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« on: April 19, 2012, 11:15 AM »
Believe it or not, Hasbro HAS been reading forums for years. In my own interactions with some of the people in the Hasbro-Star Wars team I've heard them reference things that only someone who has been checking out forums would know about: Stan, the ICMG petition, wishlist polls and more. They're checking things out but maintaining a low profile. In other words, they're lurking. Hell, at the NJ Star Wars forum I admin I saw that a Hasbro person had been checking out our site based on the IP address info. And that was just a few weeks ago.
Direct interaction with forums can only end up badly for Hasbro. Some people will be cool and levelheaded about things, but some people are more likely to get belligerent. Once that happens the situation can quickly spiral out of control. The Q&A process was a somewhat reasonable middle ground where fan sites could offer up questions from their readers, but the fan sites were acting as a filter to keep some of the craziness in check.
Social media research could certainly help Hasbro. Polling like that can give you some real answers, and there are filtering mechanisms built into some surveys that will weed out some craziness. Some of the action features have no doubt been meant for kids. That's just a fact of life. Collectors are still the minority interest in the overall marketplace for Star Wars figures. At this point in time the market may be about 75% kids / 25% collectors. But in movie years that ratio has been skewed far more towards the kids than the collectors. The one ratio I've heard thrown around has been about 90% kids / 10% collectors.
However I don't see Hasbro involving collectors in the development process. And that's because of the multiple layers of product approval: product safety testing and of course there's approval by Lucas Licensing. Hasbro's stance has been that if they show off a product to the public, eventually they intend to release it. But what happens if they share a new product development only to have it fail safety testing or Lucas Licensing says no? Then Hasbro is left holding the bag, and has to explain to collectors that FIGURE X is not coming despite their involvement in the process.
As for the future of Star Wars collecting? I think it's going to hinge on a few things:
-How long will the Clone Wars animated series successfully carry on?
-Will the STAR WARS - UNDERWORLD live action series actually happen?
-Will the Hasbro line remain profitable for Hasbro?
-What's going to happen with the master toy license in 2018?
-Will the economy improve soon?
All of these things are linked together. Still, Star Wars has been one of the best selling boys toys brands for a LONG TIME. So it's got that legacy effect going for it at retail. Lots of movie licenses come and go, but Star Wars remains. And that's because it's shown that it has legs. Very few other licenses have that kind of longevity. That potential for long term profitability for both Hasbro and Lucasfilm is important. But, will the Hasbro Star Wars line rebound with the economy? If it does, I think we can expect the line to continue on through 2018 and possibly beyond.
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