Collectibles > The Vintage Collection

Collectors, Fan Sites, and Hasbro Relations

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Jeff:

--- Quote from: Diddly on February  5, 2018, 05:32 PM ---it seems the new hip thing is for these companies to pay media outlets like USA Today, MTV, or the NY Times to officially reveal stuff.
--- End quote ---

It's the other way around - the media companies are paying Hasbro for the exclusive reveals. 

That is why Hasbro has had to clamp down on the fan sites.  If EW/Wired/Gizmodo/io9 is paying for an exclusive reveal and then Yakface reveals it three weeks early from a DPCI/Brickseek search?  Hasbro lawyers get breach of contract emails from EW/Wired/etc and the fan site is on the **** list for ruining that revenue.  :-X

Jesse James:
Yeah I thought about saying something but I felt Jeff's call on that one, but yeah that's totally how it is.  It's also why fan whining about Hasbro "giving" this news to big outlets instead of fan sites always makes me lol.  Our readers buy the **** already, and seek the news out.  USA Today's average reader does not.  Why exactly again should Hasbro be giving all this news away then to us?

That said, YF gets the screws put to it but others have been leaking stuff, then gloating about leaking stuff, and they're the same ones who bitch about stuff leaking cheapening the shows and things...  It's a big cluster F of stupidity really.  But yeah Hasbro has reasons.  It sucks, but it is what it is.  It isn't always evenly spread punishment though I'm noticing.   :-X

Darby:
It would be one thing if Hasbro's ire was applied equally. JTA continues to 'leak' and smack their gums about their relationship with Litzky while pissing on the shoes of other collector sites. That's on Hasbro. Hasbro is probably reluctant to penalize JTA, despite their pattern of behavior well documented here and elsewhere, because JTA generates a lot of awareness around their brand that other sites may not. I knew something was wrong when Hasbro was talking about having JTA on a collector panel at the same time he was running his mouth about women and minorities and there was no manifest Hasbro response.

Jesse James:
Eh, I don't think Hasbro looks at sites like that really.  There's not much fear there.  Nothing generated by any site is anything but gravy on the heap of mashed potatoes they get from the major news outlets, which they of course will always get because that's just how it is and that's logical.  I mean they maintain a relationship with the sites like ours, and that's great, and we love working with them.  You get the insight from designers and things that you otherwise wouldn't really have, and that's the kind of thing readers of sites like ours enjoy hearing, but I don't really think Hasbro worries one iota about pissing off any one of the "fan sites" because ultimately even if all you do is bitch about the product they put out, you're still advertising it.

Personally though, I've never had a bad thing to say about any of the Hasbro employees themselves, or the PR companies we talk to.  They've all been pretty cool people digitally and in person.  And they're ok with fair criticism for sure, or outright whining really, just not leaking materials before they want them leaked.  They've clamped down on that.

They used to be much cooler/looser to deal with too though...  That got shat upon, once again due to a collecting site, so they're maybe not quite as loose at shows as they used to be.  Anton can kind of back me up on the structure of that more than I can say myself even, since he does our SDCC stuff for us every year. 

But when a site decides to push an agenda, over just reporting, then rules have to be put in place and enforced more strictly. ::)

Hasbro I can't say gets into the microcosm that is comments on boards...  That's not their thing, and they stay away from it.  The sites are their own people and represent themselves.  I don't think Hasbro wants to get involved beyond that, nor would I blame them.

Darby:
This is kind of what I'm saying -


--- Quote ---But when a site decides to push an agenda, over just reporting, then rules have to be put in place and enforced more strictly.
--- End quote ---

I have no issue with anyone at Hasbro. It seems odd to me, though, that the site that doesn't play by the rules also isn't penalized for them. I've lost interest in the play by play relative to JTA and so on. I think Hasbro does what it does and the fan sites do what they do, and somewhere in between we're kind of limping along, collecting as we go.

But I don't want to get bogged down in all that stuff. I did like what I saw of the Solo toys so far, and the movie. Seems like it could have a lot of potential for cool toys and figures.

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