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.
