Studio Series discussion

lastmaximal

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
Sadly, the room temperature IQs and EQs (and the bots) populating social media comments sections are persuasive evidence otherwise.

In that very post's comments, it takes (surprisingly, to me, but pleasantly so) six posts before some genius starts weaving a conspiracy theory about this being an excuse to charge more when they finally get reoffered/made available again. This is followed by people not understanding that stores want compelling exclusives (a tale as old as time), someone expecting a lower "apology price", one saying just stop making exclusives, and another one saying Hasbro would have to prove that "this was not a manufactured "shortage" to show that the fan base would pay more to scalpers due to the FOMO" as if Hasbro got kickbacks (not that kind) from scalpers in the first place. Frankly, sometimes I'm surprised they still talk to the fandom at all.

Plus some of the delicateness about the framing of this probably needs to be done to avoid details about the logistics, or making anyone out to be the bad guy (deservedly or otherwise, not good to publicly throw anyone under the bus), and so on.
 
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LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
I sincerely hope most of the SS '86 Starscream shipment got sent to Universal Studios. People would be buying plane tickets to Florida and a day pass just to buy a $40 Voyager in a gift shop.

"My $450 Starscream was totally worth it."
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
And then they'll get mad when Hasbro does make Starscream more widely available, including down the line as a main line release. How DARE you make my hard to find exclusive less hard to find and less exclusive, you're taking money out of my pocket!
So much of this stems from people in this fandom having no self control.

They wants Starscream NOW and will buckle under their weak will power to pay upwards of $150 on the secondary market to get one. Only to get mad at Hasbro when they secure a more widespread release that makes him easily obtainable at retail.

Even if anyone thinking for two seconds would realize.... 1) distribution is entirely outside of Hasbro's control and 2) of course they're going to find ways to make him available.

But arriving at these two obvious conclusions would require these schmucks to admit their own fault in falling into the FOMO trap they created for themselves through their own lack of will power and patience and realizing that they can't just blame Hasbro for every little thing that goes wrong in the hobby.

In short, it would require a level of self reflection that is in rare supply among fans these days.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
I sincerely hope most of the SS '86 Starscream shipment got sent to Universal Studios. People would be buying plane tickets to Florida and a day pass just to buy a $40 Voyager in a gift shop.

"My $450 Starscream was totally worth it."
Turns out it's the Universal Studios in Singapore instead.
 

Shadewing

Well-known member
Citizen
So much of this stems from people in this fandom having no self control.

They wants Starscream NOW and will buckle under their weak will power to pay upwards of $150 on the secondary market to get one. Only to get mad at Hasbro when they secure a more widespread release that makes him easily obtainable at retail.

Even if anyone thinking for two seconds would realize.... 1) distribution is entirely outside of Hasbro's control and 2) of course they're going to find ways to make him available.

But arriving at these two obvious conclusions would require these schmucks to admit their own fault in falling into the FOMO trap they created for themselves through their own lack of will power and patience and realizing that they can't just blame Hasbro for every little thing that goes wrong in the hobby.

In short, it would require a level of self reflection that is in rare supply among fans these days.

You see this mindset everywhere in America, no one wants anyone to have anything if its easier then how they got it.
 

The Mighty Mollusk

Scream all you like, 'cause we're all mad here
Citizen
Maybe it's because I grew up poor, but I'm just used to the idea of not having stuff. I'll grab it if I see it, or if it's up for preorder somewhere reliable like BBTS, but otherwise, I shrug and move on with my day.

Besides, it's Starscream. Give it a few years and they'll make another one. Then they'll make Thundercracker the store exclusive instead and we'll repeat this whole rigamarole.
 

Princess Viola

Dumbass Asexual
Citizen
is this what happens when you replace actual human love and friendships with plastic toys

you get this mad you can't find the 8485347637476783732928327th g1 starscream toy in stores

(not talking about people here obvi)
 

lastmaximal

Administrator
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
It's more likely just a facet of life in the anonymity-aided, social-media bubble. Even individuals who are ordinarily reasonable (if you want to believe the best of people) can have their lower-order thoughts and feelings validated and magnified by others (including those who stand to profit from stoking these fires). Once upon a time, idiots kind of had to outgrow being idiots or at least see that being a loud, expressive idiot didn't get them far in life -- and so they'd shut up about it, maybe long enough to actually learn the correct thing. But now that they can find community in others who believe that experts are not to be trusted, that this thing they don't understand the workings of is rigged against them BECAUSE they can't understand it, and so on, there are no more village idiots. There are just idiot villages.

EOqZrTtWkAAD-I-.jpg
 

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
I'll just take this to mean that Earth Rise supremacy is once again proven to be the correct and logical way forward for all right-thinking people.
 

Sabrblade

Continuity Nutcase
Citizen
They wants Starscream NOW and will buckle under their weak will power to pay upwards of $150 on the secondary market to get one. Only to get mad at Hasbro when they secure a more widespread release that makes him easily obtainable at retail.
"It's MY Starscream and I need it NOW!"
 

Haywire

Collecter of Gobots and Godzilla
Citizen
Maybe I'm mis-remembering things, but hasn't Target canceled preorders on exclusives before, only to have the figures show up plentiful in stores later (and often go to clearance)?

IDK, it just seems like a lot of overreacting over a figure that is almost certainly bound to be readily available sooner than later. It's Starscream, he's one of the 4 "core" characters Hasbro leans on. They're not going to make him hard to find, even if the initial release has some hiccups.
 

Steevy Maximus

Well known pompous pontificator
Citizen
Maybe I'm mis-remembering things, but hasn't Target canceled preorders on exclusives before, only to have the figures show up plentiful in stores later (and often go to clearance)?

IDK, it just seems like a lot of overreacting over a figure that is almost certainly bound to be readily available sooner than later. It's Starscream, he's one of the 4 "core" characters Hasbro leans on. They're not going to make him hard to find, even if the initial release has some hiccups.
Yeah, it’s like we go through this every few years. Target or Walmart put a popular exclusive on their website, frick it up on preorders, then it shows up in stores with ample supply and even hits clearance or discounters. The retailer makes some corrections, it gets better for a couple years, then we repeat the process.
 
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