I live in Queensland Australia and i can tell ya there not out here. I would say he probably lives in Melbourne where every thing comes out first.
Actually I’m from Brisbane. If you are near there the Target at Capalaba Park had one left after I picked this up.
Can someone explain why Hasbro doesn't release stuff in the US FIRST, and the rest of the world afterwards?
They're a US company, their biggest market share is probably right here, I just don't get it.
I understand the stuff is manufactured abroad, but they're not cranking them off the assembly line in the UK or Australia. Why does those countries rate ahead of us?
I assume they must have a good reason, but I'm curious what it is.
And I know this doesn't apply to everything in the various lines, but particularly the figures always seem to hit abroad first, exclusives aside.
First off 99% of the time Hasbro does release stuff in the US first and then the rest of the world later. The reason the AT-AT (and other Vintage stuff) is being released internationally first is likely due to the set release date in the US. Now you may ask why these are not being enforced internationally aswell, and the answer is likely because when Hasbro planned this line they figured that the basically ‘failed’ 2009 assortments of both TCW and Legacy would take at least 6 months to fully clear (because there was undoubtedly still stockpiles unable to be moved to the clogged pegs, creating a backlog of cases to be slowly sold). Given that it appears they want to restart the line with the Vintage look, they want as little as possible Legacy left on shelves when they launch the line, so as too completely separate the lines, and too prevent Legacy from becoming ‘eternal peg warmers’. In that I mean if Vintage and old Legacy were on the shelves at the same time, the Vintage stuff would sell quick, and the Legacy stuff is still going to stay there indefinitely. Then when Vintage is restocked, it will sell, leaving the same old Legacy. If there is only Legacy stuff then they can wither it away without competition. You know the odd ROTS figures which lie around at the stores? It would be like that only worse. 2009 was a failed year for Hasbro and they want to reboot the line fresh. I know it seems stupid, and is frustrating; however I would rather wait, and have a fresh line, than a line plagued with old Legacy pegwarmers.
Apart from the reasons I already mentioned, has the thought crossed your mind that just because something doesn’t get released in the US first doesn’t necessarily mean that business will be affected. This whole ‘but we are the biggest consumer’ has no footing. What does that matter? Just because these are released early does not necessarily translate into larger profit margins. From a business perspective releasing these early or on August 6th has no importance.
Another factor is that because Hasbro didn’t release Legacy in the UK, there is no need for ‘depletion time’ as there is in the United States. Britain is the only country which literally didn’t get anything of the later half of Legacy, and thus has no backlog of figures. If anything that reinforces my theory that the reason for the later release date in the US is because of the Legacy backlog. Also it may not even be Hasbro’s decision to release these figures early in the UK. Because there is nothing on the shelves TRU may figure that it better if they get new product out there to fill the void. There is no such void in the US.
I think it’s good for you Americans to wait for the product like the rest of the world does.