Transformers Venting thread!

[Lint]

People who do this annoy me. Just steal the whole thing you coward.

[Skyfire]

I see the hamburger wrapping... they got a Minecraft lion.

[Ode to a Grasshopper]

I have a BWII Thrust. I know I do. I picked it up years ago in Tokyo and kept it unopened waiting until I found a BWII Dirge to go with it.

I found a BWII Dirge in Hong Kong, and shipped it back to Oz.

Now I can't find my BWII Thrust.

I KNOW it's got to be in one of my boxes or SOMEWHERE vaguely logical, but I've looked through pretty much all of them and he's just not showing up in any of them.

[GoktimusPrime]

People who do this annoy me. Just steal the whole thing you coward.

TakaraTomy alternates between windowless boxes like Hasbro, plastic windowed boxes and windowless cardboard boxes. I understand that Hasbro has made a commitment to go plastic-free, but I would personally prefer entirely windowless boxes vs these open windowed boxes. I don't know if they're any better in theft deterrence; it could be that these open window packages simply make theft more visible/noticeable to us. But either way, I think that windowless boxes just look nicer. And if windowless boxes do help in making opportunistic shoplifting that one bit harder, then that's all for the better.

Here's an example of Hasbro vs TakaraTomy's Studio Series Blaster/Eject packaging:


Here's a photo of some Transformers on sale at Harajuku Kiddy Land in Tokyo last Friday:

You can see a combination of plastic blisters on the EarthSpark Deluxes, windowless boxes for SS Blaster/Eject, and every other toy having open window packaging.

[Lint]

And if windowless boxes do help in making opportunistic shoplifting that one bit harder, then that's all for the better.

Unfortunately not being able to see the product itself does impact sales. Sure for the collector market who follows news and reviews the packaging not having a window may not affect the ability of the product to sell but for the general retail consumer the product which can be seen is far more eye catching and reassuring than playing the 'whats the product in the box?' game. I recall a bunch of Fast & Furious Hot Wheels collector packs which shelfwarmed like crazy even on clearance because the cars were packed in a black box with only some pretty unromantic side profile diagrams of the cars on the back of the box (not even stock photography). In the transformers world we see the same thing with Commander and Leader Class offerings because the general retail consumer isn't going to drop 100 bucks or more on stock photography. Same goes for the minimalistic cardboard box Generations Selects line, almost everyone of which ends up on clearance because the product is not designed to draw attention to itself.

So while I am frustrated by the open windows, I can understand why they must exist.

[Jaxius._]

Ordered ss86 prime from JB, gets delayed, then Myer gets it in stock so i cancel JB and order it there. They sent me ss86 Springer instead, the receipt says ss86 prime but that’s not what’s in the box, so time to return it and hope third time is lucky.

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

Same goes for the minimalistic cardboard box Generations Selects line, almost everyone of which ends up on clearance because the product is not designed to draw attention to itself.

So while I am frustrated by the open windows, I can understand why they must exist.

I really hate the Gens Selects boxes. I found some of them at a store and it tookme so long to work out where to look to see what box was what. Sure, they were the TT Seacons, which were online, so I guess the box art doesn't matter so much, but damn, it's ugly.

In a way the box plays an important part of the experience of the toy. I was just recently appreciating the joy of the TT Legends Boxes. Great colours and artwork. Nicely placed figures inside the box. Relatively consistent sizes. Beautiful to look at.

[Seraphim Prime]

Broke my Energon Demolisher arm as I was in the process of repacking them to go into storage ahead of a new baby in the new year.

[GoktimusPrime]

Everyone hates Gens Selects boxen. They work in the U.S. where these toys are pre-order exclusives, but their blandness sucks for retailers in Asia (and specialist stores in Australia).

Seraphim: congrats, dude!