All Transformers Club Memberships will Terminate With the December 2016 Issue

Good, it was high time somebody shut down this club of inept amateurs. Looks like Hasbro finally got wise to these clowns. I was an overpaying international member for exactly one year, but man, never again!!! Still waiting on an apology for the credit card theft, guys!!! A whole year of anxiously checking out my credit card statements to see if Funpub hadn't again decided to hand out all my CC details.
Such good riddance to bad rubbish.

i hope this means the club is being shut down, such a ripoff and was run by morons. Hopefully hasbro will move it to a company that knows whats its doing and will make an actual magazine thats actually worth it and not a 5 page pamphlet, and do a better job of getting the figure into the hands of the subscribers since thats the main reason why people join.

If Hasbro gives the convention license to someone who makes the exclusive figures cheaper, then that's fine with me.

I didn't read this as the Club ending post-2016. Not necessarily. I could see them moving to a defined subscription period, kind of like how the Subscription Service is setup: "Want to be a Club member? Well you have to join within this window. Otherwise, no dice." Or, maybe it's something else.

Jesus guys this doesn't mean the club is ending. It's means subscriptions will go from January to December.

Terminate is probably not the best word usage but I certainly didn't take this as TFCC is ending by 2016. it means your subscriptions will end in December now

Hopefully we'll get an official statement regarding this soon. It's certainly worrying wording.

It's just circumstantial at present, but all,signs are that this it for FunPub, not just a move to defined annual subscriptions or anything similar. That said, I wouldn't assume the club is going to anyone else. It could easily be that there will BE no club after 2016.

The Transformers Collectors' Club Magazine is and always has been a 16-page edition with a 6-page comic in each. If you are a full-year's member, that's a total of 96 pages filled with interviews and information that you won't find anywhere else, as well as product debuts when available.

If you're a fan of obscure Generation 1 toy trivia, concept art, and unreleased product ideas, the article series "Another Time and Place" will continue into next year. The "Rubber Souls" article will have a very interesting follow up as well, which fans of PVC figures will certainly want to check out!

Lastly, the 6-page comic installments will tell an interesting story also, with a slightly different approach to the universe of Transformers.

durroth wrote:Hopefully we'll get an official statement regarding this soon. It's certainly worrying wording.

People have reached out to them and this is as good as we have gotten for official statements:

Hello!

In regard to TCC memberships, the only information we have at this time is what is posted online.
Thanks and have a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays!

Source: http://www.allspark.com/2015/12/botcon- ... d-of-2016/

I can't stand Funpubs price gouging anyway. So if they are closing up shop it wont hurt my feelings, plus it all makes sense with news of Hasbro trademarking “Cybertron Con” a little over a month ago.

So keep it "in house", make the rates cheaper, more accessible for all collectors and it keeps out 3rd party.

Bout d@mn time Hasbro, just don't disappoint and alienate TF collectors and fans like Botcon did.

YoungPrime wrote:I can't stand Funpubs price gouging anyway. So if they are closing up shop it wont hurt my feelings, plus it all makes sense with news of Hasbro trademarking “Cybertron Con” a little over a month ago.

So keep it "in house", make the rates cheaper, more accessible for all collectors and it keeps out 3rd party.

Bout d@mn time Hasbro, just don't disappoint and alienate TF collectors and fans like Botcon did.

Come on man, dont give in to the false assumptions. Cybertron Con is for a Hong Kong convention that has been going on for years. Its no relatated. Just google Hong Kong Cybertron Con and you will see its been going on for a while (the prime shockwave lab exclusive was sold there). That was just license renewal to ensure protect that convention in Hong Kong and ensure they can keep using that name, sicne its a very popular convention there.

I would be super interested in seeing more exclusives come out - at much lower price points... These last sets have been as expensive as 3p combiners - and I know which one would give me a better deal for my money... it isn't fp

I hope this isn't true. I understand all the hate around FunPub, but you really think the next group is going to be any better? I at least know Pete has a wall of transformers and a love for the franchise. That exhibit in Vegas is not something I'm interested in and I don't think the company behind it is going to be a better alternative to FunPub. Also don't see them making any exclusives at all

As for prices for the club and Botcon, I don't think anyone is getting rich off us at FunPub, it looks more like they just make ends meet.

the membership is such a rippoff. I didnt get octobers magazine and the december one is only 12 pages long. im glad fun pup is dead, hopefully somebody else with integrity and ability will take over. ive had 3 magazines this year and as a Canadian I pay a higher price for my membership and keep getting screwed, I'm glad they are done.

I will say that I hope someone takes over the duties for the magazine ASAP other than those who are currently in charge. They already lost Recordicons by David Willis, and it got replaced by some dumb super deformed comic that has no humor in it whatsoever.

The most recent issue, #66, was basically just one long comic. Of the 16 pages (which includes the cover and backcover), 11 were devoted to the shattered glass comic. So, after the comic, cover, and backcover are subtracted, that left just 3 pages of info related pages. Of those 3, we got a credits page which had no real information, and a Teletron profile (again, related to their Shattered Glass comic). The only info page was page 3 that had a half page interview with the voice of Windblade and a half a page look at the creation of the vehicle modes of the headmaster era.

1 page of info total for the whole magazine. Uggh.

Time to turn out the lights on this one, methinks.

william-james88 wrote:

YoungPrime wrote:I can't stand Funpubs price gouging anyway. So if they are closing up shop it wont hurt my feelings, plus it all makes sense with news of Hasbro trademarking “Cybertron Con” a little over a month ago.

So keep it "in house", make the rates cheaper, more accessible for all collectors and it keeps out 3rd party.

Bout d@mn time Hasbro, just don't disappoint and alienate TF collectors and fans like Botcon did.

Come on man, dont give in to the false assumptions. Cybertron Con is for a Hong Kong convention that has been going on for years. Its no relatated. Just google Hong Kong Cybertron Con and you will see its been going on for a while (the prime shockwave lab exclusive was sold there). That was just license renewal to ensure protect that convention in Hong Kong and ensure they can keep using that name, sicne its a very popular convention there.

I'm not giving into anything. I'm simply hoping for a plausible solution to an ongoing issue with certain crappy convention. No one knows what the full extent of Hasbro's plans are for that trademark so until I hear differently, it's still a possibility and it makes sense if only to save Hasbro the embarrassment of getting owned by 3rd Party companies at their own event.

Plus if it was just misplaced speculation then Funpub should've nipped this in the bud hours ago....

People are complaining about $40 dollars when you get a Limited Edition Exclusive figure and 6 issues of a semi decent fan club newsletter. Counting postage for everything you are getting a pretty darn good value. Expecting more from a small time outfit like Pete and friends is a little much. Not a FUNPUB fanboy or anything just looking at it from a business point of view. TFCC was a good thing for the most part. I don't like overpaying for their convention / store exclusives though. Those could be a little more reasonable.

Primeultimus wrote:People are complaining about $40 dollars when you get a Limited Edition Exclusive figure and 6 issues of a semi decent fan club newsletter. Counting postage for everything you are getting a pretty darn good value. Expecting more from a small time outfit like Pete and friends is a little much. Not a FUNPUB fanboy or anything just looking at it from a business point of view. TFCC was a good thing for the most part. I don't like overpaying for their convention / store exclusives though. Those could be a little more reasonable.

No we're not. It's being forced to pay $300-$400 for 6 figures of which maybe 2 are even desired during botcom. Quit trying to dismiss the real issues here.

You guys whine too much.

You knew what you were going into when you bought a membership from a small company.

I not sure this means Fupub is out. It could just be a change in the way they d membership in 2017. They could be eliminating the printed news letter since it is kinda pointless these days. Possibly changing club membership to align when FSS signup is.

YoungPrime wrote:

Primeultimus wrote:People are complaining about $40 dollars when you get a Limited Edition Exclusive figure and 6 issues of a semi decent fan club newsletter. Counting postage for everything you are getting a pretty darn good value. Expecting more from a small time outfit like Pete and friends is a little much. Not a FUNPUB fanboy or anything just looking at it from a business point of view. TFCC was a good thing for the most part. I don't like overpaying for their convention / store exclusives though. Those could be a little more reasonable.

No we're not. It's being forced to pay $300-$400 for 6 figures of which maybe 2 are even desired during botcom. Quit trying to dismiss the real issues here.

But it's your fault you can cancel your membership instead of paying you're robbing yourself.

ciberw0lf wrote:I not sure this means Fupub is out. It could just be a change in the way they d membership in 2017. They could be eliminating the printed news letter since it is kinda pointless these days. Possibly changing club membership to align when FSS signup is.

As I said before, although it's all circumstantial evidence at this stage, this "change in the way they" operate explanation simply isn't plausible. All signs point to 2016 being FunPub's last year with the club/convention.

G.B. Blackrock wrote:

ciberw0lf wrote:I not sure this means Fupub is out. It could just be a change in the way they d membership in 2017. They could be eliminating the printed news letter since it is kinda pointless these days. Possibly changing club membership to align when FSS signup is.

As I said before, although it's all circumstantial evidence at this stage, this "change in the way they" operate explanation simply isn't plausible. All signs point to 2016 being FunPub's last year with the club/convention.

True, but the belief that whatever follows wiil be instantly better is crazy

YoungPrime wrote: No one knows what the full extent of Hasbro's plans are for that trademark so until I hear differently, it's still a possibility and it makes sense if only to save Hasbro the embarrassment of getting owned by 3rd Party companies at their own event.

Plus if it was just misplaced speculation then Funpub should've nipped this in the bud hours ago....

But we do. It was brought up in the recent google hangout with hasbro:

The "Cybertron Con" trademark was positioned as a successful convention in Asia and they wanted to protect the trademark as much as possible. Botcon 2016 is happening as planned.

I am not saying speculation for the end of TFCC is unfounded, I am pretty sure its happening, but its confirmed NOT to be related to cybertron con. That is all I meant and I would very much like it if we move on from the cybettron con stuff since it will invalidate any hypothesis presented.

mirageandjazz1197 wrote:You guys whine too much.

You knew what you were going into when you bought a membership from a small company.

Yeah and you assume too much. (I've never bought jack from Botcom)

And if this news turns out to be true and that Hasbro could be taking things over moving forward then I couldn't be happier.

You on the other hand sound a little bitter but I understand

Seems like a lot of folks expect their limited-run, heavily-painted toys with exclusively-retooled mold plates to cost the same as retail figures.

If you're going to have expectation/reality dissonances like that, I'd advise not getting married.

william-james88 wrote:

YoungPrime wrote: No one knows what the full extent of Hasbro's plans are for that trademark so until I hear differently, it's still a possibility and it makes sense if only to save Hasbro the embarrassment of getting owned by 3rd Party companies at their own event.

Plus if it was just misplaced speculation then Funpub should've nipped this in the bud hours ago....

But we do. It was brought up in the recent google hangout with hasbro:

The "Cybertron Con" trademark was positioned as a successful convention in Asia and they wanted to protect the trademark as much as possible. Botcon 2016 is happening as planned.

I am not saying speculation for the end of TFCC is unfounded, I am pretty sure its happening, but its confirmed NOT to be related to cybertron con. That is all I meant and I would very much like it if we move on from the cybettron con stuff since it will invalidate any hypothesis presented.

Tell ya what, if Funpub is still ripping people off at conventions in 2017 I'll buy you Coke. If Hasbro takes things into their own hands then we all win.

Sound fair?

Randomus wrote:Seems like a lot of folks expect their limited-run, heavily-painted toys with exclusively-retooled mold plates to cost the same as retail figures.

If you're going to have expectation/reality dissonances like that, I'd advise not getting married.

Hope you didn't gather all that from me simply saying "figures could be cheaper" because the irony here could be devastating.

YoungPrime wrote:Tell ya what, if Funpub is still ripping people off at conventions in 2017 I'll buy you Coke. If Hasbro takes things into their own hands then we all win.

Sound fair?

Look man, I dont care about fupub. Being outside the states, their stuff was out of reach so thats one part of the tf fandom I am simply not part of. Their lack of comment solidifies the belief that they wont be around as part of the transfomrers club, so I dont think they will be there is 2017. But as someone who deals with the news and actually wrote about these trademarks, I just wanted to point out that some of the evidence people are using is false. And I would like to make sure we are being smart and speaking rationally. Some people were confused over the cbertron con stuff and I simply wanted for people to know what was up. Doesnt take anything away from people's opinions or the fact that funpub probably wont be handling tf stuff past 2016.

As for me, I never liked their method. I always found the idea of a fan club handled outside hasbro very limited regionally, hence my lack in participation. I also found their exclusives very much overpriced. As a business analyst I just see so much inefficiencies in that business model. If that is the price they needed to stay afloat then theres a problem somewhere. I dont care much for thrd party products either but when a combiner made up of hasbro repaints costs as much as a 3p combiner, something is wrong somewhere.

I'm inclined to think the show's ending as well, but it hasn't been confirmed, and there are plenty of other possibilities. Celebrating is premature, and slightly inappropriate. Especially from those who don't even participate in Club events or purchase their products.

Even IF it's true that a FunPub administrated Club is ending, what makes people think prices would be cheaper for exclusives? Look at eHobby's or similar figures - prices are just as if not more expensive on average, even in those figures' native markets. To expect some cataclysmic change is unrealistic. I would expect similar product and similar prices no matter who's running the show. At this point it's a matter of good will and fan reception, which Hasbro has also been known to bungle.

I agree with everything megatronus just said.

mirageandjazz1197 wrote:You guys whine too much.

You knew what you were going into when you bought a membership from a small company.

Well, I mean, I could buy tfss impactor for $85+ (buying him through funpub at botcon still includes a $40 surcharge) or I could buy mmc spartan for $85; as much as I like combiners, spartan is an infinitely better deal

megatronus wrote:I didn't read this as the Club ending post-2016. Not necessarily. I could see them moving to a defined subscription period, kind of like how the Subscription Service is setup: "Want to be a Club member? Well you have to join within this window. Otherwise, no dice." Or, maybe it's something else.

Yeah, that's kind of how I read it; looks like they're just changing when the yearly cut-off is.

I'm actually alright with the current modus operandi... I'm really only in it for the freebie and the magazine, an occasional exclusive on a blue moon. I've pretty much accepted the fact I'll never be able to go to BotCon, so their exclusives don't mean that much to me (but goddamn, do I wish for some of 2014's exclusives...).

Hellscream9999 wrote:

mirageandjazz1197 wrote:You guys whine too much.

You knew what you were going into when you bought a membership from a small company.

Well, I mean, I could buy tfss impactor for $85+ (buying him through funpub at botcon still includes a $40 surcharge) or I could buy mmc spartan for $85; as much as I like combiners, spartan is an infinitely better deal

Please. Club Impactor will be available for $40 on the secondary market. Mark my words.

megatronus wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

mirageandjazz1197 wrote:You guys whine too much.

You knew what you were going into when you bought a membership from a small company.

Well, I mean, I could buy tfss impactor for $85+ (buying him through funpub at botcon still includes a $40 surcharge) or I could buy mmc spartan for $85; as much as I like combiners, spartan is an infinitely better deal

Please. Club Impactor will be available for $40 on the secondary market. Mark my words.

Oh, yeah, forgot he was happening. I want him, too!

Not to sound like a pessimist, but $40 seems too gracious... I'll say somewhere around $50, $60 tops.

Mindmaster wrote:

megatronus wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

mirageandjazz1197 wrote:You guys whine too much.

You knew what you were going into when you bought a membership from a small company.

Well, I mean, I could buy tfss impactor for $85+ (buying him through funpub at botcon still includes a $40 surcharge) or I could buy mmc spartan for $85; as much as I like combiners, spartan is an infinitely better deal

Please. Club Impactor will be available for $40 on the secondary market. Mark my words.

Oh, yeah, forgot he was happening. I want him, too!

Not to sound like a pessimist, but $40 seems too gracious... I'll say somewhere around $50, $60 tops.

$50-$60 at first, maybe. But of all the Subscription 4.0 figures, I can see Impactor going on clearance fastest. That mystery 7th figure might shake things up slightly.

megatronus wrote:

Mindmaster wrote:

megatronus wrote:

Hellscream9999 wrote:

mirageandjazz1197 wrote:You guys whine too much.

You knew what you were going into when you bought a membership from a small company.

Well, I mean, I could buy tfss impactor for $85+ (buying him through funpub at botcon still includes a $40 surcharge) or I could buy mmc spartan for $85; as much as I like combiners, spartan is an infinitely better deal

Please. Club Impactor will be available for $40 on the secondary market. Mark my words.

Oh, yeah, forgot he was happening. I want him, too!

Not to sound like a pessimist, but $40 seems too gracious... I'll say somewhere around $50, $60 tops.

$50-$60 at first, maybe. But of all the Subscription 4.0 figures, I can see Impactor going on clearance fastest. That mystery 7th figure might shake things up slightly.

Calling it right now, it's going to be Guzzle from Brawl. I even made a midget mode from fiddling with my Brawl that'd be perfect for Guzzle! Granted, it costs him all posability in the knees...

YoungPrime wrote:

Randomus wrote:Seems like a lot of folks expect their limited-run, heavily-painted toys with exclusively-retooled mold plates to cost the same as retail figures.

If you're going to have expectation/reality dissonances like that, I'd advise not getting married.

Hope you didn't gather all that from me simply saying "figures could be cheaper" because the irony here could be devastating.

The point of the joke is that plenty of fans (I wasn't singling you out) seem to create unrealistic expectations, then get enraged when reality doesn't meet them.

I get it; the toys are expensive, but as Megatronus wrote, that's the nature of the exclusive market. If another company (Hasbro or TT included) took the reins, it probably wouldn't change a that.

Yeah, their system got hacked, but whose hasn't? When Target got hacked, no one demanded that Walmart or Sears buy them out.

Don't take me for their lobbyist. I only have 2 of their figures...from eBay. Price is a legitimate downside after all, and I'm rarely interested in obscure characters. When we start cheering for a company's downfall, however, we're not talking issues anymore; we're creating a villain for ourselves to scream at.

If MTMTE can make things more complex than Good vs Evil, why can't real life?

Fun Pub is done. You can deny it if you want, but they are done.

At no point have they actually dispelled the rumors. In previous years, if you said on the Botcon Facebook page that Botcon would never be outside of California again, Pete would immediately reply that that wasn't true. This year people are saying this will be the last Botcon and there is complete silence from Fun Pub.

Heck, I bet if you ask Jesse right now if this year is the last Botcon, he'll only be able to provide the corporate response of "I can't comment". Any other year, he'd be able to say, "No, it's not."

Which is fine. People just need to accept that we won't get any official confirmation until Botcon or later and that this is the last Official Botcon and that there won't be a Fun Pub licensed Transformers Collectors Club or GI Joe Club after the end of next year.

What happens after that? Who knows. Fun Pub owns the Botcon name. So even if they don't have the official Transformers license any more, they could continue to do Botcon as an unofficial convention like TFCon. However, I think that would just be waste of everyone's time and money. Without the license or official toys, they won't be able to compete with TFCon.

As for CybertronCon. Yes, we know that's the name of the event in Asia. However, Hasbro trademarked it here in America. So there likely will be a CybertronCon USA and I would not be surprised if it turned into a all things Hasbro convention rather than just Transformers. Especially with them trying to build a cinematic universe that puts all their brands together.

Bed Bugs wrote:Especially with them trying to build a cinematic universe that puts all their brands together.

I can see it now: 'From Micheal Bay... When evil threatens, Gem and the Holograms must team up with the cast of G.I. Joe to combat Decepticons riding horseback on My Little Pony characters in: Hasbro's cinematic mistake'

Found this on tfw, make of it what you will, but, on top of the silence and lack of contradiction from fp, this seems tantamount to confirmation:

ciberw0lf wrote:

G.B. Blackrock wrote:

ciberw0lf wrote:I not sure this means Fupub is out. It could just be a change in the way they d membership in 2017. They could be eliminating the printed news letter since it is kinda pointless these days. Possibly changing club membership to align when FSS signup is.

As I said before, although it's all circumstantial evidence at this stage, this "change in the way they" operate explanation simply isn't plausible. All signs point to 2016 being FunPub's last year with the club/convention.

True, but the belief that whatever follows wiil be instantly better is crazy

I don't assume anything will necessarily follow....

The smoking twitter feed has been found!

william-james88 wrote:

YoungPrime wrote: No one knows what the full extent of Hasbro's plans are for that trademark so until I hear differently, it's still a possibility and it makes sense if only to save Hasbro the embarrassment of getting owned by 3rd Party companies at their own event.

Plus if it was just misplaced speculation then Funpub should've nipped this in the bud hours ago....

But we do. It was brought up in the recent google hangout with hasbro:

The "Cybertron Con" trademark was positioned as a successful convention in Asia and they wanted to protect the trademark as much as possible. Botcon 2016 is happening as planned.

I am not saying speculation for the end of TFCC is unfounded, I am pretty sure its happening, but its confirmed NOT to be related to cybertron con. That is all I meant and I would very much like it if we move on from the cybettron con stuff since it will invalidate any hypothesis presented.

The statement you're quoting actually doesn't confirm that Hasbro's acquisition of the Cybertron Con name is unrelated to the end of TFCC. It merely says that it IS related to something else. But the ideas are by no means mutually exclusive.

I sure wouldn't want to be a Hasbro staffer at BotCon next year, that's going to be a pretty tense situation with everyone knowing they killed BotCon.

What annoys me is that any of us that renew in March are going to be paying the same price but only getting five magazines instead of six since we've already paid for February 2016.

As for figure pricing, I know I'm being gouged, but I pay the price to get something that Hasbro probably wont make on their own. If you think the prices are fair then ask yourself this: How is it the US$42 subscription gets us six magazines and a figure with all shipping included, but the same figure in different colors sells for US$59 plus shipping? I'm sure they're still making money on the subscription so how can it be so "cheap"?

megatronus wrote:Look at eHobby's or similar figures - prices are just as if not more expensive on average, even in those figures' native markets.

In China, sure, for some reason Hasbro and Takara Tomy both jack up the prices on exclusives over there. But e-Hobby? Nope, not even close. Let's take a look at Deadlock. Currently Deluxe Legends figures go for MSRP 3,100JPY (US$25.63) on e-Hobby while Deadlock is 5,000JPY (US$41.33) a difference of only 1,900JPY (US$15.71). That is a huge difference compared to FunPub asking US$59 for a figure that would be US$17 were it at mass retail, a difference of US$42. They also offer flat rate shipping at 540JPY (US$4.46) and free shipping on orders over 10,000JPY (US$82.67). So really e-Hobby is an example of how exclusives can be done right and a model that FunPub should have followed.

Emerje

Emerje wrote:

megatronus wrote:Look at eHobby's or similar figures - prices are just as if not more expensive on average, even in those figures' native markets.

In China, sure, for some reason Hasbro and Takara Tomy both jack up the prices on exclusives over there. But e-Hobby? Nope, not even close. Let's take a look at Deadlock. Currently Deluxe Legends figures go for MSRP 3,100JPY (US$25.63) on e-Hobby while Deadlock is 5,000JPY (US$41.33) a difference of only 1,900JPY (US$15.71). That is a huge difference compared to FunPub asking US$59 for a figure that would be US$17 were it at mass retail, a difference of US$42. They also offer flat rate shipping at 540JPY (US$4.46) and free shipping on orders over 10,000JPY (US$82.67). So really e-Hobby is an example of how exclusives can be done right and a model that FunPub should have followed.

Emerje

Yeah, but when was the last time you saw a retool from eHobby?

You're forgetting that many TFCC and Botcon figures feature new toolings such as weapons or non-pretooled heads. Hasbro probably isn't going to jack around with any plates that they are still going to use, so the exclusives presumably have to get their own copies of the plates made rather then having extra bits added to the originals.

Deadlock is a great-looking redeco, but he's still just a redeco.

Yeah eHOBBY doesn't pay for any new tooling. Any new tooling they've used in the past is tooling available to them via Takara (like Magnificus' head was tooled with the normal Perceptor parts).

Randy

Hellscream9999 wrote:Found this on tfw, make of it what you will, but, on top of the silence and lack of contradiction from fp, this seems tantamount to confirmation:

Yikes... Not looking good, indeed.

Randomus wrote:

YoungPrime wrote:

Randomus wrote:Seems like a lot of folks expect their limited-run, heavily-painted toys with exclusively-retooled mold plates to cost the same as retail figures.

If you're going to have expectation/reality dissonances like that, I'd advise not getting married.

Hope you didn't gather all that from me simply saying "figures could be cheaper" because the irony here could be devastating.

The point of the joke is that plenty of fans (I wasn't singling you out) seem to create unrealistic expectations, then get enraged when reality doesn't meet them.

I get it; the toys are expensive, but as Megatronus wrote, that's the nature of the exclusive market. If another company (Hasbro or TT included) took the reins, it probably wouldn't change a that.

Yeah, their system got hacked, but whose hasn't? When Target got hacked, no one demanded that Walmart or Sears buy them out.

Don't take me for their lobbyist. I only have 2 of their figures...from eBay. Price is a legitimate downside after all, and I'm rarely interested in obscure characters. When we start cheering for a company's downfall, however, we're not talking issues anymore; we're creating a villain for ourselves to scream at.

If MTMTE can make things more complex than Good vs Evil, why can't real life?

Thanks for clarifying, I agree with some of what you've stated but if Hasbro's going to take the reigns only to do the same crap that turned off collectors in the first place then the h3ll with them to...

I'm not expecting retail prices but giving fans more bang for their buck, and better options from the start shouldn't be out of the question either.

The first thing that they should put in motion is doing away with making members buy 5 or 6 figures for $400 when they're only really interested in only 2 of the lot being offered. And to peak interest make at least one them a brand new mold (to which they could eventually repaint, remold and resell the h3ll out of down the road).

Can't speak for everyone but I personally have no desire in vilifying a company just for the heck of it. I'll applaud said company when they're doing well by the fans/colllector/etc. and call them out when it's the opposite. Yet all I've been reading are nightmare stories about Funpub's staff. From racist comments by the owner to poor treatment of special needs individuals at the convention itself on other sites. So it is what it is...

Well, this news from Jesse makes it sound like something is forthcoming in 2016, and not in a doomed sort of way.