Seibertron wrote:mordhelm wrote:A LOT went wrong for Hasbro (and Transformers) in the last year. TRU going under tanked sales significantly. And TLK was a failure compared to the preceding movies. My guess is the TLK toyline also suffered. And I hear the comics aren't doing fantastic, revenue-wise (though I bet better than most comics these days).
From what I'm aware, Transformers has done very well in the past year, with the exception of the Last Knight movie. Even the toys sold well, but that's because it was a very scaled back toy line.
I've heard similar things about the comics, but Transformers comics have never been big sellers, not since 2002's Dreamwave Transformers #1.
mordhelm wrote:Unfortunately these things happen when corporations do something drastic to "right the ship".
To the bean counters, what characters sell? The original Autobots and some of the Decepticons.
This is really just the fallout of a tough year for Transformers.
War for Cybertron was in the works long before the failures of last year. In the absence of a working crystal ball, these decisions were all under way long before 2017 happened.
mordhelm wrote:I am with you though, quite disappointed about several missing characters from G1. However, I think they are coming. Warden seems interesting in completing the G1 line. So I think Pretender Monsters, Seacons, Horrorcons, Targetmasters, are all coming. Heck, they may special release the remaining Pretender shells at some point too.
There are different ways to bring out the "missing characters" without doing it in the way in which we think it should be done. Who knows where and when other characters will show up. Hasbro knows what they're doing. I have great faith in their plans, though I have waited very patiently for the 84 and 85 characters to finally get finished up like Cliffjumper, a proper Huffer, the Deluxe Insecticons, Astrotain done right, Reflector, Hoist and Trailbreaker done right, and so on. Hopefully we'll get those gaps filled in soon!
mordhelm wrote:Let's all not forget that there is one more show (NYCC) this year. I believe NYCC was when Grotusque was revealed and put up for sale. I think we have one more surprise coming for NYCC.
Not to mention other shows around the world which may give Hasbro other opportunities to unveil other new products. They haven't really done that in the past but considering the onslaught of new products unveiled at SDCC last week, I have great hopes that there is more just waiting right around the corner.
It was also my understanding, that Hasbro decided to start brand changing every 18 months, to every 12 months so that B&M would order new product, instead of skipping the last couple waves because of ordering too much of earlier ones. I just think most (including myself) thought this would occur after PotP, not during it, since we saw some *clues* at perhaps other proposed releases. Think about it. The original line lasted 8 years (though the concepts changed dramatically) BW lasted 3 years, BM & RID roughly 2 years, and every mainline since has lasted 2 years. Even sub-lines like Universe, and each iteration of Generatons lasted about 2 years. But T30, CW, & TR were 18 months, now we are down to one year.
So while this keeps product fresh on the shelves, this forces
and
to come up with basically a whole new concept every year. Of course we see some recycling of ideas, and that's not a bad thing, but I'm just not sure how long it will last. I mean MOTU has a great thing going with their collector based series, but I'd kind of hate for Generations to go that route.
Advantages: having guaranteed release dates, and knowing in advance what's coming
Disadvantages: high cost, short supply, and no B&M option, scalpers galore....
Bucket/Want List: Botcon 2016 Customization Class Ratchet (G2 Deco), or Customization Class Ratchet (Marvel Comics Deco) **would also be willing to pay for an Unpainted Botcon 2016 Ratchet, TT Legends Fortress Head (only) with working Electronics
Wish List of Modern Combiners: Road Caesar, Monstructor & Dinoking (proper size to fiction), Landcross, Guard City, Battle Gaia, & G2 Defensor. Wish List of Titans:Metrotitan,Majin Zarak
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