fenrir72 wrote:But if what I understand is correct....again, the collapse of the line in the early 90's was:
1. fans growing up who eventually lost interest
2. lack of multimedia support (unlike in Japan)
Once it suddenly becomes ridiculous (over extending the toy line) and start releasing clunkers for the heck of it (like Atari did with ET)plus a very tight economy to boot, we might experience another "toy line collapse"
The collapse began at the 1986 movie. Hasbro made a colossal marketing mistake in thinking that toys sold as long as they were in a cartoon, and to sell more toys, you just had to replace last year's line with something new. They forgot that you need strong characters driven by top-notch storytelling (writing and directing) and voice acting. They knew it as soon as they got bags of letters from broken-hearted kids and their mothers who didn't want the characters to die off and be replaced. They have admitted this quite explicitly over the years in their DVD releases of the 1986 movie and so on. It's no accident that this time around, they didn't let Optimus stay dead for even one full movie, and only a couple other Autobots died while dozens of Decepticons were reduced to CG splinters. They learned from 1986 that their characters are more than just toys, they're brands, and to kill the character is to kill the brand. The decline was steady from that point on, until they finally went on hiatus for a couple years until Beast Wars.
Unfortunately, the new movies have failed to develop strong, fleshed-out characters beyond Optimus and Bumblebee. No other bots in the movies have received anywhere near as much character development as those two, and none are so attractive as those two (the strong, fearless leader; the brave, funny, loyal best friend) so there's little for people to grab onto or relate to besides them, and that's why there are 25 of each for every other toy. Back in G1, Soundwave was captivatingly enigmatic, Starscream was lovably conniving, Megatron was admirably cunning--every bot even on the bad guy side had a clearly defined, consistent, and interesting character. Nowadays, a couple got developed, a few got two or three lines of dialogue, but most were nothing more than mindless machines that blew things up or got blown up.
So, if you ask me, the DOTM toy line could flop, sure. There's too little that's attractive to older folks (who are the ones with money) in it so far, and too much weight being placed on the only two characters that were well-developed. But next up is Transformers Prime, which is an ongoing series that could last for quite a while and is every bit as good as the G1 cartoon, except that I find the focus on human characters with a death wish (constantly jumping into the middle of giant robot mayhem instead of trying to avoid it like any sane person would do) a bit annoying though it's an expected result of the live action films.
I'd wager that the next Transformers movie will not be a live action movie at all, but a Transformers Prime movie, as it'd be much cheaper and easier to execute and would hold the brand over until another live action deal can get worked out. But while the brand might take a back seat to some other stuff for a while, I don't think it's going anywhere. Look at Barbie--she's still with us, and it's been 60 years. (Not to mention umpteen recessions, stock market crashes, double-digit inflation, etc.) Transformers is younger, but I think at this point it's firmly entrenched in global culture. It'd take some really dumb moves by executives to kill it at this point.
Speaking of those executives, the $112 million in share repurchases remind me of what Warren Buffett always says about management buying back stock. They averaged around $46 a share. Well, right now it's trading at under $40. So next time, why not just take that $112 million and give me a nice, fat dividend boost instead?
For sale: My entire Transformers and third-party collection. Includes Masterpiece, Generations, Universe, Movie, Prime, Armada/Energon/Cybertron, G1, G2, a few Japanese imports, etc. Many never opened, the rest displayed in enclosed display cases to keep the dust off. A few ads on Craigslist/OfferUp for DC/MD/VA locals, will post on boards or ebay when I have time.
That's a lot of money for Plasbro. Meee Grimlock hope, they put it in first place to lunch a perfect toyline of Transformers Prime figures soon. Grimlock still want to see pictures for the TFP deluxe class toys of Wheeljack, Knock Out and Cliffjumper (please not again a simple remold/repaint of Bumblebee, we have "WAY" to much Bumblebee's outside there...) and the voyager toys of the Arachnida Triplechanger, bulky Bulkhead 
and Breakdown.
The rest of the money Plasbro shall spend to create more good Dark of the Moon toys or they can give it to us. YAY! 
