Frankly, the toy industry as a whole is in trouble, and I suspect if it turns around it will be because Isaac Larian at MGA carries it on his back. Doubly so with the "you don't need a toy or even a comic book, you have video games" culture. I expect in the next decade or two, we're going to see Universal and Disney each acquire one of the big toymakers to consolidate licensing and brand-management.
Just bite the bullet and sell the rest...Ent Earth came through f'ing quick....I ordered 8/19. I honestly didn't think they'd restock these, seeing as how I still have Halo Banished Turret/UNSC Radar Tower Sets on order for 1-2 months. They won't charge you until if and when they ship it.
His way of selling toys does seem to be gimmicky and quantity over quality. But I guess if he's the one that is succeeding in troubling times, then what options do we have? The downside to him taking over Mattel is will he just make everything blindpacks and trinkets ?....
HEB is a grocery store in Texas. I haven't gotten anything there myself as the ones nearest me tend to lag behind a bit, but they do still keep things stocked at least.
He's also a savvy businessman with several different brands that aren't blindballs, and seems to have embraced the old Sam Walton Wisdom about "the only boss is the customer; he can fire everyone here from CEO down simply by taking his business elsewhere." A lesson that Mattel, Hasbro, Target and even Sam's own successors in Bentonville at Walmart HQ would be wise to learn. So I'd bet a theoretical MGA Mattel takeover would probably be focused on "keep what works, change what doesn't."
There is a Dollar General on my way to work so I decided to stop by and see what they have . I don't pay attention to the COD stuff but the Halo stuff I have been tempted on. Never seen the black carded Halo sets they had at this store before:
It is somewhat disappointing when the Dollar General prices are actually more than WalMart's used to be.
Probably getting everybody else's remainders on liquidation. Shoulda licensed the brick stuff to one of the brick specialists...
Didn't say LEGO--Hasbro shoulda bought Mega Bloks, or negotiated a partnership, before Mattel got the chance. To clarify: in my dream Alternate Reality, Hasbro and Mattel each buy half of Mega Brands, and prop it up to keep LEGO's share of the US toy market at a "managed" level rather than allowing them to seize the whole construction-toy sector via anti-competitive means. Of course, in my dream AR, Mattel also hires everyone they can from the old Kenner design team to run Jurassic...
I support mega bloks/construx from the other side of the world. lego has some interesting stuff, but as an adult they can't compete with mega in the action department. Lego's management of star Wars is also not realy helping (i hate stud shooters). Mega will survive, i don't like lego's monopoly strategy, but it's business i guess, and in that universe only money counts. I cut back my lego purchases drasticly the last years to move more to MC universes. Lego fans are also a nasty bunch, most don't tolorate anything else. Go and promote mega i'd say.
Hell, they bitch about anything that isn't a brick or minifig. I don't speak for all Bionicle fans, but at times I've wondered "why are we associated with these clowns?"
