Big Items of the Future!

[Rob]

I'm curious as to the financial impact of Haslab projects failing. I'd assume that the loss is factored into the decision to create a prototype and promotion for the campaign.

But, I don't think that this failure, or potentially the other, will effect the Haslab project overall. As long as Star Wars projects succeed, there's incentive to keep up with them.

I bet it's not too bad.  They had some team of people working on designing and building the prototype, but there's a marketing value in all that as well. 

[Brian]

Personally I think their aiming too big with the choices for Haslab. 

Do a Yoda’s hut, or a Hoth Rebel Transport, or an Imperial Dignitaries 5-pack, or Vader on a funeral pyre... or the Tonnika Sisters... there are tons of affordable but somewhat pricey,  smaller and mid-sized things they could do that collectors want but probably wouldn’t do well in stores.  Not every project needs to be $500 or $700 and enormous.

This. My feelings exactly. I get that the large items are splashy and headline grabbers, but imagine how those smaller projects would succeed. Just using your Yoda's hut as an example, I would be all over that...as I'm guessing most old school collectors would be. It isn't something they would probably do at a retail level, and it wouldn't have to be so expensive.

I've often thought the same thing for GI Joe stuff. A lot of talk is Joe has stated "dead" for now because war/army stuff is a tougher sell these days. Unless they have a hidden plan on the comeback of GI Joe, why not throw an item up on Haslab to see how it goes. It doesn't necessarily have to be a $900 U.S.S. Flagg either.

[P-Siddy]

I agree with most on here.  The failure of Cookie Monster isn't the doom for Haslab projects.  The Barge worked and we'll see how Unicron does.  I just figure that the market isn't there for a life-sized Sesame Street character.  I don't think it hurts Hasbro in the long run to invest in a prototype and see if enough people are interested in the project.  It's better than the alternative of devoting resources to mass-produce something only for it to not sell.

I also think Rob is right, too.  I think that Hasbro could aim for small-sized figures that might be fan-favorites but would peg-warm at stores.  Give us dignitaries, Cliegg Lars and the other background characters (Cantina Patron #36) instead.  For $15/20 a pop, I think they'd do well.

[Dave]

Personally I think their aiming too big with the choices for Haslab. 

Do a Yoda’s hut, or a Hoth Rebel Transport, or an Imperial Dignitaries 5-pack, or Vader on a funeral pyre... or the Tonnika Sisters... there are tons of affordable but somewhat pricey,  smaller and mid-sized things they could do that collectors want but probably wouldn’t do well in stores.  Not every project needs to be $500 or $700 and enormous.

I think there is a sweet spot of customer needs and economic realities at Hasbro. 

My guess is anything under a certain price point ($125-ish) would not have the return and needs to be considered a retail / fan channel item.  And anything that gets price prohibitive will limit collector's abilities to buy it.  I get the sense that $300-ish is about the right range.  Go much higher than that and its too hard for most to obtain.

Another thing to consider is that if they're building things for the collector market there is a finite pool.  How many Yoda's Huts or 5-pack of Imperial Dignitaries would you buy at any price?   Probably just one unless you're speculating or customizing, but the vast majority of us collectors would only buy one.  If you can't sell those lower valued items in a fan channel also then you're probably wasting your potential return on investment.

I think if they're going to do mid-priced items they're going to have to bundle them somehow, either via subscription or just bundle them to get to a sensible price point - e.g. $150 purchase gets you Yoda's Hut and an Imperial Dignitaries pack.  Even if they do that they may run in to collectors that only want one of the items and thus split the purchase.

The Barge hit the price point, was unique, and wasn't divisible.  I think they need to find the next thing like that.  Death Star, Star Destroyer, or whatever and make sure it hits that price point.

[Rob]

Looks like they added 35 or so days to the transformers project, I wonder if that does the trick...  I’d think that if you were going to do it you’d have done it by now...

[McMetal]

Hm, I bet some people wish they had given an extension on the barge too. This seems like a purely face saving move after Cookie Monster crashing and burning. But if it helps get it made, more power to ‘em.

I could see this making people skeptical about deadlines for future projects too.

[GrandMoffNick]

I don't blame them but also agree this may cause some people to just assume they'll get another month on future offerings.

[Darth_Anton]

Great points raise about the impact of extending the Unicorn campaign. I can see both sides. However, if the end result is a great project being fully funded, then I would say that the decision of extending the deadline is a good thing.

[Dave]

Unicron is still slowly crawling forward.   5700 of 8000 backers signed up with 10 days to go.

I'm sure Hasbro is going to find a way to get this made either way, but still a ways to go to hit 8000.

[McMetal]

6859 with 5 days to go. They just announced an exclusive digital comic or something to sweeten the deal. Does not seem like much of a bonus to me but good luck I guess.

BTW,  nice of you to email about Unicron Hasbro, but where was my email alerting me that 6” exclusive Luke was up earlier this week? Premium members should have had first crack at that too.

[CorranHorn]

BTW,  nice of you to email about Unicron Hasbro, but where was my email alerting me that 6” exclusive Luke was up earlier this week? Premium members should have had first crack at that too.

I was just thinking the same thing. I get all these emails about Unicron and non-SW exclusives, but when it is time for SDCC Fett or Yavin Luke, my inbox is bare. Wtf Hasbro Pulse you know what I buy!!!

[Rob]

Unicron hit 8,000 today.  I don't know how much ******* had to happen behind the scenes to make it happen, but it's happening.

[Jeff]

Japanese TFers fans (and resourceful International fans) were able to order via Takara Japan and those orders counted in the HasLab totals. That helped open it up across the world instead of just USA/Canada.

There could still be some chicanery going on, but at least this one was more global than the Barge was.

[Dave]

Unicron hit 8,000 today.  I don't know how much ******* had to happen behind the scenes to make it happen, but it's happening.

Yeah, this seems highly suspect.

Right now it reads as "funded at 281%".  Does that mean they actually sold 22,480 units when they had to extend the date by a month and as of the deadline they were just barely making their 8,000 benchmark?

Not sure in they've got the Enron accountants working for them or how they got there...

[Rob]

Unicron hit 8,000 today.  I don't know how much ******* had to happen behind the scenes to make it happen, but it's happening.

Yeah, this seems highly suspect.

Right now it reads as "funded at 281%".  Does that mean they actually sold 22,480 units when they had to extend the date by a month and as of the deadline they were just barely making their 8,000 benchmark?

Not sure in they've got the Enron accountants working for them or how they got there...

I'm sure the 281% thing is a programming screw up of some kind.  They've got a screen grab over at RS showing about 8,300... but now the website just shows 8k.