That's a figure that a lot of people preordered on Target.com that saw those orders cancelled, too, because reasons. And I agree Pulse is reliable, but they go through their allotment of available preorders quick so you've got people sitting online for the hunt anyway.

No system is perfect, but instead of presale, if Hasbro just says "it goes live on such and such date" where every store is going to list it for immediate sale at the same time, with no or at least less chance of overordering or your retailer of choice just losing your order, and they give you plenty of time to prepare so we know when to expect to have to be online to make the order, I think that's a system a lot of people can get behind.

 

You just described preorders, though. A predetermined time where people order their stuff and know it'll be available.

General audiences don't care. Preorders are for the benefit of people who care enough to pay attention to that kind of thing: Fans.

And Hasbro can't control if other etailers botch it. But Pulse didn't fail people on Overload.

And stripping away the advanced part of that process doesn't change anything. Ask people who've ordered from Amazon/Target when it had stock only for it to go to backorder.

 

I don’t think there was many people saying it’ll fail, dude. Just mainly talking about how it’s weird to have 3 Haslabs running at once.

 

Dang, that Ghostbusters HasLab is dang impressive. I'll give credit where it's due and it's due there.

Exactly. Not to mention, all of this hitting just before Christmas... It's a bit ouchy on the wallet. I'm not sure why they don't do more of these around tax season, where people are more likely to have some extra money. It does lead one to speculate that at least one of these will fail, and there's nothing wrong with speculation. If people end up being wrong and all of these fund, then we learned something about HasLab and our fandoms.

 

I didn't say people thought they'd fail, just people questioning the logic of it.

But why else would it be "weird" unless people thought it would contribute to failure? If you think it'll succeed there's nothing weird about any of this.

 

I don’t think most are noting it out of concern, so much as surprise. These campaigns have gone from a rare event to ubiquitous, and that’s a thing that people are noticing.

 

It's never going to be a good time, because there's preorders for other things as well.

I'm sure part of the motivation is to get the funds secured in Q4 of 21 so they know the budget for those projects in 22.

That much is obvious. But it's no different than when they test the waters at retail and then accelerate. Look at the increasing frequency of Selects.

Part of it I'm sure is a stress test. But at the same time Hasbro doesn't launch these expecting anyone to buy all of them. Same as any toyline at retail.

 

That's a fair point. Wasn't really thinking about that aspect when finishing my post.

 

I think it’s weird because they’ve never done three at the same time. Considering all three of them are tapping into 80’s nostalgia then they’re likely tapping into overlapping markets. And seeing as if someone wanted to get all three that’s a thousand American within a week all three is most likely not doable for most people. So there is cause for concern (if the one I’m not backing succeeds maybe the one I am won’t). I don’t think they’ll fail. I hope they won’t, I want Haslab to continue. But I will be surprised if any of them reach 25 000+.


Hope to be surprised, however.

 

All Hasbro deals in is 80s/90s nostalgia.

They don't need to, though. If they don't maybe Hasbro will spread them out more in the future... but failing to meet stretch goals doesn't mean the project is a failure.

But that goes back to my previous point, if Hasbro based their products on the people who bought everything that's such a tiny fraction of the consumer base.

You know something that's great about Pulse? It's an awesome focus group. They can tell who orders what, who cancels what, what else they buy, etc.

They know where those crossovers are. This is also why I called this a "stress test."

 

A lot of Hasbro’s toys are modern (MCY, Star Wars, etc.) and I wasn’t saying they will fail. They obviously don’t need to reach that high. I was just saying I think going “having any doubts is stupid and incorrect” is a dumb opinion imo. I 100% understand why someone might feel that way. I feel confident in saying all of them will succeed.

 

I mean, having doubts is one thing. But having the same doubts every time feels more like fatalism.

It was like how people kept saying "Oh *this* the MCU movie that will finally fail!" for like 10 years and now Widow has struggled a bit and Eternals isn't landing with critics and those people are pretending like they're Nostradamus.

 

I find Haslab/non-refundable deposit to be better. Barring the company going out of business, you are guaranteed the product. You have a fairly long window to pay and after that you can relax and wait. The downsides are not getting to see the final product before buying and the longer wait, although if they make quality stuff and stick to matching the renders I don't think the former will be much of an issue.

 

I don't need that level of precaution. I'm fine getting charged when it's in stock. Let's me cancel preorders if I find something sooner.

Pulse is the best "safety" in that regard.

 

No, preorders are preorders, as in you make a reservation ahead of time for whenever the item comes into stock you will have your ordered filled. This would be "I has product, you order product, I ship product, you get product". Regular instock orders, like how Pulse did Red Alert. They had him in stock, I bought one, they shipped it and I had it in my possession a few days later. And that was even without a heads up, which is all the curtesy "Fans" really need for Blaster so they know when they can buy one.

Basically though it keeps things a lot simpler, you get the item sent to you as soon as you click checkout and you don't have to keep track of it on a long list of orders you made of items that you might not even receive for months and months. And doing it with actual instock items prevents a retailer from taking more preorders than they will eventually have stock. Which has happened a lot over the past few years with Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, etc. versus when placing an order on an item that was actually in stock with an accurate quantity sitting in the warehouse and ready to ship (with the problem you're describing actually being quite rare compared to the numerous issues that have plagued preorders on the same sites).

Arguably having to pay up front can be better, because it's easier to argue that you've made a purchase that the retailer should now have to abide by as it's not just took a ticket for an IOU. But also because:

Some people make and cancel preorders willy nilly, which in turn can hurt the retailer and burn them with having to move excess product that they're only now stuck with because someone else got the product faster (which is something that is often out of their control). Not saying you yourself abuse the system, Hybrid, nor am I personally for the idea of non-refundable methods on just every product, but there is a reason why a lot of retailers are requiring deposits on certain purchases now to curb that practice.

 

Not sure why but I'm more excited for Lift Ticket here than anything from Kingdom W5/Legacy W1. Can't wait to get him.

 

That's not how Pulse does it, though. They've got limited preorders, and when those are gone that's it.

If those are cancelled, that stock gets moved pretty quick by other people watching it.

I mean, that's a great hypothetical argument until the global supply chain breaks down and the reason you can't get stock is because the stores got screwed over by issues beyond their control.

And it doesn't get you a figure. Just a refund to spend on a figure you're no longer able to find anywhere. (See: Studio Overload)

 

That's not how Pulse does it so far, but they are the exception rather than the rule. They are generally pretty good about it, but sometimes that because those limited preorders are extremely limited which leaves a lot of people who may be only a few minutes late after the preorder went live S.O.L.

True, but those global supply chain break downs are just that: Global. It's out of everyone's control, and it's had an effect on everything from production to shipping let alone the amount of expected stock retailers never received. But in that case any and every other method of preorder is going to result in the same way: No figure.

 

I saw this and all I could think of in my head is \"G1 LEADFOOT\"