Seibertron wrote:Ok, slew of questions time. These are all questions that I've been pondering since Walmart originally posted these a couple of months ago.
1. How are Walmart, Target and Toys R Us able to surpass the supposed "toy gun" law that we keep getting told about that prevents us from getting a G1 Megatron reissue here in the States?
2. Don't these retailers have a "responsibility" to abide by our laws or is this not an actual law at all?
3. Does this law not apply to sales on the Internet? If it does not apply to Internet sales, then why did eBay take such drastic measures earlier this year to prevent sales of non-orange capped Megatrons with their service?
4. What about the whole Optimus Prime short smoke stacks debate? How about Starscream's missiles? I'm starting to wonder if these are issues on which Hasbro has self-regulated themselves to avoid potential lawsuits and such.
5. If that's the case, why wouldn't a company like Walmart, who has far more money at stake than Hasbro, take even less chances with issues like toy gun safety laws and drop tests in regards to Starscream's missiles and Optimus Prime's smokestacks.
6. Why are the prices so high? Is it because there's a middle man involved here? The prices are too consistent between these big three that it seems like Distributoys is taking a huge chunk of the profit here to resell these items back to these major retailers.
7. Why are these 3 companies not dealing directly with TakaraTomy's distributors instead of an American-based distributor that is already marking up the prices? Walmart is notorious for eliminating the middle man ... it seems like this is the perfect opportunity for them to do it.
8. Are the prices so high on these 4 items that it means these 3 store chains will ignore or look over some of the areas of concern Hasbro has expressed through their past actions by changing Starscream's missiles, castrating Prime's smokestacks and simply not releasing the reissue of Megatron?
9. How is it that Hasbro doesn't have more control over how the Transformers are distributed in the U.S.? Some of you might disagree with this next statement, but it seems kind of scary for Hasbro if the major retailers can just import the Japanese figures and bypass Hasbro altogether.
10. Why didn't Hasbro have G1 reissues available at retail stores in time for the movie this year? It's very obvious that the major store chains want these products available to to sell. I think it's a shame that these retailers simply found another avenue to bring us these reissues. That means less money in Hasbro's pocket which is a bummer ... I want Hasbro to make as much money as they can with this brand so that our hobby will continue as long as possible.
I'm sure I have other questions and thoughts regarding this, but the above list will give you guys enough to chew on in the mean time.
Well I would think, and this is merely my assumption, that somehow, Target, toys R' Us and Wal-Mart are Labeling these as Collectors Items 18+ and up. Which means all toy safety laws are irrelevant, as these are no longer toys or labeled as such.
Again this is just my assumption, there's nothing in the sites to suggest this.
But I see no other logical reason to how they can sell these without the required modifications.
Of course they could just entirely be bypassing Hasbro.
Hasbro cannot control what Wal-Mart, Toys R' Us or Target buy, and from whom and then likewise cannot control to whom Takara/Tomy sells things. Independent entities and all.
Of course this is all my own speculation. Feel free to prove me wrong.
Ya i need a new G1 megatron but one problem arent the toy laws saying that toy guns can not look real and im pretty sure megatron falls in that area.
