Author Topic: Hasbro Q&A Sessions  (Read 305695 times)

Offline CorranHorn

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #60 on: June 16, 2006, 05:22 PM »
So are we due another installment of the Q and As this week?

Yes!

Here are Hasbro's Answers to the JD Questions from June 9th, 2006:

1.  Articulation is a popular feature on toys for children and adults alike.  Is it possible we'll see things like elbow, wrist, and knee joints become the standard in the Hasbro basic line on all figures, regardless of their role in the films, since poseable toys are popular?

** We weigh each figure based on their individual needs and the costing of the product overall.  If a character has a significant accessory, or is in a multi-pack, we will evaluate that vs. just premium articulation for the sake of articulation. 


Well there we have it, Hasbro has no intention of putting forth the best quality product for both kids and collectors alike. We collectors will get them with the VTSC type figures, because we've already shown we're willing to pay for it, but kids are **** outta luck, groovy...
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Offline Jeff

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #61 on: June 16, 2006, 05:56 PM »
I'm waiting for Jesse to come in today and see that answer to the articulation question...  :P
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Offline CHEWIE

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Re:
« Reply #62 on: June 16, 2006, 06:19 PM »
Here's one from Scum that I really liked... and Hasbro had a somewhat decent answer in my opinion for once on this subject.

Rebelscum: Why are many much-desired items (Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator, the AT-TE and Twin Pod Cloud Car, Playsets etc.) passed over in favor of a ton of new Star Wars lines like Attacktix, Unleashed Battle Packs, Galactic Heroes, Jedi Force, Force Battlers, Mr. Potato Heads, Star Wars Transformers, Star Wars Customs, Star Wars Miniatures? In the past, it's been said that producing things such as are not cost-effective for today's market, but that hardly seems logical.

Hasbro: We look to products that will produce the greatest return on our resource investment. Vehicles and figures are more popular play patterns for the kid audience than playsets, and the lines you referenced are squarely kid-targeted. We are looking to introduce some new 3-3/4” vehicles next year (and re-introduce some high demand ones this Fall).


At least they were confronted why they make such horrible items like the Force Battlers and Choppers, and should be making some better and new vehicles instead.  I think they are starting to realize that there might be more of a market than they thought, if they'd just use common sense.

 :)

Offline CorranHorn

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #63 on: June 16, 2006, 06:28 PM »
Jeff: I expect Jesse to have a field day with that bull**** answer.

Quote
Hasbro: We look to products that will produce the greatest return on our resource investment

Really? Then they must be getting a great return on their investment of Choppers, Force Battlers, Mini Unleashed, and SW Transformers. Any store I go to has tons of these items sitting on the shelves for months. This is in a large metropolitan area - Chicago - so if things are that bad here, multiply it across the country and you've got crap everywhere. And if the other lines are so kid-targeted why do we always see kids avoiding them like the plague when they're in the toy aisle?!?!
« Last Edit: June 16, 2006, 06:28 PM by CorranHorn »
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Offline JediShawn

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #64 on: June 16, 2006, 06:41 PM »
"Yodasnews: Will we ever see army builder figures packed consistently in cases, regardless of the relevance they may have to the particular "wave" of figures? A considerable amount of collectors love army builders, and to have a few Super articulated Clone Troopers, Stormtroopers (plain white VOTC mold, not dirty like the Sandtrooper #37 from the Saga Collection), Scout Troopers, ect packed in a case would be great.

Hasbro: You bet. This year in fact you'll see more mixing, especially later in the year, and troop builders will be key. However, we haven't created a specific clean Sandtrooper version yet.

YN: Will we see any more Ewoks? Maybe even an Ewok Battle Pack? Maybe a Tusken Raider Battle Pack? Perhaps a Stormtrooper (not Clonetrooper) Battle Pack?

 H: Those are already on our radar, but there is no timetable for them. We have a lot of ideas and not enough space to put them all, but eventually there will be more Ewoks. Probably Ewoks before Tuskens, if that helps..

YN:  Why do we not have the entire line of Star Wars 3" 3/4 product here in FRANCE in our supermarket. Why should we rely on specialized toy shops or the internet to be able to get a complete collection and pay overpriced items ( I mean US customers paid what $8 max when in FRANCE, in US currency, each fig costs $ 13 MINIMUM!) Also why do our neighbors country (Germany and Great Britain ) have the VOTC line in their stores and we could get the George Lucas in Stormtrooper Disguise ?

H: It's up to retailers in EU regions to decide whether to carry the full or a partial line. There are very large collecting bases in both the UK and Germany, so that is why you see more offerings, including many exclusives in these countries. The best I can say is to let your retailer know, that you would like to see them carry more Star Wars collector lines."

The first question is mine. I thought I asked a far better and more understandable question, although they seem confused by my Stormtrooper and Sandtrooper questions.
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Offline Diddly

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Re:
« Reply #65 on: June 16, 2006, 06:44 PM »
Here's one from Scum that I really liked... and Hasbro had a somewhat decent answer in my opinion for once on this subject.

...

Hasbro: We look to products that will produce the greatest return on our resource investment. Vehicles and figures are more popular play patterns for the kid audience than playsets, and the lines you referenced are squarely kid-targeted. We are looking to introduce some new 3-3/4” vehicles next year (and re-introduce some high demand ones this Fall).[/i]

This answer makes no sense. They don't even answer the question! If vehicles and figures are popular for kids, then why bother making **** like Customs and Attacktix?

Hasbro: You bet. This year in fact you'll see more mixing, especially later in the year, and troop builders will be key. However, we haven't created a specific clean Sandtrooper version yet.

WHEN DID THEY ASK ABOUT A CLEAN SANDTROOPER? Come on, Hasbro!
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Offline Nicklab

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Re:
« Reply #66 on: June 16, 2006, 07:23 PM »
Here's one from Scum that I really liked... and Hasbro had a somewhat decent answer in my opinion for once on this subject.

...

Hasbro: We look to products that will produce the greatest return on our resource investment. Vehicles and figures are more popular play patterns for the kid audience than playsets, and the lines you referenced are squarely kid-targeted. We are looking to introduce some new 3-3/4” vehicles next year (and re-introduce some high demand ones this Fall).[/i]

This answer makes no sense. They don't even answer the question! If vehicles and figures are popular for kids, then why bother making **** like Customs and Attacktix?

Translation from corporate speak:

CORPORATE STATEMENT:  Hasbro: We look to products that will produce the greatest return on our resource investment.

REAL WORLD SPEAK:  Attacktix, Jedi Force and Galactic Choppers were cheap to make, so we were bound to make money on even marginal sales of these lines.

The bottom line is that Hasbro is a business and will approach these things as such.  The things that may seem as perfectly reasonable to all of us aren't always the best business decision for Hasbro.

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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #67 on: June 16, 2006, 07:44 PM »
Well the way I read that statement was:

(1) They are re-releasing some in demand vehicles this fall (like the Hailfire Droid, AAT, and AT-AT)

(2) They are going to try and make an all new vehicle or two for 2007

We already know those sublines like Choppers and Force Battlers are targeted at kids, and they said that.  In their answer they seemed to be hinting that they still think that the 3-3/4" line should be targeted towards kids too... hell if I know for sure what they mean though.

I just hope how they said to introduce a new vehicle, it might be an AT-TE.

 :)
« Last Edit: June 16, 2006, 08:29 PM by CHEWIE »

Offline Gatillo

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #68 on: June 16, 2006, 09:08 PM »
At least Hasbro came out with some honestly.  They don't feel like articulation is needed, they will give us a new vehicle or two but 1st some repacks (although these are cool repacks).

They stated their intent to screw us until 2018. :o
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Offline JediShawn

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #69 on: June 16, 2006, 10:09 PM »
I think Hasbro gave some great details and far better answers this week, with the announcement of more army builders being shipped later this year, the Curved end of the Cantina, possible electronics on new Starfighters, Commander Bacara's Marines in early 2007, and more Vintage-style figures, both Prequel and Original Trilogy.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #70 on: June 17, 2006, 02:38 AM »
Oh Jeff and Jason...  You know me too well. ;)

Actually it's about what I would have expected for the question...  The point is though that the question is asked, and similar questions will be asked again, and again in the future I'm sure.  The answer is a bit of bull**** though in that it simply doesn't answer the question in any real way.  Articulation's popular with young and old alike, so hows about we focus less on stands and miniatures as pack-ins and other random junk, and instead let's focus on a better toy.

It never addresses though, that "standards" can improve.  Knees, wrists, elbows...  It simply glossed over that part...  Not to mention that past precedent shows us figures with "articulation for the sake of articulation" (Cantina Wave among many 2005 figures) didn't seem to have any outside influence from the character or his/her accessories. 

There are some good answers this week though for certain...  Some bull**** ones too.  The big H is hardly reliable for anything different. :)

The army builder remixes are interesting to me...  I hope that means good stuff for figures like the Sandtrooper or Utapau Clones...  I mean, the Clones weren't TERRIBLY hard to find, but they sold fairly brisk too.  I don't see any here anymore unless a case with them just happens to float out.
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Offline Matt

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #71 on: June 17, 2006, 03:52 AM »
It would be nice if there was some sort of centralized location to keep track of all the different questions and "answers," to avoid as much repetition as possible. 

Anyway, I know there won't be a lot of repetition around here, 'cause we're good like that, but that's not gonna stop some lazy jerkoff at Dumbtroopers.com or wherever from sending in a bunch of questions that the other sites asked weeks ago. . .

JD question from June 9:

Quote
3.  What are the chances of one more Animated Clone Wars Wave (or box set)?  We still need to get C-3PO, R2-D2, Padme (Ilum Snow Gear), and Darth Sidious to round out our sets!

** Characters in Clone Wars are great - and we're looking at ways of getting more of them in the line for 2007.  However any we do will be in "realistic" styling rather than animated.  We’ve done some polling with fans, and overall the realistic style is preferred.

Galactic Hunter question from June 16:

Quote
GH: Can we expect to see more Hasbro action figures from the Clone Wars Animated Series? If so, what is the rough timeline?

HASBRO: We do have plans for some of these characters in 2007, but we won't be announcing the specifics just yet.  However, any we do will be in "realistic" styling rather than animated.  We done some polling with fans, and overall the realistic style is prefered over the animated style so we are going to stick with that.

« Last Edit: June 17, 2006, 03:53 AM by Grandma Tarkin »
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Offline evenflow

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #72 on: June 17, 2006, 08:28 AM »
Not that happy with this weeks answers, no Lars family planned  :-[
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #73 on: June 19, 2006, 04:36 PM »
It's a mix...  Their answers on articulation are still a bit of BS to me, plus I'd like to know how they can give an answer with a straight face like, "Well when a toy has a large accessory like the Cantina U Bar Piece...", when they're trying to explain why they short figures in poseability.  I mean, great if your'e gonna give us that, but when was the last time a LARGE accessory was a pack-in?  A year and a half ago or so?  The Outlander Wave maybe? 

Anyway, there was some cool stuff in this week...  Some not so cool stuff...  It's been an interesting mix of up and down with them.  Sometimes you can clearly see you're getting the corporate run-around in their answers and other times you actually get a nugget of joy (Galactic Marine in '07 is probably the biggest news to come out of them in ages). 

I liked the news on army builder remixes towards the end of the year too.  I was thinking that, perhaps there would be some repacking done to satiate demand and hopefully it's done wisely...  Sandtroopers are in incredibly short supply, and to be honest the Utapau Clone is not warming pegs in the slightest...  I see at most 2 anymore, but man that is a Clone that's sold well this year.

The vehicles question has me somewhat intrigued too...  Could be some great stuff there, could be some disappointment... 
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Offline Jeff

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Re: Hasbro Weekly Q and A
« Reply #74 on: June 23, 2006, 04:17 PM »
A new week, a new batch of answers!
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