Author Topic: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle  (Read 69803 times)

Offline Scott

  • Staff Member
  • Jedi Guardian
  • *
  • Posts: 18701
  • Get Some
    • View Profile
    • JediDefender
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #30 on: June 15, 2012, 08:17 PM »
My EE order was canceled  ::)

Offline Greg

  • Jedi Apprentice
  • *
  • Posts: 1899
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #31 on: June 15, 2012, 08:32 PM »
My EE order was canceled  ::)

Mine too. I'll hold out for a Ross release later this year, and if that doesn't happen I'll begin to prowl ebay.

Offline JediJman

  • Jedi Guardian
  • *
  • Posts: 18061
  • I don't get drunk, I get awesome.
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #32 on: June 15, 2012, 11:31 PM »
Well, I just scored 2 of these off of Ebay for $86 shipped out of Canada.  $43 each isn't what I initially hoped to pay, but I'm pretty happy just finally scoring one of these...

This deal is looking better all the time... 8)
Climbed a mountain & never came back. I will not quit & I always fight back 
From this moment for all my life. What could I say? Was born to be this way. And what could I say?  Just livin' for today

Offline Jayson

  • Jedi Sentinel
  • *
  • Posts: 11050
  • I am one with the Force and the Force is with me
    • View Profile
    • www.yakface.com
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #33 on: June 16, 2012, 06:19 AM »
Well, I just scored 2 of these off of Ebay for $86 shipped out of Canada.  $43 each isn't what I initially hoped to pay, but I'm pretty happy just finally scoring one of these...

This deal is looking better all the time... 8)

But didn't you get a Mando ship and a Droid Gunship or did you get a replacement?
Yakface.com Owner/Content Manager
Follow me on Twitter - @yak_face / @JediJaybird

Offline Nicklab

  • Jedi Sentinel
  • *
  • Posts: 13779
  • I saw we fight!
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #34 on: June 16, 2012, 06:39 AM »
Got the EE cancellation email, too.  I suspect that these may wind up being offered in the next CW line look.  Especially since the Mando's were featured prominently in the CW season 5 trailer.
"Call up a Hammerhead Corvette.  I have an idea."

Feedback

Offline JediJman

  • Jedi Guardian
  • *
  • Posts: 18061
  • I don't get drunk, I get awesome.
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #35 on: June 16, 2012, 07:29 AM »
Well, I just scored 2 of these off of Ebay for $86 shipped out of Canada.  $43 each isn't what I initially hoped to pay, but I'm pretty happy just finally scoring one of these...

This deal is looking better all the time... 8)

But didn't you get a Mando ship and a Droid Gunship or did you get a replacement?

The guy I ordered from is sending two replacements, so I'm not out of the woods yet. He has great Ebay feedback and has sent 5 messages apologizing, so I'm still hopeful the next shipment will come out better. 

Sorry to all of you that got screwed by EE/Hasbro.  I just can't fathom this trend of not getting product out there to the masses.  I'm shocked that someone's head hasn't rolled over the whole distribution mess by now.
Climbed a mountain & never came back. I will not quit & I always fight back 
From this moment for all my life. What could I say? Was born to be this way. And what could I say?  Just livin' for today

Offline McMetal

  • Jedi Master
  • *
  • Posts: 7135
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #36 on: June 16, 2012, 09:08 AM »
!@#*&%$#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for ordering from Entertainment Earth. We have been notified by
the manufacturer that we will not be receiving any additional shipments of
Star Wars Clone Wars Mandalorian Assault Transport Vehicle, (Item
HS30494), because they have discontinued production of this item at this
point in time.  The item has been removed from your order.

If this item is again made available, we will contact you for a possible
re-order. We apologize for the inconvenience, as we certainly would have
preferred to fill your order. Your order information appears below.

The best part about this whole thing? HASBRO EXPLICITLY TOLD US TO GO ORDER THIS FROM EE.

Insert profanity-filled rant here.

This is a million time worse for me in particular because I am haunted by the knowledge that there are at least a few finished production samples NOT done in the trilingual packaging. (Adam P has confirmed as much as well) I cannot bring myself to buy the Canadian version...yet.

This is just one of their worst screw-ups EVER...and that is saying something.

I only hope the Vintage fans don't get a similar deal with the Naboo fighter. Seems eerily similar.
A character’s face is melted by fantastical energy

Offline Pete_Fett

  • Jedi Knight
  • *
  • Posts: 3737
  • Jedi Killer
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #37 on: June 16, 2012, 09:53 AM »
Anyone going to SDCC should be all over the Hasbro's team asses over this. Like McMetal said - they specifically told collectors at Toy Fair "order from EE".

I know he doesn't have to, but it would be great if Adam Pawlus could comment on what happened - did EE not get enough? Did they get any? Did they save what they got for the people who ordered by-the-case? Cause, I'll gladly order a whole case of ships from EE if it means I get a US boxed version.

At this point, my hope is either they will show up in the next Clone Wars packaging look, or as an exclusive that will be announced at SDCC or be dumped at Ross/TJMaxx (which is probably unlikely).
Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

Offline Scockery

  • Jedi Knight
  • *
  • Posts: 2826
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #38 on: June 16, 2012, 10:10 AM »
Got the EE cancellation email, too.  I suspect that these may wind up being offered in the next CW line look.  Especially since the Mando's were featured prominently in the CW season 5 trailer.

Wouldn't even bet a nickel on that. In theory that and the Droid gunship should return, but with Hasbro's lack of faith in CW toys and their inability to get their #$^% together...I doubt it.

Offline Nicklab

  • Jedi Sentinel
  • *
  • Posts: 13779
  • I saw we fight!
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #39 on: June 16, 2012, 11:23 AM »
Got the EE cancellation email, too.  I suspect that these may wind up being offered in the next CW line look.  Especially since the Mando's were featured prominently in the CW season 5 trailer.

Wouldn't even bet a nickel on that. In theory that and the Droid gunship should return, but with Hasbro's lack of faith in CW toys and their inability to get their #$^% together...I doubt it.

The tools exist.  Hasbro is going to want to recoup some of that investment.  That means selling units.

The Droid Gunship showed up in trailers, too.  The tools for that exist as well. 

Hasbro made the bulk of their investment in tooling for both vehicles, and the only way to see the rewards of those investments is to sell the toys. 

You say that there's a lack of confidence in Clone Wars toys.  Really?  Because I see plenty of OT & PT vehicles from the SOTDS line still lingering on shelves, too.  I can still get an AT-AT pretty easily at retail.  The same goes for the Trench Run pack with the X-Wing & Darth Vader TIE at TRU.  Sales across the whole boys toys sector are DOWN.  Attempts to pin this just on the Clone Wars line are misdirected, and you're simply not looking at the bigger picture.

It seems far more likely that this was the scenario:  Entertainment Earth took orders and submitted them to Hasbro.  The number of orders must have been such that they did not meet a target number for orders that would factor in production costs, shipping & profit for Hasbro.  As such, the order was cancelled.  It seems far more likely that this vehicle will make it into the CLONE WARS (Yoda look) general vehicle line simply because the number of vehicles ordered across broader brick & mortar retail will hit that profitability number Hasbro needs to meet.
"Call up a Hammerhead Corvette.  I have an idea."

Feedback

Offline JediJman

  • Jedi Guardian
  • *
  • Posts: 18061
  • I don't get drunk, I get awesome.
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #40 on: June 16, 2012, 11:35 AM »
I don't have any confidence in Hasbro's judgement or abilities at all at this point.  Yes, they sunk costs into the designs for new ships, but its not like big companies are afraid to just write off a loss.  Let's say you invest $100,000 in design work and tooling.  You estimate you can make $500,000 in sales if you get the items back out there, but that's going to cost you $450,000 in production and distribution.  It may not be worth all that effort for a small amount of profit regardless of sunk costs. 

The question is how much inventory do they currently have and what kind of profit could they achieve by putting this back into production/distribution.  Mid Size ships in general haven't sold very well outside of the holidays - at least not near me.  Maybe that's due to so many repeats, but these have hit clearance in some form at multiple locations over the last year. 

All that said, if there are US versions out there somewhere, then I have to think there was a decent production run at some point and these will show up somewhere.  If not, it might be a while before we ever see this thing again.
Climbed a mountain & never came back. I will not quit & I always fight back 
From this moment for all my life. What could I say? Was born to be this way. And what could I say?  Just livin' for today

Offline shmashwitdaclub

  • Jedi Apprentice
  • *
  • Posts: 2089
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #41 on: June 16, 2012, 03:42 PM »

It seems far more likely that this was the scenario:  Entertainment Earth took orders and submitted them to Hasbro.  The number of orders must have been such that they did not meet a target number for orders that would factor in production costs, shipping & profit for Hasbro.  As such, the order was cancelled. 

If that was the case then EE never would have "sold out" of the pre-orders.  I tried to pre-order this late in the game when I ended up ordering Vintage wave 4.1 but I couldn't because it was, at the time, "sold out".

Anyway, hopefully this will make it out same day/month/year/decade - I was diggin it.

Offline Scockery

  • Jedi Knight
  • *
  • Posts: 2826
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #42 on: June 16, 2012, 05:19 PM »

The tools exist.  Hasbro is going to want to recoup some of that investment.  That means selling units.

The Droid Gunship showed up in trailers, too.  The tools for that exist as well. 

Hasbro made the bulk of their investment in tooling for both vehicles, and the only way to see the rewards of those investments is to sell the toys. 

Yeah, and how many other scarce/low distribution items were 100% new tooling that have never seen reissue? A few actually. Probably not just from Star Wars, too.

And Hasbro's willingness to make new tooling for convention exclusives (not just for Star Wars) put their past "cost of tooling" comments to doubt. 

We might see the Droid gunship next year or it might be for 2014 for Revenge of the Sith. Or never if they don't think it's a viable seller. I mean, it's a pretty safe bet that the Falumpa set, Queen's Starship and Fambaa will never be reissued. (With those, we can assume those molds paid for themselves a decade ago or were written off.)

Quote
You say that there's a lack of confidence in Clone Wars toys.
 

Me? Hasbro has all but said that. They said Clone Wars is becoming a sub-line...with limited numbers of new items released...that started this year.  Focus is down to leading character and clones and recognizable baddies, articulation has dwindled to worse than when the whole CW line began. Will that change next year? Who knows, since Episode 1 product seems to be a big dud for the most part (maybe they should've made half the figures in the episode 1 vintage cases Darth Maul...seriously....okay, a quarter of the case.)

Quote
Because I see plenty of OT & PT vehicles from the SOTDS line still lingering on shelves, too.  I can still get an AT-AT pretty easily at retail.  The same goes for the Trench Run pack with the X-Wing & Darth Vader TIE at TRU.  Sales across the whole boys toys sector are DOWN. Attempts to pin this just on the Clone Wars line are misdirected, and you're simply not looking at the bigger picture.

I agree.  That's why I'm surprised by rumors of more Vintage boxed exclusive vehicles. But again, last year, Hasbro  said their focus on Clone Wars would be reduced, and it is true.  This has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with their brand strategy and whatever sales figures they were looking at.


Offline Pete_Fett

  • Jedi Knight
  • *
  • Posts: 3737
  • Jedi Killer
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #43 on: June 16, 2012, 07:24 PM »
Well - hopefully I just murphy's law'd us all to having these hit TJ Maxx or Ross in good quantities - I found an online retailer selling the US packaging version for $100 and because packaging is just as important to me as having the item, I pulled the trigger.

So let's all hope that something happens that makes me regret that decision....  :-\
Peter

Letting my collecting OCD get the better of me on a DAILY basis... and loving EVERY minute of it!

Offline McMetal

  • Jedi Master
  • *
  • Posts: 7135
    • View Profile
Re: CW Mandalorian Troop Shuttle
« Reply #44 on: June 18, 2012, 08:34 AM »
What also sucks about this is the fact that it happened on a Saturday. (well, Friday night I guess technically)

I had to liquidate a few assets (my whole Retaliation stash) just to be able to come up with the necessary $$$ to pay the scalper prices online for these things now. And even then I couldn't get to the bank or anything since it was already closed by then. So I had to sit on the sidelines all weekend while these things started disappearing from the online retailers.

And good luck getting anyone from any of those online sites to actually respond to a question on a weekend. (I notice a lot of sites have photos of the English language version but no one will confirm if that's actually the one they plan to ship me)

So now I am REALLY looking at a major chunk of cash to lock down one of the few remaining English language sets that might still be out there somewhere. I don't even want to think about how much this is going to end up costing me.

Just throwing it out to the group - if anyone sees one of these anywhere, or knows anyone that might be willing to part with one, please let me know. (Again, just the English language version, not interested in the trilingual)

Thanks in advance!
« Last Edit: June 18, 2012, 08:35 AM by McMetal »
A character’s face is melted by fantastical energy