The Energon Pub

Now Hasbro says they are canceling Alternators because of a lock of sales.

Just checking ebay for completed auctions, and I see dozens of boxed alternators auctions where single packaged Alternators sold for $80 to $100 each. Maybe Hasbro should look on ebay and see what is selling. My local store has a half dozen Ricochets and Skids on the shelf. Maybe they should make more Swerves, Wheeljacks and Camshafts if they want to sell toys!

Because while they are cool collector pieces, they are lousy toys.

Even if kids could transform these things with ease (and most collectors can not...), they would likely break them.

They cost $20 for about $15 in plastic and I'm sure the licensing costs to the car companies is quite large.

Counterpunch wrote:I'm sure the licensing costs to the car companies is quite large.

Exactly. The "lack of sales" probably really means Hasbro just isn't selling enough of them to cover the cost of licensing fees and making a profit.

I've found that Ebay isn't a fair representation of retail success. There are way too many factors which cause people to bid such ridiculous amounts of money on things to garner any kind of real feeling for how well something is selling.

Sometimes I see rare (currently retail) stuff sell dirt cheap, sometimes it goes for double the rrp. Sometimes distribution sucks, so people from a certain area will want for a figure that is widely available elsewhere. Sometimes people on Ebay cheat to get their bids up, and sometimes people go insane with auction fever and just have to win!

In the end, the Alts aren't selling well enough in retail to keep them going, and this is because people aren't buying them.

Not to mention stores weren't stocking them nearly well enough. And the ones that did weren't moving the product. Heck i could go to Fry's right now and STILL find that Swindle that I never bothered to pick up.

Yes in the collectors market they were high. Because so many were really hard to find. Jazz and Miester are great examples. I only saw one each of the red boxed releases. And thankfully I had $45 set aside just for them at the time too. I had literally given up on finding them when I did. So much so that I walked through the aisle saw the usual blue boxs and turned around to leave and noticed the two of them in a different spot than the rest.

Another factor is the competition that alts have in the form of BTs. While most products ofered by both Takara and Hasbro may vary only slightly in terms of colour or paint aps the plastic vs diecast trade off means that many collectors prefer the BT option. When you're talking about a line aimed at collectors rather than kids a lot of people going for the Takara option takes away a larger percentage of Hasbros potential sales. Personally I've only got BTs in my collection and only intend to pick up alts that haven't seen a Takara release or have been released without diecast in Japan (that's pretty much Convoy, Mirage and Rodimus, right?) making me part of the problem in this instance.

waaaaghlord wrote:Another factor is the competition that alts have in the form of BTs. While most products ofered by both Takara and Hasbro may vary only slightly in terms of colour or paint aps the plastic vs diecast trade off means that many collectors prefer the BT option. When you're talking about a line aimed at collectors rather than kids a lot of people going for the Takara option takes away a larger percentage of Hasbros potential sales. Personally I've only got BTs in my collection and only intend to pick up alts that haven't seen a Takara release or have been released without diecast in Japan (that's pretty much Convoy, Mirage and Rodimus, right?) making me part of the problem in this instance.

I actually prefer Alts to BT.

It's purely personal preferance on the issue and I, like you, have bought BTs that don't come to the US in Alt form.

Still, the weight of the metal on the plastic parts seems to me like it will be a maintenance issue over a few years. Also the thought of paint dings on the metal drives me nuts.

I blame Hasbro for the lack of Alt. sales. i mean, look at the new Ravage. He's an Wal Mart exclusive, coming out just before the movie toys came out. I found 1 in Columbus, and grabbed him. good thing too, because I've never seen any since.

Nobody likes smart toys for adults.

Its like writing comics that aren't aimed at adolescent boys. It just doesn't work.

Its a shame. I really like the Alternators line but the distribution was horrible, the price was too high and the availability was poor. If I could go to the local store I would gladly have bought one or two of each, and I'm NOT a collector. But I can't find them. So no money for Hasbro.

Actually the price is dead on what I would expect something like that to be. Problems I've seen with the Alternators is poor distrubution, only one store MIGHT carry them around here and usually its loaded with the one or few figures that no one wants. Skids, Richocet, and Rollbar were the current shelf warmers here. And that's the thing the duds would sit on the shelf forever and then a new case wasn't ordered until the current one was sold, so it looked like poor sales for the line.

Honestly if Hasbro ever brings Alternaters back they need to market it purely to collectors and perhaps to online sales and offering specials to club members for picking up a full set (for instance all of the current run which was usually about 4 characters).

I think it could still work, just selling them in stores doesn't work, too much other merchandise that needs to move faster.

Decepticon Spike wrote:I blame Hasbro for the lack of Alt. sales. i mean, look at the new Ravage. He's an Wal Mart exclusive, coming out just before the movie toys came out. I found 1 in Columbus, and grabbed him. good thing too, because I've never seen any since.

I find what you say so true where I live. Often times I buy whatever I notice to be tough to come by, when in doubt or making a decision on which toy to purchase.

I was just in a Super Wal-mart last night and they had 10 movie voyager Ratchets and 7 Blackouts--no Ironhide or Starscreams at all. Not to mention that I've only seen like 4 Starscreams total where I live and I bought one of them. I've still only seen 1 Leader class Megatron and like 50 Leader Primes. And I live in the Tampa Bay area in FL.

I also had to drive like 45 minutes to another city just to pick up a Toys R' Us Soundwave re-issue. The first two I wnet to had 0.
Hasbro's distrubution leaves a bit to be desired in a lot of cases.

To add to that, there was no storyline/advertising to the line either. Another point is most of the characters are based on G1 guys, and they just ran out of compelling characters. In some cases though, they could have put a few more in, like Ironhide, or Trailbreaker. Plus, there were few Decepticons, and even few compelling ones. Also, it was all just cars, and to some(like me), that got a bit boring.

And another reason(for me) is that they didn't fit into other lines.

Duke of Luns wrote: Also, it was all just cars, and to some(like me), that got a bit boring.

QFT. It was alll just too much of the same thing, right down to the engine guns. Giving characters car alt modes who hadn't had them before probably didn't help either.

People are gonna hate me for saying this, but the lack of "gimmicks" kinda hurts the fun factor, too...

Not to mention that there were already enough G1 homages in the Unicron trilogy to sate a number of nostalgia buffs, and once Titaniums, and especially the Classics, started hitting shelves, Alternatos just felt like it wasn't special any more.

I loved Alternators. That line was what got me back into TFs, but I really hated the distribution problems.

What I would like to see is a kind of merger between Alts and Classics (yes, I know Classics will be called Universe). And what I mean is, I would love 1/32 scale Alts that would fit in with previously and currently released deluxe-size TFs. They don't have to be licensed, just realistic looking, like the Alts. I think the new Universe line will be close to what I want, I just wish Hasbro would go ahead and make one line in scale, just a smaller, cheaper scale that would sell better.

Ah well.

Counterpunch wrote:I actually prefer Alts to BT.

As do I.

I must admit hearing of the alts got me back into tfs to an extent too, but the line is pretty boring unless you are a masive car fan. I will buy new last if I seem them in the shops, but I just cant be arsed ot pay large amounts of money on tfs I will not transform THAT much. And I sure as hell dont see the point in getting more than one of each basic design.

The only recent alt I was desperate to get? That'll Ravage, the only one to seriously break the trend in this line. Also Hasbro's recent designs have been rather hit n miss. Prime was crap, Rumble/Frenzy dosnt look too hot either.

Smokescreen was the first Alt I picked up. I thought he was great, except for being hard to transform. However, as time went on I've found I've generally cared less for the line.

They're always cars, there's like three repaints of almost every figure, they're always hard to transform and you worry about breaking something as you do it...

Don't get me wrong, I have a few figures in this line that I absolutely love (Shockwave, G1 Ravage, Wheeljack and Mirage and maybe a few others), but overall I've just been picking them up as I find them. Ravage was the only one since Grimlock/Shockwave I really went out of my way to get.

So, although I've been buying them (I'm missing 2 due to impossible to get), I'm not sure how much longer I would have bought them unless they came up with some really cool stuff or variations on what they were doing. Those rumoured larger pieces of jets and tanks would have been a good start for my tastes...

Scaleface wrote:Now Hasbro says they are canceling Alternators because of a lock of sales.

Just checking ebay for completed auctions

Just remember that is just Ebay, not the world.

i'm actually REALLY bummed about this news. the alt/bt line of figures is what got me back into collecting tf's again. they display great with the MP series considering the alts are 1/24th scale and so is MP prime (which is what MP Megatron is scaled after as well). they look great together! i think if Hasbro would use a bit of creativity they could re-market this line and breathe some new life into it. since they are using real cars they should be marketing towards people who are not only interested in Transformers but car enthusiasts as well. what transformers fan wouldn't want a figure who's alt form was a '57 Chevy. or a '59 Cadillac. '32 Ford coupe...etc. i think classic cars alternators would be genius. it would even make for a great prequel type comic series. just my thoughts on the subject.

Bumbled wrote:

Scaleface wrote:Now Hasbro says they are canceling Alternators because of a lock of sales.

Just checking ebay for completed auctions

Just remember that is just Ebay, not the world.

Yeah, besides like basiclly every one else said Hasbro doesn't see anything from the secondary market.

If you ask me, the biggest reason alt didn't sell well is because of the complex quality of the transformations..... well, not even complexity; I'd call it more of a 'finicky' quality.

I've got three alts(Smokescreen, Sideswipe, and Hound), and even though they look **** AWESOME in both modes, I'm almost afraid to transform them because they need to be transformed JUST right; otherwise they won't quite look right. It just feels like more of a chore to transform them because I'll have to keep trying the same step of the transformation till I get that stupid little roll-bar to line up properly; then I'll have to do the same to get the two parts of the car lined up, etc. etc.


At least, that's why I stopped buying them(btw, slightly off-topic, but is Frenzy[or is it Rumble?] just as hard to transform? Because from what I've seen of it it doesn't look nearly as bad).

I'm not a big fan of the Alts but can say I never saw too many of them in stores. I own around 5 of them. Optimus Prime and Nemesis Prime were my firsts. I'm not too impressed with them either. If they had a lower price point and widespread distribution they could probably sell a shitload more. Or sell all of them online from HTS. They'd sell a TON of the ones they stopped making.

Hmm...seeing this thread makes me feel like I should have been patient and waited for Alt Rodimus to go on sale online and then get clearance priced.

I'm just sorry they never expanded the line. If they had expanded into emergency vehicles, construction vehicles, farm equipment, motorcycles, who knows, interest may still be peeked just fine...

I liked both equally BTW. I was always happy to see a $20 cool alt in the stores (if you could find it), but I loved the metallic finish to the BTs. And the fact that they do have metal, I really liked that...

I also think Alternators helped HASBRO get the movie going. There was great response to licensed vehicles, and based on the relationships with car companies, they had some designs ready to share...

Obviously Bay went with his own designs and his own car company (How did the Ford Saleen Mustang become the only Ford in the movie? Pre-existing contract with HASBRO?)...but I am sure that Alts helped pave the way.

Decepticon Spike wrote:I blame Hasbro for the lack of Alt. sales. i mean, look at the new Ravage. He's an Wal Mart exclusive, coming out just before the movie toys came out. I found 1 in Columbus, and grabbed him. good thing too, because I've never seen any since.

He's a Walmart exclusive because Hasbro decided Alt sales were such crap they'd only sell more if a store picked up part of the bill which is how the exclusives work. Walmart did, and then half the Walmart didn't even order them because alts were selling so poorly over the last few lines. Thus the distribution of them sucked. Hasbro doesn't control distribution, stores order what they want when they want.

Duke of Luns wrote:To add to that, there was no storyline/advertising to the line either. Another point is most of the characters are based on G1 guys, and they just ran out of compelling characters. In some cases though, they could have put a few more in, like Ironhide, or Trailbreaker. Plus, there were few Decepticons, and even few compelling ones. Also, it was all just cars, and to some(like me), that got a bit boring.

And another reason(for me) is that they didn't fit into other lines.

Possibly the best reasoning... no TV time. Kids are too lazy to think for themselves these days. If the story isn't already laid out for them in a cartoon, they have no interest or imagination to develop one themselves. Not to mention they have no association with the G1 storyline so there's no relationship to create the desire to own the alts.

I wish that Hasbro had taken the time to create the Alt fiction. To base the next cartoon series on the alts instead of spinning yet another timeline that looks questionable at best. This would've been the perfect too... with the Movie using real vehicles, the Alts could've slid right in there and filled the next two seasons with a CG Beastwars style cartoon to ride the wake just in time for a Sequel Movie. Alas it's a money making business and apparently you all didn't by Nearly enough Skids.

another thing is that they were and are completely crazy how they package these toys. in one box comes 4 alternators. that is fine and dandy but look how they do waves.
the first alt. smokescreen was fairly hard to get in the beginning, but he was pushed sooo much in other waves that he was on the shelves for at least a year. then they brought out sideswipe. his assortment was two of him and two of smokescreen if i am correct. so that means the left over ones you have of smokescreen already on the shelves plus the left over smokescreens from the new wave and that makes for a lot of shelf warmers. and this is how the line continued. so it is a wonder how they made money when most of the product were shelf warmers or went on clearance? how many of you can still go to walmart and find ricochet, skids, and rollbar on shelves right now?
exactly.
it is their own fault why they didn't make the money on this line.

sorry for the long post.