Stop the Madness : No More Exclusives !

[DarkArtist]

Dear Hasbro,

First let me start by saying that the current offerings for the TAC line are amazing and perhaps some of the best figures to date. However I must say that the amount of exclusive offerings being given to conventions, theme parks and various retail stores are leaving many in the cold as well as driving away many of the fans that have stood by you for years since the re-release of the POTF line in 1995.

An example of how these exclusives are hurting your fans can be seen in the recent offering of the Treachery at Saleucami, exclusive to Walmart. While some states and countries have no Walmarts, I am fortunate to have 5 around me and not once did I spot this set. Also the recent Father's Day set which still is not on the shelves.

Another exclusive that is driving fans crazy are the convention exclusives such as the McQuarrie figures and the Shadow Trooper with Speeder. As a huge fan of Star Wars I would love nothing more then to journey to all these various conventions and join in with my fellow fans and share the love for this great Saga, however, not all of us can drop everything and journey to LA or San Diego to buy some of the coolest exclusives so far.

Also, the McQuarrie figures in general are awesome but at only one per case and many stores only getting 1 to 3 cases of product, the McQuarrie figures disappear and the shelves are left with the pegwarming Mace Windu's, Obi Wan's and R2-D2's.

As a loyal fan of the Hasbro line, and an even larger fan of Star Wars, I feel that they way these exclusives and the McQuarrie figures are not being handled in the proper manner. I know that I have mentioned over and over again that perhaps you should start a collector's club for all the exclusive stuff and product that you feel may not sell in the stores, but perhaps you really need to start a collector's club. Think about it, you still have stores to carry the main line with multiple versions of the main characters as well as new figures plus you can expand to maybe create playsets and larger scale vehicles that may not move in the stores but for all of us that what to see some Death Star stuff or the AT-TE, the club would be the way to go. |

Also this could be a way for those of us that like to Army Build, you could offer army sets like, a Jedi Commander, Clone Commander, and perhaps 10 Clone Troopers. Or maybe an SA Grievous and a set of 6 Super Battle Droids and 6 regular Battle droids.

As far as playsets, this could be a way to have modular playsets like a Death Star that can be broken down to various hallways, tractor beam monitor, Throne room, trash compactor, landing bay, conference room and detention levels. maybe a Hoth set with an Ion Cannon, South Ridge, Turret and Probe Droid, Landing Bay. Maybe a Bespin World set with dining room, torture cell, detention area, carbon freezing chamber, gantry and control room.

But getting back on topic, the exclusives need to be made available to everyone. If the merchandise is going to be sold at conventions then make it an exclusive package or give it a different coin or pack-in.

So in closing, the exclusive need to be offered in a new way and think about opening a club online. I am positive that the club would be a great way to expand the Star Wars line.

[Kidhuman]

Dont forget the 5 GH cinema scenes that are exclusive to three different stores. 2 for TRU, 2 for WM(makes one big scene) and one for Target.

[bigbarada]

I'm not really so set against WM, Target or TRU exclusive; since those stores are accessible to most people and, even if you don't have one near you, they have online stores as well.

My problem is with convention exclusives being all-new sculpt figures, especially if you need them to complete a collection like the McQuarrie figures.

I see what Hasbro is saying about the "thrill of the hunt," but there is a such thing as making a game too challenging.

I collect figures for fun and as a way to escape some stresses of everyday life. When keeping up to date with this hobby suddenly becomes a full time job and creates it's own stress, then it is no longer a hobby; but an obsession. That's what these exclusives tend to do.

Hasbro's forced me to give up and go back to collecting the vintage Kenner line. I still have about 3-4 figures I want from Hasbro's lineup this year, but everything else is garbage as far as I'm concerned.

Being a Star Wars collector used to be about how much you loved Star Wars and having fun. Now it has become solely about how much money you have and how much you are willing to forsake your real life in order to collect little plastic action figures.

[Droid]

If it gives them a platform to make figures like Yarna or the Tonnikas I am all in favor of exclusives.

We have Oola, the cantina band member, the Sandcrawler, General Tagge, the skiff, and ten new astromechs because of exclusives.

IF Hasbro is correct that this is the only way we'd get some of these figures, then I hope they keep doing exclusives.

My only quarrel is when exclusives are impossible to get. Just make sure I can go to a web site and order them or make them readily available at Walmart, Toys R Us, or Target. I was VERY angry when they were saying the Mcdroids and McLuke would only be available at the conventions and NOT online. I never saw the Christmas R2/3P0 at retail and had to find them on Ebay.

[JediTricks]

I don't care for exclusives for conventions where only a portion of the collecting community has access to them, and those who don't have no idea if they'll be able to get the piece or not through official online sources until right before or even after the event.

I don't like exclusives in general, but TRU and Target exclusives usually at least are in fair quantities and findable locations. WM exclusives from Hasbro have been horrible the past year or so, not just SW but Transformers too, some items will show up in small numbers in big urban areas and then flood little rural ones, it's ridiculous, Hasbro at the VERY LEAST needs to get WM to better distribute the product.

[Luuuuuuke]

All things being equal, I wish there were no exclusives. Sure, it feels great when you find something that's really hard to find, and some of the exclusives are, though most are not. But I'm not a big fan of store exclusives, and I'm totally not a fan of convention exclusives since I don't go to them. That's just not my thing.

To get the convention Shadow Biker or Concept Obi Wan and Yoda at the regular price, I'd have to get someone going to SDCC to get it for me. I don't like asking people to do that, though I have friends at another forum who always offer.

[Kidhuman]

Another exclusive that has me pi**ed off are the Disney potato head exclusives. I live no where near a Disney store nor a Disney park.

[Luuuuuuke]

Another exclusive that has me pi**ed off are the Disney potato head exclusives. I live no where near a Disney store nor a Disney park.

It's so easy to take stuff like this for granted if you live in L.A. because Disneyland is just over in Orange County. But yeah, that's a great point. If you happen to live anywhere that isn't Southern California or the Orland area, you're screwed for this exclusive.

That's not right. There's such a thing as being too exclusive.

I see no need for most exclusives, and none for basic figures. That's the bread and butter line. If you're going to have exclusives, do it with the pricier stuff, like the statues and 12" figures.

[decadentdave]

I'm also tired of overpriced, hard-to-find exclusives but the reality is that it's pretty much the only way to get product out there anymore. Retailers want an exclusive to hook people in to shop at their store. If they don't have an exclusive, i.e. everyone's got it, what's the point? Then they have to pricematch and before long the shelves are overstocked with unsellable merchandise that they have to clearance for a loss.

Ironically, most of the store exclusives seem to go this route anyway. Look at all of the unsold Order 66 exclusives that went unsold and were clearanced out by most Targets within a month at half price. TRU has the most overpriced exclusives around and most, like the Bantha Packs, I passed on. Not once did I see any of TRU's exclusives marked down though. Walmart never managers to mark down stuff. They still have unsold Saga Tins, mostly the exclusive Cantina Sets still marked at $26.66. I still see end-caps full of these along with last year's VTSC still marked at $10. Walmart needs to have a huge sale to get rid of this stuff or have the Hasbro reps return for credit all of this unsold merch that is polluting their stores.

[figrin bran]

I'm also tired of overpriced, hard-to-find exclusives but the reality is that it's pretty much the only way to get product out there anymore. Retailers want an exclusive to hook people in to shop at their store. If they don't have an exclusive, i.e. everyone's got it, what's the point? Then they have to pricematch and before long the shelves are overstocked with unsellable merchandise that they have to clearance for a loss.

Ironically, most of the store exclusives seem to go this route anyway. Look at all of the unsold Order 66 exclusives that went unsold and were clearanced out by most Targets within a month at half price. TRU has the most overpriced exclusives around and most, like the Bantha Packs, I passed on. Not once did I see any of TRU's exclusives marked down though. Walmart never managers to mark down stuff. They still have unsold Saga Tins, mostly the exclusive Cantina Sets still marked at $26.66. I still see end-caps full of these along with last year's VTSC still marked at $10. Walmart needs to have a huge sale to get rid of this stuff or have the Hasbro reps return for credit all of this unsold merch that is polluting their stores.

Regarding stores and clearances, they're only alloted X amount of money for items to be placed on clearance and so even if they wanted to, they couldn't clearance everything that's collecting dust on the shelves.

[decadentdave]

That's why they need to just Return-For-Credit unsold merch back to Hasbro.

[jedi master sal]

I abhor the convention exclusives.If you don't have a friend going then you just KNOW you're going to spend a bundle for one on eBay. It's not worth going to cons just for exclusives either.

While I don't like store exclusives, these I can handle better. granted though, I'm in a major metropolitan area so it is easier for me. For those folks in sparsely populated towns and rural areas it's tough. And these retailors most of the time do NOT have SW toys on their online stores to sell. Certainly not the figures. Or I should say the NEWEST figures.

While I like the idea of a collectors cluub, it's too late in the game for that. Hasbro was going to try this and started signups at C3, but it never took off.

Return for credit just isn't going to work either. Hasbro is in the business of selling product not getting it back. What are they supposed to do with it then?? They can't melt the plastic to reuse it and they can't just jave figures sit in a warehouse. If those figures won't sell at retail which is the easiest venue to sell from, then how could Hasbro justify the cost to take them back only to have them sit?

While I'd like to see hasbro limit sales so that their vendors don't get stuck with product, again they are in the business of making money from toys. So limiting sales doesn't work either.

As for the Order 66 packs, I think that's a gaff on Target's part. I saw them rarely in stores and bought them nearly every time I saw them. But then they stopped stocking them. I bet that had they continued to stock the shelves with these, that they would have sold more for the full or close to full retail price. Target always makes mistakes of their exclusives and clearances them too fast. I can't see how they are making money from them. I mean really Order 66 for $2.50? When they were $10 to start? There's many examples in the past of Target greatly reducing exclusive merch. While as a consumer I'm not complaining, it still just doesn't make sense. And the bad part is we are partly to blame for this. By now we all know that Target dramatically drops prices on exclusives so many people take a gamble and wait for that price drop.

You'd think after all this time Target would say enough, yet they keep getting exclusives. Again though, that doesn't bother me. They are both the worst and best at prices. Single carded figs are the worst at usually $13 each for the exclusives, like the lava figures. But battle packs are great at $20, then reduced to $10 or even $7. They must be making money on them somehow.

I agree that Wal*Mart and TRU never drop their prices on their exclusives. Why should they? Those items are exclusive to them so they know you can't get them anywhere else so they would rather sit on them and sell the occasional one for full price, rathe then loose money on them. Problem there though is that it keeps new stuff from showing up on their pegs and/or shelves which hurts them.

Okay, so after all that getting back to the topic more clearly...No to Convention exclusives. Ok for store exclusives, just work out the distribution for all areas populated and not so populated.

-Sal

[jedi master sal]

Being a Star Wars collector used to be about how much you loved Star Wars and having fun. Now it has become solely about how much money you have and how much you are willing to forsake your real life in order to collect little plastic action figures.

Man BB, you hit it on the mark there. It's sad to say but I'm pretty sure I would have had a house by now if not for my passion for SW collecting. My collection is fast approaching the 6 figure mark. To think I could have had my own home instead.

Then again that would have meant zero SW stuff. Huh, thinking about it, I prolly would have been better off for it.

Thankfully, my fiancee understands and is patient. She knows this is the last big year of collecting for me and that within the next 2 1/2 years, I'll be down to no more than 10% of my current spending. We'll get that house, just later than we could have.

One other thing that really sucks about this too is that the majority of my collection sits in a storage area. I could and should use that money towards payment on a house coupled with the money we spend on rent.

Over these next 2 1/2 years, I'm going to be squirreling away the money I would have spent on SW for a house. So I should have a nice amount ready for down payment when the time comes. Being a military vet helps too as I can get a house with a zero down payment and low interest.

Thanks BB, that little remark you made really got me thinking about this again, in a good way.

-Sal

[El Chuxter]

I can live with a few exclusives. But this is getting ridiculous. How many have there been/will there be in 2007? With gas at $3 a gallon, and many retailers not offering their exclusives online, this is becoming a bit of a hardship.

[Kidhuman]

2003 is know as the Year of the Drought, shall 2007 be known as the year of the exclusive?

[jedi master sal]

2003 is know as the Year of the Drought, shall 2007 be known as the year of the exclusive?

I 2nd that!

2007 is now officially known as the "Year of the Exclusive."

[Luuuuuuke]

Let me ask this question: Why would we as consumers who are not scalpers even want exclusives?

I understand why scalpers would like exclusives. I understand why the stores that get them like them.

But I don't really understand why we would want them, unless it's so that we can brag when we find them and a lot of other people can't:D

But another thought just occurred to me. If it wasn't because of the idea of exclusives, would a lot of these items be produced? Would we get Hunts for Grievious or Shadow Troopers or the Treacher on Saleucami?

I wonder if it's not a kind of Catch 22. Maybe the only reason we get a lot of these cool products is because retailers want their own exclusives. In other words, Target will gladly carry the Star Wars basic line, but Hasbro better give them some exclusives they can use as bait to keep them happy.

[Sinscia Fat'o]

Im dead set against exclusives as new sculpts, and i dont know why hasbro would continue to put fans in such a tight spot...since most of us who actually want exclusives have to spend an arm and an leg for them and dont have the cash to purchase other products we might have actually bought. My instance 30 bucks for the Concept Luke....From celebration. 30 bucks isnt alot but im on a budget, i have actual bills and other things that take money beside star wars figures...What im saying i guess is why offer a figure that would sell like Concept luke as a exclusive when he would have actually sold at retail because he's a SKYWALKER=Main character....I was really looking foward to the whole concept mini line, since i got the Trooper from a few years ago, the snow speeder and the cloud car...now i have to track down 3p0 and R2, and Obi and Yoda to? Ridiculous and horriable marketing.

[JediTricks]

Another exclusive that has me pi**ed off are the Disney potato head exclusives. I live no where near a Disney store nor a Disney park.Disney parks have "Disney DelivEARS", it's not the best-organized and it's call-in only, but it works, I got me and Thrawn all the Indiana Jones stuff when it first came out with little difficulty - but it required patience.


I can live with a few exclusives. But this is getting ridiculous. How many have there been/will there be in 2007? With gas at $3 a gallon, and many retailers not offering their exclusives online, this is becoming a bit of a hardship.Yeah, I talked to Hasbro about that at CIV and I plan to do so again at SDCC, it's gotten crazy.


Let me ask this question: Why would we as consumers who are not scalpers even want exclusives?

I understand why scalpers would like exclusives. I understand why the stores that get them like them.

But I don't really understand why we would want them, unless it's so that we can brag when we find them and a lot of other people can't:D I just like having the item, that's it. I don't care who else gets them, but I buy them because I want them.


But another thought just occurred to me. If it wasn't because of the idea of exclusives, would a lot of these items be produced? Would we get Hunts for Grievious or Shadow Troopers or the Treacher on Saleucami?

I wonder if it's not a kind of Catch 22. Maybe the only reason we get a lot of these cool products is because retailers want their own exclusives. In other words, Target will gladly carry the Star Wars basic line, but Hasbro better give them some exclusives they can use as bait to keep them happy.That was Hasbro's answer on the matter when I asked during CIV, some of this product like the Hypderdrive ring would never be produced without exclusivity because there's not enough room for it at mass retail and other reasons.