Toy Fair 2016

[Nicklab]

Interesting news article that passed a couple of months ago.  That being how Disney trademarked the term "Force Friday" for future movie line rollouts.

I would expect that they're going to do the same sort of rollout for ROGUE ONE, Episode 8 and beyond.  Force Friday seemed to be a pretty big and successful promotion.  It got lots of press and people scouring retail for new product.  I would expect that there will be a limited reveal for ROGUE ONE product before they hold this year's Force Friday.

[Diddly]

I learned my lesson from last year and will not be participating in any more Force Fridays. Amazon had everything at midnight anyway. Plus if Hasbro is going to only ship 1-2 cases of product to stores again, it's not worth taking a day off to drive around town coming up empty handed.

[Jesse James]

It's all in how you look at it.  Looks like Rogue One has a blitz of toys planned so there is that. 3.75" is continuing at least... Whether that makes you happy depends on the individual I guess.  It makes me happy.

I've got a lot to be happy about this year in and out it SW collecting I figure.

[Darby]

The rampant negativity everywhere online with Hasbro and collecting has soured me on collecting, but coming out of a little self imposed exile to share my two cents. To share some negativity. Just a little in regards to the showing. A little confused that Hasbro showed one new figure - tucked into a multipack of reissues - to feature in a show immediately in the wake of the biggest domestic film of all time. Every other vendor is pushing the film and its variety and Hasbro is not. I LOVE what they showed. Love, love the Snowtrooper, AT AT Driver, Sabine... love Maz. And then they have a Q&A in which they let out all the stuff we're wondering about is coming, some of it soon. So why not show some of it? I don't get it. There's a lot of media requirements now, a lot of shows through the year and TF will never be what it was, but it strikes me as very odd from an optics perspective that the offering is so meek.

The negativity and cry baby-ness of the criticism has been so overwhelming that I've been waiting for Hasbro to say/do something to address it. They have no real relationship with fan sites now. Their social media strategy is confused and not really engaged. They have no real consistent communication strategy at the shows (some of this is no doubt in reaction to the hostility they've faced). I'd like to see them more enthusiastic, more engaged, more positive about their own brand which is the best brand there is. I'd like to see a counter to the avalanche of JUNK that SW collecting mostly is now. If they can't or won't do it, fine. I'll still buy what I buy and do it in silence, but this is a lot better hobby when everyone is talking and participating and connected.

[Rob]

Has anyone seen a transcript or video of the Q&A anywhere?

[Nicklab]

It looks like this might be a new version of Kylo Ren.

Also from the session?  Force Friday for ROGUE ONE is set for September 30th, 2016.

[Nicklab]

From the STAR WARS ACTION NEWS FACEBOOK FEED:


THE FORCE AWAKENS 3.75" BASIC FIGURES:  More TFA figures are coming this year. They weren't announced today but will be out this year.

Luke and Leia from TFA are coming soon


3.75" VEHICLES: More large 3.75inch vehicles are coming but they have to have a balance of kids play features and collector oriented aesthetic

If Kylo arena shuttle comes back in future films Hasbro may make it. They talk about making it quite a bit.

Leia's shuttle - not so much.

The BMF Falcon can't be rerelease D because it would cost "hundreds more" to make today than back when they did. So no rerelease with TFA Falcon. How said it could cost $500 or $600 if rerelease do.


THE FORCE AWAKENS CREATURES:  Asked about beasts for TFA. They are being considered. 6-inch is where they're looking but maybe also 3.75-inch


WALMART EXCLUSIVE 3.75" BLACK SERIES:  Asked about Black Series. They will continue. They will still be Wal Mart exclusive. Coming in spring. Will be announced through Hasbro Pulse

Seems like Phasma and Asty will be coming in Wal Mart Black Series


BLACK SERIES 6" FIGURES - FAN CHOICE POLL:  In the poll the ONLY Legends character that got a lot of votes is Revan. So other Legends characters are very unlikely.


BLACK SERIES 6" VEHICLES:  Asked about 6 inch black series vehicles. They're looking at ones that could fit in the 6-inch scale


DROID FACTORY:  The droid factory figures found at Calendars.com were never meant to be released



VINTAGE COLLECTION:  Vintage Collection figures may make a return. They said they wanted to rest it and it has rested. So bringing it back is hotly discussed.
If they bring it back it would be a card style but there's discussion about if they would be 5 POA or highly articulated.


OLDER/SCARCE FIGURES:  Discussion is happening of bringing back some older figures that were hard to find.


SUMMER CONVENTION EXCLUSIVES: TWO SUMMER EXCLUSIVES COMING. There will be a CE exclusive. It will also be at SDCC.
And then SDCC has its own exclusive too that WONT be at CE.


COMIC PACKS:  Asked about Star Wars comic packs. It was under heavy discussion but they moved away from it. Maybe sometime.

[Brian]

Like others have said I really like what was shown, but also wish it would have been more - particularly with the basic line. This is as big as Star Wars has been in a long time, and in many ways it still seems like an afterthought. The main other line I follow is Marvel Legends, and look how much they revealed ( multiple waves of 6", 3 3/4", comic packs, and new things like 12", prop replicas, etc.).  With the way the attitudes have soured lately and negativity on the rise, why not do a make good here and just show a big chunk of stuff. We know you can't show Rogue One, but show us the rest. It would go a long ways I think.

Like Darby said in his post, I miss the good old discussions we would have here around TF or SDCC, they could last weeks or months. Now, with so little shown and the fan base so segmented, it's over by the weekend. That being said, what they did show looked very nice. I'm looking forward to Maz, and all the 6" stuff looks great too.

[Jeff]

More TFA figures are coming this year. They weren't announced today but will be out this year.

Yeah, because why would they want to announce something like that to fans feverishly waiting for that exact type of announcement at Toy Fair.

[JediJman]

Feels to me like Disney wants to create their own Star Wars events/releases/news versus partnering with anyone else's event.  Or maybe Hasbro was like that all along, but now finally has the clout and financial backing to just do whatever they want.  I'm not a big Disney buff, but feels like that's their shtick with all their properties - closely controlled, we'll show you what we want when we want and you'll hear it from our people.

[Nicklab]

It does seem like things are moving in that direction.  I just checked the summer convention calendar, and Celebration Europe is the week before SDCC 2016.  You have to wonder if anything meaningful will be offered up for SDCC.

[Dave]

I haven't been following any of the Toy Fair / Hasbro stuff, but was curious if Hasbro was going to keep doing all the different products like MicroMachines, Hero Mashup/Battlers, etc.

My concern is that Hasbro seems to be doing only a mediocre job managing the 3 3/4" and 6" figures, and I'm wondering if they cut out all that other stuff if they would get better results.  But maybe MicroMachines and all that other stuff sells really well.

I get worried that all that extra stuff is going to clog the pegs and as retailers look to shrink the SW footprint the main 3 3/4" and 6" stuff will get even fewer available pegs and make retail availability even worse than it is now.

It still kills me that two years in to SW Rebels that there is very little Rebels product to be had.  Even all the repacks of Kanan, The Inquisitor, and Ezra seem to sell through.  Why they can't come out with a bunch of new figures/ships in this line is hard for me to understand.

[Darth_Anton]

From the STAR WARS ACTION NEWS FACEBOOK FEED:

The BMF Falcon can't be rerelease D because it would cost "hundreds more" to make today than back when they did. So no rerelease with TFA Falcon. How said it could cost $500 or $600 if rerelease do.

Why such a sharp increase in so little time? I curious as to the economics behind this. This also makes me very sad in that it sounds like all the high quality vehicles Hasbro was producing just a few years ago (BAT AT, TIE Interceptor/Fighters with updated cockpit, proper scale X-wings,) that I loved, are gone forever or would cost triple the price now.

If they bring it back it would be a card style but there's discussion about if they would be 5 POA or highly articulated.

Wow. I can hardly believe they would seriously consider 5 POA on vintage cards. The only way that would work for me is if they were reproductions of the actual vintage line.

I really dislike the direction the SW brand is going in general. There's not enough product being produced that's holding my interest as a collector.

[JediJman]

Why such a sharp increase in so little time? I curious as to the economics behind this.

It's simple really.  When they previously made big ships in a non movie year they could count on a certain amount of volume. Well, not really, so let's pretend.  But based on poor sales of the completely unrelated 6" TIE Fighter and lower-than-expected sales of figures they haven't shipped to stores yet, it's clear that this item would only sell at a fraction of the volume needed to reach their 500% margin target.  I mean, who wants a ship like the Falcon after seeing it so sparingly used in the TFA anyway?  Plus they'd have to go to the whole trouble of including a few new electronics and complete redesign...of the radar dish.  You can't seriously expect there to be cost savings from the rest of the mold being completely finished and production read.  Much better to throw out unrealistic comments about price inflation and move along.  Nothing to see here.  Move along. 

Wow. I can hardly believe they would seriously consider 5 POA on vintage cards. The only way that would work for me is if they were reproductions of the actual vintage line.

Good Lord please no.  Don't even suggest that.  I spent years and years and years getting my vintage collection to where it is today.  I do not need the likely heart attack that repro figures flooding the market would bring.  Please God no.

[Dave]

Why such a sharp increase in so little time? I curious as to the economics behind this.

If the paint apps on their WM TBS line are any indication, it shows they can't source enough quality production facilities to make all their product.   They'd probably have to pay workers double the old rate to make sure Han's eyes were painted on the front of his head. 

Using a more cynical view of the current world economy (cheap oil and China's slowdown), I wonder if we'll see more affordable production costs out of China for our little pieces of SW plastic goodness.