Wal-Mart Kicking Movie Heroes to the curb?

[zedhatch]

True on Legends, I had only bought a few of them but the line did help me get figs I had missed the first time (ie Greedo) still I did feel it was mostly repacks and to be honest just as cheap as movie heroes (I mean to my POV a repack is a repack no matter how your slice it) the fact movie heroes had less quality (supposidly the less articualtion means less cost, although Hasbro does flip flop on that if it suits thier purposes) just makes it that much worse.

But also I think it confused customers, especially parents. If a kid said I want the new Darth Maul and the parent goes to see MH Maul what do you think will happen, not a good way to have things set up on the shelf IMO. Then again I have always argued there should never be multiples of the same character on the shelf at the same time anyway (Just creates confusion for anyone who isn't a hardcore collector).

[Paulskywalker]

again I have always argued there should never be multiples of the same character on the shelf at the same time anyway (Just creates confusion for anyone who isn't a hardcore collector).

True and excess of a character.

[DarthEddie]

Four of the same Episode I Obi-Wan figure being sold at the same time and in the same stores was just inexcusable overkill. Two at the most would have been sufficient, but once again the suits at Hasbro demonstrate they have the marketing skills of a creepy guy selling pudding out of the back of a pickup truck.

[zedhatch]

Not as good as the first eddie, but still very appropriate.

[DarthEddie]

Thanks. Most sequels don't quite live up to the original, though.

[The Professor]

Four of the same Episode I Obi-Wan figure being sold at the same time and in the same stores was just inexcusable overkill. Two at the most would have been sufficient, but once again the suits at Hasbro demonstrate they have the marketing skills of a creepy guy selling pudding out of the back of a pickup truck.

Yes, that was a terrible mistake no matter how good the figure is.

[YAK_Chewie]

For real. That Obi Wan should have been on the TVC card and maybe in DTF line at Wal-Mart.

They should have used the other two slots for a number of different figures (even repacks, if the repacks made sense).

[DarthEddie]

I know we've asked this 300,000 times before just here at Yakface alone...but what were they thinking?!?

I know, I know. They weren't. I just wish there were a better explanation than that. And frankly, I'm tired of hearing the "it was more cost effective for them to repack all these old figures in such a short space of time" excuse. Just because it makes some sense from a corporate bottom line POV doesn't mean it makes sense from a public relations and marketing one.

Besides...have all these repacked Episode I Obi-Wans been flying off pegs? Have any of the first wave of Movie Heroes? The first assortment of Class I Vehicles? All the countless Vintage TPM Obi-Wans? Even the 3-D Discover the Force Obi-Wan's been slowly fossilizing and getting no love.

Nothing's sold. So it seems like the quickest, most cost effective thing to do wasn't the best thing to do was it? Joke's on you, Hasbro!

[zedhatch]

THe first thing I think when I hear "Cost effective" is that hasbro should instead just pull back rather than rush to product. Example, put out ONE really great Obi-Wan for Ep one instead of One great one and 3 other "meh" ones.

Iron Man had this issue too, but at least with IM you can justify some variations (as stark has tons of different looks) but there are still several that just look like they are there to be there.

GI Joe is one of the biggest I keep pointing out, There are now 4 roadblocks (as the Rock) slated for the retaliation movie line (If that ever hits) and of them only ONE is really well done. So in other words the other three are just a waste of plastic, kids don't need 4 versions of Rock (dispite what hasbro keeps saying) and really collectors were burned out a long, long time ago (Not with Rock but with other charactes like CC and Duke).

[Paulskywalker]

I've said it a number of times over the past few months, if they put in the time and quality into things it would be better; you only ever see the word quality written on stuff not poor quality.

They need to use the strategy that if you have one good character in a line they should not litter the others with alternate versions, but hey that would be logical.

[DarthEddie]

Know the worst thing about the four different(yet identical) Obi-Wans from January and February?

I used to think that was an incredible figure. When it was brand spanking new in the Legacy Collection in 2009 it was probably the greatest Episode I Obi-Wan ever made in 3.75" scale. I kept hoping it would get reissued at some point, perhaps with a bunch of extra gear seen in the first prequel that never made it into the first Legacy Collection package.

Well. We saw what happened.

Overkill x 10. Now I no longer like the figure as much as I used to, and to top it all off the Movie Heroes Wave 2(light-up) and Naboo Battle Pack figures have much better head sculpts that actually look like Ewan McGregor did in 1999.

The thrill is gone.

[Trooper31]

There's a lot of talk about MH being cost effective. To an extent that's true, but let's look at the lightsaber figures. They had to put money into those, R&D, wiring, batteries, and such. This line is not a simple repacvk line like Legends was. This one has a lot more cost to it. They have some retooling on Padme and Anakin, as well as Snowspeeder Luke , so there's more money than a simple repack.Hasbro reallay over-estimated the popularity of the film, although any one of us could have told them last year that what they had planned was a big mistake. They have to remember that TCW is out there as well.

When I first heard Legends was going away, I was kind of happy because Hasbro had gotten rid of the extra weapons andmany of the choices were become stale (Hoth Han). Then when I heard MH was going to have a bunch of kiddie action feature type gimmicks, I thought Legends should have stayed.

Admittedly, I've bought Padme, Anakin, and Snowspeeder Luke, but in wave 1 there were 0 interesting figrues. When I look at the first three waves, there were 3 figures that appealed to me and the other 20 some were duds. I can't imagine that it was any different for just about everybody out there.

The mistake Hasbro has to learn from, is that too many of one character at the same time (Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon in three lines TVC, DTF, MH) is way too much. That is something that has been hurting the line for a number of years. If Hasbro thinks we need TPM Obi the whole year, then spread him out over the whole year.

[DarthEddie]

Now TRU is giving away a free Movie Heroes figure with each purchase of over $30 in Star Wars merchandise from their stores. The nation's premier toy retailer has been forced to give away the figures in order to reduce stock. I still wonder how much good it will do. If you got a free figure for every thirty dollars you spent and not a limit of just one for any purchase exceeding it, they might make more of a dent. After all, there are going to be a whole lot of people buying the new Ewok and Yavin multipacks once they start hitting in bigger numbers, and to give away a Movie Heroes figure with each and every multipack might actually wipe out a decent number of the Wave 1 pegrotters at my own local store.

But they're not doing that, so I don't know how much good it'll all do. It'll likely take Hasbro reps coming into the stores and pulling all the old stock to make any real difference.

[Raylen]

I wonder as to the effect this last year will have on the entire SW line. We've seen bad decisions and times of poor distribution in the past... But not like this. This year seems to have been a perfect storm. However, much of it was preventable. The bad decisions were often obvious to anyone who visits these forums. The distribution was shared blame IMO (retailers didn't HAVE to overstock on TPM).

I look forward and it's not a pretty picture. So far there's only a few items I look forward to. New Speeder bike, Ewok sets, a few new figures. but many of the new BAD figures are poor choices coming out of the box. And with this being a "new" line for 2013, are stores gonna overstock them? Thus clogging the whole system with figures people don't want again?

It's a shame that this is happening at a time when the sculpting on the figures is so good. That everything else involved in getting these figures out there is such a giant steaming pile of Bantha poodoo. Having to buy an entire case online because retailers will not be carrying it at all? I have trouble even wrapping my head around that.

[YAK_Chewie]

I think the reason that last wave isn't going to make it to retail is because here we are in August, and Hasbro can't even get Vintage Waves 4, 5, 6 to retail in decent numbers. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that retailers haven't seen much movement on their Vintage figures since Feb/March - so why order more? Really, I have a difficult time blaming mass retail for this. If it was one retailer, like Target, I'd say that Target has issues. But it's everyone. So I don't think it's the retailers.

I think Hasbro has failed to adapt to an evolving market - the price for figures has risen, and as a result, people are going to be more picky with what they buy. So what has Hasbro done? Jammed their product with crap-ass repacks.

BTW, this sale should also include Clone Wars freebies too. The junk from Wave 1 isn't moving either.

I think it's time for a collector focused year in 2013. Drop Movie Heroes/Legends and go with B.A.D. and Clone Wars. Bring back some sort of 2-pks for the kids - some sort of "Greatest Hits" and have it be a theme for each set to entice kids/parents (Vader w/ Luke, Stormtrooper w/ Rebel Trooper, Han w/ Chewbacca, Clone Trooper w/ Battle Droid, Dooku w/ Yoda, etc. - and don't make those all crap figures... and find some way to make these more affordable - $14.99 would be better).