JediDefender.com Forums
Collecting => Hey Hasbro! => Topic started by: Pete_Fett on July 21, 2005, 04:18 PM
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Dear Hasbro:
I know I am just a peasant to you. I know that you think I know NOTHING about the action figure industry, how toys are made, which way the wind is blowing in terms of collectibles and retailer interest, etc... but I want to offer this piece of advice.
GET RID OF DARRYL DEPRIEST NOW BEFORE HE DESTROYS YOUR STAR WARS BRAND.
Ok - so before I go any further let me say this. You are at the same cross-roads the Star Trek franchise and Playmates Toys faced with Star Trek: The Next Generation went off the air. Instead of continuing to produce figures that would expand on the well over 200 Star Trek characters already created, Playmates resorted to scale changes, action feature gimmicks and left its core line to languish only until it was too late, many had stopped collecting and the line died a horrible death at the hands of being basically a toy line exclusive to Target stores.
So here we are now, the last Star Wars movie has been released. There are TV shows, as well as re-releases of all six movies with 3-D presentations rumored on the near and far horizons. There should be enough Star Wars from now until at least 2010 in the main-stream media to keep this toy line afloat. Yet what are you doing?
Making scale changes via Force Battlers & Attacktix.
Figures have BARELY working action features - the Battle Packs should be aimed at COLLECTORS - not children, children "buyers" go into a store with their mom or dad and their parent says "you can have ONE", they don't say "oh look, I'm going to buy you this $25 box set".
Employing gimmicky concepts - Titanium Forged Figures, Star Wars 'Choppers', Unleashed Battle Packs and Star Wars Transformers are all products that have NO PLACE WHATSOEVER as part of a Star Wars toy line. Sure there were those "Armies of Middle Earth" things for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but the last time I checked, they didn't sell that well. You claim a 7" unleashed figure for $15 doesn't sell and you can't make as much money off it, yet you think you're going to make more off of a $15 3.75" figure made of die-cast metal? I would think plastic is CHEAPER then metal. And of course, last but certainly NOT least is the concept of Star Wars 'Choppers' - FIRE THE ******* WHO SPENDS HIS FREE TIME WATCHING AMERICAN CHOPPER ON T.L.C. RIGHT NOW AND KILL THIS LINE BEFORE YOU SPEND A DIME ON IT. To spend the time designing, sculpting, tooling, manufacturing, developing packaging, selling it to retailers and marketing is the ULTIMATE slap in the face to the loyal collectors who have followed your 3.75" line since 1995. (or even longer since 1978)
So before your Star Wars line starts down the slippery slope that was already travelled by Star Trek, put a REAL FAN in charge, not some jerk-off who used to run the GI Joe line and start asking collectors what kinds of items they want to see - develop TRUE market research and use that as your tools to get retailers interested in the line.
Please before it's too late.
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SEE this could be the intervention letter I want to send!
*See a few threads down* lol
Good job Fett, you mandalorians are worth something after all. =p
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and American Choppers is on The Discovery Channel.
Don't you dare throw a "highly prized collectible" such as Die Cast Boba Fett at me!
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Please tell Jim Ward the next time he's on national television that...
"Nothing important was ever acomplished without enthusiasm"
Also, for a company like Hasbro dealing hand in hand with the toy/entertainment industry and companies such as Lucasfilm...my god, I feel like i'm in a freaking funeral everytime I go to a convention or sit through a Hasbro presentation.
I work with manufacturers in the freaking food industry and can make a boring boneless ham sound more exciting than the Hasbro team can make a new toy/collectible sound.
Take a look at any industry...for example the automotive shows, they have beautiful women, special effects, loud music, etc. etc. etc. etc. EXCITEMENT!!!!
What does Hasbro have? A bunch of dull monotone men sitting around slouched over a table clicking aimlessly through a powerpoint presentation. Good god.
Can we get some Excitement over here..............please?
CIII (probably one of the bigger events for them that year) Me: "Hi guys what do we have coming this year that's exciting?"
Hasbro rep: looking at the ground or talking with the other Hasbro rep about where they are going to eat lunch "Well, (pause. look down at the ground) here's a poster. (hikes pants, looks away, never cracks a smile). Shuffles some ads that are on the table, looks at next person, doesn't say anything to them, just kinda looks off into space.
Eh, what do I know?
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Okay anybody who wants somebody new to run the line, say "I" and anybody opposed say "NAY!".
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I.
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I, as in me. Let me run it.
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When I saw this heading, I thought, oh joy, another immature rant. Then I saw that Pete was the poster and I thought, no, Pett is much smarter than that. Well, Pete, I have to tell you, what a well articulated note. You bring up some excellent arguments and I have to say that I agree. Excellent job!
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Dear Hasbro:
I know I am just a peasant to you. I know that you think I know NOTHING about the action figure industry, how toys are made, which way the wind is blowing in terms of collectibles and retailer interest, etc... but I want to offer this piece of advice.
GET RID OF DARRYL DEPRIEST NOW BEFORE HE DESTROYS YOUR STAR WARS BRAND.
Ok - so before I go any further let me say this. You are at the same cross-roads the Star Trek franchise and Playmates Toys faced with Star Trek: The Next Generation went off the air. Instead of continuing to produce figures that would expand on the well over 200 Star Trek characters already created, Playmates resorted to scale changes, action feature gimmicks and left its core line to languish only until it was too late, many had stopped collecting and the line died a horrible death at the hands of being basically a toy line exclusive to Target stores.
So here we are now, the last Star Wars movie has been released. There are TV shows, as well as re-releases of all six movies with 3-D presentations rumored on the near and far horizons. There should be enough Star Wars from now until at least 2010 in the main-stream media to keep this toy line afloat. Yet what are you doing?
Making scale changes via Force Battlers & Attacktix.
Figures have BARELY working action features - the Battle Packs should be aimed at COLLECTORS - not children, children "buyers" go into a store with their mom or dad and their parent says "you can have ONE", they don't say "oh look, I'm going to buy you this $25 box set".
Employing gimmicky concepts - Titanium Forged Figures, Star Wars 'Choppers', Unleashed Battle Packs and Star Wars Transformers are all products that have NO PLACE WHATSOEVER as part of a Star Wars toy line. Sure there were those "Armies of Middle Earth" things for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but the last time I checked, they didn't sell that well. You claim a 7" unleashed figure for $15 doesn't sell and you can't make as much money off it, yet you think you're going to make more off of a $15 3.75" figure made of die-cast metal? I would think plastic is CHEAPER then metal. And of course, last but certainly NOT least is the concept of Star Wars 'Choppers' - FIRE THE ******* WHO SPENDS HIS FREE TIME WATCHING AMERICAN CHOPPER ON T.L.C. RIGHT NOW AND KILL THIS LINE BEFORE YOU SPEND A DIME ON IT. To spend the time designing, sculpting, tooling, manufacturing, developing packaging, selling it to retailers and marketing is the ULTIMATE slap in the face to the loyal collectors who have followed your 3.75" line since 1995. (or even longer since 1978)
So before your Star Wars line starts down the slippery slope that was already travelled by Star Trek, put a REAL FAN in charge, not some jerk-off who used to run the GI Joe line and start asking collectors what kinds of items they want to see - develop TRUE market research and use that as your tools to get retailers interested in the line.
Please before it's too late.
Almost a year later and Pete is RIGHT onthe MARK! Hasbro has just commented on how they have a first quarter loss and are blaming it on declining interest in SW.
Hello, Hasbro! That's not it. It's a NON-INTEREST in those ridiculous off-shoot novelty lines that are killing the license.
The new slogan for Hasbro's SW line should be "Getting Back to Basics" (Providing they actually do that). Right now I'd say the slogan could read "Diversified to Death..." for how bad the line is.
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Dear Hasbro:
I know I am just a peasant to you. I know that you think I know NOTHING about the action figure industry, how toys are made, which way the wind is blowing in terms of collectibles and retailer interest, etc... but I want to offer this piece of advice.
GET RID OF DARRYL DEPRIEST NOW BEFORE HE DESTROYS YOUR STAR WARS BRAND.
Ok - so before I go any further let me say this. You are at the same cross-roads the Star Trek franchise and Playmates Toys faced with Star Trek: The Next Generation went off the air. Instead of continuing to produce figures that would expand on the well over 200 Star Trek characters already created, Playmates resorted to scale changes, action feature gimmicks and left its core line to languish only until it was too late, many had stopped collecting and the line died a horrible death at the hands of being basically a toy line exclusive to Target stores.
So here we are now, the last Star Wars movie has been released. There are TV shows, as well as re-releases of all six movies with 3-D presentations rumored on the near and far horizons. There should be enough Star Wars from now until at least 2010 in the main-stream media to keep this toy line afloat. Yet what are you doing?
Making scale changes via Force Battlers & Attacktix.
Figures have BARELY working action features - the Battle Packs should be aimed at COLLECTORS - not children, children "buyers" go into a store with their mom or dad and their parent says "you can have ONE", they don't say "oh look, I'm going to buy you this $25 box set".
Employing gimmicky concepts - Titanium Forged Figures, Star Wars 'Choppers', Unleashed Battle Packs and Star Wars Transformers are all products that have NO PLACE WHATSOEVER as part of a Star Wars toy line. Sure there were those "Armies of Middle Earth" things for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but the last time I checked, they didn't sell that well. You claim a 7" unleashed figure for $15 doesn't sell and you can't make as much money off it, yet you think you're going to make more off of a $15 3.75" figure made of die-cast metal? I would think plastic is CHEAPER then metal. And of course, last but certainly NOT least is the concept of Star Wars 'Choppers' - FIRE THE ******* WHO SPENDS HIS FREE TIME WATCHING AMERICAN CHOPPER ON T.L.C. RIGHT NOW AND KILL THIS LINE BEFORE YOU SPEND A DIME ON IT. To spend the time designing, sculpting, tooling, manufacturing, developing packaging, selling it to retailers and marketing is the ULTIMATE slap in the face to the loyal collectors who have followed your 3.75" line since 1995. (or even longer since 1978)
So before your Star Wars line starts down the slippery slope that was already travelled by Star Trek, put a REAL FAN in charge, not some jerk-off who used to run the GI Joe line and start asking collectors what kinds of items they want to see - develop TRUE market research and use that as your tools to get retailers interested in the line.
Please before it's too late.
Almost a year later and Pete is RIGHT onthe MARK! Hasbro has just commented on how they have a first quarter loss and are blaming it on declining interest in SW.
Hello, Hasbro! That's not it. It's a NON-INTEREST in those ridiculous off-shoot novelty lines that are killing the license.
The new slogan for Hasbro's SW line should be "Getting Back to Basics" (Providing they actually do that). Right now I'd say the slogan could read "Diversified to Death..." for how bad the line is.
Well said. Going into TRU, WalMart or Zellers, the only SW figs I've been able to find are the peg warmers I already have (Leia Boussh, Han Carbonite, Bib Fortuna). I did luck out and manage to get 1 Utapua Clone. At TRU I see full pegs of SW Transformers and the titanium figures.
The titanium figures don't really look too impressive and cost too much for such a small figure. And I would like to say I am afan of both Transformers and SW, but the combination of the two is an abomination that should never have happened.
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Man i just stumbled on this thread and it had me laughing out loud! I agree one hundred percent. Its nice to read back what ive always thought to myself in exasperation.Kudos to you Pete-Fett!! STAR WARS CHOPPERS is a brain fart that shouldve never seen the light of day. Star wars transformers was obviously thought up by some suit who knows absolutely NOTHING about the hobby.Hasbro is shovelling all this NEW product to gather dust on the pegs, while telling the loyal collector- no new vehicles, cant afford new molds! What the heck?!?
I read Hasbros strategy as this -bring in the kids with these cute new products. Get the kids hooked and we will have lifetime customers for the future. But the thing is, when we were kids, we liked the figures realistic and done well not the cute stuff.And it worked!We were hooked. Bring in the kids, but not by dumbing down the product. Kids are too smart for that. And you'll piss off the collectors who expect better.
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I'm not happy with the lack of new molds and "weird" lines that don't seem to be selling well.
As well, there's nothing better than a $5 figure. Kill the holos and stands and get back to what you do best.
Nobody gives a **** about the lame pack-ins. See every other line (force files, commtechs, freeze frames, etc.)