GuyIncognito wrote:TT seems to embrace the collector market and devotes resources to it accordingly, while Hasbro seems to view it as an annoyance that they need to pacify as cheaply as possible (or exploit).
I disagree with this statement. While I can see why many collectors feel this way about the two companies, I get the strong feeling that this is a strong example of "the grass is always greener on the other side." I also attend several annual private press events that Hasbro has intended for the fan community. I will be attending Hasbro's 8th annual fan media day on February 15th in New York City. This is the 8th time I've been to this event. Hasbro also now has a much smaller and more festive event that is somewhat similar held in conjunction with NYCC and obviously has a very large presence at SDCC and BotCon. I have several times a year to share my thoughts face-to-face with Hasbro.
Throughout my 14 years of doing Seibertron.com, I can say that they honestly care what we (the fans) have to say. Sometimes the demands of the larger children's market and retailers such as Wal-Mart outweigh the demands of fans. Takara Tomy doesn't have to deal with the demands of the world's largest retailer (Wal-Mart) and outside of Toys R Us they deal with much smaller shops and have much lower production runs which enables Takara Tomy to cater more to us.
I also think Masterpiece Grimlock, Masterpiece "Targetmaster" Rodimus and Generations Skywarp are also examples of where Hasbro has gone the extra mile for fans. I'm sure there are many other examples that often get overlooked.