ZeroWolf wrote:-Kanrabat- wrote:I bet HASTAK allows leaks on purpose because free online advertising. They save and earn back MILLIONS this way.
And it's pretty damn fine by me.
That's my theory, gets around youtube's promotion rules if they can point to a lowly factory worker. Plausible deniability and all that.
No. No, no, no NO! None of that is true, none of anything that has been said, about leaks, reviewers, or anything like that is true. I truly don't care if this gets me thrown off the site but I've had enough of the maddening ignorance that I'm reading.
Some years ago I had a podcast that allowed me to speak with former Hasbro designers, stress on former, there is NO WAY, NONE that ANYONE would be able to sit down with a current designer and ask the questions I was able to, most of which didn't make the air.
First, Hasbro DOES NOT condone or allow leaks, KOs, unlicensed homages, or whatever 3rd party transformers are. The problem is the rules in the country where the factories were and are, are muddy at best and it just isn't worth the expense legally to try and stop the leaks. It's NOT free advertising or something Hasbro is OK with. It's just bad laws in bad countries.
Second, HASBRO HAS NOT, DOES NOT, AND NEVER WILL GIVE OUT REVIEW SAMPLES MONTHS OR WEEKS BEFORE A FIGURE IS RELEASED TO MARKET. Read that sentence again and as many times you need to, to get it in your head. The last thing Hasbro wants is to reveal flaws, issues, and other problems with a mold before it's on a shelf and no longer their problem. Imagine a reviewer got a FULLY FINISHED READY TO SHIP AND SELL Tracks figure with those horrible legs and that review made it all over the net before Target and Walmart had the figures out to sell, most people would pass on it because they wouldn't want to bother trying to fix it and parents wouldn't want to deal with their children's complaints. If you see a review of a figure months early, or even before it's been announced without being found on a shelf somewhere, IT IS A STOLEN TOY, REGARDLESS IF IT'S IN A BOX OR NOT! Plenty of discarded figures are used as boxed samples to show how a toy will look and then the box and figure are DISCARDED! It's a shame that so many toys with a blemish here or there are tossed when they could be donated but it is what it is. Frankly, I've always believed that Hasbro rated out YouTube to the FTC and caused that whole COPA thing as a backhanded way to get rid of video reviewers, there's brand loyalty for you.
Finally, retailers DO NOT send out early samples UNLESS it's a new line that they have monetarily invested in. A small boutique toy line that BBTS would carry for example, that they may have pledged some money to. The most a retailer will do, and I mean a place like BBTS, is put a reviewer's order at the top of the list to be shipped out but that's ALL.
That's it. I've said my peace. This all comes from years of being in the hobby and speaking to people who would know. Hasbro doesn't care about you, me, your mom, or your cat. Don't think that highly of them. I'm not responding to any more posts on this because I don't want to pop another blood vessel.
. Anyway, I can't fathom that there wouldn't be some sort of TF event in August for the full wave 4 Kingdom Reveal.
