#89: The Answers 7/22/11

[YAK_Jayson]

The Yakface/Hasbro QnA returns this week with questions submitted on 6/24

Q1: Let’s try this again. Why doesn’t the new Vintage Rebel Fleet Trooper have a holster?

A1: While it’s true that some (not all) of the Rebel Fleet Troopers seen in ANH had holsters, we wanted to give the figure as much versatility as possible. In that regard we made the choice to include the hat and leg strap to make the figure also accurate to the way they appear during the Medal Ceremony.

(EDITORIAL: Then why not just include a removable holster????)

========================================

Q2: With SDCC only weeks away and news leaking (daily/weekly) through fan sites, eBay auctions, and “officially” unannounced product hitting retail shelves outside of the US (*cough* TVC Y-wing *cough*), how about throwing us an “official” bone? Can we get carded (final) images of the Vintage Collection Dr. Evazon, Ponda Baba, Bastila Shan, Nom Amor, Kithaba, Aayla Secura and the 501st Clone Trooper figures? Pretty please with sugar on top?

A2: San Diego Comic-Con is almost here…just a little while longer…

 

[YAK_Chewie]

They really, really dodged the RFT question. Wow...

Also seems funny they released the answers right during SDCC... maybe their way of avoiding as many questions as possible and say "Wait for SDCC"...

:wink:

 

[Paulskywalker]

Well no doubt will all have questions after SDCC so hopefully the next round will be interesting?

 

[Grimace]

well this round of answers were disappointing

 

[YAK_Chewie]

http://www.sirstevesguide.com went right after Hasbro with this one... a long winded question, but nice to see Hasbro seem to acknowledge their screw up.

SSG: When talking about cases including figures from previous waves to lengthen a sought-after figure's run, why is it that figures like the Gamorrean Guard and Wedge Antilles don't get planned to be revisited while the Sandtrooper and Grievous see repeat after repeat in later cases? You've told us that the line is meant to be "collector focused", we're even paying a dollar extra premium for the collector-focused smaller run, yet the figures nearly every collector already has - the ones that often end up pegwarming anyway - see nearly endless reruns in a bid to grab attention of casual consumers while the figures that collectors actually hunger for end up shorted at 1 per case in an extremely brief singular release window. On the Gamorrean's part, it seems doubly dangerous since that's a large investment in new tooling, we'd think Hasbro would want to see as much return as possible on that figure by selling as many as possible. It's not like the market has ever shown issues with the Gamorrean, unlike the Sandtrooper which has pegwarmed repeatedly in the modern line's 16 year run, yet this entire year was planned in advance under the notion that the Gamorrean would somehow be a collecting pariah, relegated to low interest and singular purchases, despite being a significant Jabba's Palace army builder and an incredibly recognizable Star Wars alien (to say nothing of the fact that it's an awesome figure to boot). So, um, why are the cool figures in TVC getting these short release windows and no carry-forward into later cases, and how soon could we expect to see that trend reversed in later cases?

Hasbro: We plan figure selections and case pack ratios based on projected demand, and yes, sometimes this results in over or under shipping certain characters. Unfortunately our crystal ball was eaten by a Borcatu. Beginning in spring 2012 you should start seeing some of the harder to find Vintage figures waved into the line.

:wink:

 

[Paulskywalker]

That is a really good question from SSG, it even mentions the tooling cost like i brought up last week. Hasbro answer is good to that they acknowledge it, is 'Unfortunately our crystal ball was eaten by a Borcatu' code for the arse who made the very very bad choice was sacked and replaced? Seriously i can only think the people who decided these things must not be a SW fan and why don't they have a fan focus group?

 

[YAK_Chewie]

I work in market research, and used to assist in moderating focus groups... from my experience, other toy companies do quite a few focus groups annually, with hundreds of participants. I can only hope that Hasbro does this as well, but for some reason I am not surprised if they don't.

:wink:

 

[Grimace]

I didn't hear what I wanted to hear from Hasbro regarding the upcoming case ratios

all I heard is that there will be some different older wave figures mixed in with the newer waves
that does me no good at all
I need duplicates or more of the new stuff, as I got all I want/need of the older stuff already

 

[mrhoppers819]

I didn't hear what I wanted to hear from Hasbro regarding the upcoming case ratios

all I heard is that there will be some different older wave figures mixed in with the newer waves
that does me no good at all
I need duplicates or more of the new stuff, as I got all I want/need of the older stuff already

they're really good at beating around the bush. Doesn't really surprise me they didn't answer the question.

 

[stroebel83]

i think they used the star wars reference as an attempt at "smoke and mirrors" seems like they were hoping we wouldn't follow the fact that it is a vague indirect answer, i wonder how they would answer a similar question from their investors??? In a way isn't that what we really are