Now This is a Puzzling Marketing Gimmick

So at Wal-Mart right now the most expensive Transformer figure on sale is:

A sixty dollar figure, but you don't get to see it or even know who it is, all because it is a spoiler for some reason.

Now of course this is the day and age of the internet, so this secret lasted all of five seconds. And the big reveal was the figure is none other than, yet another Ultra Magnus.

Not only is this a character that has been around for some time with dozens of figure made of it, this is just a repaint of one they released last year with a special mini figure that is also a repaint.

So the big question is 'how is this a spoiler?'

It is a character that makes sense to be in the new show. There is nothing new to its transformation.

By labeling it a 'spoiler' figure, I am now speculating that Ultra Magnus will be doing something more significant than I would have thought. If they did not label it as being a spoiler, then it would have been easy to just see a repaint of Ultra Magnus and not think too much about it. Now they have actually made it more likely that whatever happens will have less of an impact than it would have if we didn't know Ultra Magnus was part of a spoiler.

So I am fully puzzled by this on many levels.

First off, who is going to pay $60 for a mystery figure like that? With no idea of what you are going to get, you are not going to be likely to spend the money. Also, the boxes I've seen on the shelves have been damaged by people trying to open them to see what is inside. This says to me there is a better chance of the figures being returned by the stores due to package damage than being sold.

And as I pointed out, they have ruined whatever the spoiler is by labeling the character a spoiler. Everyone watching the new show will likely be more concerned with what Ultra Magnus is doing, because they are waiting for the 'spoiler' to happen and not be as focused on the whole of the story and what is happening with the other characters.

And of course if the 'spoiler' does not pan out to be anything significant or truly interesting, then that is going to be a slap to all the fans. In fact I really doubt whatever they were trying to protect us from, it is not going to play out to the level it would need to in order to justify this packaging.

In the end, I see this becoming a joke among fans after the show premiers. Right now, none of the fans understand what they are doing.

I so wonder how this idea got approved, as there is now way I can see this being good for sales.