Hasbro Annouces Job Cuts in US and Canada

Hasbro really pushed the limit around Christmas, I don't remember many new toys being released, and the ones that were already shelfwarming were the DOTM toys that even kids don't seem to want. The Transformers that I bought around the holidays were older products. I'm not suprised that they had to cut back

*sighs*

They didn't handle 2011 well, at all. And now people's jobs are going to suffer because of it.

Instead of producing toys that were almost guaranteed to sell, they reshipped and redecoed figures that no one no longer needed or cared about. That, to me, seems like a silly business model.

first the prime first editions should have been released in the us.
second cut way back on the amount of bbs sent to stores.
third no more repaints.
fourth soundwave and leadfoot should have been released in the us.
fifth hire third party companies to design better transformer molds.

all of the above would increase transformers sales

I'm sorry, did the 2011 Christmas Season somehow catch Hasbro off guard?

I'm no toy connoisseur like I am with my transformers, but I don't think I saw anything new on ANY of the Hasbro major brands over the Christmas break.

New TFs wouldn't've solved the lack of sales completely, but it may have lessened the blow a little bit.

here's a fun quote:

Charness wrote:"These moves were made to address both the under-performance in the U.S. and Canada segment, and the need for different skill sets in the company's workforce to be better aligned with a quickly evolving business,"

So... in other words... you need people who realize that new stuff needs to come out before Christmas? Because that's how I'm interpreting that.

griftimus prime wrote:first the prime first editions should have been released in the us.
second cut way back on the amount of bbs sent to stores.
third more repaints.
fourth soundwave and leadfoot should have been released in the us.
fifth hire third party companies to design better transformer molds.

all of the above would increase transformers sales

None of those suggestions would've helped them during Christmas.
1. Prime FEs weren't out until Jan/Feb
2. Ok, I'll give you that. More variety = more sales
3. There were some repaints done, but they were warming shelves pretty fierce IIRC
4. They wouldn't've been released until after Christmas anyways
5. Different topic for a different time, but there's plenty of reasons why they don't do that.

Oops, edit/quote post fail

My opinion is this has little to do with Transformers sales. My area stores were wiped out of TF's after christmas. Even DOTM shelfwarmers cleared out leaving only a few sad figures and many empty pegs. I believe Hasbro is just flat out spending too much money elsewhere. The Hub and it's original content, investing in current toys and support (websites like Bot Shots for example), movies, interactive games. Not to mention all the property they are buying up (like Sabrina the Teenage Witch....really), just a lot of spending in a market with much more cautious consumers.

A few things cross my mind reading the topic and the replies in the thread.

I wonder what jobs specifically were cut. I'd like to know what positions were cut and how many in each. Personally curious in the Canadian side of things for obvious reasons.

I see a lot of you saying "stop putting so many Bumblebees and repaints in blah blah blah". You may not notice it because as collectors were really only concerned with what new throwback hits the shelves. The truth is Bumblebee still sells the most in Hasbros eyes, and until they have some kind of "data" to prove otherwise enjoy seeing them in the Prime line for pretty much every wave. As for repaints, they are a cost effective use of any single mold and since transformers don't stay of the shelves forever, save maybe Armada Laserbeak they will eventually sell. Of course they want big short term sales, but I'm sure they have no problem in long term constant sales either.

Regardless of all that, I feel sorry for all of those that lost their jobs.

Damn, that's shitty news.

I bet if they had released all the new products they had announced over the year BEFORE Christmas instead of 2 months after or not at all, this wouldn't have happened.

They really didn't handle 2011 well. After the first movie and ROTF I would've thought they'd have this movie merch thing down, but all we got was a pared-down toyline full of repaints and rereleases of old characters, and seemingly poorly-researched ideas (HA Basics).

People, Hasbro is a bit bigger than Transformers:
Atari
Avalon Hill (an imprint of Wizards of the Coast, see below)
Cap Candy
CBS Toys
Coleco
Child Guidance
Claster Television, Inc.
Galoob
Kenner
Larami
Maisto
Milton Bradley
Parker Brothers
Playskool
Selchow and Righter
Tiger Electronics
Tonka
Wizards of the Coast
Wrebbit
TSR, Inc.
Kenner itself is a huge flop! And Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast for like 325 million. They print paper.... Its their spending, not a single toy line in literally HUNDREDS of toy lines that caused the downsizing. Spending is.

Hopefully they cut the guy that said "MORE Bumblebees!" and "We should cancel the DOTM and the FE's".

omega666 wrote:Hopefully they cut the guy that said "MORE Bumblebees!" and "We should cancel the DOTM and the FE's".

I'm not laughing at Americans (or our Canadian Cousins) losing their jobs, but that was funny!

Still, there were a lot of new molds that barely saw release anywhere. I don't know how many figures I had to Ebay just because I couldn't find them in stores or in online stores. If that carried through for all their toy lines, that had to be money invested with hardly any return.

RiddlerJ wrote:Still, there were a lot of new molds that barely saw release anywhere. I don't know how many figures I had to Ebay just because I couldn't find them in stores or in online stores. If that carried through for all their toy lines, that had to be money invested with hardly any return.

Agreed. Certainly poor distribution, and I don't think any collector would ATTEMPT to argue that. But, considering this is Hasbro, I doubt VERY much we won't see those toys reused or re-purposed. Also, remember that DOTM hit $1.125 BILLION in box office sales. I'm certain the toys and related merch added greatly to that. One thing in Hasbro's portfolio of products that IS making money, is Transformers.

Hmm...makes you wonder why they started selling cases online.

Well DOTM was a bad toy line. The movie great, the toyline was running out of steam. None of DOTM was an engineering feat like ROTF was. This is coming from a Classics purist, but I think the worst thing they did was not really cater to Christmas.

Sure Transformers shelves were empty after dec 24, but that is natural when a kid is screaming "Daddy I want a transformer!!!' So you'll grab what you see and head to the line. But this year was very dismal for the pickings.

As for Bee, whomever works for Hasbro should know over time a popular character will fade with the wind. The Walmart I went to today was doing a reset. All of the RID toys were Bees, probably from people who bought the case form Hasbro. There were exactly 3 sitting all alone on the shelf.

I hate to see people lose jobs but no matter how great and popular one gets, a little monitoring to keep the trending strong goes a long way.

Get it right Hasbro....

Get rid of the guy behind the desk that insists Bumblebee is the answer to life...

GetRightRobot wrote:People, Hasbro is a bit bigger than Transformers:
Atari
Avalon Hill (an imprint of Wizards of the Coast, see below)
Cap Candy
CBS Toys
Coleco
Child Guidance
Claster Television, Inc.
Galoob
Kenner
Larami
Maisto
Milton Bradley
Parker Brothers
Playskool
Selchow and Righter
Tiger Electronics
Tonka
Wizards of the Coast
Wrebbit
TSR, Inc.
Kenner itself is a huge flop! And Hasbro bought Wizards of the Coast for like 325 million. They print paper.... Its their spending, not a single toy line in literally HUNDREDS of toy lines that caused the downsizing. Spending is.

Of course, but how on earth did they let themselves go into the holiday season without new product on the shelves? Obviously I don't follow most of their other brands, but I doubt the lack of product and bad distribution was limited to Transformers. They are blaming it on poor holiday performance, I didn't see any new product TF-wise, the logical conclusion is that it was the same for other lines and they screwed up big-time.

omega666 wrote:Hopefully they cut the guy that said "MORE Bumblebees!" and "We should cancel the DOTM and the FE's".

Rated X wrote:Get rid of the guy behind the desk that insists Bumblebee is the answer to life...

Rated X wrote:Get rid of the guy behind the desk that insists Bumblebee is the answer to life...

GetRightRobot wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:Still, there were a lot of new molds that barely saw release anywhere. I don't know how many figures I had to Ebay just because I couldn't find them in stores or in online stores. If that carried through for all their toy lines, that had to be money invested with hardly any return.

Agreed. Certainly poor distribution, and I don't think any collector would ATTEMPT to argue that. But, considering this is Hasbro, I doubt VERY much we won't see those toys reused or re-purposed. Also, remember that DOTM hit $1.125 BILLION in box office sales. I'm certain the toys and related merch added greatly to that. One thing in Hasbro's portfolio of products that IS making money, is Transformers.

Okay, so then why were they handled so badly in 2011 and the beginning of this year? My guess is they are slowly trying to move away from toys. We've heard more about shows, movies, multimedia anything, rather than toys.

Apparently Prime is costing them a lot more to produce than they first thought.

Whoever's in charge of planning, needs their head checked and a reeducation in business. I know next to nothing about business, but I know this:

1.) Don't start down one path (First Edition), spend loads of money firing up molds, and then change lanes and go with another that's delivering less quality and less of what people want (PRID).

2.) Don't make a network for your core audience (kids) that's utilized to sell your products, when it's largely inaccessible to the core audience.

3.) Don't align yourself with people who could damage your reputation. (FunPub)

4.) Don't make products you've promised to countries, only to say "Oh, these were never meant for you." (First Edition and Movie Trilogy)

1a.) The costs of producing those molds, firing up the production line and then switching to another set of molds seems wasteful and quite frankly, STUPID. If you had no intention of going with product A, why even produce it? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have them, but why start something you never intended to finish? Ridiculous.

And before anyone says "Well, the First Editions are aimed toward catering to adult collectors and show accuracy enthusiasts", that doesn't fly for me. Why would an American company produce items for their collector base that have to be imported from a foreign country (or countries)? That seems ridiculous and senseless to me. Regardless if it's Hasbro China or Hasbro Australia, or whatever...it all ends up being the debts of, and resting on the shoulders of, Hasbro America. Simply put: Bad planning that makes not a lick of sense.

2a.) The Hub is on the most expensive tier of cable and satellite systems. Most adults, especially those with families, can't afford such an expenditure. Hell, most adults simply WON'T pay for such a thing. Kids? Impossible.

So, why make a network aimed at kids and familes...that most will never see? I'm sure some haven't even heard of it! I'd bet money that some of The Hub's audience comes from people who are on special packages that have a reduced rate for the first year, to entice you to become a consumer.

When that reduced rate ends after the first year and prices skyrocket back to their original, expensive rates...how many customers jump ship on that tier and head back to (medium) digital cable or basic? I'll bet you the number's a lot higher than we're led to believe.

The ratings for Prime sound pretty good at .5 million, especially for a premium cable channel. But they could be ridiculously better if they were on a tier that EVERYONE has access to. I mean, seriously, how much money would they lose if they put it at a lower price? I mean, Discovery's kickin' in some of the dough, so the burden isn't all on Hasbro's shoulders.

I can't figure out which is more ridiculous to me...First Edition flub up, or making a channel for kids...that most will never see. How can you sell a product that no one knows about? How can you sell kids on the idea of their favorite characters if they can't see what they're doing in their latest adventure?

3a.) FunPub's continual flub ups are widely known among the fandom, but now that we know that FunPub's inaction led to fraud and identity theft and will make waves and ripples elsewhere, which could make it to the general public...I'd imagine that could be damaging for Hasbro.

"So...let me get this straight. They had no protection for their customers and the people got ripped off and had their personal information stolen?"

Yep.

"They make special runs of your toys, aimed at collectors with premium pricing and it works out to be substandard product with no premiums given?"

Yep.

"And you advertise these people on EVERY TransFormers toy you produce??"

Yep.

"WHY?!?"

Um. It's good business? Like...man, it's worked for years? Um...they pay for a license and we like, make money off of it?

"But you tell us that collectors are rather unimportant to your bottom line numbers, that children are your main focus."

Right.

"So...you're collecting the money, throwing the fans a bone or two when you can and go on about your business not giving a damn?"

BINGO!

"Piss off."

Word of mouth is a powerful tool. Hasbro needs to remember that when things like this happen. Plus, parents have far more control on their spending than their numbers and statistics would have them believe. I can see plenty of soapbox parents standing on principle and boycotting Hasbro. Toys are made for both the movieverse and Prime, neither of which are exactly family friendly. They're more for certain ages and differently developed kids, rather than for all. Yet, parents are expected to buy these things and they're aimed at kids, when they shouldn't be, because it could expose them to questionable content.

Kids don't need to see Sam running around with a stripper girlfriend. Kids don't need to hear their heroes swear. Kids don't need to see people vaporized and broken and grieving families laying in the streets crying because their city and their loved ones died right before their eyes.

That's scary stuff. That's for a different audience. That's for US. Yet it's all marketed towards kids. That ain't right for them, or for us, and I can see parents putting their foot down and saying "No. No more."

You throw in identity theft, false credit charges, and some upright citizen's going to BITCH. And it'll hit one person's ear, then another, and so on. Is that the likely outcome? Probably not, no. They probably won't feel the effects of this. However, it is possible, and it might surprise you to see it happen.

2011 was one of Hasbro's worst years, it's affecting their 2012 year. 2012 has already had a rocky start on it's own. Because of 2011, people are losing their jobs, they're redirecting their focus, and they're making promises they aren't keeping.

If I had stock in Hasbro right now, I'd get rid of it. I'd want nothing to do with them, with all that's going on. They need to remember that there are people out there who will stand up and say "No more".

Firing people to save money because Hasbro, as a whole, screwed up...just isn't right. If you can't stay afloat after a billion dollar movie, plus toy sales, then you just aren't doing something right. And then the fiasco with FunPub and before that, toy cancellations... Yet more missteps in a really bad economy.

Toys shouldn't be costing people their jobs. Hasbro needs restructuring. It needs people with common sense, not greed. Greed will only make you so much money for so much time. Common sense goes a long way. It pays off small in the beginning, but reaps huge rewards later on.

Me thinks, that, judging from most of the posts in this thread, that most of you think hasbro's main goal in life is to make the transformer toy you want.

They literally have 100's of brands, and although transformers is popular, its not the only thing they have.

They simply screwed the pooch last year. Their distribution was retarded, their scheduling was off, and their supply chain was terrible. Their 3 main boy toy lines: transformers, Beyblade, and Marvel Universe were never stocked, or sporadic at best. And their other main Starwars was pretty much a shelf warming-palooza. This coupled with their spending habits, and the Hub first full year of production, its no wonder they lost money.

also.. they should've released more iron man figures.. rather than 6,000 different iron men.. throw in some villains.

and seriously. cut back the bumblebees, release the shit that people actually want..

there are just so many things that they could do to either cut cost, or spark more interest in transformers. and if that's the case for one of their brands.. it's probably the case with all of them.

with star wars.. they have SOO many repacks it's absolutely ridiculous. they should release newer figures more often.. especially the clones.

i mean, just add a little bit of paint to a clone and bam.. it's a new character. and there are SOO many of them throughout the show, that the possibilities are endless. not to mention people LOVE them. you can't keep them on the shelves (just as long as they're a specific character/have specific colors). i know i love them and would want more.

and when you repaint a figure.. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS repaint it as an homage to G1.. kids are going to buy whatever.. but if you can appease collectors and kids... it's a win win.

and like it has been said before, THEY SHOULD'VE RELEASED THE FIRST EDITION FIGURES!

and rather than have empty shelves or tons of dotm garbage.. they should've releaseed RiD before the holidays, there's absolutely no excuse for that type of shit.

Autobot032 wrote:

GetRightRobot wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:Still, there were a lot of new molds that barely saw release anywhere. I don't know how many figures I had to Ebay just because I couldn't find them in stores or in online stores. If that carried through for all their toy lines, that had to be money invested with hardly any return.

Agreed. Certainly poor distribution, and I don't think any collector would ATTEMPT to argue that. But, considering this is Hasbro, I doubt VERY much we won't see those toys reused or re-purposed. Also, remember that DOTM hit $1.125 BILLION in box office sales. I'm certain the toys and related merch added greatly to that. One thing in Hasbro's portfolio of products that IS making money, is Transformers.

Okay, so then why were they handled so badly in 2011 and the beginning of this year? My guess is they are slowly trying to move away from toys. We've heard more about shows, movies, multimedia anything, rather than toys.

Apparently Prime is costing them a lot more to produce than they first thought.

Whoever's in charge of planning, needs their head checked and a reeducation in business. I know next to nothing about business, but I know this:

1.) Don't start down one path (First Edition), spend loads of money firing up molds, and then change lanes and go with another that's delivering less quality and less of what people want (PRID).

2.) Don't make a network for your core audience (kids) that's utilized to sell your products, when it's largely inaccessible to the core audience.

3.) Don't align yourself with people who could damage your reputation. (FunPub)

4.) Don't make products you've promised to countries, only to say "Oh, these were never meant for you." (First Edition and Movie Trilogy)

1a.) The costs of producing those molds, firing up the production line and then switching to another set of molds seems wasteful and quite frankly, STUPID. If you had no intention of going with product A, why even produce it? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have them, but why start something you never intended to finish? Ridiculous.

And before anyone says "Well, the First Editions are aimed toward catering to adult collectors and show accuracy enthusiasts", that doesn't fly for me. Why would an American company produce items for their collector base that have to be imported from a foreign country (or countries)? That seems ridiculous and senseless to me. Regardless if it's Hasbro China or Hasbro Australia, or whatever...it all ends up being the debts of, and resting on the shoulders of, Hasbro America. Simply put: Bad planning that makes not a lick of sense.

2a.) The Hub is on the most expensive tier of cable and satellite systems. Most adults, especially those with families, can't afford such an expenditure. Hell, most adults simply WON'T pay for such a thing. Kids? Impossible.

So, why make a network aimed at kids and familes...that most will never see? I'm sure some haven't even heard of it! I'd bet money that some of The Hub's audience comes from people who are on special packages that have a reduced rate for the first year, to entice you to become a consumer.

When that reduced rate ends after the first year and prices skyrocket back to their original, expensive rates...how many customers jump ship on that tier and head back to (medium) digital cable or basic? I'll bet you the number's a lot higher than we're led to believe.

The ratings for Prime sound pretty good at .5 million, especially for a premium cable channel. But they could be ridiculously better if they were on a tier that EVERYONE has access to. I mean, seriously, how much money would they lose if they put it at a lower price? I mean, Discovery's kickin' in some of the dough, so the burden isn't all on Hasbro's shoulders.

I can't figure out which is more ridiculous to me...First Edition flub up, or making a channel for kids...that most will never see. How can you sell a product that no one knows about? How can you sell kids on the idea of their favorite characters if they can't see what they're doing in their latest adventure?

3a.) FunPub's continual flub ups are widely known among the fandom, but now that we know that FunPub's inaction led to fraud and identity theft and will make waves and ripples elsewhere, which could make it to the general public...I'd imagine that could be damaging for Hasbro.

"So...let me get this straight. They had no protection for their customers and the people got ripped off and had their personal information stolen?"

Yep.

"They make special runs of your toys, aimed at collectors with premium pricing and it works out to be substandard product with no premiums given?"

Yep.

"And you advertise these people on EVERY TransFormers toy you produce??"

Yep.

"WHY?!?"

Um. It's good business? Like...man, it's worked for years? Um...they pay for a license and we like, make money off of it?

"But you tell us that collectors are rather unimportant to your bottom line numbers, that children are your main focus."

Right.

"So...you're collecting the money, throwing the fans a bone or two when you can and go on about your business not giving a damn?"

BINGO!

"Piss off."

Word of mouth is a powerful tool. Hasbro needs to remember that when things like this happen. Plus, parents have far more control on their spending than their numbers and statistics would have them believe. I can see plenty of soapbox parents standing on principle and boycotting Hasbro. Toys are made for both the movieverse and Prime, neither of which are exactly family friendly. They're more for certain ages and differently developed kids, rather than for all. Yet, parents are expected to buy these things and they're aimed at kids, when they shouldn't be, because it could expose them to questionable content.

Kids don't need to see Sam running around with a stripper girlfriend. Kids don't need to hear their heroes swear. Kids don't need to see people vaporized and broken and grieving families laying in the streets crying because their city and their loved ones died right before their eyes.

That's scary stuff. That's for a different audience. That's for US. Yet it's all marketed towards kids. That ain't right for them, or for us, and I can see parents putting their foot down and saying "No. No more."

You throw in identity theft, false credit charges, and some upright citizen's going to BITCH. And it'll hit one person's ear, then another, and so on. Is that the likely outcome? Probably not, no. They probably won't feel the effects of this. However, it is possible, and it might surprise you to see it happen.

2011 was one of Hasbro's worst years, it's affecting their 2012 year. 2012 has already had a rocky start on it's own. Because of 2011, people are losing their jobs, they're redirecting their focus, and they're making promises they aren't keeping.

If I had stock in Hasbro right now, I'd get rid of it. I'd want nothing to do with them, with all that's going on. They need to remember that there are people out there who will stand up and say "No more".

Firing people to save money because Hasbro, as a whole, screwed up...just isn't right. If you can't stay afloat after a billion dollar movie, plus toy sales, then you just aren't doing something right. And then the fiasco with FunPub and before that, toy cancellations... Yet more missteps in a really bad economy.

Toys shouldn't be costing people their jobs. Hasbro needs restructuring. It needs people with common sense, not greed. Greed will only make you so much money for so much time. Common sense goes a long way. It pays off small in the beginning, but reaps huge rewards later on.

lol... you just don't get it.

Just another quick heads up for those who want to know. Hasbro can care less about the collector. You are not their target audience. They would just as soon get rid of TFCC, except they manage to trick us shulbs into spending $60 on a toy that cost's them $3 to make.

Sooo just to reiterate, collectors mean nothing to hasbro (or mostly any major toy company anyway) And bumblebee will continue to be packed highly because it sells the most. Its a big yellow sign that says "pick me for johnny's birthday".

Autobot032 wrote:

GetRightRobot wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:Still, there were a lot of new molds that barely saw release anywhere. I don't know how many figures I had to Ebay just because I couldn't find them in stores or in online stores. If that carried through for all their toy lines, that had to be money invested with hardly any return.

Agreed. Certainly poor distribution, and I don't think any collector would ATTEMPT to argue that. But, considering this is Hasbro, I doubt VERY much we won't see those toys reused or re-purposed. Also, remember that DOTM hit $1.125 BILLION in box office sales. I'm certain the toys and related merch added greatly to that. One thing in Hasbro's portfolio of products that IS making money, is Transformers.

Okay, so then why were they handled so badly in 2011 and the beginning of this year? My guess is they are slowly trying to move away from toys. We've heard more about shows, movies, multimedia anything, rather than toys.

Apparently Prime is costing them a lot more to produce than they first thought.

Whoever's in charge of planning, needs their head checked and a reeducation in business. I know next to nothing about business, but I know this:

1.) Don't start down one path (First Edition), spend loads of money firing up molds, and then change lanes and go with another that's delivering less quality and less of what people want (PRID).

2.) Don't make a network for your core audience (kids) that's utilized to sell your products, when it's largely inaccessible to the core audience.

3.) Don't align yourself with people who could damage your reputation. (FunPub)

4.) Don't make products you've promised to countries, only to say "Oh, these were never meant for you." (First Edition and Movie Trilogy)

1a.) The costs of producing those molds, firing up the production line and then switching to another set of molds seems wasteful and quite frankly, STUPID. If you had no intention of going with product A, why even produce it? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have them, but why start something you never intended to finish? Ridiculous.

And before anyone says "Well, the First Editions are aimed toward catering to adult collectors and show accuracy enthusiasts", that doesn't fly for me. Why would an American company produce items for their collector base that have to be imported from a foreign country (or countries)? That seems ridiculous and senseless to me. Regardless if it's Hasbro China or Hasbro Australia, or whatever...it all ends up being the debts of, and resting on the shoulders of, Hasbro America. Simply put: Bad planning that makes not a lick of sense.

2a.) The Hub is on the most expensive tier of cable and satellite systems. Most adults, especially those with families, can't afford such an expenditure. Hell, most adults simply WON'T pay for such a thing. Kids? Impossible.

So, why make a network aimed at kids and familes...that most will never see? I'm sure some haven't even heard of it! I'd bet money that some of The Hub's audience comes from people who are on special packages that have a reduced rate for the first year, to entice you to become a consumer.

When that reduced rate ends after the first year and prices skyrocket back to their original, expensive rates...how many customers jump ship on that tier and head back to (medium) digital cable or basic? I'll bet you the number's a lot higher than we're led to believe.

The ratings for Prime sound pretty good at .5 million, especially for a premium cable channel. But they could be ridiculously better if they were on a tier that EVERYONE has access to. I mean, seriously, how much money would they lose if they put it at a lower price? I mean, Discovery's kickin' in some of the dough, so the burden isn't all on Hasbro's shoulders.

I can't figure out which is more ridiculous to me...First Edition flub up, or making a channel for kids...that most will never see. How can you sell a product that no one knows about? How can you sell kids on the idea of their favorite characters if they can't see what they're doing in their latest adventure?

3a.) FunPub's continual flub ups are widely known among the fandom, but now that we know that FunPub's inaction led to fraud and identity theft and will make waves and ripples elsewhere, which could make it to the general public...I'd imagine that could be damaging for Hasbro.

"So...let me get this straight. They had no protection for their customers and the people got ripped off and had their personal information stolen?"

Yep.

"They make special runs of your toys, aimed at collectors with premium pricing and it works out to be substandard product with no premiums given?"

Yep.

"And you advertise these people on EVERY TransFormers toy you produce??"

Yep.

"WHY?!?"

Um. It's good business? Like...man, it's worked for years? Um...they pay for a license and we like, make money off of it?

"But you tell us that collectors are rather unimportant to your bottom line numbers, that children are your main focus."

Right.

"So...you're collecting the money, throwing the fans a bone or two when you can and go on about your business not giving a damn?"

BINGO!

"Piss off."

Word of mouth is a powerful tool. Hasbro needs to remember that when things like this happen. Plus, parents have far more control on their spending than their numbers and statistics would have them believe. I can see plenty of soapbox parents standing on principle and boycotting Hasbro. Toys are made for both the movieverse and Prime, neither of which are exactly family friendly. They're more for certain ages and differently developed kids, rather than for all. Yet, parents are expected to buy these things and they're aimed at kids, when they shouldn't be, because it could expose them to questionable content.

Kids don't need to see Sam running around with a stripper girlfriend. Kids don't need to hear their heroes swear. Kids don't need to see people vaporized and broken and grieving families laying in the streets crying because their city and their loved ones died right before their eyes.

That's scary stuff. That's for a different audience. That's for US. Yet it's all marketed towards kids. That ain't right for them, or for us, and I can see parents putting their foot down and saying "No. No more."

You throw in identity theft, false credit charges, and some upright citizen's going to BITCH. And it'll hit one person's ear, then another, and so on. Is that the likely outcome? Probably not, no. They probably won't feel the effects of this. However, it is possible, and it might surprise you to see it happen.

2011 was one of Hasbro's worst years, it's affecting their 2012 year. 2012 has already had a rocky start on it's own. Because of 2011, people are losing their jobs, they're redirecting their focus, and they're making promises they aren't keeping.

If I had stock in Hasbro right now, I'd get rid of it. I'd want nothing to do with them, with all that's going on. They need to remember that there are people out there who will stand up and say "No more".

Firing people to save money because Hasbro, as a whole, screwed up...just isn't right. If you can't stay afloat after a billion dollar movie, plus toy sales, then you just aren't doing something right. And then the fiasco with FunPub and before that, toy cancellations... Yet more missteps in a really bad economy.

Toys shouldn't be costing people their jobs. Hasbro needs restructuring. It needs people with common sense, not greed. Greed will only make you so much money for so much time. Common sense goes a long way. It pays off small in the beginning, but reaps huge rewards later on.

I just wanted to have the longest post in this thread!

GetRightRobot wrote:

Autobot032 wrote:

GetRightRobot wrote:

RiddlerJ wrote:Still, there were a lot of new molds that barely saw release anywhere. I don't know how many figures I had to Ebay just because I couldn't find them in stores or in online stores. If that carried through for all their toy lines, that had to be money invested with hardly any return.

Agreed. Certainly poor distribution, and I don't think any collector would ATTEMPT to argue that. But, considering this is Hasbro, I doubt VERY much we won't see those toys reused or re-purposed. Also, remember that DOTM hit $1.125 BILLION in box office sales. I'm certain the toys and related merch added greatly to that. One thing in Hasbro's portfolio of products that IS making money, is Transformers.

Okay, so then why were they handled so badly in 2011 and the beginning of this year? My guess is they are slowly trying to move away from toys. We've heard more about shows, movies, multimedia anything, rather than toys.

Apparently Prime is costing them a lot more to produce than they first thought.

Whoever's in charge of planning, needs their head checked and a reeducation in business. I know next to nothing about business, but I know this:

1.) Don't start down one path (First Edition), spend loads of money firing up molds, and then change lanes and go with another that's delivering less quality and less of what people want (PRID).

2.) Don't make a network for your core audience (kids) that's utilized to sell your products, when it's largely inaccessible to the core audience.

3.) Don't align yourself with people who could damage your reputation. (FunPub)

4.) Don't make products you've promised to countries, only to say "Oh, these were never meant for you." (First Edition and Movie Trilogy)

1a.) The costs of producing those molds, firing up the production line and then switching to another set of molds seems wasteful and quite frankly, STUPID. If you had no intention of going with product A, why even produce it? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have them, but why start something you never intended to finish? Ridiculous.

And before anyone says "Well, the First Editions are aimed toward catering to adult collectors and show accuracy enthusiasts", that doesn't fly for me. Why would an American company produce items for their collector base that have to be imported from a foreign country (or countries)? That seems ridiculous and senseless to me. Regardless if it's Hasbro China or Hasbro Australia, or whatever...it all ends up being the debts of, and resting on the shoulders of, Hasbro America. Simply put: Bad planning that makes not a lick of sense.

2a.) The Hub is on the most expensive tier of cable and satellite systems. Most adults, especially those with families, can't afford such an expenditure. Hell, most adults simply WON'T pay for such a thing. Kids? Impossible.

So, why make a network aimed at kids and familes...that most will never see? I'm sure some haven't even heard of it! I'd bet money that some of The Hub's audience comes from people who are on special packages that have a reduced rate for the first year, to entice you to become a consumer.

When that reduced rate ends after the first year and prices skyrocket back to their original, expensive rates...how many customers jump ship on that tier and head back to (medium) digital cable or basic? I'll bet you the number's a lot higher than we're led to believe.

The ratings for Prime sound pretty good at .5 million, especially for a premium cable channel. But they could be ridiculously better if they were on a tier that EVERYONE has access to. I mean, seriously, how much money would they lose if they put it at a lower price? I mean, Discovery's kickin' in some of the dough, so the burden isn't all on Hasbro's shoulders.

I can't figure out which is more ridiculous to me...First Edition flub up, or making a channel for kids...that most will never see. How can you sell a product that no one knows about? How can you sell kids on the idea of their favorite characters if they can't see what they're doing in their latest adventure?

3a.) FunPub's continual flub ups are widely known among the fandom, but now that we know that FunPub's inaction led to fraud and identity theft and will make waves and ripples elsewhere, which could make it to the general public...I'd imagine that could be damaging for Hasbro.

"So...let me get this straight. They had no protection for their customers and the people got ripped off and had their personal information stolen?"

Yep.

"They make special runs of your toys, aimed at collectors with premium pricing and it works out to be substandard product with no premiums given?"

Yep.

"And you advertise these people on EVERY TransFormers toy you produce??"

Yep.

"WHY?!?"

Um. It's good business? Like...man, it's worked for years? Um...they pay for a license and we like, make money off of it?

"But you tell us that collectors are rather unimportant to your bottom line numbers, that children are your main focus."

Right.

"So...you're collecting the money, throwing the fans a bone or two when you can and go on about your business not giving a damn?"

BINGO!

"Piss off."

Word of mouth is a powerful tool. Hasbro needs to remember that when things like this happen. Plus, parents have far more control on their spending than their numbers and statistics would have them believe. I can see plenty of soapbox parents standing on principle and boycotting Hasbro. Toys are made for both the movieverse and Prime, neither of which are exactly family friendly. They're more for certain ages and differently developed kids, rather than for all. Yet, parents are expected to buy these things and they're aimed at kids, when they shouldn't be, because it could expose them to questionable content.

Kids don't need to see Sam running around with a stripper girlfriend. Kids don't need to hear their heroes swear. Kids don't need to see people vaporized and broken and grieving families laying in the streets crying because their city and their loved ones died right before their eyes.

That's scary stuff. That's for a different audience. That's for US. Yet it's all marketed towards kids. That ain't right for them, or for us, and I can see parents putting their foot down and saying "No. No more."

You throw in identity theft, false credit charges, and some upright citizen's going to BITCH. And it'll hit one person's ear, then another, and so on. Is that the likely outcome? Probably not, no. They probably won't feel the effects of this. However, it is possible, and it might surprise you to see it happen.

2011 was one of Hasbro's worst years, it's affecting their 2012 year. 2012 has already had a rocky start on it's own. Because of 2011, people are losing their jobs, they're redirecting their focus, and they're making promises they aren't keeping.

If I had stock in Hasbro right now, I'd get rid of it. I'd want nothing to do with them, with all that's going on. They need to remember that there are people out there who will stand up and say "No more".

Firing people to save money because Hasbro, as a whole, screwed up...just isn't right. If you can't stay afloat after a billion dollar movie, plus toy sales, then you just aren't doing something right. And then the fiasco with FunPub and before that, toy cancellations... Yet more missteps in a really bad economy.

Toys shouldn't be costing people their jobs. Hasbro needs restructuring. It needs people with common sense, not greed. Greed will only make you so much money for so much time. Common sense goes a long way. It pays off small in the beginning, but reaps huge rewards later on.

I just wanted to have the longest post in this thread!

Whislt you are the newest member to the staff, you must learn young padawan that size, does not matter.
P.S. Mine's longer ner ner ner

bvzxa wrote:

Rated X wrote:Get rid of the guy behind the desk that insists Bumblebee is the answer to life...

In G1, Bumblebee only got one toy and we never saw him in the stores again until he became Goldbug. Why couldn’t they keep it that way ???

Some might argue that it’s the mystique of a young boy and his car. I disagree.

4 years of this:



And we got one Bumblebee and one Goldbug which was plenty.



5 years of this:



Plus 1 years of this:



And then we get this:



Is there something I am missing about Bumblebee that the younger generation finds so intriguing ???

GetRightRobot wrote:

omega666 wrote:Hopefully they cut the guy that said "MORE Bumblebees!" and "We should cancel the DOTM and the FE's".

I'm not laughing at Americans (or our Canadian Cousins) losing their jobs, but that was funny!

Right on the button!.. With that number of job cuts, those guys who fail to deliver their suggestions like the ones posted above are surely out of hasbro's door!

what frustrates me so much, is the endless cycle, these big companies are creating.
.
sales not as high as they would like.
cut jobs.
cut jobs, mean people who lost their jobs, now don't have money TO spend.
less money moving around=weak economy
weak economy, means companies don't make the sales they would like.
rinse and repeat
every time, people get laid off, the economy gets worse.
these mega companies are just making things even worse, by cutting back, the wrong way.
eliminate all those fancy company cars, private jets, expensive dinners and parties.
that will cut cost, yet not effect your buisness.
ground level workers, like those companies lay off first, buy toys the bulk of your toys, braniacs

freetouch wrote:lol... you just don't get it.

lol... I do get it.
lol... Don't post unless you have something of worth to offer to the conversation. (You don't.)
lol... Don't troll.
lol...
lol...
lol...
lol...

Rated X wrote:Is there something I am missing about Bumblebee that the younger generation finds so intriguing ???

Well yeah, they love him. He's the central character. Got any young kids of your own or even nephews/nieces? Have some, you may not understand what it is, but you'll see it in action.

Autobot032 wrote:

freetouch wrote:lol... you just don't get it.

lol... I do get it.
lol... Don't post unless you have something of worth to offer to the conversation. (You don't.)
lol... Don't troll.
lol...
lol...
lol...
lol...

And this is where i'm knocking things on the head before they spiral out of control.

Knock it off now.

Bumblebee and OP are always going to be over-produced because of the focus group studies generally consist of only the intended age groups, (who seemingly prefer BB, probably because he goes "beep-boop") or their parents/guardians, (who aren't generally collectors and have no clue which one is which, they just remember which one their kids kept yammering on about).

Collectors and fans get no say about it; which is kinda dumb, considering the shear amount money people like Fansproject and TFC are currently rolling around naked in.

Seems logical: all those bonuses for the Hasbro Board of Directors aren't paying for themselves, people!

But seriously, although most toy producers will suffer in a time of economic uncertainty (unless you are Lego), Hasbro have themselves to blame. Although Transformers seem to still be one of the strongest sellers for Hasbro, the lack of new products / frankly TERRIBLE distribution of products will probably be comparable for all the other brands and products Hasbro are pushing.

It's been said before, but here in Europe, Hasbro seems fast to be losing ground as far as their product availability is concerned: very few of their brands can be found in toys stores here in any large amounts. Here in Europe, besides the 'single brand products' like Lego and Playmobile, Mattel has a much stronger multi-brand presence, as do Disney Consumer Products and lots of cheap Chinese produced no-name toys.

If I ran Hasbro, I'd most definitely be very disturbed at Hasbro's problematic distribution. It's all fine and good to focus on the US market, but when that market currently isn't very strong in the first place AND terrible mistakes are made on that single market (many of which have been mentioned in the previous posts in this topic), then Hasbro is just heading for disaster with their eyes wide open...

BTW... what is this topic doing in the Transformers Toy Review Forum?

Burn wrote:

Rated X wrote:Is there something I am missing about Bumblebee that the younger generation finds so intriguing ???

And this is where i'm knWell yeah, they love him. He's the central character. Got any young kids of your own or even nephews/nieces? Have some, you may not understand what it is, but you'll see it in action.

In my opinion that’s Michael Bays take on Bumblebee. His role has not changed in 28 years. Spike, Buster, Sam, Raf, etc. It really doesn’t matter who they pair him up with. It’s always been the same image for Bumblebee. But in the 80’s they didn’t promote the crap out of that image or his bond with a human boy. Bumblebee wasn’t even cool back in 1984, he was one step away from being Wheelie. Kids favorites were Optimus, Megatron, and Jazz.

Hasbro sells more Bumblebees because that's all they put on the shelf.

I don't know, I can only assume that if it is true that BB sells the best no matter what, that children have to be pretty retarded if they like army building their Bumblebees. Again, I was a kid once, yeah I was different, but back then I would have considered this stupid.

The problem is it just keeps getting worse. Three Bumblebees to a case of eight deluxes? They are going to shelf warm, we know this, and it shows that Hasbro is doing something wrong regardless of what their data says.

Vicalliose wrote:Hasbro sells more Bumblebees because that's all they put on the shelf.

I don't know, I can only assume that if it is true that BB sells the best no matter what, that children have to be pretty retarded if they like army building their Bumblebees. Again, I was a kid once, yeah I was different, but back then I would have considered this stupid.

The problem is it just keeps getting worse. Three Bumblebees to a case of eight deluxes? They are going to shelf warm, we know this, and it shows that Hasbro is doing something wrong regardless of what their data says.

I know this is getting a little off topic, but the reason I hate multitudes of BB on the shelves, is that the stores are reluctant to order more or put stock on the shelf. A wall of Bumblebees to a Walmart employ = stocked shelf, move on.

GetRightRobot wrote:I know this is getting a little off topic, but the reason I hate multitudes of BB on the shelves, is that the stores are reluctant to order more or put stock on the shelf. A wall of Bumblebees to a Walmart employ = stocked shelf, move on.

Actually pretty logical considering that the cases they order will just be full of more Bumblebees.

Vicalliose wrote:

GetRightRobot wrote:I know this is getting a little off topic, but the reason I hate multitudes of BB on the shelves, is that the stores are reluctant to order more or put stock on the shelf. A wall of Bumblebees to a Walmart employ = stocked shelf, move on.

Actually pretty logical considering that the cases they order will just be full of more Bumblebees.

Well played.

Autobot032 wrote: 2a.) The Hub is on the most expensive tier of cable and satellite systems. Most adults, especially those with families, can't afford such an expenditure. Hell, most adults simply WON'T pay for such a thing. Kids? Impossible.

So, why make a network aimed at kids and familes...that most will never see? I'm sure some haven't even heard of it! I'd bet money that some of The Hub's audience comes from people who are on special packages that have a reduced rate for the first year, to entice you to become a consumer.

When that reduced rate ends after the first year and prices skyrocket back to their original, expensive rates...how many customers jump ship on that tier and head back to (medium) digital cable or basic? I'll bet you the number's a lot higher than we're led to believe.

The ratings for Prime sound pretty good at .5 million, especially for a premium cable channel. But they could be ridiculously better if they were on a tier that EVERYONE has access to. I mean, seriously, how much money would they lose if they put it at a lower price? I mean, Discovery's kickin' in some of the dough, so the burden isn't all on Hasbro's shoulders.

This reminds me. I should probably cancel my Mediacom this year. Any fellow Iowans reading? I'm trying to figure between Dish Network and Direct TV, also which internet/phone provider to go through.

Yes I realize how off topic I'm getting. But who needs to repeat the obvious? The American economy is in the toilet, we need to stop getting into so many wars, we need to stop giving tax breaks to companies for producing in China, etcetera. It's just a big clusterf**k. Also Hasblow sucks.

Vicalliose wrote:Hasbro sells more Bumblebees because that's all they put on the shelf.

I don't know, I can only assume that if it is true that BB sells the best no matter what, that children have to be pretty retarded if they like army building their Bumblebees. Again, I was a kid once, yeah I was different, but back then I would have considered this stupid.

The problem is it just keeps getting worse. Three Bumblebees to a case of eight deluxes? They are going to shelf warm, we know this, and it shows that Hasbro is doing something wrong regardless of what their data says.

It's already happening with Prime. I went to TRU today and there were 7 Bumblebees, 1 Wheeljack, and 1 Cliffjumper.