Star Wars Toys Strong in 2010

[Jesse James]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/star-wars-record-toy-revenue-96809

As per the front page, I found the story interesting about how well the Star Wars brand (specifically from Hasbro and Lego) did in 2010.  This is a contrast to last  year when Hasbro was saying at Toy Fair that the line was stalling somewhat.  It makes me wonder if Vintage did well, or only Clone Wars/Legends did well...  Lego always seems to do alright, but Hasbro's rebound got me curious.

I'm guessing we'll hear something from Toy Fair this year, as they usually give you the vagues of what did ok, what's not doing ok, etc.  No specifics, but wouldn't you love to see those?

Anyway, it's kind of interesting, something to ponder...  I could see Vintage being listed as not performing as well as they'd hoped with the Clone Wars being the driving force again, but we'll see.  I kind of hope this means good things for the line overall, but right now distribution and pricing are the biggest issues to me.  I can't find anything I want, and when I do it's stickershock anymore too.  The figures are great but I've still cut way, way back.

Right now though it'd just be cool to see a new figure.  I only see Clone Wars getting a restock lately.

[Scockery]

Not shipping stuff half the year really paid off! 

Also, charging more for cheaper retro packaging.

[Jesse James]

Hah, well that's what makes me wonder if Vintage has been a hit or if it's still slow for the collector-focused stuff according to Hasbro.  This news is a stark contrast to 2010's early news that they were rebooting things because there was a big slowdown.  Is it that all Star Wars is booming, or is Vintage still lagging and disappointing?

It'll be interesting to hear Hasbro's Star Wars team's thoughts in just a little while here.

[DoctorPadawan]

Prediction:

-Vintage sales are slower than expected, despite higher prices, lower quality (i.e. yellow Clone helmets, crappy repaint waves for no reason), and poor case packs (more Clones, less anything else that is actually selling well). 

-Clone Wars continues to sell like crazy, because kids are the only SW fans left.

-Saga Legends is the greatest thing since sliced bread and penicillin.  Never mind the deluge of them and nothing else anywhere you go.  Those millions of AOTC and ROTS Clones are simply an illusion caused by the barren desert that is the Vintage pegs at most retailers.

-Due to outstanding sales at Big Lots, they'll be reintroducing Star Wars Choppers, which will take the place of Vintage, because kids hate quality figures and love motorcycles!

Okay, so maybe not the last one.

[CHEWIE]

Right now the way things are being handled in the vintage line seem eerily similar to how they handled Legacy... the difference?  Vintage costs us at least a buck more than other figures.  So Hasbro probably sees that gravy and will say the line is in better shape than Legacy was. 

[Keonobi]

A lot of companies had their 4th qrtr and year end earnings announcement these last few weeks which makes me wonder whether this news is really about lines doing objectively better (selling more units) or whether the metrics Hasbro is using have been "right-sized"?

Its just speculation on my part, but I bet that if anyone where to look at the metrics they use to define success, you'd find that the bar has been lowered for Vintage (given the more targetted approach they are taking with this line), not to mention the price hike (and lack of pack-ins) adding additional per unit revenue.

[Jesse James]

But the line overall was directly compared to 2005, which was their best year in a long time at that point as well.  That has to play into what they considered "success" regardless of a lowered standard.

Of course that refers to everything overall (and Lego is included in this too, but they're good every year I think)...  Vintage could still have done ok by the lowered bar, or eaten poop.  

[ruiner]

That was suprising to read.  2005 was a monster year for SW - tons of retail space was allocated because of the movie; 2010 was not even close with regards to real estate and I doubt the higher prices made up for the difference in space.

But hey, they know their numbers better than anyone here so they must be telling the truth.