Hasbro Q&A Sessions

[Darth Broem]

I think they know but just do not want to admit it to everybody.  Or like it's been said before the stores bought the supply so it's all good for them at the moment. 

[Jeff]

The Hasbro QnA for JD from 12/1 has been posted...

- Can we pleeeeease get an Eopie re-release?
- X-Wing Video Game Titaniums?
- Are we making a difference in your lives?

[Darth Slothus]

I thought specific Q's about beasts were not allowed by our staff because Hasbro was getting too many beast related Q's? Oh and look, there goes yet another one on the Hasbro QandA thread. I see--

The other 2 Q's are nice--I'm actually impressed with Hasbro's answers lately and am less critical of them because of it.

Since the Titanium Question and Beast Question are "questions of a specific nature" has it been decided by Jedidefender that those get forwarded now?

Since Hasbro answered them did they change their stance on it too?

DS

[Matt]

It's time for the latest installment of the:

Worst Question of the Week Award!

Only there's not gonna be a Worst Question of the Week Award anymore.  I've decided that something such as a "Worst Question Award" projects a way-more negative vibe, in this season of peace on Earth and goodwill toward men, than I'm interested in, so no more WQotWA.  Sorry.

However, there's still a need to point out the, shall we say, more-wanting questions that are still being asked, week-in and week-out, so I give you. . .

The Best Question of the Week (with a dose of heavily-implied sarcasm) Award!

Are there any special plans to keep this line alive and well after the 30th Anniversary celebrations are done next year? (ST, 12/08/06)*

You bet!

---

Good question, Sandtroopers!  We had been considering packing it in after next year, but then your question came along, and we thought "hey, maybe this whole 'Star Wars action figures' thing has legs after all."  So we decided to keep the line going, at least for the time being.  So thank you, Sandtroopers, for saving the line!  Your inquisitive nature has proven to be a beacon of enlightenment throughout the Star Wars collecting community.

[Paul]

That IS the best question of the week.  I think that particular site might run away with the whole Question Superbowl.....

Some disturbing revelations was that Hasbro now considers "Star Wars Transformers" as a "CORE" line...right along side Galactic Heroes and 3 3/4in figures...with Unleashed "Mini's" being the 4th in the Quartet of Star Wars Goodness.....

[Jeff]

The Hasbro QnA for JD from 12/8 has been posted...

- Who are those Endor Rebels?
- Gray DS Trooper in 2007?
- Any Poncho for Concept Fett?

And, a note:  Due to the upcoming Holidays, Hasbro will be taking a Q&A break. Look for the Weekly Q&A to resume on January 12th!

[Matt]

We're just a couple of sites in at this point, and I can already tell that I'm gonna have a hell of a hard time choosing the BQotW(wadoh-is)A after it's all said and done. . .

[Jesse James]

We're just a couple of sites in at this point, and I can already tell that I'm gonna have a hell of a hard time choosing the BQotW(wadoh-is)A after it's all said and done. . .

I'm betting you and I are on the same page with one question in particular...  I couldn't believe it was posted when I read it.  I knew the answer before I finished the question.  It really beat a dead horse.

[ruiner]

The playset question?  I can't believe someone had the balls to ask that again...and then go on and on about how other companies do it so it must be right.

 

[Jesse James]

It was another week where some interesting stuff was revealed or hinted at, at least, but then there's some just routine badness every week too anymore...  I'm all about sticking it to Hasbro when they deserve it, but at this point I think certain things have been explained sufficiently as to why they don't do them and there's no sense wasting a question on it weekly.

Unleashed are a similar bird...  Why ask at this point?  They said they're expensive to tool and risky investments at that, so that's that...  Makes sense.

[DoctorPadawan]

I'm all about sticking it to Hasbro when they deserve it, but at this point I think certain things have been explained sufficiently as to why they don't do them and there's no sense wasting a question on it weekly.

I'm right there with you, Jesse.  God knows I spend a great deal of time (on these very forums) taking the piss out of Hasbro, but the lack of reading comprehension with so many repeat questions week after week continues to baffle me.  You might not agree with the answers Hasbro gives, but if they've stated (and you'll have to correct me on this ballpark figure, Matt) 12 times that they have no plans to do playsets, no interest in doing playsets, and that retail isn't buying into playsets, why keep asking?  At this point, it's less to do with beating the dead horse than it is ripping it open with a machete and playing with the entrails while singing showtunes in a muumuu.

I love the 7" Unleashed line as much as anyone, and I wish that it would have continued, but Hasbro has, for reasons legitimate or not, decided they aren't interested in it as an ongoing thing.  I have accepted that fact and I have moved on, as have many others.  The "WE NEED PLAYSETS HASBRO IS DUMB" crowd needs to do the same.

[Matt]

You guys are stealing all my thunder!

The Best Question of the Week (with a dose of heavily-implied sarcasm) Award!

I know the Q&A has had a lot of new vehicle and playset questions and you have told us why you don't make them, but fans are not convinced by these reasons because, they walk down the toy aisles seeing other large toy companies and small companies (who have less funding and resources than Hasbro, make new molds without the issues Hasbro has with making new molds) filling the shelves with new vehicles and playsets for their toy lines, which the retailers obviously don't mind selling in their shops and are being bought; many items could be listed in one store alone. GI Joe being an example of the outcome of this. I would of thought as a toy maker, Hasbro would want to constantly put out new product not just new packaging to keep it fresh, to be Innovative and up to date in your chosen business. For example Hasbro has said no to build-a-figure suggestions, but the next Buffy wave of figures will have it so it must be a good idea. This is the point most fans don’t get Hasbro turned it down; though the company will experiment with items like Choppers and Playskool etc.

As well as fans, Kids want new Vehicles and Playsets to put their favourite figures in, as we all did when we were kids. Collectors will only buy so many Jedi Starfighter repaints before they've had enough and most kids will only want one of each different vehicle, again as we all did when we were young, because we wanted new ships not the same we already had but in a different colour.

Sorry if this sounds more like a rant than a question, but this is the frustration many fans have, we feel let down compared to other fans and kids. You have given us some great figures and battle packs but what about the rest? My question boils down to how come you give reasons, saying you can't do something or you say retailers have an issue with shelf space, when other Toy companies are doing it and retailers are stocking it? (YF, 12/15/06)

Just because other companies are doing something does not mean it is a successful business model, or that even if it successful for them does not mean that it would be successful for Hasbro or for Star Wars to pursue. We cannot speak for other Hasbro brands, because they have different strategic objectives and make a decision to allocate their resources against the objectives that are going to be important for them to gain momentum with kids. However, we are committed to making new vehicles and that has been well-discussed, as vehicles are an important part of the play pattern. The development of playsets in an inordinately expensive, time-consuming and resource intensive endeavor that has not proven, in Star Wars, to be worth the investment. It literally means that we would be doing less of other things like figures or vehicles, and we do not think that this tradeoff is worth it.

----

"Hasbro, we know how to run your business better than you do, and we know that making playsets is like making a license to print money, and we know that your entire business philosophy actually revolves around us (even though you've repeatedly said it doesn't), and although we know that this question has been asked (and answered) multiple times throughout the Q & A sessions, we're gonna ask it again anyway, because we're naive enough to think that if we ask it just one more time, that maybe you'll snap out of your non-playset-making coma, and fulfill all of our wildest playset fantasies, no matter how many times you've said that they're bad for your business, because the pirate ship from the pirate movie is selling really great at my K-Mart down the street, and surely something like a $50 "gray hallway with sliding door" playset from a thirty-year-old movie would sell just as well in today's market, so we know that you're actually just lying to us, because you know that you'd make a ton of money with such a playset, but you won't make any because you just like being mean to us collectors more than you like making a profit on something."

[Diddly]

There's a bitchfest/jerk-off-over-playsets-fest over at the Yakface Forums, and I'm trying to convince them to stop beating the dead horse and accepting the fact that Hasbro doesn't want to make playsets and that nobody wants to buy them.

Then I get great replies like this:

That is a little defeatists!

[Scott]

Do people not have any idea how basic economics in this world works?

Profit Margin= (Price Sold to Retailers - Costs/Revenue)

#1 Retail has a huge say in how much peg/shelf space you are going to have
#2 The costs to make any new thing is huge...damn huge.  Ships, figures, playsets, unleashed, choppers etc etc etc
#3 Every company that sells stuff on the face of the earth does so with a profit margin in mind on its products.  If its under x% we don't make it and if its over x% we do
#4 Do you think a multibillion dollar company like Hasbro doesn't have this raw data?  Doesn't know exactly how many greatest hits and battles figures they've sold to Joe Completist and knows what their costs are to make an item. 
#5 Hasbro paid out the NOSE for the right to make Star Wars **** and that **** is a fixed X per item, it is exactly why other companies can make playsets and vehicles and Hasbro can not.
#6 Retail also needs to maintain a healthy profit margin over and above what Hasbro sells it to them for...with the added costs of new tooling and the above mentioned license fee, we're probably talking $50-$100 per little box of love.  I go to quite a few toy stores around here, I don't see many $50 items on the shelf.


Its asinine that this **** keeps coming up over and over.  Unless and retailer specifically asks for these things no matter what the cost, they are not going to happen.  In the end they have to sell said **** as well.  Do you think Casual Kid or Soccer Mommy is going to pick up a scaled and accurate Star Destroyer Bridge playset for $100?  No ******* way.  I probably would but I make up only a small portion of the buying public.  Well chosen this week Matty B, I realize it was probably a tough call though

[Matt]

Do people not have any idea how basic economics in this world works?

From the above-linked Yakface thread:

What I would idealy like for a playset is for the custom work that the customizer that did the star destroyer bridge (pictured in this thread) and death star levels, done by the same customizer, but packed up and shiped to hasbro for them to make a master mold to produce on a mass scale.

Think I'm gonna vote "no."