Hasbro Brand Panel - 3pm CDT Options

[NICKSAUR]

Evidently the turtle van was a huge endeavor and I never knew until I was in high school the mad scramble that caused.

And you're right. Every kid won't get everything, but that doesn't mean their parent or caretaker didn't know what to look for.

[Fnu Aw]

It was so easy in the Beast Wars days when the toys were entirely different species. It was so easy to tell parents what to get. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-fire.gif)

[Daytonus]

I'm not saying that parents are either morons or horrible. But I think we're talking about different things. I'm leaning on the side of impulse buys, with the recognition that the only times my mom wanted to make SURE I got what I wanted was my birthday and maybe Christmas. That leaves 10 months of the year when it was nice if I got a toy, but be damned if I told my mom EXACTLY what I wanted. Maybe my background is just different, but any kid who is able to do so on a regular basis just sounds really entitled to me.

So I find all this stuff about "the parents don't care about their kids" or "they're inbreeding" to be horribly offensive. I have wonderful, loving, attentive parents who also gave half a hug what toys I wanted. I sure as hell don't remember asking for Scattershot or Twintwist or Runabout, but that's what I got. You guys are projecting what you would be like as parents (and I understand that some of you are even like that as parents, which is commendable), and that's understandable, but I'm looking at my parents and the random parents I meet at Target who are pretty clueless about toys and it just seems like a confirmation bias of being around a bunch of other die-hard fans to say that parents are getting better at picking out toys for their kids.

[Fangwing]

Evidently the turtle van was a huge endeavor and I never knew until I was in high school the mad scramble that caused.

And you're right. Every kid won't get everything, but that doesn't mean their parent or caretaker didn't know what to look for.

Sounds like the Technodrome story for me. Care to share?

[Cheetimus Primal]

When He-Man first hit shelves my Mother bought one, looked at the back of the card and went on a mad hunt across the city to get me everything on that card.
My He-Man collection was more complete than any other toy series I ever had as a kid. I wish I still had all those guys... and play sets.

[Cabooceratops]

You know, this would just be easier if we could accept Dinobots not sharing the same basic color scheme. They're Dinosaur robots, so they're cool regardless, right? I'd certainly like some color variance to go with that species variance.

(Also add Paddles to the team because the Dinobots need him. And a Baryonyx. And an Ankylosaurus. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-waspy.gif) )

[Thylacine2000]

How many of you are parents?

Other parents grew up with TFs the way you grew up with AirRaiders or Centurions - yeah, you bought it when you were 7, but haven't thought of it since because it's stupid toy crap. You did not inherit awesome toy clairvoyance. And even if you did, I assure you other parents did not.

A whole series of same-color dinosaurs at once really might not be the best idea.

[Cheetimus Primal]

I really do question the wisdom of second guessing the decisions of the company handling the multimillion dollar brand that shows no signs of going under any time soon. I mean really, I'd think they know the market better than some online fans.

[Bass X0]

My parents once got me Gobots Bugbite for Christmas and tried to pass him off as Bumblebee.

They probably saw tiny yellow volkswagen and large yellow volkswagen and went with the larger one.

[Nyarlathotep]

My mother only bought me Transformers occasionally. She was a bit of a miser when it came to toys.

"I'm not buying you that, you got a Playstation for Christmas!"
"But it's July..."

She did get me Scorponok and Snapper though.

I wish I knew what happened to Scorponok's legs...

[ShinRa Inc]

My mother only bought me Transformers occasionally. She was a bit of a miser when it came to toys.

"I'm not buying you that, you got a Playstation for Christmas!"
"But it's July..."

Sounds like my mom. Except her quote was "What do you need a Playstation for? the Atari still works."

[Cheetimus Primal]

What do you need an Xbox for? There are still sticks on the tree out back.

[Fishbug]

What? Sticks? Do you think trees grow on trees? Just close your eyes and imagine something.

[Phlis]

When He-Man first hit shelves my Mother bought one, looked at the back of the card and went on a mad hunt across the city to get me everything on that card.
My He-Man collection was more complete than any other toy series I ever had as a kid. I wish I still had all those guys... and play sets.

I was really into Battle Beasts when they were on the shelves, and my mom would buy a new set for me when she would go to the store. I think she had a list of what I had (he's got the octopus, the turtle, the lion, etc, etc) so when she sat a new animal she'd buy it. Of course she'd open then and throw away the swords because she didn't want my toys having weapons, but she tried.

I wish I still had those guys but I would aLways end up breaking their arms off, curse you 6 year old ham hands

[Bass X0]

Of course she'd open then and throw away the swords because she didn't want my toys having weapons, but she tried.

I can imagine someone like that doing the same to Beast Wars toys or others that have their weapons heavily integrated into their alternate mode. They would be throwing half of the alternate mode away.

[ZacWilliam1]

When He-Man first hit shelves my Mother bought one, looked at the back of the card and went on a mad hunt across the city to get me everything on that card.
My He-Man collection was more complete than any other toy series I ever had as a kid. I wish I still had all those guys... and play sets.

I was lucky on this front. My father was a hard core collector of anything that might be collectable. So it was not infrequent that if he found out there was a new toyline that seemed cool he'd try to get us all of it in one giant swoop.

The first time this happened was MoTU. When it came out 81(?) and never having even heard or seen of them before I got the entire first wave of products and accessories for my Birthday. All the first group of figures, and vehicles and Castle Grayskull, the whole shebang. It was pretty amazing as a little kid. (My dad is also an artist and hand painted Castle Greyskull to look like the awesome box art. Every time I see the toy's natural state to this day it seems like a cheep knock-off to me...)

There were drawbacks of course, when my Dad didn't have the best concept of what toys we thought were cool and got us a complete set off all Flash Gordon Defenders of the Earth figures and Robin Hood Prince of Theives figures all of which both remain in their packages in a box to this day.


-ZacWilliam, and sometimes it was just redundant, like when he got us all the G.I.Joe Battle Force 2000 stuff for two holidays in a row when he forgot he'd already done it. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-arcee.gif)

This post has been edited by ZacWilliam1: May 7 2012, 08:10 AM

[Phlis]

Of course she'd open then and throw away the swords because she didn't want my toys having weapons, but she tried.

I can imagine someone like that doing the same to Beast Wars toys or others that have their weapons heavily integrated into their alternate mode. They would be throwing half of the alternate mode away.

By the time I really got into collecting (Beast Wars) I was 13 and mom longer had a say in the matter.

It was weird too, because she would take away the Battle Beasts weapons, which were just like spears, but not the Ninja Turtle or GIJoe weapons. Maybe it was an age thing? I dunno.

This post has been edited by Phlis: May 7 2012, 08:19 AM

[Lukeblast]

How many of you are parents?

Other parents grew up with TFs the way you grew up with AirRaiders or Centurions - yeah, you bought it when you were 7, but haven't thought of it since because it's stupid toy crap. You did not inherit awesome toy clairvoyance. And even if you did, I assure you other parents did not.

There is not a "THIS!" image that properly expresses the level of "THIS!" that I feel. You guys who are talking about parents with any amount of toy acumen are quite frankly delusional.

Growing up in the "toy culture" of the 70s or 80s means jack and bupkis to knowledge of them today. Try to keep in mind that as fans/collectors, 99.9% of what you know about the toy aisles is wildly irrelevant and completely inapplicable to the vast majority.

This post has been edited by Lukeblast: May 7 2012, 10:04 AM

[Kalidor]

It's true I don't have kids, but the people I've known since *we* were kids all have kids and they still know how to read and recognize shapes. It's rather a moot point in that regard though since they only ask for and play with video games rather than toys.

[Database]

It's true I don't have kids, but the people I've known since *we* were kids all have kids and they still know how to read and recognize shapes. It's rather a moot point in that regard though since they only ask for and play with video games rather than toys.

How can that be Kal? Surely you know having a kid is like taking a sledgehammer to the skull, as soon as its over, you're not gonna be able to recognize anything anymore!