So Botcon 2015 has given us some pretty special reveals from Hasbro. But is has got us thinking, has Hasbro got their eyes set on the 3rd party’s share of the market?
If we take Bruticus as an example, Warbotron just finished their version of (not) Bruticus
who all finished came in just shy of the £400 mark, which is a lot of money who ever you are. He was is a big robot, and very nice to look at.
That said, this set was not with out its issues. Time scale being a big one. Its took over a year from the first to last figure, by which time many people had moved on and sold the first figure. Warbotron had its fair share of ‘qc’ issues having to issue replacement parts along the way. But for those of us who stuck with it. we were left with a big impressive bot at the end of the set!
But now…. Hasbro have shown us this bad boy (which we all suspected was on the way)
Stick a set of Perfect Effects upgrade kit on there and this will be an awesome looking Bruticus. Even with the upgrade kit, this will still be well under half the price of the 3rd party option, and its more than likely we will be able to pick the whole set up in one go…
Warbotron gave us the little Shockwave (xray) and it seems Hasbro liked the idea of that, and thought they would have a go themselves. At least this time I wount have to spend an angry hour putting it together.
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Let us know what you guys think the future of transformers will be.
I’ve finally stuck my Warbotron Bruticus together, minus Shockwave due to time constraints, and I’m extremely impressed with him. Yes, there are some issues, especially regarding tolerances and squeaky joints, but overall he’s extremely nice. I still like Feral Rex a little better, though to be fair, there have been QC issues as well.
In my opinion, the major difference between 3P and Hasbro is that the first is really a collectors item. I don’t take one of my 3P transformers out of the shelf and transform it in a dimly lit room in the middle of the night. I do with the non-MP Hasbro ones. They are more toy-like as far a I’m concerned, and though the official Bruticus looks alright, the 3P is leaps and bounds above him in regards to aesthetic appeal. For me, the wait (which I don’t mind all that much) and the financial investment has paid off, I’ll not need another Bruticus. Ever. Will that be the case for everyone? No, and if you’r happy with the simpler, toy-like version, that’s fine. I’d rather have my ginormous 3P Bruticus 🙂 .
I think this is where the 3rd party bubble pops! If Hasbro/takara can continue to produce these affordable combiners, deluxe and other figures that everyone can easily enjoy rather than burning £300-400+, then they will reduce the 3rd market.
People have been predicting the 3P bubble ‘popping’ for the last 18 months to two years, and it hasn’t happened yet. Hasbro’s offerings are better value for money. However, they still reek of Hasbro doing them begrudgingly. Heavy mold reuse, very simple transformations in a lot of cases. They should have done them 5 years ago. 3P offerings…3X the price, for maybe twice the toy if you’re lucky..but for all the flaws that are out there, there are a few 3P gestalts that have no particular flaws, and ARE better than anything Hasbro have turned out from CW yet. There will always be someone who will pay a lot more to get a little more, and that’s why 3P will continue