Do you think toy manufacturers mess with collectors?

[pud333]

By now, I'm sure a major toy manufacturer, like Hasbro or Mattel, knows what kind of impact the collecting community has on their bottom line. Companies like these hold monthly Q&A's, or go to conventions, etc. It seems like they're very open to suggestions and ideas. I know collectors can be a bit anal when it comes to how they want their toys, but ultimately, while the regular customers might not care that color Optimus is, or what scale one figure is to another, Collectors do, and there are a lot of Collectors that buy multiples of toys, including their repaints.

Now, I'm just competely speculating here, but do you think companies like Hasbro and Mattel, knowing full well what Collectors want, do things to just mess with us? Or do you think they genuinely don't care/don't know any better? Is it just a cash grab to take advantage of our addictive personalities?

For example, some of the latest things that irked me are the following:

Transformers: Premium line TFTM figures. They could have done the propper paint schemes the first time, yet they didn't. This seems like an obvious cash grab. (Which I fully understand from a business point of view)

GI Joe: Resolute Snake Eyes looks awesome, very cartoon acurate. But in the show, he has a wakizashi. The toy version, he's got a Katana. Now, it may not be a huge difference, but why do this? What's the point of making him cartoon acurate, except his weapon? This seems more like indifference or messing with collectors.

I dunno. Maybe I've been stressed out at work and it's causing every little thing to annoy me lately, but you gotta figure Hasbro knows they're doing this, right? Perhaps it's a bit of everything: Part indifference, part cash grab, part devious. :mad:

[GMfan101]

Transformers: Premium line TFTM figures. They could have done the propper paint schemes the first time, yet they didn't. This seems like an obvious cash grab. (Which I fully understand from a business point of view)


Terrible example. The final renderings weren't done for many of the wave 1 and 2 characters since the production on toys had to start when filming of the started and CG was being worked on. Hence the then inaccurate paint apps.

This is why the premium line was done to try and give collectors a more accurate version of the characters they saw on screen. I'm sure some were redone just for the reason of getting extra cash but certainly not all of them.

[VIT]

of course they do. companies like hasbro and mattel dont really care about who wants what. they just pretend to. its all about what they think will make money

[Aernaroth]

of course they do. companies like hasbro and mattel dont really care about who wants what. they just pretend to. its all about what they think will make money

I think that's half true. They're in it for profit, but it would be pretty stupid of them to go out of their way to shaft collectors without a good reason, otherwise they'd just be alienating their customers, which would affect their bottom line.

Using snake eyes' sword as an example, it could be that making it cartoon accurate would have been a lot more difficult (due to manufacturing tolerances, etc.), or they could have decided "you know, a wakizashi would look really small and lame, a katana looks much better and has more play value", or it could have been something to do with safety standards, or it honestly might have slipped the designers minds. Who knows, but I very much doubt it was a case of "Let's give him a bigger sword than he should have. That'll teach 'em".