Author Topic: How Much is Too Much?  (Read 55401 times)

Offline Darby

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #150 on: January 3, 2012, 07:42 PM »
$10 makes it hard to keep going on a carded collection of vintage, but it doesn't put me out.  The decrease in CW figures offsets this, somewhat.  Plus I think the market won't sustain it for long.  At $10 a pop, very few people are going to come out of the movie theater and buy some figures on a lark.  The buy-in for newbies - and this has to be paramount for Hasbro - must be affordable.  Frankly, it's not.  People will buy their super bad ass Darth Maul and check out.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #151 on: January 3, 2012, 07:58 PM »
The optomist in me would like to think that the retailers could/would see the line as getting too costly and keep things low, however I just feel like they'll do as they always have.  Eventually one will raise their price, then the next, and then of course WM will follow suit.

One thing I do see as positive, and I've not seen much lately, is that I see absolutely nada outside of the basic vintage line that I have a remote interest in next year.  Their deluxe stuff is turning into utter crap instead of going the way I had hoped (mini rigs).   

Darby's note about the BMF of 2012 was the one I hinted at (which came from him out of NYCC)...  And while that'd be neat, I doubt I'd buy it immediately.  If you wait, patience pays off for everyone generally it seems...  just not the health of the overall line, but if BMF style stuff isn't meant to be, then it isn't meant to be.

I was one of the guys who ponied up when I saw that Jabba The Hutt set for full price, as that's the kind of thing I like/want.  Now?  $16.99 on Amazon...  I should've waited I guess since it seems like the vast majority did as well, and whether I bought it or not, the message has been sent.

The Clone Wars, as noted above, is non-existant so the few figures I would even consider buying are pretty much nixed there.

Movie Heroes is pretty much as easy to pass, just as Legends was.

Seen little to make me think that battlepacks were suddenly going to become cool, or anything close to a bargain either since they generally are several figures you don't want, and one that you do...  Now that there's a figure pricehike, will battlepacks go back up immediately after coming down in price?  That'd kinda be sad/funny all at once.

Vehicles?  Didn't buy any last year either really...  not till clearances anyway.

If Toy Fair is a bust on new stuff for the most part, it could wind up being a relatively inexpensive year by comparison, even with a pricehike on the figures I do want.  It's just a matter of nothing being made that really interests me...  at least at full price.
« Last Edit: January 3, 2012, 08:05 PM by Jesse James »
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Offline Phrubruh

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #152 on: January 3, 2012, 08:58 PM »
I've said last year that $8.99 was too much. Now $10 is still too much. I never bought a figure at TRU this last year for $10 and I'm not going to start doing that at Target and Walmart too. I wonder if my local RiteAid will raise the price on their 2006 General Reiken to $12 to compensate. Besides, looking at the pictures you guys showed of the upcoming line, there is little to nothing that I want. I really don't need yet another QuiGon Gin, ObiWan and Darth Maul. When I setup my Star Wars room last summer I was amazed how many of these three figures I have. Don't need more.
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Offline Brian

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #153 on: January 3, 2012, 09:11 PM »
Like others have said, the fact that there doesn't seem to be much outside of the Vintage line next year may help me some too.  Not a lot of other stuff to buy (at least SW-wise).  I was looking through Hasbro's NYCC slideshow, and looking at the upcoming waves, I could cut things back a bit if I wanted/needed to.  Beyond the TPM wave, we're looking at this:

Wave 2 - ROTJ Deleted Scenes Figures
Wave 3 - Hoth Luke, Imperial Navy Commander, CW Anakin, Darth Malgus, Darth Vader
Wave 4 - Secura, Nom Anor, 501st Clone, Evazan, Kithaba, Wedge
Wave 5 - Re-release of the Bespin Han wave + Gamorrean Guard

Now, out of those, I'd definitely pick up all of the OT figures (aside from the re-release wave, I think I have enough of those - except maybe Gam. Guard).  I'd also grab the CW Anakin, but I think if I had to pass on the other PT figures included there, I could.  Secura might be nice, but I really don't care much about the EU ones and have lost interest in clones for the most part at this point.  The new 501st might be better, but I was happy enough with the last version I guess.  So, not counting extras, I'd be looking at 11 figures through those four waves.  Not too bad.  I'd get extras of some for sure, but depending how many more waves we'll have for the rest of 2012, it could be a lighter year overall on the SW side.  The only other thing would be vehicles, if we see anything new/spiffy there.

An interesting point about the "buy in" price for new collectors and/or parents and kids.  It does get more and more steep for people to get into the line, and for kids, I think they'd sooner have the Ultimate FX Sabers (we got these for our daughter and nephews, and they really are spiffy for a kids toy).  Although we've gotten away from Legends this year, I still think that Hasbro has built up a pretty good library of "ultimate" versions of the main characters and army builders that they could either re-release or put in two-packs or something to help those people who are new to collecting (or parents buying for kids).  I could always envision 2 packs of VOTC Han and EB Chewie, or the droids, or Obi-Wan/Vader or Obi-Wan/Anakin, or you could extend it to the current BP form of 3-4 figures as well.  Anyways, it will be interesting to see where the line is headed.  The success/failure of TPM 3D (the movie and the Movie Heroes line) could have a decent effect on where things head from here.

Offline Daigo-Bah

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #154 on: January 3, 2012, 10:46 PM »
I'm surprised at how many times I read "if all the films are released as 3D" from several people on the forums.  Is there anyone that really believes they won't be at least marginally successful?  It won't take much to return what it likely costs to make the film 3D; I mean, they filmed each once, and re-released them repeatedly to theaters and home media.  I can't imagine any of them would be considered failures no matter how low (realistically) the box office returns would be.
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Offline Diddly

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #155 on: January 4, 2012, 02:04 PM »
I have two thoughts on the matter:

1) This seems to happen every year... January sees a massive increase in pricing but then after a few weeks retailers start to war and we eventually get lower prices. Now I'm not going to lie, I'm not happy about paying $9.99 but I'm not going to sit here and say I won't buy anything because I totally will. But I am about to find out what my limit is on these things.

2) How much of these increases are due to licensing fees? I've recently gotten back into LEGO, and while their prices have gone up a few dollars from a few years ago when I bought regularly, the Star Wars line seems to be much more expensive than other lines. For example, the new LEGO Millennium Falcon. Older versions of the ship were around $100, and the new one is $140 for a set with 1200 pieces. Compare this to other larger LEGO sets with the same piece count that cost between $100 and $120. It's much more noticeable in the smaller sets, like the Clone Trooper Battle Packs, which cost around $13, compared to a set from another line that costs maybe $8 or $9. I know Lucas likes money and it isn't cheap to make products with the Star Wars name, so I wonder if maybe Lucas is getting a little more greedy in the crappy economy and Hasbro is forced to push those fees onto us.
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Offline efranks

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #156 on: January 4, 2012, 07:44 PM »
I couldn't tell you what Lego paid for the license or if they pay a royalty on each set.  Some of Hasbro's numbers I've seen before but not what the exact royalty fees are.  They're a calculated percentage on net sales but the numbers aren't public.

But, generally Lego tries to keep the sets priced between $0.10 and $0.15 per piece on sets.  Just looking at a handful of different sets of similar sizes, it looks like the SW sets are in that range.  The new Millennium Falcon (7965) is about $0.11 per piece.  The previous two Falcons, 7190 and 4504 had 663 and 985 pieces respectively.  That's $0.15 for 7190 which was released in 2000 and $0.10 for 4504 which was a 2004 release.

Kings Castle (7946) from 2010 had 933 pieces at $99.99 for a per piece price of $0.11.  But if you look at the 2012 Forest Police Station (4440) with 663 pieces at $79.99 it's $0.13 per piece. Neither of those are licensed.  The 2010 Hogwarts Castle (4842) was $129.99 for 1290 pieces for $0.10 pp on a large licensed set.  Diagon Alley was $149.99 for 2025 pieces and it works out to about $0.07 pp.  The Pirates of the Caribbean Black Pearl is $100 for 804 pieces at $0.12.

You definitely lose some value on the smaller licensed sets.  The Clone Trooper Battle pack from this year, at $11.99 for 85 pieces is $0.14 but the Freeing Dobby (4736) Potter set is the same price for 64 pieces which is $0.19 pp.

I think minifigures may play into it also, but I didn't break that out any further, this was all the math I could do for one night.  But, the bottom line is, while licensed sets seem to be slightly more, it's not significant. 

But you also have to keep in mind, and I remind people of this all the time, Lego and Hasbro can't necessarily be directly compared.  A Hasbro Jedi Starfighter is always a JSF, a Lego JSF is a JSF or a Glock or a kite or plastic dildo.  To fill a box with 100 standard bricks, it doesn't cost Lego any more to make them for SW than it does for City.  It's the license and, if there are any, royalties that add in plus you might see the price per piece change if there are exclusive molded pieces or extra minifigures.

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Offline Scockery

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #157 on: January 6, 2012, 09:53 PM »
2012 Deluxe is $19.99 at TRU

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12426367

Of course that's Toy R Us.
« Last Edit: January 6, 2012, 09:54 PM by scockery »

Offline Jeff

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #158 on: January 7, 2012, 12:15 AM »
I thought TRU has been charging $19-20 for the deluxe for a while now... 
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #159 on: January 7, 2012, 01:54 AM »
I thought TRU had been around $17.99 or so for the Deluxe Vehicles.
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Offline Jesse James

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #160 on: January 9, 2012, 01:09 AM »
Yeah it was $17.99...  that was what I paid for my Yavin Sled anyway.  I don't shop much there, ever, but picked up one of those.
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Offline Jeff

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #161 on: January 9, 2012, 09:46 AM »
I thought TRU had been around $17.99 or so for the Deluxe Vehicles.

Yeah it was $17.99...  that was what I paid for my Yavin Sled anyway.  I don't shop much there, ever, but picked up one of those.

You guys on the coast must have been lucky then...  $19-20 is how it has been here since middle of last year - prices were like this:

The tru receipts give an insight into the prices. The 18.99 are sw deluxe fig & vehicle. 19.99 are sw rapid strike vehicle.

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Offline efranks

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #162 on: January 9, 2012, 09:56 AM »
I don't recall if I saw it on a forum or somebody tweeted it, but I somewhere the price of $32.99 was tossed out for Starfighter sized vehicles at TRU.  Might have been in relation to the new sets coming for the EP1 release.

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Offline Jesse James

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #163 on: January 9, 2012, 02:17 PM »
Maybe I'm misremembering...  It was one of the only things I bought via TRU all year and it was picked up for me by someone, but I thought he only asked $17.99 for it.
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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: How Much is Too Much?
« Reply #164 on: January 9, 2012, 02:35 PM »
Around here, the exclusive deluxes at TRU were $17.99 this year, with the regular ones a buck more.

On another note, Wal-Marts in my area that have put out Movie Heroes and CW are $8.96... same as Vintage... a store by my work just put out a case of TPM Vintage, they rang up for $8.96.  If somehow all three lines are the same price at Wal-Mart, I wonder how that will affect things with them all being the same pricepoint.  I'd laugh if Vintage didn't go up, but the other two lines did (maybe that's just me being evil because I don't collect the other two lines).