Missing Heads

[Dan]

I've been noticing recently in stores that some Transformers are missing their ball-jointed heads since the new packaging came along. I take them to check-out to report but, beyond that, I'm wondering what the solution could be for the manufacturers or sellers. I have a few suggestions, some serious, some silly, but am wondering what others think...

[Skyfire]

I too have seen this with the open packaging - Target, Big W and Kmart, and rarely Myer or Toymate. I imagine Hasbro and retailers have factored in shop spoilage into their prices. And the gains of plastic-free windows, from their perspective, outweigh the cost. But we literally pay for others' bad behaviour.

[Thurmus]

I have seen that and a Spiderman with a knob head as well at K-Mart the other day.

[Paulbot]

Speaking of Spider-Man remember all those headless Vulture toys that used to be everywhere.

I think Hasbro have said that with Transformers the retailers want the toys visible, but it wouldn't surprise me if eventually they went in to fully enclosed boxes - like the Generations Select toys (and other Hasbro toys: Marvel Legends, Thor Love and Thunder, Dungeons and Dragons, Indiana Jones)

What does the Japanese packaging for the Legacy toys do? Does anybody buy the Japanese versions anymore now the difference is just the box?

[Dan]

I was looking at some of those Gen Selects today in J B Hi-Fi and that solution dawned on me. The full box artwork is pretty evocative but I agree with retailers that toys are more appealing seen in the flesh. Maybe that is partly nostalgia on my part - I feel that too much is mediated today by screens and there is something in the immediacy of what you can see right in front of you.

Another solution would be to package Transformers in alt-modes that generally hold all those body parts in. Part of the appeal always was discovering the robot inside your toy.

Yet another is replacing ball-and-socket necks with some other sort of joint, but I expect that would alter the all-important articulation or price.

Or maybe each wave of every separate toyline could include a pack of 'spare heads and guns' just in case you need more.

And now I start to get silly - HasLab are a laboratory right? Get them to develop truly transparent yet sturdy cardstock for the windows.

And from silly to simply wishful thinking - we could always instil in kids (or whomever is nicking those heads) some damned ethics.

[Tha_Phantom]

Yet another is replacing ball-and-socket necks with some other sort of joint, but I expect that would alter the all-important articulation or price.

That one just might happen. In 2021 Hasbro applied for a "anti-theft" patent so that future toys will be designed in a way that locks the body/core into the packaging. But I could also see them redesigning elements like neck joints that are exposed in the box as well to make them less prone to tampering.

https://news.tfw2005.com/2021/11/28/...-patent-445708