Meanwhile (and to get us back on topic), I'll also see if I can dig up any info on where we originally heard about the drop test being what prevented the Brave Max import from being released.
I looked into this and found something pretty interesting.
According to several reports from BotCon 2002 (July 26-28, 2002) on ATT, the drop test failure didn't cancel the Brave Maximus import outright, but rather
delayed it, with the reports saying that Hasbro hoped to see it eventually released the following year in 2003 instead of 2002, after first finding a way to somehow fix the plastic. So despite this delay, they were still trying to get it released that long after. This matches up with Nevermore's product code findings placing the RID Fort Max release in April/May 2003. Looking over the Armada toyline's wave release dates, RID Fort Max coming in April/May 2003 would have placed its release smack dab in the middle of Armada's run, during the transitional period between the final waves of the figures that came in the blue packaging and the first waves of The Unicron Battles.
Additionally, a 2006 report on Iacon One from
Steve-o Stonebraker mentioned the following:
The "drop test" we heard about for RID Fortress Maximus has an additional element that hasn't been discussed previously: drops done in-package. It wasn't all that clear at the panel, but he later clarified it for me. The drop test we heard about before, where the toy has to not break in dangerous ways, is indeed done. But they also drop packaged toys to see how damaged the box gets, whether the toy gets damaged inside, whether it gets knocked out of position so it won't be in the bubble in the right way, etc.. The Fort Max packaging couldn't take this beating, and that was at least one contributor to the reason he wasn't brought over here.
The phase "at least one contributor" suggests there was more to it than just the drop test failure.
Based on what The Predaking said about FAO being on the decline during 2002-2003, it was likely a combination of
both the closure of several FAO stores at that point and the drop test failures that led to RID Fort Max's release being canceled. Though, while FAO would have been the exclusive brick-and-mortar retailer for the set, it would have also been exclusive to certain online retailers like Big Bad Toy Store, Entertainment Earth, Marz Distribution, and Action Figure Xpress. But I'd bet that Hasbro was wanting the figure to have a brick-and-mortar presence first and foremost, since widespread online shopping was still a relatively new thing at the time. And the closure and ultimate bankruptcy of FAO Schwartz likely contributed to the cancelation of RID Fort Max's release, which was first
confirmed in September 2002.
Although, I can think of one more thing that probably led to its cancelation: Armada Unicron. By late 2002, Hasbro would have already been working on that figure, and likely wanted it to be the big centerpiece that the fandom would focus on more than anything else. A new western release of the much larger G1 Fort Max mold could have potentially stolen Unicron's thunder. It wouldn't surprise me if someone higher up at Hasbro was like "The Robots in Disguise cartoon line is dead and gone. We're well into Armada now, and we want Armada Unicron to be next big deal. Fortress Maximus keeps failing the drop test, and FAO Schwartz is going under. So let's save ourselves a lot of money and hassle, and just can that release and move on."
