The Energon Pub

well i just got done watching a new modern marvels and they were doing toys, the history and how things are now.... they said 40% of all toys bought are bought by toy collectors. they covered gi joe old and new, he man, star wars and some others. sadly there was nothing on transformers. but to those of you that said we account for a small percentage, i guess 40% of all toys made is relatively small <NOT>. this is why i think the masterpiece line is cranking out a bit faster. not too fast though as to mess up QC.

VioMeTriX wrote:well i just got done watching a new modern marvels and they were doing toys, the history and how things are now.... they said 40% of all toys bought are bought by toy collectors. they covered gi joe old and new, he man, star wars and some others. sadly there was nothing on transformers. but to those of you that said we account for a small percentage, i guess 40% of all toys made is relatively small <NOT>. this is why i think the masterpiece line is cranking out a bit faster. not too fast though as to mess up QC.

Nice. Any link? what was the title of the episode?

after another episode came on (the real new one) i come to find out the toy episode is from 2003... my bad, but we are still relevant in the industry. i am going to search for todays percentages.

I still don't think we make up that a huge number... But oh well.
I'm pretty sure hasbro just does what that does, because they know that toy collectors would still get it anyway. Not everyone would like it, but most would buy it.

I mean... How many people own an Airachnid here. I know I do.

Now is that statistic for new toy sales or all toy sales?

new toys

I could believe 40% for total sales, new and old. I just have a hard time believing we make up 40%of new sales. I'm not saying it isn't so, I'd just like to see modern marvels research.

Just 'cause 40% of all (new) toys are bought by collectors doesn't necessarily mean 40% of Transformers are. And there are quite a lot of unknowns in that statistic. Are they counting just plain retail items, or are they including those several hundred dollar statues/figures/busts? And some collectors buy just to resell to other collectors, which would obviously skew the numbers.

Still... pretty interesting that toys are still considered "for kids" despite just how much of an impact adult fans have.

I'm interested in how they executed that study. I'd like some validity on these numbers and not having them pulled out of one's hind quarters.

If we count and if we do so officially... How do we count?

RhA wrote:I'm interested in how they executed that study. I'd like some validity on these numbers and not having them pulled out of one's hind quarters.

If we count and if we do so officially... How do we count?

Indeed, though I doubt we will ever get it, the episode is ten years old so I'm willing to bet it's gone. I am tempted to write the production staff though.

This is the episode. The scenes sometime jump annoyingly, but it's very watchable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCP0x5Rp8iI

The '40%' isn't very convincing, it's mentioned off-hand near the end.

And I found the original air date of that episode:

December 23rd 2003

Almost 10 years old, and a lot can happen within those 10 years.

85% of all statistics are false.

GuyIncognito wrote:85% of all statistics are false.

Yeah, totally, and the other 15% are questionable at best .

Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see which Benjamin Franklin, Edgar Allen Poe, or possibly Green Lantern and Hawkgirl said originally, depending on what you've seen, heard and believe .

oh damn my bad on the date.... but think of it this way... since then many toys have comissioned masterpiece or collectors edition toys... so i believe that statistic may still be close today... but i am launching my own investigation to find out for sure.

I believe it's so high because they count adult orientated toys like the McFarlane stuff as well.

Dead Metal wrote:I believe it's so high because they count adult orientated toys like the McFarlane stuff as well.

no matter what they are, they are still classified as toys... and adults buy them, which only adds and solidifies that 40%.

Ok, so say we do comprise a good share of the total sales. That does not necessarily mean that Hasbro is going to, or even has to listen to us all the time.

With the phrase "One man's junk is another man's treasure" in mind, there's no way Hasbro will be able to please all of us, all the time, even with our "help". Actually, I'm quite surprised Hasbro hasn't said "So you think you can do better? Well, have at it!" only for us to either crash and burn or to follow their exact same route.

To show you what I mean: You must be this geeky to ride the ride from Sabrina-Online.com

I'm going to just say it: In no way is that 40% verifiable, by lack of a means of research. Let's just disregard it because it's not credible at all. Not even a bit.

VioMeTriX wrote:

Dead Metal wrote:I believe it's so high because they count adult orientated toys like the McFarlane stuff as well.

no matter what they are, they are still classified as toys... and adults buy them, which only adds and solidifies that 40%.

Yea, but when you try to use that as an example for why Hasbro is wrong in saying we're not a large enough market for them to primarily carter to it's still important to take into account. Hasbro makes children's toys, that's their primary business, while adult collector toy makers, like McFarlane, make adult figures that aren't intended for children at all.

And if this chart does include everything that's classified as toys, well then it likely includes "sex toys", which are again 100% for adults, and are once more a wholly different beast from Hasbro's products.

Dead Metal wrote:And if this chart does include everything that's classified as toys, well then it likely includes "sex toys", which are again 100% for adults, and are once more a wholly different beast from Hasbro's products.

Ignoring TFCC's accidental "Nexus Maximus" for convenience