The figures are softer than they were. Specially in the legs, the plastic feels more rubbery on the retaliation figures than on the PoC figures. Snake Eyes' legs, for instance, are often warped in package. The same with wave 2's SE's legs. I wonder if it's the material used for the knee joint.

Might be a way to cut cost or it might be some safety regulation about the composition of the plastic.

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A couple years ago Hasbro released a video stating they were trying to be more green, using less plastic in the packages, no more plastic and wire twist ties, more recyclable material over all. I wonder if they switched over to a recycled plastic of sorts for the actual figures?

See, this is the attitude that I have a problem with. Are they "morons"? No. But can they make mistakes? Yes, and they have before (like when they decided to do away with the 3.75" line for the unarticulated Sigma6 2.5" line...t-crotched JvC...Action Attack...Star Brigade...etc). I'm not necessarily saying that that is what is happening this time. I loved the filecards as a kid, but I never saw them as necessary (I got my character information from the cartoon and comic). But I don't think any criticism of Hasbro can be dismissed with a "they do research" handwave. I'm sure they do, and a lot of times it pans out for them, but it hasn't always.

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Not only is the plastic softer, but it's also got a rougher texture and more flash at the seams. This is particularly noticable in the accessories. They actually feel like China-made knock offs.

As for the lack of fikecards, I noticed something similar in the current Marvel Legends line: the packaging no longer has names for the figures printed anywhere! This is a shame since I saw these figures and I wanted to know more about them but I didn't even know who they were! What kind of company sells a product without even the product's name or description on the packaging?!

- JM

It's cheaper to print generic cards than it is to print individual cards for every figure. Even if the back of the card were tailored to the figure, the front being generic would still save money.

very true they have made alot of mistakes hell they have there own store yet its always out of stock. the guns are very soft also and when i took out mouses hand with the boil and pop it ripped the hole so now there is a rip right where the hand goes and it sucks as the other arms would only rip if you light them on fire or cut them. so they have gone very cheap also there are alot of repaints and Franken joes like the bruce/joe fig who looks like a hobo lol. then you get a few jems in the line with a new mold and guns but more repaints and no to some articulation. so for 10 bucks they should have more.

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They own the store but they don't run it. That store is no different than any other store. It just happens to only sell Hasbro products. We've had "Franken Joes" and repaints since DAY ONE IN 1982 and have EVERY YEAR SINCE and ALWAYS WILL. Get over it. I have no problems getting my figures apart. Maybe you're doing it wrong. Maybe you're not being careful enough. It's sad that when people break their toys, the first thing they do is blame Hasbro for being cheap when in reality it was likely their own mishandling that made it do that. The fact that you mention lighting your parts on fire says a alot. The only drastic reduction in articulation has been to the vehicle drivers. Does it suck? Yes. But if you chose not to buy the vehicle because of that, then you probably didn't really want it in the first place.

I don't like a lot of the problems that have come about and some of the choices Hasbro has had to make, but do you see me [LASER BLAST] and whining about it? No. You know why? Because I know WHY they make those choices and I know WHY some of those problems happen and WHERE the blame lies and more often than not, it's not because of Hasbro themselves. The same applies to the club. Throwing tantrums isn't going to change anything. This is a board focused around customizing. I look at substandard figures as a challenge. If I like the look of a figure enough, I try to think of how I can fix it myself. What improvements can I make with what I have so that I can enjoy the figure better. I've seen some great customs here that have done that. Maybe you should try to do the same.

So substandard figures are being produced?

No one should be buying a figure and then have to fix it because it was poorly produced..

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so wait, the solution is to just buy stuff we don't like, and fix it ourselves? I am all for buying 1:18th scaled whatever for custom fodder, but the main thing that stopped me from caring about the modern figure line is that none of my modern figures are standard hasbro. Every one of them is custom in some way. Now I know many joe collectors are criticized for being cheap but when i am literally just buying fodder, I can't think of there being much reason to pay ten bucks or more a figure. Oh and yes I throw the clubs figures into that mix, even their best efforts are far from perfect.

Now as for hasbro toy shop, once again you are just retreading what we have been told by PR people. however, just looking over the site you get this;
© 2013 Hasbro. All rights reserved. All audio, visual and textual content on this site (including all names, characters, images, trademarks and logos) are protected by trademark rights, copyrights and other rights owned by Hasbro or its subsidiaries or by Hasbro's licensors, licensees, suppliers and accounts. By using this site, you agree to the Terms and Conditions of Use.

so they own everything on the site, everything. when you go into the about us section they list their corporate policy, which is hasbros corporate policy. So "US" is hasbro. According to the transformers wiki, You mention having info due to your love of transformers and often visiting various transformer sites, they are owned by Hasbro they cite this article,
http://toys.about.com/b/2005/04/25/hasb ... -store.htm.
Now beyond all of that, it is pretty obvious that HTS is owned in some way by Hasbro. However, ownership in itself is not the issue. The issue is people not being able to buy the things they desperately want to buy. Mostly due to modern distribution and the wave system both being terrible. Hasbro Toy Shop is what many believe should be the obvious solution to that problem. Now Hasbro does studies and science or whatever, but yet they can't figure out that a pre order system on their website that would allow fans to buy toys at retail prices in a quantity that would sate their lust would be a good idea? I have plenty of issues with the product, and I see a lot of people in various toy boards do too, however most fans would just buy it all anyway. I mean look at how much money people are throwing at Kreo and those weird little mini figs. Fans want to give them their money it is a no brainer. When you look at an issue like that, an issue most consider an easily solved one, it becomes harder to believe the PR peoples answers about other things.

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I thought we established back in January that, when it comes to economics, what you profess so condescendingly to know is actually conjecture based on your limited experience, narrow field of observation and virtually non-existent understanding of global financial dynamics?

You admitted in that thread that you "may be wrong," and that was the most correct statement I've ever read from you on the topic of financial justifications for decisions Hasbro has made. You should have quit while you were ahead.

This is the internet. A loudly stated opinion is as good as a fact.

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I see it as this, prices go up to keep the profit the same and the CEOs summer cottage and 3rd boat fueled.

It's simple.

Used to be:

Figure cost $1 to make, they sell for $3, then store sells for $5

Now it's:

Figure cost $1.75 to make, they sell to store for $5.25, then store sells for $8.75


I just pulled numbers out of my head, but you get the idea. They have to keep their profit margin the same.

I didn't say anyone had to buy something they didn't want. Buy or don't buy what you want. I don't care. I'm just saying how I view it, but if you want to go on trying to justify your stance of Hasbro being the devil and their entire staff being a bunch of drooling morons, then go right ahead. I know what's real and accurate and that's all that matters to me in the end.

That and making sure everyone knows what you know.

I don't miss the stands or the file cards. Hell, I'd like more of the figures to be like the Dollar General ones. Replace the stands in those with more accessories and they'd be perfect.

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