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An interesting but worrying rumour here. According to one of the guys at Kapow-Toys.com, Hasbro UK could be cancelling the TOYLINE in the UK. Sellers have been told that pre-orders should not be taken for wave 4.5 or beyond as the line may be discontinued before then.
This is surprising news given the fact that Animated toys seem to be flying off the shelves for fans looking for the latest figures, but given that the toys (and cartoon) get little exposure, it could turn out to be true.
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I hope this isn’t true, but is perhaps indicative of Hasbro UK/Europe’s perpetual fumbling of the ball with Transformers. I would be interested to know how well the brand fares on this side of the pond, as on the whole it feels to me a little lost. Swamped by other toylines out there and a lack of promotion.
Whilst there is a sizeable fanbase here in the UK, who are eager consumers of Transformers product, that will not be enough to sustain longevity of the brand. However, Hasbro could do themselves a favour by doing more to promote the brand and ensure availability of their goods. The US, Europe and China seemed to have these figures available since March and we’ve had to wait ’til September for retail availability. Sales are therefore lost to online retailers and imports. There is also the issue of making the product more widely available. Placing product at Toys R Us and Forbidden Planet is hardly maximising potential sales. Granted, the Supermarkets have got on board – but only their larger, out of town stores. Likewise, Woolworths are johnny-come-latelies with Animated, having only got stock in during the last week of September, and even then they seem to still have a lot of Movie stuff hanging about.
Perhaps in that therein lies the problem. There seems to be no range rationalisation for the UK market. The Movie merchandise rapidly span off into concepts and characters not part of the actual movie proper, and many of these items (I’m looking at you, Real Gear) are clogging up the shelves. The UK is a much smaller territory with a more discerning consumer culture – not all this guff will find a home, particularly when a given toyline branches out a step too far with ‘spin-offs’ or oddball concepts – or worse, the selling of the same product in a different format (hello Movie Premiums and Movie Battle Scenes).
Its understandable that Hasbro may want to shelve Animated, what with a new movie due next year which will no doubt supercede Animated in any event. Who knows, this may actually lift sales again as Hasbro will have to do the minimum of promotional work with a heavily trailered film. What is concerning is that this may raise questions about the continued viability of Transformers in the UK. If its core fanbase gets its product from abroad, and they are struggling to bring in new fans -thanks to children’s TV being relegated to the back waters of digital television – what hope is there of gaining new fans to sustain the life of the franchise?
The answer may lie with video games, but would Hasbro even bother to push this product in the UK?
Comment by Skyquake87 — October 7, 2008 @ 11:13 am