Author Topic: Did OTC Do Well?  (Read 7455 times)

Offline CorranHorn

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Did OTC Do Well?
« on: December 30, 2004, 02:31 AM »
Ok so while walking the aisles today looking for clearance items, I got to thinking, was the Original Trilogy Collection line successful? In my little corner of Chicagoland, the only OTC figures left to be clearanced out where the Bespin and Endor Generals waves. In fact for 2 or 3 weeks prior to X-Mas, these were the only OTC figures you could find at the major retailers. So did all of those recarded figures actually sell? In the end was there a market for these figures within the hobby, or did the DVD's actually help out? Here's some tidbits of how OTC moved in my area, I'd like to hear how it did in yours. My concern is if Hasbro can deem this a success, they will continue this concept to the point where retailers and customers will lose interest in the line.

* Except for the Dagobah wave case, the first 3 months saw OTC figures fly off the shelves. The local Wal-Mart had a centerpiece display with several dozen OTC figures (all recarded figs), within a day all the figs had been sold and the centerpiece was dismantled.

* The Bespin and Generals wave saw almost no distribution in the area until 2-3 weeks prior to X-Mas, now they're the only OTC figs that can be found on clearance. The oldest OTC figure I can now find is a lone Dagobah Luke at an Osco Drug store.

* Of the 3 vehicles, only the OTC Falcon can be found on clearance at Target and Walmart. TIEs & X-Wings are non-existant, unless you head to TRU which of course isn't dropping prices on anything.

* VOTC is where there's a big catch, TRU still has tons of ANH figures, while Target and Walmart are clearancing ESB figures (no C-3PO of course #$!^$#^!  >:(), despite each once having tons of ANH figs. The 12" VOTC doesn't appear to have moved at all, as I still see stacks of those all around.

* Won't even talk about TRU exclusives, the TRU I hit today had at least a dozen of each of their OTC related exclusives, sans the Y-Wing.

So I kinda think OTC was successful, there was enough product to be found and much of it was purchased. Now will Hasbro see that and go "yes, recarded figures sell like hotcakes, let's do it again once Episode 3 has come and gone" or can we get back to having all new figures in each wave?
« Last Edit: December 30, 2004, 02:32 AM by CorranHorn »
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Offline JediMAC

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #1 on: December 30, 2004, 02:55 AM »
I'd have to say it did pretty damned well, aside from perhaps at TRU, which seems to have just recently started stocking the stuff (like in the past month).  But the Targets, WMs and Kmarts around here really managed to blow through most of their OTC stock, suprisingly.  Granted, some of them hung around for a little while, but with the exception of Lobot, pretty much everything eventually moved.  Not even any around to score on clearance this week...

TRU is a different story though.  They didn't even seem to carry the OTC figures (at least here in SoCal) until maybe a month ago, when they started getting in shitloads of the the Bib/Hoth Vader waves.  Considering the other stores had been selling them for a month prior, TRU is now typically stuck with their usual pegwarmers now.  Same goes for VOTC at their stores.  They hardly had jack until the last month or two, after everyone had already gotten their fill elsewhere...

But even a lot of the somewhat pegwarming VOTC figures like Han, Ben, Lando eventually all dried up at most stores.  Kinda glad to see it, but it's pretty much just left empty pegs at most Targets and WMs for the past month or so now.  Still very few POTC sitings to fill their empty gaps...

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #2 on: December 30, 2004, 03:22 AM »
Success is in the eye of the beholder...

Episode One, by some standards, was a success...  Hasbro sold lots of product.  They made lots of $ (didn't lose).  They didn't meet projections though, and the abysmal sales at retail wound up causing a major distrust between Hasbro and their retail customers.

Saga the same thing could be said...  Even worse perhaps since Hasbro did buy-backs which are really unheard of unless the company's kissing mucho ass to keep in good with their retailers...

OTC did seem to do well, but what kind of volume of product sold, ya know?  I know that not a single OTC figure was "overshipped" in my area except perhaps the new figures like the Dagobah and Bespin waves...  They shipped, reshipped, and reshipped again...  Those figures didn't sell well then either (still have tons of all 3 Bespin wave, though the CCP's disappearing, and the Dagobah Wave still lingers some too).  The repacks seemed so sporatically packed/shipped (some one-per case and such) that it actually controlled their possibility of pegwarming...  Of course Han did, and many of those figures just released on Saga did sit a little bit, but they moved...

The product moved well though...  I don't know what Hasbro was WANTING to move in OTC though.  Given the DVD releases though, the big "blitz" surrounding those...  I just don't know.  Part of me thinks they had a higher goal than what got out there.  Retail seemed slow to put the product out, they seemed hesitant to go all out with stocking their shelves too.  That leads me to believe that the OTC line was no better than POTJ or other non-movie year lines, but that expectations were perhaps higher than a regular non-movie year...  If that's the case, and the line didn't meet its projections but it still moved, then it's a success in a sense that it didn't turn retail OFF to SW as a brand, but it didn't produce the $ they'd maybe hoped would tie in with the DVD's.

As a consumer though, empty pegs equals happiness because it generally means the calm before a good storm...  Of course, we could see massive gluts (given the time of year we're in now though, I am not counting on this) of the waves leading into the INEVITABLE massive glut of E3 product.

The line I'd say was a bigger success than OTC was VOTC.  I think Wal-Mart's maybe not viewing it as such (their own fault of course), but the VOTC totally flew through Toys R Us and Target shelves out my way...  WM even moved it at MOST stores.  The one store I go to didn't move it as fast as others though, and was more indicative of stories of massive gluts of product and such.

Target and TRU have to have loved the OTC.  I was at a TRU tonight that didn't have a single figure on the pegs...  Target had no VOTC, and the WM's I was at neither one had more than 5 VOTC on their pegs.

OTC was dwindling at the WM's because of the clearances now, and Target was down to just Lobot OTC figures (10 maybe).

It's interesting to speculate what Hasbro's going to say (or not say) about the brand in coming months...  OTC was a good line I think, even with the repacks, but I think for once that Hasbro smartly packed the figures to not clog things...  Planned or accidental, it seemed to work.  The irony then is that the NEW figures in the line were what clogged shelves.  Oh the power of the carded collector...  apparantly.
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Offline Ben

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #3 on: December 30, 2004, 04:13 AM »
The local Target didn't get any OTC figures until a few weeks ago, and it was the Endor Generals wave.

VOTC SUCKED here. ANH was fairly easy to find, ESB showed at TRU and one WM, and ROTJ only showed at Sam Goody and Target. I did manage to get a carded set, a loose set sans 3PO, and four loose Stormtroopers.

I still don't have a few OTC figures, and I'm not sure if I'm going to bother getting them. I'm missing the repacked Snowtrooper, Tusken Raider, Jawas, Lando Skiff, Leia (#9), and the Imperial Trooper. Which is pretty damn good, considering these few months brought out 38 figures plus the Post-OTC waves.

There aren't very many figures here left that aren't Endor Generals or Bespin Leia, and with WM's blowing theirs out for $3 a crack, Target's going to be the only one with any OTC figures left. TRU never bothered stocking OTC, but they got on the overpriced gravy train with the Naboo and Coruscant waves.
Surprisingly, $7 figures aren't moving. I think Hasbro and their retail partners are in for a rude awakening in April.
« Last Edit: December 30, 2004, 04:14 AM by Hasbro's Missing Integrity »
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Offline Muftak

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #4 on: December 30, 2004, 11:21 AM »
OTC is nearly wiped out from my area as well, indicating a good seller and a successful campaign. In fact, the only stuff that is really sitting here is the Hoth/Repack Saga waves from early in the year. OTC came and left on top of them.

It does make me leery of the lesson Hasbro will take from the success. While repacks may sell (the best of the best of the past nine years, really, the essential characters distilled in their best versions) what I think helped the line more was the instant variety. These were not 3x4-figures-a-case waves. When figures shipped in more than one case, they were mostly one-pers. The figures that did wind up sitting (generals, Bespin Leia, early Dagobah) were the heavily-packed ones. It may have made for a tough time finding figures, but when a new case was put out, chances were someone would buy the whole case. That's what made this line move, end of story.

VOTC was same-old-same-old, first assortment massively overshipped, subsequent assortments were harder to find. It all worked out (just as it does every year), but can't we finally understand (Hasbro and retailers, here "we" means "you") that to continue this practice, the first assortment must be shipped with a wider selection of figures. If that means holding up on sending them out until production can catch up, then you need to do a little tweaking of your lead time. It will result in better sales.

Offline CHEWIE

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #5 on: December 30, 2004, 11:26 AM »
In the St. Louis area, OTC did outstanding.  The only turd peg/shelf warmers were the following -

VOTC Han - too many were shipped, not enough of the ESB/ROTJ waves

Cantina Han - or whatever you want to call it, this figure has been rehashed too many times and was a shelf turd for a while

Lobot - they have all seem to have sold, but were warming pegs for a while at a lot of places

Falcon - too overpriced - stil a lot at Walmart, Target and TRU stores

X-Wing - sold now, but sat a while, would have been better if a Cloud Car was released

Slave I - should have been a few buck cheaper, some Targets never seemed to get them in, others got in a ton

Cantina Set 2 - talk about bad - the first one was great with Kitik Keedkak and another Wuher was nice, but the second set is just plain bad - a couple of other figures to replace Obi Wan and Ponda Baba would have really helped this set a lot - dust collecting at every Kmart in the area

I would say this stuff sold a heck of a lot better than any other line to date... Hasbro definitely came out ahead on these.  I hope the line makes a comeback, but with a lot more *new* sculpts, although the rehashes did sell pretty darn well.  There were some particular figures that were very hard to find:

- VOTC Stormtrooper
- Jawas
- Tusken Raider
- Jedi Luke
- Stormtrooper
- Scout Trooper

:P

Offline Darth Broem

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #6 on: December 30, 2004, 11:51 AM »
I think overall OTC did pretty good here.  The only stuff that is really hanging around is the Endor wave.  Everything else has basically been sold for the most part. 

VOTC is going to stay around my area stores forever I think.  Especially the first wave and a few of the Landos. 

Pretty good for a bunch of repacks that a lot people whined about initially. 

Offline Morgbug

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2004, 02:34 PM »
From a Canadian perspective (Dale, Jesse, Koda can disagree as they see fit):

OTC would have to be listed as a success overall.  I was able to find all of the figures on Canadian cardback, though not in abundance. 

- the Dagobah wave was overshipped, but I think that was a reasonable thing to do with four new figures in it, including a variant (Handstand Luke). 

-Vader waves were undershipped up here.  I managed to find them all in multiples, but I'd say my name is dirt in my home town.  I did send them out for cost or straight trade in all cases, but some local guys would have missed out pretty easily.  This, however, is the case for most toys around here, ordering is pretty limited, so either be there at the right time or don't go at all. 

-hardest to find figure on Canadian cardback?  Stormtrooper, hands down.  I think the scanning tech also sold out incredibly fast, but I actually saw enough to leave on the pegs.  Not so for the stormtrooper.  I found two and promptly shipped one to JuvyD and one to Japan.  chuckles' still bugging me for one. 

-Like the US, the generals wave seems to have overshipped, coming in last and just before Christmas in greater abundance than any other wave.  The ESB wave was similarly abundant but seems to have sold better with a Vader and repainted Gam Guard.  Still, the generals/Han At-St are littering the pegs at TRU, even after a buy one, get one half off sale just prior to Christmas. 

-VOTC?  What VOTC?  Ok, so again, my name is dirt locally, but most people would not have found the ROTJ wave unless they were out shopping over a specific three day period in early December.  One retailer (Superstore) carried the ANH/ESB waves, with much more of the ANH showing up.  Luke/Han/Ben/Yoda hang in general abundance, but low enough numbers to not be viewed as a failure.  TRU and Zellers both carried the ROTJ wave, Zellers carrying many more cases than TRU.  But were you not in the store at precisely the right time, you'd be out of luck.  Stormtrooper, Boba, Vader, Chewbacca, R2 and 3PO did not sit on the shelves for a period greater than a few hours.  A success?  Yes, resounding locally.  Stores still have a few hanging about but nothing anyone wants - Han, Luke, Yoda, Ben and Lando.  What happened with Leia though, why was she so hard to find?  Another ugly Leia figure combined with low shipping numbers? 

-As opposed to the US, none of our retailers that carry these things ever really clearances.  TRU has occasional sales (something that strikes me as new, I don't recall them doing this prior to this year) but not Superstore, Zellers or even Walmart.  Wally willl clearance after a big glut, but not now, they'll just let the Bossk's, IG-88's and the rest sit there for a while, a long, long while. 

-I'm not real optimistic about the post-OTC waves showing up here.  They may, in limited numbers (a good thing for the Sly wave) but nothing major.  If the past experience with preview figures is accurate, I'll need to be at TRU at exactly the right time to find those figures as well. 

OTC = success but lots of peg warmers, notably the newer figures
VOTC = resounding success but for the over shipment of ANH wave
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Offline Scott

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2004, 03:09 PM »
RE: OTC

I'll eat some crow and say that I can't believe people bought this crap.  I guess spiffy packaging is enough for people to throw out the money for all of them.  I saved a bunch of money and got some nice figures in the VOTC and the first two waves of OTC

And please don't think I'm ragging on anyone for buying, I realize there are a lot of completists out there and they were phenomenal looking...I'm just pissed we didn't get 38 new figures instead of 7.

RE: VOTC

This was piss poor around here.  I saw ESB once, ROTJ Variant Case once and that's it.  All Wal Marts around here are FULL of ANH figures that won't move for a year.  Hasbro screwed the pooch on this.  The figures and concept and everything was great and I hope a retailer picks up the idea as an exclusive and it keeps going

Offline JangoJeff

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2004, 03:27 PM »
While I agree with you on the fact that we didn't get to many "new" figures in the OTC. I have to confess that right before the OTC line was annouced I was close to retiring from SW collecting but when I saw the packaging my interest was renewed!..
There has been debate as to the DVD factoring into the OTC line up apparently Hasbro was rushed to create the line since they were planning on a DVD release after the ROTS had been out so there were rushed into creating the line and so  we didn't get that many new ones! The Dagobah and Bespin waves had already been announced so those were included in the OTC line.
I can't confirm the DVD rush rumor but it would certainly make sense to me...
Overall I was pleased with the OTC line. :)

Offline CHEWIE

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2004, 04:27 PM »
Overall I'm pleased with the OTC too JangoJeff.

Scott - your idea for an exclusive retailer for VOTC might be the best bet - if TRU were to be exclusives for these, I think we would all be happy and able to get them in decent numbers for each assortment. 

 :P

Offline jokabofe

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #11 on: December 30, 2004, 10:44 PM »
Scott - your idea for an exclusive retailer for VOTC might be the best bet - if TRU were to be exclusives for these, I think we would all be happy and able to get them in decent numbers for each assortment. 

An exclusive retailer would be a good idea, if they were to continue the line. But I would have to say that TRU would be the absolute worst retailer to go with, at least in my neck of the woods. The TRU's around here are so poorly stocked, and poorly managed, and the employees are so clueless, that any kind of "exclusive" that ends up in TRU's hands causes nothing but nightmares for me.

I found the Silver Vader once. I saw the Y-Wing once. Yet, every time I go to Target, they have the Slave-1 with Boba Fett. OK, maybe that's a bad example, considering that the Y-Wing was basically a new ship and figure (or at least a new deco ship and figure), while the Slave-1 was just a repack, but TRU seems to be the worst at stocking the shelves with Star Wars product period, exclusive or not.

On the other hand, I had a hell of time finding those stupid cup sets at Target, and had to get some online help. I've still to this day not seen Leia in a store anywhere.

But back to the original question: Was OTC a success? Did it do well?

It depends on who you ask. If you ask Hasbro and most of the retailers out there, the answer would probably be "Yes", since like most others here have said, it was very tough to find certain figures in the beginning, and even now there are still several figures that I have not seen, and will probably have to resort to buying at inflated prices on ebay.

If you ask collectors, you would probably get a mixed reaction. I, for one, hated the OTC line. Yes, it was pretty, and brought back some nostalgic feelings, no doubt. But for Hasbro to have the balls to put 7 new figures into a line of 38? That's ridiculous. I know, I know, no one says I have to buy them all (except for that little George Lucas-looking devil that sits on my left shoulder when I'm out on a toy run), but regardless. There is no reason to keep releasing the same figures over and over and over again and again and again in new packaging. There are so many other figures that could have been made instead. Or at least re-release different figures, for crying out loud. How many Cantina Han figures does one need? Really??

And this "re-packing" trend continues into the Post-OTC figures hitting stores now. This is just insane. So now I have to go out and buy yet another differently carded version of Cantina Han. OK, so I don't have to, but you know I'm gonna. And so does Hasbro.

Offline CorranHorn

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #12 on: December 31, 2004, 12:31 AM »
RE: OTC

I'll eat some crow and say that I can't believe people bought this crap.  I guess spiffy packaging is enough for people to throw out the money for all of them. 

I didn't expect OTC to do well myself when it was announced, it seemed like a pretty bad idea. But I believe the consensus is overall it was a success as it appears that the same stuff nationwide remains, but most items moved through quickly. Dave's reminder of the recarded figures in the Cantina Post-OTC wave is a bit scary as it shows that Hasbro will be willing to continue this. Perhaps if they were to do so with figures not recarded yet, like they did with the Sandtrooper, then things could work out on a low scale. And yes the spiffy packaging did get me a bit, it caused me to buy Bossk despite the fact I had refused to get him when he initially came out in the Saga line. But I did refuse to buy other stuff down the road like Jawas and the Snowtrooper, does that save me?  ;)
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Offline CHEWIE

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #13 on: December 31, 2004, 01:03 AM »
Based in the St. Louis area at least, TRU does a very good job of stocking their exclusives.  I can compare some of their exclusives in the past that I can think of -

TRU

POTJ AT-ST
POTJ TIE Interceptor
SAGA Landspeeder
SAGA Dagobah X-Wing
SAGA Red Leader X-Wing
12" Mace Windu
OTC Y-Wing
OTC Vader's TIE
OTC Jedi Council sets x 4

All of these items at TRU I have seen several times around their release time...


WALMART

POTJ Tie Bomber
POTJ Snowspeeder

I only saw each of these once or twice at Walmart (and I hit 2-3 different Walmarts several times a week).


TARGET

POTF2 Y-Wing
POTF2 Skiff
POTJ B-Wing
SAGA A-Wing

The only of these items I ever saw at a Target was the B-Wing 3-4 times - the others I was forced to get on the secondary market... and yeah I am pathetic, I go to 2 different Target stores a few times a week too.   :-[


I won't go into Kmart/KB exclusives as there's really no reason too...

Anyways, the only place based on my experience since exclusives started around 1999 that I would recommend at all has been TRU.  For non-exclusives though, they are hit or miss.

 :P



Offline Diddly

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Re: Did OTC Do Well?
« Reply #14 on: December 31, 2004, 05:02 PM »
I don't know, I guess it was a mix around here.

OTC:

Only certain waves showed up here. I was able to snag a few figs that I wanted, and the ones I couldn't find, I bought online. You can still find them all over, as they probably won't move until April. :-\

VOTC:

Holy hell, I agree with you guys who hated it. The stores bought WAY too much ANH. Everything except Han sold, so there are millions of Hans just clogging the pegs. I only saw ESB once (Can still get Lando though), and ROTJ never. Thank heavens for e-tailers!
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