Diamond Select's latest Trek Q&A is up today, and not only does it bring bad news to anyone who has been waiting patiently to give DST their hard-earned cash in exchange for goods & services in the form of wave 5, but it also shows exactly how oblivious the company has become.
http://www.artasylum.com/blog/2009/1...-trek-edition/
Quote:
Unfortunately it seems that TOS wave 5 seems to be lost in limbo, but with Toys R Us apparently doing well with DST TOS figures, couldn’t they pick up the slack where pre-orders have fallen short?
DSTChuck: The idea has always been to have some synergy between the TRU waves and the specialty waves. We just needed to get TRU a little caught up to start. I would not say the figures are blowing out of TRU but yes if they stay with the line that’s one wave we could get the remaining figures into collectors hands.
Quote:
1) When it comes to the TOS 3 3/4 figures, when might we see a picture of a protype?
2) Would the 3 3/4 figures be released in 2010?
3) Is wave 5 of the TOS (& Salt Vampire) going to happen?
4) Any word on whether or not Sisko w/ command chair is going to be made? Thanks for all your hard work. Chris
DSTChuck: Questions #1 and #2 at this point need to be directed to Playmates. Wave 5 as it was listed will NOT be happening. We’re going to work on other ways to get those characters out there. However it does appear as if the Salt Vampire is not going to happen and neither is the Sisko in Defiant chair.
After cursing for several minutes with wave 5 and Command Chair Sisko's inevitable but drawn out officialized demise, and the Salt Vampire's yet again being cursed into limbo, I noticed something. The underlined bit in the first quote; "I would not say the figures are blowing out of TRU," just doesn't make sense. Why? Well, because the 1-per-case new figures have blown out of the store just fine - Cage Spock only stuck around longer than Kang and "KHAAAN" Kirk have because he was a shoddy and lazy attempt at a Cage Spock. Even he sold out eventually, though. Since they said the figures aren't "blowing out of TRU," I can only assume they mean the rereleases that make up 5 out of 6 figures in the case.
If that's true, then what hope does the line have? There is absolutely no way they can realistically expect rereleases to "blow" out of TRU. Not only were these figures easy to snag off of ebay for the same price range from the original AA release, but they even made them available in 2-packs outside of TRU. The biggest problem I have with this, though, isn't simply the unrealistic expectations for them to have to blow out of the store, but rather my problem stems from the fact that DST even claims their sells are stable!
Quote:
Also from today's Q&A:
The original idea was that if the first waves of TOS did well in TRU we would start to mix the figures some. However the sales have just been stable, not hot and not bad, just holding their own
So, rereleases of nearly decade-old figures, that were relatively easy to get for the same price on the secondary market, have STABLE sells - while the new figures in the cases instantly become rare?! It should even be noted that the Scotty rerelease from the latest wave is already SOLD OUT on TRU's site, despite having been available in a 2-pack for the past few months. How is this not a success to them? Considering that with every new case that enters TRU, there is a SINGLE new figure in that case - as of now that is Kang - and then 5 rereleases left over, but those 5 still manage stable sells?
Meanwhile, DST is sitting on 5 NEW figures that fit in with what TRU is currently offering, but won't get TRU to bite on that product in order to get it released because... they're breaking even with rereleases? DST's unrealistic expectations for this line seem to be the burden that is causing this line to suffer, and slowly suffocate to death. Not to mention that the line's first army-builder, the Romulan Soldier, is due out in the next TRU wave - and it will most likely be 1 per case. With such a tragedy on the horizon, I truly believe that it may very well be the final nail in the coffin.
