The Energon Pub

News Credits: 1082 · by **Tigertrack** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 1:46 pm

cnn.com- The recession is hitting everyone hard. Choices need to be made in families, and companies alike.

With the idea of competing for people's dollars becoming even more important, toy companies are returning to reliable, known brands...in other words its what all Transformers fans already know...nostalgia sells.

This short video is about the effects of the recession on the toy industry and what toy companies are doing to still compete for your dollars. Featured in it are brand names such as GI JOE, Barbie, and Transformers.

You can view the video here, and discuss how the recession and economy may (or may not) be effecting your spending habits.

News Credits: 12 · by **GuyIncognito** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 1:58 pm

Cool video. I liked seeing my old Fisher-Price garage and barn there.

Toys are like comfort food. If anything, hearing bad news about the economy every day makes me want to go out and buy MORE Transformers. I've still got my job, so there's no reason to cut back.

by **bagofshhh** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:01 pm

That's pretty funny, because the Universe 2.0 and Animated lines were full of characters that bring up feelings of nostalgia. Too bad they are being scaled back and/or suspended (at least for a while).

News Credits: 1 · by **Cheetron** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:16 pm

transformers were always my version of a comfort blankie. I loved the idea of getting older characters in new forms, made me feel like a kid again. But.... Higher prices on said toys that are so cheaply made and designed ruin it for me. I'm buying less thanks to it. I would love to be able to walk into a store and pick up Wreck-gar, one of my favs from so long ago. Now I'm researching on defects, percentage of loose ones to good ones, how bad the paint is. It just destroys the fun for me.

Sorry, but my old toys are gone.

by **harvester** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 2:24 pm

Cheetron wrote: Now I'm researching on defects, percentage of loose ones to good ones, how bad the paint is. It just destroys the fun for me.

Sorry, but my old toys are gone.

That's why you gotta only go for the Binaltech [possibly some alternators] and the new Alternity figures. Even Masterpiece. These are more like our childhood figures but not just having the style upgraded, the complexity as well. So these are the perfect upgrade for those feelings. I agree what you say about a lot of the Universe ones though.

News Credits: 2 · by **partholon** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:05 pm

LORD !

I had that fisher price garage ! me da got it for me when i burned my knee off a motor bike exaust that my eldest brother was thinking of buying.

i always liked the yellow one myself with the red cap, as he always seemed pissed off !

its not surprising to see companies fall back on their old sucesses. even in other sectors when a recession hits you got back to the model you had when you last were in a recession. usually that means cutting back on managment, HR , and advertising. this is just an extension of that.

after all, why invest in NEW products from scratch when you know what already worked once and can quickly get up and running with a few tweaks.

News Credits: 459 · by **Sabrblade** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:06 pm

I'm surprised they showed the G1 gun Megatron toy in that commercial bit, since the toy is no longer legal to be bougth and sold in the U.S. nowadays.

News Credits: 1 · by **TankedThomas** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 3:16 pm

For some reason, although the link looks right on Seibertron compared to the actual video page itself, Seibertron's link is sending me to some middle eastern video. I had to manually search for the Old Toys Get New Life video....

by **Tripredacus agent** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 4:51 pm

Cheetron wrote:transformers were always my version of a comfort blankie. I loved the idea of getting older characters in new forms, made me feel like a kid again. But.... Higher prices on said toys that are so cheaply made and designed ruin it for me. I'm buying less thanks to it. I would love to be able to walk into a store and pick up Wreck-gar, one of my favs from so long ago. Now I'm researching on defects, percentage of loose ones to good ones, how bad the paint is. It just destroys the fun for me.

Sorry, but my old toys are gone.

So say we all... :APPLAUSE:

by **JesWal** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 5:11 pm

Nostalgia sells...

...but apparently major motion pictures sell more!

Don't get me wrong, i enjoy the movies, and I think some cool things were done with the toys, but in the end I'd rather have more Universe and Animated. Way cooler than more Movie-formers. But I guess the little kids are gonna go see the movie, see the toys (So cleverly packed in Robot Mode so they are more recognizable as specific characters!) and get mommy and daddy to buy the whole set before Christmas.

As we figured out long ago, Hasbro exists to make money, so I know it's nothing against the fans.

News Credits: 6 · by **Metroplex79** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 7:46 pm

Awwww...the Fisher Price Garage I remember that...I used to pretend it was a Autobot base at school...this was before 1986 of course.

If someone here was crazy enough...he/she could customize it to be the ultimate Micromaster headquarters!!! Even better than Countdown and Skystalker combined!!! :lol:

I also liked how they played a clip of the original TF commercial, too bad Joe fans!!!

In regards to this newsclip,I knew this would happen 14 years ago :-B

News Credits: 4 · by **typh0id** » Mon Mar 09, 2009 10:21 pm

Sabrblade wrote:I'm surprised they showed the G1 gun Megatron toy in that commercial bit, since the toy is no longer legal to be bougth and sold in the U.S. nowadays.

Hehe yeah I caught that too

And I think it's funny they kept showing Anniversary Prime because most people (myself included) thought that particular release of the figure was ass...and retardedly overpriced...Nostalgia may sell, but every store in town has about 30 of those Primes they can't seem to get rid of...