Author Topic: Is the line a Success?  (Read 66013 times)

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2008, 01:14 AM »
Well, yes, but that's not the reason... 

I'm tellin' ya's, the military guys are buying that figure up.  I don't think Hasbro realized there was a sub-market that was going to gobble those and all the German vehicles up like they have.  It's got to be a contributing factor considering they keep a couple toy lines from a couple manufacturers afloat to some degree on their own.
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Offline Daigo-Bah

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #16 on: May 24, 2008, 05:59 PM »
I went to my local WM today and saw the pegs stuffed with everything finally, from deluxe to single figures to roleplay.  The only things missing were the vehicles.  But I finally got Indy w/horse there.
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Offline evenflow

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #17 on: May 24, 2008, 06:33 PM »
Up until today the pegs were bare pretty much everywhere. My walmart restocked with an endcap filled with cubes.
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Offline Scott

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #18 on: June 11, 2008, 03:35 PM »
I'd say no sitting at close to a month now...my local Wal-Mart is had the cube in the aisle for at least two weeks now...I think about 5 of the figures have left it...most of the stores I have gone to have pegs stuffed full of product and it doesn't seem to be moving...I don't think that is a good sign :-[

Offline CHEWIE

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #19 on: June 11, 2008, 03:53 PM »
Success or Failure?  At this point, I don't think we can measure it, or at least not in the terms that Hasbro will.  But we can try.   8)

I doubt they could have been expecting the line to compete with Star Wars sales, and knew it couldn't; otherwise we'd be seeing them ship that movie styled Clone Wars wave in the spring/early summer. 

The volume of product at retail in my area has a lot of room for more waves to hit the pegs at both Target and TRU... Walmart on the other hand, seems to have over-estimated this line as they have a ton more shelf space, and all three Walmarts that I visit have at least 100 or more figures on the pegs. 

There's just not enough variety in the line to justify Walmart getting that many cases in at one time - if we were talking 3-4 waves right off the bat - then yeah - but not when it's only about 15 different characters at this point... they needed another wave mixed in with the initial launch, at the very least.  Or for the price to be about a buck cheaper.

Still, these seem to be outselling Hulk, Iron Man and Speed Racer by a country mile.
« Last Edit: June 11, 2008, 03:54 PM by CHEWIE »

Offline Morgbug

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #20 on: June 11, 2008, 04:05 PM »
I'm not sure you can really use Hulk or Speed Racer to compare to.  And I'd say Iron Man has sold better where I am considering you can't find any of it around.  Hulk is present in such small quantities and to be fair the movie hasn't opened yet (has it?).  Speed Racer appears to be a massive bust, something that brings me great joy. 

I'm still not confident about the success of this line though.  More than a month later I'm still seeing lots of crappy paint apps and the figures aren't selling very well overall.  The deluxe sold pretty well but there's little I can't find.  I can find all the vehicles and I really can't defend that on the basis of higher pricing, because we're only $5 above US retail.  I'm not optimistic of this line making it much beyond Christmas.  I hope it does survive well into the winter/spring season though, there are plenty of figures I still want to see. 
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Offline Brian

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #21 on: June 11, 2008, 05:18 PM »
Yeah, I'm wondering how big of a success it is too.  Its difficult to judge, because like others, our Target and TRU have room for more figures it seems - but I'm not sure that they're really stocking them anymore (since the movie opening/sale period earlier).  I haven't been at Wal-Mart in a few weeks now, but like Scott mentioned, they had a ton of them last time I was there as well.  Target has just a few figures, and the same with TRU.  Like I said though, I don't know if it is a consistent sell through, or just the fact they haven't restocked in awhile at this point.  Like I've mentioned in other threads, the basic Indys seem tough to come by, so it does seem that maybe a lot of people are just buying "an Indy" and that is that.  I do seem to see Raiders figures more than Skull ones, which is surprising I guess.  Vehicles are pretty rare (although I've seem them all at least twice), and the deluxe sells pretty well too.  I can say, aside from Indy, I could probably find any of the basic figures if I looked hard enough throughout town.

The comparisons mentioned seem about the same here too.  Iron Man seems to be the clear best seller, with nothing left on the pegs usually (as far as the regular figures go anyways).  Hulk stuff doesn't look like its moved at all, but the movie isn't opening until Friday, so we'll see.  Speed Racer seems to be as big of a dud as the movie was, and I'm not sure about the Narnia stuff (don't pay close enough attention).  The Dark Knight stuff (Movie Masters in particular) seems to be moving a bit though, a month before the movie is released.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #22 on: June 12, 2008, 01:11 AM »
Around me, I see a good bit of restocking going on with all of it except the vehicles...  The Deluxe get restocked semi-routinely and generally sell-through if they're the temple traps and German bike, otherwise the others are beginning to slow down.

The basic figures, I see them restocked weekly...  A case here, a case there...  That to me implies a steady sell-through of figures, but they never get to even close bare-bones pegs.  They'll just dwindle, then the pegs are full, dwindle, full, etc.  I'm wondering if there may be stock working its way to the floor rather than new shipments, but either way I think it's actually doing fairly well at the couple WM's and Target store I visit frequently.

I didn't even see IJ stuff at the TRU I was at yesterday...  I have no clue where it even was.
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Offline efranks

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #23 on: June 12, 2008, 10:27 AM »
The vehicles are still selling extremely well at both Wal-Mart and Target which surprises me.  The figures at Target have slowed down a little and right now the pegs are pretty full after the most recent stock.

Wal-Mart has full pegs of basic figures but the aisle pallet display they put out last week has really been picked over. 

On the Deluxe side, my Target still hasn't had the motorcycle, horse and trap sets yet and the others are starting to sit a little.  At least the Indy w/ Ark figure.  I think we're out of Germans but there may be a Thug/Marion set left.

WM has sold most of their trap sets but there are still some horse and motorcycle sets left.  They actually have more of those than the Indy w/ Ark/Marion/German 2-pack sets. 

As I mentioned in another thread the other day, even the 12" figures seemed to sell well at Target.  WM has a few but I don't go there enough to tell if they've sold and been stocked again or aren't selling quite as fast there.

From my local perspective, things look solid for the IJ line which is kind of nice seeing as my area is hit and miss on the Star Wars line. 

It will be really interesting to see what happens when the next wave of figures hit.  Do we have a schedule on that, by the way?  I think, right now, that things look good at least through Christmas.  I wouldn't be surprised if we see a bump in the next week or two as kids get out of school for the summer.  And we'll probably see a bump again when the DVD is released which, I'm assuming, should be November or so, just in time for Christmas.

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Offline Brian

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #24 on: June 12, 2008, 11:29 AM »
Quote
I didn't even see IJ stuff at the TRU I was at yesterday...  I have no clue where it even was.

At our local TRU, they moved Indy to the way back of the store (or the back end of the action figure aisle).  Its actually in the area that Iron Man was in prior to the big "movie reset" at the front of the store.  Within the past few weeks, TRU got rid of the big Speed Racer aisle display (big surprise), and it is now filled with Iron Man, Hulk, and Spider-Man (movie style) stuff.  The other display (which used to be Narnia, Hulk, Iron Man, Dark Knight, and Indy), is now replaced with Narnia, Kung Fu Panda, and Dark Knight I believe.  Anyways, Indy seems to have gotten shoved to the back of our store.

Offline Ben

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #25 on: June 13, 2008, 02:28 AM »
The local WMs really overordered on everything. One of them has the four-sided display that barely has any figures taken from it. I suppose it will pick up more towards Christmas, when the DVD is out.
It's kind of hard to tell here, because every weekend, it's a new weather disaster and people have a lot on their minds.

I agree with what was said earlier- there isn't enough variety for stores to be ordering so much. Though it's damn near impossible to find the vehicles or an Indy w/ horse.
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Offline speedermike

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #26 on: June 14, 2008, 04:47 PM »
there isn't enough variety for stores to be ordering so much.

I think there's tons of variety! 17 carded figures and 7 deluxes is waaaaaayyy more tha the 4 Iron Man figures that were offered for that film.
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Offline JediJman

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #27 on: June 14, 2008, 09:46 PM »
there isn't enough variety for stores to be ordering so much.

I think there's tons of variety! 17 carded figures and 7 deluxes is waaaaaayyy more tha the 4 Iron Man figures that were offered for that film.

I think somewhere between 5 and 17 figures makes the most sense.  I see a lot of Indy pegwarmning at retailers right now, but the Iron Man stuff is completely sold out everywhere I go.
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Offline Diddly

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #28 on: June 15, 2008, 01:49 AM »
Well the local Wal-Mart with the 4-sided display removed it and added the Jones figs to the Star Wars 4 sided display. One side is SW, one IJ, and the other two are other various Hasbro items. The main aisle has significantly less Jones figures as well. I think it's all because WM is marketing pool/outdoor toys due to the start of summer but we'll see.
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Offline David

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Re: Is the line a Success?
« Reply #29 on: June 15, 2008, 01:06 PM »
I think the line's doing surprisingly well in my area. The Target a block from my house has had great distribution and product seems to sell fast enough to be called successful, yet slow enough for me to always find what I want (except for a ******* Russian Soldier!!!!). I almost always see parents/kids checking out the Indy stuff so I guess that's also a good sign. :)
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