C'mon - give us Micro Machines collectors a break

[britcit3]

Hey Hasbro,

Have you seen this report on Rebelscum about unreleased Ep1 micro machine packs 14-16?......

http://www.rebelscum.com/article.asp?i=6680

Do you know how annoying this is, knowing that our (our: the Micro Machine forummers) collections will never be truly complete?

If you actually read these posts and you value your most fanatical MM collectors (there are about 10 regular contributers to the board), then drop me a line and tell me how I can aquire these sets for the forum.

C'mon - you must have a few of these kicking about in somebodys office or storeroom.

Between us we have spent thousands of dollars on Hasbro/Galoob products - so show us that you care about your customers.

Yours non-expectantly

Britcit3

[vulcantouch]

me and fellow scifimm collector baal jr will shortly be sending you a package containing Hundreds of micropoints & starwars points from the Thousands of swmms we have bought over the last several years. by this show of passion & loyalty for sfmms we mean to coax you into sending us enough free 14-16 ep1 mm pax for ourselves & our fellow ssg mm forummers (about a dozen of each should do it) we figure that this package'll impress you so much you'll feel much too guilty to let the tease the pictures of these tail-end mms have played on us go unfulfilled and if you remain unconvinced, maybe we & our friends here'll just have to keep on inundating you with this blizzard of micro & sw points until you just can't take the guilt no more (on that note: jdah, can i use the points off the sw toys i'm sending you? )
vt
p.s. and while you're at it, Bring Back Star Trek MicroMachines dammit :happy:

[good shot jansen]

it has now been two years since the last release of any kind of star wars (or science fiction/fantasy) micro machines product. every time someone get's their hands on a either non-produced, or limited production run micro machines product, and then places it on ebay, it always sells in the three digit range (in the case of some prototype action fleet ships, it went up into the four digit range!)

star wars episode I micro machines product that have been previously shown as retail ready product, yet not released to the retail sector are as follows;

Micro machines collection XIV
Micro machines collection XV
micro machines collection XVI

metal die-cast anakins pod racer

Watto's shop platform action set
swamp invasion platform action set

anakin skywalker podrace test flight transforming action set

pod racing pack V
pod racing pack VI

as the moderator of the micro machines section here at sir steves guide (as well as being an avid collector, as is my 7 year old son of all things micro machines!), it would be a greatly appreciated (as well as profitable for hasbro i'm sure) if hasbro would please release the above referenced star wars episode I micro machines product for all to enjoy and play with.

my signature line tells our story quite nicely

[OC47150]

As someone who got into MM collecting late, I'd like to see more MM stuff. I think it's a fun realm to explore and collect. I started a battle of Hoth diorama with MMs (need to complete it).

[JediTricks]

Yeah! Hop to it Hasbro!

[JediGoofy]

Dear Hasbro,
I would like to add my voice to the crowd of people asking for Star Wars MicroMachines.

There is still a lot of interest in SW MM, as you can see from: SSG's MicroMachines petition, eBay listings (more than 800 MM SW items of today, with a completion rate about 60-70%), discussion forums (SSG and others), collections pictures, internet sites devoted to this toy line, etc.

There is a lot of people wanting not only Star Wars MM, but also Action Fleet, Die-cast, X-Ray, playsets, Podracing, ... Just have a look at what people are spending to complete their collections with hard to find items: hundreds of dollars!

There is a market for the SW MM toy lines! And Star Trek, and Babylon 5, and any SF movie!

So if you want to make money give us Star Wars MicroMachines! If you do not want to make money why did you buy Galoob? Even if you close the SW MM toy line the SW MM collectors and fans will not start buying action figures! It is a different market. I love space vehicles, but I do not love action figures, and action figure-sized vehicles are too big for me!

In the immortal words of gsj: bring back micro machines dammit

Yours truly,
JediGoofy

P.S. From different sources it looks like you have items already produced and packaged that were never sent to retail. Why do not you sell them directly to true collectors that are desperate about those items? You would get money and we would be happy! Why not? I mean.

[britcit3]

I emailed Hasbro customer support at the weekend to ask about the Ep1 14-16's with the following email......


Hi there

I have been a loyal Galoob and then Hasbro customer since the release of the original space micro machines in 1993.

Since that time I have collected EVERY vehicle that was commercially available (including playsets) at huge cost to myself (probably thousands of dollars)

However, I have recently learned that Hasbro made prototypes of Star Wars Episode 1 vehicle/figure micro machines sets 14-16, but never commercially released them.

I got the info from a Star Wars collectors site called REBELSCUM and a guy from the site told me that he got his prototypes from an old Hasbro employee - see the site below.

http://www.rebelscum.com/article.asp?i=6680

I realise that you must get hundreds of enquiries every week, but aquiring the Star Wars Ep1 sets 14-16 would really make one of your most faithful customers very happy - I will never consider my collection to be complete without them (and this will really BUG me!!).

I presume that Hasbro will have some of these prototypes in a storeroom or office somewhere - if they are, please, please, please can I buy them from you?

I realise that they will be ultra rare, but just name your price - I've got to have 'em so I can sleep peacefully at night.

Yours desperately

Jim Hobson


Today I got this response.........

At 11/27/2001 11:44 AM we wrote - Thank you for contacting us regarding the Star Wars Episode 1 Micro Machines. The items to which your refer are not currently in production. We are, therefore, unable to assist you in identifying retail markets which may still have this product in inventory nor do we have any available for direct sale. We apologize for any inconvenience.


Well, thanks for nothing Hasbro - that response must have taken one of your employees all of 30 seconds to research and respond to.

Cheers & I know that I shouldn't have bothered

BC3

[jeddah]

Well, when did this thread come about? I had only seen it via Vulky's referral.

Anyway, sure, use em si tu veut (if you like/want), but please try to keep some kind of opening joy for me., I'm not opening any POTJ packs so please leave all them intact.

BC3, did you post this also in "Dear Hasbro"? I think they actually look at that board from T2T

jeddah

[britcit3]

?????????

Are you still having a Blonde day, Jeddah?

Look at the top of the page where this is posted.

As ever, cheers

BC3

[JediGoofy]

The cold and impersonal response to bc3's e-mail is another sign that, no matter what we think, Hasbro is a burocratic monster just there to scalp collectors.

In my opinion Galoob was totally different: they put in place the Buzz Board, their chief designer talked directly to the fans (he even put a dedication within the Millennium Falcon!), they had context giving away collectibles for free and they sold directly exclusive items (even if not internationally, so I never had the chance to get the wonderful "Balance of Power", sigh!).

I e-mailed Galoob pointing out a mistake in their site and I got response and the mistake was fixed. I e-mailed Hasbro asking to fix some mistakes in their site and I never got a response, the MM part of the site is still incorrect and they even erased the old Galoob site with all the useful pictures and references.

I am very disappointed!

If someone from Hasbro is reading this post I would like to let him know that there is people willing to spend big money on their products (I spent about $2800 on MM items until now), but customers need a minimum of care from the vendor!

JediGoofy

P.S. I always read a lot of complaints from Hasbro action figures collectors (about quality, prices, resculpts, etc.). I did not usually read complaints from former buzz-boarders about MM products. There was just one episode when Galoob decided to reuse previously issued vehicles in new collections at the very beginning. In that occasion fans complained and Galoob listened: no more new collections reused old vehicles (they even re-issued the Classic Character figure collection!). Do you see what I mean?