Author Topic: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts  (Read 58702 times)

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #60 on: January 28, 2015, 02:40 AM »
I think I'm looking at it at a slightly different perspective from you Jeff, in that I'm looking at it from a "by the case" standard sort of thing.

I want Mosep, I want the Carbo Han...  Jawas, eh, I have literally dozens I'm content with and I guess that's where I'm at this point where I want greatness without the fluff Hasbro always squeezes in.  That is to say, I don't want repaints, repacks, and the other horse**** that gets put into case assortments under the guise of "it takes X to help pay for Y".  Which I always accept, but a $2 price hike on top of it makes me beg the question of just how much fluff they NEED to put in there then.

That said, if a case comes out and it's a solid grouping, or 2x of each, or whatnot...  I'm open to cases too.  I'm just questioning how easily it can be done getting 1x of what I want for retail...  I've written stores like WM or Target out because they feel to me as though they've written the line off for the most part.  TRU you can find stuff, but it's never a guarantee.  I hate hunting for stuff. 

Amazon I think is a viable option.  Sets, perhaps may work, depending on how Hasbro decides to boner things up with repacks.

I'm far from saying I dislike what we get...  I'm just saying the further and further they push retail lines, the less and less I like it all.  Case assortments have to be a lot more collector friendly for me, I guess.

That and I hope things maintain at 20 figures or so a year...  Less even.  I like the lower numbers.  I never understand people wanting 60 figures in a year anymore.

But like you said Jeff, a Jawa 2-Pack is a 2-pack in general, and that's a step in the right direction at least even if it's not something I'm giddy about.  If it were in a set I had to buy and I wanted the rest, I'm in on that.  But what if it were just a Jawa?  Or what if it were that Yoda, or R5 droid (And I LOVE droid repaints)?  Things start getting funky at that point.

I still like Star Wars toys, if they're things I really want...  Han Carbonite and Mosep could turn my mind around 100% if I had either one in my hand at this moment.  It also feels like a lifetime ago that we saw them.  Maybe it's just the long lull since the last time I saw that that I've not bought anything new at all.  Hardly anything old either it seems.  :-\

Last year didn't help me either.  I got some figures I love like that Dagobah Luke, and I'm in the minority.  And like you Darby, I'd probably been content to get Torryn Farr and the Snowie Commander for even the inflated price (though not multiples of either, like I ultimately did, short of a steep discount).  I really loved Ree Yees and Doallyn's doppelganger and definitely would've paid $13 for each of them as well.  Good stuff is there, but something is just off for me right now, I guess.

I guess it's not so much the price hike's actual financial impact, especially if figure counts on the year stay similar.  I think it's more just how it makes me perhaps a little more critical of the toy itself?  Such as Yoda, who I could pass through my nitpicking because the backpack, the gear, and all that made it cool and fun to me.  But $2 more and I'm looking at it and thinking Yoda's more an accessory that should've been packed with Luke (I'm kidding...  sorta.  :-X).

Anyway, like I said, I'm still buying...  I'm out on extras short of sales though, and if cases are not collector-friendly, not sure what I'll do outside of Amazon, which makes me kind of antsy because they don't always get their pre-orders up quickly with Star Wars stuff.  Sometimes they do, but sometimes they're way behind it seems.

It'll really suck when they re-release stuff like the INC or Fleet Trooper, but at more money, and when I wanted many more of both if I could get them.  Same with the Echo Base Rebel, or Legacy Hoth Rebels, should either see their way back to retail.  I want more...  but at $13 a pop for things made years ago, army building is just not justifiable.

I hope buying online will be relatively easy for the year I guess.
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Offline McMetal

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #61 on: January 28, 2015, 08:56 AM »
I just don't understand the logic of raising the price ONLY on the Black Series 3.75" collector line. Why would that line specifically be the one to bear the brunt of the re-pricing? I don't see them raising the price of the 6" line or the Saga Legends stuff, or even the vehicles. (Not complaining, mind you...)

It does sort of remind you of that girl in high school who wanted to break up with you but didn't have the nerve so she just started acting like a total bitch to force you to break up with her.

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Offline Jeff

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #62 on: January 28, 2015, 10:54 AM »
I think I'm looking at it at a slightly different perspective from you Jeff, in that I'm looking at it from a "by the case" standard sort of thing.

If you order that way, then yeah - the $24 hike in "by the case" price stings quite a bit, especially if you're not splitting it with someone else.  Case packs will become even more important going forward I guess... especially if Target is going to continue to break up cases for the stores.

But like you said Jeff, a Jawa 2-Pack is a 2-pack in general, and that's a step in the right direction at least even if it's not something I'm giddy about.  If it were in a set I had to buy and I wanted the rest, I'm in on that.  But what if it were just a Jawa?  Or what if it were that Yoda, or R5 droid (And I LOVE droid repaints)?  Things start getting funky at that point.

I think you can count on there being duds.  Do I want that repainted TVC C-3PO they showed at NYCC for $13?  Nope.   :-\

I guess it's not so much the price hike's actual financial impact, especially if figure counts on the year stay similar.  I think it's more just how it makes me perhaps a little more critical of the toy itself?  Such as Yoda, who I could pass through my nitpicking because the backpack, the gear, and all that made it cool and fun to me.  But $2 more and I'm looking at it and thinking Yoda's more an accessory that should've been packed with Luke (I'm kidding...  sorta.  :-X).

I guess that's where I'm hopeful.  Hopeful that Hasbro saw the reaction to the $10 BAD repaint and tiny Yoda and decided the price hike to add/keep value was more important than the idea of needing to hold the line at $10.  If that Yoda was $12 instead of $10, maybe we would have got something closer to the original spec drawing that Yakface posted a while back?

Time will ultimately tell us whether this hike was good or bad.  If $12 gets us back to Jawa 2-packs instead of one Jawa for $10.  It's a good thing.  If $12 gets us more corner-cutting stuff like the poorly deco'd, tiny Yoda and/or BAD repaints, then it's not a good thing.  If the line was holding steady at $10, there's no way that Carbonite Block gets packed in with Han Solo. 

So, for now, I'll wait and see.  My gut says I'm fine with the extra $2 for now...  but whatever they show us at Toy Fair and/or Celebration could really change things though.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #63 on: January 28, 2015, 07:09 PM »
See I'm right there...  If we always got Han Carbonite level figures, I'm in.  I may buy two of him even because I want to custom a block as well, but I worry we're still going to get those repaint droids, crummy Yodas, and that 3PO (again, forgot about him) mixed in with repacks of figures people clamored for...... at the last price point.  >:(

That hurts then.  The financial impact goes from "oh it's just $2/per fig, no biggie", to "Plus you have to eat this ****** figure or three to get a set of what you want, or case to split".  :-\

Plus cases are tough to split in the current form...  2x of each I'm all about, but 1x of some, repacks from previous waves, etc....  Case packs are always against the collector it seems, with that rare 2x each gem that trickles out.

I see where you're hopeful Jeff, and I want to be optimistic about it too, but there's part of me just isn't banking on it.  If quality is up across the board I'm not only happy as a clam, I'm a bit amazed.  I'm just more the pessimist at the moment maybe.  And I do attribute that somewhat to the trends (all downward) in overall quality in the brand that have let me down, like the AT-DP, Yoda, and so on.
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #64 on: January 29, 2015, 09:40 AM »
I don't know what is so great about the carbonite Han. Don't we already have a half dozen of that? At these prices I don't see any need for a character we already have multiple versions of. If they are going to charge those kind of prices then they should be new first release characters. It's not like they are sold at retail anymore.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #65 on: January 29, 2015, 04:04 PM »
3...  2 POTF2 buff figures.  1 a Saga figure with slightly more articulation than the POTF2 figures (wrists) and a block I call questionable in its sculpt and in a constant "thawing" look.

I'm all over a new Han Carbo...  For that matter if they went balls out, I'd rebuy ANH Han (just an example) if he included gloved and non-gloved hands, a removable stormie belt, and 2 unique headsculpts (headset and non-headset).  If it's a significant improvement I'm almost always all about it.

Like Ceremony Luke for instance...  His 2007 figure was pretty meh.  Inaccurate sculpt, blaster, and looking like he'd just been on a rollercoaster after eating 5 pounds of candy.  The TBS Ceremony Luke really blew him out of the water, and is grossly under-appreciated for the accuracy.  It was a buy I really felt good about after I made it.  I'd say TBS Anakin E2 was similar...  And I waited for clearance on him, but he was miles superior to the other versions which shocked me.

If we were offered a brown coat Hoth Han that could ride a Taun-Taun, 2 headsculpts included, I'd be all over that.

At this point in the 4" scale, resculpts are really the life of the line, such as it is...  Without them what would you have?  EU's off the table, and new is (generally) in the realm of obscure.  Ree Yees and Doallyn dude aren't exactly flying off the pegs and they're maybe the most collector-centric figures we've gotten in eons...  so obscure and new (RY isn't, I know, but overdue resculpt IMO) doesn't mean healthy. 

At this point I think the line's lost so many collectors, that the vocal minority is more a minority now than it ever has been since the line's inception.  So only unmade obscurity is highly unlikely at any pricepoint I think. :(  NOt to say I don't want new, mind you.  I want a Tizzvizzizziztizzvizzizzit, a Cantina midget w/wife, Garrouf Lafoe, some of the Jabba SE goons from Docking Bay 94, some human goons from Jabba's Palace, the human Ugnaught, the Jabba Tibrian, the Jabba Snaggletooth, Echo Base Hangar Techs, Home One Human Crew, Nik Sant...  I want tons of new stuff, but it's all really oddball junk.

I also want true blue, ultimate, hyper detailed, mind blowing, heavily accessorized, "Ultimate Snake Eyes" type figures for ANH, Bespin, and Endor Han Solo though (and Leia, Luke, etc.)...  If we got an incredible new Endor Han tomorrow, how many people would be ecstatic to see it?  That TVC figure had some positives, but tons of negatives, and I'd love to replace it with something miles better.

The price hike sucks for sure, but if they deliver more bang for that increase, to where I consider it "fair", I'm more than happy to spend it.  I question whether they will or not though.
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #66 on: February 2, 2015, 09:43 AM »
>>Ree Yees and Doallyn dude aren't exactly flying off the pegs

Really? Never saw either figure at retail anywhere where I live. Both figures are routinely on amazon for $20 or more. On ebay they are hugely over priced.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #67 on: February 2, 2015, 03:56 PM »
Seen both readily at TRU and don't go toy hunting much at all any longer.  Likewise Luke and the droid are easy to get as well.  The Doallyn dude is usually around half of the Ree Yees numbers though, to his credit.
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Offline JediJman

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #68 on: February 3, 2015, 03:11 PM »
Seen both readily at TRU and don't go toy hunting much at all any longer.  Likewise Luke and the droid are easy to get as well.  The Doallyn dude is usually around half of the Ree Yees numbers though, to his credit.

I've only ever seen these twice in the wild - at two different TRUs.  Neither store had them for long.  They seemed to pop up a few places online as well - oh wait, I was thinking of NERDRAGETOYS where they thought they'd get cases full of them, then cancel on people with no notice.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #69 on: February 3, 2015, 06:03 PM »
I saw them at Target a few times in the lead-up to Xmas, but never in the numbers I saw at TRU. 

And the droid is just out of control at TRU at this point.  Tons of him.  Lots of Luke too, but tons of the droid.
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #70 on: February 4, 2015, 09:28 AM »
I was at Target last night. They had one hoth Luke with a price sticker dedicated to just him. They drop his price to $7.95.
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Offline JediJman

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #71 on: February 5, 2015, 12:02 AM »
That's a steal.  Basic figures are twice that price at my Target.
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Offline Jeff

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #72 on: April 6, 2015, 01:37 PM »
Woot - it's back!  Use Spring2015 to save 20% and get free shipping at HasbroToyShop though 4/20.


Legal -
20% off on HasbroToyShop.com orders of most products currently for sale on HasbroToyShop.com. Discount applies to pre-tax and pre-shipping amount. This offer cannot be combined with any other offer. Offer excludes purchases of HasbroToyShop.com exclusives and Gift Cards. Other exclusions may apply. Valid while supplies last. No rain checks. Not valid on previous orders. Offer may expire or be withdrawn without notice due to error, fraud, or unforeseen circumstances. Offer valid in U.S. only. Void where prohibited. Subject to terms and conditions of use and HasbroToyShop.com policies. Offer expires April 20, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #73 on: April 6, 2015, 01:43 PM »
Too bad they don't replenish their Star Wars stock until  4/21.
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Offline Jeff

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Re: Retail Prices/Sales/Discounts
« Reply #74 on: April 6, 2015, 01:50 PM »
Hey, don't knock HTS.  They have been hitting it out of the park lately.

There is a lot of new Mission Series and Saga Legends stuff still in-stock.  Maybe not the VHTF Hera, Sabine, or Jedi Guard at the moment, but a lot of folks here benefited from last 20% off & free shipping code they posted.

Might be a nice surprise to see the upcoming Black Series 3.75" or 6" figures posted while the new code is active...
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