The Energon Pub

I agree it's (obviously) them trying to move away from their old rep. I just don't think it's being done in a deceptive way.

KFC .
As we move forward, our focus is on better engineering, improved QC, dedicated aftercare resulting in an all around better product.

With this in mind, would the fans prefer we:

1, Stay as KFC
2, Rebrand to Toys Xpress
3, Rebrand to a different name

https://www.facebook.com/kfctoys?fref=nf

Autobot Genocide wrote:

KFC .
As we move forward, our focus is on better engineering, improved QC, dedicated aftercare resulting in an all around better product.

With this in mind, would the fans prefer we:

1, Stay as KFC
2, Rebrand to Toys Xpress
3, Rebrand to a different name

https://www.facebook.com/kfctoys?fref=nf

I cannot vote, because I am not a part of this fleeting Facebook fad, and thus do not have an account. But if I could, I'd say, "Stay as KFC." (But maybe don't put your name on big freaking chrome license plates on the figures themselves, poor Ultra Magnus is supposed to be a car carrier, not a chicken delivery truck!)

Keep your established name, but work to make that name mean "quality"! Don't go, "Uh, we screwed up, so we're calling a mulligan and starting over as someone else." You'll never gain any brand confidence that way!

Yet, not to sound overly cynical, but the fact that they are apparently now polling about if they should change their name in the first place has me wondering if they ever intended to do so, or if this whole thing may have just been a ploy to draw attention to themselves. "Look at us! We're going to say we're changing our name to emphasize that our toys won't be crap anymore! Because if we just said the part about our toys not being crap anymore, no one would believe it!" Well, you're half right... If you only say it, no one will believe it. How about showing rather then telling, and meanwhile, forget about all of the silly name nonsense?

Agree on them staying as KFC. Especially after they mentioned Igears and MMC, they should do the same the 2 did; Get better, or get lost.

Maybe they have to change their name due to trademark laws. KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) might have established KFC as a trademark, preventing other companies in the US from using it.

Either way I'm not bothered. As a great bot once said: "New packaging, same product. Losers!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=p ... phrs#t=158

xyl360 wrote:Maybe they have to change their name due to trademark laws.

If that was the case, however, (a) why not just say so? (b) why have a poll with an option of not changing it?

Yotsuyasan wrote:

xyl360 wrote:Maybe they have to change their name due to trademark laws.

If that was the case, however, (a) why not just say so? (b) why have a poll with an option of not changing it?

Because (if that truly is the case) it's not as controversial as what was originally posted.

necr0blivion wrote:

Yotsuyasan wrote:

xyl360 wrote:Maybe they have to change their name due to trademark laws.

If that was the case, however, (a) why not just say so? (b) why have a poll with an option of not changing it?

Because (if that truly is the case) it's not as controversial as what was originally posted.

Not sure I quite understand your reply. What controversial matter are you referring to? And "what was originally posted" by who? Myself and Autobot Genocide, in the posts that began the two threads that were merged into this one? If so, while I cannot speak for Autobot Genocide, I know that I was not trying to say anything controversial, I was just sharing information that I'd heard elsewhere, and that I felt would be of interest to the Third Party Transformer fan community.

Or are you talking about KFC's original statements regarding their plans to change their name?

Anyway, if you were referring to the first posts in this thread, then I said what I said as that was what was reported elsewhere, based on information allegedly from KFC themselves. What that was was that KFC was changing their name, and that they claimed that it was due to requests from retailers. (I offered my own speculations as to the truth of this, but hopefully the portions that were opinion were clear as such.)

Many have speculated it may be because of some complaint from Kentucky Fried Chicken. But the company currently known as Keith's Fantasy Club has not said this. And if there is any truth to such speculation, I still find it doubtful that they would currently be teasing that they may not change their name after all by soliciting opinions in a poll that include an option to leave their name alone.

I don't think KFC is lying when they said retailers have asked them to change their name. But I also don't think it's the complete truth. They admitted themselves only a little later that it was to draw a line under their old products and reputation.

I don't think the actual KFC ever threatened them or anything like that, but it could be more along the lines of "is this a joke?" or "people aren't really taking you seriously with a name like this". "Keith's Fantasy Club" is a pretty terrible name (and that's their full name). I don't thinkt hey're worried about the real KFC suing them or anything. They're already riding Hasbro's coattails and their new logos are based on other people's properties too.

Yotsuyasan wrote:

necr0blivion wrote:

Yotsuyasan wrote:

xyl360 wrote:Maybe they have to change their name due to trademark laws.

If that was the case, however, (a) why not just say so? (b) why have a poll with an option of not changing it?

Because (if that truly is the case) it's not as controversial as what was originally posted.

Not sure I quite understand your reply.
TL:DR

The original reason why KFC stated they were changing their name which you referenced in your first post:

Yotsuyasan wrote:at the request of retailers, they are rebranding themselves as "Toys XPress."

To have an outside party ask for changes of the company sounds controversial, no? Regardless whether this was the real driving force behind the decision. And I do find it increasingly difficult to believe these types of things, knowing companies are usually trying to spin matters in the best light possible (what did KFC say about that v1 of Citizen Stack again?).

Yotsuyasan wrote:Keep your established name, but work to make that name mean "quality"! Don't go, "Uh, we screwed up, so we're calling a mulligan and starting over as someone else." You'll never gain any brand confidence that way!

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Don't care much either way as it's hard to respect them at this point, but at the very least I would said respect would be salvageable by sticking to their guns instead of changing their colors to bury their mistakes.

KFC .
We've made a decision, thanks for all the feedback and watch this space. Thanks for being on this journey with us.

I think they simply wanted to start a fresh reputation , nothing more to it .

Prefer they changed to, Toys XPress.

And the answer is ...... KTC

Griffith Keith We are trying to appease people who hate our old name and initials, the people who hated the Toys Xpress branding concept, and all the retailers who supported the company through some very trying times. We know that no matter what we do we cannot please all of the people all of the time, but we hope that this rebranding will go some way to addressing several concerns

Gotta say, I like this name more than "Toys Xpress" and "Keith's Fantasy Club". Although they could have come up with a better word than Club in my opinion. They aren't really a club at all.

As long as they continue to make great bigger toys like Citizen, Then I could care less what they call themselves.