Hasbro Q&A Sessions

[Paul]

I want a decent playset as much as the next guy, but for the issue is HASBRO has pretty much said "Stop asking this question"....

The reason that question wins in my opinion is because the person asking the question within the body of the question, admits that Hasbro has answered the question, basically tells Hasbro they know more about the toy business than they do, and goes about it with a sense of entitlement.   The only thing that would have made that question a lock for the Super Bowl of questions is that it left out, Action Fleet, Tonnika Sisters, Unleashed (7 inch) and Jedi Points.

It just seems that this Q & A thing has a shelf life, so everytime a question is asked a second or third time it is one less decent question we get before Hasbro re-allocates resources.  And I am all about the follow up or asking an old question if new information has surfaced, but until then, I will continue to laugh every Friday when I see questions that were asked in week 1 by one website asked again by another (and no not one site is better than another in this aspect, but I think some try harder to research it out).

[Nicklab]

I think if anything, the responsibility has to fall upon the sites that are submitting the questions.  There has been a lot of redundancy in the Q&A sessions.  And it is the sites that are submitting the questions that are responsible for going through all of the questions in an effort to see what's a valid question and what has already been asked and answered.  Obviously some sites are run with less of a focus on the nature of the questions asked, whereas other sites are progressing through the Q&A sessions, building upon previous responses.  It would certainly be constructive if the webmasters of these sites got together in a chat and coordinated their efforts in the Q&A process, but that's pretty unlikely at this point.

[Matt]

It just seems that this Q & A thing has a shelf life, so every time a question is asked a second or third time it is one less decent question we get before Hasbro re-allocates resources.

I can't believe it's lasted as long as it has--I thought for sure it'd go on for a couple of months before they tired of it, but here we are, half-a-year later, with no signs of slowing down.  And if they can make it to Toy Fair (which they should, with at most five sessions between now and then), then the Q & As could conceivably continue throughout a good chunk of 2007, as the Toy Fair news and the new line showing up should give all the sites plenty of new material to ask about.

[Darth_Anton]

It just seems that this Q & A thing has a shelf life, so every time a question is asked a second or third time it is one less decent question we get before Hasbro re-allocates resources.

I can't believe it's lasted as long as it has--I thought for sure it'd go on for a couple of months before they tired of it, but here we are, half-a-year later, with no signs of slowing down.  And if they can make it to Toy Fair (which they should, with at most five sessions between now and then), then the Q & As could conceivably continue throughout a good chunk of 2007, as the Toy Fair news and the new line showing up should give all the sites plenty of new material to ask about.

Thanks, I was wondering the same thing about how long this can go on. But still, even after toyfair, there's only so many variations on the same questions that can be asked.

[Jesse James]

The good thing is the line's routinely changing, updating, etc...  It opens up new avenues for questions.  While it's not always appreciated, sometimes the obscure question asked "just for fun" is the direction to go instead of repeating yourself again and again...  Like Nick said though, that's the responsibility of the staffer(s) handling the Q&A to mix it up, handle the "quality control", and basically not make it a routine... 

I've talked with some staff at other sites about the Q&A actually, and how goes the routine there...  I've ran into a number of consistancies among ours and others, as well as some shared opinions on the Q&A across the net in general...  It's tough, but workable.  I'm still debating how finite the Q&A actually is... 

For instance this week's we dug for some stuff on new figures pictured.  Last week I believe it was battlepack stuff we'd just seen, and so on...  Deviating from the basic line at times has helped too, but you gotta know when not to ask about sub-lines that you've seen clear-cut answers to as well.

[Matt]

While it's not always appreciated, sometimes the obscure question asked "just for fun" is the direction to go instead of repeating yourself again and again... 

(snip)

Deviating from the basic line at times has helped too, but you gotta know when not to ask about sub-lines that you've seen clear-cut answers to as well.

(strokes imaginary beard as if in deep thought)

[Sprry75]

You stroke your beard when you're deep in thought?  Huh.  Weird.  I'll hafta try that sometime.

I can't wait until Toyfair; I hope they have a stackable Death Star for the 7" Unleashed scale.

[Darth_Anton]

I can't wait until Toyfair; I hope they have a stackable Death Star for the 7" Unleashed scale.

Don't forget the 7" unleashed scale Turbo Tank and the SA Tonika Sisters.

[CHEWIE]

I received a message at Yakface recently regarding this thread stating "you might find this interesting."  Seeing this started with a question that was submitted from Yakface and that I spent about two years here religiously, it's interesting to see what my friends here are saying.  I do find the responses here quite interesting and after reading the last few pages, it's clear that some people don't care for a couple of the questions that have been asked to Hasbro and have decided that the solution is to resort to bad mouthing other fan sites in the community over it.  What's that all about?

If any site sends in a question that has been asked before/asked somewhere else/worded differently/etc. - WHO CARES???  There's no reason to have a heart attack over it.  Believe it or not, sometimes questions are asked again in a different manner to make it clear to Hasbro that these are issues that some collectors DO care about.  And we all know from some of their answers sometimes they reveal nothing with a simple "no" and other times they give a more informative answer giving an explanation for why they approach something they way they do.  You never know what kind of response you are going to get from them.

Regardless, if the same question is asked, why is it that big of a deal?  Why resort to bashing another site over it?  Remember that the members of the other sites are fans too and love this hobby just as much as you do.  If someone thinks the Q&A is that big a deal to go bashing other parts of the community over it, then you're taking the Q&A way too seriously and need to find something more important to get worried about.  The Q&A's are fun to read, but that's about it.  Very little is going to come about from them, no one is going to get a special figure made out of it, figures are not going to magically show up on your doorstep, you're not going to become any smarter by reading what Hasbro feeds you, etc.  You can approach the Q&A any way you want in the questions asked and hope to get more out of them, but the Q&A is little more than a publicity thing for Hasbro.  Simple as that.

Instead of bashing a site or its readers for questions that are being asked, why not instead put your heads together and come up with some original ideas of your own to ask Hasbro, and maybe you will get that burning question that you have answered instead of ripping other sites?  And if you don't have that "burning question" then chill out if someone else DOES have a question. 

CHEWIE haters (and I know who you are  ), you may commence with bashing ME now in this thread if you like, because I want to see Hasbro make playsets.  I want them to be good playsets.  I want them to be big playsets.   I want to set them up in my Star Wars room.  I want to take pictures of them.  I want to create scenes from the movies.  I want to buy more playsets than I need.  I want to take them apart and put them back together.  I want to customize them.  I want to put a picture of one as my avatar.  I want to set one up in my office at work.   I want to use them in photonovels.  I also want an AT-TE.  I also want a Turbo Tank.  Why do I want these things?  Because I love this hobby and it's FUN.  So is it ok if a Star Wars FAN site ever asks about one of THOSE again, or will people here ridicule them because they didn't "go research every question" that has been asked before?  Wow, the NERVE of fans and fan sites to ask a question that wasn't approved of by everyone here first!

We'll probably never see big playsets like some fans want.  But at least we know we'll see Hasbro try some other things in the future that are definitely gambles - what will be the next "great idea" that Hasbro gets to follow up such "hits" like Star Wars Transformers/Unleashed/Choppers/Attaktix?  We know it probably won't be playsets, but at least playsets are part of the 3-3/4" line, which is the bread and butter of Star Wars.  Heck, they said that large vehicles don't sell either.  But they went ahead and decided to rehash the AT-AT and Imperial Shuttle this year.  Guess what, both sold great!  Maybe Hasbro was WRONG about large vehicles.  Could it possibly mean they have miscalculated the playset market as well???

Anyways, this reponse wasn't directed towards everyone in this thread.  But if you do feel it was directed at you, you may be onto something.

[Sprry75]

I don't hate you Chewie, I don't even know you.  But the question is old.  By asking it again, in the way you asked it, you weren't only beating a dead horse, you were doing it in a condescending, I-know-more-about-your-business-than-you-do kind of way. 

I want playsets, too.  I'd pay a hundred bucks for a cool Death Star, or fifty bucks for a cool cantina, or fifty bucks for a cool Jabba's Palace.  But Hasbro says they're not going there.  I get it.  No need to nag them about it, much less pretend that I know better than they do. 

And nobody's having a heart attack about any question, we're just bitching on a web forum.  If it weren't for bitching nerds, the internet would lose most of its purpose.

My bitch, though, is that I think these Hasbro Q&As are cool, and if the questions get annoying (and yours was annoying), then they'll likely say to hell with it.

[CHEWIE]

Sprry75, I don't know you either, or have any hard feelings towards you.  But it wasn't my question, and I'm not the one who submits them to Hasbro.   

The playset question that was asked was submitted by a reader.  What I did, was reply to Hasbro's answer, in saying that I'd support more playsets and show some examples of what I'd like to see Hasbro make.  I'd also be fine with them allowing another company to take over the playsets (like what Sideshow did with the 12" line, which I believe they might have addressed in a Q&A sometime in the past).  If they are unwilling to do that, then that looks like they do think there is potential in playsets, which contradicts what they are telling us.

Overall I've been very happy with the Star Wars line and rarely complain.  But sometimes I think they suffer from a lack of creativity and fail to take advantage of the license they have.   

[Angry Ewok]

I received a message at Yakface recently regarding this thread stating "you might find this interesting."  Seeing this started with a question that was submitted from Yakface and that I spent about two years here religiously, it's interesting to see what my friends here are saying.  I do find the responses here quite interesting and after reading the last few pages, it's clear that some people don't care for a couple of the questions that have been asked to Hasbro and have decided that the solution is to resort to bad mouthing other fan sites in the community over it.  What's that all about?

If any site sends in a question that has been asked before/asked somewhere else/worded differently/etc. - WHO CARES???  There's no reason to have a heart attack over it.  Believe it or not, sometimes questions are asked again in a different manner to make it clear to Hasbro that these are issues that some collectors DO care about.  And we all know from some of their answers sometimes they reveal nothing with a simple "no" and other times they give a more informative answer giving an explanation for why they approach something they way they do.  You never know what kind of response you are going to get from them.

Regardless, if the same question is asked, why is it that big of a deal?  Why resort to bashing another site over it?  Remember that the members of the other sites are fans too and love this hobby just as much as you do.  If someone thinks the Q&A is that big a deal to go bashing other parts of the community over it, then you're taking the Q&A way too seriously and need to find something more important to get worried about.  The Q&A's are fun to read, but that's about it.  Very little is going to come about from them, no one is going to get a special figure made out of it, figures are not going to magically show up on your doorstep, you're not going to become any smarter by reading what Hasbro feeds you, etc.  You can approach the Q&A any way you want in the questions asked and hope to get more out of them, but the Q&A is little more than a publicity thing for Hasbro.  Simple as that.

Instead of bashing a site or its readers for questions that are being asked, why not instead put your heads together and come up with some original ideas of your own to ask Hasbro, and maybe you will get that burning question that you have answered instead of ripping other sites?  And if you don't have that "burning question" then chill out if someone else DOES have a question. 

CHEWIE haters (and I know who you are  ), you may commence with bashing ME now in this thread if you like, because I want to see Hasbro make playsets.  I want them to be good playsets.  I want them to be big playsets.   I want to set them up in my Star Wars room.  I want to take pictures of them.  I want to create scenes from the movies.  I want to buy more playsets than I need.  I want to take them apart and put them back together.  I want to customize them.  I want to put a picture of one as my avatar.  I want to set one up in my office at work.   I want to use them in photonovels.  I also want an AT-TE.  I also want a Turbo Tank.  Why do I want these things?  Because I love this hobby and it's FUN.  So is it ok if a Star Wars FAN site ever asks about one of THOSE again, or will people here ridicule them because they didn't "go research every question" that has been asked before?  Wow, the NERVE of fans and fan sites to ask a question that wasn't approved of by everyone here first!

We'll probably never see big playsets like some fans want.  But at least we know we'll see Hasbro try some other things in the future that are definitely gambles - what will be the next "great idea" that Hasbro gets to follow up such "hits" like Star Wars Transformers/Unleashed/Choppers/Attaktix?  We know it probably won't be playsets, but at least playsets are part of the 3-3/4" line, which is the bread and butter of Star Wars.  Heck, they said that large vehicles don't sell either.  But they went ahead and decided to rehash the AT-AT and Imperial Shuttle this year.  Guess what, both sold great!  Maybe Hasbro was WRONG about large vehicles.  Could it possibly mean they have miscalculated the playset market as well???

Anyways, this reponse wasn't directed towards everyone in this thread.  But if you do feel it was directed at you, you may be onto something.

Lame.

[Matt]

. . .and it appears that my New Year's Resolution to stop being such a butthole on the internet will have lasted approximately 46 hours.

Oh well.  There's always next year.

CHEWIE haters (and I know who you are  )

Did you seriously just refer to yourself in the third-person?

Who do you think you are?  Slothus?!



More later.

[CHEWIE]

That was actually a very kind response Matt, I think you might have kept your resolution still. 

 

[Matt]

That was actually a very kind response Matt, I think you might have kept your resolution still. 

 

Nah.  Like I said, more later.

And if any of your resolutions was "work on my reading comprehension skills," you're already failing miserably.