
E-Hobby have announced that they are entering into a collaboration with the Transformers Collector’s Club! Exactly what this partnership is bringing to the table is unknown, but wishful speculation is that it will give Japanese fans access to the US TFCC exclusives, and US fans access to E-Hobby’s own awesome exclusives without the need for a middleman.
Of course that is all speculation – full details will be announced on the E-Hobby Magazine site in due course. I for one am looking forward to finding out more – and once we know more we will share the news with you here on TFW.
Stepper
Right on,in the end,as per which exclusive to be issue out is still up to TakaraTomy to say Yes or No
daelite20
Did your crystal ball see any Exclusive microns? Lmao..J/K
The_Black_Sheep
Looking into my crystal ball, I can see the 1st collaboration being these stickers at a massive mark-up of $25 a pop! Gotta rip-off those moronic collectors you know!
Thundershot
Whatever it is will sell out in 6 minutes here!
Anguirus
Allspark did a follow-up story. Apparently they sold out in 30 minutes. Their next announcement will be relevant to US fans (would be nice).
Lumpy
ah, that makes a ton of sense actually, so even if you're making more, you can still be making more profit. thanks
i will totally agree that FP is not the best with their business model and response to fans/criticism. That's become pretty apparent over the last 5 months or so. and I hear you on brand loyalty, but it almost seems like FP is banking on the brand loyalty we already have with Hasbro and Transformers, and isn't doing more to enhance that loyalty. Maybe that's what they're trying to do with the new subscription service, but it seems like there should be more interaction throughout the entire year, not just around Botcon and when they toys come out.
oh yeah, of course after hearing it i recall that e-hobby is just a distributor. duh. thanks for the reminder
ah, i hear you. I've still never had a problem with their customer service, but i've heard the horror stories some people have. seems so odd that they'd be great with some people and terrible with others.
and i think people were talking prices based on the subscription service, but the price of this boxset is definitely higher than it was for Botcon attendees and non-attendees, based on current exchange rates.
MegaMoonMan
I'm not saying they are SUPPOSED to (not even going to get into if they should or not), I'm saying it will be a cold day in hell before they give up any profits and consider fans over money. They can't even handle the concept of "customer service".
Prices will remain the same or rise. I'm not even sure what prices we are talking about honestly, but if it involves FP and lowering prices – not gonna happen.
PoweredConvoy
e-Hobby doesn't have new heads created. TakaraTomy provides them for them, it's not like Fun Pub's situation with Hasbro.
It's my understanding most e-Hobby exclusives are ones that TakaraTomy comes up with and has e-Hobby distribute them (like Hasbro does with Toys R Us, Walmart, and Target). It's very different than Fun Pub's situation.
So the Scrapheap head wasn't theirs to begin with it's TakaraTomy's / Hasbro's.
Randy
Bogatan
As long as FP make toys people want they can be as indifferent to customer service as they like, its a simple fact.
But it also mean the customer will never cut them any slack, if and when FP screw up people wont be patient, wont be polite, wont be supportive.
Its FPs choice they can either be a business people grudgingly give money or they can be part of the fandom and actually feel like a fan club that people want to be a part of.
Clearly they have chosen the former. And thats fine its their choice, either way I get toys from them if its something I want, but there is a reason companies spend big money on building brand loyalty. Third parties and Asian exclusives are all competing for our money now a days.
payton34
Well, I'm sure there are more details involved, but for the most part it's basic business.
If you sell 50 copies of a $50 item, and your production costs are $25, then the gross sales are $2500 and your net profit is $1250.
If your production costs go down (let's say it's now $15 instead of $25) and you sell the same amount for the same price, then your net profit is now $1750.
However, if your production costs go down, and you lower the retail price by the same amount (now $40 instead of $50), you will likely sell a higher quantity than before. If you now sell 75 items at the new price of $40, then your gross sales are $3000 and your net profit is $1875.
So bottom line, they will move more product at a lower price, and in the long run it will result in a higher net profit for them (and less left-over inventory on hand).
Lumpy
but why should they do us favors? they're a business, they make toys, we buy toys. if we don't like the toys they make, we don't buy them, they lose business…
what kind of deals do you think they should be doing? I'm honestly curious.
MegaMoonMan
FP is all about the cash and how much they can squeeze out of the fandom, not about doing us favors and cutting us deals.
That's all the logic required.
Lumpy
so, 150 boxed sets (guess they didn't sell out?) will be sold to Japanese collectors? that's cool, i guess, but i want to see what else this deal will mean. I know $20 figures is out of the question, but this does have some cool potential.
maybe it's possible there'll also be a subscription service (same figures) for the Japanese market?
they did, for this years troop builder. Hopefully it means the Club will get access to any new heads that E-Hobby creates and vice versa. maybe we can get that Ultra Magnus head painted now…
[Wing_Saber-X]
oi vei this thread…
G1_Cindersaur
just for shits and giggles or the hell of it ?!?!
Sidecutter
And your logic for this is…?
MegaMoonMan
If anything prices will rise.
G1_Cindersaur
yeah, obviously you are one of those who missed reading and understanding those several posts way above my comment that folks were gushing about the chances of $20 black henkei convoys and other cheap priced ehobby exclusives.
Sharpfinger
They will decrease the production costs. All companies tries to decrease production costs to maximize their profit. It's not a crime.
Primal Sabbath
Honestly, I wish they could revisit all of the box sets & add ons.