Did Hasbro plan the CW release very well?

[seanmcfripp]

Stuff seems to be selling pretty well. The Targets in my area are flying through the Geonosian fighters and Hailfire droids. Even the repainted gunship and Jedi fighter sold through eventually.

But I have to say that Hasbro's coordination of shipments seem to be a bit whack. If you are going to launch a new line, why start off by flooding stores with repainted vehicles? Around here in Maryland, the first things to pop up for the CW line were the Jedi fighter, AAT, and the gunship. Needless to say, nothing really moved that fast. Why would a kid buy a commando gunship if there's no one to put in it (unless you were lucky enough to find an army builder pack). And why would you get a Jedi starfighter when there is no pilot on the pegs, especially when you already have a red one. The AAT went quick because most of us missed it the 1st time around. Now granted, the army-builder 3 packs showed up shortly thereafter. But let's face it, finding the clone trooper set was near impossible (I still haven't found the Jedi pack).

The basic figures obviously should have hit first, and with more characters in the assortments (the Anakin, ARC trooper, Yoda assortment isn't cutting it). They could have released all seven characters in one case and everything would have been fine. Something like: 2 Anakins, 1 Obi-wan, 1 Mace, 1 Yoda, 2 Durge, 1 Asajj Ventress, and 4 ARC troopers. I don't know if those ratios are perfect but they address what I see as problems. The ARC trooper is obviously being used to army-build. When I check the pegs, there are always lotsa Anakins and a couple Yodas, but few if any ARC troopers. A variety of characters would have eliminated the glut of just one or 2 figures hanging out on the pegs.

Anakin's fighter, the Geonosian fighter and the Hailfire droid should have been the first vehicles released. They are obviously the better sellers because it's the 1st time we are seeing them. Why not use the momentum of better selling items to draw in a fan base for the line (namely the kiddies) and then hit them up with repaints a little later. Once the line is successful, you could probably repaint the Jedi starfighter 3 or 4 times (one for each jedi) and everyone would gobble 'em up. Or they could have at least released the teal Jedi fighter in conjunction with Saese Tinn's release. Kinda like they could have released Anakin's fighter along with Anakin's release. The back of Anakin's card packaging shows his fighter (no surprise, Yoda's and the ARC trooper's do not), so I'm sure a parent or child at the store at least looked for the fighter on the shelves. But if its not there, how are they supposed to buy it?

I'm sorry to be so critical, because I really like the Clone Wars line alot. But it is frustrating to see things handled the way they are. I'm thinkng of it from a kid's perspective:
"Mommy, where's Durge? He's the main bad guy and I need him to fight Anakin. And where is the horned guy that is supposed to fly the blue Jedi ship? I want him alot. And where is Ani's ship? I need that so he can fight the Geonosian guy in his ship. And mommy, do you see any pilots for the big Clone trooper ship. They are on the box, but I can't find them on the shelf."

I mean how hard would it have been to slightly repaint the gunship pilot and call him "ARC pilot" or something. With collectors, you'd have a guaranteed sale of at least 2 figures. Luckily, I bought two extras way back when, so my Command Gunship is properly manned. But I'm sure the is some confused kid out there with no pilots for his gunship.

All in all, here's how I would have done it:

-All seven characters in one case (and released with or before vehicles and army builders)
-New vehicles released 1st, repaints 2nd
-Vehicles and their appropriate pilots should hit stores close together
-No Destroyer droid launcher...drop that and add another clonetrooper pack and you have happy collectors
-Keep up with the value packs...best and most successful idea in a long time, very well thought out

Other than that, I love the figures, mostly because they are expanded universe and not under the same kind of visual scrutiny of movie accurate figures. A figure can look cool on its own merit because there is nothing else really to compare it too. I think the upcoming Kit Fisto and Saese Tinn are some of the coolest looking Star Wars figures I've seen. Keep up the good work Hasbro.

[Val Da Car]

Just watch the ramp up for the Holidays and the cartoon to catch up with shipments....

[bobafrett]

I was at a Target store today, and they had 8 pegs full of the Anakin, Yoda, ARC troopers. I'm thinking "Great, more pegwarmers". It seems to be the case more and more. When I first saw these three, I thought I had missed out on a few of the other characters because they were maybe packed only one per case, but I come to find that those were the only three in the case. You would think that being what it is, they would pack it more heavily with ARC troopers. I mean, how many Anakins & Yoda's in battle gear does one kid or collector need? I hope they don't mess this up, as I like some of the stuff I have seen so far.

[amidalak]

if the cartoon is as good as the little tastes we have seen so far, i'd say ani, yoda, and all the rest will probably come off the shelves pretty quickly come Christmas time. i think, though, that hasbro should have delayed this line a little to coincide a little more with the cartoon. my biggest hope is that the cartoon does well, the toys do well, and then we get a 30 min. star wars cartoon.

my condolensces, bobafrett, i'm a cubs fan, too.

[Kidhuman]

Putting 4 of each to a case is kinda odd if you ask me. They could of done better than that. Maybe 6 figures, two of each.

[LTBasker]

Actually it doesn't seem all that bad. If you think about it, look at how many times Yoda and Anakin sold out in April last year. True, these are different. However, they are the most popular main characters lined up for CW so far besides the Clones. True they probably could use more ARC Troopers in the cases, but even the Yoda and Anakins being without troopers on the pegs they're doing well.

My Wal-Mart had 2 rows of pegs full of Anakin and Yoda one day I was there, then about a week later they had about 4 of each if that. Of course the ARC Trooper's are selling really well. Besides the vehicle situation, I think they're doing the best they've done in quite awhile with the CW line.

Yoda's actually kinda fun since you can use his platforms for other figures and he doesn't look all that dopey. I think one thing that's making the figure sell is his legs. Even though his legs are one piece, they look better than that usual "Potty I must!" uni-leg thing.

[Old Fossil]

If Wal-Mart had not scaled back on their SW offerings, the Clone Wars line would have been a much greater success than it is. Collectors can't buy any ships, mulitpacks, or Deluxe figures there. The Value Packs were a nice surprise, but they were there and gone in the blink of an eye... I'm sure many collectors and kids who don't frequent online sites like SSG are not even aware the Value Packs were at Wal-Mart in the first place. (How many of us had trouble just locating the darned things in the Toy Department maze?)

I mean, it is staggering how much money Wal-Mart has missed out on by sticking to basic figures and role-play lightsabers. How many more of us would be in and out of WM's each and every day we could, if we thought there was a chance of picking up one of the Clone Trooper Army builder packs, the Jedi Army builder pack, the Geonosian fighter, (not to mention the new Unleashed waves), etc.?

In some areas of the country, Wal-Marts are the only major retailer for miles. As such, because of their lack of Clone Wars toys, kids (and some collectors, maybe) don't know about the extent of the line. Consequently, folks aren't looking for that Jedi Starfighter like they might if they saw a sticker for it on a WM shelf, or an empty peg for Clone Trooper Army builders. The images on the back of the basic figure packaging aren't enough... the largest retailer in the world has definitely hurt the Clone Wars line more than anything else, IMO, by making a large chunk of the line practically nonexistent for consumers.

[seanmcfripp]

... the largest retailer in the world has definitely hurt the Clone Wars line more than anything else, IMO, by making a large chunk of the line practically nonexistent for consumers.

Very true. WalMart used to be my one-stop-shop place for Star Wars. Now, Target is getting all my money, and their selection of Clone Wars stuff has been great. One KBToys in my area got in the CW value packs, and they sold out in a day. TRU took four weeks to catch up in even getting out just the basic figures. Sadly, I hardly even go there any more (another thread altogether). Target almost seems to be the exclusive Star Wars retailer of the last 6 months for me. The funny thing is that they're selling through the vehicles, 3 packs, and screen scene packs like crazy. I think it's great. It just means Target will be on board for more vehicle exlcusives in the future (I hope; maybe I'm wrong).

Ya see, all Wal-mart has to do is keep going with this whole value pack thing. If they wanted to carry they vehicles, they could have done some thing like this:

-AAT, Hailfire droid, Geonosian fighter all with bonus battle droid or bonus droid army bulider pack

-Commando gunship, Jedi starfighter with bonus clone trooper or bonus army builder pack

-Anakin's fighter with bonus Anakin

I dunno, something like that. When ever they add stuff to existing product, great things happen. With Masters of the Universe they added videos to the figures and stuff started moving very well. They added four bonus figures to the Castle Greyskull at SAMS club and they also sold very well. Oviously, the CW bonus packs are selling well. Wal-mart could have done something to carry the whole Star Wars line, but didn't.

[Mad Slanted Powers]

Clone Wars stuff seemed to move good here at first, but now it seems the first wave is just sitting there at all the stores I check. The only basic figures I've seen are Yoda, Anakin and ARC trooper. The army builder packs eventually went. I found the Yellow, Green and Blue clone packs. The droid army ones hung around for a while, but now there are only tons of Destroyer Droid launchers. I've been finding all the vehicles, though I only bought the Geonosian fighter and the Gunship. I got the Geonosian fighter because it comes with a figure. I got the Gunship because I passed on the orignal release, but now I have all of these Clone Pilots I can put in it.

[OC47150]

My observations ...

Everyone who wanted CW Anakin, Yoda and ARC trooper bought them immediately. Those are extras hanging out there. The ships (Geo fighter and hailfire droid) are new and unique, something we've screamed for for a while, and are selling well because of that. Some of the three-packs and deluxe sets are still hard to find but showing up with more regularity.

The arrival of CW items helped break the drought of SW merchandise from the stores. Early '03 stuff that hadn't been found or was hard to find (can you say SC Anakin??) is now pretty plentiful and still reasonably priced.

There's a good mixture of CW and Saga stuff out in the stores. Just gotta go out and find it.