Is anyone buying these Construct-bots toys?

Ancillary, non-main-line stuff. Star Wars TF, Speed Stars, Titanium Series, Robot Heroes, that sort of thing. They're kinda neat, but we all know they're not really that important. Admit it, you know it's true.
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Is anyone buying these Construct-bots toys?

Post by Tigermegatron »

Is anyone buying these Construct-bots toys?

Anyone wish Kreo,Construct-bots & bot shots would just go away? Personally these TF toy lines do nothing but embarass,degrade & make most USA retail stores order less of the other TF toy lines---> Due to the low sales that result in extreme shelf/peg warmers in stores.

I just think that in a time when the economy is bad in america,Hasbro should have put their A-Game on & released superior TF toys product to help increase consumer & retail confidence in the brand. Instead Hasbro has done the Exact oppossite,By releasing tons of inferior garbage in large varities.

I'd rather Hasbro take this back a whole bunch of notches & only release one,maybe Two TF toy lines per 18 month time frames. This will ensure superior higher quality product. Instead of the current path Hasbro is on for the TF toy lines,where they release 7+ Different themed TF toy lines per year & most of the product is inferior,low quality,ugly Garbage that hardly anyone wants to buy.

The quality of these Kreo,Construct-bots & Bot shots are far worse or the same as those 1990's low quality KO TF toys.

I just think Hasbro devotes far too much brain power+money & expectactions in these crappy Kreo,Construct-bots & Bot shots. While the other TF toy lines suffer with inferior product as a result. Instead of creating all this garbage,I'd rather Hasbre spent that time+money creating more awesome well built other TF toy lines TF character toys,like larger scale MP TF toys,8 inch ultra & Leader sized TF toys for Generations/30th,BH,Movie-verse,etc...

I seriously think creating so many Crappy TF toy lines that fail in stores in sales Hurts every newer TF toy line,As far as stores ordering less volume,Not wanting to carry the really big TF toys,cutting off/not buying toy lines before their hasbro cancel date,etc...

Curenntly,Hasbro thinks flooding stores with crap in huge varities & dozens of different themed TF toy lines,Is the way to grow the brand. The Hasbro theory is this will make e'm the most profits in a short time frame. Hasbro is also convinced this will make the TF brand "the Taco bell restaurant of the future",when every restaurant is Taco bell. like in that "Demolition Man".

I blame all this TF toy lines variety on the Movie-Verse TF toy lines. Where Hasbro took things to the more Extreme levels,by branching out the TF toy brand into so many other areas.

At times Hasbro really frustrates me,Fans can't get combiners in the Main TF toy lines or in Classics/Generations in full supply,yet Hasbro has no problems pumping out all those crappy inferior Garbage Kreon Combiners gift sets. Hasbro refuses to give fans/buyers the bigger G-1 characters in decent supply,yet Hasbro has no problem creating 12+ gigantic Kreo build it sets in the 8 inch ultra,Leader & Supreme size scales.
Last edited by Tigermegatron on Fri Nov 15, 2013 3:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Anyone wish Kreo,Constructbots &botshots would just go a

Post by Onslaught Six »

That isn't how companies budget things though. The main TF toyline only get, let's say $200,000. That's massively low balling, but whatever. The Kreo and Constructibots toylines each get, let's say $50,000. If they take that budget away, that $50,000 isn't going to go towards making the mainline stuff better--it'll go to Beyblade or My Little Pony or Marvel Universe.
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Re: Anyone wish Kreo,Constructbots &botshots would just go a

Post by Tigermegatron »

I'm just curious how many here have bought & kept any Kreo,Construct-bots,bot shots or Rescue Bots.

I bought the Kreo huge build set for Vortex,After putting together the toy,I didn't like it,So I gave it to a younger relative

I bought the Kreo huge build it set for Starscream,I bought this on clearance for half price & then had a $5 off Kreo coupon that the stores were giving away at that time period. After putting this toy together,I kept this toy due to it being decent.

Last month,I bought Construct-Bots Starscream because I was curious about the toy line. After putting this toy together,it literally felt like a cheap 19990's low quality KO TF toy. My older cousin liked the toy,So I gave it to him.

When Bot Shots first came out,I bought Barricade. It was a awful toy,So this I gave away.

I didn't buy any Rescue Bots toys.
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Re: Anyone wish Kreo,Constructbots &botshots would just go a

Post by JediTricks »

Onslaught Six wrote:That isn't how companies budget things though. The main TF toyline only get, let's say $200,000. That's massively low balling, but whatever. The Kreo and Constructibots toylines each get, let's say $50,000. If they take that budget away, that $50,000 isn't going to go towards making the mainline stuff better--it'll go to Beyblade or My Little Pony or Marvel Universe.
Thumbs up. ;)

Yeah, these lines are separate, they grow the brand into new markets, and they fulfill a need some consumers had from the brand. Could they be done better? Sure. But for what they are, I can't say I want them to go away. Bot Shots are already dead though, the market spoke and said "YOU TOOK TOO LONG TO GET IN ON THE CRAZE!"
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Re: Anyone wish Kreo,Constructbots &botshots would just go a

Post by Tigermegatron »

JediTricks wrote: Could they be done better? Sure. But for what they are, I can't say I want them to go away.
As far as Kreo goes,I see some potential. Hasbro should do some Classics/generations styled build it sets of some popular G-1 characters that haven't had newer toy made. A G-1 styled Omega supreme would be perfect as the 1985 toy was a build it type puzzle parts toy. Fortress Maximus would transfer nicely into a huge kreo build it toy. Hasbro did the huge Devestator build it set that basically had 7 modes of build it----> So,they could easily create a leader sized build it set for 1987 Sixshot that breaks apart & buyers build all 6 modes.

Those Kreon 4-in-1 combiners gift sets were epic fail as they barely formed a 4 inch tall gestalt. if this is Hasbro's way of giving fans/buyers the G-1 combiners,then I'll simply buy some 3rd party not-TF combiners instead.

Construct-bots,I see Zero potential due to Hasbro using KO style cheap thin plastic & those ugly sculpted generic looking parts. I bought Starscream & it was a huge disappointment.

Now if Hasbro were to revamp the Construct-bots toy line by having thicker plastic,better looking sculpted parts. non-goofy looking faces/bot/alt modes,Then I'd see major potential in this line.

Hasbro for those Kreo build sets & Construct-bots NEEDS TO SERIOUSLY STOP do TF characters that have been over done to death in the other TF toy lines. Perhaps more buyers will buy these sets if they see some TF characters get done who haven't had newer toys made or barely one or 2 newer toys made. TF characters like the city-bots,Rodimus Prime,Sixshot,Trypticon,some 1986 thru 1989 TF characters. maybe throw in some TF characters from other TF toy lines like Armada Tidalwave,a few beast wars characters,etc...

Those Mini 1 inch TF character Kreon would have some potentail if Hasbro marketed them different,instead of those blind bags for $299 each. Hasbro should have put them in the main TF toy aisle, sold e'm each for $1.00 & packaged them on legends sized blaster cards. maybe have 2 kreons on a legends sized see thru clear bubble blister cardboard card & charge $2.99.
JediTricks wrote: Bot Shots are already dead though, the market spoke and said "YOU TOOK TOO LONG TO GET IN ON THE CRAZE!"
but..... Hasbro recently released a whole bunch of BH styled bot-shots & more BH are on the way.

At this point it's a safe bet to assume/speculate that the TF4 toy line will have a whole bunch of Bot-shots themed character figures. As bot-shots made it's debut & had a bunch of DOTM themed characters toys.

Sure,I dis-like Bot-shots but realistically I don't see it going away anytime soon. Especially since Hasbro for the past few years has been on this "SMALLS" venture for the Newer TF toy lines by having the Smalls like Bot-shots,Legends & Commanders out numbering the bigger sized TF toys 9 to 1, like deluxes,voyagers & Leaders.
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Re: Anyone wish Kreo,Constructbots &botshots would just go a

Post by Onslaught Six »

Bot Shots are gone, they haven't shown new ones in like a year.

Hasbro doesn't decide where to stock things, and all the competing blind bag Lego-type mini figure lines (Star Wars, TMNT, Halo, Mario, etc.) are the same price.
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People spend so much time worrying about whether a figure is "mint" or not that they never stop to consider other flavours.
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Re: Anyone wish Kreo,Constructbots &botshots would just go a

Post by Dominic »

The thing to keep in mind is that Hasbro is slipping in market share (having recently fallen behind Lego for #2) and trying to make up for the loss by broadening its reach in to hot markets, bricks and game figures, while using pre-existing brands. Similarly, they are trying to use "My Little Pony" to break into the doll market with "Equestria Girls" (which I am given to understand is fundamentally upsetting).

I agree that Hasbro should focus on making good action figures. They have been steadily declining for about 3 years now, putting less and less effort in to their product and relying more on more on brand recognition to carry them. (Compare Marvel figures from 4 years ago, to "Avengers" figures and what has come out in the last year or so. The best 4 inch figures are repacks from the last few years, often with fewer accessories, such as Thanos missing the alternate sculpted hand.)

But, eliminating "Kreo" and "Constructabots" (sp?) from the market will not lead to getting better regular TF figures.

Hasbro is going cheap with all of their lines. The Abominus gift set might be better than the Kreon Abominus set. But, it is still not a good toy unto itself, especially for the $25 price. Metroplex is an ambitious effort, but it is not worth anything close to the $120+ retail price. Most of the problems with Hasbro product have stemmed from lazy/rushed design work, which is impossible to work around even if the execution is done well.

I'm just curious how many here have bought & kept any Kreo,Construct-bots,bot shots or Rescue Bots.


I have a number of Kreon figures, mostly from blind bags. And, I have kept a few of the larger sets (Prowl, Jazz, Mirage, Wheeljack/Knock-Out). But, they are hardly the center-pieces of my collection.
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Re: Is anyone buying these Construct-bots toys?

Post by Tigermegatron »

Is anyone buying these Construct-bots toys? does anyone think these are the best things ever?

What dis-pleases me is how Hasbro is really pumping these things up like there the best things ever,golden & the newest in/fad. Everytime time I vist that HTS.com site,The first page is over loaded with construct-bots. Stores aisles in the TF main section are over loaded with construct-bots. These things are epic garbage as far as KO type thin/light/hollow plastic goes,Ugly generic sculpted parts swapping pieces goes,all the same size no matter how much you spend,un-recognizable alt modes,etc...

Here I thought nothing could top the Kreo/Kreon toys as far as awful/horrible was concerned. At the very least I see some potential in the build it kreo sets. The problems I see are the TF toy lines & characters chosen are awful candidates to showcase this line. If those Kreo build it sets started doing some classics/generations characters themed sets,then theres no doubt they'd be pure awesome. Examples: 1-Huge G-1 Omega supreme build it Kreo set. since the 1985 toy was a puzzle/parts former. 2- 1987 Sixshot big leader sized build it kreo set with all 6 modes.

Making those Kreon 4-in-1 G-1 combiners that form basic sized Gestalts was a bad idea. I would have preferred huge build it kreo sets like that $79.99 Kreo Build it Devestator was.
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Re: Anyone wish Kreo,Constructbots &botshots would just go a

Post by JediTricks »

Dominic wrote:I agree that Hasbro should focus on making good action figures. They have been steadily declining for about 3 years now, putting less and less effort in to their product and relying more on more on brand recognition to carry them. (Compare Marvel figures from 4 years ago, to "Avengers" figures and what has come out in the last year or so. The best 4 inch figures are repacks from the last few years, often with fewer accessories, such as Thanos missing the alternate sculpted hand.)
Hasbro's stock is at an all-time high, higher even than the 1999 Star Wars: The Phantom Menace high. So they're now ready to feel the crash, just as they did then, of questionable management practices being carried deeply into the market.
But, eliminating "Kreo" and "Constructabots" (sp?) from the market will not lead to getting better regular TF figures.
Very true, these brands do not cannibalize heavily from the main line at market and don't cannibalize from the main line's budget, so all they can do is improve the brand's visibility while branching out into other markets.
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Re: Is anyone buying these Construct-bots toys?

Post by Dominic »

I admit that I cannot see the appeal of larger "Kre-O" and "Constuctibots" sets.

The result of the time and effort spent putting them together is....not worth it, especially when there are better toys (from the same franchise no less) available.

Hasbro's stock is at an all-time high, higher even than the 1999 Star Wars: The Phantom Menace high. So they're now ready to feel the crash, just as they did then, of questionable management practices being carried deeply into the market.
It is worse this time. Hasbro should have learned the lessons of a decade ago. Instead, they are making more, and more offensive, mistakes. Toys from 5+ years ago, especially toys that have been surpassed since being released, should not be more appealing than most of the current and upcoming product. (As much as I like "Universe" Sunstreaker, I should not like it so much relative to that average "Prime" or "Generations" figures.)
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