Hasbro Distribution Problems

[Grungebob]

I was on another website devoted to miniature enthusiaists, and ran accross this thread:

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=76289

It seems as though Hasbro customers all accross the board are upset with the availability of the product. With rumors about WOTC taking over distribution of Heroscape, what could this mean? Does it mean that Hasbro want Heroscape to be marketed and distributed to venues that previously never carried it? Will we start to suffer more of the same fate as these other collectors? Has anybody talked to their local game store about Heroscape supply?

[Hahnarama]

....Has anybody talked to their local game store about Heroscape supply?

I would love to have my local shop carry it, but they turn their noses down on HS. To them it is a mass market board game. Maybe having WOTC take over might not be a bad thing. It might give HS the Street Cred it needs to get on the shelf.

[Codeman]

I asked the question at two gaming shops ( one in Des Monies & one in the Twin Cites )..... neither wanted any thing to do with it. They both kind of said that game is for the Wal-Marts to carry.

[shakey_snake]

Yeah, you can't expect specialty shop to carry the same product as a discout retail chain. Their product will just sit on the shelves, it's bad business.

[Keebler]

Where are the rumors of a move to WOTC coming from? I haven't heard a thing about it. As far as Hasbro distribution problems go, I'm sure Hasbro would like to have all of their producst available on retailers shelves. It must have something to do with big boxes and they way they buy and sell products. It's not like we haven't had trouble finding HS stuff since the Master set first came out.

[Grungebob]

Yeah, you can't expect specialty shop to carry the same product as a discout retail chain. Their product will just sit on the shelves, it's bad business.I intended this thread to be one of speculation ....example: What if Hasbro was deciding to NOT put Herosacape into places like Walmart anymore? What if Hasbro wanted to break into the specialty gamestore market through their relationship with WOTC?

[netherspirit]

Someone started a thread the other day with the rumor that WOTC might be taking over distribution. I will let you, GB, merge unless you feel the need for 2 threads for speculation about it. :);)

I am not sure how I feel about that...if its true. No more Heroscape at Wal-Mart, Target, etc? :(

Although they do carry other WOTC stuff....

[Grungebob]

Someone started a thread the other day with the rumor that WOTC might be taking over distribution. I will let you, GB, merge unless you feel the need for 2 threads for speculation about it. :);)

I am not sure how I feel about that...if its true. No more Heroscape at Wal-Mart, Target, etc? :(

Although they do carry other WOTC stuff....Well, there are multiple products from Hasbro that are all sharing the same frustrations. The WOTC rumor could be just a rumor, or it could be a regional thing with the Aussies. It is related somewhat but it IS just a rumor. In the end, I wonder if it would solve the distribution problems for Heroscape. We can mergew both topics after there has been a little more exposure. They are two topics that are somewhat related.

[POP mARTy]

Someone started a thread the other day with the rumor that WOTC might be taking over distribution. I will let you, GB, merge unless you feel the need for 2 threads for speculation about it. :);)

I am not sure how I feel about that...if its true. No more Heroscape at Wal-Mart, Target, etc? :(

Although they do carry other WOTC stuff....

I assume that "someone" is me you're referring to?

http://www.heroscapers.com/community/showthread.php?t=533

I received this information in a response from Hasbro Cust. Service in Australia when asking them about release schedules for Wave 4 and the large expansions and complaining that it's a pain to get hold of them.

The limited release is mainly due to the retail stores that we deal with not wanting to support the product. I do not believe we will be bringing any of the large sets into the country. The good news is that Wizards of the coast may be taking over distribution. They only deal with games such as this, so distribution will be much better.

If WotC makes it HS easier to purchase in Australia, you won't hear me complaining.....

[netherspirit]

I assume that "someone" is me you're referring to?

Yeah I was too lazy to find your thread.

[Joah]

I would love to have my local shop carry it, but they turn their noses down on HS. To them it is a mass market board game. Maybe having WOTC take over might not be a bad thing. It might give HS the Street Cred it needs to get on the shelf. "HeroScape? Isn't that a kids game?" If I had a buck everytime I heard that at the game store. :?

[jcb231]

Yeah, you can't expect specialty shop to carry the same product as a discout retail chain. Their product will just sit on the shelves, it's bad business.I intended this thread to be one of speculation ....example: What if Hasbro was deciding to NOT put Herosacape into places like Walmart anymore? What if Hasbro wanted to break into the specialty gamestore market through their relationship with WOTC?

It would probably mean we'd be paying through the nose....most games at the local game stores in my area are insanely overpriced...of course, most "non mass market" games are overpriced to start with, as they're not produced in the same quantities as your Scrabbles and Monopolies and Troubles.

[jcb231]

....Has anybody talked to their local game store about Heroscape supply?

I would love to have my local shop carry it, but they turn their noses down on HS. To them it is a mass market board game. Maybe having WOTC take over might not be a bad thing. It might give HS the Street Cred it needs to get on the shelf.

Where'd you get those little game banners in your signature line?

[netherspirit]

....Has anybody talked to their local game store about Heroscape supply?

I would love to have my local shop carry it, but they turn their noses down on HS. To them it is a mass market board game. Maybe having WOTC take over might not be a bad thing. It might give HS the Street Cred it needs to get on the shelf.

Where'd you get those little game banners in your signature line?

Click the one in my signature line :)

[Annerios]

I am not sure how I feel about that...if its true. No more Heroscape at Wal-Mart, Target, etc? :(


That is one of the most disappointing aspects of HS this year. :cry:

Last year, the expansions came out in my area on a timely basis (or earlier than in other parts of the country) and you could count on the Toys R Us sale to pick up some nice quantities of sets you liked to expand the game.

Only one set of Zanafor's seems to have arrived here (and it was at Toys R Us) and the new sets are nowhere to be seen (like in the rest of the country).

I enjoyed the fact that I could introduce someone to a new expansion and they had some chance of picking up on their way home if they wanted it.
I have no problem with shopping online, but the fact that HS is becoming more "exclusive" to online vendors kind of sucks.

Hasbro had taken a bold step forward introducing this kind of game to a different market. For a game that supposedly sells so well, these new trends seem like a step backward.

[Teamski]

Amen brutha.....

-Ski

[Grungebob]

I have no problem with shopping online, but the fact that HS is becoming more "exclusive" to online vendors kind of sucks.We have no evidence that there has been any change in Hasbro distribution beyond the fact that we have a good source for product through a couple of dependable online retailers and the fact that there have been zero store sightings. Perhaps store sales have been sluggish, or perhaps they overstocked and have not been too quick to order the new stuff, meanwhile online shops are moving it and creating more of a demand for it from the source. Perhaps the entire shipment from China was called for by online retailers and the lottery put them first this time around.

[reapersaurus]

Well, Hasbro is spectacularly FAILING at distributing Heroscape, that much has been made clear. :(

The things we don't know are:
1) Does Hasbro realize how bad they are performing?
2) Does Hasbro care?

Even if they care, they may feel (as a big corporation might) that they can make more profit spending time on another line.

It is a sad picture that is being formed about toy companies and how much effort fans have to undergo to find even major releases nowadays (that is, before scalpers sweep them up and sell them back to you for ridiculous amounts).

[Grungebob]

Well, Hasbro is spectacularly FAILING at distributing Heroscape, that much has been made clear. :(

The things we don't know are:
1) Does Hasbro realize how bad they are performing?
2) Does Hasbro care?

Even if they care, they may feel (as a big corporation might) that they can make more profit spending time on another line.

It is a sad picture that is being formed about toy companies and how much effort fans have to undergo to find even major releases nowadays (that is, before scalpers sweep them up and sell them back to you for ridiculous amounts).There is a certain amount of ridiculosis it seems. I mean for all the Games Workshop bashing you hear, you never hear of them running short on supply. I just get sick of the rubber band effect where the fans cry and complain so much that when it does arrive at the store, there is too much product and then we have a stalemate.

[ultradoug]

Ok. Well at the only game store I got to around here the guy must have had a bad disturbitor, as the dis guy said that they had not even gotten Wave 3. The price was MSRP. After being spoiled by walmarts low prices of 9.99 per booster its hard to spend more. The fact is, I dont "have" to own the next expantion.

Heroscape was pacakaged as a board game (error #1) Its ablity to do what I would call "gathing dust but making money" Is simular to board games like monopoly. How offen does a monoply board game get sold?
the reasion that stores are unsure how to handle this new what they conseder to be board game is because its a collectors game, this puts it into anther catogory and makes it hard for the store (whos honnestly allready clueless) on how to put the stuff and KEEP the stuff out on the shelf. They love to alphatise there board games, and Heroscape takes up more room because of the Master Set + Large Hero + Tree + Booster. Thats 4 slots they had to make room for.

@ game stores that say "kids game" So what? Plenty of people play pokemon that are old, game stores MAKE most of there money from "kids" games. Some stores dont do card games and that is a big loss to them.

Miniture games are typicaly paint and build so they are more of a hobby.
Mage Knight and Heroclicks broke the rull of miniture gaming and made people that are so obessed with there hours feel bad, why? Because here was a simpler game you could buy for cheeper and play NOW.

Heroscape broke the mold again and re-defined board/collectable games.

IF WOTC takes over Heroscape here is what will happen:

First if WOTC handles it the way they do magic it will get (finaly) offical sanconed tourments, if I know WOTC line of logic they will want to restrict what units you can use - not at first but eventualy they WILL - They will do this to promote the buying of the next stuff.

Right now I can buy a master set and I'm done.

If WOTC takes over and has santoned tourments I can play- I would not be surpised to find out that I can't use my master set units, I must use units from wave 1 only in this event I better know what they do - they MIGHT (dont hold your breath) sell booster packs at event so everyone that comes can play.. (like sealed deck play)

Now, this could be good, could be bad- IF wotc keeps up with what they did for pokemon / magic tourmetns with heroscape eventualy you will be restricted to the latest sets only. Promos of course would be alowed to incorage touremnt competiveness, (promos can only be won at end of touremnts, so only people that won or buy it from ebay will get it)

Side note, - Dot Hack Enemy had a brillent system called LEVEL UP! Decipher had cards haned out at events called "Level Up!" cards that would give you access to cards won at said events (those cards were played by discarding level up! cards) You got a serten number of those cards at events your name was registered into a data base only those running event / decipher had access to (run by employes only for the most part I belive) SO You could buy as meny level up cards online as you wanted to, but it did you no good in real tourment play becuase your name would show how meny you "earned"

This system could EASYLY by applyed to tourment events, if you win "x" promo they mark that you won it, you may now use "x" promo in said event, this prohibits (or at least makes it) unprofitable for people to sell there promo figure on ebay - unless they no longer want to use it in events. (+ user that buys it cant ever use it in sanconed events since they did not "earn" it)

Back to the rant...

OK SO what WOTC might do is make tourment play only the latest explaintiosn, this meens you have to own the newest stuff all the time.

Will it be sold in "x" place?

This is a good question, WOTC will have ALOT of trouble finding / convincing local game store owners to carry a product thats:

1: Big (large shell taking space.)
2: Not a `known' game (like pokemon/magic)
3: Has a big MSRP.

At local game someone always has to convince new people to get into game, at our gathing we had about 3-4 people come from the store (others watched from time to time) but only 2 people really played from that store with us. Its a hard sell to get people to play something new, and its harder sell if that product is not carryed by that game store, its even more of a strech for wotc to ask stores to carry it!!!

My end thought is that it could be good or bad.
Wow big huge rant for no conclusion. Yay!

[Jason]

Ultradoug those changes overall sound TERRIBLE

-That would suck for a tournament to limit which sets you could choose from. 1 of the best aspects in Heroscape is in setting up effective armies from the huge amount of options. Limitng options only harms the game. Who wants to continually fight against the same army battle after battle in a tournament.

-Additionally, giving out limited Promo figures at prizes would be kill 1 of the best aspects of Heroscape. 1 great thing about Hroscape is that everyone has access to the same pieces thereby placing one's skill upon the army creation and movement. Having a few people win some unique pieces would upset this balance.

[ultradoug]

yes but thats what wizards does NOW with magic, of course that games been around for years so what do they know.

[Jason]

I have almost no Magic knowledge but I don't think they could limit figures like they do in Magic. In Heroscape we only have what 100 or so different types of figures total. In Magic there are probably hundreds of cards per set? With a thousand or so cards in 1-2 sets you could have some variety whereas in Hersocape only having 100 options cutting those would seem crazy to me

[ultradoug]

Reminds me of all the kids that liked playing with an unllited pool of cards who I asked to just TRY playing once with a limmited pool of cards.
A few caught on to how vastly harder it was to make decks and how this inproved the game play over all, they had to actualy build new ideas for the first time.

As I said- this will not happen at first, I dont think WOTC will do it at the start gate, they want everyone to come in with whatever. When the metagame at offical tourments becomes "Romans/4th Mass" And "Orc Swarm" every tourment you goto or "Braxis swarm" Or simular combos. Belive me the metagame invorment in scantioned events is very very hevey handed, these people come to WIN. They will use the best figures, know the rulls. ETC. A competive envorment is a two edged sword. I think WTOC would indeed put in a system for it.

They would have specal figures at the event.
This makes people WANT to go. Prize money... MAYBE but again WOTC might target this at...

THE KIDS.

If they do there will be yelling and teeth mashing, Pokemon took awhile before 15+ was interduced and finaly adults could play. It just depends on how they handle it.

I strongly belive they will at some point make figures unalowed for events or make whole waves not alowed, this is typical of the way they run events. If they do not do this I will be very surpised. The plan is always to push the new things, so there are two ways to make people want the new stuff:

1: Super charge it - make the figures so strong that they always beat the older figures.
2: Unalow figures at scantoned events to put pressure on people to keep up to date with the new stuff. This will ONLY effect players that play the offical events.


I've seen WOTC do both. I've seen Mechwarror, Mage Knight, and other games do both.

In fact- I've seen Heroscape do the first 1. Come on Braxis isnt super charged? Sure its still "balanced" but come on... those units are just more powerfull then earlyer units...(side topic)

Anyway, this is totaly my oppionon on how WOTC will handle this, based on what they have done in the past.

[bunjee]

:shock: Who is this person posting with UD's logon? :D

[Jason]

I don't think right now with the pieces we have that any army could dominate a 400 or 500 point tournament. Some bonding armies like a 4th Mass/Roman army would be popular but hardly dominant. Orc armies would be brought (although personally I contend that Orc armies suck)Others like myself would field armies relying upon the Krav, AE, maybe Raelin, etc. Others would anticipate large numbers of squads and field a Nilfheim, Braxas, or Q9 army. I'm confident that if tournaments were held with the current pieces that no 1 army type or 2 would prove superior to the others

[caravaggio]

:shock: Who is this person posting with UD's logon? :D

i was thinking the same thing. maybe it was ritalin-doug.

here's what i posted in the wizards of the coast/autralia thread. seemed pertinent here.

i dont know much about wizards of the the coast (they made "magic", right?). i dont think i like them but i could see AVALON HILL (they're a subsidiary of hasbro, right?) taking over distribution though. if passing heroscape over to a "smaller company" would help distribution, make more (and better) expansions ready quicker and "class it up" a bit i wouldnt mind at all. i'm pretty sure TRU and target both sell avalon hill games.

either way, recent factors have me concerned about the future of this game.

1. distribution has gone from bad to really bad. i know a lot of you are trying to pin the recent shortage of wave 4.5 on walmart but i think its unlikely that walmart, target, and TRU all decided at the same time to stop ordering heroscape. possible...but unlikely. also making this seem unlikely is the fact that it isn't just wave 4.5 that is scarce. wave 4 seems to dropped off the face of the earth. to me, it seems more likely that halfway through producing waves 4 and 4.5 hasbro decided to pull the plug or simply cut the production run of these two in half from the beginning.

2. the stupidity involved in packaging 2 wave 4.5 heroes with one tundra. not only does it show an inability to learn from mistakes (or not to care) this is especially troubling since one of the more likely causes of the slow-down in heroscape production seems to be the over abundance of the wave 2.5 heroes filling shelves. if the 2.5 heroes almost killed the game, then the 4.5 heroes may be the final nail.

3. the lack of information about wave 5 or any new info about the castle sets. the last we heard anything about either of these releases was from the toy fair "shelf pics" (right?). that was months ago. the stats for wave 5 probably should have been out by now if it really is due in a month. i'm not saying we wont see the castle and wave 5 before the end of the summer, just that it will likely follow the limited production and distribution seen in waves 4 and 4.5. i'm concerned that this lack of info could be the result of wave 5 and the castle being too far into production to cancel but no further expansions being planned after the castle and the marketing team at hasbro not wanting to waste any further resources on a cancelled game.

4. i guess you could add to this the fact that hasbro seems to have given up even trying to distribute the game in europe. its sounds like they got wave 2 in germany and then that was it. i dont know much about the situation over there, but it doesnt sound good.

i dont know. this all speculation and i dont know any more than anyone else here about all this stuff. it's too bad rob and craig dont drop by any more to reassure like they used. all we really have to go off of anymore the limited information that sandra passes along.

all i know is that we've been hearing about this castle for almost a year now and i dont think anyone has ever mentioned a wave 6 or any other possible expansions to follow. is the game dying? i hope someone can prove me wrong! passing the game off to avalon hill or wizards of the coast could be akin to moving it into a hospice (for the purposes of getting rid of any remaining stock from past waves). or it could bring the new life and new management that the game needs.

[Gimoo]

I'm sure the problem is that Hasbro actually produced a product that satisfies customers in one shot. Bad business.

[dickflea]

I have a sneaky suspicion that they are planning to call it quits after the castle expansion.. :cry:

[Venom]

now why would they call it quits when they're making so much out of us? i think they need to fire whoever is messing up so bad on their end, that's all.

tease us all you want Hasbro, but give us what we want when it comes out. :chainsaw:

i now to release my anger... :verymad:

[Annerios]

We have no evidence that there has been any change in Hasbro distribution beyond the fact that we have a good source for product through a couple of dependable online retailers and the fact that there have been zero store sightings. Perhaps store sales have been sluggish, or perhaps they overstocked and have not been too quick to order the new stuff, meanwhile online shops are moving it and creating more of a demand for it from the source. Perhaps the entire shipment from China was called for by online retailers and the lottery put them first this time around.

You are right, there could be many reasons for the current situation. The problem is that, whatever the reason, many players are not getting the new releases that fuel interest in the game. The hardcore people on this site find out early and get the stuff, but are we really enough to keep HS alive? I understand that HS is not expected to be a "staple" game like Monoply for Hasbro, but I wonder how much money it has to produce to stay viable for them.

The only thing the average kid this game is targeted to has to go on is what they see on the shelves. If you go by that in my area, this game would appear to be stagnating. The official website, which is hardly ever updated (and that has a release date for the castle on the main page that is completely wrong according to HMG) is no help either.

[Grungebob]

Perhaps the best way to deal with all this is to vocalize it on here like we have been doing. Perhaps some undercover Hasbro person can read this and get a feel for our needs. Remember that this is not just Heroscape though and that it is basically any Hasbro product that has a similar type of following. This is not about Heroscape as much as it is about Hasbro itself.

[Annerios]

Perhaps the best way to deal with all this is to vocalize it on here like we have been doing. Perhaps some undercover Hasbro person can read this and get a feel for our needs.

One can only hope. :wink:

[dra(gon)]

in germany we got wave 2 now, but the best way to find is in i-net stores.
and next month sould forest und ohm return come to stores. but there was no word about lava maybe it comes. but i think all this stuff will not rise the ms sells the fans will buy the new things, but new plaxyers will have problems to find wave one or have toubble to get wave2.

[Hahnarama]

Perhaps some undercover Hasbro person can read this and get a feel for our needs.

I AM PENNAME! :drunk:

[InfinityMax]

I would personally love to see WotC take over Heroscape. I think it would have a much longer, happier life if Wizards was at the helm.

See, then we could have sanctioned tournaments. And game stores would really want to stock the products. And there would be more LE figures, but they would not be as hard to get as Nerak. And I don't think the tourneys would be screwed up, because if anyone understands games, it's Wizards.

[ultradoug]

I thought I was penname.

Anyway. What if WTOC took it and started making heroscape into a random seeled package game type deal :o oh man...

If anything maybe they will just figure out how to relice the things on time and WOTC has better web page updates. Even on products that dont do well they have pretty good resorces (I'm looking at you failed NeoPet game!)

[InfinityMax]

Anyway. What if WTOC took it and started making heroscape into a random seeled package game type deal :o oh man...

Are you joking, or have you really just not been paying attention?

[Grungebob]

People don't seem to understand that even if WOTC takes over distribution, it doesn't make Heroscape a WOTC product at all. It just means that Hasbro would be able to use channels of distribution that WOTC has already established.... This could be a good thing for both companies. Of course this is all just speculation at this point and no reason to get all "Sky is falling!!!"

[skyknight]

"Sky is falling!!!"

I am not, I am perfectly fine thank you very much :lol:

[ultradoug]

Anyway. What if WTOC took it and started making heroscape into a random seeled package game type deal :o oh man...

Are you joking, or have you really just not been paying attention?

Both.

[toddrew]

Here's some more fodder for this thread, an official denial if you will :)



Customer (Todd Rewoldt) 05/30/2006 02:03 PM
I've been hearing rumblings that hasbro is discontinuing or transferring production of heroscape (to Wizards of the Coast), and being well aware that this is likely a question beyond the scope of this forum :), just wondered if I could get a response.

Also, wave '4.5', so to speak, Raknar's Vision and Thalenk Tundra have been made available through online vendors, but not in stores yet. Any reason?

Thanks,
Todd

Response (Chris) 05/30/2006 03:07 PM
Hi Todd,

Thank you for contacting Hasbro with your question on Heroscape! Perhaps I can help.

As far as I am aware, Hasbro will continue to be the distributor for Heroscape.

Thaelenk Tundra & Raknar's Vision are both brand new products. Hasbro Toy Shop has ordered more, and they should be back in-stock within the next 2 weeks.

In the meantime, the item is currently shipping out to the distribution centers of your local retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, & Toys R Us. While you are waiting for Hasbro Toy Shop to get it back in stock, you may want to check those local stores, but sometimes it does take a while for them to siphon down to the individual retailers. Don't worry. More sets are coming!

I hope that answers your question(s). If there is anything else I can help you with, please visit www.hasbro.com or respond to this e-mail.

[caravaggio]

toddrew,

while i wouldn't mind wizards of the coast or avalon hill taking over the game if it had a positive effect, what you posted seems to be good news. i find it a little hard to believe at this point (actions speak louder than words) but it's still good to hear something official to the tone of "heroscape is not being discontinued".

of course, if it were being discontinued they wouldn't tell us.

[GaryLASQ]

i've been watching the WalMarts in the Chicago area slowly but surely stop carrying HS. first it was 2 stores near me now it is up to 5.

the Raknar Thaelenk delay is interesting. we haven't seen a "gap" like this between online sales and store sales before.

i badgered a local game store chain to the point where they called their supplier last Monday (5/22) and were told Raknar and Thaelenk should be delivered in another 2 to 3 weeks.

as far as the future of HS beyond the Castles...well maybe someone will get some hints at GenCon...

and don't even get me started about the shipping ratio of modular/common packs to unique packs. the large expansions are a mess (there's an abundance of Orm everywhere...) and even the boosters are messed up but it's not as big a problem.

something must get lost in translation at Hasbro between the game designers and the moron who decides how many of what to produce. whoever it is should forget about product forecasting and just play the damn game and figure out the difference between unique and common.

[Teamski]

Here's some more fodder for this thread, an official denial if you will :)




Response (Chris) 05/30/2006 03:07 PM
Hi Todd,

Thank you for contacting Hasbro with your question on Heroscape! Perhaps I can help.

As far as I am aware, Hasbro will continue to be the distributor for Heroscape.

Thaelenk Tundra & Raknar's Vision are both brand new products. Hasbro Toy Shop has ordered more, and they should be back in-stock within the next 2 weeks.

In the meantime, the item is currently shipping out to the distribution centers of your local retailers like Target, Wal-Mart, & Toys R Us. While you are waiting for Hasbro Toy Shop to get it back in stock, you may want to check those local stores, but sometimes it does take a while for them to siphon down to the individual retailers. Don't worry. More sets are coming!

I hope that answers your question(s). If there is anything else I can help you with, please visit www.hasbro.com or respond to this e-mail.




:pray: I pray that he is right!

-Ski

[toddrew]

and don't even get me started about the shipping ratio of modular/common packs to unique packs. the large expansions are a mess (there's an abundance of Orm everywhere...) and even the boosters are messed up but it's not as big a problem.

something must get lost in translation at Hasbro between the game designers and the moron who decides how many of what to produce. whoever it is should forget about product forecasting and just play the damn game and figure out the difference between unique and common.

The world may never know :) , but I would like to find out if the decision to package 2 large unique figure packs to 1 common terrain set was made to earnestly address projected demand, or schemed as a way to boost orders as retailers would need to order additional hero packs to receive enough terrain to meet demand and then have to figure out how to handle all those excess uniques. Sandra @ housemouse has dealt with this by having to increase the price of the terrain and decrease the price of the heroes, relative to MSRP.

[reapersaurus]

Perhaps the best way to deal with all this is to vocalize it on here like we have been doing. Perhaps some undercover Hasbro person can read this and get a feel for our needs. Remember that this is not just Heroscape though and that it is basically any Hasbro product that has a similar type of following. This is not about Heroscape as much as it is about Hasbro itself.I feel that we should start making efforts as a community to reach the decision-makers at Hasbro and shake their tree, instead of sitting in our treehouse, hoping for them to climb up the ladder and read what we have plastered all over the inside of our treehouse.

I feel the time has come for us to write letters/emails and address them to the addresses we can find.

Who can help acquire these targets for our information/feedback campaign?

[Alastair MacDirk]

I don't know what you got plastered on the walls of your treehouse Reaper, I got me a few Playboy Centerfolds in mine. HEHE!

[toddrew]

Who can help acquire these targets for our information/feedback campaign?

Skynight?

[skyknight]

:roll:

[GaryLASQ]

I would like to find out if the decision to package 2 large unique figure packs to 1 common terrain set was made to earnestly address projected demand, or schemed as a way to boost orders as retailers would need to order additional hero packs to receive enough terrain to meet demand and then have to figure out how to handle all those excess uniques. Sandra @ housemouse has dealt with this by having to increase the price of the terrain and decrease the price of the heroes, relative to MSRP.

it smells (or should i say stinks) like a scheme to me. either way, scheme or screw up, it's pissing us off. and we're not going to take it anymore! time to start making some protest buttons and flyers to pass out at GenCon :)

on a more serious note, i like Reaper's call to action. (i'm not sure the situation is that desparate really.)

i'll bet a lot of us could probably come up with some great ideas for promoting Heroscape. so if emails are going to be sent, they should have some clever suggestions to go along with the complaints.

one suggestion i would make would be a better commercial. if they want to SELL A TON MORE Heroscape they need to show four boys (or maybe 3 boys and 1 girl) sitting around a good size map (2 master sets with road trees and lava). on the map each player commands a LARGE THEMED ARMY, lots of low point common figs. SHOW OFF THE COMMON FIGS. that's where the money is for Heroscape (we know this all to well), multiple purchasing of common figs and terrain.

what parent doesn't know that boys love to drag out all their plastic army men, cowboys, indians and set them up all over the house. a better commercial needs to tap into that large army building mentality.

i have a feeling there will be a new commercial to promote castles. if they are smart, any new commercial will display a bigger map and bigger armies.

[caravaggio]

gary,

i have been conceptualizing a heroscape commercial for a while focusing on four kids sitting around playing the game (some of you may remember me talking about it briefly last summer). i am really excited about it. the problem is that i need to finishing editting two other short films i shot before i can start another project. but my cinematographer is going off to school at the end of the summer so we would have to get on it soon.

i really hope i can make this a reality. just need to be more diciplined in getting projects finished!

[Joah]

I feel that we should start making efforts as a community to reach the decision-makers at Hasbro and shake their tree, instead of sitting in our treehouse, hoping for them to climb up the ladder and read what we have plastered all over the inside of our treehouse.

I feel the time has come for us to write letters/emails and address them to the addresses we can find.

Who can help acquire these targets for our information/feedback campaign? I'm with you on this Reaper. I don't want to get anyone in trouble (well, maybe the guy that decided 2 heroes to 1 terrain. He's gotta go!), but Hasbro needs an official wake-up call about the consumers of this game. I'm note sure where to go next, but a massive e-mail/letter writting campaign in the next couple of weeks, could possibly do wonders. Or **** off Hasbro enough to quit the game. :wink: Nah. If we all come together, got a list of all of our questions regarding the game and picked a day to all e-mail (different questions mind you, we don't want to get a standard form letter reply) that might just turn some heads. Then, at GenCon, The Worlds largest gaming convention, Hasbro would have no excuse for showing up without a lot of anwsers to all are questions. I think we should explore this further.

[reapersaurus]

How bout everyone who cares about Hasbro scrwing up Heroscape distribution just send that customer service email address what their thoughts are on the matter?
It doesn't have to be a form letter - just write down in words what you feel about Heroscape's recent expansions only being avaiable for 24 hours on the Hasbro toy site, and still 1 1/2 months later (I think) are nowhere to be found save etailers and EBay.

What is that email address again?

And about a commercial - Hasbro has already spent plenty of $$$ on advertising to the young boy demographic.
What they should be doing is promoting the most unique aspect and strength of this game - it's FAMILY FRIENDLINESS!
I can not remember a more family-friendly (well, dad and son, at least) mass-market game in YEARS - something to appeal to the kid in everyone.

[ultradoug]

I bet I could make a kick butt ad for it if I wanted to... humm...

[GaryLASQ]

yep - family friendliness. i was thinking about that as well...the fact that this game appeals to all ages. i'm one of many dads on this forum that were drawn to this game after buying it for their son.

i was just thinking that from a "Hasbro wants to make more money" angle, more emphasis on buying multiple commons might be a smart move.

but of course Hasbro would be more happy with a Star Wars expansion for Heroscape if they were only concerned about making money :)

anyhow, back to the distribution thing...it would be interesting to know what the real reason(s) is for the delay to retailers this time with Raknar and Thaelenk.

perhaps someone will scoop some insider info at some point. i doubt the real reason will ever be explained in detail in an email from customer service.

the one big difference from last year seems to be that Hasbro is ready to sell the new stuff in their own online Toy Shop immediately. last year it seemed like they intentionally waited a while before selling them online.

[reapersaurus]

The thing that kinda fries me when I think about it is that I'm sure that many people here have ties and channels to various Heroscape employees - collectively, the people involved on this site know just about everyone involved in the game.

Yet, we seem to have an utter information black hole, with it all being sucked up in a one-way vortex that leaves us all guessing in the dark so deep no light can escape. :(

Why can't SOMEONE from Hasbro open up their damned lock-down of information, and tell the world what the hell is going on with Heroscape, so that we the fans of the game can understand why we are not able to buy the product months after it has been released :?: :!:

Would it be so hard to get information to us, the loyal fans, that have supported the game with advertising, attention, and money and promoted the game for 2 years running now?

Now is a CRITICAL time for Heroscape and its future.
If Hasbro doesn't open up a bit more, I don't see why the less-obesessed fan would bother sticking with a game that he can't buy. :shrug:

[bushi96]

I dont get it. Trying to get a small amount of support from Hasbro like doing a Q&A or donating some prizes turned into such a big NO-NO. Like it was a mortal sin to even ask. But now we should all bust Hasbro's balls and demand that they give up their marketing strategy. Yeah, ummm, well- wish you luck with that one....

I deal with two of Hasbro's other products. They have crappy shipping too. You can only find new stuff in the stores. Then all of a sudden its gone and you can only find old stuff for weeks on end. Not as bad as HS, but still annoying. But eventually you get what you need. All of the stores around here keep moving HS product, so they must be doing something right. How its happening, I dont know.

HS's customer service replies have been more than forthcoming with news. I cringe everytime I see Chris give a release date. With all of the large corporations I have worked for this was just sacrilege. I would rather see a "Thank you" email go out, then a "You have to fix you marketing strategy- now!" email go out.

[skyknight]

I dont get it. Trying to get a small amount of support from Hasbro like doing a Q&A or donating some prizes turned into such a big NO-NO. Like it was a mortal sin to even ask. But now we should all bust Hasbro's balls and demand that they give up their marketing strategy. Yeah, ummm, well- wish you luck with that one....


I was not going to mention this, glad you did Bushi I was thinking exactly the same thing :? It is funny how this is all of a sudden a good idea now that it is someone elses.

[Augray]

Why can't SOMEONE from Hasbro open up their damned lock-down of information, and tell the world what the hell is going on with Heroscape, so that we the fans of the game can understand why we are not able to buy the product months after it has been released :?: :!:

Like most big corporations, Hasbro probably doesn't want to admit mistakes.

I think emails to Customer Relations is a good idea. I don't know what kind of response we'll get, but it's worth a try. It couldn't hurt. In fact it might help. I seem to remember a thread back on .net or HQ about how the calls and emails about a game are probably logged.

Would it be so hard to get information to us, the loyal fans, that have supported the game with advertising, attention, and money and promoted the game for 2 years running now?

It was nice when Craig and Rob were on .net dropping hints of what is to come. I was actually surprised Hasbro let it happen.

[skyknight]

:brickwall: :brickwall: :brickwall: :brickwall: :brickwall: :brickwall: :brickwall: :brickwall: :brickwall: :brickwall: :brickwall:

[KeeperOfPeace]

I feel that we should start making efforts as a community to reach the decision-makers at Hasbro and shake their tree, instead of sitting in our treehouse, hoping for them to climb up the ladder and read what we have plastered all over the inside of our treehouse.

I feel the time has come for us to write letters/emails and address them to the addresses we can find.

Who can help acquire these targets for our information/feedback campaign?

These are great ideas! We should all start right away! :wave:

[toddrew]

I dont get it. Trying to get a small amount of support from Hasbro like doing a Q&A or donating some prizes turned into such a big NO-NO. Like it was a mortal sin to even ask. But now we should all bust Hasbro's balls and demand that they give up their marketing strategy. Yeah, ummm, well- wish you luck with that one....


I was not going to mention this, glad you did Bushi I was thinking exactly the same thing :? It is funny how this is all of a sudden a good idea now that it is someone elses.

I understand where you are coming from with these comments, but please do not (and if you aren't then just disregard :) ) group everyone on this very diverse board into either being for or against something based on responses in the past from a, vocal yes, but, minority of all posters here.

And Reaper is not being hypocritical - he is in no way advocating that Hasbro have any collaboration with this site. Just trying to raise a collective response to a perceived wrong. Please argue the merits of that.

Probably should have PM'd you first, Skynight, but it seemed to me that this was a good opportunity to use your expertise and mend some virtual relationships. The last posts I had on HQ were trying to persuade you to concentrate your efforts here, where more people would see them and be able to respond. It was not my intention to discourage you (and from the little I've come to know you from your posts, I think you would be encouraged by others' discouragements anyway :) ), so I hope my suggestion was not seen as flaming, but as earnest. Or at least, after some more explanation, can be seen that way now :)

The response from Chris that I posted earlier came about as my indirect way of letting Hasbro know that there was at least one market target who was not getting enough access to the product :) I've no idea how much of an impact anyone's customer service email, individually or collectively, will have, but I say write in in your own words, and we'll see (or maybe not) what happens.

O, forgot to add: most people are aware, but one can send any inquiry or comment to Hasbro about heroscape from here:
http://hasbro.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/hasbro.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?p

and for product select games (NOT SOFTWARE) and then Heroscape, obviously :)

Or just go to the Hasbro main site (hasbro.com) and one should be able to navigate to the customer service page without much difficulty (just look for the 'email us' tab once you get to the FAQ page.)

[bushi96]

I was thinking from a company perspective and came up with a theory about the 2 large heroes to 1 terrain conundrum. Users here often forget that they do not represent the whole market. For arguments sake, lets say this is how Hasbro sees any given group of young players-

Player1- has an awesome dad (me) who buys all of his heroscape
Player2- mows lawns and sells lemonaid to fund his heroscape
Player3- likes girls but still occasionally gets to play heroscape
Player4- is a bum and saves lunch money to buy heroscape

These four players game together, but maybe not all at the same time. Player1 has vast resources available and provide most of the figures and landscape. Player2, Player3 and Player4 each have a master set and some expansions to build their own favorite armies.

When said group goes to the store to buy the newwst wave, Player1 is going to buy terrain and figures. Player2 might buy terrain, if he had enough money. The last two are content with buying the figures to increase their army and continue to let the other guys provide the epic maps.

Just a thought to rationalize their packaging...

[Kepler]

I was thinking from a company perspective and came up with a theory about the 2 large heroes to 1 terrain conundrum. Users here often forget that they do not represent the whole market. For arguments sake, lets say this is how Hasbro sees any given group of young players-

Player1- has an awesome dad (me) who buys all of his heroscape
Player2- mows lawns and sells lemonaid to fund his heroscape
Player3- likes girls but still occasionally gets to play heroscape
Player4- is a bum and saves lunch money to buy heroscape

These four players game together, but maybe not all at the same time. Player1 has vast resources available and provide most of the figures and landscape. Player2, Player3 and Player4 each have a master set and some expansions to build their own favorite armies.

When said group goes to the store to buy the newwst wave, Player1 is going to buy terrain and figures. Player2 might buy terrain, if he had enough money. The last two are content with buying the figures to increase their army and continue to let the other guys provide the epic maps.

Just a thought to rationalize their packaging...

That reasoning probably isn't way off base. If I had to make a choice between RV or TT I would 100% pick RV.

However, the OR and RTTFF experience from last year should have changed this initial rationale. There is tons of OR still on the shelf every where, but I don't think I have ever seen more than 2 or 3 RTTFF's at a single time anywhere (and many times it is not in stock).

[toddrew]

These four players game together, but maybe not all at the same time. Player1 has vast resources available and provide most of the figures and landscape. Player2, Player3 and Player4 each have a master set and some expansions to build their own favorite armies.

When said group goes to the store to buy the newwst wave, Player1 is going to buy terrain and figures. Player2 might buy terrain, if he had enough money. The last two are content with buying the figures to increase their army and continue to let the other guys provide the epic maps.

Just a thought to rationalize their packaging...

When I posted earlier about the 2:1 ratio, the scenario you laid out above was more or less what I would think of as a reasonable projection on Hasbro's part that would indicate 2 heroes to one terrain as the profitable way to go, but after the results of OR and RttFF, one would think that it would be obvious that the ratio should be reversed.

I'm not 'in the industry' enough to know how quickly decisions with the production ratios can be made, maybe Hasbro was tied into (or too involved elsewhere) to make the change to RV and TT. Or maybe they (Hasbro) are just fine as is :shrug:

[skyknight]

Again Todd it is not you I am talking about, I had a huge post of quotes I deleted because I did not think it would serve any purpose but to start another argument. All the quotes talked about how if we talked to Hasbro we would get a C-N-D letter because I was writing them. Now the idea is to flood them with emails and make commercials for them. And yes Todd you said I should concentrate my energy here while I was at HQ, I did not hold that against you then or now. That is an opinion. What bothers me is how everyone told me I should be ducking and covering and not steering the Eye of Hasbro this way, kinda felt like Frodo a bit. Now we want to flood them with what the Hell is the problem emails. I just do not quite get this logic. I know what the problem is, some people think that this charge should be lead by them personnaly and some guy who has only been on for four months will not be the one to stir the pot. I say just because you have been here for a long time does not make you any more qualified than anyone else, as a matter of fact sometimes I wonder how much new blood we lose because of giant egos propped up with pettiness and shrewdness directed torwards new folks.
As far as me helping do something, yes I will. Allow me to take my trip in August first and then I will use the emails I have to ask any questions you guys deem valuable enough to be asked. I am still going back for Hasbro supported contests hosted here on Scapers. What this means is send me stuff I can give out as prizes. Persistence and tenacity will pay off sooner or later.

[ultradoug]

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f348/coolmondoug/e.jpg
http://www.heroscapers.com/community/images/avatars/2587134854460e8f5476b3.gif"Oh crap!"

[skyknight]

:lol: Thats why I love you man!!!!! Thanks UD

[reapersaurus]

Who gives a :horsepoo: about prizes? :!: :?: :!: :?:

We're talking about the future of the game here. Not about one person representing the community and speaking for them. This is about trying to get the fans to send their OWN WORDS to the addresses that we can get. The only address that has been given is the Customer Service address, and they've said that it does get more awareness to HS issues if more emails are sent there. So send your thoughts about not being able to buy Tundra and Large Heroes to there, if noone has a better address. :roll:

If some people would like to discuss how this situation is different than the previous HQ situation, than start a new thread.

It would be nice to keep this thread on topic - and that topic is - What can we do to make Hasbro more aware of the Distribution problems of HS, so that we may buy the product that is already relased?
Secondarily, How can we avoid these distribution problems with future expansions?

[skyknight]

If you ever get the feeling there is bad blood between us you should probably go with that.

[funrun]

Now we want to flood them with what the Hell is the problem emails. I just do not quite get this logic. I know what the problem is, some people think that this charge should be lead by them personnaly and some guy who has only been on for four months will not be the one to stir the pot. I say just because you have been here for a long time does not make you any more qualified than anyone else, as a matter of fact sometimes I wonder how much new blood we lose because of giant egos propped up with pettiness and shrewdness directed torwards new folks.
As far as me helping do something, yes I will. Allow me to take my trip in August first and then I will use the emails I have to ask any questions you guys deem valuable enough to be asked. I am still going back for Hasbro supported contests hosted here on Scapers. What this means is send me stuff I can give out as prizes. Persistence and tenacity will pay off sooner or later. I think the problem is not a new/old blood thing, I believe you said that you had personal email contacts at Hasbro because you won a contest, so you indicated you were going to flood them with emails. Sounds like a fast way to end up in the spam box to me. If you want to send anyone emails, send them where they belong: customer service.

[TheRealQ]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz I'm ultradoug ....Oh wait... spaced out for a minute there. This is a long thread and it will probably take me a couple days to absorb it all before I can post. Sheesh you guys are getting wordier than me. :wink:

[skyknight]

Now we want to flood them with what the Hell is the problem emails. I just do not quite get this logic. I know what the problem is, some people think that this charge should be lead by them personnaly and some guy who has only been on for four months will not be the one to stir the pot. I say just because you have been here for a long time does not make you any more qualified than anyone else, as a matter of fact sometimes I wonder how much new blood we lose because of giant egos propped up with pettiness and shrewdness directed torwards new folks.
As far as me helping do something, yes I will. Allow me to take my trip in August first and then I will use the emails I have to ask any questions you guys deem valuable enough to be asked. I am still going back for Hasbro supported contests hosted here on Scapers. What this means is send me stuff I can give out as prizes. Persistence and tenacity will pay off sooner or later. I think the problem is not a new/old blood thing, I believe you said that you had personal email contacts at Hasbro because you won a contest, so you indicated you were going to flood them with emails. Sounds like a fast way to end up in the spam box to me. If you want to send anyone emails, send them where they belong: customer service.
Not flood but be persistent, I would not write random emails just to write them, but would keep asking for some Hasbro support. Same with this topic, you can write customer service all day until you are blue in the face and Chris will gladly respond to all of your emails. If you think flooding customer service with masses of pissed off scapers.com people is going to work better than writing directly to a few higher ups once or twice a month I say give it a try. Let me know how that works out for you guys :roll:

[ultradoug]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz I'm ultradoug ....Oh wait... spaced out for a minute there. This is a long thread and it will probably take me a couple days to absorb it all before I can post. Sheesh you guys are getting wordier than me. :wink:

everyone wants to be like me.

I dont know if we start emailing them they might just drag there feet more.

[KeeperOfPeace]

Believe it or not, but prizes would help us out. It actually would keep the community more active and together. Now the ones that post the most would probably be fine either way, but I am talking about the newer folks. They are the ones that need to know they are wanted here. If we curse the new, then we are dead, and you can quote me on that.

Now please nobody take this as I am insulting you or anyone else. I am saying that prizes would help us greatly. If the many that usually only sometimes frequent this site stayed around, maybe we would be able to launch a much larger campaign to get Hasbro to help us out. But prizes would be a awesome way to start our climb to getting this game more widespread and to get better support from the company in charge.

If all we do is swarm the customer service with why we hate this and that, then all we sound like is a bundle of gripers. I don't know about you all, but I know this will NOT work. Now maybe if we sent emails explaining that we would really like it if we could get the tundra set, or that we wish to finish our wave 4 collection without selling our arms that it would be great if hasbro helped out. This would help so much more than complaining.

[Grungebob]

Wait a minute here. First we are complaining about product shortage and now we want free product.... Uhm, did you forget that there is a product shortage?

[reapersaurus]

oh, man, keeper.
Now you've posted something that should be addressed.

We as a community SO don't need members that need a promise of getting free HS crap as a prerequisite to giving of their efforts. That is not the kind of member that contributes to anything but noise and bandwidth-drain.

Members of any worth will give of their efforts without the expectation or possibility of getting free stuff. They get enough free stuff as it is - customs, discussion, entertainment, info!

This community is going strong, and has been for almost 2 years, without the need for this site dying if no new members post to get free crap.

Further, if you think that simply # of members gets this community anywhere, you didn't folllow HQ much. There were over 3,500 members at the end, and still only a few hundred did any posting.
You actually think that those 3,200 members provided any oomhp in convincing Hasbro to not dimiss us as "obsessed fans of a niche market"?

And not much that we do on this site gets thie game more widespread - this site is for people who already play the game.
What gets the game bigger is running demos and events at gamestores, etc. Talking about it with fellow gamers and non-gamers.

And you really should watch your straw men arguments - they are showing, dramatically.
Noone is suggesting a ton of hate mail to inundate Hasbro - just letters that get across the individual disappointment at Hasbro's distribution of Tundra and Raknar's Vision. The repeated mistake of packaging that has led to higher prices on the Tundra is not acceptable, and should be expressed to Hasbro however you feel.

[bushi96]

First of all free product does not mean free expansions. People go nuts over cheezy swag all the time. Things like banners, t-shirts, displays, whatever. Any corporation has tons of this stuff laying around and most of it goes into the garbage. The only reason not to give it away is due to some tax code (dont ask, I dont know the details).

The best way to "avoid these distribution problems in the future" is to check the help wanted ads- Maybe Hasbro is hiring. Go to work for them and shake things up a bit.

Higher prices on Tundra is NOT Hasbro's fault. If the retailers are taking advantage of supply and demand, thats their decision. And I applaud them for making a living. If you dont like it, dont pay for it. If nobody pays for it, then THAT will grab Hasbo by the gonads. This is really beginning to sound like another Wave1 tirade, and look how that turned out. With a little patience Hasbro took care of us.

Sorry to bust your bubble, but the few hundred active members here probably are the crazed fans of a niche market. Nothing wrong with that and Hasbro should support their crazed fans a little. But I just cant believe we make up the market for Heroscape. If we did, even at 3,500 members , Hasbro would have dumped the line for something more profitable. I know I am the only one in about 100 miles posting on this site. But yet all the HS stuff in the stores keeps getting bought. Somebody else must be out there...

[skyknight]

I agree Bushi, I do not believe that the five hundred people make up the bulk of the Heroscape buyers. Though we do buy alot of crap :P As far as Hasbro getting it out to us, well it might take time. I just find it hard to believe that Hasbro marketing does not already see this problem. I guarantee they are running the numbers and know whats going on. As far as fixing it, maybe they do not want to. I mean look at the long discussions about have you seen tundra? no have you? Everyone is talking about it and creating a stir for Hasbro, maybe they are feeding off of our inability to get product and raising demand that way. Let me ask this question here, if you are Rob and Craig and your product is spiraling downwards, do you

A. sit back and just go oh well?
B. start planning a new product?
or maybe c. Go directly to the Heroscape community and explain that Hasbro is discontinuing the game and they could use all the support they can get.

I am telling you now that if Heroscape was floundering as bad as some think, you would be recieving a few posts here for help. If you think for one second Rob and Craig do not know we are here well your a bit dim. For those of you who say well they are not allowed to post here, BULLPUCKY. It is just as easy to log in under some user name and stir the pot as a behind the scenes guy. Many times I wonder if some of these guys are not them to begin with. Who knows maybe I am :lol: And trust me when I tell you if Rob and Craig thought things were so dire that they needed a message spread, they could have people do it for them. You can't tell me they do not have friends on this board. I know for a fact they do!

[Venom]

Many times I wonder if some of these guys are not them to begin with. Who knows maybe I am :lol:

no wonder you won the prize. cheater! :wink:

[skyknight]

Many times I wonder if some of these guys are not them to begin with. Who knows maybe I am :lol:

no wonder you won the prize. cheater! :wink:

:lol:

Anyways I also wanted to add that the Hasbro sponsorship of contests was only one thing I was trying to get done for HQ. I also was trying to set myself up as a direct feed between Hasbro and HQ. My first response I recieved was a no and since HQ was dead I did not pursue it. I still believe this is a good idea. It would be great if we could get Hasbro to recognize this community and use one member to post all promotions and news for a direct link. They will probably say this is what their website is for again but I was going to try and point out the flaws in their site. But I believe with some work we could establish a working relationship between Hasbro and one member of this community. Many people found fault with this logic though and wanted Hasbro to stay away from our site. I can see the logic behind this as well. I guess what it boils down to is that I think lambasting Hasbro with hundreds of emails is ludicrous, while a well organized and planned out approach with one person having the support of the community stepping forward as a rep for us will get us much further.

[Augray]

I guess what it boils down to is that I think lambasting Hasbro with hundreds of emails is ludicrous, while a well organized and planned out approach with one person having the support of the community stepping forward as a rep for us will get us much further.
As Reaper stated earlier...

The thing that kinda fries me when I think about it is that I'm sure that many people here have ties and channels to various Heroscape employees - collectively, the people involved on this site know just about everyone involved in the game.
I think this is true. There are more connections than we all know about. For example, Hero is still around and he knows Craig and Rob. I think the word is getting back about our frustrations. The problem is that it is not getting to the big mucky mucks that make marketing and distribution plans. Even if Craig and Rob get the message and say something, they probably have to deal with the corporate culture within Hasbro. An organized email campaign may get the attention of the bean counters. The emails should start with how much we love the game and then express the issues we are concerned about.

Bean Counter Joe gets a report showing lots of action at Customer Relations about Heroscape. Bean Counter Joe decides this is something to look into. This report may actually do more than Craig or Rob saying there is a problem.

That being said, Sky, I think you should pursue your connections. The more voices the better.

[skyknight]

skyknight wrote:
I guess what it boils down to is that I think lambasting Hasbro with hundreds of emails is ludicrous, while a well organized and planned out approach with one person having the support of the community stepping forward as a rep for us will get us much further.

As Reaper stated earlier...



How bout everyone who cares about Hasbro scrwing up Heroscape distribution just send that customer service email address what their thoughts are on the matter?
It doesn't have to be a form letter - just write down in words what you feel about Heroscape's recent expansions only being avaiable for 24 hours on the Hasbro toy site, and still 1 1/2 months later (I think) are nowhere to be found save etailers and EBay.


We're talking about the future of the game here. Not about one person representing the community and speaking for them. This is about trying to get the fans to send their OWN WORDS to the addresses that we can get. The only address that has been given is the Customer Service address, and they've said that it does get more awareness to HS issues if more emails are sent there. So send your thoughts about not being able to buy Tundra and Large Heroes to there, if noone has a better address.

are we reading the same thread?

[Grungebob]

I swear I did not merge anything.... :)

I think Augray is right, We are customers and need to use customer support as our channel for stating frustrations. It seems arrogant to do it any other way.

[skyknight]

I do agree as well, that is why I never used my marketing guys emails. I sent all my emails to customer support. Seemed like the better way to do things. Heck GB i would even nominate you as a go between for scapers and Hasbro. Wouldn't it be great to have a person who could speak for the community and Hasbro knew that person spoke for everyone. This could be a filter of sorts for all questions going up and info coming down the pipe our way. It seems now that we have to hear it from those people who heard it from another person whos cousin works up at Hasbro.

[Grungebob]

SK, why do you feel that it is necessary for there to be some kind of community rep? Hasbro is totally aware of us!! If they wanted to, they could easily approach us on their terms...... That is NOT what they want at all. They are very much looking toward their own website as the place to be when it comes to Heroscape fandom. Unfortunately they are a large behemoth and everything they do takes a long long time. WE are not the ones Hasbro needs to be paying attention to. They need to reel in the original target group as much as possible. They had us at hello...

[skyknight]

Actually I had dropped the idea, I am just reposting past thoughts here due to it has some relevence to this thread. I am all together fine with not making any contact with Hasbro now that HQ is dead, there it was a desperate act to save HQ, here as I have said before it is not needed. I just think that if people are going forward with this strategy it ought to have some form of validity and not a massive email dump. If I was really concerned about this then I would give up those email addresses that I have but I have no intention of doing that unless asked by the community as a whole. I think it would be beneath me to do otherwise.

[Grungebob]

This is an interesting discussion. Let's say that Hasbro has heard about us and feels as though we represent an error in their marketing startegy. They are not hitting the juicy target market that they wanted to and instead ended up grabbing a bunch of 30+ a-holes. So what if we are the undesired result of bad projections? What if Hasbro does not care what we think and would prefer to tap their original target purchasing group?

[shakey_snake]

WE are not the ones Hasbro needs to be paying attention to. They need to reel in the original target group as much as possible. They had us at hello...QFT

[Augray]

Wouldn't it be great to have a person who could speak for the community and Hasbro knew that person spoke for everyone. This could be a filter of sorts for all questions going up and info coming down the pipe our way.
Even if we had such a person I not sure we would get anymore information back from Hasbro than we get now. Hasbro is just not going to want us to know why and how they mess-up. There may be people like Hero that have talked to Craig or Rob and know some of the issues, but can't say anything.

As far as one person representing the community to Hasbro, I'm not saying that is a bad idea. I just remember in a discussion on .net that the Customer Relation questions are logged and reported up the corporate ladder. Traffic through those channels may help get the attention of those making distribution and marketing decisions.

If the 100-200 dedicated community members each sent an email when they had a question or concern, it may make a difference. I think the emails need to be genuine and express specific issues, though, not generalized rants.

[skyknight]

This is an interesting discussion. Let's say that Hasbro has heard about us and feels as though we represent an error in their marketing startegy. They are not hitting the juicy target market that they wanted to and instead ended up grabbing a bunch of 30+ a-holes. So what if we are the undesired result of bad projections? What if Hasbro does not care what we think and would prefer to tap their original target purchasing group?

I believe this is the truest statement here so far. I do not think we are the intended target and I also wonder if Hasbro looks at us as a bunch of freaks, more of an anomily than a core. I know we have bought alot of gear but I like to think of it this way, if everyone on this site bought 10 tundras, which will not happen , but here you go, that is five thousand sets. Could you imagine Hasbro subsissting on five thousand sets? If monopoly sold only 5000 items it would have been discarded long ago. I do not believe we are the ultimate buyers of HS. I don't have numbers but I would bet the number of sales far far far far exceeds all of our gear put togehter.

[Augray]

They had us at hello...
I thought it was "They had us at Grimnak..."

[Grungebob]

They had us at hello...
I thought it was "They had us at Grimnak..."Well if you go by the response Skyknight got from Hasbro... They had us at "Hell No" :lol:

[toddrew]

a bunch of 30+ a-holes

I resemble that comment :)

Good to see this thread work its way back to a discussion of issue at hand, really.

[KeeperOfPeace]

I am not going to argue and get banned over something so stupid reaper.

[toddrew]

Could you imagine Hasbro subsissting on five thousand sets? If monopoly sold only 5000 items it would have been discarded long ago. I do not believe we are the ultimate buyers of HS. I don't have numbers but I would bet the number of sales far far far far exceeds all of our gear put togehter.

I think this has come up on a lot of other threads, from .net & HQ, but does anyone know where to find some Heroscape specific sales stats? Or is that the type of information that would either be kept private or only merged with general sales stats?

Curious, mostly, wouldn't be reading demise nor prosperity into those stats.

[Augray]

I think this has come up on a lot of other threads, from .net & HQ, but does anyone know where to find some Heroscape specific sales stats? Or is that the type of information that would either be kept private or only merged with general sales stats?

Probably both. I think Heroscape is doing just fine. We don't have to worry.

I think the distribution issues really come down to what Grunge said earlier. We are not the target market.

[funrun]

First of all free product does not mean free expansions. People go nuts over cheezy swag all the time. Things like banners, t-shirts, displays, whatever. Any corporation has tons of this stuff laying around and most of it goes into the garbage. The only reason not to give it away is due to some tax code (dont ask, I dont know the details).

The best way to "avoid these distribution problems in the future" is to check the help wanted ads- Maybe Hasbro is hiring. Go to work for them and shake things up a bit.

Higher prices on Tundra is NOT Hasbro's fault. If the retailers are taking advantage of supply and demand, thats their decision. And I applaud them for making a living. If you dont like it, dont pay for it. If nobody pays for it, then THAT will grab Hasbo by the gonads. This is really beginning to sound like another Wave1 tirade, and look how that turned out. With a little patience Hasbro took care of us.

Sorry to bust your bubble, but the few hundred active members here probably are the crazed fans of a niche market. Nothing wrong with that and Hasbro should support their crazed fans a little. But I just cant believe we make up the market for Heroscape. If we did, even at 3,500 members , Hasbro would have dumped the line for something more profitable. I know I am the only one in about 100 miles posting on this site. But yet all the HS stuff in the stores keeps getting bought. Somebody else must be out there...

^One of the best all around well stated posts in this thread. . . and everything Grungebob has said makes a lot of sense to me.

To tie into another thread: If Hasbro is trying to regain the target market they wanted, I wonder if that is support for or against transferring HS to another division like WOTC?

[skyknight]

They had us at hello...
I thought it was "They had us at Grimnak..."Well if you go by the response Skyknight got from Hasbro... They had us at "Hell No" :lol:

Uuummm yeah, that was kinda the answer i got :lol:

[Augray]

To tie into another thread: If Hasbro is trying to regain the target market they wanted, I wonder if that is support for or against transferring HS to another division like WOTC?

Actually they probably use both Hasbro and WOTC to market Heroscape if they wanted, they are both under the same corporate umbrella.

[bushi96]

Thanks FunRun!

GrungeBob really finished off my point.

We, as a community, are probably not the target market. From what I have seen, Hasbro is probably hitting their target market (how many of us were brought into the game from our kids?) We are just the crazed groupies. And yes, Hasbro should support the crazies a little. But the "#1 Fans" have no power to dictate corporate policy.

Distribution problems are not fixed quickly. If a supply is ran dry it takes weeks and months (not days) to correct. Again, refer to Wave1.

[reapersaurus]

This kind of self-loathing and sense of worthlessness doesn;t behoove us as a community. :headshake:

GB - you suggest we are an undesired error :!:

Well, I disagree wholeheartedly, and feel that anyone who writes themselves off just because we as a community don't buy as much HS as the world combined does, is missing the point completely.

The point is NOT whether we buy a significant % of HS product worldwide.
The point is that we make Hasbro money.
It is as simple as that.

Therefore, to dismiss this entire community, and the people we buy for, and inform, and all the people they buy for and inform, is sheer bad business. Every person that posts here represents - what? what's the accepted estimate? 10 people? So for each active poster, there's 10 others - each of who is VERY likely to know other HS players, or meet people who they talk to about HS, etc. Family, friends, kids.
So take the estimate of 300 active posters x 10 = 3,000, x 3 (family/friend estimate, conservative) and we inform 10,000 fans.
That's not a small number of customers to deliberately keep in the dark, people.

This is not a contest between HSers vs the world.
This is simply the common sense statement that if Hasbro spent time/effort in involving or informing the community, they would MAKE MORE MONEY. And the costs involved in involving us are so cheap as to be ridiculous. For example, they could easily provide game sets and prizes for every major game convention in the world, for a few thousand dollars a year. The fans would do all the gruntwork, and Hasbro would get exposure in gaming circles.
It is not important that the sales and interest that would be generated would make them millions of $$$ - the point is that it would make them more than the few thousand $$$ it would take to do this simple thing. Simple business is making profit - this move would make them profit. The attendant benefits also include exposure, involving the fans, making/keeping the game viable to more experienced gamers, etc

[reapersaurus]

There are a few facts I feel we should keep in mind with this discussion (again, these are facts - unarguable, AFAIK):

1) Heroscape new product is unable to be purchased.
Tundra and Raknar's Vision are unavailable at Walmart, etc, even 6 weeks after they were released on Hasbro's own online store. This wasn't a leak of product - they released the expansion, guys. And it STILL has not been sighted anywhere. This is not the same as ANY other wave. With EVERY previous expansion, there were continual reports of sightings, trickling in from all over. There is ZERO new product now.

2) Previous expansions were available, in a consistent, ever-increasing availability. Wave 1 was the worst, and each expansion got better and shorter time-lags between release and likely acquisition.
Until Wave 4.

3) Hasbro's packaging mistakes (packaging 2 Unique Large Heroes with only 1 common, very-wanted terrain pack) lead to unbought Large Hero expansions cluttering shelves. We see this even now with Orm's Return still being stocked, while potential Raknar's Vision sales go unstocked.

These are facts.
There are some conclusions we can guess from these facts.

From #3, we could guess that Walmart, etc are losing money because of the 2:1 packaging decision on the Large Heroes/Terrain packs. We don't know whether they are losing money, since we don't see their books. But it's a pretty simple conclusion to make, and based on lots of grounded, solid economic reasoning.

We could also conclude that because of the Orm's Return packaging mistake, and that product still littering shelves, it is costing Hasbro sales of the new products. Likewise, the Raknar's Vision mistake (2:1 packaging again) will similarly cost them more money down the line (if anyone decides to start stocking that product).

We could also conclude that since there is little new product to purchase, than HS is selling less this year compared to last year. This seems to me to be a truism, but I'm sure some people could argue it, so I won't state it as fact.
Using this conclusion, it would be a logical next step to realize the impact of less HS sales - a dimmer-than-last-year sales report for the HS brand overall. This would lead accountants to conclude that the HS line is decreasing, and make the "suits" question the strength of the product line, and question their further investment of time/$$$ to make it.

So there are the problems as I see them, observed from facts, to a couple logical conclusions based on those sales facts.

[Kepler]

I agree that I don't think that Hasbro had any idea that serious gamers or adults would be interested in HS. I also agree that even if this community of serious gamers and adults is not a large portion of the HS sales that Hasbro should do more cultivate this market.

Just simply giving regular product updates on the web site would do wonders for this market. They should talk with the WOTC D&D and Star wras minis folks. There are a few things they do that would be great for Hasbro to do with Heroscape.

First, maybe every month they could post a FAQ of questions that were raised in the past month. Sort of a summary of all the emails we get from Chris.

Second, they should stagger putting new units on the website. In early January we got stats for all of wave 4 in one day and RV and TT were up shortly after. Since then nothing. If they would have posted the new units 1 or 2 a week then that would have generated discussion on a regular basis for months.

[Augray]

These are facts.
There are some conclusions we can guess from these facts.

From #3, we could guess that Walmart, etc are losing money because of the 2:1 packaging decision on the Large Heroes/Terrain packs. We don't know whether they are losing money, since we don't see their books. But it's a pretty simple conclusion to make, and based on lots of grounded, solid economic reasoning.

We could also conclude that because of the Orm's Return packaging mistake, and that product still littering shelves, it is costing Hasbro sales of the new products. Likewise, the Raknar's Vision mistake (2:1 packaging again) will similarly cost them more money down the line (if anyone decides to start stocking that product).

We could also conclude that since there is little new product to purchase, than HS is selling less this year compared to last year. This seems to me to be a truism, but I'm sure some people could argue it, so I won't state it as fact.
Using this conclusion, it would be a logical next step to realize the impact of less HS sales - a dimmer-than-last-year sales report for the HS brand overall. This would lead accountants to conclude that the HS line is decreasing, and make the "suits" question the strength of the product line, and question their further investment of time/$$$ to make it.

So there are the problems as I see them, observed from facts, to a couple logical conclusions based on those sales facts.
This is all supposition based on one wave. What if there was a shipment error from China, or wherever the figures are made, that affected the distribution of this wave? That would also explain the lack of Racknar and Tundra.

[skyknight]

As far as me helping do something, yes I will. Allow me to take my trip in August first and then I will use the emails I have to ask any questions you guys deem valuable enough to be asked. I am still going back for Hasbro supported contests hosted here on Scapers. What this means is send me stuff I can give out as prizes. Persistence and tenacity will pay off sooner or later.

Who gives a :horsepoo: about prizes? :!: :?: :!: :?:


This is simply the common sense statement that if Hasbro spent time/effort in involving or informing the community, they would MAKE MORE MONEY. And the costs involved in involving us are so cheap as to be ridiculous. For example, they could easily provide game sets and prizes for every major game convention in the world, for a few thousand dollars a year. The fans would do all the gruntwork, and Hasbro would get exposure in gaming circles.
It is not important that the sales and interest that would be generated would make them millions of $$$ - the point is that it would make them more than the few thousand $$$ it would take to do this simple thing. Simple business is making profit - this move would make them profit. The attendant benefits also include exposure, involving the fans, making/keeping the game viable to more experienced gamers, etc

I love this one :lol:

[shakey_snake]

this is the worth thread on the board.

[ultradoug]

*steps away from this...*

[funrun]

*steps away from this...*
:wave: Hi UD, welcome to the quiet area of this thread. I stepped away unannounced after reading a few posts back, but your post above made me lol.

It's nice to have some company in this quiet area. It's pretty roomy right now over here. :poke:

[Sydcomebak]

We are not going to provoke Hasbro into changing anything. They will either figure it out on their own that a change is needed, or they won't.

We don't even know if anyone reads this message board from Hasbro. Even if we represent 1% of the purchase power of Heroscape (which I don't doubt) we can't expect to hold Hasbro hostage, or throw rocks at the windows of the shipping department to try and make changes in their distribution policy.

[reapersaurus]

we can't expect to hold Hasbro hostage, or throw rocks at the windows of the shipping department to try and make changes in their distribution policy.why do people keep making this straw man statement?

Noone has yet said we're trying to wrest control of distribution from Hasbro's grubby little hands.

Are you guys reading the same posts as me?
Maybe there's some other thread where people are saying outlandishly-aggressive plans to take over Hasbro control of HS with our "demands"? :shrug:

[Sydcomebak]

we can't expect to hold Hasbro hostage, or throw rocks at the windows of the shipping department to try and make changes in their distribution policy.

why do people keep making this straw man statement?

Noone has yet said we're trying to wrest control of distribution from Hasbro's grubby little hands.

I was not saying that we were trying to wrest control from them. You need to read without your angry goggles on.

I was saying that people are under the illusion that anything they do will affect Hasbro. Why ***** and moan about something that you have no ability or intention to change?

We all know that there have been problems. What are these 8 pages of posts doing? Informing? Inciting? Tell me, please.

[reapersaurus]

I was saying that people are under the illusion that anything they do will affect Hasbro. Why ***** and moan about something that you have no ability or intention to change?And HERE is the crux.

I have encountered this defeatist attitude on .net, on HQ, and here now.

Who are you to say we can't make any change in Hasbro?
I realize it's standard practice on the internet to view things cynically, but I seriously see no reason to believe that certain mistakes Hasbro is making with regards to HS can't be fixed if enough effort is made by us to make them known.

The reason I believe this is simple:
business economics.

If Hasbro stops making the mistake of packaging 2:1 Unique Large Heroes:Common Terrain, they MAKE MONEY (IMO).
So it's not like we are trying to get them to do something they would likely be against. THAT would be futile, I agree.

But mismanagement CAN be improved, since most people would rather do a competent job than do it incompetently (even a corporation, but substitute making more money as their motivation).
These are people in charge of these decisions, and they can hear us, if we simply send them our thoughts in addition to posting them here.

I am going to be emailing them when I get a chance.
Is this the page (http://hasbro.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/hasbro.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?p_sid=nbUFn-8i&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD04MTkmcF9wc m9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmN oX25sJnBfcGFnZT0x) to submit them, or is there (preferrably) an email adress?

These 8 pages don't do much but inform us members of the current situation with Heroscape - but if just 10% of us emailed Hasbro, THAT might inform THEM of the issues (which I thought is what we want to do).

[Sydcomebak]

I am going to be emailing them when I get a chance.
Is this the page (http://hasbro.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/hasbro.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php?p_sid=nbUFn-8i&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD04MTkmcF9wc m9kcz0mcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmN oX25sJnBfcGFnZT0x) to submit them, or is there (preferrably) an email adress?

Yes, and until you do this, you have nothing to say. I have emailed in the past about these things. No response. Hopefully your email will be the beacon of reason and the kingdom will be saved :roll:

[reapersaurus]

You do realize, that your dripping defeatism is not doing ANYTHING to enhance this community, or this game, don;t you?

Seriously - what do you hope to accomplish by posting that post?
Stop members from emailing Hasbro?
Do you really want to do that, Syd?

If so, WHY, for god's sake, man?!

We have it on good authority that Hasbro DOES use the traffic and feedback from the customer service email in their meetings and employee discussions.
One email prolbably won't make a difference, you're right - I don;t believe it will, either.

But 100? :idea:

[Sydcomebak]

These 8 pages don't do much but inform us members of the current situation with Heroscape - but if just 10% of us emailed Hasbro, THAT might inform THEM of the issues (which I thought is what we want to do).

Or maybe once we have a stable community that doesn't change servers every 9 months, we could have a single person who represents us make a petition or something.

One email prolbably won't make a difference, you're right - I don;t believe it will, either.

But 100? :idea:

I'm telling you, an email to the company in a professional manner with less typos and misspellings than are the norm here will have an impact.... IF it comes from a well-backed fan-site.

I'm not saying we can't make a difference. I'm just saying that 100 emails saying the same thing is not the solution.

[Sydcomebak]

Seriously - what do you hope to accomplish by posting that post?
Stop members from emailing Hasbro?
Do you really want to do that, Syd?

Yes. Yes I do.

When we send in rules questions, do we encourage everyone to send the question, or just one?

I hope to one day log on and see a topic called "Drafting a letter to Hasbro - All help welcomed!"

[funrun]

I was not saying that we were trying to wrest control from them. You need to read without your angry goggles on.

Thanks for the new sig line Syd! LOL

[TheRealQ]

I still haven't read this whole thread and I'm not sure I want to. Could someone summarize this into a neat outline so I can catch up. Thank you.

Hey UD...watcha doin over there in the corner?

[hex706f726368]

I still haven't read this whole thread and I'm not sure I want to. Could someone summarize this into a neat outline so I can catch up. Thank you.

reaper wants members of the board to start an email campaign to get hasbro to change their business habits with regards to distribution

syd and skynight want to elect a rep to invade hasbro on behalf of the board

everyone else gets out of the way

:D

[ninthdoc]

I still haven't read this whole thread and I'm not sure I want to. Could someone summarize this into a neat outline so I can catch up. Thank you.

Hey UD...watcha doin over there in the corner?

Hasbro failed to learn from mistakes made in Wave 2.5 distribution. Walmart, Target, and TRU are trying to take over the world, but have too many Heroes of Laur to be able to achieve this.

That's pretty much it.

[Gimoo]

I still haven't read this whole thread and I'm not sure I want to. Could someone summarize this into a neat outline so I can catch up. Thank you.

Plastics.

[HouseMouseGames]

Before you go "bombarding" Hasbro with emails about distribution problems, you should know that Hasbro has the product in stock in its warehouse available to anyone who wants to buy it. I'm not delighted with the way the product was packaged, but it is, nonetheless, available for distribution right now.

[TheRealQ]

reaper wants members of the board to start an email campaign to get hasbro to change their business habits with regards to distribution

syd and skynight want to elect a rep to invade hasbro on behalf of the board

everyone else gets out of the way
Hasbro failed to learn from mistakes made in Wave 2.5 distribution. Walmart, Target, and TRU are trying to take over the world, but have too many Heroes of Laur to be able to achieve this.

That's pretty much it.
Plastics.

You guys crack me up. :lol: Three different answers. Well at least anyone coming after can simply read this post and be up to date.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Before you go "bombarding" Hasbro with emails about distribution problems, you should know that Hasbro has the product in stock in its warehouse available to anyone who wants to buy it. I'm not delighted with the way the product was packaged, but it is, nonetheless, available for distribution right now.

Sandra, If you're speaking of the online Hasbro store, I checked. They are out of stock on TT and the large RV.



Yes, let's get ONE letter together and perhaps have everyone sign their name(username?) to it. It wouldn't hurt to let Hasbro know how the die-hard fans feel about the distrib. problems. And it wouldn't hurt Hasbro to repsond to us!

[ultradoug]

Seriously - what do you hope to accomplish by posting that post?
Stop members from emailing Hasbro?

Man thats it, I'm emailing them right now... (writes a huge long epic rant, as I'm writing it I'm reading other posts...)


I'm telling you, an email to the company in a professional manner with less typos and misspellings than are the norm here will have an impact.... IF it comes from a well-backed fan-site.

Humm...
Guess I will not be emailing them anytime soon, thanks for talking me out of this Syd! ;)

[GaryLASQ]

reaper wants members of the board to start an email campaign to get hasbro to change their business habits with regards to distribution

syd and skynight want to elect a rep to invade hasbro on behalf of the board

everyone else gets out of the way.

don't forget caravaggio and i want to make better commecials for them :)

[TheRealQ]

Does anyone know where the Hasbro warehouse is? If you get it from Hasbro online what is the ship from address? I'm not saying anything but this information could be useful.

[ultradoug]

reaper wants members of the board to start an email campaign to get hasbro to change their business habits with regards to distribution

syd and skynight want to elect a rep to invade hasbro on behalf of the board

everyone else gets out of the way.

don't forget caravaggio and i what to make better commecials for them :)

dude I'm in on the better commecials but they better pay us!

[GaryLASQ]

Does anyone know where the Hasbro warehouse is? If you get it from Hasbro online what is the ship from address? I'm not saying anything but this information could be useful.

i've seen a picture of the warehouse recently. there is a banner above the loading dock that says "If the product isn't coming to you, then you should be coming to us!"

[TheRealQ]

Thats funny. Call off the search I found it. Now I just need to see who the closest....

[bushi96]

Well, there you have it. There is plenty of stock in the warehouse. You just have to shut up and wait for it.

And I'm feeling generous, so I will give you hint who corporations listen to- focus groups. They actually pay people (or *gasp* give them swag!) to come in for a few hours and answer questions. Usually those difficult "Agree, Somewhat Agree, Disagree" types. Then they crunch these numbers, make graphs, and show them off to whoever will look at them.

Do they listen to free advice? No. Do they want unwarranted free advice? Ummm, no. That requires extra manpower to read and reply to. Support costs make CEO's turn green and rip their shirts off. Does support really give a rats ass what you think about running a corporation? Again, I would have to say no. A few ranting emails gets you a canned "Thanks for playing." response. More ranting emails gets you ignored.

I still say take your business management skills and go apply. You would be doing the dear community a favor.

[skyknight]

:lol: you make me laugh Bushi, thank you

[mrbistro]

There is never anything wrong with consumers writing letters of compliments or complaints. I work for a very large company (and no I can't say who). We're in almost every state in the union. And our business changes on a regular basis based off of the feedback we recieve from our customers. They're the reason we're here, and it's as simple as that. Sandra says the product is in Hasbro's warehouse. Yet I wonder why their online store says 'out of stock'? We are all free to do whatever we want, and I'll be mailing out a letter today. And if stock is in tomorrow? Great! But I still want them to know how I feel: I love the game, but am a bit frusterated by its distribution.

[Grungebob]

From my perspective, I don't see what all the fuss is about anyway. I mean these product shortages in no way affect my ability to play the game. It only affects my ability to spend more money on the game. But for this I don't get too upset. I mean I have enough Heroscape stuff for an army of kids. I can wait a little longer for the new stuff to drain my spending money away.

[Jason]

Personally not having the Tundra is a very minor annoyance, not having the superior Hero pack though annoys me alot

[skyknight]

My wife asked me the other day, Don't you think you have enough heroscape stuff? I quickly answered no, an dexplained that each piece brings new strategy to the game. I did this for two reasons
1. So I can get more stuff
2. Because it is a conspiracy, once I admit it to her then she tells someone esle that their husband is no longer buying HS and it dominoes from there. Don't give in.

The actual point to this post is this though. I do have enough stuff, more than I really need probably. If Hasbro blew up tommorow I would go down to the store pick up another 5 to 10 master sets and never look back. As far as supporting the game, after castles do we really even need Hasbro? There are enough custom guys myself included to keep people with new units for years. As far as making plastic hexes, well I have not had to yet. Neccesity is the mother of invention. I believe if Hasbro crumbled tommorow HS would probably go on. I just want the castles first though :lol:

[Grishnakh]

As far as supporting the game, after castles do we really even need Hasbro? There are enough custom guys myself included to keep people with new units for years. As far as making plastic hexes, well I have not had to yet. Neccesity is the mother of invention. I believe if Hasbro crumbled tommorow HS would probably go on. I just want the castles first though :lol:

Here here! I agree. While new items from them would be fun ACCO (after castles come out) I've, at the present, got a great game that will give me years of enjoyment.

I've seen a lot of games get destroyed by the "more more more" syndrome. As many of you know my favorite game of all time is "The Fantasy Trip, Melee and Wizards" published by a comnpany called Metagaming. Right after they published the advanced rules back in 1981 the company folded so there was no more official product for the game produced. At first it seemed like a bad thing to have happen but over the years fans of the game have realized that was actually a good thing. If it had gone on I think they would have destroyed the game. In fact they were working on a new version (and even published a small part of it) that quite frankly sucked. It would have dramatically altered the game. Even now there is a fan base for this game 25 years later and we have gone on to create many new house rules, scenarios, maps etc. using the core cannon of rules. In fact Heroscape is a lot like this game. Therefore, I think the future for Heroscape is bright, even if it did die officially. Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. But only after castles come out....

[Buddy Lee]

Here here! I agree. . . But only after castles come out....

This was much to coherrent to be posted by Grishnakh. :wink: :)

Buddy Lee

[P_J_Keller]

I think the real problem here is whether distribution problems will result in a "false negative" perception of Heroscape's viability in the marketplace.
If new product is not getting to store shelves because old product (RTFF/Large Heroes) was poorly distributed the Hasbro marketing group could percieve this as decreased sales leading to a premature cancellation of the game. I have everything I need that is out (Thanks HouseMouse) but I want to see the product regularly available for all customers.

I would be truly bummed if Heroscape was cancelled after the castles. Although I certainly appreciate the creativity of all custom units I prefer to collect and play with official units. With that in mind I would like to see Heroscape continue for many years to come.

To help the longevity of Heroscape I have successfully turned new people onto Heroscape by inviting them to games. I have given away multiple sets as gifts and when I have extra figures (minions, snipers, lava guys) I given them away to kids in the neighborhood - one of whom is hooked now.

Regarding what is the best way to notify Hasbro of our dissatisfaction and whether or not it will have any effect, well, um........ I'll pass on weighing in on that

[dra(gon)]

sad the times are gone.
i remember me for exampel the old star was figurs from kenner.
our store had a hugh wall with all figures.

and the remake oh my god you had search and pay 40$ for leia later you found her for 3 $.

the same on hs. why not a wall with all expansin a nice diorama
10 of every expansion in a row. that you can you dador child and bing some ..... "no problem"

[ninthdoc]

Here here! I agree. . . But only after castles come out....

This was much to coherrent to be posted by Grishnakh. :wink: :)

Buddy Lee

He does that from time to time. I'll medicate him again... http://www.screamingtruth.com/forums/images/smiles/drool3.gif :screwy:

[toddrew]

I just had to take the time and space to post that I really dig reading dra(gon)'s posts while keeping one eye on his avatar :)

[reapersaurus]

Well, there you have it. There is plenty of stock in the warehouse. You just have to shut up and wait for it.

I still say take your business management skills and go apply. You would be doing the dear community a favor.Are you trying to start a fight?

I could easily give you some suggestions, too, but don't think they'd be appropriate on the boards.

[reapersaurus]

you should know that Hasbro has the product in stock in its warehouse available to anyone who wants to buy it. I'm not delighted with the way the product was packaged, but it is, nonetheless, available for distribution right now.Thanks for this information.

The obvious question then, is - WHY is the product not being sold on their Toy Shop?
Further - why is it not being sold by Walmart, Target, or TrU (their contracted stores for HS, IIRC) :?:

Anothyer question that might lend critical persepctive is:
If new HS product is sitting in Hasbro warehouses, than why are other online etailers selling it?
Are they averse to making money? We know based on EBay sales that HS fans will pay even well above retail priice to get this new product.

So Sandra - can you explain why you are the only person on the planet that is selling this product?
Thanks in advance for any perspective you can provide on this.

[Roweiser]

Let's not forget that Hasbro went back into production on the first two waves and the RTTF set. You know, the ones we all bitched about not being able to find a couple months ago.

Also, if you think about last year, we had two waves of expansions from Jan.-May, then 2.5 hit by June/July. So far this year, we got a brief run of wave 4 mixed together with 1 & 2. 4.5 will make it out in large quantities soon (hunch). Seems to me we're on track, considering castles and wave 5 are up for this summer/early fall.

Looks we have a small target for much product should be on the shelves. Too little and and it's a pain to find, or too much and it looks like the game is dying. :shrug:

[toddrew]

The obvious question then, is - WHY is the product not being sold on their Toy Shop?
Further - why is it not being sold by Walmart, Target, or TrU (their contracted stores for HS, IIRC) :?:

I always thought it odd that the Hasbro Toy Shop was almost always "sold out" with everything except MS's for the longest time. One (or this one anyway :) ) would think that if the product was available anywhere, that would be the place. Some sort of quota system in place to be sure that the brick & mortar get a (un?)fair shake?

[LilNewbie]

The obvious question then, is - WHY is the product not being sold on their Toy Shop?
Further - why is it not being sold by Walmart, Target, or TrU (their contracted stores for HS, IIRC) :?:

I always thought it odd that the Hasbro Toy Shop was almost always "sold out" with everything except MS's for the longest time. One (or this one anyway :) ) would think that if the product was available anywhere, that would be the place. Some sort of quota system in place to be sure that the brick & mortar get a (un?)fair shake?

I think it's due to the hasbro toy shop probably being in a different division and they are allotted a certain amount in the same time frame as everybody else. I'm sure that the divisions in Hasbro don't communicate as freely as they should just like most big corps (heck, even small corps.) :D

Newb.

[Augray]

I think it's due to the hasbro toy shop probably being in a different division and they are allotted a certain amount in the same time frame as everybody else. I'm sure that the divisions in Hasbro don't communicate as freely as they should just like most big corps (heck, even small corps.) :D

Newb.

This is what I heard about the Toy Shop.

[bushi96]

Well, there you have it. There is plenty of stock in the warehouse. You just have to shut up and wait for it.

I still say take your business management skills and go apply. You would be doing the dear community a favor.Are you trying to start a fight?

I could easily give you some suggestions, too, but don't think they'd be appropriate on the boards.

Sure. Go outside and practice falling down... When you think you are ready, I'll come right over.
http://img326.imageshack.us/img326/5793/pwnd9sa.gif

[skyknight]

:popcorn:

[noodles]

I am only on page 1 so far in this thread but I just had to say that I'm reading in total disgust. No wonder I've never even seen wave 4 yet. More comments to come.

[noodles]

The thing that kinda fries me when I think about it is that I'm sure that many people here have ties and channels to various Heroscape employees - collectively, the people involved on this site know just about everyone involved in the game.

Yet, we seem to have an utter information black hole, with it all being sucked up in a one-way vortex that leaves us all guessing in the dark so deep no light can escape. :(

Why can't SOMEONE from Hasbro open up their damned lock-down of information, and tell the world what the hell is going on with Heroscape, so that we the fans of the game can understand why we are not able to buy the product months after it has been released :?: :!:

Would it be so hard to get information to us, the loyal fans, that have supported the game with advertising, attention, and money and promoted the game for 2 years running now?

Now is a CRITICAL time for Heroscape and its future.
If Hasbro doesn't open up a bit more, I don't see why the less-obesessed fan would bother sticking with a game that he can't buy. :shrug:

I agree with this 100%

[Joah]

I'm not really worried about the future of the game as much as I'm troubled by the distribution. I hope I'll have the chance to ask some Hasbro Rep( I have a feeling Rob & Craig won't be there this year, maybe), face to face, why this game isn't easily accessable to everyone. I want to hear why it's packed 2:1 Heroes. The biggest distro problem IMHO.

[Joah]

I am only on page 1 so far in this thread but I just had to say that I'm reading in total disgust. No wonder I've never even seen wave 4 yet. More comments to come.Let me ask you this though, Have you seen other Waves (namely 1 or 2) with any frequency? I've only seen W4 twice in my area too. Shortly after, W1 & W2 started popping up. A lot.

[Augray]

I hope I'll have the chance to ask some Hasbro Rep( I have a feeling Rob & Craig won't be there this year, maybe), face to face, why this game isn't easily accessable to everyone.
I would really be surprised if Craig and Rob were not at GenCon this year. This is there big "showcase" event.

[noodles]

Ok, I've just finished this thread and I'm wondering why I read it and seriously.....is this what I came back for?

Endless bitching, bickering, and complaining.

Yes the distribution sucks but it will eventually show up in stores so I'm cool with waiting. It's actually giving my wallet a brake since last year was non-stop purchases.

[Kepler]

Heroscape stuff seems to be flowing fine to my TRU. They just got a bunch of wave 1 and 2 expansions.

The lack of TT and RV may be that they have too much HS product and they are working on a first-in first-out basis.

[GaryLASQ]

yes, that is probably the problem...still too much on the shelves for stores to be ordering more.

BUT, for the Large Expansions like Orm's, Road/Forest, Raknar and Thaelenk...those have a HAS order number that is different from the smaller expansions with the "booster" packs.

and the MAJOR screwup by Hasbro of shipping more Orm's than Road/Forest last year and now more Raknar than Thaelenk this year is really clogging up store shelves with Orm's currently and Raknar eventually.

even a great game like Heroscape is not immune from self-destruction by poor marketing and distribution decisions...

[quixotequest]

Oddly enough at our local stores the RTFF are easier (or as easy) to find as the Orm's. Retail wise, I'd say both appear to have overstayed their life cycle for shelf demand. I agree that at the case mix that has been advertised the Raknar/Tundra will find itself in a similar problem.

[GaryLASQ]

yeah, i've seen that in a couple places also...just as much RttFF as Orm. but mostly it is like 1 or 2 RttFF and 4 or 5 or even 8 or 9 Orm boxes.

i think i remember reading in some post somewhere (here or HQ) that there was a reissure of JUST RttFF at around the same time Malliddon and Utgar were reissued. the demand on RttFF was very high a while back because of the screwed up initial distribution of last year's Large Expansions (more Orm than RttFF when it obviously should have been the other way around).

[hex706f726368]

The Wal-Mart closest to where I live has 0 MS, 8 RttFF, and 8-10 assorted packs from Wave 3. It's nice to finally see the forest set on the shelf reliably, but it's about A year late for me (and I'm guessing everyone else since it hasn't moved in months).

Now the Target next to where I work (where I scored all my Wave 4), is completely wiped out of all HS products and has been for many months. This concerns me more than the products I see just sitting on shelves in other stores.

[GaryLASQ]

heh. 2 WalMarts near me stopped selling HS after last Christmas. and 3 more did the same later when they ran out...put something else where HS used to be.