Y'know, after 12 years of buying Hasbro product, I would hope to be able to figure out their logic when relaseing toys. I saw all 3 re-released Evolutions sets tonight in 3 differnt stores. Now, I own the original releases, and I don't buy packaging changes, so there was nothing new for me to buy. Now, if they had put out the Jedi, Mando and Sith set, I would have spent close to 75 bucks.
The issue here is that I think these sets are going to shelfwarm because most of us have these, and the new ones, the ones that we WANT, are going to be tough to find...I just don't get it. How does this benefit Hasbro?
Actually, I had a good conversation with one of the Hasbro folks on a very similar topic at one of the shows they were at. And it was regarding the 2002 Action Fleet offerings.
If you're familiar with that line, the Action Fleet line had been cancelled for a year or so following the EPISODE I line. Hasbro was looking to re-launch if for the EPISODE II line. But the problem was that they didn't have the new ship/vehicle sculpts ready in time for the retail resets for the EPISODE II line. But, Hasbro really wanted to get the line out there, so they decided to produce some of the more iconic vehicles in the Action Fleet line. Why? Mainly, to hold the space in the retail planogram until they could get the new ships produced and shipped.
Long story short, that plan backfired, and the core Action Fleet collectors left the X-Wings, Falcons and Vader TIE's behind. They were out for the new vehicles. But that backstock of the first wave, which were all reissues helped to put the last nail in the coffin of Action Fleet.
Now strategically, it seems like Hasbro is doing the same thing here. I'm under the impression that the first new sets of Evolutions figures were not ready to ship in time for the new retail planograms. And if you've been to a store in the past few weeks, you'll notice that almost all of the retailers have done a post holiday reset. And that reset locks down which items/assortments go where on the shelves and pegs. It seems pretty clear that Hasbro might be trying to reserve the space for Evolutions by using the existing molds they had so that product could be on shelf for those resets.
So how could things be different with this situation? The 3.75" figure system is a much better seller than Action Fleet ever was. It's got a 30 year history and a much broader fan base. Plus you do have some potential clientele here: the package variant collectors; the completists; people who missed these the first time around; army builders (for the Clone set); and people who weren't in the hobby in 2005. I think these Evolutions sets will sell through, albeit slowly. I think based on the fact that we're seeing images of loose figures from Asia, the new sets will probably be in stores within a month or so.
