Are we that devoid of concepts that now thomas is a rock star? Terrible sculpt, stupid concept and a guaranteed failure. Way to go morons in NYC! Just keep guaranteeing that you're all getting pink slips and that whole division will coming out west.
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We need more inspired genius from Toybox, like BUG RACER! We need more state of the art tech like HELLO BARBIE! We need more rehashed 30 year old Hot Wheels CrissCross Crash sets! We need more from the Twins, like Neverafter Low! We need more disruptive phygital game changers!
Thomas is the cheapest garbage we make? Have you tried a HotWheels playset, Nickelodeon Shimmer & Shine toy or ANYTHING from the LA ToyBox group? I think Thomas has a few toys in front of him that are cheap garbage from this company.......:)
God damn thomas product is the cheapest garbage we make. it's pitiful that we try to pass it off as anything but crap. what a waste of an acquisition.
Thomas is a brand that has been so diluted that they need half a dozen POP's to try and explain the lines to the consumer. no focus, just one more line extension and confused consumers who get pissed at the crap quality or line incompatibility.
To the author of this thread:
Aren't you people the chuckleheads that created the C---roach Vehicle and the god awful Plant Truck and Baking Truck from Matchbox? Nice.
Thomas is the only brand in the entire company that is growing organically:
Hotwheels - needs Star Wars or it declines
Barbie - siphons advertising from all the other brands to prop herself up
American Girl - declining
Fisher-Price - declining
The Highs - don't even exist as a core brand any more
Know the numbers before you write - you sound like an entitled design hack from California (and we have far too many of them still in the company).
There's plenty of talent in the NYC office. The issue is SL and her pedantic managing style. She does not instill creativity, only cookie cutter line planning (which LD, MP, KB and others are forced to mimic). RD and CS should've let her go to Spinmaster when she was offered the CMO job there last year. Instead, they panicked, promoted her because of her threat and pushed TK out of the company (age discrimination). She's an 18 year veteran hack who bullies her way around and yet hasn't increased profits one iota (revenue, yes, but who gives a crap if revenue goes up if profit doesn't also?!).
I can't wait to see JC push SL out next year. There's only room for 1 winner and it will never be SL - she just doesn't have the well rounder, multi company experience required to run a company. Good riddance. Hurray for JC!!!!
just saw it. crap
isn't the design vs. marketing a chicken & egg argument at this point? Let's be honest. In NYC, there's no talent left. The never was a driving force in marketing that produced hits. It was all middle of the road marketeers who eventually moved on or transferred to another location. Take TM. That POS went to ES and is just as hated out here as she was in NYC. She never had a hit. Just found a new place to drive people away like a pika filled brothel in Brazil.
Agreed, marketing IS ALWAYS better than design. They are like a retarded pack of dogs constantly needing to be corralled.
As a toy, I can attest that noisy moms are way more annoying.
Marketing is always better than Design :)
Thomas starts with show content and the Thomas show is as bland as watching a D--k Cavett sεx tape, but that does not make up for a line has been sub segmented and watered down to the point of it being unsellable. How many POP's do we need to generate to educate the consumer on segment differences? I go into a TRU and still see sets from 6 years ago on the bottom shelf and I know for a fact that they aren't refreshes because there's no way in hell that we could afford that much plastic in a play set anymore. Poor sculpting and a cheap plastic guitar controller doesn't attract moms. It annoys them. As a mom I can attest to the fact that noisy toys are annoying, overpriced and generally hold a child's interest for 10-15 minutes at best. AT BEST. This toy is a fail. A fail driven by marketing folk who are deluded enough to think of themselves as (if not better) than our designers. Product like this is sure to be a low seller. Sorry design team but this is a fail that you can see coming from a mile away.
For the purist and unimaginative design hack who started this post, please understand that CHANGE IS REQUIRED with Thomas. It isn't good enough anymore (wake up!) and pushing the boundaries is the only way the brand can maintain it's status, never mind (god forbid!) grow in North America.
If you don't like COME UP WITH SOMETHING BETTER and stop complaining. DO something or GET OUT.
I watched the sizzle for it today. put another check in the failure column.
The majority of those Amazon reviews are vine reviews of free product, not purchased product.
The Amazon reviews are high for this toy, 4.6/5.
What's the problem here? Have you played with it?
If kids and parents like it, then job well done.
Seriously? Is this what's keeping soreknees employed? I hope his boyish good looks aren't starting to fade or all the bubblegum in the world isn't going to save his dopey a-- for the chopping block.