We are turning back into kids who get stuff on big occasions but for the rest of the year have to be content with the one we have at home.
Hasbr-uh-oh - Business and Tariffs Discussion
- Thread starter Thylacine 2000
- Start date
Tell you what, I really miss is doing my regular supermarket shopping, spotting a current Transformers figure I didn't intend to buy, but am impressed by, then putting it in the trolley, without having a second thought about the cost of it.
(Yes, a lot of that is due to the big supermarkets in the UK no longer stocking Transformers in their toy aisles after Titans Return ended, but still.)
(Yes, a lot of that is due to the big supermarkets in the UK no longer stocking Transformers in their toy aisles after Titans Return ended, but still.)
(I know what you mean, but toy departments in our supermarkets dwindled away to nothing maybe 25 years ago, so my version involves a supermarket and separate toy store/s in the same mall.)
Doing my regular supermarket shopping is actually what establishes in my mind that all the other shopping I'd get to do is window shopping. Especially over the last few years. One time I got so frustrated at what a little pack of three carrots cost, it felt wrong buying anything after the grocery run. It was hard to muster up any enjoyment because of how powerless I felt over my own purchasing ability.
Doing my regular supermarket shopping is actually what establishes in my mind that all the other shopping I'd get to do is window shopping. Especially over the last few years. One time I got so frustrated at what a little pack of three carrots cost, it felt wrong buying anything after the grocery run. It was hard to muster up any enjoyment because of how powerless I felt over my own purchasing ability.
I think the last figure I bought in a supermarket was DotM Powerglide at Loblaws. Supermarket distribution for toys kinda dried up after that, at least in my neck of the woods.
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We have Super Walmarts here in the US, and some Super Targets, that have Groceries and everything else. So here, you can still get your groceries and toy shop at Walmart. The other grocery stores around here don't carry toys anymore, other than some junky cheap toys or small ones like Hotwheels. Publix has some toys around Christmas time, but nothing name brand.
Publix sometimes has toys in their Easter baskets. Otherwise, nothing.
Publix used to carry the Beast Battle Masters from Rise of the Beasts and/or the Voyager-sized Authentics figures. But the ROTB line ended and Authentics just wasn't selling well.
The one at Citrus Park Mall has a decent selection if you wanna pick up some Blokees or RotB stuff.
the UK sellling transformers (and other toys) at supermarkets is more proof that the UK is not real to me
supermarkets are for FOOD not TOYS.
supermarkets are for FOOD not TOYS.
That's the one.
Supermarkets in the States always sold toys when I was growing up.
They were usually the cheap kind that you'd often see at a convenience store, like light-up swords and guns that fire ping pong balls with character licenses slapped on them, but they had them, just the same.
It's after coming to Canada that I stopped seeing them in most cases.
I never saw much. Maybe my mother just avoided that aisle.
I worked at one for a few years.
I'll always regret not buying this stuff there when I had the chance.
I'll always regret not buying this stuff there when I had the chance.
As a heads up, there is unfounded word going around that Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks just got rid of a massive archive of old Hasbro toys donated by designers for preservation, all because of "corporate greed". The origin of this claim is an Instagram reel from a MLP collector who provides no sources of any kind for this claim, just that she "heard" about it.
I am bringing this up here in case anyone here comes across this claim and thinks it's true, but really, it doesn't make any sense even from a "corporate greed" standpoint. While Cocks has done a lot of things in the name of the soulless corporate machine (laying off tons of employees just before Christmas, running Magic the Gathering and Power Rangers into the ground, selling off Entertainment One and pulling out of co-financing any movies based on Hasbro IPs, etc.), this particular claim of there having been an archive of old Hasbro toys at all just comes across as nonsensical when you think about it.
Wiki user Maximal Denn made some good points deconstructing this claim on the wiki's Discord server, which I will share below:
I am bringing this up here in case anyone here comes across this claim and thinks it's true, but really, it doesn't make any sense even from a "corporate greed" standpoint. While Cocks has done a lot of things in the name of the soulless corporate machine (laying off tons of employees just before Christmas, running Magic the Gathering and Power Rangers into the ground, selling off Entertainment One and pulling out of co-financing any movies based on Hasbro IPs, etc.), this particular claim of there having been an archive of old Hasbro toys at all just comes across as nonsensical when you think about it.
Wiki user Maximal Denn made some good points deconstructing this claim on the wiki's Discord server, which I will share below:
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Not even all of those decisions are necessarily corporate greed, as opposed to just odious and/or coming across as dumb (the last thing I'D ever do is shelf Power Rangers, especially as it's not a license and I could use it directly, like what) based on what we're privy to. I think the D&D and Magic stuff, and of course the layoffs, are the most greed-associated moves, and getting out of the media creation game and reducing financial commitment to movies were both just prudent.
This as a matter of greed is odd, because greed would have led them to try and monetize this through auctions like they did for the Power Rangers costumes (still preferable to disposal). If it were cost-cutting, then that's a different potential problem, and I'm not sure what the new space in Boston would be like for stuff like this.
This latest HE TELL ME controversy sounds spurious.
Not even all of those decisions are necessarily corporate greed, as opposed to just odious and/or coming across as dumb (the last thing I'D ever do is shelf Power Rangers, especially as it's not a license and I could use it directly, like what) based on what we're privy to. I think the D&D and Magic stuff, and of course the layoffs, are the most greed-associated moves, and getting out of the media creation game and reducing financial commitment to movies were both just prudent.
This as a matter of greed is odd, because greed would have led them to try and monetize this through auctions like they did for the Power Rangers costumes (still preferable to disposal). If it were cost-cutting, then that's a different potential problem, and I'm not sure what the new space in Boston would be like for stuff like this.
This latest HE TELL ME controversy sounds spurious.
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Whoever started this rumor really does not understand how many brands Hasbro owns and what it would physically take to have a significant archive. The Louvre isn't big enough.
If this isn’t just an attempt to stir up antagonism towards Chris Cocks, then it might be a complex misunderstanding of how Hasbro generally functions. Hasbro DOES have a material archive, they DO have old archival assets, I’m sure designers HAVE donated materials (especially under Goldner, who was more appreciative of the company’s history, it seems). They also have their own “company store” where employees can buy stuff too.
But MOST companies don’t do the kind of “historical preservation” that the post seems to imply. If anything, it wouldn’t surprise me if they had some “employee store stock” built up and got rid of it for space (especially as they seem to be gearing up for that Boston move). And someone misinterpreted that as Hasbro having some archival stuff disposed of.
When Hasbro announced it was moving from Rhode Island, there was a local news video talking about the effect on the local community, and one part showed this big toy store where apparently the Hasbro designers would go to get old toys to use as references and stuff.
I forget if the video was shared in thread, but I think I featured it in the front page news post I wrote on it.
I forget if the video was shared in thread, but I think I featured it in the front page news post I wrote on it.
[What is actually said in this reel? I'm not able to play it with audio right now. It seems to just be a person speaking to camera in their (or A) collection display room, and the only text is "chris cocks burned down the library of alexandria" and a reply from the OP that says "I heard it from kirk hindman himself when we met" so there is technically a source. I'm not of that fandom, so I have no idea who alicesponycorner is or why they would have Da Scoops, and had to look up Hindman as well.)
I took the liberty of not dwelling on the comments because I need my brain cells for a paper I'm writing this week.]
For what it's worth, alicesponycorner showed up on TFW to post this:
I mean, I can see the value in such a collection, even if it's more sentimental. It's easy to picture designers over the years donating some copies of this and that after moving on, or something being set aside after a team or big brand transition.
But
[1] that's a LOT of pieces, of a lot of product, over a lot of years, for a lot of brands,
[2] what IS this that just keeps being called The Archive? was it a formally designated space and collection? The info from hindman quoted above mentions stuff that seems like it would be worth archiving like prototypes and cels. Still, see [1]. And...
[3] such a romantic concept is perfect for pitchfork-raising against a decidedly unromantic beancounter to whom a million unsavory motives are and have been easily ascribed. It's just too convenient an outrage button to ignore that possible use for it as a misinterpretation or outright fabrication.
I took the liberty of not dwelling on the comments because I need my brain cells for a paper I'm writing this week.]
For what it's worth, alicesponycorner showed up on TFW to post this:
I mean, I can see the value in such a collection, even if it's more sentimental. It's easy to picture designers over the years donating some copies of this and that after moving on, or something being set aside after a team or big brand transition.
But
[1] that's a LOT of pieces, of a lot of product, over a lot of years, for a lot of brands,
[2] what IS this that just keeps being called The Archive? was it a formally designated space and collection? The info from hindman quoted above mentions stuff that seems like it would be worth archiving like prototypes and cels. Still, see [1]. And...
[3] such a romantic concept is perfect for pitchfork-raising against a decidedly unromantic beancounter to whom a million unsavory motives are and have been easily ascribed. It's just too convenient an outrage button to ignore that possible use for it as a misinterpretation or outright fabrication.
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