Hasbro Star Wars Droid Factory Line Canceled

Way to go, Hasblo.

The fact that I am happy about this news is probably the best indication that I should seriously consider stepping away from Star Wars collecting, for a few years at least.

So much for the droid factory head that came with the new yoda starfighter!! They were so toting this at the last celebration!

Yoda has a starfighter?

That just seems wrong to me. I consider the Desert Sport Skiff and Cruisemissile to be more canon than that. And, no, I'm not joking about those two vehicles, for a change.

Originally Posted by bigbarada

The fact that I am happy about this news is probably the best indication that I should seriously consider stepping away from Star Wars collecting, for a few years at least.

Don't misunderstand, I was not going to buy a single one of those figures. Hasblo's ineptitude is just laughable at this point.

At least they gave an official word as soon as they could on the matter. It's such a sad situation, it sounds like we're going to end up seeing a price increase either way, that they'll not be able to keep the already market-busting TVC pricing at its current levels. Still, if the droid parts were tacking on another buck, then I guess that's unusable. But it's very frustrating, it seems like there's a leak somewhere and it's likely at least one of the three M's: management (upper, not brand), materials, or manufacturing - somewhere in there is too much overhead, and probably it's a mix of all three, Hasbro's new structure seems to need the brands to carry that upper level management load until they're crushed by it, that brand management has to pay for Hasbro as a company's overhead, that materials costs have gone up, and putting all their efforts into China have finally bit them the way they have everybody.

Originally Posted by nohagent

So much for the droid factory head that came with the new yoda starfighter!! They were so toting this at the last celebration!

Worse still, that swappable dome on there was OUR idea, we pitched it to them in Q&A a few years ago. Still, we have plenty of domes already from the first BAD line.

Originally Posted by El Chuxter

Yoda has a starfighter?

That just seems wrong to me. I consider the Desert Sport Skiff and Cruisemissile to be more canon than that. And, no, I'm not joking about those two vehicles, for a change.

Yeah, Class I Fleet Jedi Attack Fighter, a mini version of the AOTC Jedi Starfighter with the Hasbro side panels removed, just hit shelves this month. It's not ONLY for Yoda, even though that one is Yoda's, the mini-vehicle has a removable booster seat for Yoda, without it regular figures can sit inside. Why they'd want to is another story though.

Well, dat smells stink-a-whiff. I wonder what the line will look like for the first half of the year - I'm assuming Movie Heroes and The Clone Wars will shamble on as planned since they haven't said anything to the contrary. The fact that "many" of the figures will be reintroduced later means some will probably be dropped, but it's not exactly like this was the best lineup they've ever had, so I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

At this point I'm starting to think they're continuing the line only because the new movie is coming out, and what they're doing now is a place holder to cover up terrible management of the line for half a year or more.

Pathetic, and sad.

They're continuing this line because it's the #1 licensed boys toy line.

Originally Posted by JediTricks

They're continuing this line because it's the #1 licensed boys toy line.

It's a shame they can't organize things a little bit more and make new product easily available in quantities where everyone who wants something can find it. If it's #1, it could be even more popular and could make even more money if handled properly.

If there was a "Like" button, you would've just earned yourself a little click, Maerj2000.

We'll know more at Toy Fair next month...

Originally Posted by El Chuxter

If there was a "Like" button, you would've just earned yourself a little click, Maerj2000.

It's the thought that counts. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Maerj2000

It's a shame they can't organize things a little bit more and make new product easily available in quantities where everyone who wants something can find it. If it's #1, it could be even more popular and could make even more money if handled properly.

There are surely some things that could have been done better, but no brand can satisfy all the people all the time, and the state of the very toy market itself is rough so even if everything were done perfectly it might not be much better off. And the foundation of these troubles is years in the past, where different economic realities told different stories, so it would need precognition to really get it done better. Then again, sometimes giving people what they want is the cause of the problem, a lot of collectors wanted a line like The Vintage Collection and in some ways I think TVC itself is the biggest problem, separating collector interests too far from kid interests in a backwards-looking line has some inherent flaws that could be why we're seeing doom now. Of course, stacking the TVC deck with a whole TPM wave that was meant to hold an entire quarter of a year should have been a huge red flag too.

Originally Posted by SirSteve

We'll know more at Toy Fair next month...

I cannot wait to see what they have to say, that's going to be a rough waiting period for us collectors to not know what the next 9 months of the brand look like, and how their next move will affect the future.