Hasbro Modern Fan 2015 Survey

Comics, cartoons, movies and fan stuff.
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Denyer
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Hasbro Modern Fan 2015 Survey

Post by Denyer »

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/Hasbro_Modern_Fan_2015

For what it's worth, have given honest answers to the 3P questions. And it finishes on an illustration from the The Great Car Rally storybook.
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Tantrum
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Post by Tantrum »

That survey took a while. It was kind of annoying that the questions with a number answer only allowed digits. I wanted to put "a few hundred" for how many I own, but that got rejected, as did "100+". Questions about cost couldn't parse out the dollar sign. Only allowing digits is going to make answers from other countries with different currencies unreliable.

I worked 4 or 5 requests for CW Deluxe Groove into my answers. My response to the question about my favorite story from the films was, "The films had stories?" Other than that, my answers were pretty much what they were looking for.

They had the standard boilerplate about allowing Hasbro to contact you, but I didn't see anywhere to input contact information. I'd've given them my junk e-mail address to see if they responded.
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Unicron
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Post by Unicron »

That took some time. Nice to see they're actually looking for input from fans, or at least think it important enough to give the appearance.

I too gave my honest opinion on the '3rd party' stuff. Didn't think to work in Deluxe Groove though. Think I went with Not Applicable to favorite story from the films.
Gave shout outs to RID Scourge, Punch/Counterpunch, and Quickswitch as characters that could use a comeback and more/any characterization.

I did use the Worst Aspect and 'One question you'd ask the team' questions to bitch about distribution, and even worked in a bit about Europe getting screwed on CW Wave 2 in response to a different question.

I was annoyed about the number only answer for some of the questions. I'd have rather given a rough range than a solid number on amount spent or number owned. Thinking about it, I probably undershot my guess on number owned by a lot. I haven't counted in... ever.
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Tetsuro
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Post by Tetsuro »

And if my favourite toyline is G1, the questions about missing/overrepresented characters don't really seem to apply :p
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Denyer
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Post by Denyer »

Tantrum wrote:That survey took a while. It was kind of annoying that the questions with a number answer only allowed digits. I wanted to put "a few hundred" for how many I own, but that got rejected, as did "100+". Questions about cost couldn't parse out the dollar sign. Only allowing digits is going to make answers from other countries with different currencies unreliable.
Yeah. Plus like others I don't keep track of value or counts, and probably under-estimated.

Didn't think of many "must have" characters, if any, that I recall. Not the way I collect, which is just to pick up things that appeal. After years of homages and now 3P stuff around, there's not much that hasn't been done at least once.
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Warcry
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Post by Warcry »

Denyer wrote:For what it's worth, have given honest answers to the 3P questions.
I was really surprised to even see that section in there, let alone that it called out specific third-party groups. Doesn't admitting that other companies are using your characters and not doing anything to stop them weaken your IP protection? Or does that only apply to things like logos, trademarks and such?

Nice to know that they're trying to understand the craze, though.
Tantrum wrote:That survey took a while. It was kind of annoying that the questions with a number answer only allowed digits. I wanted to put "a few hundred" for how many I own, but that got rejected, as did "100+". Questions about cost couldn't parse out the dollar sign. Only allowing digits is going to make answers from other countries with different currencies unreliable.
Yeah, speaking as someone who programs surveys for a living...this one wasn't the greatest. That's what happens when you make your own with SurveyMonkey instead of hiring a professional, though. :)
Tetsuro wrote:And if my favourite toyline is G1, the questions about missing/overrepresented characters don't really seem to apply :p
Same for me with Beast Wars. The only response I could think of was "Ravage". A lot of the questions seemed to be written with the assumption that everyone's favourite toyline was going to be one of the ones that are currently ongoing.
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Brendocon 2.0
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Warcry wrote:I was really surprised to even see that section in there, let alone that it called out specific third-party groups. Doesn't admitting that other companies are using your characters and not doing anything to stop them weaken your IP protection? Or does that only apply to things like logos, trademarks and such?
Wouldn't imagine so. I mean acknowledging the practise is a pretty key component in any attempt to shut it down.

Of course there's the argument that "you knew and did nothing" is tacit approval or whatever, but the whole thing's muddy anyway. The third party lot aren't using Hasbro's specific designs, Hasbro don't own the concept of transforming robots, their brand names and trademarks aren't being used. I think the law (over here anyway) in regards to "passing off" basically boils down to "could an idiot in a hurry mistake this for the real thing", which is probably a no as the packaging isn't really that similar and the price point is prohibitive in that regards.

So I think it basically boils down to whether they've got the vague character likeness copyrighted. Which is probably too much effort to get into. So long as the 3P companies operate at ridiculous price points and don't slap Autobot/Decepticon logos on things, it's likely just not worth the hassle. And it stops Hasbro getting constantly harassed to do Masterpiece Sixshot / re-release Shockwave, etc etc.

Sorry what was the question?
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Post by Skyquake87 »

I has dome this and filled in my brain thoughts! And what you peeps said about the currency and stuffs.

I'd be interested to see the outcome of this, what groups said what etc etc. Hope its made public, even if Hasbro do nothing with it.
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Unicron
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Post by Unicron »

Did anyone else pick the Fandom as a choice for both the Best and Worst aspects questions?
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Post by Warcry »

Yep, same here.
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Post by Denyer »

Don't think so... can't remember, and can't get back to the aggregate results to remind what the options were. I suspect I ticked the "it's usually pointless trying to find things at retail in this country" box, or nearest equivalent.
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Post by Knightdramon »

Unicron wrote:Did anyone else pick the Fandom as a choice for both the Best and Worst aspects questions?
Picked it as the worst.

Seems that hasbro has been reading the boards due to some of their questions/choices.

Gave them a grilling about the club services to non-USA members, hasbro's attitude with waves towards non USA habitants, and asked for various stuff in-fiction.

Would love to see how on earth they figure out the "how much did you spend" boxes later on, considering it only lets you put a number in. Currency based on domicile?
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Post by Sades »

Best/worst. I like myself, and I like most of you people, but (imo, as with humanity in general) there are also some people within our fandom who sometimes really seem to need to get their heads out of their asses.

My most wanted toy was third party. I was just being honest...
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Post by inflatable dalek »

Filling it in now...

"Are the majority of your purchases from local or international online retailers?
(i.e. are you importing figures from overseas?)"

shouldn't have a "Yes" or "No" answer should it? Well, the bit in brackets should but that's not what the main body of the question is asking...
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

inflatable dalek wrote:Filling it in now...

"Are the majority of your purchases from local or international online retailers?
(i.e. are you importing figures from overseas?)"

shouldn't have a "Yes" or "No" answer should it? Well, the bit in brackets should but that's not what the main body of the question is asking...
Those are two completely different questions.

There are local online retailers. There are international online retailers. Local online retailers can stock locally purchased stock as well as imported product.

You're only importing yourself if you're buying from an international online retailer. If you're classing a purchase from a local retailer as an import then you'd have to do the same with whatever you pick up from Toys R Us because it sure as hell wasn't made in this country.

MAKES NO SENSE.

GRARGH.
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Post by Brendocon 2.0 »

Right, I've completed this now.

One of those early questions (I can't remember which) could have done with a "I do this occasionally and it really annoys me" option rather than going straight from "I don't do this" to "I do this occasionally and enjoy it".

Again, really quite frank regarding 3P. Nice that they're so keen to get information about peoples habits and reasoning. I mentioned that, even if they increased their scope for figures, 3P would just move onto other characters.

Didn't know what to ask the team at the end, so posed the good old horse-sized duck question to give em a break from complaints.
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Post by Denyer »

Just said thanks for having one of the least antagonistic approaches to fans amongst brands, and something tangential about harder science fiction and big boxy robot dinosaurs both being part of the appeal.
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Skyquake87
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Post by Skyquake87 »

I think the worstest thing I put was the Waves thing too, and echoed Knightdramon's comments about the Club. I did comment where boxes would allow on everything too (because I'm like that) and was also honest about 3P ..in that I don't care for it.

I also put something in about how nice Hasbro are to bother engaging with fans and my final big ask was for Hasbro to put Beast Wars out , in full, on Region 2 DVD/ Blu Ray / something formats.

There was a question about what I'd like to see, so I just went for saying something fresh and innovative as it just feels a bit like we're coasting on G1 retreads and Movie guff at the moment.
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Post by Knightdramon »

Skyquake87 wrote:
There was a question about what I'd like to see, so I just went for saying something fresh and innovative as it just feels a bit like we're coasting on G1 retreads and Movie guff at the moment.
Without derailing the thread a lot, this is something I touched upon as well, and further expanded on it...

Much like Star Trek and Star Wars, the story, premise and setting has a scope to be a grand epic sci-fi series. You get the war, you get Megatron, you get Prime...yet every few years all we get is a continuity reset, and oh well, here we go again...

The only time I really felt the series expand was the transition from G1 to BW. It's an ongoing war, these robots are basically immortals...why not centre one series [first one] on Prime and Megatron, and the sequel series gets to time jump 100-200 years forward, with new heroes fighting elsewhere, and new technology into play, etc etc...

It's a really basic idea that works for other franchises. Macross has a single continuity that spans over 50 years in length, and you actually get to see technological advances, war on other fronts, and characters from earlier shows getting older/older and on other places in the galaxy, etc etc.

Derailing over :wave:
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Post by Denyer »

Not derailing. Speculative fluff got into mine as well, specifically the old chestnut of the characters being functionally immortal and existing for periods of time humans can't really get their heads around. And changing very little for aliens referred to as Transformers.
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