18 - Why Some Toy Brands Just Can't CUT IT Today? 

Go Buy Some ORIGINAL Transformers Art by Aaron: archermonster.com/shop

As someone who grew up with the likes of Armada, what I'm ultimately most nostalgic for was Hasbro's focus on... well, kids. Back then, whatever was on TV at the time got top billing. The most support, the sturdiest toys. They put their best foot forward for the kids because the nostalgic adult market hadn't quite formed yet. Now, the likes of Earthspark feel.... neglected, an afterthought, while grownups are catered to with the most quality products, and that's so damaging long-term. 20 years from now, when today's 40-to-50-years olds are in their 60s/70s and still getting G1 toys, and my generation is still getting updated Armada figures, what are today's kids going to get? They may not be there because Hasbro neglected to invest in cultivating that generation of fans. I'm worried that if Hasbro does one day end, it'll be because most of their customers passed away from old age. Titan Class Tidal Wave is awesome, but I'd RATHER the kids of today have something just as cool.

Heck yeah a new episode!

The most exciting content coming out of RU-vid for me right now. This is so appreciated

This conversation about brands focusing on the past really made me think about how Kamen Rider and Super Sentai are still thriving overseas. Sentai and Rider do have a decent amount of nostalgiac things to sell. Anniversary movies, prop accurate toys of the changers and weapons, etc.. But those nostalgia things are never the focus. Sentai's marketing blitz isn't focused on the 20th anniversary of whatever series, it's the brand new show that's getting the push from Bandai. They acknowledge the past and respect it, but they don't make the past the entire brand.

Fantastic episode this one. Very appropriately something different in itself and very refreshing.

Aaron is often so careful not to give too much of his true feelings away on the current state of the toy industry, but it felt like he really let us have a glimpse into them in this episode. It's disheartening to hear the frustration in his voice, it's so clear to me how passionate he still is about this stuff. I think a lot of us have grown concerned about the state of the franchise these last few years. My hope is that they can start balancing out the innovation vsrsus the nostalgia before it reaches the point of unprofitability and is put on ice.

Aaron, Proto, this is the most interesting conversation I've heard you guys have so far. I'm a Fortnite content creator and the things I've learned from listening to you two talk about the business has made me better at what I do. I have used lessons from this podcast and from transformers Slag to either explain concepts within the Fortnite space to my audience, or to develop marketing strategies to grow my brand. I'm also an Armada kid. Aaron crafted the toys of my childhood, and to hear him talk about how he marketed the toys to me is interesting on a level I'm not sure I can fully describe. I'm thankful for you both and would love to have you on my podcast someday. This is a bigger conversation that should be delved into and dissected more. Please do more of these, you don't know how much they help,

Great episode, love this show

man this is such a great video, i can only hope we can show this to the current design team and they can learn something from it. looking forward to seeing you both at tfcon next week, i'll be there.

Very interesting talk for sure.

I started being a Transformers fan 5 years ago when I was 12/13, I had a bit of experience with the brand when I was really young because of the bay movies but it took me a while to latch on to it. I have been growing up and collecting through the 'nostalgia era' of Transformers so Transformers for me is the brand as a whole. So, when I'm 30 or so I wonder, what Hasbro will do to keep me engaged because I grew up in nostalgia, will they make nostalgia products of nostalgia, or will they do the right thing and makes something new? Anyways great episode it's always great to hear things from professionals.😁👍

I also want to point out how Bandai has handled this situation with Mobile Suit Gundam, which they’ve been able to keep alive and well since before Transformers was a thing. They kind of started with nostalgia at first after the original series, but I think even with Zeta, ZZ and other entries, they still changed things up a lot even though it was all connected to the original series, mainly with the mobile suit designs and in turn the toys and kits. When they started to get tired of adding on to the Universal Century, they did Mobile Fighter G Gundam and Gundam Wing, and from there the franchise has reinvented itself often enough to draw in new generations. They still operate partially on nostalgia, even for the original series, but the difference is that both the old and the new get the same level of care, even represented in all of the same lines of products. There’s no separation between the nostalgia and the new, they are equally cared for, and I think that has a lot to do with why Gundam is still huge to this day.

Currently, I've stopped doing any pre-orders of Hasbro's Transformers action figures. After how Velocitron Cosmos was handled in the U.S., and then needing to buy a 3-pack to get the mold, pushed me over the edge. The past two Haslab Transformers didn't help either, especially when the Haslab Fire Convoy mold can NEVER be used for a repaint. And no, I don't have any Hasbro Transformers figures saved in my Target Favorites, in my Walmart List, or in my Amazon Shopping List. I'm not waiting for any Hasbro Transformers figures to go on sale or clearance. My Transformers money is going to Blokees, Symbiote Studios, and the occasional MP/MPG. Pop Mart Transformers is okay, but there's no articulation. I would love for Hasbro to TRUST a new animated series with Japan, where Japan does a good job in integrating the toys with the story. My two favorite Transformers series: Beast Wars and Victory. I personally loved the plot and the new idea of the Nine Great Demon Generals in Transformers Zone. And heck yes, I STILL want Nine Great Demon Generals figures by either Hasbro or licensed as Blokees. (Added) Why did RotB fail? The final character models were being constantly tweaked...so Hasbro has NO ACCESS to the final character models. And then, Hasbro went cheap by NOT doing a robot mode for RotB Airazor. When I bought some of the SS RotB figures, and then I saw the RotB movie, I personally felt betrayed by Hasbro where they took my money but couldn't produce ACCURATE movie figures. And then, most of the RotB toys made NO SENSE and NO CONNECTION to the movie. Kids are a lot smarter these days, where they want the toys that they see in the movie.

Growing up, I was lucky enough to have access to a wide range of the franchise. Mostly the UT anime, but I also had a lot of G1 on VHS and a few episodes of Beast Wars, Beast Machines and Animated on DVD. So I’m nostalgic for a lot of the franchise’s history, and I’m always gonna love seeing those come back, but it’s also made me used to the idea of the franchise reinventing itself so much. So where we’re at now has been really disappointing cuz we’ve stagnated so hard. Any time it “reinvents” itself now, it’s just repurposing older stuff. There’s so much potential with the base concept of Transformers and no one’s really doing anything with it. I still love a lot of what I grew up with because with age, it’s held up, and the care and creativity put into making them is more evident to me, and the “new” attempts just can’t hold a candle to them.

50:00 Stuffed shirts leaching everything good out of properties and shunning the creatives that plant the seeds for future profit.

5:35 It would help the Transformers brand if they had good media that wasn’t behind a pay wall. I’m not going to subscribe to a new streaming service just because that’s where the new show is. If you want to sell the toys, make the commercials free and accessible. Also, MAKE GOOD TOYS!

22:00 Zombie IPs.

31:21 I really appreciate this point. Do you think that all toy brands (excluding building-block) now require some type of media tie-in to be successful?

One of the best and most fascinating discussions so far. What’s really lacking now is new toy properties, toy companies decided that because Star Wars, Transformers etc were evergreen that they didn’t need to create the next MASK or Visionaries etc and that’s a real shame and alongside that they believe taking that risk was no longer worth it. And to hear a former Kenner employee saying ‘they’ve given it all up’ is just really terrible to hear. Kenner did it best. They knew how to make successful toylines and their creativity was unparalleled. And it’s just not seen today. Also they were able to take Transformers, which was a dying franchise after G2, and completely revitalise it. It is also really unfortunate that Hasbro shied away from gimmicks with the modern Transformers lines. You need gimmicks to retain interest and it makes the figures much more exciting.

Cant believe im in the nostalgia demographic with RID and the UT lel cnat complain tho i have it good. But i agree with how toys nowadays dont have at least some interesting gimmick to it ans i hate that some people justify it saying “the transformation is the feature” and the ones that have it are extremely underwhelming because those are mainline current cartoon toy and if you compare it with old gimmicky toys like armada, those old ones completely decimate the new ones

Loved this episode. And I genuinely agree with what is being said here. Hasbro WILL fall will fall behind if it keeps reshuffling G1. It might have a small chance on the digital toys front however. The Transformers Reactivate live service game could have a chance to at least give kids another virtual world to play in that's not Fortnite, and some people may be interested in that. Unfortunately it's development seems... Troubled to say the least and it's also G1 styled. Hopefully though there's still a chance for it to be great

the examples of flash gordon, dick tracy, john carter, tarzan, and even phantom should serve as cautionary tales as to what happens when a brand remains stagnant for long enough. marvel, dc, tmnt, and even transformers all made it this far because they constantly mixed things up and kept things fresh and new. at this point the series is just in desperate need of another beast wars, in the sense that they take what we know (cybertron, cosmic space wars, etc) and approach things from a completely different angle. It seems like we've done the Bay-G1 thing of the bots landing on earth and bringing their war to us nonstop for the last 15 odd years, and buy and large, people are tired of that. people are tired of unicron and all the big lasers and all the dumb spectacle associated with the bayfilms. All these struggling brands are in desperate need of reinvention, a palette cleanser, and something akin to a break.

i've been saying for years, Hasbro went in the wrong direction after Prime, cheapening the toys and aiming at a younger audience. Generation is not sustainable as the main branch for the toys, already they are running out of popular characters to do and once it's done you have nothing left. The next show really need to be a hit or things are looking dire for the near future. There's also the point that they are broke rn and can't afford to make the show toys as produced as generations so it's always gonna have limited appeal as they will be cheaper. Give it to Takara and make an anime is their best hope at revitalising the franchise. Shows like ES/CV are never gonna have wide appeal to make the brand relevant. A Transformer anime on the scale of like My hero, Attack on titan would bring the brand into the modern era.

Within 38 minutes into the video I can hear Aaron drawing, must have gotten bored