Author Topic: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line  (Read 48165 times)

Offline Jeff

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #135 on: January 16, 2018, 02:36 PM »
Paraphrasing Adam P. from EE, they passed on picking up the Emperor since it is currently being offered at Target.

Guess I am going to have to get that Target 3-pack after all.  I was hoping to avoid that because I know my OCD would need me to get a 2nd so I'd have two of the ERGs.  ::)

Meh, I guess I'll wait for clearance and hope to find a couple for 50% off...
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Offline McMetal

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #136 on: January 16, 2018, 02:40 PM »
Wish there were some more Rebels figures they could have rescued... :(
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Offline Nicklab

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #137 on: January 16, 2018, 04:46 PM »
Seriously?  Uggghhhh


I think that situations like this are only happening because the release schedule for the movie has been so close together.  The merchandising hasn't had any time to breathe.  Case in point?  I just saw a bunch of TLJ basic figures.... HANGING RIGHT NEXT TO DOZENS OF ROGUE ONE FIGURES.  Granted, it was at a Toys R Us store.  But these lines haven't had ample time to develop at retail and sell through at a reasonable rate. 

So now we get this.  Great.
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Offline Darby

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #138 on: January 16, 2018, 05:37 PM »
I saw this coming from a mile away. First, you have the even in 1997 it was bad move of placing one new figure in an assortment. You have the compressed release schedule. You have the fact that despite making $$$ at the box office, these toys aren't moving like they used to, or even like LEGOs. Kids go for LEGO and role play. Adults for BS and more expensive options. Hasbro seems stuck in the middle, dying from a thousand cuts of slicensing, the shrinking of brick and motar and a clinging to outdated release patterns.

If it's going to be a movie a year from here on out, Hasbro needs to jettison assortments. It needs to be here's the fall/winter release for the movie, here's the spring for the DVD and that's it. No waves 2 and 3, no bottlenecking, no spacing **** out. Here it is. Nice big supply, sells out, it's gone. Moving on. It's that or oblivion. I don't know why some people think Vintage is going to solve any of this. It would be nice, but TVC went away last time in part because of what's happening right now. The last wave was cast off to Amazon/EE/etc. and no matter how cool the cards are, the line will fail if they can't sort out distribution. Distribution has really been the issue for Hasbro across its ranges and brands going back to at least 2008, 2009; it was a regular topic of concern in the old Q&As and I remember talking to DePriest about it at NYCC 2011. We've got it figured out, he said.

5 POA is not the issue; 6 inch is not the issue. The line would be dead if either failed. The issue is Hasbro doesn't know its market, because either market is changing too fast for it to accommodate, or they haven't learned to change with it.

My two cents.

Offline Rob

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #139 on: January 16, 2018, 06:00 PM »
If it's going to be a movie a year from here on out, Hasbro needs to jettison assortments.


Well Han Solo is in May, then there's nothing for 19 months...

Offline Dave

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #140 on: January 16, 2018, 06:06 PM »
If it's going to be a movie a year from here on out, Hasbro needs to jettison assortments. It needs to be here's the fall/winter release for the movie, here's the spring for the DVD and that's it. No waves 2 and 3, no bottlenecking, no spacing **** out. Here it is. Nice big supply, sells out, it's gone. Moving on. It's that or oblivion.

I 100% agree. 

I think Hasbro is getting themselves in to this mess by trying to have Rogue One assortments, then TLJ assortments, then Solo assortments, all with different DCPIs (or whatever they're called at other retailers).  They should just do with 3.75" figures what they do with 6" figures and just keep the same packaging and keep rolling from movie to movie.  You can feather in figures from older movies but when it comes to a movie release you can have those assortments line up with the movie, or do dedicated shippers with specific movie heavy assortments for the retailers.

Offline Darby

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #141 on: January 16, 2018, 06:09 PM »
I don't know a semi-break helps either when apparently Hasbro intends to continue including items like the Rathtar in the creature assortment for Han Solo. If that assortment gets released at all, it will be hampered from the start, and perpetuate the cycle. I could be wrong about all of it, I'd be glad to be.

Offline CorranHorn

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #142 on: January 16, 2018, 08:00 PM »
I don't know a semi-break helps either when apparently Hasbro intends to continue including items like the Rathtar in the creature assortment for Han Solo. If that assortment gets released at all, it will be hampered from the start, and perpetuate the cycle. I could be wrong about all of it, I'd be glad to be.

The refresh of the Rathar set for the Solo line after releasing it as a 3 per case of 4, shows that you're not wrong about Hasbro. 
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Offline Darby

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #143 on: January 16, 2018, 09:30 PM »
It sucks because I'm positive in general about what Hasbro does.

I appreciate they went back this year to standard themes we've always had in SW in some form - creatures, vehicles, multi-packs etc. Some choices are curious - Rathtar, no single carded Praetorian Guard in the 5POA line - but once you get past the products to their distribution, things break down. I don't know the ins and outs of Hasbro's thinking obviously, but something isn't working. The cycle of last wave syndrome and clearances are part of the process, and have been since the beginning. What's changed is the movie release cycle and the marketplace. Those two things make clearances and distribution mistakes that much more damaging.

Offline Scockery

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #144 on: January 16, 2018, 11:32 PM »
IIRC. Retailers want the assortments, the wave 2 and 3, etc. Not just Star Wars, with everything.

The irony then is that the retailers impose this on the companies, then rarely stock the next waves. It's the point when even a wave 2 sometimes doesn't get wide release outside of discounted retail.




Offline Matt_Fury

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #145 on: January 17, 2018, 11:49 AM »
I saw this coming from a mile away. First, you have the even in 1997 it was bad move of placing one new figure in an assortment. You have the compressed release schedule. You have the fact that despite making $$$ at the box office, these toys aren't moving like they used to, or even like LEGOs. Kids go for LEGO and role play. Adults for BS and more expensive options. Hasbro seems stuck in the middle, dying from a thousand cuts of slicensing, the shrinking of brick and motar and a clinging to outdated release patterns.

If it's going to be a movie a year from here on out, Hasbro needs to jettison assortments. It needs to be here's the fall/winter release for the movie, here's the spring for the DVD and that's it. No waves 2 and 3, no bottlenecking, no spacing **** out. Here it is. Nice big supply, sells out, it's gone. Moving on. It's that or oblivion. I don't know why some people think Vintage is going to solve any of this. It would be nice, but TVC went away last time in part because of what's happening right now. The last wave was cast off to Amazon/EE/etc. and no matter how cool the cards are, the line will fail if they can't sort out distribution. Distribution has really been the issue for Hasbro across its ranges and brands going back to at least 2008, 2009; it was a regular topic of concern in the old Q&As and I remember talking to DePriest about it at NYCC 2011. We've got it figured out, he said.

5 POA is not the issue; 6 inch is not the issue. The line would be dead if either failed. The issue is Hasbro doesn't know its market, because either market is changing too fast for it to accommodate, or they haven't learned to change with it.

My two cents.

I'll agree with a lot of what you said...the paradigm needs to change because of the release schedule, and my son prefers Lego and Role Play (his #1 item on his Christmas list was a Praetorian Guard costume...BTW, the one offered at the Disney Store is a great quality item).

I have a slight disagreement about the new VC line.  I look at it as a more collector focused line.  Since there's been a drought of SA/collector quality figures since 5POA figures made their return, I think the new VC line will do quite well...especially when they get past the repacks.  I didn't collect 5POA nor did I collect 6 inch figures, so I'm looking forward to these figures.
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Offline Darby

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #146 on: January 17, 2018, 01:41 PM »
Quote
I think the new VC line will do quite well...especially when they get past the repacks.

I hope so. The performance of the WM BS line doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, but I don't know how much of that was WM. A limited, diverse TVC line I think would do well, even though we all want as much as we can get. I'm ok with repacks/retools, so long as they make sense - Lando just mentioned the POTJ Mon Cal Officer in another thread. A retool of the VC Ackbar as a Mon Cal on a VC card would be gangbusters. I'm a little surprised it didn't happen back in TVC, to be honest.

Offline Rob

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #147 on: June 25, 2018, 08:39 PM »
All this time later and I just got a shipping notice for the Flame Trooper and C'ai Threnalli.   

Offline Jesse James

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #148 on: July 24, 2018, 01:49 AM »
Where’d you order from Rob?  Got my figs a good while ago.
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Offline Rob

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Re: TLJ 3.75" Basic Figure Line
« Reply #149 on: July 24, 2018, 12:25 PM »
Where’d you order from Rob?  Got my figs a good while ago.

It was Entertainment Earth, but that post was like a month ago. :)