The Energon Pub

The fact that this is a rumour cannot be stressed enough, there is currently no identifiable source for this, just info from the online "leaker" community, which was told to us from a fan wishing to remain anonymous. However, this does line up with what Hasbro has been doing in other lines and is also in line with their current business model of making less toys than before, as we described in an editorial a month ago.

For those unaware, Hasbro has been making "Made to Order" figures in other toylines. A good example would be this X-Men 97 Sentinel figure. It is not a Haslab, so there are no tiers, and no need for a funding goal. It is simply a figure that was available for preorder for a certain amount of time and only the amount ordered would be made. Mattel has been doing this practice for ages, and their latest made to order items are themed around the latest Super Bowl champions. This removes any inventory cost from the company for that item and any issue with unsold items, which proved to be a real thorn for Hasbro for the past decade.

Well the rumour going around is that Hasbro will be doing that with Transformers as well. Meaning that for some toys that would otherwise be retail releases, they will only be available on their website as preorders. The rumour even suggests that the first release would be a Generations style Big Convoy (the Mammoth). Honestly, that last bit of the rumour diminishes it's potential truth as a Beast Optimus sounds more like something that would show up at retail. Then again, their RID Optimus is being released as a Haslab, so this could go either way. Just wanted to let the community know since this could be quite the game changer in our collecting habits.

This centers around the "death" of the brick and mortar stores for toys, especially for collectibles. There has been an increasing dearth of figures at Ross and other bulk outlets as figures on shelves go unsold. The fact that Transformers is one of the latter IPs to go into this model says a bit about the strength of the brand but unless Hasbro figures out how to improve the popularity of the IP (Earthspark has famously been outperformed by 35 year old reruns of the "Golden Girls" according to ratings and isn't even in the top 50 ratings for cartoons), made to order and collectors will be the only remaining market.

While I prefer the limited time aspect of preordering as opposed to the limited quantity, the only was this would make good business sense is if Hasbro would charge for the item at the time of preorder, and at least level some type of penalty in the event of cancellation.

I am curious in practical terms where it is the case that one of these "Direct to consumer" items has been made and release, did they actually show up as "in stock" items in the collectable stores too ?

As I recall seeing Dragonman being sold on online stores - not just on Hasbro Pulse.

So I got to wondering what is stopping them from ordering a bunch of extras themselves.

Though if that is the case, I wouldn't imagine stock would stay around long.

That might be kinda irksome model for things like Gi Joe Classified Vehicles for anyone who shows up later to the franchise or decides they like the vehicle once they have it in hand and want another.

Something that is not so much of an issue for a singular Character like a Transformer.

But I do note that Hasbro Pulse USA & other Pulse regional offshoots no longer accept Paypal Pay in 4 / Pay in 3 payments so that is going to put some people off a bit too ; should these offering start to climb into the dizzy heights of Masterpiece price points.

RAR wrote:But I do note that Hasbro Pulse USA & other Pulse regional offshoots no longer accept Paypal Pay in 4 / Pay in 3 payments so that is going to put some people off a bit too ; should these offering start to climb into the dizzy heights of Masterpiece price points.

That's why I have paypal credit for the 3 digit cost orders.

As for this rumor, I mean, at this point, I don't blame them, even if I'm not a fan of the practice

I wonder if this will be used for toys that don't have a slot in the main retail line as opposed to toys that "Done Right" wouldn't fit into any retail price point.

If this is a way to get figures that would otherwise have a slim chance being released at mass retail, I'm all for it

As long as I get the toys I want lol I don't really buy figures in store anymore anyways

My inner journalist* is wondering (after reading and rereading the article) where did this rumour originate? There's no source listed.

*I'm not intending to be facetious or make fun: I studied and am qualified, and have several years working and published in general and specialist media outlets in print and online This was in reference to an earlier version of the story. Please carry on!

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:That's why I have paypal credit for the 3 digit cost orders.

It is certainly a huge help on sites it works on. & Yet it has not worked since the Pulse redesign (change to a different back end) and when I asked them they said only "That is not a feature of the website" (kinda like they had no idea what I was talking about).

I wonder if Big Convoy would be "expensive" like $90.00 and basically an underscaled Commander Class price for a Leader class toy.
Or will they scale him so he's nose to nose with Magmatron.

Magmatron is a good example as if anything he was slightly under produced compared to the demand for him... so I think the demand/supply issues would be even worse with a Direct to Consumer model - but if you want to foster an idea of false scarcity and get people back into the habit of pre-ordering - it is likely going to help with that - something that all those "on sale inside a few weeks" situations with Hasbro products don't really help with.

I wonder if they'd do this funding model on repaints ?
Like say Armada Optimus Prime or 1986 Movie Optimus Prime's mould too ?

As if so I think it makes more sense to just make Optimus Prime as he is more than likely going to sell in most instances... and if anything they could be accused of 'over doing it a bit' lately with G1 Optimus toys.

That would be intriguing if it wasn't limited to the Hasbro Pulse website. If pre-orders were opened say on Amazon for instance where it could be ordered outside the US, Canada and UK it would be fairly interesting.

First-Aid wrote:This centers around the "death" of the brick and mortar stores for toys, especially for collectibles. There has been an increasing dearth of figures at Ross and other bulk outlets as figures on shelves go unsold. The fact that Transformers is one of the latter IPs to go into this model says a bit about the strength of the brand but unless Hasbro figures out how to improve the popularity of the IP (Earthspark has famously been outperformed by 35 year old reruns of the "Golden Girls" according to ratings and isn't even in the top 50 ratings for cartoons), made to order and collectors will be the only remaining market.

I have my doubts. People have been finding a lot of stuff at Ross and the likes for years now, even exceedingly rare stuff like Walmart exclusives that never made it to retail or 2010 Generations Lugnut. Heck, Ollie's has been building their empire on overstock toys for decades now. There have been auction houses in the winter that only do overstock toys at least since I was a kid in the 80s (that's how I got my MOTU Monstroid and Visionaries Lancer Cycle back in the day). I don't think there's any real trend there.

I see this as more of them finding another venue to get high demand characters into the hands of fans, just like they did with A Level figures at retail.

Emerje

This is a better business model. You won't have the Olly's situation where you can't even give it away and it's better to just burn it. Some figures just sit on the shelf for months or years. Retail distribution is also a nightmare. This solves both problems.

Dino-Snarl wrote:This is a better business model. You won't have the Olly's situation where you can't even give it away and it's better to just burn it. Some figures just sit on the shelf for months or years. Retail distribution is also a nightmare. This solves both problems.

Problem is the majority of sales still come from adults buying in store for kids. On demand is fine for collectibles, but it's a terrible model for mass retail. If there was a real issue with things going on clearance or ending up and surplus stores then Walmart and Target would just stop giving them shelf space. They aren't just selling them but asking Hasbro for exclusives because people are still buying them. Hasbro themself considers retail Transformers to be one of their best products. With all the talk of them getting out of the toy business to make games and selling off licenses for their IPs, the reason Hasbro still makes Transformers and G.I.Joe toys is because the model is working for them.

Emerje

I see this shift involving a few to a handful of figures per year... Maybe one deluxe per wave.
At least to start.
I'm even betting at least a couple MtO figures are still repaints/retools.
I could also see any new mold or class past deluxe having an increased price right off the bat.

Emerje wrote:

Dino-Snarl wrote:This is a better business model. You won't have the Olly's situation where you can't even give it away and it's better to just burn it. Some figures just sit on the shelf for months or years. Retail distribution is also a nightmare. This solves both problems.

Problem is the majority of sales still come from adults buying in store for kids. On demand is fine for collectibles, but it's a terrible model for mass retail. If there was a real issue with things going on clearance or ending up and surplus stores then Walmart and Target would just stop giving them shelf space. They aren't just selling them but asking Hasbro for exclusives because people are still buying them. Hasbro themself considers retail Transformers to be one of their best products. With all the talk of them getting out of the toy business to make games and selling off licenses for their IPs, the reason Hasbro still makes Transformers and G.I.Joe toys is because the model is working for them.

Emerje

So a thought came to mind maybe they could just make a line specifically for mass retail for the children and then a separate line for adult collectors that can be made to order.

Sowndwave76 wrote:I see this shift involving a few to a handful of figures per year... Maybe one deluxe per wave.
At least to start.
I'm even betting at least a couple MtO figures are still repaints/retools.
I could also see any new mold or class past deluxe having an increased price right off the bat.

If they have the balls to sell a MTO that's a repaint or retool watch the news, I'll be on it.

RAR wrote:

D-Maximal_Primal wrote:That's why I have paypal credit for the 3 digit cost orders.

It is certainly a huge help on sites it works on. & Yet it has not worked since the Pulse redesign (change to a different back end) and when I asked them they said only "That is not a feature of the website" (kinda like they had no idea what I was talking about).

Are you US based? Paypal works for me on pulse, and they even changed it so it works on preorders now. The app has truly crapped the bed, so I have to purely use the website now

It seems like a lot of people are interpereting this as "Hasbro will be switching from in-store toys to made-to-order toys", which is not mentioned or implied by the original post.

The post seems to be implying that certain figures would be available in a made-to-order format, while they would still have their regular in-store line.

To me, this is a great idea. It allows them to confidently make toys for characters that would not sell as well at mass retail without wasting resources on them. The character mentioned above, Big Convoy, is a Prime example. Big Transformers fans would certainly buy the character, but that may not do as well at general retail due to a lack of familiarity with the character.

It's the Vector Prime issue. He's a fan favorite character for those who are big enough transformers fans to know him, but today's kids and casual fans don't know him and may not care to buy the toy, so he sits on the shelf.

I see this as a good way to get around restrictive price points. How many times have we had figures in recent years that were either severely compromised to fit in a lower price point or bumped up into the next category and end up severely lacking for the price? This could be a great way to get the in-betweeners. Got something that's too complex for Leader class but too simple for Commander, or maybe somewhere between Commander and Titan? Made to order fixes that.