The Energon Pub

Hey, we've now got Breakdown, Dead End (er, sort of), and Drag Strip (well, almost) in Scout size. Now we just need a Scout Wildrider and Deluxe/Voyager? Motormaster.

I think this is where Im gonna draw the line with PCC. Maybe ill give the boat a chance, but that truck looks really wack. And the wanna-bee Menasor looks horrible.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Xithys wrote:The two-packs look good, though I doubt I'll be getting either of them. I have yet to understand how hasbro can continue to make toys with these hideous arms.

'Cause kids seem to like them.

THANK YOU XITHYS!
This what I have been saying all along. I have been using the word "Patronizing" alot, which alot of people have not understood where I'm coming from.
"JelZe GoldRabbit" response helps prove my point. I beleive "JelZe GoldRabbit" is making that assumption due to Hasbro churning more of the like out. And yes maybe some kids do, maybe you have kids and they like them. My point is that I beleive that some people have totaly forgot their childhood. A grea example is Ja Ja Binx. A comitte of grown ups I hope it wasn't George Lucas on his own, sat down and thought I know a crazy whacky character, the kids will love him. No No No. That is an adult who is Patronizing kids.
When we wre kids Transformers was in it's absolute Prime [no pun intended], now look at all the cars, they were realistic cars that adults drove, they were in everyday adult colours. Even the cartoons were darker back in the day. The point is when you were a kid, the main thing you wanted to be was grown up. As a kid we also thought we knew best, and our ideas were not as developed as they are as an adult. When G2 cme along I was appauled, it looked like a child had been let loose.
The problem is, if you ask a kid what they want for dinner, they will ask for everything they like mixed together, put it in front of them and they won't want it. When I was a kid I used to make all these sandwiches with loads of my favourite things in, once I'd taken one bite I threw it in the bin. Kids are learning, they want what they can't imagine, it's up to adults to design something that they would never of thought of, that makes them think. Stop asking kids to think of ideas for you Hasbro, that's your job. You only have to look at most shelf warmers to see that the more mature designs fly off the shelves. And it's the more mature designs that are what the forums are really filled out with.
The other thing is, kids to day are even more mature than we were when we were younger, so give them some credit. I can blatently predict what will and won't be a shelf warmer, that's one thing I have always been right on, I'm not gonna say what I think unless someone specifically asks and I'll pm them, I am not gonna be sucked into an argument and offend people, by saying that I think they have poor taste. And if you like these designs thats kool, but it's the reasoning and concept behind these designs that annoiys me. There's a few transformers with a one eye , spectacle thing going on, and they look like some of the designs I used to do as a kid. I hated my designs I wanted to be able to design like adults..
Hasbro has the Go-Bots range for toddlers, Hasbro need to design for kids not like kids.

PCCs are the best option at this point in time for those who want a combining option, for one primary reason: cost. If you look at the original combiners from G1, they consisted of was essentially four "scout" class price points and 1 larger robot- either a voyager or deluxe sized. Now, let's look at cost. Back then, the smaller bots were abou 5 bucks each and the larger bot was 10-15 bucks. SO that's a total- minumum- of $30. Nowadays, the cost is even higher, with scout running about $8 and Deluxes running $12. That's $44 for a combiner. Now Hasbro- without really sacrificing much in the way of size or poseability (the old combiners were blocks)- has come up with a way for kids to get combiners...less than half the price. In addition, they created addition robots with with the drones can combine. It makes sense! Parents have cut back on their spending during the current recession. They are NOT going to spend $40 on combiners if they can spend half that.
Now another major issue with the original combiners was the individual parts and the time needed to transform and combine them. I know I am not the only collector that used to have the Parts Bag- the bag you kept all your extraneous foot plates, faces, chest plates, guns, and hands in. Now, kids are HORRIBLE about losing things. How many incomplete toys are out there now simply because the kids lost the parts? The PCC skipped that part by attempting to create combiners that incorprorated EVERYTHING into the figures! It is much more difficult to lose parts now, because there aren't little guns and hands and heads to lose- everything is attached. Also, think about kids' attention spans...okay, trick question. THey don't have any. If something can't get done, they ignore it and move on to something else or they get mad and have their parents do it. The PCCs are fast and easy to merge. Kids get it quickly. Parents can figure it out quickly...which is really the most important part.
Third, I don't know what city you live in, but where I'm at, the more mature designs (which I'm assuming means the Generations figures) have enough dust on them on the shelves to coat the Statue of Liberty. One Wal-Mart has had exactly the same Generations figures on the shelves for two months- I've counted becuase I want them to get the new figures (which is a point I'll get to in a moment). Kids don't want mature designs. They want FUN designs. If it is too "mature" they get it and quit playing with it almost immediately because it's too complicated, which the parents then see as a waste of money. It turns the kids off to the figures, and subsequently, the parents quit buying them as well. You lose customers, and low and behold, your sales numbers go down, you quit making money, and you stop making that toy altogether. It's simple marketing.
Lastly, individually packaged combiners are barely possible anymore due to the fact that Hasbro's distribution network is so horrific anymore. My region is still stuck with Wave 1 of the HFTD and Generations figures, while others are seeing wave 4. Packaging them individually means very low odds of getting complete combiners at any point anymore and, like I said before, the kids are going to move on to something else because of their attention spans. Packaging them in a gift set is too expensive for most parents (remember the price I brought up before?). Even the legends class Devastator gift sets from ROTF are $30...so that option is out. What Hasbro has done with the PCCs is create a "gift set combiuner" that is affordable and reasonably priced and keeps kids interested because of the ease of transformation (and let's make a note that the ease of change allows younger children to get in on the action, thus building the brand name at a younger age), has good playability, and is colorfully done as well. It all boils down to a successful marketing model that Hasbro has taken advantage of. And even though some of us collectors aren't improssed with them doesn't mean that kids aren't...because they are selling like hotcakes.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Xithys wrote:The two-packs look good, though I doubt I'll be getting either of them. I have yet to understand how hasbro can continue to make toys with these hideous arms.

'Cause kids seem to like them.

I thought the kids hated them, which was why they weren't selling and thus made everyone else hate them? I find it interesting that since they've begun to show pictures of wave after wave of these figures, public opinion on them has been improving rapidly. I've always thought they were cool for the record, but I am glad to see their prices going down, because for next to $30, they aren't that cool at all.

Anyone think that the PCCs may be the next evolutionary step in combiner toys? Like they'll end up being the missing link? Maybe there's combiners on the horizon which will have robot mode capable limb figures but this automorph transformation gimmick that the drones have....Maybe that long-desired Voyager torso/Deluxe limb combiner? Just a thought I had on the ol' throne the other morning.

JelZe GoldRabbit wrote:

Xithys wrote:The two-packs look good, though I doubt I'll be getting either of them. I have yet to understand how hasbro can continue to make toys with these hideous arms.

'Cause kids seem to like them.

I thought the kids hated them, which was why they weren't selling and thus made everyone else hate them? I find it interesting that since they've begun to show pictures of wave after wave of these figures, public opinion on them has been improving rapidly. I've always thought they were cool for the record, but I am glad to see their prices going down, because for next to $30, they aren't that cool at all.

Anyone think that the PCCs may be the next evolutionary step in combiner toys? Like they'll end up being the missing link? Maybe there's combiners on the horizon which will have robot mode capable limb figures but this automorph transformation gimmick that the drones have....Maybe that long-desired Voyager torso/Deluxe limb combiner? Just a thought I had on the ol' throne the other morning.

Best thinking takes place on the throne. My guess is that Albert Einstein came up with the theory of relativity while emptying some sauerkraut.

First-Aid wrote:Best thinking takes place on the throne. My guess is that Albert Einstein came up with the theory of relativity while emptying some sauerkraut.

You know what, about a second after I submitted that post I thought "Here comes a warning" for my ahem, toilet humor. It may come later, but I'm in agreement. The Chamber of Solitude is where all great thoughts are born.

Undertow looks pretty interesting. So the Brawl-esque tank guy is Wave 4?

Dagon wrote:The Chamber of Solitude is where all great thoughts are born.

Is it Hemorrhoids or just an bad itch?
Pretty deep ****, man.

On the subject of PCC - I like them. If I was still in the habit of buying new toys, I'd get the lot. Cute little figures.

yes hasbro, because that's what every british parent want to hear their childs voice shouting in tescos.

Mummy, can i have that one please?
he's spastic!