OTC DVD Sets

[Scott]

ESB Boxed pics

[SilverZ]

ESB Boxed pics

I give up.

[Jesse James]

The box sure is purdy.

These sets interest me as much as toast does right now...  And I'm not particularly hungry.

EDIT:

Just for clarification, I may nab the ROTJ set if it's a fair price because the Emperor I actually never saw in stoores.  I'd take it for him and the stormie (only the stormie justifies buying it).

New figures would be cool...  Kitbashes I mean, not "new", but I guess the only thing there is they probably feel they're doing a serivce to collectors by straight reissuing things.  Of course, the OTC line's got a lot of not-so-straight-reissues in it...  repaints, touch-ups, some fixes...  

I think Hasbro looks at collectors and they refuse to acknowledge completists.  They assume you'll just not buy it.  

My completist ways are dying, seriously.  I'm to the point I simply don't have the room for piles of **** I don't want.  As it stands, I'm replacingn crappy POTF2 figures routinely with new better versions.  

I like that, don't get me wrong, but these multi-packs and things would leave me with doubles and triples of figures I already despise.

[Brian]

I don't mind these sets too much, especially if they were the only "re-releases" we were getting this year.  I might pick these up (depending on price/availability), even though I already have the figures.  I'll probably just leave them boxed up (rare for me).  I agree with what Scott mentioned earlier, I think many of us would be pretty happy if they just kitbashed together a few figures for us, replacing a re-release here and there.  Between the OTC, glass sets, TRU Box sets, and now the DVD sets, I think we have seen enough of figures like POTJ Ben, CTC Han, etc.  Like I said, if they would have limited the re-releasing to things like these promotional DVD sets, I wouldn't have minded much at all.  I probably would have even though they were neat, but since we're already bombarded with so much recarding and rereleasing, it makes it harder to stomach.  I am a loose collector, but really, really like the upcoming OTC cards and was thinking about buying many figures I already have, but I'm not so sure anymore.  Hasbro may have gone to the recarding well one too many times now

[Scott]

Hey how about another kick in the groin...instead of the pretty cool Cloud City Chewie, we'll give you the slightly inferior Mechanic Chewie that's been rereleased ad naseum for a while now

Seriously...the decisions being made on this line right now is enough for me to say enough, I'm through with you idiots

BTW, got a sneak peak at Episode III Wave 1-3

Wave 1
Anakin Skywalker (Coruscant)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Coruscant)
Padme Amidala (Coruscant)
Chancellor Palpatine

Wave 2
Anakin Skywalker (Coruscant)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Coruscant)
Padme Amidala (Coruscant)
Chancellor Palpatine

Wave 3
Anakin Skywalker (Coruscant)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Coruscant)
Padme Amidala (Coruscant)
Chewbacca (Mechanic Recarded)

[Brian]

Agreed about the Chewie Scott, don't know why they couldn't stick in the Cloud City one which everyone pretty much seems to like the best (and we're already seeing Mechanic Chewie elsewhere anyways).

[Scott]

That's all of these sets...hell why not give Luke a Poncho, repaint OTC Spirit Ben, Repack MMC C-3PO and R2 w/ Holo Leia

The ESB one couldn't be much worse for what they chose for figures (sans the CLoud City Chewie thing)

ROTJ is fine too, I just am sick of seeing that Vader and they could just have easily put in Luke and Leia Endor and some Repainted Ewoks or something

It's asinine

[speedermike]

Man, this is a whiney thread...Guys, listen up...These Are Not For Us!  They are for new kids coming to Star Wars who have never, ever, ever bought a SW product before. Yes, people like that exist. Not everyone is like us.

Personally, I think these are nice sets.  Will I buy them?  No.  I'm a loose collector.  In fact, I think hasbro made a good decision to only include old figures.  We would all be totally p*ssed off if there was a new one in there with other old figs.

Anyway, I aslo see these as products that will see in non-toy specific retail places like Blockbuster or Suncoast, or even Best Buy.  They are sets that are made to be displayed along side the DVDs.

[Scott]

I totally understand who these are aimed at, but my point has been all along, isn't that what the OTC is aimed at too.  Again why not just make the VOTC is larger numbers so everyone can have one and call it good, that way you can put out some of the most amazing figures in SW history in every little Johnny and Susies hands who wants one, keep your core purchasing group happy and keep moving product

This way they are taking a huge risk that there will be more new collectors based on DVD's being released!  How many new collectors did Shadows of the Empire or Clone Wars bring in.  I've been seeing the same Cartoon figures at Target for 4 months now, the Clone Wars regular figs were clearance before Christmas.  

[Jeff]

I agree about the OTC madness.

IF Hasbro's intent was to get figures into the hands of "new" collectors, then why not offer a VARIETY?  They are cranking out re-packs, which I know they need to do to cut cost, bring in new collectors, etc, but why THE SAME figures over and over?  Why not mix in some new/different figures/repacks?

If it truly is Hasbro's desire to bring in new "collectors", couldn't the same effect be achieved by presenting a brand new Luke, Obi-Wan, R2 and 3PO in a box?  Why, do we need to see re-packs in order to bring in new collectors?  If they are "new" to collecting, they don't know that they are missing these figures, do they?

A box set of a brand new Luke, Ben, R2, and 3PO would bring in new collectors AND many of the old ones too, right?

There is only ONE answer for re-using old figures - CHEAP.  Cash savings.  Easy money.  No development cost, only manufacturing cost.  CHEAP.  That's why we get re-packs instead of new figures.  All this "we want to bring in new collectors" crap is exactly that: crap.

If they truly want to sell these new collectors figures, then maybe they should offer those new collectors a VARIETY of figures to choose from?  It doesn't make sense to keep repacking the same ones?

If I were a new collector, introduced to the figures through the DVD sets, I'd automatically skip at least 6 of the 38 OTC figures (Vader, Chewie, R2, 3PO, Ben, Stormtrooper), because I'd already have them!  Wouldn't it have been in Hasbro's best interest not to repeat these repack figures?  Wouldn't they have sold more (cheap) repack figures if they had mixed up the variety a little?  

That is my biggest problem with the OTC repack madness.  Why re-use figures over and over when, with just a minimum of effort in re-painting existing molds, things could have been improved?

The Endor set could have been better with generic Ewoks, the OTC carded line could have been better with different Repack choices to avoid repeating any figure released in the last year and/or figures in box sets like the Target cup sets, the TRU multipacks, the DVD box sets, etc.



Jeff

[Scott]

Also...this was supposed to be th rebirth of POTJ...great new figures of never before done characters.  And I have not one complaint about the first 6-7 months of 2004.  The rest so far is a waste of time when we could have been getting some of the long requested (Hermi Odle, Yarna, Hem Dazon, R5 resculpt, Padme Handmaiden) etc etc

I come back to time and time again, they had to have had OT characters and sculpts on the drawing board at the time the DVD's were announced.  Everything past the Bespin wave was PT related?  And if it was why not speed up some of those figures to get them out for the big release

Anyone notice how less and less they have interacted with the community since its heyday in 1999?  The "team" wasn't at Toy Fair, they don't seem to be responding to the websites and from the people I have talked to, they don't seem to be talking to anyone right now other than official announcements through their website

I look at the packaging and say it's neat but I also think these packs could have been the OTC and the OTC could have been:

Hem Dazon
Feltipern Trevagg
Bom Vimdin
Obi-Wan Spirit Repaint

Major Bren Derlin
Torryn Farr
Hobbie Klivian
General Veers

Hermi Odle
Yarna D'al Gargan
Klaatu (Jaaba's Palace)
Leia Boussh Resculpt

Anyone think these figures will for sure be coming in the next 3 years?  I see the whole OTC first and foremost as a wasted opportunity.

Jeff hammers home the point, they are losing so much money on the line right now that they are having to cut every corner to get to Episode III and the potential windfall that might exist.  That is until they overproduce and put out preposed action feature laden crap again and have to dump the overstock to try and turn a small profit if they can

[SilverZ]

[sarcasm]
I'd like to take this opportunity to remind Hasbro that SOTE Chewbacca Snoova Disguise can easily be repackaged as an Episode 3 Sneak Preview Wookiee Warrior.

I can't believe kids haven't had the chance to own a wookiee with a flattop since 1997. [sarcasm]

You guys nailed my feelings about the course of OTC perfectly. So, sorry in advance for my rant, as it probably has nothing new to offer:

Seriously, yes, I suppose we are sounding whiney, but I personally believe we’ve reached a point where we, collectively, have more practical experience with the SW toy marketplace than anyone at Hasbro does. We all understand that this line isn’t for us folks, it’s for a hypothetical new market coming to the trilogy for the first time. We all see the reason to do this.

Fine, repack figures, but be responsible about it. Weigh the impact on the line past the 3 month DVD sales window and be a tiny bit conservative in your expectations. How many times have they anticipated a giant resurgence of demand, only to be burned? The SE figures, like the ASP Droid? Episode 1? Saga ’02? Demand is fleeting. It always has been in the modern era. I totally agree with the idea that pushing the VOTC figures in greater scale would have been the way to go. There’s not enough demand for the amount of variants on the OT theme they are pushing.

Sure, they’ll sell to the completists like me for a little while, and the tiny market that the release of these TWENTY-FIVE year old movies generates. The rest is going to clog shelves, again. Don’t throw out 30+ recarded figures, and then repeat those figures through multiple exclusive outlets in different packaging, while at the same time offering new figures. And on and on we could go…

Everyone in here has suggested much better strategies that benefit both new and old collectors a hell of a lot more than what they’re doing. And this is without the benefit of knowing what’s coming down the pipeline months later.

I’m really pissed that what they’re doing this fall. I’d want every one of those figures OCB listed, and I’d happily take them on the OTC cards. We were headed down a great path at the start of ’04. I’m thoroughly convinced that the glut of rehashed product in the fall is going to completely jeopardize all that work. What a pisser.

[DoctorPadawan]

The one phrase that keeps coming back to my mind these last few days is "those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it."  How this applies to this situation is that Hasbro has simply not learned from its mistakes.  They have done this endless recarding before, and it ended up very badly and killed any momentum the line had at that time with retailers.  Only Episode I, believe it or not, saved the SW line.  

What I'm referring to is the Freeze Frame line.  Very nice concept, but executed badly.  Yes, they released a wave of new figures on a regular basis, but mixed in with these new figures were a veritable truckload of older figures who hadn't been all that difficult to find in the first place, on new cards.  It had nothing to do with keeping popular characters out there for fans or newcomers; it had more to do with milking the completist carded collectors for all they were worth.  And it backfired.

Probably the best/worst shining example of this was the rerelease of a Collection 3 case with nothing but older figures.  Never mind the fact that they had just released the first Removable Helmet Vader in an earlier case assortment not more than a month earlier; they had to release a whole case of figures nobody had any trouble finding at all in their previous incarnations (Tarkin, TIE Pilot, Stormie), ignoring the previous wave with the RH Vader, and when it came time for the second wave of Collection 3 figures that were new, they were impossible to find (Ree Yees and DST).  All because of Hasbro's desire to cut corners and "maximize their profits."

The fact that they were releasing waves of figures with one new figure (usually packed at 2 per case) like the Ugnaughts or 8D8 wasn't helping either, because it was getting 2 new figures and 14 old figures on the shelf.  I don't think I need to explain which ones didn't sell.  It was also the FF line that necessitated the ridiculous clearance sales that fall (2 dollars a figure with those little stickers).  I have never seen a Wal*Mart so overrun with figures as I did that fall, and it was all the same figures.  Nothing new.

And then that winter, after a whole load of relative hype, Hasbro released the Expanded Universe line at the tail end of the FF series.  Was there anyone here who had an easy time finding any of these, particularly the Darktrooper and Spacetrooper?  Then the last wave (the Hoth Leia wave) wasn't even released to retail because after the clearance disaster, retailers pretty much told Hasbro "NO MORE."  They had to seek out alternative outlets because they had burned the retailers so badly with endless repacks.

This is all going to happen again.  Out of 38 regular carded figures, there are arguably 7 new figures, two repaints (Hoth Vader and Bespin Luke), and 29 repacks.  I don't care what Hasbro says: this line is NOT going to get new people to start buying figures because of the DVDs.  People are going to buy the DVDs and that is it.  Given the fact that the electronics section and the toy section are a good distance away from each other in most retailers, people are going to buy the DVDs and that's all, not even giving the toy section a second thought.  They're  basing their entire product offering (and a vast amount of their products themselves) on the assumption that new people will buy things, when in reality, this will be a very small portion of the buying population.  They should know this by now, but they obviously prefer to live in their ivory tower and develop new ways to package POTJ Obi-Wan and CTC Han than put money into developing toys that people actually want to buy.

Get ready folks, it's going to be 1998 all over again, if not worse.

[Scott]

Wow didn't even think about that one Doc but you are pretty much spot on, with the only exception that these are supposedly HOF versions that might appeal a little bit better than 1000 Malikilis that were at Target for 4 months.  True there were some main characters in there as well

It is almost as baffling as it was then...I know that I scooped up bags full of FF's from Target for customizing, 20 R2's, 10 Ewok packs, ERG's etc

I think the same thing might be happening here

[Muftak]

At this point, I barely even care. I've seen enough special repacks to know I don't want 'em. I do give them some credit for finally reusing the beautifully sculpted Bespin Capture Han Solo, but I guess I take the credit immediately away by seeing they're trying to reuse last year's horribly botched Emperor.

As for OTC repeating the mistakes of the FreezeFrame year, I've been worried about that since I first saw the line-up.

I keep thinking hopefully Wal*Mart/Target/TRU will set up large sections for the figures again this fall (they'd almost have to, what with the vehicles.) I also keep hoping the figure space gets divided equally between the vOTC  and OTC figures. At least then we'll have a sporting chance to find the 15 or so hits among the 50 or so clunkers. If not, well, history tells me I can always wait till 2006 when these all float back out at a dollar each clearance.

In the end, do I buy the premise that more kids will be looking for the toys based on the DVDs? No, I think the only time that has panned out was the original 1995 figures coming out at the time of the "new" VHS versions, and then it only worked because no one had sold Star Wars toys for ten years prior.