I'm actually going to go to my TRU after work and post a pic of what I'm talking about. Because, if BotShots was back in the toddler aisles with RescueBots, I wouldn't be complaining. The problem here is that Hasbro hasn't convinced retailers to make more space, all they've done is replace the same space with a different product. And, as a result of that, less of the product that (in my opinion) should be there. It's the same half aisle space that was there before but now half of that space is now taken up by BS and not Prime or Generations like it was before. And Prowl, you're forgetting about the shitload of BS boxsets that actually are taking up the same space that just two years ago was occupied by Prime and Generations voyagers (I know it was RTS Voyager, but you know what I mean). Fortunately I have pics somewhere of TRU toy aisle from back when Universe started (someone in my area had done some retarded toy swapping and I took pics of it). So I do have evidence for comparison.JediTricks wrote:Who would this actually benefit? Rescue Bots and Bot Shots are for entry level younger kids to bring them into the brand, get them involved with the characters; Kreo and Construct Bots are for the middle kid age that is into creative toys; Prime is for middle kid age and is the main line; and Generations is for the older kid and collector set. If you collapse all that, you limit your scope and your creativity. Plus, there'd be no solid way to order exclusives, the exclusives division couldn't bring to life ideas that would otherwise not happen because retailers couldn't know up front how much to order so they wouldn't pay up front for product.And this is why I kinda can't help wondering if the franchise has gotten too big. There's so many different lines now that it isn't just one line "Transformers" like it was in the 80's. If it was they could continue to do the once a year thing and there'd be no complaining. People would either collect TFs or they wouldn't.
You check BBTS every day??? Why? For my TF needs I hit TFW2k5 and Tformers for product news (they generally aggrigate news from other sources anyway like Seibertron and Unicron.com) and BWTF and DvD for reviews.Yeah, I don't go onto very many sites either (in fact I can't even think of 10 different TF sites). I pretty much go here and tfw and that's it. I also check BBTS every day. I think what happened with the GDO figures is that they came out and I just forgot about them. Or maybe it was last year when I wasn't really buying TFs or even going to stores or anything.
Actually, it is handled by the main TF team, unlike Kreo and Transformers Crossovers, but it's budgeted and directed with its own money, basically the brand's budget is added to so as to make room for Bot Shots. Also, the person heading up that segment of the brand doesn't do the main TF designing, she's part of the team but not a key member.O6 wrote:That's assuming the money for BotShots actually comes from the same budget pool--I'm sure it doesn't. I'm sure there's an entirely different team (overheaded by some of the higher-up management guys, for brand consistency and things like that) that works on BotShots.
This is true in that Hasbro convinced retailers to add space for Bot Shots, but there's also some question of whether it cannibalizes sales from the mainline of the brand. I'd argue it doesn't because it's such a different expression, and that it's trying to cannibalize sales from Bakugan.The reality of the situation is that if you get rid of BotShots, that space isn't going to go to more Prime and Generations. That space is going to go to Star Wars, or GI Joe, or WWE, or Power Rangers, or TMNT, or Avengers. BotShots aren't a *competing* product, because they're a Different Thing, and they largely serve a different market with their lower price points.
I check BBTS daily partially to see what new preorders are out (TFs aren't the only thing I collect) and also out of boredom and I start browsing for stuff I want. This is of course after I'm done debating here and after that, TFW.
) and ebay is blocked here. I do browse Amazon every once in a while but I usually don't find anything and if I do, it's some ungodly amount of money (note: Do NOT go looking for Henkei figures on there. You get scalped worse than... anywhere).
