Hasbro doesn't get to decide that. The big retailers do.
HasLab Deathsaurus
- Thread starter Rhinox
- Start date
I was going to link to the last time this came up, but I guess it was lost in the board reset:
Anyway, Hasbro can't make toys that someone won't buy. If Walmart/Target/Amazon/Whoever don't agree to distribute a toy, Hasbro is not going to make it. A typical limited run exclusive for any of those retailers is still going to be more than 11k. Now will Hasbro make more money once they cross the 11k threshold? Maybe? But if DS was in the pipeline for Legacy, then that means it had been solicited and not gotten any hits from normal sources.
People forget how huge Hasbro is. Price increases for your favorite Generations toy had nothing to do with why Q3 was down compared to last year.
Commander Jetfire - designed probably in 2016, in a totally different economy - was $80.
A new bot as big as Commander Jetfire, plus two Core-class transforming partners plus the big figure's torso having a mechanism to slide them in, in a post-COVID inflation economy, would have been, what, $120?
Do we think Hasbro would mass-release a $120 toy of a non-English-media badguy from 1989, who no child alive heard of? They'd need to sell a million or more. I don't see it happening.
On the one hand, I don't disagree with your overall point; the higher the price tag, the less likely Hasbro is going to risk a retail spot on an obscure character. Larger, more complex figures with little or no redeco potential like Deathsaurus are less risky for them as a Haslab.
On the other hand, we live in a time where I can go to almost any Walmart and buy a Road Hauler for $30+ or RiD Scourge for $50+, and then swing by a Target and pick up an $80 set that features Goldbug, Ransack, Skywasp, and toy colors Predacon Scorponok. When it comes to Generations/Legacy, I think Hasbro is past the point of worrying about whether any child alive has heard of something or not before they greenlight it.
Also, if those members of the board who have children haven't already introduced them to Deathsaurus, then we have failed collectively as parents...
The biggest thing was just scheduling. Too many releases got shuffled into Q2 and especially Q4. This is partially a change in strategy in response to last year's supply issues, when they (and everyone else) had a hard time getting inventory to stores for Q4. This time they have a lot more inventory ready to go, not stuck in a port somewhere. Hopefully it makes for a good Q4, but it left Q3 pretty bare.
And it wasn't just toys. Media declined even more than toys, also because of scheduling. There was no big thing this Q3, but they did have a few big releases in last year's Q3, so the comparison makes this year look bad. Hasbro isn't yet a studio that can crank out a big movie every single year, and non-movie years are always down.
Also, if those members of the board who have children haven't already introduced them to Deathsaurus, then we have failed collectively as parents...
Uh-oh. Hold on, I'll be right back. I need to run upstairs and talk to my daughter really quick . . .
I prefer his localized, age-appropriate name Shadowrealmsaurus
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That's not what they said on the last investor's call. They linked their drop in profits right to their price hikes and customers being "more fiscally concsious" right now.
Yeah, There's no such thing as "too obscure" anymore, especially if we're getting DINOKING!!!
Haslab should only be reserved for the projects that couldn't possibly exist at retail, like Unicron. I'll agree that no store on Earth would've carried that thing, not with a box the size of a washing machine!
Hasbro has their own online store for crap's sake! How could Deathsaurus not have succeeded as a Pulse exclusive? Same with Star Sabre. Everything doesn't have to go through the likes of Walmart anymore.
Haslab should only be reserved for the projects that couldn't possibly exist at retail, like Unicron. I'll agree that no store on Earth would've carried that thing, not with a box the size of a washing machine!
Hasbro has their own online store for crap's sake! How could Deathsaurus not have succeeded as a Pulse exclusive? Same with Star Sabre. Everything doesn't have to go through the likes of Walmart anymore.
Not all kids know the character names of any show with toys, if the toy looks awesome in their eyes and if they can have it, they'll pester their parents for it, if they are showing awesome looking alt mode, it will be something kids want, regardless of name, back when I was kid, I had no idea who Ultra Magnus was when I first got his toy and I was refering to his basic robot as Laiden, or something like that! I expect with Legacy Evolution Megatron, kids aren't going to know who that verison of Megatron is, they aren't likely to pay attention to the name on the packing, they'll likely be intersted in him for the alt mode, a dragon!
Legacy Dragon Megatron is $30, with the design trade-offs that go along with that. Kids can pester parents for $30.
Would you really want to see a $30 retail Deathsaurus? It would have nowhere near the size, articulation, paint apps, or perfect rebuild of the original toy's gimmicks to be able to go up against HasLab Victory Saber. TR Overlord was $30 and they just flat-out abandoned his unique engines and *four different sets* of spring-loaded functions. The Takara version painted the engines on.
Once Hasbro crossed the threshold of Star Saber's Double-Brainmaster gimmicks actually still working and, why not, the gigantic gun too, they were locked into Deathsaurus either being visibly inferior or being an equal who didn't match any retail pricepoint.
Would you really want to see a $30 retail Deathsaurus? It would have nowhere near the size, articulation, paint apps, or perfect rebuild of the original toy's gimmicks to be able to go up against HasLab Victory Saber. TR Overlord was $30 and they just flat-out abandoned his unique engines and *four different sets* of spring-loaded functions. The Takara version painted the engines on.
Once Hasbro crossed the threshold of Star Saber's Double-Brainmaster gimmicks actually still working and, why not, the gigantic gun too, they were locked into Deathsaurus either being visibly inferior or being an equal who didn't match any retail pricepoint.
Actually, HasLab should be reserved for Classics Kup.
Where do you shop/live?!
Last I checked, Legacy Dragon Megs is a leader class toy, as was TR Overlord, that makes him over $80 around here, not $30! FFS, a deluxe class figure costs me over $40!!
When I bought Commander class Jetfire it cost me around $140 before shipping, and it was worth that price. I can stomach a few less paint apps and a pointless throne/stand to pay less.
And Star Sabre should've been the same!
They also said that they are NOT seeing this with their collector lines, and scheduling was still noted as the main reason overall.
Life sized Kup and I’ll buy 5
