by the fans for the fans

Without any exposure the fanbases grow older and smaller over time.

That what happening to robotech.I sure the shadow chronicles brought few new fans in like me but with out a new movie or series the fan base will continue to shrink. Games and comics are questionable if they will bring in new fans. People will buy games and comics if they are good even if they never heard of robotech

spark300c wrote:

Without any exposure the fanbases grow older and smaller over time.

That what happening to robotech.I sure the shadow chronicles brought few new fans in like me but with out a new movie or series the fan base will continue to shrink. Games and comics are questionable if they will bring in new fans. People will buy games and comics if they are good even if they never heard of robotech

The funny thing is that if you look at Facebook, the fanbase is growing as Robotech now has over 33000 "likes". I guess none of these fans like toys - I mean highly detailed collectibles.

As a Robotech fan, maybe that's a good thing. The more fans in a social environment the better it is for them. No matter how small, growth is still growth. Now cultivating that is another topic.

IMO, the Robotech toy line is in trouble for pretty much three reasons 1) quality, 2) price, 3) visibility/availability, and 4) lack of choice.
1) Toynami apparently has none to little quality control. Ironically, quality wouldn't be as much of an issue if their stuff wasn't overpriced.
2) Personally I think most of their toy/collectables line is about twice the price it should be for what you get. If Hasbro or a comparable company was producing them they most likely would be about half the price. IINM, most of their transformers are $15 or less, their smaller toys don't go over $50 and the huge ones over $100.
3) People have to know the toys exist and are available before they can purchase them. I believe the casual fan/consumer if much more likely to purchase one they spot on the action figure isle next to Transformers and Voltron than to look for them online.
Oh, I guess there's actually 4.
4) Have a toy line with at least a little bit of variety. I think people are more likely to buy a toy or more than one actually if they want a couple of the ones they have to chose from. Except for those only looking for small scale VF-1's then all is good.
That's my two cent for whatever its worth on the subject.

Gotta agree with you guys but I'm finding it hard to call the Robotech toys a toy line as 1) they only have maybe 2 random toys released a year and 2) the toy packages usually don't even have the Robotech logo on it (ie the VF-1s and Megahouse Cyclones). Toynami is just in this market to try to make a quick easy buck - what business isn't? Still, my toy dealer says their practices are shady as they'll convince a buyer to consider purchasing product and when they buyer decides they want to go through with it, they find out that Toynami is "sold out". The only problem is that they're not really sold out as another buyer will be able to purchase the same items later. Thus, Toynami tries to falsify demand which works well for them in the short term but kicks their ass down the line as buyers find out there's really no demand. Again, I point out the delayed Battlepod. Our only hope for this to change is for the LAM to be produced as it appears Toynami has no interest in releasing toys tied in to HG's supposed animated efforts.

ps99041 wrote:

Gotta agree with you guys but I'm finding it hard to call the Robotech toys a toy line as 1) they only have maybe 2 random toys released a year and 2) the toy packages usually don't even have the Robotech logo on it (ie the VF-1s and Megahouse Cyclones). Toynami is just in this market to try to make a quick easy buck - what business isn't? Still, my toy dealer says their practices are shady as they'll convince a buyer to consider purchasing product and when they buyer decides they want to go through with it, they find out that Toynami is "sold out". The only problem is that they're not really sold out as another buyer will be able to purchase the same items later. Thus, Toynami tries to falsify demand which works well for them in the short term but kicks their ass down the line as buyers find out there's really no demand. Again, I point out the delayed Battlepod. Our only hope for this to change is for the LAM to be produced as it appears Toynami has no interest in releasing toys tied in to HG's supposed animated efforts.

I AGREE.

TOYNAMI TOYS ARE MADE FOR THE GENERAL COLLECTOR. A TOYLINE THAT WOULD BE IN STORES IS MORE TO ME SOMETHING THAT WOULD COME OUT OF THE RLAM SINCE THEY WOULD BE MAKING THEM IN BULK.

ALSO, TOYNAMI WAS ABOUT THE ONLY ONE WILLING TO INVEST IN ROBOTECH. WHY THEY HAVE THE DEAL THAT THEY GOT SINCE BACK IN THE DAY. IF A NEW DEAL NEEDS TO BE MADE I THINK HG IS SHOOTING FOR WB TO PUSH THAT FURTHER WITH TOY COMPANY'S.