Transformers Legacy toyline

[UndeadScottsman]

Eh, I watched the first episode of Transformers Prime when it came out, was frustrated it wasn't more Animated, and that it felt edgelordy to kill Cliffjumper so early on, so I skipped it until a few years ago when I finally sat down to watch it and now it's my #3 favorite all-time TF show. At least for now; Earthspark will definitely take a top 3 position if they manage to keep the quality up to the end.

 

[Superomegaprime]

When Prime was on the air, part of the way through the first season I got bored, mainly after the first half built up to Megatron's return and instead of doing something intersting with the character of Megatron, it was a ep about joy riding/street racing and I just kind of noped out until I saw the titles for the season finally and watched from there onwards

 

[Swerve]

Rock lords when we can’t even get Gobots that aren’t quick and easy repaints. What a world.

It might be a little easier to do since a lot of the Gobots designs are owned by other companies if I am right, even if Hasbro owns the characters. Maybe these won't be Rock Lord's though I am hoping ...need at least a version of Nugget.

 

[Princess Viola]

I mean Rock Lords designs would also be owned by Bandai since they were in Machine Robo too.

 

[ZacWilliam1]

I think the thing is the Characters (capital C) are what distinguish Go-Bots from other tfing robots really, but for Rock Lords whose characters had much less exposure, and are much les "vital" to the concept you can invoke them just by making any "powerful living rocks" that convert from stones to humanoid form.

ZacWilliam, Nugget and Slimestone are really the only two that ever stood out to me as a kid and that was entirely due to the chrome and cute small designs..,

 

[unluckiness]

Nondescript immobile chunks sounds worse than nondescript immobile chunks with nostalgia bait but I'm not a marketing person.

IDK maybe they can weaponize or something.

 

[Princess Viola]

I'm pretty sure that's just called beating someone with a rock.

 

[unluckiness]

It was a big rock.

 

[Sabrblade]

It was a big rock.

 

[Post-BayTransformersFan]

I firmly think that Hasbro should stop with the Robosen stuff and give us more Unicrons (a single Prime costs more than it took to join the Unicron campaign). Or run a "second-chance" campaign. Just me?

 

[unluckiness]

Off topic but Robosen pays Hasbro for the permission to make stuff that looks like Transformers characters. This has no bearing on what Hasbro does.

Making second runs of Haslab stuff sounds like a great way to tank future campaigns.

 

[Post-BayTransformersFan]

Off topic but Robosen pays Hasbro for the permission to make stuff that looks like Transformers characters. This has no bearing on what Hasbro does.

Making second runs of Haslab stuff sounds like a great way to tank future campaigns.

If you haven't noticed, Haslab is already tanking. They got cocky with Marvel after the Sentinel and Galactus, so we got the Engine of Vengeance. Got cocky with Star Wars, so we got the Rancor and Inquisitor Saber. Sooner or later, we're going to get a flop with Transformers and GI Joe. I'd rather we give the people who can't afford to spend more than $2K on an old project rather than risk a failure. But that may just be

 

[Andrusi]

The nature of toy collecting (or anything collecting, really) is that sometimes there are things you missed out on and going back to get them will be expensive.

 

[Gizmoboy]

If you haven't noticed, Haslab is already tanking. They got cocky with Marvel after the Sentinel and Galactus, so we got the Engine of Vengeance. Got cocky with Star Wars, so we got the Rancor and Inquisitor Saber. Sooner or later, we're going to get a flop with Transformers and GI Joe. I'd rather we give the people who can't afford to spend more than $2K on an old project rather than risk a failure. But that may just be

I'd hardly say HasLab is tanking. The nature of HasLab is that not everything is going to get funded. The whole point is to push the envelope beyond what they could get away with at retail. Sometimes, the items they push are even beyond what a fanbase can support or want. If that happens, said item does not get funded and Hasbro has risked very little other than prototyping cost.

 

[Post-BayTransformersFan]

I'd hardly say HasLab is tanking. The nature of HasLab is that not everything is going to get funded. The whole point is to push the envelope beyond what they could get away with at retail. Sometimes, the items they push are even beyond what a fanbase can support of want. If that happens, said item does not get funded and Hasbro has risked very little other than prototyping cost.

Habro is a multi-billion dollar company that was a juggernaut in the toy industry. They weren't worried about taking risks on Fort Max, the USS Flagg, the Defiant, etc. Taking risks is what the toy industry was founded on. The original G.I Joe was a massive risk that could have sunk Hasbro. But they took it, and it worked. If the Hassenfelds didn't risk everything, there wouldn't be Transformers because the idea of the action figure wouldn't exist. My point is that risk shouldn't fall on the customer. It should fall on the company. If you're telling me a Unicron, or a Galactus, or a Razor Crest wouldn't be a financial slam dunk, you're lying to yourself. Because the evidence is there that there is a demand

 

[Post-BayTransformersFan]

I'd hardly say HasLab is tanking. The nature of HasLab is that not everything is going to get funded. The whole point is to push the envelope beyond what they could get away with at retail. Sometimes, the items they push are even beyond what a fanbase can support or want. If that happens, said item does not get funded and Hasbro has risked very little other than prototyping cost.

And as for the retail thing, nothing is at retail. Know why? Because scalpers take figures by the dozens and re-sell them at double the price. Instead of doing package refreshes of desired figures like Netflix Soundwave and Netflix Bumblebee, we got Wheeljacks and Arcees

 

[Shadewing]

I'd hardly say HasLab is tanking. The nature of HasLab is that not everything is going to get funded. The whole point is to push the envelope beyond what they could get away with at retail. Sometimes, the items they push are even beyond what a fanbase can support or want. If that happens, said item does not get funded and Hasbro has risked very little other than prototyping cost.

Though sometimes I feel they push to far. Like the Engine of Vengeance, conceptionally its cool. But for $300 for what almost everyone agreed was unnessicary LED lights on top of not even being a licensed vehicle. I think most would have preferred dropping the electronics and letting that money go to trying to cover liscenings cost. I don't feel this leads into them failing; but I feel the brand teams don't understand their customer base that well. Transformers and GiJoe's teams do, but EoV could have had some kinda tie in to the Midnight Suns game, where he's a prominent character; that probably would have been better received then some of the figures they were gonna include. You look at some of the stuff that gets included in the TF releases, and it all makes sense for it to be bundled together. But Other teams just seem to throw in stuff even if it doesn't wholly fit. That was another complaint I recall about EoV, that while the stretch figures might have been stuff people wanted, some had little to no connection to that Ghost Rider or Ghost Rider in general.

 

[Gizmoboy]

Though sometimes I feel they push to far. Like the Engine of Vengeance, conceptionally its cool. But for $300 for what almost everyone agreed was unnessicary LED lights on top of not even being a licensed vehicle. I think most would have preferred dropping the electronics and letting that money go to trying to cover liscenings cost. I don't feel this leads into them failing; but I feel the brand teams don't understand their customer base that well. Transformers and GiJoe's teams do, but EoV could have had some kinda tie in to the Midnight Suns game, where he's a prominent character; that probably would have been better received then some of the figures they were gonna include. You look at some of the stuff that gets included in the TF releases, and it all makes sense for it to be bundled together. But Other teams just seem to throw in stuff even if it doesn't wholly fit. That was another complaint I recall about EoV, that while the stretch figures might have been stuff people wanted, some had little to no connection to that Ghost Rider or Ghost Rider in general.

I will completely agree with you on this. Great wording there Shadewing.

 

[Sabrblade]

I'd hardly say HasLab is tanking. The nature of HasLab is that not everything is going to get funded. The whole point is to push the envelope beyond what they could get away with at retail. Sometimes, the items they push are even beyond what a fanbase can support or want. If that happens, said item does not get funded and Hasbro has risked very little other than prototyping cost.

*pours another one out for the failed HasLab Cookie Monster*

 

[Dake]

Habro is a multi-billion dollar company that was a juggernaut in the toy industry. They weren't worried about taking risks on Fort Max, the USS Flagg, the Defiant, etc. Taking risks is what the toy industry was founded on. The original G.I Joe was a massive risk that could have sunk Hasbro. But they took it, and it worked. If the Hassenfelds didn't risk everything, there wouldn't be Transformers because the idea of the action figure wouldn't exist. My point is that risk shouldn't fall on the customer. It should fall on the company. If you're telling me a Unicron, or a Galactus, or a Razor Crest wouldn't be a financial slam dunk, you're lying to yourself. Because the evidence is there that there is a demand

I hate to be the first person to tell you this, but it's not 1985'ish anymore. Many things have changed in the industry in the last near-four decades. The one place you're correct is that being a multi-billion dollar company, Hasbro would much rather sell toys at regular retail. They will always make more money doing it that way than via niche crowdfunding. But those avenues for these types of items no longer exist.

On a sidenote, those big risks back in the day didn't necessarily work out either - everything you've mentioned wound up on clearance back then too.

As to this specifically...

Because the evidence is there that there is a demand

No. No it's not. The numbers for funding these projects are mere percentages of what would normally be required for even limited retail release.

Though sometimes I feel they push to far. Like the Engine of Vengeance, conceptionally its cool. But for $300 for what almost everyone agreed was unnessicary LED lights on top of not even being a licensed vehicle. I think most would have preferred dropping the electronics and letting that money go to trying to cover liscenings cost. I don't feel this leads into them failing; but I feel the brand teams don't understand their customer base that well. Transformers and GiJoe's teams do, but EoV could have had some kinda tie in to the Midnight Suns game, where he's a prominent character; that probably would have been better received then some of the figures they were gonna include. You look at some of the stuff that gets included in the TF releases, and it all makes sense for it to be bundled together. But Other teams just seem to throw in stuff even if it doesn't wholly fit. That was another complaint I recall about EoV, that while the stretch figures might have been stuff people wanted, some had little to no connection to that Ghost Rider or Ghost Rider in general.

Agree about the EoV. Ramen Toy is making a very nice one now (though being as how they just flat out don't care about licensing rights, it's certainly easier). But I think even a failure with Haslab is valuable. Every single item helps to build the picture of what the market will go for.