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Post by The Doctor on Feb 7, 2020 20:29:03 GMT
How does packaging help sell a line? Not comparing the toys themselves but when I see Siege on shelves it looks dull and unappaing but Cyberverse packaging is very bright and colourful and catches my eye more from a distance.
Does packaging still matter when selling toys? Do you care? Is this something that appeals more to kids than adults?
-Ralph
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Post by Pinwig on Feb 7, 2020 20:36:38 GMT
Target audience on that I think. Cyberverse is fisher price because it's aimed at younger kids, Siege packaging reflects the feel of the battle damaged toys and is aimed at kids looking for something edgier and older. It is dark, doesn't have to be (T30 was bright white but had a similar adult feel), but it's the trend for Hasbro - see Black Series and Marvel Legends. Toys for teens upwards = dark and moody. They think we're all goths or Neo.
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Post by Toph on Feb 7, 2020 21:28:41 GMT
Packaging needs to actually showcase the toys.
One of the biggest differences is that Cyberverse (and Nurid and TFP before it) does that well. Generations for quite some time has largely hidden the toy.
Dark, inclosed boxes, small windows, and a pretty dark back insert, Generations (which includes Siege and Studio Series) just engulfs the toy.
I think they're trying to emulate Marvel Legends and DC Multiverse. The problem is those toys are a lot bigger, brighter, and the packaging design in general does a better job of showing the action figure.
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Post by The Huff on Feb 7, 2020 22:18:39 GMT
What is the best Transformers packaging design?
84-88? 89-91? 92-93? G2? Beast Wars? RID? Armada? Etc.
Should we have a poll?
Personally, nothing will ever beat 84-88 style for me (yes, I know the logo and grid changed slightly after '86) but the 89 - 91 was a nice change at the time too.
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Post by Toph on Feb 7, 2020 22:47:42 GMT
Honestly, I think Armada had the most pizzazz.
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Post by Pinwig on Feb 7, 2020 22:57:26 GMT
Armada's design was lovely but the blisters on the carded toys were really awkward to stack. I'd have loved the Hasbro design on the Takara boxes.
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Post by Jim on Feb 7, 2020 22:59:35 GMT
The only thing I like about Siege's packaging is its relative reusability. But due to space concerns I've recycled mine for all but one figure anyway...
I do like the Generations Select packaging, which does absolutely nothing to showcase a toy but does have that "this is a special secret item for collectors!" thing going on.
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Feb 8, 2020 6:05:31 GMT
The bizarre thing about the 1984-1988 packaging was they put the most beautiful artwork on the back, which is always facing the wall.
Martin
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Post by Benn on Feb 8, 2020 6:50:06 GMT
The worst thing about all transformers packaging is that they are sold in robot mode which is wrong.
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Post by The Huff on Feb 8, 2020 8:11:26 GMT
The worst thing about all transformers packaging is that they are sold in robot mode which is wrong. Absolutely! It takes so much away from the whole experience of opening a new toy and transforming it to reveal the robot. It also and takes away each toys uniquness in the shops and they can also look as messy as heck. I'd Beast Wars come back as a line it would be crazy to package them all in uniformed robot modes. |
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 8, 2020 9:55:51 GMT
The bizarre thing about the 1984-1988 packaging was they put the most beautiful artwork on the back, which is always facing the wall. Martin Ah but that artwork was designed to sell the line. The front facing artwork helped to sell the toy by showing you how the vehicle etc inside would look like as a robot! -Ralph |
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 8, 2020 9:56:07 GMT
The worst thing about all transformers packaging is that they are sold in robot mode which is wrong. Yup! -Ralph |
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Post by Llama God on Feb 8, 2020 10:04:35 GMT
They think we're all goths or Neo. I don't know why they'd get that idea. (He types, with his dark-nail-varnished fingers...) |
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Post by Llama God on Feb 8, 2020 10:08:14 GMT
The bizarre thing about the 1984-1988 packaging was they put the most beautiful artwork on the back, which is always facing the wall. Martin Ah but that artwork was designed to sell the line. The front facing artwork helped to sell the toy by showing you how the vehicle etc inside would look like as a robot! And for me that was one of the exciting things as a kid - taking the box off the shelf to see what was on the back. And to read the tech specs! To learn more! The original packaging just had so much more to give - a cool alt-mode toy, some nice artwork showing what it would (probably not, but hey) look like, stuff to read on the back and a gorgeously-painted battle scene. Just so much going on! Nowadays it's just "Here's the fucking figure, buy it you shits!" which is somehow less engaging. But, as has been pointed out to me recently, I am no longer a child living in the 1980s (apparently) and who knows what kids actually want these days. So the answer to the question of which is better is: I have no idea... |
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Post by Grand Moff Muffin on Feb 8, 2020 10:40:04 GMT
I suppose having the magnificent battle scenes on the back - which were all the more exciting for UK fans who got to puzzle over the robots featured who were never available to us as toys - gave Hasbro the added bonus of laughing at our horror-struck expressions in 1989 as we turned around the packaging in the toy shop to discover the contrasting artistic offerings that year.
Hasbro UK were never averse to letting us see back-of-the-box art featuring Deluxe Insecticons, Shockwave, Predacons, Trypticon, Fortress Maximus, Monsterbots, etc. but they drew the line in 1989 when they _could_ have let us have the gorgeous battle scene they got in Japan. But no, they must have figured pics of Star Saber and Deathsaurus would blow our minds in ways that Trypticon and Fort Max didn't, so they hurriedly prepared... alternative 'artwork' for western markets.
Martin
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Post by The Huff on Feb 8, 2020 12:25:30 GMT
The bizarre thing about the 1984-1988 packaging was they put the most beautiful artwork on the back, which is always facing the wall. Martin Ah but that artwork was designed to sell the line. The front facing artwork helped to sell the toy by showing you how the vehicle etc inside would look like as a robot! -Ralph Yeah. Sometimes making them look a little too good compared to the toy... |
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Post by Benn on Feb 8, 2020 17:57:47 GMT
What was the last Generations equivalent to come packaged in alt mode, anyway?
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Post by Pinwig on Feb 8, 2020 18:00:42 GMT
I reckon it was the 2011 Deluxes, like Wheeljack.
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 8, 2020 21:05:40 GMT
One-steps are packaged in alt mode, which is part of why I find them increasingly appealing when I see them on toy shelves, especially in the bright and colourful packaging.
I really like Siege as a line but find the packaging very dull and boring and they all look the same on a shelf. I was even put off buying Jetfire and Omega at full prices as the boxes look very unappealing to me (which in some ways is silly as boxes go straight in the bin).
-Ralph
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Post by Shockprowl on Feb 8, 2020 22:03:29 GMT
Fuck the boxes, what the actual fuck?!?!?!
Fucking buy a FUCKING Omega fucking Su-fucking-preme- RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!
FUCKING!!!!
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Post by Pinwig on Feb 8, 2020 22:13:06 GMT
Fucking buy a fucking Jetfire!!
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 8, 2020 22:13:57 GMT
Omega costs £140. I don't have a spare £140 anytime soon. I earn five grand less than a year ago and now also have a very nice partner that I prioritise pennies for so we can do fun things together.  I may also need to replace the TV. Should Omega go on sale it will be mine. But not right now. -Ralph |
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Post by The Doctor on Feb 8, 2020 22:14:35 GMT
Fucking buy a fucking Jetfire!! *spits out milk* -Ralph |
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Post by Jim on Feb 8, 2020 22:19:13 GMT
Don't know if it counts, but I'm pretty sure all of the toys in the Unite Warriors box sets were packaged in alt-mode.
In fact now that I think about it I have a feeling all the Takara Titans Return releases I got were packaged in vehicle mode, and also the first Legends Brainstorm way back when. Is it something they did more of in Japan?
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Post by Pinwig on Feb 8, 2020 22:31:22 GMT
Omega costs £140. I don't have a spare £140 anytime soon. I earn five grand less than a year ago and now also have a very nice partner that I prioritise pennies for so we can do fun things together. :( Pssst. Ralph. Prioritising pennies to do fun things with partners is a :), not a :( Don't let them see the :( that doesn't go down well. |
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Post by Shockprowl on Feb 8, 2020 22:32:15 GMT
Fucking buy a fucking Jetfire!! I already have. A perfectly good. Jetfire. Thank you for your interest. |
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Post by Pinwig on Feb 8, 2020 22:33:03 GMT
Don't know if it counts, but I'm pretty sure all of the toys in the Unite Warriors box sets were packaged in alt-mode. In fact now that I think about it I have a feeling all the Takara Titans Return releases I got were packaged in vehicle mode, and also the first Legends Brainstorm way back when. Is it something they did more of in Japan? Yep. Takara still sell all their TFs in alt mode. |
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Post by Pinwig on Feb 8, 2020 22:33:53 GMT
Fucking buy a fucking Jetfire!! I already have. A perfectly good. Jetfire. Thank you for your interest. WHAT. |
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Post by Shockprowl on Feb 8, 2020 22:36:30 GMT
Omega costs £140. I don't have a spare £140 anytime soon. -Ralph Good grief! Just just just eat cerial for a month! Save money, and... weight loss! |
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Post by Shockprowl on Feb 8, 2020 22:37:53 GMT
I already have. A perfectly good. Jetfire. Thank you for your interest. WHAT. CLASSICS JETFIRE!!! You you you dribbling grotesque!!! |
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