The Energon Pub

Many of you know about Hasbro's denial to the recent lines about it not being a collectors market, that collectors are a small percent of the buying population. But have you noticed that everything there days is geared to collectors. Take Hasbro's new Botcon coverage on their website. "...Micromaster of the same name!", "...in all G1 colors."
"...includes trademark blaster.", "...old favorites." And the new comic packs, and 25th anniversary. Even the G1 references in animated and the toys. Even the movie line. It's all collectors now.

If collectors outweighed kids in terms of percentages, Jungle Bonecrusher would never exist.

Fifteen percent is fifteen percent, Hasbro is out to please kids before adults, but an additional fifteen percent is just more money for Hasbro. If they can get it they will.

All the things you just mentioned however are done for collectors. (Most)Kids don't care about reading the news or the history behind Transformers production. They run into the stores and buy them, we're the suckers who the PR is done for.

15% of the toy market being collectors is thrown around a lot, and even with no proof I'll accept it.

What is not mentioned yet are the non-collectors who buy toys for their kids but still remember the originals and buy the familiar name. I overhear it in stores frequently.

Tekka wrote:All the things you just mentioned however are done for collectors. (Most)Kids don't care about reading the news or the history behind Transformers production. They run into the stores and buy them, we're the suckers who the PR is done for.

Absolutly agree!!!

Kids intrest wain, next year they'll be into something different, and even still, mom, dad, grandma, and who ever can't buy junior everything.

However, collectors, ah something different, our money is already precounted, cause they know in some form or another, every year we're gonna buy it.

Now the delema, fully acknowledge us, our dollar, and our critisms

-OR-

Keep saying that it's all about the children and keep stringing us along, taunting us with what we want, but always pushing it ever further back while giving us more Cybertron repaints.

So trust me, they know we're here, they know how much we spend, and they know how to string us along, saying that it's just for the kids is a way to ignore us when we start asking for more.

Liege Evilmus wrote:

Tekka wrote:All the things you just mentioned however are done for collectors. (Most)Kids don't care about reading the news or the history behind Transformers production. They run into the stores and buy them, we're the suckers who the PR is done for.

Absolutly agree!!!

Kids intrest wain, next year they'll be into something different, and even still, mom, dad, grandma, and who ever can't buy junior everything.

However, collectors, ah something different, our money is already precounted, cause they know in some form or another, every year we're gonna buy it.

Now the delema, fully acknowledge us, our dollar, and our critisms

-OR-

Keep saying that it's all about the children and keep stringing us along, taunting us with what we want, but always pushing it ever further back while giving us more Cybertron repaints.

So trust me, they know we're here, they know how much we spend, and they know how to string us along, saying that it's just for the kids is a way to ignore us when we start asking for more.

As a collector I find my interest begging to wane when I see Animated…

definately its a collectors market we would not have classics if it wasnt.

I agree about Animated, on my shelves only a handful will be joining the fray.

HOWEVER, I still bought them all. My intent is to resell them in a few years, take advantage of the market for once.

Reguardless though, Hasbro still is getting paid.

Mom, Dad, and Junior rarely have insite when it comes to taking advantage of these nitches. Thats the relm of collector, hoarder, and scalper.

bumblerumblev2 wrote:definately its a collectors market we would not have classics if it wasnt.

Yep, kids wouldn’t ever buy classics figures, would they? If we're using that as a point how come we didn’t get new molds for Blaster and Soundwave, and why would Hasbro EVER even consider allowing the Seekers to become Botcon exclusives?

Nekoman wrote:Yep, kids wouldn’t ever buy classics figures, would they? If we're using that as a point how come we didn’t get new molds for Blaster and Soundwave, and why would Hasbro EVER even consider allowing the Seekers to become Botcon exclusives?

Good question....I have a feeling that some of them will, mainly teenagers. But overall, that is hard to determine. Most of the figures in a line are geared towards to kids but some of them have "throw-back" colors that are G1-isque.

Nekoman wrote:

bumblerumblev2 wrote:definately its a collectors market we would not have classics if it wasnt.

Yep, kids wouldn’t ever buy classics figures, would they? If we're using that as a point how come we didn’t get new molds for Blaster and Soundwave, and why would Hasbro EVER even consider allowing the Seekers to become Botcon exclusives?

Kids would not buy the Classics? Maybe not, but their parents would.
I was floored when I stepped into a customers' yard to see their
4 or 5 year old son carrying a Classics Starscream like it was
his best friend. It made me realize that certain toys may be geared
for collectors, but being a toy, will find it's way into a happy kids hands.

We've got to stop thinking of the kid's interest. Of course they'll buy classics if they look cool, kids will buy anything. Classics are geared toward collectors. Not all collectors are adults. I claim that I officially collect and i'm 13. It is a collectors market

Autobotic9 wrote:We've got to stop thinking of the kid's interest. Of course they'll buy classics if they look cool, kids will buy anything. Classics are geared toward collectors. Not all collectors are adults. I claim that I officially collect and i'm 13. It is a collectors market

Kudos to you. I was collecting Baseball cards at 13.
Had I been collecting Transformers my collection would be twice as awesome.

DISCHARGE wrote:

Autobotic9 wrote:We've got to stop thinking of the kid's interest. Of course they'll buy classics if they look cool, kids will buy anything. Classics are geared toward collectors. Not all collectors are adults. I claim that I officially collect and i'm 13. It is a collectors market

Kudos to you. I was collecting Baseball cards at 13.
Had I been collecting Transformers my collection would be twice as awesome.

Thank You.

I'm 16 and I think that Hasbro caters to collectors a lot more as of late.

It warmed my heart to see a kid buy Classics Grimlock one time. I love that figure, and I hope he did too.

Don't forget the MP's, those aren't just targeted at collecters. They's locked on and laser guided at collecters.

I collect, but my sons want any and every transformer they can get. Do you think that a kid will not play with or buy Universe Prowl because they don't know who Prowl the character is? Hells no. It's a cool looking robot that turns into a police car. The fact that he even has a name is just a bonus.

And what kid isn't going to notice a bright yellow Uni Sunsteaker and say "Please dad, buy me that one!!"

Autobotic9 wrote:Many of you know about Hasbro's denial to the recent lines about it not being a collectors market, that collectors are a small percent of the buying population. But have you noticed that everything there days is geared to collectors. Take Hasbro's new Botcon coverage on their website. "...Micromaster of the same name!", "...in all G1 colors."
"...includes trademark blaster.", "...old favorites." And the new comic packs, and 25th anniversary. Even the G1 references in animated and the toys. Even the movie line. It's all collectors now.

I think it might be partially because of collectors, but then I guess that it might also be that some TF designer/s at hasbro are fans themselves.

While Transformers are 'in' again, Hasbro is trying to hook in as many new and returning collectors as possible. Referring back to G1 helps them give new fans a sense of the history, and the more they know about that, the deeper they can suck them into the franchise, and the more potential customers for the next batch of reissues and collector crap.

'Collectors' aren't a constant. They need to be replaced. How many G1 Optimus reissues does the average collector need? Some of us might be buying heaps of stuff now, but in another year, maybe there'll be mortgages or children or medical expenses. Suddenly that Blaster repaint doesn't seem like such a must-have. But the collecting instinct doesn't die overnight. At first you just become just a little more selective. But as the years go by you start to see disposable income getting eroded(which let's face it, past a certain age, that's what the average guy can look forward to). You do without this, you pass on that, you put off getting a Fort Max indefinitely, and after a while, you don't really feel the need. More and more there's the underlying question: How long does one need to spend reliving one's childhood?

This is why it's a good thing that Hasbro tosses a few nods here and there to the collector base while aiming squarely at the kid market. That's the future. If they only focused on the fans, the franchise would be a lot smaller, and dwindle year by year.

15% is still a big deal. But it's not easy money. High standards are expected. Stuff exclusively for the collector market(alternators, masterpieces, etc) require high quality materials, more intensive assembly, top notch design, and strict quality control. And it still won't be enough to please some. They'll still bitch about that one bit that wasn't quite what they wanted.

Comparitively speaking, slapping a G1 colour scheme on a few kids toys and putting up a website is no major investment or indication of how much they value fan opinion. For one thing, it saves them the trouble of coming up with a totally new character and colour scheme.

--B-- wrote:I collect, but my sons want any and every transformer they can get. Do you think that a kid will not play with or buy Universe Prowl because they don't know who Prowl the character is? Hells no. It's a cool looking robot that turns into a police car. The fact that he even has a name is just a bonus.

And what kid isn't going to notice a bright yellow Uni Sunsteaker and say "Please dad, buy me that one!!"

Good point. Just because the character is G1 and 25 years old doesn't mean it's going to repel kids.