That's really a dickish way to ask a question. It's things like that that have the potential to ruin it for everybody. That question could have been simply worded like what happens to recalled inventory. (BTW they are not destroying it, HTS will resell them,. It may take years but it cost more money to destroy them That or they will be donated to charity for the write off)

I am glad Hasbro answered them back with disbelief. They should be kicked out of Q&A for that, not cool at all.

The 'Troops have a track record of not pulling any punches with the Q&A sessions.  And they'll have to deal with the consequences of their tone.

I help run the Q&A process over at JTA, and we've got some standards for what questions we submit and the tone in which we ask a question.  Treat the folks at Hasbro with some respect, and guess what?  They're going play nice with you and occassionally confirm something you're asking about.  Treat them like garbage?  Then they're less than likely to give you something that's newsworthy.

from Galactic Hunter's QNA this week:

With Star Wars having a huge collector following, we know that the past year has presented challenges in keeping up with the line. Similarly, the line that we showed at Comic-Con has been in development since the end of 2007/beginning of 2008, and long-lead projects and commitments are difficult to change, especially when the efforts are exceptionally good as they have been this year. Right now, everything shown should make it to retail in the U.S. In some of the more collector-targeted lines, like Legacy/Droid Factory basic figures and Comic Packs, some of the waves may not be out until Spring 2010, assuming that the forecasted quantities move through and that we do not see further collector slowdown. If that happens, we'll do our best to see that they do get to retail somehow. It is our intention, going forward, to pull back on the breadth and depth of the offering, somewhat. For instance, we have been working to scale back some on the number of new/refresh figures in the Legacy basic figure lineup (the goal is approximately 40-45 new/refresh figures/year for the basic figure line). We are also re-examining the number of collector-targeted offerings and exclusives to pare down to the scope of the line for the time being.

 

I think this is something that we should've expected for some time.  A scaling back of the line.  Things have been ratcheting up to something of a fever pitch for some time.  We saw some downturns in the line between Episodes I & II, and then between Episodes II & III.  But ever since Episode III things have been coming out at an incredible pace.

The numbers Hasbro cited in that response to GH for the Basic Figure line are more in line with what we saw in 2004 with the OTC line.  That year we had 38 basic figures plus the vintage line.  And there was also no Clone Wars line like we have now.  And IIRC, a lot of people were fans of the OTC line.

Compare that with 2009's TLC RED line.  That's 50 basic figures in the space of 6 months!  And add to that another 18 Saga Legends figures.  Oh, and there's another 40 Clone Wars figures in the CW RED line, too.  That's over 100 different carded figures being offered in the space of 6 months.  That is just an insane release schedule, and I think we should not be surprised that Hasbro is having issues.  And this was just with the red packaging.  I didn't even account for the blue packaging which would bring the numbers to an even more astounding total.


So what could be more manageable?  Here's what I see happening (potentially).

MOVIE BASIC FIGURE LINE - 40 figures
-32 new figures
-8 reissue core characters

COMIC 2-PACKS - 3 general release waves & 1 exclusive
-3 x comic packs / wave x 4 total waves = 24 figures

EXCLUSIVE 2-PACKS
Target - 1 wave = 12 figures
WalMart - 1 wave = 10/12 figures


Add to that a comparable Clone Wars line.  A Clone Wars line that still has vehicles and deluxe items that work across both the movie realistic and animated lines.  And I think you still wind up with a very respectable toy line.  One that has had staying power over 15+ years and is still the #1 boys toys license.

I think that as long as the animated series continues, there's going to be a toy line.  I think I could just see it being diminished and slowly fading away. 

The closest parallel I can draw to what I potentially see happening is the very low numbers of POTF2 CommTech figures compared to the Episode I line.  There was very little in terms of new figures in that POTF2 CommTech line, but a very robust Episode I line.  And I could see Legacy dwindling down to those kinds of numbers while Clone Wars continues to thrive.  But I don't see that happening for at least a couple of years.

As for the economy and how it has affected Hasbro?  I don't see them as a company that can really make a sudden correction to suit the needs of the marketplace.  They got hit hard by the economic downturn, especially since they planned production numbers for the first couple of waves of TLC BLUE that were not in line with what the market could handle.  And now we're dealing with production numbers for figures that were planned during that economic downturn.  I think we're likely to see the supply and demand for movie figures even out by the end of 2010's Q1.

I would not be so quick to say that there were any kind of shenanigans regarding Jocasta Nu.  She's ranked fairly high in figure polls over the past few years.  And I think that given some remarks from a certain Hasbro staffer (who has moved off Star Wars to another line, btw) in opposition to Jocasta Nu has somewhat galvanized the collecting community to back the Jedi archivist.

There's still the matter of ToyFare's poll to take into account.  And that can still shake out any one of a number of ways.

Stan's track record is about as good as yours and mine for inside knowledge and prediction.

Indeed.  If you throw enough crap at a wall, some of it is bound to stick.

What we're dealing with now in Hasbro's distribution stream is the aftermath of the economic crisis.  Hasbro stated explicitly at Comic Con that they were caught very much off guard by the economic downturn, especially as it pertains to the planning of the first few waves of the Legacy Collection.  Those waves were planned prior to the downturn really hitting, and the production numbers were high.  

What's happened since?  Sales among the collector base went down dramatically.  And pegwarming became commonplace.  Anyone remember the Yarna situation?  It didn't happen that long ago.  And on that particular issue, I think collectors need to accept some responsibility for that fiasco.  But Saga Legends continued to sell, as did Clone Wars.  Hence greater supplies of those two lines.

As for Legacy?  The supply has gotten much tighter.  But that's also because some of the demand has dried up.  There's a direct correlation.  And I think that has hit collectors who are in high collector density areas in a big way.  There's competition again.

As for the title of the thread?  I really think it needs to be "2009...Worst Distribution Year Ever?"  Because the product is among some of the best we've ever seen.  It's the distribution that's the issue.

As for what could be done better?  Honestly, I think the Saga Legends line needs to be folded into Legacy.  I understand it's place in the line.  But I think the concept could potentially be combined with Legacy the way the Greatest Hits line was, but in a less confusing manner.

Scored the Ahsoka Tano Jedi starfighter yesterday.

Quote from: Brian on September 25, 2009, 01:20 PM

If anyone is interested, this entire wave is currently in stock over at Hasbro Toy Shop.

SW2009 = 10% off.  Not much, but it helps.   

I was trying that and two other coupon codes, and they wouldn't apply on my order.  I wonder if some items might be exempt from the coupon codes.  So I cancelled my order.