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This doesn't surprise me at all. I went to Walmart just the other day, hoping to add a new transformers figure to my collection, but when I saw theyd been hiked to $21 for delix, and $33 for Voyager I jus stood there despondent, holding back tears for a moment, and walked away just thinking, "How are they gonna keep their company running, if nobidy can afford their merchandise?"

We collectors need to recognize another factor: the how many of us are there buying collector-grade TFs from Hasbro? I don't know the #, but my guess is either a shrinking one or at least not matching their growth forecast thta shareholders demand.

We get ever more discriminating and demanding of the quality (transformation engineering, paint app, articulation, etc.) of our figures, going 3P instead of Hasbro's offering. Hasbro's business & price sensitivity demanded from Big Retail just can't satisfy many of us anymore.

I do still go with Hasbro for my TFs, and they have stepped up SOMETIMES that meet expectations (no 3P can do CHUG scale Hot Rod better than Hasbro even for double the price IMO). But I just have to count my dollars and cut my purchase volumes.

Well that's a thing too. A lot of the new Legacy line transformers look cool, but have trouble holding their shape in vehicle mode, r standing in Robot mode, the Buzzworthy Bumblebee line had some cool figurs, but packaged and sold in bizzare impracticle groupings, and most in that line have an unfortunate tendency toward weak knee joints. Like seriously Hasbro would de doing a lot better if the quality and price were at a standard tgat was acceptable to both collectors and children, which I assume are still one of their target audiences, bt children definitely can't afford these praces, and oftentimes the quitks of the figurs allow them to be more or less acceptable for display, but barely passable for play. And of course it's not just the Transformers line that suffers from overly ambitious price points that will inevitably decrease sales to the point that the revenue will decline, because so many people are discouraged from buying, if the prices were rational the increased sales would more than make up for the decrease of around 35% per unit that it would take for regular people to be interested in buying. The GM of my D&D group frequently mentions that he wants to get the new Spelljammer books, but he's waiting to see if they'll bring the price down. And of course they prettymuch took My Little Pony out to pasture when they discontinued Friendship Is Magic and Equestria Girls, naturally they don't have the cubes to bring back the 1980s aesthetics to that line, like they have with Transformers Legacy and Power Rangers, which is probably ine of the few ways it could make a comeback right now.

cloudballoon wrote:We collectors need to recognize another factor: the how many of us are there buying collector-grade TFs from Hasbro? I don't know the #, but my guess is either a shrinking one or at least not matching their growth forecast thta shareholders demand.

The lower sales specified by Hasbro were from parents not buying as many toys as last year. Nothing was said about collectors. We either matched the expected demand OR (more likely) we don't buy enough for a drop to be seen as significant.

DeathReviews wrote:

And the fact that Hasbro is relying on Earthspark to give them better numbers in Q4 is explicitly them writing collectors off. To anyone doubting it, that statement from them concerning financial survival shows that our purchases are not big enough to sustain them or the brand. Marketing towards us is not part of their immediate recover plan.

If so, then we should look for them to scale back (or terminate) lines like Legacy, Studio Series and MP figures, which do seem geared towards collectors. And I do admit - most of the figures the minions see warming shelf are figures like SS Kup, Blurr, and pretty much all of the Legacy repaints like Buzzsaw, Nightprowler, etc. Though there's still no sign of Velocitron Cosmos anywhere near my realm...

I am seeing it the total opposite. By them saying that the issue is with parents not buying enough toys, it means that whatever we collectors buy or don't buy doesn't really impact them now. If there is no significant impact (either because we are fewer than many of us here think OR because collectively we havent bought so much less than before) then none of those lines will be touched. We just keep chucking along while Hasbro has to make sales for other toylines and encourage the sale of Earthspark toys. Basically, I don't forsee any changes to the Legacy or SS lines aside from sales to encourage parents to buy them.

Living in a country that gets very little new Transformers in toystores (we barely got those) and department stores are non-existant as well, I cannot safely say how much kid geard product was released in 2022.

The Legacy line suffered because of Covid and we only get 3 waves this year. I think it is safe to assume that both the development of the Earthspark cartoon and toyline were delayed as well.

So is 2022 barely got any of the releases kids were looking for and the lack of tv show is a good indication for the lack of interest. Any toyline needs a good media presence.

Which would explain the meager year perfectly. Even discounting that, no company can be expected to grow indefinetely. At one point profits will stagnate.

william-james88 wrote:The lower sales specified by Hasbro were from parents not buying as many toys as last year. Nothing was said about collectors. We either matched the expected demand OR (more likely) we don't buy enough for a drop to be seen as significant.

I am seeing it the total opposite. By them saying that the issue is with parents not buying enough toys, it means that whatever we collectors buy or don't buy doesn't really impact them now. If there is no significant impact (either because we are fewer than many of us here think OR because collectively we havent bought so much less than before) then none of those lines will be touched. We just keep chucking along while Hasbro has to make sales for other toylines and encourage the sale of Earthspark toys. Basically, I don't forsee any changes to the Legacy or SS lines aside from sales to encourage parents to buy them.

That sound right to me, w-j88. As a "collector class" to Hasbro (i.e. not to the 3P buying fans here with a LOT more spending money than I can put into this hobby, no comparison, LOL.), I haven't spent any less in actual $$$ even though I bought less figures overall. So if they managed the collector lines (MP, Generations, SS) right -- that is, no more peg-warmers than usual -- their bottomline wasn't affected by us and therefore not worth the mention. I really don't see them scaled down the collector lines last year and the year ahead. We have similar amount of waves & online/retail exclusives than before.

william-james88 wrote:By the way (the following isn't aimed at anybody), while all of us are looking at it through the lens of a collector, the whole point of this article is more about the impact for parents and kids. While we find those prices hard to swallow, it must be amplified for parents that might treat their kid with a toy or buy something for a birthday. A parent's budget for buying a gift for a kid in their son's class has not gone up a ton. And the fact that Hasbro is relying on Earthspark to give them better numbers in Q4 is explicitly them writing collectors off. To anyone doubting it, that statement from them concerning financial survival shows that our purchases are not big enough to sustain them or the brand. Marketing towards us is not part of their immediate recover plan.

Implicitly.

For it to be explicit, they would literally have to say "we're writing off collectors." There's no reading between the lines for explicit. But I like the cut of your gib.

sol magnus wrote:

william-james88 wrote:By the way (the following isn't aimed at anybody), while all of us are looking at it through the lens of a collector, the whole point of this article is more about the impact for parents and kids. While we find those prices hard to swallow, it must be amplified for parents that might treat their kid with a toy or buy something for a birthday. A parent's budget for buying a gift for a kid in their son's class has not gone up a ton. And the fact that Hasbro is relying on Earthspark to give them better numbers in Q4 is explicitly them writing collectors off. To anyone doubting it, that statement from them concerning financial survival shows that our purchases are not big enough to sustain them or the brand. Marketing towards us is not part of their immediate recover plan.

Implicitly.

For it to be explicit, they would literally have to say "we're writing off collectors." There's no reading between the lines for explicit. But I like the cut of your gib.

Ah, right yes, implicitly:)

I collected Transformers since '84. But Hasbro pissed me off too much since 2007 so I finally quit. I started losing interest during Kingdom & I can't stand Legacy. They lost a ton of money from me in 2022.

I found Studio Series Arcee from the Bumblebee movie. I took it to the checkout, scanned it & it was $24.99. Over $27 with TN. sales tax. That figure is tiny. No way in hell I would pay almost $30 for that tiny thing. That's pretty much where my TF collecting ended. $19.99 for a deluxe was pushing it but there is no way I will pay more than that.