Hasbro's masterpiece strategy is so frustrating

[General Tekno]

Originally Posted by Msol

This is absolutely false. Hasbro doesn't "import" Masterpiece figures any more than they imported Car Robots.

If that was true then Hasbro's MP OP would have been the same colour as Takara's.

What's more likely is that Hasbro has an agreement with Takara to not release their own version of MPs until Takara has sold through their product runs. That way Takara gets guaranteed MP sales from North Americans who don't know if the MP will be released later for a much lower price by Hasbro.

I can tell you right now that if I knew Hasbro was going to release MP Prime back in 2011 I would have cancelled my Takara pre-order. Same thing today: Takara doesn't want me cancelling by Prowl pre-order tomorrow if Hasbro announces they're releasing him for $40 today.

Also, on some molds it may well be that Hasbro doesn't co-develop them, so if they decide to bring them over it's an "after the fact" thing.

[Oreobuilder]

Originally Posted by Protoman

Keep in mind Masterpiece toys are made for the Japanese exclusively, it's totally up to Hasbro at that point if they want to import anything.

When we get a MP WHATEVER it does not mean it was created with the intent of a Stateside release.

^This

Originally Posted by thebobkat

There are also probably a lot of licensing and legal hoops they have to jump through (especially with the cars) to get them released on the North American side too, and sometimes that cost may not be worth it for them to pursue (or they may just not be able to come to an agreement with the licensor).

^And this.

Also, what makes you think other retailers would want to carry MPs? Wal-Mart and Target cater to the masses. They sell to mom and dad, grandpa and grandma who are looking for a birthday gift for little Timmy. What is the highest price point they carry? 30$? 35$? A 50$ Transformer that is the same size as their 15$ TFs and is based on an 80's model car? Why would grandma buy that for little Timmy? They won't want high priced, high quality collector oriented stuff anywhere near their stores.

TRU is probably the only game in town if Hasbro decides to release these in North America.

Not saying I like it, but this is the current large retailer mentality.

OB

[The 12th Prime]

Originally Posted by herooftheday316

Hey all

Guess I just need to vent a while and maybe try and understand how this whole thing works. Takara has been working really hard on the masterpiece line but I just don't understand where Hasbro is going with their strategy. I really wish they would come out and say what is going to happen with Sideswipe, Prowl, etc. It just seems that between announcing MP figures only once per year at SDCC or Bottom and the fact that they only release these (for the most part) as Toys R Us exclusives makes me believe they are losing out on possible revenue. I am still not sure why they can't have these toys available at at least one online retailer. Could the money they get from having single store exclusives actually make up for the lost revenue and poor distribution that comes with a single retailer strategy. I guess ultimately I wish there was more transparency from Hasbro especially in regards to the MP line. That plus I'm in Québec so it makes TRU.ca the worst possible choice of as the website won't even ship here due to packaging laws.
Can anyone logic this strategy out for me?
- Mike

Dude I sympathize with you, retail is a nasty business and is more about real estate than actually selling stuff, sure they got to sell stuff to meet the bottom line, put some profits in the pockets and pay the bills. But it's all part of a bigger machine. A lot of companies that are not retailers that own malls and retail space leasing to retailers also own residential space. It's all supply and demand, take away land and you can charge more for it. Just look at how much space retail occupies these days compared to even 10 or 20 years ago, it has exploded ten fold and lends itself to inflating housing prices as amenities are a big part of home value. Real estate props up the value of a company which if they're publicly traded makes retail space even more valuable because there is even value that can be added to your company by it's lease value, which is why there is such a race for store chains to expand as long as it is logistically feasible. That is one reason why there is no longer a TRU Express in PTBO here and it was relocated to North Oshawa because it was too expensive to send a truck here just for one location as I know it would add at least 2 hours to a truck drivers day just to come here which in my estimation would put them well over a 12 hour day west of the GTA. I do wish we had someone who drives the TRU route on here to help us out on this one.

As for Quebec, yep it has problems right now, the more it tries to separate and distinguish itself from France and Canada the more it becomes like the two yet very much on it's own which I'd say can be dangerous for it's retail and economic environment as I would see less and less companies be willing to cater to some outrageous laws there like the language one and the political instability is not good for business. Getting toys there I see only becoming harder. I'm sure the Montreal corruption scandal is just the beginning of a rough time ahead.

[The 12th Prime]

Originally Posted by Oreobuilder

^This




^And this.

Also, what makes you think other retailers would want to carry MPs? Wal-Mart and Target cater to the masses. They sell to mom and dad, grandpa and grandma who are looking for a birthday gift for little Timmy. What is the highest price point they carry? 30$? 35$? A 50$ Transformer that is the same size as their 15$ TFs and is based on an 80's model car? Why would grandma buy that for little Timmy? They won't want high priced, high quality collector oriented stuff anywhere near their stores.

TRU is probably the only game in town if Hasbro decides to release these in North America.

Not saying I like it, but this is the current large retailer mentality.

OB

Plus I think Hasbro and TRU should just shack up together, lol. It might work since Disney and Lego have their own stores and it doesn't seem to affect their relationship to my knowledge with other retailers like Walmart for instance but I'd have to study those dynamics more to see what is really going on there. Come on let's go to the Hasbro store!

[wedge1021]

Originally Posted by herooftheday316

Takara has been working really hard on the masterpiece line but I just don't understand where Hasbro is going with their strategy.

You're assuming that Hasbro even has a strategy. It's hard enough to discern a strategy for any of their mass release toy lines, let alone the small, collector-focused TF Masterpiece line. I swear their marketing department is just a room full of chimpanzees. It's pretty frustrating trying to figure out what their plans are, especially when it comes to Canadian releases. It's gotten worse since they discontinued their collector correspondence sessions.

[Protoman]

Originally Posted by Msol

This is absolutely false. Hasbro doesn't "import" Masterpiece figures any more than they imported Car Robots.

If that was true then Hasbro's MP OP would have been the same colour as Takara's.

What's more likely is that Hasbro has an agreement with Takara to not release their own version of MPs until Takara has sold through their product runs. That way Takara gets guaranteed MP sales from North Americans who don't know if the MP will be released later for a much lower price by Hasbro.

Yes import would not be the correct word.

If by MP Optimus Prime I assume you mean the MP-10 (Cause MP-01 was originally going to be a one time thing).

In the end Takara makes it first, cause the Japanese market is priority #1 with less hoops to jump through, then after Hasbro will do it's legal work and see if it's possible, and of course will change it up a bit to not damage the market of the Takara version (See any MP toy EVER they are all different)

Originally Posted by Msol

I can tell you right now that if I knew Hasbro was going to release MP Prime back in 2011 I would have cancelled my Takara pre-order. Same thing today: Takara doesn't want me cancelling by Prowl pre-order tomorrow if Hasbro announces they're releasing him for $40 today.

Yes but that Hasbro one will not have the huge and uniformic MP Japanese box, it will have have the Instructions book that doubles as a character history booklet in full color and no doubt Japan will have the superior colors while Hasbro will have some homage offshoot that is "not quite there". You might be saving 20-30 bucks, but your getting it cut from somewhere.

Now your going to say "Well I don't care about that shit" Well that's fine and dandy, but facts are facts.

In the end, Masterpiece is a Japanese line, personally I think it's silly to sit back and hope for a Hasbro release when outside of "extras" the Takara versions are always better (Even MP-10 has it's back and forth of which is better in different areas, it's the only one that comes close to par). I know it's expensive, but when you are rolling high with the MPs, you better have the cash.

[The 12th Prime]

Originally Posted by Protoman

Yes import would not be the correct word.

If by MP Optimus Prime I assume you mean the MP-10 (Cause MP-01 was originally going to be a one time thing).

In the end Takara makes it first, cause the Japanese market is priority #1 with less hoops to jump through, then after Hasbro will do it's legal work and see if it's possible, and of course will change it up a bit to not damage the market of the Takara version (See any MP toy EVER they are all different)



Yes but that Hasbro one will not have the huge and uniformic MP Japanese box, it will have have the Instructions book that doubles as a character history booklet in full color and no doubt Japan will have the superior colors while Hasbro will have some homage offshoot that is "not quite there". You might be saving 20-30 bucks, but your getting it cut from somewhere.

Now your going to say "Well I don't care about that shit" Well that's fine and dandy, but facts are facts.

In the end, Masterpiece is a Japanese line, personally I think it's silly to sit back and hope for a Hasbro release when outside of "extras" the Takara versions are always better (Even MP-10 has it's back and forth of which is better in different areas, it's the only one that comes close to par). I know it's expensive, but when you are rolling high with the MPs, you better have the cash.

Agreed!

I feel the same with Classics/Generations lines, Takara caters to Collectors tastes and Hasbro to kids tastes (though myself as a kid I don't think I had those tastes, I always liked realism) since those are each company's priorities. Classics Smokescreen for example drove me over to the Japanese side as I just couldn't buy the Hasbro version even for 10 dollars. Again though it all comes down to personal preference and patience.

[CBII]

Originally Posted by Protoman

I know it's expensive, but when you are rolling high with the MPs, you better have the cash.

Well put protoman!

It took a couple years of collecting for me to realize that I have the disposal income for such figures so just buy the damn things and get it over with.

Sadly I see far to my people without the extra cash trying to penny pinch (have to get it on sale to fit in there budget) like crazy to collect regular releases and the high end MP figures. Generally the same people also are pissed off when they miss out, have to pay more, or have to buy the Takara version. This is just a general observations so don;t everyone get all up in arms.

[Abraxys]

Originally Posted by CBII

Generally the same people also are pissed off when they miss out, have to pay more, or have to buy the Takara version. This is just a general observations so don;t everyone get all up in arms.

Sadly, this is becoming more of a reality as the years pass. When something great comes from overseas (Mp 10) it usually gets scalped to death here. Thus, it becomes the same price as takara (mp 10.) The solution seems to be to "nut up" and buy the takara version. More often than not youll pay the same for lower quality figure, which also doesnt increase as much in the after market, AND takara's usually looks nicer anyways. Save yourself the headache

So....weres the soundwave and acid storm we were promised? Sigh.....

[hardreturn]

MP-10 (and thundercracker) are my only non-JP release masterpiece for all the reasons above. way less headache and a few more dollars. i can live with that.