Post by: BHMike on January 30, 2006, 01:55:50 PM
I went to the Hasbro booth first, and asked the burning question:
Question: WHY DTC isn't available to us.
Answer: That's up to Hasbro U.S. - Not CND Hasbro. They ARE going to look into getting me stock sent up from the U.S.
While at the Hasbro booth, I saw the Sigma Six toys. They're not bad.... but they're still not 'my' Joe. I asked if these are available to Canada now and was told no. They'll be available by Aug/Sept this year.
The rep I spoke to this year was great to speak to. He said HE has actually been to yojoe, joecustoms, joesighting, AND JoeCanuck.com.
I told him who I was, and he said 'we' like to bitch about the U.S. Hasbro alot.... which we do. I told him to give us a reason not bitch about them - he said he'll try.
Then we say down for awhile, looked over some other product and prototypes (I dropped a Star Wars titanum ship.
OH!! and this was sweet - Titanium Transformers!
They look amazing... just amazing. The Transformer Star Wars ships suck in my opinion, but folks seemed to be ordering them.
Over all, Hasbro was a good booth to stop at this year. I can spot a bullshitter a mile away, and this guy either fooled me - or legitimately thinks he can get me stuff.
:thumbsup:
Toy Biz/ Grand.
Oh my god. The Mojo is awesome! ONSLAUGHT is in the 'Bring on the Bad Guys' wave and looks HUGE! The Marvel Legends TWO Packs are pure sweetness in a blisterpack!
Red Skull looks great, The Kingpin - amazing. And the new unmasked Daredevil - perfect! I'm SO looking forward to carrying ALL of these.
I was playing with the Onslaught, and I couldn't believe how well it was done!
I also saw a TON of TNA Wrestling figures - and WILL be carrying them.
Turns out my distributor hasn't brought in the TNA from Grand because of low interest - the rep I spoke with told me "Without YOU telling us people want it, we have no clue if there's a demand". When I told her who my distributor was, and the 'run arounds' I've been given, she got her boss - I told him as well. He apoligized.
How's that!? 8)
Next I stumbled into a 'high end' booth.... mainly expensive props and rare items. According to the booklet they gave me, I SHOULD be able to order the new Joe/TF statues, and (because I was playing with them for 10 minutes with Denise and my friend Bill ) - Star Wars Master Replica Lightsabers! Not just those, but anything by Master Replicas. Code 3 (the 3-d poster folks) are also now available to me. It seems these guys were more thrilled to be at Toy Fair than I was. And why wouldn't they!? They get to play with Lightsabers all day!
I visited a ton of other booths with a wide range of product.
Neca, McFarlane, Mattel, 21st Century Toys, and a TON more.
Was given a TON of freebies. Some WWE Chocolate 'eggs' with mini-wrestling toys in them. So far I have Eddie, Batista and Triple H. These were actually cool - and tasted amazing.
Watched the Superman trailer 3 times - and was given 2 'Coming Soon' theatrical posters.
Got some 'pens' that changecolor WHILE you write with them.... hey - it was free!.
Also got hugged by a giant cat. (Sagwa?!)
One thing that I did stress was how dumb it was for a toyline to NOT bring a wave up here JUST because a show isn't here.
Example:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
They have some 'Dinosaur' wave coming out. The show on YTV will have shows to do with this line on. The NEXT wave will be 'Future Turtles'. Since the Cartoon won't be shown in Canada - the toys are NOT available to me.
Same with some other lines. If there is no show to back it up here in Canada - then there're no product.
So if YTV drops or doesn't carry Sigma Six - then we get none.
This year was by far the best year at Toy Fair.
I'm so pumped up by it that I honestly couldn't sleep last night. I spent about 3 hours (after the WWE Royal Rumble) going through booklets and looking at pictures of product.
Neca is something I'm going to start having more of. This company is amazing and their items are super.
That's enough for now.... I'm sure someone will have some questions. I just hope none of them are stupid ones. ;-)
Talk to you later guys.
mike
Post by: Stealth Viper on January 30, 2006, 02:11:09 PM
Quote from: ""BHT""
Question: WHY DTC isn't available to us.
Answer: That's up to Hasbro U.S. - Not CND Hasbro. They ARE going to look into getting me stock sent up from the U.S.
Damn, no offense but that sounds less than promising, but it's still better than a "no"
Quote from: ""BHT""
While at the Hasbro booth, I saw the Sigma Six toys. They're not bad.... but they're still not 'my' Joe. I asked if these are available to Canada now and was told no. They'll be available by Aug/Sept this year..
Curious to know if they'll start with the 1st assortment or if they will pick up wherever the US releases happen to be in the product run at that point
Quote from: ""BHT""
The rep I spoke to this year was great to speak to. He said HE has actually been to yojoe, joecustoms, joesighting, AND JoeCanuck.com.
That is VERY cool.
Quote from: ""BHT""
The Big plus - it looks like my prices will be even CHEAPER on the ML figs this year - most likely in the $10-$12.00 CND per figure range!
How's that!? 8)
That's awesome, that's how that is!
Quote from: ""BHT""
Next I stumbled into a 'high end' booth.... mainly expensive props and rare items. According to the booklet they gave me, I SHOULD be able to order the new Joe/TF statues,....
This makes Damed Viper very happy indeed! :thumbsup: :timbits:
Quote from: ""BHT""
One thing that I did stress was how dumb it was for a toyline to NOT bring a wave up here JUST because a show isn't here.
Example:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
They have some 'Dinosaur' wave coming out. The show on YTV will have shows to do with this line on. The NEXT wave will be 'Future Turtles'. Since the Cartoon won't be shown in Canada - the toys are NOT available to me.
Same with some other lines. If there is no show to back it up here in Canada - then there're no product.
So if YTV drops or doesn't carry Sigma Six - then we get none.
That is a very lame process to adhere to. LAME - O.
Quote from: ""BHT""
This year was by far the best year at Toy Fair.
I'm so pumped up by it that I honestly couldn't sleep last night. I spent about 3 hours (after the WWE Royal Rumble) going through booklets and looking at pictures of product.
Neca is something I'm going to start having more of. This company is amazing and their items are super.
That's enough for now.... I'm sure someone will have some questions. I just hope none of them are stupid ones. ;-)
Talk to you later guys.
mike
Thanks for the thorough run down, it sounds like (mostly) GREAT news across the board!
Post by: Raptor on January 30, 2006, 03:06:53 PM
The distributors also need to look at the range of TV available to kids. I watch the Sig Six cartoon on Fox, so I'm exposed to the marketing just the same as any 31 year old american toy collector.
If they go to the US TRU's I won't be terribly upset that they aren't carried in Canada. I pick up anything I really want on my trips to the US, and anything else I wait to come to Samco. ;-)
The DTC though, makes me go through shipping and reshiping through us friends and cuts my budget in half, giving the USPS and Canada Post half of Hasbro's money...
And why didn't you ask him about Xevox? With a cartoon, that toy would have ruled the toy isle. :rant:
-
Post by: BHMike on January 30, 2006, 03:42:38 PM
Quote from: ""Raptor""
And why didn't you ask him about Xevox? With a cartoon, that toy would have ruled the toy isle. :rant:
Dude, I'm just thrilled to of actually been able to speak to someone for 20 mins straight...... I didn't want to push my luck with your crappy little toys. ;-)
Post by: Stealth Viper on January 30, 2006, 03:55:20 PM
Quote from: ""BHT""
Quote from: ""Raptor""And why didn't you ask him about Xevox? With a cartoon, that toy would have ruled the toy isle. :rant:
Dude, I'm just thrilled to of actually been able to speak to someone for 20 mins straight...... I didn't want to push my luck with your crappy little toys. ;-) :lol:
Bwwwwwwwwwwwwwaaaaahahahahahahaha.
*cough*
Sorry. Carry on.
Post by: Raptor on January 30, 2006, 08:51:29 PM
It got cancelled anyway, but it was the only toy in recent memory to sell out of walmart in less than 2 weeks.
I'll crawl back into my spider hole now.
-
Post by: Pete The Greek on January 30, 2006, 09:21:01 PM
Quote from: ""BHT""
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
They have some 'Dinosaur' wave coming out. The show on YTV will have shows to do with this line on. The NEXT wave will be 'Future Turtles'. Since the Cartoon won't be shown in Canada - the toys are NOT available to me.
Same with some other lines. If there is no show to back it up here in Canada - then there're no product.
So if YTV drops or doesn't carry Sigma Six - then we get none.
mike
This makes no logical sence on their part as Canadians get Fox broadcasting. Exposure is exposure.
Post by: ARROW on January 30, 2006, 10:12:55 PM
Quote from: ""Pete The Greek""
Quote from: ""BHT""
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
They have some 'Dinosaur' wave coming out. The show on YTV will have shows to do with this line on. The NEXT wave will be 'Future Turtles'. Since the Cartoon won't be shown in Canada - the toys are NOT available to me.
Same with some other lines. If there is no show to back it up here in Canada - then there're no product.
So if YTV drops or doesn't carry Sigma Six - then we get none.
mike
This makes no logical sence on their part as Canadians get Fox broadcasting. Exposure is exposure.
YTV and Teletoon are mandated to broadcast a set percentage of canadian originated shows--if the show was outsourced up here for pre-prod, or a co-prod or was meant to be shown here and THEN the USA and other markets, then its considered far game.
Other shows from outside the quota can be shown but they take second place.
The way the toy-line tie-ints work up here is if the feeds source from a Canadian channel then it counts. Picking up feeds from US stations doesn't count.
Its a weird system, even weirder logic, but its the way its been done for years now.
Post by: sniper on January 31, 2006, 01:52:56 AM
The other is that Canadian channels are very inconsistent on carrying shows. Global carried 24 for a number of seasons and then mysteriously not last year. A number of us complained and behold it was back on the tube a few short weeks later. Or my favourite is when they ping pong a show all over the schedule until you lose track of it and surprise surprise viewership drops off.
Post by: Pete The Greek on January 31, 2006, 01:59:35 AM
Post by: ARROW on January 31, 2006, 02:36:35 AM
Quote from: ""Pete The Greek""
The original GI JOE cartoon was never shown on a Canadian station in my area. It was shown on a independent station in Buffalo, which later became apart of Fox. And yet the toy line did well in the 1980s in Southern Ontario. My point was a cartoon doesn't have to be shown on Canadian airwaves in order to put the product in stores if a cartoon is already on TV via American airwaves. Sigma Six is on Fox and any kid would have this station as well as YTV to view. (I can't believe I am making arguement for this crappy line to be in stores).
Well, the original was shown on Canadian stations in BC markets so your Ontario example isn't universal.
And this was before YTV and Teletoon existed.
I was involved in the formation of Teletoon and the idea was to have Nelvanna and Cinar content as 75% of what was broadcast, and US channels were only supposed to be HALF of the remaining 25%. At the time (and to this day) the US feeds were not considered applicable to Canadian retail marketing--even though the US feeds reach up to just about every province except those up North and have since the late 70's.
If you've got cable service, you have US channels.
The retailers that carry toys seem to have this weird insistance that the LOCAL broadcasters carry the TV shows across the nation.
Part of it is a "buy Canada" kind of minsdet--something that has a odd credence with consumers.
Again, I agree it makes little sense, but that is the explanation I've always been given.
Post by: BHMike on January 31, 2006, 11:05:38 AM
Quote from: ""Pete The Greek""
The original GI JOE cartoon was never shown on a Canadian station in my area. It was shown on a independent station in Buffalo, which later became apart of Fox. And yet the toy line did well in the 1980s in Southern Ontario. My point was a cartoon doesn't have to be shown on Canadian airwaves in order to put the product in stores if a cartoon is already on TV via American airwaves. Sigma Six is on Fox and any kid would have this station as well as YTV to view. (I can't believe I am making arguement for this crappy line to be in stores).
The way it was explained to me is this. Yes, some of Canada gets 'spill over' from the U.S. - but not all of Canada.
Since a toy line isn't picked up 'as a show' on a CND network - the toy companies feel it won't sell as well.
Stull dumb, but when they explained it - it did make sense - from a business point of view. With the cartoon on - there's no need for advertising - if they advertise - then the prices go up to recoup, and then less people buy it because of that.
I do find it strange however that Marvel Legends sells SO damn well - and there's no cartoons, games, or commercials for it.
mike
Post by: Jon S. on January 31, 2006, 11:53:20 AM
Quote
I do find it strange however that Marvel Legends sells SO damn well - and there's no cartoons, games, or commercials for it.
But there are movies.
I'd like to think the comics play a part in it, but it probably isn't a big one.