Exclusives Overload?

[Jeff]

Is it safe to say that 2005 is the year of the Exclusives Overload?

Since these things get spread out over a year, it's easy to lose track of just how many exclusives there are this year.  As near as I can figure so far (thanks to Rob's Hasbro thread), there have been at least 44 exclusive items in the 3.75" scale line this year (maybe more as I/we remember them).

Celebration 3 Darth Vader
Diamond Bounty Hunter 7-Pack
Disney Star Tours 3T-RNE
Disney Star Tours G3-5LE
Disney Star Tours MSE-1T
EE Astromech 5-Pack #1
EE Astromech 5-Pack #2
EE Clone 4-pack - All White, Battle Damage
EE Clone 4-pack - All White, Clean
EE Clone 4-pack - Colors, Battle Damage
EE Clone 4-pack - Colors, Clean
Internet Exclusive Wedge Antilles
KB Toys Silver Vader 9-Pack
K-Mart Emperor Throne Room Battle Pack
K-Mart Jedi Temple Battle Pack
SDCC Holo Leia
StarWarsShop Covert Ops Clone Trooper
Target Boba Fett w/Cup Set
Target Clone Attack Battle Pack
Target Clone Trooper w/Cup Set
Target Darth Vader w/Cup Set
Target Grievous w/Cup Set
Target Han Solo w/Cup Set
Target Lava Darth Vader
Target Mustafar Duel Anakin
Target Mustafar Duel Obi-Wan
Target Obi-Wan w/Cup Set
Target Plo Koon Jedi Starfighter
Target Princess Leia w/Cup Set
Target SA Clone Trooper
Target SA Stealth Trooper
Target Stormtrooper w/Cup Set
Target TIE Fighter
Target Yoda w/Cup Set
TRU Anakin Jedi Starfighter
TRU Holo Emperor
TRU Holo Yoda
TRU Hoth Battle Pack
TRU Obi-Wan Jedi Starfighter
TRU RotS Box Millennium Falcon
Wal-Mart DVD Clone Trooper 3-Pack
Wal-Mart DVD Jedi 3-Pack
Wal-Mart DVD Sith 3-Pack
Wal-Mart Early Bird Kit


And that's only the 3.75" stuff from Hasbro!  It doesn't even count 12" stuff or Titanium Stuff or Target Micro stuff or anything else!    44 exclusive items in the 3.75" scale in one year?  That is approximately $900 plus tax/shipping if you tried to grab one of everything!    

Anyone else think that's just WAAAAAY too much running around to do in a year?

Anyone else worried (like me) that this is a sign of things to come where the retailers demand HUGE lots of exclusive goods?   

[Diddly]

YES! For the love of God, I am SICK AND TIRED of exclusives. I have grown to hate them! Why the **** must EVERY SINGLE THING be exclusive? It's like everything that isn't part of the basic line is exclusive. Why must that be? A lot of these items could sell well everywhere.

I don't know, it just feels like they're just releasing exclusives everywhere because they can. It's really starting to annoy me.

[MetalJedi]

I didnt realize how many till I saw them all listed down. Thats ALOT of exclusives. No need for so many IMO. Especially the Kmart ones.

[SpudTrooper]

this is how toy companies make LOTs of money from consumers. i really dont blame them cuz its the our decisions whether to jump on the band wagon or not. i personally dont find it annoying but quite fun since seeing ppl being pissed off about it and actually end up purchasing it.

i never saw an pricey exclusive (Target Clone, Lava Vader, Holo Yoda, even those horrendous Jedi Starfighters) still sitting on the shelves. Most ppl go crazy and buy them in abundance.    It's a business and it must be wonderful being CEO of Hasbro  

if anyone is REALLY upset about Hasbro with their over priced toys, i would recommend stop purchasing SW since this will continue till their licencing is over.

[TheBlackDog65]

Ahhh, the freedom of buying what you want and passing on what you don't want. I've passed on most of the exclusives and am glad. I don't miss em. I may even pass on the Jedi Temple Assult at Kmart since it is way overpriced.

[Ben]

I wanted to keep a complete collection of Target cups, but the last waves never even showed here, and they saw fit to charge $13, so I gave up on them. I have one cup from each film, and that's good.

I didn't even bother with the Starfighters. I bought the first two, and that was plenty.

I got a couple Target Clones, only because I was fortunate to walk into a motherload.

I got one holo Yoda from Amazon. I want a second to open, but I'm probably better off just opening the one I have so I don't bother myself buying exclusives just to keep carded.

I was a total sucker for the holo Leia. I might consider parting with one of the two that I have.

I'll wait and see about that Target Stealth Trooper. I might lump it in with the SWshop.com exclusive-- utter crap unworthy of my money.

And EE can take that price for the Astromechs and shove it. That's a ridiculous price for five small figures, even more so for molds that have been paid for.

Still want that Jedi Temple Assualt. That thing should have been a mass release.

[Kill_Solo]

I like exclusives, since I'm not a completist I can pick an choose what I want to get.

[Darth Broem]

I think some of the frustration stems from people kind of dreaming of maybe being a completist.  I am from the vintage days and when I think back it was not that hard to buy at least one of everything.  You had to keep up on it but it was doable. 

When the modern line started over I actually got 2 of everything.  I did that up through the end of Episode 1 I believe.  But it was getting tough with money, space, etc.  I simply  could not keep up with.  However, I am probably 94% complete with everything. 

I would like to get  close to one of every ROTS item but simply can't do it any longer.  It's sad when I have about 40 plus ROTS products but not even close to a complete set of that!  Even if I wanted to get every ROTS item it's nearly impossible unless you are living with mom and dad or rich.  LOL!

Now Hasbro likes to make exclusives stuff like Lava Vader, Lava Kenobi, Lava Anakin, Special Ops Troops, EE Earth $40 clone 4 packs, EE Earth Astromechs for $40, and Target Clonetroopers for $12 plus and a carded Wedge for $15 that should really be in the stores for $6.  It's almost endless nowadays with exclusives.  The prices seem to be outrageous IMO.  Even if I wanted some of these exclusives which I do I simply can not afford their prices.  Well I could but not if I want to keep up on my mortgage, eat, and stay married.  LOL!

I don't know man.  I am not a completist but it's the point where I am not anywhere in the ballpark anymore.  I will try to keep things going but it sucks not to be able to buy what you would like simply because the price of novelty items are insane.  If you can't keep up like you want to or it's not even a possibility to buy what you want it's almost like you want to throw in the towel...to a point. 

I guess I should not gripe because there is plenty of products out there to get.  But it does get old with all these expensive exclusives.  Let's say I want them they are kind of a bitch to get really. 

Eh, just had to blow off some steam there. 

[DarthAcroyear]

I started to write so long winded speak but I really don't think I could add anything more to this discussion then Darth Broem did in his last couple of post. Well said.

I will add a bit of info on me though. I haven't been a completist Star Wars collector since before Eps. 1 and for the most part, I tend to open everything I get, so there is quite a few exclusives that I take a pass on. I do however like to have lots or Imperial type figure so I guess that makes me a "Troop/Army Builder" of sorts but really, I just don't have the cash to buy a vast army of figures and the armada of ships to go with them to really claim that title. I also really just hate the fact that they do make some figures that I would love to buy three or four of (Clone Troopers,  a couple different Astromech Droids, etc.), but they make it such a pain to get and cost and arm and a leg to buy just one. It at that point, this hobby is really no longer fun and I have to ask myself, why should I even bother with it. I'm glad I have what I do and there are still a few things I want but really, it time for me to scale back even more then I have I think.

[Darby]

I think there's too many, in some cases overpriced, and some of them like the Lava figures and the Covert thing are just silly to me.  I gave up on exclusives a long time ago, and so the only ones I have from this year are the Holo Yoda and the Target Clone, and that's only because of Ben.  I'd like the EB set very much, but that ship has sailed. 

[Darth_Anton]

44 exclusive items in the 3.75" scale in one year?  That is approximately $900 plus tax/shipping if you tried to grab one of everything!    

Anyone else think that's just WAAAAAY too much running around to do in a year?

Thanks for the tally. That is a lot. This upcomming spurt is a huge chunk of that too. I'm more worried about being able to physically get what I want though, especially the Target stuff.  They have 5 alone. It's bad enough they seem to make limited quanties and that every Scalper and his mother are on top of it, but the stores themselves seem to be a hurtle as well.

Anyone else worried (like me) that this is a sign of things to come where the retailers demand HUGE lots of exclusive goods?   

Didn't this happen and fail in the 90's? It was mostly 12" though. Do you think the market may be different now?

[Brian]

Man, that list is unbelievable.  Thanks for compiling that Jeff, its hard to believe there has been that many exclusives this year (and that's just 3 3/4"!!).  I guess I'm fortunate in the fact that I'm not really a completist, so I've passed on the vast majority of those.  I enjoy the Target cups, so I've been picking those up, and I've got/preordered a couple of the others (Wedge, EE Clones, Holo Yoda - courtesy of JD, Early Bird set, and Target clone).  Even though I haven't been picking them all up, I think it is way too much as well.  Although I know sometimes they can be a pain to find, I miss the days where we just had a couple of exclusives here and there...and usually then they were ships.  If that is how we get them, they are ok with me.  For example, if Target were to offer a Cloud Car, and that was the only way we could get it (as an exclusive), that is fine with me.  Even a "special" figure here and there is ok, but not near the number we're getting this year (or at these prices!).  Overall, a ship/beast/playset here and there would be neat (just so we could get them), and I like the Target cups as well (although we've gotten a lot more of those than I expected as well).  I know it is a movie year, but I'm hoping this trend doesn't continue and carry over.  A few here and there are ok (maybe similar to the POTJ days), but this is crazy.

[DoctorPadawan]

Didn't this happen and fail in the 90's? It was mostly 12" though. Do you think the market may be different now?

Yeah, and at that time, surprise surprise, the worst retailer when it came to exclusive availability was Target. 

The thing that started it all was when Target advertised in their Sunday circular their exclusive 12 inch Hoth Luke and Wampa two pack.  Well, stores either didn't get them at all, or they got very few, and there were rampant reports about one person going in and buying every set they had on the shelves and immediate postings on Usenet selling them for double the price.  Target did not put a limit on how many sets one person could buy, and it ended up being a major cluster**** of the Nth degree.

Kenner (this was in their "We don't care what collectors think!" heyday) pretty much ignored customer complaints and refused to do anything about it.  So, some people decided to go over Kenner's heads and contacted LFL with the stories (which were occurring around the same time with the KB Luke and Han Stormtrooper 12 inch sets), and LFL was rumored to have stepped in and told Kenner to knock it off and make more.  A few months later, Targets "inexplicably" received more shipments of the Luke/Wampa set, and every 12 inch exclusive they or any other store got the following year were shipped in abundance and nobody had a problem finding any of those dolls.

The problem was the majority of those 12 inch exclusives (especially Target's in 1998) were overshipped due to the undershipment of the 1997 exclusives, and Target would end up clearancing their Han Prisoner/Carbonite Block and FX Emperor/Royal Guard 2 packs for 1/5th of what they sold them for in the first place.  Some people even said that local Goodwill stores had stacks of the Solo set up to three years after they disappeared from Target.

Lucasfilm's attitude at that point was that they did not like the fact that Kenner was making limited run exclusives that 90 percent of their fanbase would not be able to get.  What their attitude is now that the films are done I don't know, but if this year's exclusive downpour is any indication, they'll be releasing that Ebay Exclusive Clone Trooper within the next year with LFL's blessing.