Unleashed figures

[DSJ™]

Boy, $202.50 for an AFA graded Vader. Guess they missed the bargins for just the non AFA Vader's.

Unleashed Unmasked Darth Vader. MOC

Unleashed Darth Vader Unmasked MOC.

[JesseVader08]

$275!  No way in hell I'll ever pay that for any Unleashed.  I don't care if it's gold plated, forget it.   

[Holographic Elvis]

That's insane. 

[MetalJedi]

That makes me wish I had found him instead of the Unleashed Leia  The only one Im missing (besides new Vader, Yoda/Palpy) and he's has to be the most expensive. 

[vegastrooper]

With the "so-called" ending of the unleashed line...those high priced once are only going to fetch more money...just happy I got them when they came out.

[jadesfire]

Just got a tracking number from amazon for Asajj Ventress.  That only leaves Sidious vs. Yoda as the one remaining on backorder.

[DoctorPadawan]

That's good to hear, Beth.  At least Amazon's making attempts to actually send some out to people who ordered them.

I'm about to give up on Amazon completely at this point.  Target near me hasn't gotten them yet (and I've had four different employees look in the past two weeks), I don't really have a TRU in driving distance, and there have been no reports of these at Wal-Mart.  As the days go on, I just have a feeling that I'm going to be getting one of those Amazon "we regret to inform you that the items you ordered are no longer available and your order has been cancelled" emails.  I guess that's what I get for preordering something almost four months in advance.   

And as for the 7" line's "hiatus," all I have to say is that I have no interest in the 2" line, and I'd be surprised if they make it past the end of 2006.  I'm a sad panda. 

[jadesfire]

What I can't figure out from amazon is why such a break up of the set.  Were these shipped at two per case or was Vader given three slots and Asajj two and then Palpatine/Yoda one?  That makes the most sense since since my shipping is so goofed up but I guess I am assuming everyone ordered all three at once and didn't pick and choose.

I sure hope you get yours!!  I can only assume Hasbro is very s-l-o-w on shipping these to retailers. (Haven't seen or heard of these anywhere around the U.P. or nothern Wisconsin yet).

[Nicklab]

The news from Comic Con about Unleashed is definitely discouraging.  I've thought of a couple of ways that Hasbro can try to keep the line going, but it might be tough to achieve.

EXCLUSIVITY
The Unleashed line was inspired in part by a desire for Hasbro to compete stylistically with boutique toy companies like McFarlane, NECA and the like.  This is a new breed of toy company that is focusing more on collectors and collectability rather than on play features.

Bring this line back to the places it was intended to cater to:  COMIC AND COLLECTIBLE SHOPS!  Hasbro should actively court Diamond Comics and Online Retailers to be the EXCLUSIVE market for the Unleashed line.

While these outlets are smaller and are not representative of Hasbro's biggest accounts, they're the prime territory for a line like Unleashed.  They manage their inventories much more efficiently than the big box stores like Toys R Us and WalMart.  They work with pre-orders which helps tailor their business much more in their favor from a stock standpoint.

This kind of scheme can work well for both Hasbro AND their retail partners.  Hasbro can manufacture a more appropriate production run.  This would also have the effect of sending more customers to Hasbro's smaller accounts, whether they have Diamond Comics handling their distribution or if they're a small Hasbro account.


PRICE POINT
This is always a touchy subject.  However, I like this line.  I would be willing to pay $20 per figure IF the character selection is good.


As things stand now, I'm not going to be buying the Unleashed Battle Packs.  They're just not appealing.  I collect Lord Of The Rings, and when the LOTR license made Armies Of Middle Earth, I wasn't there.  The same thing would happen in this instance for me.

[DoctorPadawan]

This is always a touchy subject.  However, I like this line.  I would be willing to pay $20 per figure IF the character selection is good.

I agree with you completely, Nick.  I could honestly not name a "bad" figure out of all the ones that have been done in the Unleashed line (even Chewbacca is neat in his own way), and I cannot look at any of them and say I wouldn't give 20 dollars apiece for them if that was what it took. 

The reason I got into collecting the line was the fact that I could finally put something on my desk that looked incredible that would not fall over if someone walked by quickly and/or heavily.  The detailing was great, the quality of the figures (and their sturdiness) was, for the most part, great, and for Hasbro to cancel the line is mind blowing.  Okay, so they said it was "on hiatus" but that honestly seems to me as if they are trying to shield themselves from criticism while people can see them in person in SD, but as soon as they get back to Minas Morgul in Rhode Island, they'll say, "Oh it's cancelled and we're never doing anymore" so they don't have to face the inevitable backlash.

The switch to a small scale just baffles me too.  You used the AOME line for LOTR as an example, and it actually works as an example for me in that that line hardly sold any at all around here until they started to be clearanced.  If Hasbro thinks that more people are going to buy a 2" line that has none of the detailing and/or cool factor of the 7" line, they are even more far gone than I already think they are.

And I'll be the first one to say this (although I may be in the minority): the 2" figures that showed up in the display case photos yesterday post-Q&A SUCKED.  They looked like slightly less cartoony Attacktix figures, and had even less detail than the WOTC minatures line (which has a lot at that scale).

It'll make one shipment before it's cancelled because retail sees that nobody wants them.  It'll go until June of 2006 at the absolute latest before it goes belly-up in the clearance aisle prior to the fall resets at retail.

[ruiner]

Great news for me!

I just found out that my Unleashed set (Asaj, Vader and Palpy) just shipped from bigbadtoystore.com!

Forget Amazon, Joel is the man!


 

[DoctorPadawan]

Forget Amazon

I'm honestly at that point, given the fact that they can't seem to figure out when or how many they are getting in stock.  It all reminds me of the "preorders" that TRU retail stores did back in 1999 for some of the later Episode I stuff (the electronic Jar Jar, Maul, and Qui-Gon) that was a complete disaster. 

I have no problem with places offering preorders on things when you KNOW that you are going to get what you ordered.  At this point, I'm seriously expecting to hear that Amazon/TRU.com oversold their allotment and only about 10% of the orders will be filled as originally placed.  I feel really jerked around by them at this point, and unless it's a TRU exclusive item, I don't think I'll be ordering anything from that wing of Amazon's web operations ever again.

I actually wrote a rather long (me?  long-winded?) email the other night to Amazon CS explaining the situation in great detail, and I made clear to them that getting some kind of reimbursement was not my motive; I simply wanted to know why the stock status had been fluctuating so much, why it would remain unchanged for two months and then change three times in a week, etc.  I got an email back from them apologizing for the delay and they upgraded my shipping to Two-Day UPS (even though I clearly stated I didn't want a shipping upgrade, I figure it was an olive branch or something) but that they had no idea when the figures would be in stock.

So, unless the Target near me suddenly decides that they want to stock the Unleashed section with something other than the three cases of Obi-Wans and Anakins in the back room, or until Wal-Mart actually stocks anything new AT ALL, I'm going to have to sit on the Amazon.com order and hope I can find a Ventress at retail.   

[Brian]

Yeah, it is getting a little frustrating.  I've usually had pretty good luck with Amazon in the past, but I'm getting nervous about this Unleashed situation as well.  I've had them preordered for quite some time, and there hasn't been any update in my shipping.  It still tells me they're shipping in June...even though its July .  I'm not counting on them being able to come through with all the orders/preorders...so I keep checking Target to see if they have anything besides Obi-Wan and Anakin.  One Target has several of each of those, the other has no Unleashed at all.  It isn't looking real positive at this point.

[ruiner]

I hate resorting to e-shopping for SW figures because I like to support the local retailers and I enjoy looking for new figures (and shipping $$ sucks).

BUT...when you factor all the gas money and time I spend looking for new **** that usually doesn't ship here in the midwest (the stormie wave never hit the pegs here), it's actually smarter to buy online.

I know, I know, I sound like some kind of commercial but it's true.  Time spent away from home cannot be measured in $$.

Though my wife never complains when I'm gone....

[Padawan]

I hate resorting to e-shopping for SW figures because I like to support the local retailers and I enjoy looking for new figures (and shipping $$ sucks).

BUT...when you factor all the gas money and time I spend looking for new **** that usually doesn't ship here in the midwest (the stormie wave never hit the pegs here), it's actually smarter to buy online.

I know, I know, I sound like some kind of commercial but it's true.  Time spent away from home cannot be measured in $$.

Though my wife never complains when I'm gone....

I don't mind e-shopping at all.  My problem at this point is all of the retailers want $60 or more for a set plus shipping on top of that.  I believe the srp on Unleashed is still $15.  I guess bigbadtoystore had them for $52.99 a set, but are now waiting for their second shipment.  I should have jumped on it when I had the chance.  I used to get these for $78 a case from a certain e-tailer.  I miss those days.