Hasbr-uh-oh

[LordGigaIce]

Alas, such articulated Megazords were turned into their premium offerings, which... Nah.)

I got the Zap Megazord and Dragonzord and was let down by both. Sure they were articulated but they felt cheap. So much so that the Legacy Bandai offerings, despite being far more limited, seemed like a better deal for the price (which was considerably lower than Zap's premium price tag)

I didn't even bother with the Zap Astro Megazord but it doesn't seem like they worked out the issues with the line going by reviews.

 

[lastmaximal]

I didn't even really get into those because the proportions were just not to my liking. And then the price was simply prohibitive, which also meant it was always going to feel like it wasn't worth that much.

I had a preorder for the Furai model, but the specialty store never got back to me on that. Which is probably just as well since Flame Toys then never made a Furai model Dragonzord (just that weirdly lean Kuro Kara Kuri one). I've since then been content with the SMP ones, but as with all the SMP stuff I would love that poseability at the old scale.

It's been fairly disappointing seeing how Hasbro deployed Power Rangers. Just so counterintuitive. Yes, they did very well with a lot of Lightning Collection. Brainfart on my end to not even imagine they'd parlay their ML expertise into this and just nail it (if with some QC and corner-cutting issues). But Hasbro, the Transformers people? How do you not make a retail line of articulated and better-engineered Zords from across the franchise? I guess that idea got "for collectors"-ized into something they could premium-paywall. (Doesn't help matters that they then also tried to leverage this into an Even Superer And Rarer Item With An NFT! and all that.) And now, no more golden eggs, just a goose carcass.

It's a strange situation to be in with such a prolific company when the best thing they seem to have done so far (aside from Lightning) is putting all the episodes up on YouTube.

 

[LordGigaIce]

It's been fairly disappointing seeing how Hasbro deployed Power Rangers.

From what I've heard Power Rangers was Goldner's baby. He saw the potential in Hasbro leveraging its IP library and thought Power Rangers would be a great addition to that. He was able to convince the board to go along with the purchase.

When he died Hasbro was left in the hands of people who either didn't believe in his vision or didn't believe in it without him. So they had this property- Power Rangers- they didn't know what to do with.

Stripping it for parts and selling the licence to turn a competitor into a collaborator and make back some cash on the investment is the best idea anyone there seems to have for the brand without Brian Goldner's vision.

 

[lastmaximal]

I definitely took that guy for granted. His tenure covers some really strong years for the company, even given the awkward stop-start they kept going into with their "media company" ambitions. And that's no coincidence.

 

[Rhinox]

I think I'd rather have some vision that has hit or miss streaks rather than a slow, yet inevitable slide into insolvency.

 

[lastmaximal]

Or any vision at all. The current regime doesn't seem to have any aspirations.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I don't know.

Q3 results are out, and they're a mixed bag. Revenue missed Wall Street's estimates, which shouldn't be surprising after yesterday's news, but profit beat estimates. How they managed to do that with less than expected revenue is something.

I don't like this guy's methods, but it appears the cost cutting is having tangible results.

 

[Dekafox]

It may be they had a bigger uptake on digital in general than expected, as at least on the D&D side of things they've pivoted heavily to digital with the new PHB - it was not available or barely available in big box stores(mostly just the FLGS and Amazon for physical) and the physical numbers outside FLGS are astonishing low, despite it being the biggest sales ever as a product according to their press releases - which suggests the had a LOT of uptake there on the digital side, which would have correspondingly lower costs.

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Digital also missed estimates.

 

[Sabrblade]

Local interview with Warden about the layoff:

Laid-off Hasbro employee reflects on 25 years with company | ABC6

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WLNE) — A local man’s career with Hasbro Inc. is coming to an end after 25 years. John Warden, a former director of design at Hasbro, was one of the 100 employees laid off on Wednesday, and said they “were all kind of blindsided.” Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks has cited “operational...

www.abc6.com

 

[Sabrblade]

 

[CoffeeHorse]

Cocks is gonna have to leave Rhode Island if he keeps this up.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Cocks is gonna have to leave Rhode Island if he keeps this up.

Good thing he’s looking at moving Hasbro HQ to Boston, then

 

[Badgertron]

Did they not shut down Rhode Island yet? I swear they announced it during the big purge last holidays...

 

[Steevy Maximus]

Did they not shut down Rhode Island yet? I swear they announced it during the big purge last holidays...

No, the Pawtucket location (with the Potato Head statue) is primary HQ and has remained open. Hasbro DID close some office space that had been set up in Providence. That’s probably what you’re thinking of.

 

[LBD "Nytetrayn"]

I didn't even bother with the Zap Astro Megazord but it doesn't seem like they worked out the issues with the line going by reviews.

Oh, I've talked about my experience there... and for several months after my wife got it for me for Christmas, I couldn't even touch it.

Once that was cleared, though, I rather enjoyed it. Not without it's issues -- gripping hands are a bit tight, and one of the arms seems like it just can't line up properly in Megaship mode (I had seen it on others reviewed, but sadly, I don't see any fixes for it) -- but definitely a cool piece.

Or any vision at all. The current regime doesn't seem to have any aspirations.

Sure they do. They same one all corporations do: money.