Q and A round 6

[Onslaught Six]

Wow, I feel kinda gypped in general, but especially on ActionFig's questions--I mean, those are pretty much basic "When do we get [x]?" questions, and Hasbro couldn't even answer those.

Mind, I'm not going to complain horribly like the Joe guys tend to do, but hey.

[Dominic]

I am generally agreeing with JT. You guys did well, but....Hasbro kind of left us hanging.

Our answers are in:
http://www.tfviews.com/news/main/hasbro-q-and-a/503

I have requested a follow-up clarification on question 1, but we'll see if we get any traction.

I fully feel like you guys did great and it's Hasbro that's steamrolled us on these answers, but maybe I'm missing some of the gold in answers 2 and 3, you guys tell me.

I get the feeling their answer for question 1 was a matter of protecting a contingency they did not want to admit they had. (If nothing else, why would they want to admit a lack of confidence in their product?) In a sense, it is our fault for asking. But, a real answer would have been nice.


I am tempted to re-submit out question about "what they might want to do" with the movie toys again, and see if they notice. Seriously. Look at thow they answered the question.


Their answer about the movie was a combination of "it is up to parents to take care of their children", (which is objectively fair), and "we are pitching this to the man-child demographic of toy collectors and summer movie-goers". And, objectively, that makes sense to. (I do not like it, but it makes sense.)


Hasbro forgot to mention the BC09 Kup figure on your AF set of questions. (Wow JT, you were scraping on that one, huh?)

Dom
-now to set up round 7. Oi.

[JediTricks]

Wow, I feel kinda gypped in general, but especially on ActionFig's questions--I mean, those are pretty much basic "When do we get [x]?" questions, and Hasbro couldn't even answer those.

Mind, I'm not going to complain horribly like the Joe guys tend to do, but hey.

None of the questions I've seen so far are unreasonable, and yet all the fans are getting in response is the short PR answer that usually avoids the question. It's not unreasonable to treat the collectors like people instead of a faceless market to ignore. When I saw the second answer at TFW2k5, I felt kicked in the teeth:
http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-new ... ro-168403/
It feels like such a pompous, "we know better than you" answer that I feel betrayed and not even remotely surprised that folks are doing stuff like Fansproject. Hell, I was on Hasbro's side about that after their first answer condemning it, but everything since has been in the service of disrespecting the notion that the fan community might want more, that Hasbro will do what it pleases with the brand and whatever they make better be good enough, the end.

The whole thing bums me out more than anything. I just don't feel like this is worthwhile after several rounds of this stuff in a row, we wait 2 months and then craft good questions only to get them sunk in fluff and rudeness.

I get the feeling their answer for question 1 was a matter of protecting a contingency they did not want to admit they had. (If nothing else, why would they want to admit a lack of confidence in their product?) In a sense, it is our fault for asking. But, a real answer would have been nice.

I guess I'm spoiled by the Star Wars team in that respect, they are far more forthcoming and realistic. If Hasbro TF team didn't have a contingency plan, it'd be irresponsible, their investors would be rightfully pissed off, so it's not unreasonable for them to have one and explain what it was. There are no guarantees in life, Hasbro is looking to play the long game with their brands, investors expect them to have contingency plans for the unfortunate possible happenstance.

I am tempted to re-submit out question about "what they might want to do" with the movie toys again, and see if they notice. Seriously. Look at thow they answered the question.

Yeah, I see what you mean, it feels like the preamble to an answer, not the answer itself.

Their answer about the movie was a combination of "it is up to parents to take care of their children", (which is objectively fair), and "we are pitching this to the man-child demographic of toy collectors and summer movie-goers". And, objectively, that makes sense to. (I do not like it, but it makes sense.)

The "parents make decisions" part is fair, but to leave it hanging where it is afterwards is another area where they simply won't answer the question.

Hasbro forgot to mention the BC09 Kup figure on your AF set of questions. (Wow JT, you were scraping on that one, huh?)

They didn't mention the Botcon Kup figure because I addressed it not counting in the question.

As for scraping on that one, I wasn't lying in the question when I said it kept almost getting in from the very first round, there's been a few folks on AF championing that Kup question since day 1 without fleshing it out beyond a single sentence. Its time finally came up. I personally don't think asking about certain legacy characters who deserve upgrades is a waste (regardless of the fact that meatier questions get poorly answered), but only in controlled and reasonable circumstances.

[Onslaught Six]

As for scraping on that one, I wasn't lying in the question when I said it kept almost getting in from the very first round, there's been a few folks on AF championing that Kup question since day 1 without fleshing it out beyond a single sentence. Its time finally came up. I personally don't think asking about certain legacy characters who deserve upgrades is a waste (regardless of the fact that meatier questions get poorly answered), but only in controlled and reasonable circumstances.

Oh, I agree. After all, I said just in this last round that I could come up with pretty much nothing but "Are we getting the other bike or not, dude?"

[JediTricks]

Oh, I agree. After all, I said just in this last round that I could come up with pretty much nothing but "Are we getting the other bike or not, dude?"

That's the funny thing. When I come here, I feel like the hardcore fan community would balk at questions like that bike one, yet my more casual crew at AF wants to know. And the reality is, everybody wants to know, it's just that some folks want to use the resource in a more hardcore-fan manner. So sometimes "you gonna make a new Kup???" is an acceptable question (and sometimes it's just dumb, like "You gonna repaint Optimus Prime?" ).

[Dominic]

I just unstuck the topic. I will set up round 7 in a few minutes.

Dom