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Emerje wrote:primalxconvoy wrote:3/ These could be related to dwindling sales or a lack of money at Takara.
Why do people still feel the need to perpetuate this myth? Takara themselves have posted their financial reports in English for all to see and they are very strong. They even specifically point at strong Transformers sales. They had an abysmal 2016, but 2017 was their best year since 2013 and that includes setting aside over US$3 million to prepare for losses from Toys R Us restructuring in the USA. Both their income from within Japan and globally as a parent company have been strong.
Here are some highlights:
From Takara Tomy as a parent company
Global sales (remember, Tomy operates worldwide and Hasbro does use Transformers under license so TT does make money off Hasbro's sales)
Maybe a good argument could have been made in 2016 when Takara Tomy had a bad year, but not now. The final results for 2017 come out in March and I expect some big numbers to end the fiscal year. That doesn't mean Hasbro wont try to buy the, but it wont be because Takara Tomy is in the red.
Emerje
kurthy wrote:Given that lines are planned out much more than a year in advance, is it possible that Power of the Primes is the result of bad sales in 2016?
Emerje wrote:That's entirely possible, but that would depend entirely on what happened in 2016. I feel like whatever it was wasn't because of Transformers.
Emerje
chuckdawg1999 wrote:I'm trying to think what lines were out in 2016 and I might be wrong but Adventure might have been the problem.
Emerje wrote:That could be, both Prime and Adventure ended rather abruptly without finishing their shows and toy lines. I'm not so sure that alone would have been enough to suffer such a huge loss, but it couldn't have helped. Probably some combination of failed investments in new toy lines, video games, and anime, or maybe something in their electronics division crashed especially hard. For 2017/2018 they seem to have found some success in their new Tomica Hyper Rescue and Shinkalion franchises. Maybe Japan just prefers their robot cartoons homegrown. Maybe it's time for another Unicron Trilogy?
Emerje
primalxconvoy wrote:The "myth" of Takara Tomy's poor sales is actually based upon facts, plus some speculation:
- https://seekingalpha.com/article/409679 ... ard-spiral
- https://seekingalpha.com/article/408662 ... -gunsights
One of the major factors was that Takara Tomy lost the (master?) licence for Pokemon, apparently.
Also, regardless of Takara doing well, it's the LEGENDS Transformers that apparently were not selling that well, or the limited market that they were aimed at, creating a "chicken or egg" situation.
As far as I have seen, Transformers have never enjoyed a really strong, consistent presence in most toy departments (with the exception of Toys R Us, and at Yodabashi/Bic Camera). This may mean that TFs have not really enjoyed the success of, say, Power Rangers, or Masked Rider in Japan.
ZeroWolf wrote:Well in Japan transformers does face stiff competition, especially in the more adult oriented market. Bandai are takara's biggest threat. I see takara's shinkalion as a hope of the second coming of the brave franchise (of which gaogaigar was the best)
kurthy wrote:In 2016, they would have also been heavily in the design processes of Diaclone II (a line seriously threatening my bank account) and revamping the MP line, in addition to designing all the heavy retools for UW and Legends. Those might have been heavy capital expenses hitting their books without immediate gains to offset. Just speculating though.
primalxconvoy wrote:The "myth" of Takara Tomy's poor sales is actually based upon facts, plus some speculation:
- https://seekingalpha.com/article/409679 ... ard-spiral
- https://seekingalpha.com/article/408662 ... -gunsights
One of the major factors was that Takara Tomy lost the (master?) licence for Pokemon, apparently.
Also, regardless of Takara doing well, it's the LEGENDS Transformers that apparently were not selling that well, or the limited market that they were aimed at, creating a "chicken or egg" situation.
As far as I have seen, Transformers have never enjoyed a really strong, consistent presence in most toy departments (with the exception of Toys R Us, and at Yodabashi/Bic Camera). This may mean that TFs have not really enjoyed the success of, say, Power Rangers, or Masked Rider in Japan.
william-james88 wrote:I don't think the shrinkalion line has anything to do with any of this when we are looking at the numbers. The line debuted in 2015. And in any case, it's part of the Playrail line from TOMY, which has been going for at least as long as Transformers (it's the line Omega Supreme comes from).
primalxconvoy wrote:The master licence is a big deal.
Recently, Bandai USA lost the master licence to Power Rangers:
- https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/02/16 ... ai-hasbro/
As for TFs in Japan, saying that they were all aimed at collectors isn't really accurate.
Takara have tried to compete with Bandai for market/mind share of the children's market, but hasn't (ever?) won with their TF brand against Power Rangers, et al.
The fact that Legends ended up (but doesn't start out as) with a 15+ age rating and adult content in the comics is a signal that for such figures, Takara wasn't able to sell them successfully in most b&m shops.
Even the correctors' areas of toy departments rarely stocked TFs, reserving such areas for the likes of Gundam, Star Wars Black, etc.
Emerje wrote: I wouldn't be surprised at all if Bandai America shut down next year, their current product lines are lacking and black packaging on Power Rangers aren't exactly going to entice kids
primalxconvoy wrote:As for the age rating, from what you've shown, Hasbro hasn't used "15+", right? Perhaps the "8+" was due to the inclusion of the IDW comic?
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