Wow this is incredible news! Can't say I didn't see this coming but I didn't think it would happen so soon! Fantastic news for Bachmann!!
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Show posts MenuQuote from: Plow Bender on February 28, 2019, 11:30:01 PMQuote from: rjmets41 on February 28, 2019, 06:41:48 PM
I don't know how many of you guys have seen this but, this is Bachmann last fall (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrkkJVVSqzE&t=398s). Basically, Bachmann is saying the market is not there to put out new toolings and mentions that Bachmann milks the Thomas and Friends line in order to help pay for its other projects. Don't be so quick to blame Mattel.
Saying that Bachmann milks their Thomas & Friends line to pay for everything else they do is basically like saying they use the range as a crutch to get them out of trouble with collectors of their other products. That's pretty harsh if you ask me... Jack clearly says that the Thomas & Friends range helps to "subsidize" (if you don't know what that means, look it up) all the other ranges that Bachmann offers. It's no different than Bachmann taking profits from ranges like HO or N and investing said profits back into the Thomas range. All the scales Bachmann produces share a common backbone, and regardless what brings in better sales the money all goes to the same place.
Then we get on to the topic of new tooling's, which is not going to happen simply for the fact the cost of everything has gone completely out of control. As another member mentioned in a previous post, the prices for the ranges (or HO at least) have gone up over 200% within the last 10 years, and it's ridiculous to pay over $120 for a model that you could once pick up at your hobby shop in yesteryears for only $35. That was the main cause of Hornby's downfall as the models they produced were too expensive for what they were, considering some of their tooling's had been around since the 1950's. While I don't know if this price issue was caused by Mattel's doing or not, I'm in no way pointing fingers at them. Getting back to Bachmann and present day, I can honestly say (as will others I'm sure) that models such as Thomas and/or Percy are not worth $100 for what little they have to offer.
At the end of the day you have Bachmann trying to produce what little they can, while dealing with the uprising production costs and throwing money away trying to afford a license to produce the Thomas ranges. Then you have Mattel over in the corner losing their shirt because of their own recklessness, and "we're" suppose to feel sorry for them? Furthermore, I just read last night Mattel has yet again had another setback recently with an 18% stock drop, claiming that the toys aren't selling. I know Mattel clearly has a problem, but Firemen have problems all the time. Ever seen one throw gas on it?
-Rusty
Quote from: Chaz on February 18, 2019, 04:02:29 PM
The large scale range is not being discontinued. People on Facebook/Twitter has been making that rumor up for the last couple of months but never provided solid evidence to back it up. Once the catalog gets posted, which should hopefully be this week, we will likely see the same products in the range as before plus the new tankers. Until the catalog is posted, just ignore people who are saying that.
Don't feed the troll.
Quote from: Cheeky_ULP on February 04, 2019, 01:11:07 PMVery true! Plus if thy cancel the line all together then that's profits they lose and have to make them back up somehow. It's easier for them to just cancel a single product instead of a whole line
Cancelling the line would be shooting themselves in the foot since Bachmann has straight up said at NRMA that the Thomas range is a huge revenue bringer for the company. Cost cuts and production scale backs are likely but it'd be bad news for them if they had to end the line.