I think I’m done with the special teams stuff too. I’ll have enough trouble finding space for the regular stuff as it is!
Has anyone heard if Lenny and Emily survived the layoffs at Hasbro? I'd hope with the success of Classified this year they'll be okay.
I hope so, they seem like the current driving force behind this brand.... On another note, BBTS made good on my Threezero Roadblock delivery.
They’d be idiots for letting Lenny and the other designers go. They’ve developed the best 6” action figure line in Hasbro’s history. Those designers have massive passion for the brand and the history. I like Emily too. I don’t know exactly what her duties include…but she seems to have a lot of energy for it and might play a large role in things getting promoted internally and externally. I’d have a hard time understanding why they would break this team up. I could see them streamlining the offerings, though. More repaints and parts reuse…some entire brands getting put on hiatus (Ghostbusters? D&D?)…less risky offerings (like holding off on 6” scale vehicles at retail)…etc.
Emily just updated her Instagram. Telling Skystriker backers they are shipping and to be on the look out for a special video.
From what I’ve read Hasbro’s Marvel Legends and Star Wars sales were lagging compared to recent years. Maybe it’s time to focus more energy and attention on the properties they own instead of turning out so many figs for licensing that Disney is slowly ruining the value of.
I believe that renewing focus and investment on their owned brands was a key point of a recent investor call. They also recently sold a number of assets from their eOne component as part of that refocus. The more I see of the D&D movie the more nervous I get that it will underperform at the box office and more cost cutting will have to be done. Agreed that letting go of any part of Lemily or any key part of the GI Joe team would be a terrible idea. I'm preaching to the choir but if anything they should be investing more into GI joe right now.
Given that it was 1000 jobs globally, my expectation would be that they might get a lot of those by pulling out of smaller markets. There are compound effects to laying off designers or public facing personnel. Not that the execs at these companies always think about it that way. I hope Hasbro's leads are safe. I don't want to sound cynical but in my experience, contract artists tend to bounce back or find ways to produce stuff on their own. Skilled marketers can find work elsewhere in marketing, particularly with in-house experience on a large brand. It's the management like Lenny who I don't see bouncing back as easily. Good managers are often okay artists, okay writers, okay salespeople, but good at big picture vision. Unless somebody else wants to hire Lenny to do the exact same thing on another brand, I don't think we'll see the same quality and notoriety from him elsewhere. Good managers in pop culture businesses end up as assistant managers at department stores if they get laid off. There's only so many jobs that really showcase their talents well. Best case is probably getting an MBA, teaching, and doing a lot of interviews about toys.
Grabbed the recent Classified Snake Eyes and Timber set. I wasn’t intending on getting this set initially. I didn’t really get the Renegades homage that this was alluded to have and I already had the Snake Eyes from wave 1 as well as the 1st alpha commando Snake Eyes/Timber set. The scarf and guns were cool but months back that was about it for me. Then recently the scarf, subdued paint scheme and Timber reminded me of Venom Snake and D Dog from Metal Gear Solid V Phantom Pain, so that heightened appeal of this set to me. Then I started seeing more pictures recently and decided to get it. Switching to boots was a good improvement. The scarf tends to stick out up and in front unlike on Stalker where it rests across the upper torso more flush. So given that, I left the bandolier on as leaving it off didn’t make much of a difference with the way the scarf sticks out(you’ll notice as there’s a visible gap between the scarf and torso when you look from the side). I had heard that some samples were very loose. My figure is loose at some joints but I think it’s due to having a lot of mold release oil or shock oil applied by the factory to preemptively prevent joints from seizing. If so, it’s a good move by the factory but they overdid it on this release. My figure is tighter than wave 1 Snake Eyes but not as tight as the Snake Eyes from the 1st alpha commando set. Meanwhile Timber has tighter joints overall compared to the 1st Timber that was released in Classified. Overall this is a good set that may appeal to those that like the 1st Classified Snake Eyes, prefer boots with no shin guards and prefer the knight visor look with less torso web gear/padding. The paint scheme has some decent color separation that I didn’t notice until I unboxed the figure. It’s enough to be interesting without being too busy visually. Using a pinless body would’ve been appreciated but luckily the elbows and knees aren’t gummy. The loosest joints on mine are actually the shoulders(not rag doll loose thankfully).
My PP Troopicers came in today. Debating whether I want more down the road or if I'm good with three. Added them to a Detolf set up I have going. I should look into backgrounds at some point. A jungle setup would be fun.
I doubt that there's gonna be too many public facing people getting laid off, it's mostly gonna be background workers and stuff like that.
Indeed. In general layoffs start at the bottom and work upwards. I'd be surprised if any of the public facing figures were layed off. About the only way I could see that happening is if Hasbro decided to consolidate a couple of their brands under the same team or something.
Yea, and given that several brand teams already operate multiple brands (Star Wars and Indiana Jones for example), I don't really see them touching the big 3 brands (Transformers, GI Joe, Marvel) at the moment.
Finally! Skystriker is in the pattern and cleared for a Sunday landing...along with TARN! Gonna be a phenomenal Sunday!
I hear that. I only got Tiger Force Outback because of his cool looking tiger shirt. Other than that I need to stay away from special teams. It's just too much really. As in too much money and too much space. I can't display all that. They'll just sit in a box, and my stored toys is already too much as it is. Got to draw the line somewhere. I just hate that they're all numbered. I wish the special teams had their own numbering. Same for the movie figures.
