures that have been hanging there for three weeks. I'd be glad to buy more, as soon as the stores actually have something I'm looking for.

Not surprised! imho the classics universe line is almost the best thing to happen to Transformers in ages, correct? I know. Even that, though, suffers INCREDIBLY in the quality department. That has kept me from eagerly snagging all of them. Does anyone have a Prowl without crappy see through doors, or a sunstreaker that doesn't look and feel like a chinese KO? Isn't it awesome how Ironhide doesn't transform correctly, or how pretty much all of the limbs are loose on all of them? tsk tsk tsk...I actually like the animated line a lot, some of the designs are amazing and the quality for the most part isn't that bad at all. I almost never went back to TF after the garbage that was THE UNICRON TRILOGY. I still don't forgive them for that hahah. RID was a filler line, and those three car brothers are my favorite deluxes to date. The molds and quality were incredible and I was so psyched for what ended up as three blocky lines that could have been designed by a 7th grader. I, for one, won't dish out prices (increasing ones!) out of "loyalty". Hasbro should be loyal to US and NOT the other way around. Sorry for the rambling but basically what I'm trying to say is that a decline in quality, an increase in prices, and a disgusting tendency to try and sell me a million repaints of the same mold have made my wallet rather dusty. For shame Hasbro, for shame...you brought this upon yourself.

I am not surprised. As others have said raising prices by as much as 3-4 dollars each and the new marvel figs costing a stupid amount for such a tiny figure, it is no wonder they lost revenue.

Plenty of toy sales are impulse buys by kids, and with prices like that most kids/parents will look for something else.

I personally was going to pick up a few Marvel guys for nostalgia...until i saw what they cost and said hell with it and bought a few GI Joes.

As far as the transformers prices, I will still get new molds/characters I want, but i will not be buying any of the endless old mold recolors they keep trying to push at the inflated prices.

Yeah! I agree weh people say "how can they expecte profit if they keep raising the prices?"
With all this international economic crisis they should think about the buyers pockets and just their owns.
Plus, I'm sick and tired of seeing remold all the time. They should take the classics\universe line and do new combiners just like they did with optimus prime megatron and all others. This is just an opinion. I'm sure Hasbro would gain a lot with this.

Alright, here's the scoop.

First off, everyone who is blaming this on Animated is dead wrong. Everyone who is blaming this on the price increase is much more on target. Let's face it; the few quarters for Hasbro, they have been bucking the economic trend by showing a decent profit increase. Now, with the heavy toy-buying seasons truly past they are feeling the pinch. It comes as parents bite back on their frivilous spending- and let's face it, disposable income is what they usually use to buy toys for their kids. As that income stays in their pockets, Hasbro has finally felt the pinch of the Yahoo Recession. And THAT , more than anything else, is why the profits have done what they have. That WILL change when the movies come out and stimulate the kids desires and cause them to continuously bug their parents for new toys from these lines.

The other major issue has been the TOTAL AND UTTER LACK OF NEW PRODUCT. As Hasbro has sunk all their resources into the new movie lines, they have more than likely culled staff from the other lines and the result is minimal output for these. We're expecting, what 1 new animated figure? Zero classics figures? 2 SWTF figs? No mention of any new Marvel figs at all? And we haven't had any new ones out in a couple months. They have reached market saturation with the line they have out and, as a result, have stopped selling much. The key to any line is the release of new product. When the movie comes out, this trend will hopefully change a little. But this is merely a blip on the radar for Hasbro.

While the price boost is definitely a part of that loss, remember 2007 into 2008 was a banner time for Hasbro, so if they are comparing Q1 2009 to Q1 2008, I'm not really surprised to see it drop.

A large part of the price hike is due to the new testing requirements from Congress. It was estimated that toy prices would jump anywhere from 10-20% because of the new lead-testing rules.

Crazy stuff, because if they just enforced the rules they already had in place it would have been the same thing but without the extra cost.

Be sure to write your congressman and let 'em know you LOVE paying $12 for stuff that was $10 a few months ago. As a collector and a parent, I can tell you it sucks @$$.

I love you too Diem

Familiar with the post content.

diluting a particular mold Pinky Prime 'nuff said , the black box Hasbro SE of Universe, Tommy Gun Optimus Prime need I say more. Repaints? Just how many more classic/universe Starscream/seekers can we take? Green, white,pink,orange,indigo etc.Heck even the henkei seekers are already showing their age(TT and Skywarp)resulting to many sloppy samples.

TFA: shelf warmer with a few exceptions, in my place with the exception of Shockwave, Optimus, Bitzwing,Megatron and Grimlock, all are shelf warmers, as stated by previous posters, I didn't say it

Tried and tested,OK I'll be opening a can of worms which is better G1 or Beasties well Beasties was good but it became even better when the storyline was directly linked to G1.........in another aspect of trying to be hip and modern, sometimes too modern, sometimes if it ain't broke why fix it? Make them big and nasty bots and not well Teen Titans(another can of worms it's like flogging a dead horse), or haven't you noticed the design though how do I describe it edgy also contributes to well numerous flaws which already has been mentioned.

Tried and tested? Does that mean stagnation? Well not necessarily, improvements must be implemented, innovations must me pursued else you run the risk of staying behing but too much is well........


Bollocks? Well if its so bollocks, how come G1 is still being released? Btw you may be right in Japan, the place is so trendy that what was hot now ain't so tomorrow but why does Takara continue to produce such "shelf warmers"? China, their biggest market. . Then again I'm not quite sure what makes the japanese capitalist mentality tick, they make lots of stuff that are twice the price of MP and still make a profit(?)

Btw, my source which is a specialty shop always has 'screamer,seekers in short supply. IH and Ratchet ...well I mentioned it as an exception. Meister too is a victim of overstock, him being a well love fig. Not surprised with the pickups too (so I forgot to mention them).

Movie toys, so many versions of a particular character (and yes I forgot to mention too many repaints) They have black, gray,white pink, orange (I'm exaggerating) Premium Prime, regular Prime, low leaded Prime, camera bot jets and a whole slew of characters that didn't even show up. Leader Prime was great btw.

Satisfied? Oh and TF Star Wars sucks. Star Wars as is is GREAT but turning them into TFs simply

Let's see, plastic costs are up by at least one third, leading to a price increase to cover the expenses which in turn has scared people off...


Not surprised really.

No ****! That's what happens when you raise the price! I had no problems buying 3 for under 30 bucks but getting just 1 for 13 bucks?! Hell no. If I'm going to pay more, I might as well get Henkeis and that's what I've been going. And when the movie comes out, I'm just giong to be really picky about which figures I get.

Um, yeah. Nobody saw this coming.

Let's do the math:

(People losing jobs)+(30% hike on the most popular pricepoint)= a 50% decline in sales

I'm sure they'll find a way to hold the consumer responsible for all of this, they always do.

And, on another note, Hasbro is out of their minds if they think that ROTF sales are going to even come close to what the first movie raked in.

rpetras wrote:While the price boost is definitely a part of that loss, remember 2007 into 2008 was a banner time for Hasbro, so if they are comparing Q1 2009 to Q1 2008, I'm not really surprised to see it drop.

It amazes me it took 15+ posts for someone to point this out. I know there was a news story some time ago and we might have it archived somewhere where Hasbro posted a massive gain this time last year. I don't remember the exact figure, but if you compare 2007 (when the economy was much better) to 2009 the numbers probably weren't much different.

First-Aid wrote:First off, everyone who is blaming this on Animated is dead wrong. Everyone who is blaming this on the price increase is much more on target.

From my experience, it is both. The price increase has a lot to do with it, sure, especially when you consider that Wal-Mart where a lot of us get our figures actually had them at what, $7.77 for a while?

Still, I travel over a lot of Eastern PA looking for figures. In the past 2 weeks, I've been to no less than 5 Wal-Marts, 1 K-Mart, a Toys"R'Us and 3 Targets. Every store I go to, Animated is doing some serious shelf clogging with some early wave figures still hanging out. It would be no lie to say that there are an average of 30 or more Animated figs just sitting there at every store I go to. Universe on the other hand is often either sold out or down to less than 5 total figures available, and those 5 or less are almost always some combination of Cheetor, Dinobot and Hotshot. You can't find a Hound, Starscream or Cyclonus around here if you try and haven't been able to for 2-3 months.

SO I attribute it to a lack of G1 Universe and a glut of Animated combined with the price increase.

Hmm... you cheap out and make toys that are sp poor in quality that they break before they leave the factory, but you still push them. Stores so not order new toys of your when they pegs are empty. They instead come up with a magic case of wave one toys that nobody wanted that sit on the shelves for 6 months. You repaint everything 9 times, so much that people get sick of the mold over and over. A few repaints of characters that are popular are fine but who wants a 5th repaint of nobody?

Marvel - they still make those? All I see at Walmart are old Iron Man and Teeny Tiny Wolvie toys. I would have bought some Of the Legends one if stores still stocked them. Well, nobody around me does. So there's more money.

Sure money is tight and the world sucks monkey butt. But If hasbro got their act together and looked at their product and maybe, just maybe what happens to it after it leaves their grubby hands, they'd see something's wrong.

Hmmm... Oh, here's an idea!

How about we raise import tariffs to the point where our corporations will save money by moving their manufacturing plants back to the states where they can give jobs to the countless unemployed people that are looking for work so they can have money to spend in our economy which will raise the value of the dollar back to where it was so the inflation costs will be reduced back to a normal level that working families will feel comfortable spending some of their money on things like yet another repaint of Cybertron Jetfire?

Oh, you're right. That will never work...