Author Topic: Drop in Collector Interest?  (Read 44147 times)

Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: Drop in Collector Interest/Figures?
« Reply #150 on: June 2, 2010, 11:19 PM »
But in the POTJ days the exchange rate between the US and Canada was like 2:3.

Or were you adjusting for that???
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Offline Morgbug

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Re: Drop in Collector Interest/Figures?
« Reply #151 on: June 3, 2010, 12:30 AM »
No, that wasn't a factor.  Retailers told us it was, but TRU was just robbing us blind.  Our price has been pretty much stable since the POTJ days, so whenever that was.  The dollar dropped post POTJ and didn't really rise much until after ROTS with no effect on pricing at all.  2002 was when the dollar bottomed out at that 2/3 ratio you mention.  We were as much as $0.10 more than the US dollar and there's been no effect on price. 
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Offline ruiner

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Re: Drop in Collector Interest/Figures?
« Reply #152 on: June 3, 2010, 01:57 PM »
You got uber rare Canadian packaging though.  That's worth a premium.

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Drop in Collector Interest/Figures?
« Reply #153 on: June 3, 2010, 02:56 PM »
That's worth a Pemmican.
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Offline Morgbug

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Re: Drop in Collector Interest/Figures?
« Reply #154 on: June 3, 2010, 08:17 PM »
You got uber rare Canadian packaging though.  That's worth a premium.

It's funny, but I did manage to link up with probably one of the few guys in the world that actually did see it as something worthwhile.  I ended up being friends with a guy in Japan that was really into the trilogo/Canadian packaging and I've been sending him stuff for probably 7-8 years now.  We started trading but eventually I was just shipping it to him at cost.  Some ups, some downs, but ultimately he's helped me out with some Kubrick stuff and some pretty tough Gentle Giant stuff (Black Hole Stormtrooper at cost for example). 

I wouldn't have thought anyone was into that, but somebody was.  Good guy. 
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Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: Drop in Collector Interest/Figures?
« Reply #155 on: June 3, 2010, 11:44 PM »
No, that wasn't a factor.  Retailers told us it was, but TRU was just robbing us blind.  Our price has been pretty much stable since the POTJ days, so whenever that was.  The dollar dropped post POTJ and didn't really rise much until after ROTS with no effect on pricing at all.  2002 was when the dollar bottomed out at that 2/3 ratio you mention.  We were as much as $0.10 more than the US dollar and there's been no effect on price. 

That was the summer I drove through Canada when I left Alaska.  Dude, trying to figure out what I was paying in gas with the both the conversion from gallons to liters plus the money conversion!  I have a degree in Math and thought my head might explode!   ;D
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Offline speedermike

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Drop off in Collectors
« Reply #156 on: June 29, 2010, 11:51 AM »
One of my thoughts is that at this time, there is no one specific Star Wars type of fan.  Some like OT, some like the PT, some like the OT, and PT.  Some only know the games, some only know the books, some follow the comics.  So while there still may be tons of fans, their interests are so spread out, that it's hard for that fanbase to support certain products.

My second thought revolves around Hasbro essentially shutting down SW from about May to August.  It seems that they've done this for the last 3 years, to give room to their other properties. That's close to 3 months, 1/4 of the year.  (I wonder if they have predicted a 1/4 drop in sales as well?) That's a long time to not go looking for product, and it gives people a chance to get interested in other things.  I know that I can go long times without SW stuff, so when new things hit, I don't always snatch them up.

« Last Edit: June 29, 2010, 12:14 PM by speedermike »
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Offline Brian

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Re: Drop in Collector Interest?
« Reply #157 on: July 3, 2010, 09:29 AM »
I think those are both excellent points, speedermike.  Star Wars collectors seem to be all over the place these days, like you said.  Some are really digging CW, some are content just to watch the show.  Some are dropping more and more of the PT stuff as we get further out from those movies, and some are just getting more selective altogether.  I think there is a segment even that couldn't care less about the OT stuff (granted, likely a minority), which is really surprising to me.  Although I still buy pretty much all of it (at least all of Legacy/Vintage, and some of CW), I can say my priorities are starting to change a bit as well.  I know, as cool as I think they are, I'm starting to stop with the CW vehicle stuff (aside from the Deluxe line, or something that appeared in the prequels like Slave 1), just because I'm running out of room at this point, which I think many people are.  I look at it like, would I rather have room for another Jedi Starfighter or the new Snowspeeder/Cloud Car.  The OT stuff takes precedence for me, and after that I just see what I have room or budget for.

The SW drought is a big factor as well I think.  As much as we still talk about it here and everything, I do think it allows people to "forget" about Star Wars for a large chunk of the year.  Like you said, people move on to different things in the time being, and maybe don't come back - or at least not as big as they were before.  We say it every year, but I really hope we don't see the big break next year.  Having a wave every month to 6 weeks would be good, and keep people interested more.  We'll have to see though, as Hasbro has a lot of movie-related lines likely coming next year with Thor, Captain America, Transformers, and possibly X-Men: First Class.  That often seems to make a difference when pushing SW to the backburner during the summer.

Offline CloneF13Y35

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Re: Drop in Collector Interest?
« Reply #158 on: July 3, 2010, 11:29 AM »
Well for me, several things factor in. IF I had the extra money I'm sure I'd be buying more things. But with only one income it just isn't feasable for me. PLus, now that my son is old enough to like a lot of things, I primarily buy for him. I haven't actually bought 'me' anything in a long time. If he's not into it, I usually don't get it so I can get him something. But between us, he likes Clone Wars and mostly the Troopers more than the Jedi's but he did want Mace Windu for his recent Bday plus a Commando Droid. I also got him the Anakin stap battle set at christmas and an Obi-wan. So he only has three CW jedis; he said he sorta wanted Ahsoka but not sure. He also got a Dooku from a walgreens pharmacy store that was on sale for $4. He does have regular BDs and SBDs plus a couple Droidekas. We have more OT stuff like vehicles and figures than PT. PLus he likes legos A LOT, so we have several lego SW ships with their mini-figs taking up space. I wantd the BMF a couple years back but he didn't and we didn't have the room, then at christams he decided he wanted the At-te so he got that. Now he wants the new Bat-at and I know we'll get that! So we're kinda all over the place with what we are intersted in.
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: Drop in Collector Interest?
« Reply #159 on: July 3, 2010, 05:06 PM »
While the interwebz seem to be burning up with reports of The Vintage Collection being found in TRU stores, I'm biding my time and waiting.  Call it lack of interest if you will.  I think I'm just trying to save some money since the prices are kind of high at TRU while they've got figures and relatively few other chains do have them in stock.
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Offline Pete_Fett

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Re: Drop in Collector Interest?
« Reply #160 on: July 3, 2010, 06:29 PM »
While the interwebz seem to be burning up with reports of The Vintage Collection being found in TRU stores, I'm biding my time and waiting.  Call it lack of interest if you will.  I think I'm just trying to save some money since the prices are kind of high at TRU while they've got figures and relatively few other chains do have them in stock.

I agree with you Nick - if it weren't for the fact that TRU has a been running a BOGO on all SW product this week which resulted in me getting the Vintage ESB wave for $7.49 instead of what seems to be the TRU price of $9.99. I have to almost wonder if they KNEW that the Vintage was going to be put out during the sale and they purposely set the higher price just so they weren't taking a huge loss on them.

The only reason I even picked up CW #01 - CW #19 and SL #01 - #12 now, as opposed to waiting was because I was buying each figure for $5.62 instead of $7.49. I think it will be a long while before any of the Shadows of the Dark Side product is available for that price - probably not even until the holiday shopping season.
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