Spotted Online – Poe’s Post “Hasbro blows it on the SWB Series 3 case assortments”
Way back in February of this year I made an unpopular statement that spurred discussion and disagreement. My post “Five Reasons Why Hasbro’s “Star Wars Black†Will Fail” outlined why my gut instincts tell me this line will not be a success, and it appears that Hasbro is working to guarantee that points four and five — “4. Difficult to Find,” “5. Oversaturation of the Market” — will become real quite quickly.
Poe Ghostal writes about the Hasbro blunder and, I feel, supports my initial feeling that the line is destined to fail. Specifically, Hasbro has announced that wave three (pre-order at Entertainment Earth*) is three new figures and a Han Solo. Not an extra Stormtrooper, Sandtrooper, or Boba Fett. Another Han Solo. Now Han is by no means a peg-warmer — Darth Maul and Luke X-Wing are claiming that prize in the stores I visit — but this move by Hasbro seems directed at turning Han Solo into a peg warmer.
Over at Poe’s post, in the comments, there is speculation that retailer demands drove the case assortment that shoves Han Solo back into stores. Reader @T16skyhopp writes:
While know one really knows, I would blame retailers before hasbro. Target/Walmart/TRU could have easily requested this on the “kids want heroes” assumption and Hasbro has to give them what they want. Small order retailers like BBTS and EE are the ones who get screwed.
I’ve personally met with buyers at the large retailers and my opinion is that these buyers are professionals and know their lines far better than many collectors seem to think. They also track sales history and keep a close eye on demand, so in my opinion the retailers may have commented on case mix, but I doubt any retailer said “Stick Han Solo in this case or no!”
But we may never know the truth behind action figure case packs and why manufacturers make the choices they do. And if I want to put a positive speculation on things I’ll simply say:
Hasbro dropped Han Solo in wave three because they are including Chewbacca in wave four.
Remember, that is pure speculation and not at all impacted or affected by reality.
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Well, according to the rumored lists, yes, Chewbacca will be in series four. So if that’s the case, it would be interesting if Hasbro’s plan was to ensure Hans are on the pegs when Chewie shows up.
I’m still not at all convinced the line will “fail.” The buzz is only building, Boba Fett is selling out everywhere, companies like Funko are using Star Wars Black as a reference point for their Legacy line, and if we get all the products that have been rumored, it represents an enormous expansion of the line.
But we shall see!
@Poe – “Well, according to the rumored lists, yes, Chewbacca will be in series four. So if that’s the case, it would be interesting if Hasbro’s plan was to ensure Hans are on the pegs when Chewie shows up.”
If Chewie really is in wave four then Hasbro’s move here strikes me as smart. Not quite as smart as if they held Han until wave four (so he would have been packed with Chewie), but better than if they didn’t include Han again until wave six or seven.
I find it interesting that BBTS has already dropped the price on Han Solo to $10. I hope Hasbro comes out and announces if Chewie is going to be in wave 4.
@Barbecue17 – $10 already? Wow! Is that maybe just for Black Friday or something?
I think it would be really sad if the line fails, especially this early. I personally have wanted 6″ Star Wars figures for 8 years, and am planning to sell almost my entire 3-3/4″ collection. I was hopping there would be 6″ figures to replace some of them.
But being difficult to find will make this line fail. I have yet to see a Sandtrooper in a store, but the shelves are swamped with every other Wave 1 figure. Around here it looks like Luke, R2 and Darth Maul are pegwarmers.
And from what I can see only Target and TRU are carrying the line, locally. Walmart doesn’t appear to have picked up the 6″ figures yet, and we have 3 or 4 Walmarts to every TRU or Target where I am.
@ryanlb – I continue to worry that Hasbro will over-correct the situation by flooding shelves with already-released figures in the line. But having never produced/sold action figures I don’t have any real world experience and can only go by my gut when watching this line play out.
A realistic and useful pre-order or subscription service direct from Hasbro would probably help offset any retail woes. Give fans an easier way to collect toys and most of them will end up spending more. Make the toys too tough to buy — I’ve seen ONE Boba Fett in stores — and some unknown number of fans will simply quit trying.