And they're psychotically expensive for a normal 6/7 inch line. Sure they could raise the prices and go the Super 7 or MattyCollector route but is it viable and how much of sales on their products would they lose by not having it in stores for the impulse buy, the potential influx of new fand from the kiddies, and the parents buying for presents? No parent is going to spend Super 7 prices on their kid or commit to a sub for a whole year for their kid.
Sorry I wasn’t endorsing Hasbro go “made to order” on GI Joe I was just referencing that Super 7 does for a lot of their stuff. Which makes sense because they sell a niche product. Hasbro on the other hand and Mattel for that matter are not selling as niche a product. They are also a substantially bigger companies with far superior in house data on sales trends and can easily pick up the phone and ask Joel at BBTS how many units he thinks he can move. For Hasbro, Mattel, Target and Walmart to put new lines up on their website and have them instantaneously sell out is inexcusably incompetent. They shouldn’t be as off as they’ve been and TBF to Hasbro they haven’t been, obviously Target has.
I'm unaware of any model trains that are "forced subscription". Having to buy entire lines would immediately kill it all off. Mattel is an example of what not to do.
Ah... are you sure about that? Classics ran from 2008 to 2016 and spanned almost the entire original toyline? It was so successful, made to order, that Super7 picked it up as ran it though last year. Including two rather large playsets. The only reason it ended was because Mattel stopped it both times. And the second time was to run another MOTU line. So what are you actually talking about?
Yes absolutely. While SE, CC, and Destro look rad, that trooper steals the proverbial cake in the aesthetics department, a perfect blend of modern with lots of classic call-outs. He reminds me of a cross between a POC and a Resolute trooper.
100% agree, there's something wrong with Target and Wally, but i figure they don't care about who/what is buying long as it's sold, they get their money. The only positive i can see is Hasbro will see the happy and maybe up production numbers to increase their profits, however if they have a finite contract with exclusives produced with stores, well we're screwed on those figures but future figures we may have better chances
Honestly, not totally sure at this point---I just remember an insane amount of complaints about the early MOTU classics stuff, and how poorly Voltron was handled. It went through 2016? Had no idea, I kinda "tuned out" long before that. Regardless, how it was handled early on soured me on buying anything from either line, and it not how I'd want Hasbro to handle future Joe stuff.
Yeah always lots of complaints with Matty I cannot see that being a great route for GI Joe THAT being said compared to the utter joke that was the GI Joe Subscription line Mattel handled it much better. At least you got actual characters and new sculpts with Matty. The more I think about it if Hasbro was producing exactly the ARAH figures I wanted with the right accessories well... I’d consider it. I don’t have to run down to Walmart and deal with some almost right character with the wrong guns. Even if we do get the Joes were all hoping for in 6” they probably won’t finish the line. Not without Hasbro being Hasbro and reusing bodies and giving us half-assed figures. Yeah the more I think about it I wouldn’t be against a Sub line done right.
looks over at my Voltron.....remembers SDCC2011, their Voltron thought process was a $#!+ show, i will never forgive Mattel for Voltron, and Playmates isn't much higher on the board with me. I look around my room and it makes me realize just how much Hasbro is on my shelves, like they're prob the #1 brand represented in all of my various collections, GI Joe hit me harder than i expected though, i figured i'd get a few but i'm damn near mentally deep almost all in. Luckily i'm a weird collector and i'm going with a 3 fold collection (SE/SS, Red&Black Cobra figres, Black characters) to keep me from going all in
Exclusives G.I. JOE Classified Series set of 3. (Roadblock, Beachhead, Cobra Trooper). Preorder. Start Shipping 1st Oct 2020.
YOU'LL BE JOINING THEM SOON! BECAUSE THEY'RE Sooo COOOLLD!!! Man this thing was fubar...hopefully there will be trickle in stock like with the seeker set
What you propose does work but I think in Hasbro’s case(and this isn’t to defend them), they want orders in bulk paid for in full up front from retailers like Walmart and Target who have direct accounts with them. If those units end up shelf warming, to Hasbro it may not matter at that point since the retailers already paid them. Minimum order(of figures/units) is in the tens of thousands for Hasbro. I don’t know the exact numbers or approximations of joe fans that would be willing to pay in full directly to Hasbro for a preordered made to order item, but I don’t think it’ll match a bulk order from Walmart or Target. So it’s possible a made to order run would be lower substantially and the end cost to us could be substantially higher. There’s already fans who don’t like that Classified Joes have an MSRP $20, anything more and you’ll see more hesitation and they’ll expect more. The math behind the costs probably doesn’t factor into most when a price tag is seen for Joes, so for let’s say, $25-30 for a made to order Classified ARAH Duke with the same number of accessories as Classified wave 1 Duke, probably won’t sit well for some fans even if the production run is substantially limited. They’d probably expect as many weapons included as the deluxe Snake Eyes and the jet pack from the cartoon movie with a stand. What you suggested does work but I think more for dedicated collector markets whereas ultimately, Hasbro wants to bank at Joes being at mass retail and ordered by the retailers in bulk for more profit.
