The Energon Pub

[Big Grim]

I got em from Fan2fan. Soon as I heard they had some I fired an email off. Pretty reasonable price too. Not as bad as I feared they would be.

[City Commander]

So, cowering under the fear of being assaulted by Disgruntled Brits everywhere, I have resolved to purchase Titanium Rodimus Prime. Can I find him in Reading? No. Can I find him in Esher? No. Can I find him in London (that's London)? No.

I went away to Boston at the weekend to see my parents. On Saturday I went shopping and saw Titanium Rodimus Prime on sale for £15.00 in Oldrids, "Boston's Own Department Store," of which there's only one other branch in the country. Deadlines upon my brow, I had no time to purchase him, and decided to buy him on Monday.

But come Monday, I find the shops are closed! It's a small market town. It's bank holiday. There will be no TF-related purchases this day. Of course, I had to leave Boston on Monday night to get back to Reading for work on Tuesday. I've searched Reading. No Titanium Rodimus. I'm at work in London. No Titanium Rodimus.

Will I ever see this fellow again? Why are there five sitting in some market town in one of England's most desolate counties, and yet I can't find one in the South East, in our disgusting capital?

It's funny isn't it? Some stoopid little hamlet of farmers in nowheresville will have tfs city dwellers only dream of finding.

I am a guy from nowheresville and i have Titanium Rodimus
surprisingly we've had a steady supply of classics and Titaniums

Me too! I live in small village in the wastelands of Shropshire. Funny enough, the closest Argos has tit SW and RP in a number. Haven't been there since late Feb, but you never know...

[Dough-bot]

hey guys

long time no speakey,
finally moved and now have Tin'ternet
also shameless plug, please buy loads...I am also selling my Fort Max so he needs a good home
Dough-bots massive UK sale

[Seibertron]

I've always wondered how Hasbro decides which Transformers will be sold in Europe. Do they pick the most popular toys in the US aside from the main characters or what?

I'm assuming that the answer lies in the lack of interest in Transformers in Europe as compared with other various parts of the world. Perhaps you could argue that if there were more or better products available in Europe that there would be more interest in Transformers. However, I tend to disagree. For whatever reason, Transformers are just not as popular in Europe. It died off with the end of G2. Only about 9% of this site's visitors are from the UK. Seibertron.com receives more visitors from Canada than the UK ... hence why I've changed my strategy about the staff (going from having a predominantly foreign group of staff members to a more North American based staff to reflect the where the site's users are from). I'll let Google's stats for this site do the talking ...

[Leonardo]

An interesting dissection of the community, there.

[Exulted Unicron]

I got a second Astrotrain in the mail today...so thats been added to my sale list.

[Redimus]

I've always wondered how Hasbro decides which Transformers will be sold in Europe. Do they pick the most popular toys in the US aside from the main characters or what?

I'm assuming that the answer lies in the lack of interest in Transformers in Europe as compared with other various parts of the world. Perhaps you could argue that if there were more or better products available in Europe that there would be more interest in Transformers. However, I tend to disagree. For whatever reason, Transformers are just not as popular in Europe. It died off with the end of G2. Only about 9% of this site's visitors are from the UK. Seibertron.com receives more visitors from Canada than the UK ... hence why I've changed my strategy about the staff (going from having a predominantly foreign group of staff members to a more North American based staff to reflect the where the site's users are from). I'll let Google's stats for this site do the talking ...

But you are forgetting that The UK is rather sdmaller than the US or Canada too.

Correct me if Im wrong, but we're easily the smallest country on the list.

And the simple reason for lack of interest is lack of suport. Ever sinceG2 Hasbro just havnt got it right over here. IF we get the cartoons on terestial tv, they are on at stupid o clock in the morning, when no one is up to watch them. Abd they never show when the toy line is actully out.

[Leonardo]

True. I've never seen a TF cartoon on terrestrial TV being aired at a reasonable time.

And just finding the toys is work enough!

[Exulted Unicron]

They DID show Cybertron at 8:30am on GMTV2 most mornings and Armada used to be on saturdays at the same time

[Leonardo]

They DID show Cybertron at 8:30am on GMTV2 most mornings and Armada used to be on saturdays at the same time

8:30am? Pff! I'm already at work by then! They should air it during prime time, I say!

[City Commander]

True, by that time the target audience are on their way to school.

I remember Beast Wars being on on a Saturday morning at 10...

Whatever it is, I wish Hasbro would just take care of the UK fanbase more...

[Exulted Unicron]

I used to watch Beast Wars as much as I could on saturday mornings. Then they changed that slot to 6:55am and i kept missing it...I wish they'd go back and air it again

[Leonardo]

Yes, me too. It was really good.

[Exulted Unicron]

i shoudl email channel 5 and ask em to reair it

[MegaDave]

I've always wondered how Hasbro decides which Transformers will be sold in Europe. Do they pick the most popular toys in the US aside from the main characters or what?

I'm assuming that the answer lies in the lack of interest in Transformers in Europe as compared with other various parts of the world. Perhaps you could argue that if there were more or better products available in Europe that there would be more interest in Transformers. However, I tend to disagree. For whatever reason, Transformers are just not as popular in Europe. It died off with the end of G2. Only about 9% of this site's visitors are from the UK. Seibertron.com receives more visitors from Canada than the UK ... hence why I've changed my strategy about the staff (going from having a predominantly foreign group of staff members to a more North American based staff to reflect the where the site's users are from). I'll let Google's stats for this site do the talking ...

But you are forgetting that The UK is rather sdmaller than the US or Canada too.

Correct me if Im wrong, but we're easily the smallest country on the list.

And we are only ONE country in europe. Those statistics dont really tell me anything about transformers popularity in europe. Okay so a US based website has more hits by users in the US and Canada - thats got to be a given pretty much. Also an english launguage website has more hits from people in english speaking countrys, forgive me for not being rocked to the core about your revelations here ryan.

If not for the popularity in europe then transformers may have disappeared completly in the late 80s. I collcted many of the turbomasters, micromasters, predators and aquaspeeders in my childhood nd those lines included a lot of figures made specifically for the european market.

I know that hasbro europe could be getting a lot more of my more than they currently do but because i hae access to the internet and i dont have complete trust that the figures that i want will be released on these shores i can obtain myself.

[Leonardo]

That Channel 5 newsreader, she's sitting on a narrow balcony. It doesn't look safe.

[Exulted Unicron]

Hasbro Europe hasn't been right since they dropped all the Transformers and Joes from their inventories and forced majority of sellers to import the toys

[High Command]

I've always wondered how Hasbro decides which Transformers will be sold in Europe. Do they pick the most popular toys in the US aside from the main characters or what?

I'm assuming that the answer lies in the lack of interest in Transformers in Europe as compared with other various parts of the world. Perhaps you could argue that if there were more or better products available in Europe that there would be more interest in Transformers. However, I tend to disagree. For whatever reason, Transformers are just not as popular in Europe. It died off with the end of G2. Only about 9% of this site's visitors are from the UK. Seibertron.com receives more visitors from Canada than the UK ... hence why I've changed my strategy about the staff (going from having a predominantly foreign group of staff members to a more North American based staff to reflect the where the site's users are from). I'll let Google's stats for this site do the talking ...

Your statistics are shewed in favour of North America as this is a US based site. I'd be interested to see how that would compare with a Canadian based TF site, and even a UK based one. Also important in considering is that the UK has a much smaller population then the US. That means that the 9% of visiters we make up, more substantial then it sounds.

US population: 301,574,000
UK population: 60,209,500

If we do a crude calculation and say that the US has aproximately 5 times as many people and we scale up the UK percentage we'd get a figure of around 45%. Meaning that by scaling up the UK population 5 times to match the US, we'd have a proportionally higher percentage of visiters to this site (45% as opposed to 9%).

Furthermore I'm sure you've noticed but the UK posters here are quite a vocal group. I'd be interested to see a similar pic chart detailing the volume of posts made on the forums by each nationality and see how that compares with the first one.

[Leonardo]

^Good point. We're not as much a minority as we appear, in that light.

[Exulted Unicron]

the minority becomes a majority

[Psychout]

So, we're a bunch of gobby brits?

Sounds about right for us I suppose.

[Leonardo]

Rule Britannia, and all that rot.

[Insurgent]

People keep underestimating the UK. And we keep proving them wrong. Rule Britannia, and all that rot.

[Leonardo]

I blame the lager louts.

And those berks organising the Olympics.

[Exulted Unicron]

which ones? the lager louts who got whupped yesterday by Roma fans?