Jedi Master Points Survey from Hasbro

[JediCole]

I have received at two of my email accounts an invitation to partake in a survey regarding the Jedi Master Points. Has anyone else received this? Have you answered the survey? I have from one of the email accounts and at first found the survey to be poorly realized from the standpoint of collecting data on what we think about the choice of programs for redemption of the Jedi Master Points. However, I was pleased to find that at the end, a field was provided that accomodated all I had to say on the matter. I somehow manaaged to lose the text (though I was trying to copy and paste for this very thread), but the crux of my response was as follows:

Too little, too late, too bad!

My chief complaint was that many collectors (I can't be the only one) either did not maintain their JMPs because either #1: There was no prior uniform program for Proof of Purchase Seals and/or Jedi Master Points and #2: ALL prior programs required a cash register receipt dated within a specific time frame, and often from a single retailer (like Wal-Mart's poster offer)! The result was simply, why bother to amass a collection of such seals if they would be worthless without a register receipt. And why maintiain your receits against just such a contengency if they would have to be recent to be valid? Back in the 70's and 80's I had quite a collection of POP Seals from Star Wars toys, right up to the bitter end. But back then if you had a mail-in offer, you just needed the seals, NOTHING ELSE, so stockpiling was worthwhile. They just stopped having offers.

With the contemporary line (1995-Present) you had the transition from POP Seals to Jedi Master Points. Those who have amassed from day one are out of luck with the tons of POPs they have, as only JMPs are valid, further emphasizing the reason that many will not have a huge number of points. And even then, it appears you would have to have bought at least one of everything that has been released since the inception of the JMPs AND done some serious troop building as well to even come close to the phenomenal volume of points needed to win some of these auctions.

Another concern I voiced was that of the product selected. More than a few of us have complained about the exclusionary approach to releasing the second wave of Cantina sets! Given the continued relationship between the Fan Club and Hasbro (as seen with the Holiday Yoda), ther is no reason that these sets could not have been offered through the Club (like back when their previous owners bailed out the Pote Snitkin wave that was doomed to obscurity. Jorg Sacul is rather a disappointment too, considering it was supposedly a show exclusive and supposedly sold out! Much like people finding Muftak and Kabe at discount stores a year or so after they became unavailable.

A good deal of the rest of my response escapes me, but these were the primary issues. I closed by remarking that if the program through which JMPs can be redeemed is not drasticly changed to something more favorable to ALL collectors and not just a minority, I would simply be offering my personal supply of Jedi Master Points on eBay auctions and using the proceeds to purchase more Star Wars toys from the mass releases. Those toys that I want that I stand more than a fighting chance of obtaining!

Thoughts anyone?

Also, I produced this thread independently of the existing JMP thread as it is more about the auctions themselves, what is offered, who has won, etc. This thread is specifically about the survey from Hasbro regarding the auctions, so I will ask that my fellow SSG Moderators do not merge this thread into that one.

[amidalak]

i understand why you made this a seperate thread, but almost everything you said in response to the survey has been gone over extensively in the other thread. but to throw my opinion in, i still like the auctions, and i think this survey is hasbro's attempt to work the bugs out, so to speak. i know that not everyone likes the auction because not everyone gets something, but since that doesn't bother me, i hope the auctions continue and more hard to find product gets made available for some dedicated collector.

[JediCole]

Yes, while I suspected that the underlying issues had been touched on in some degree in the other thread, I felt that the specific issue of Hasbro's survey needed to be addressed. While I would not go so far as to say I hate the auctions, I feel that they are a poorly realized conclusion to a considerable wait for Hasbro to do something with the Jedi Master Points. And while I agree that the survey should help Hasbro work out some of the bugs in the system, the structure of the survey is such that, like many surveys, only allows a partial view at the full picture. When I respond to the survey via my other email account, I will try to make note of the exact questions asked, so as to better illustrate this point. The problem inherent in all "pat answer" surveys is that they cannot ask every conceivalbe question. And more often than not thend to reask the same questions in different ways. As I recall there was nothing in the survey proper that would address the issue of offering ultra rare items via these auctions alone (rather than through the Fan Club for example). But of course, the saving grace of that structure was the inclusion of a text area where detailed issues could be addressed. At least it shows that the survey's designers recognized that a handful of questions alone cannot fully illustrate all that is right and all that is wrong with the auctions.

And to address the point about making these rare items available to some collectors, how many here have the requisite 100-500,000 plus points needed to compete in some of these auctions? Drop a not in here if you actually have, say, 400,000 to 1,000,000 points on hand. I'm just curious.

[Lobito]

I got that mail today also, but to no avail since i live in Mex City...anyway the bids are really ridiculous!! Nobody has 1,000,000 JMP not even 500,000 they should forget about the auction and start giving figures the old fashioned way. Like kenner did!!

[Jargo]

Got it, filled out the relevent field and ticked the relevent boxes. In the nicest possible most diplomatic terms I told them where to shove their auctions and why. Sounds like i'm not the only one saying this.
It won't make a scrap of difference though because whatever you say to them goes in one ear and out the other. Hasbro will do as hasbro wants and screw everyone.

[JediCole]

I got that mail today also, but to no avail since i live in Mex City...anyway the bids are really ridiculous!! Nobody has 1,000,000 JMP not even 500,000 they should forget about the auction and start giving figures the old fashioned way. Like kenner did!!

Or like Hasbro USED TO DO! If you collected G.I. Joe figures back in the day, Hasbro used to publish an entire CATALOG of items for which you could redeem your "Flag Points", including many figures that were NEVER released on the card! Like The Frige. Odd how different they are now than they were then.

[amidalak]

first, the survey:

a. the survey's purpose seems to me to be a means to improve on the auctions, not to decide if they are a good idea or not. in that respect, i think it does do a good job in getting the full picture.

b. for whatever reason, hasbro doesn't seem to be able to or is unwilling to work well with the fan club to get exclusive items to fan club members. what's more, if the survey's purpose is to improve on the auctions, then the question of the fan club isn't relevant.

c. like you said, they did add a text area, so all bases are covered. maybe i'm wrong about the survey's purpose, but seeing as we are almost a month and a half into the auctions and they are scheduled to run until dec. 31, i doubt they are evaluating whether it is a good idea or not. i kinda think like emp. j., i don't think the big h cares quite that much. enough maybe to try and improve the auctions, not enough to discard them and try something else.

now, the auctions (all this stuff is in the other thread, but i'm going to throw it in, just for kicks!):

d. nothing in the auctions has gone for 100,000 JMP's, or even close. i think the highest amount for an item ended up being the kitik keed'kak, which if i remember correctly went for 17,840 JMP's, a reasonable number for an army builder type collector. most items have gone for between 2,000 and 10,000 JMP's.

e. hasbro has repeatedly stated they will not do a mail away, and no amount of complaining is going to change that.

f. why should everyone have the opportunity to bid on the auctioned items?

[Turbowars]

LOL EJ, but yeah shove the auctions in your ---. Here's a survey for you Hasbro. What do you think the --- means?

[Lobito]

Times change and i think everyone deserves the chance to get whichever figure hasbro releases, but not by this ridiculous bid, like Jedi Cole said...use the old catalog method and use the points that way. Aaaaaaaaar Whats up Jargo!! Long time no see....Cheers my friend!!

[amidalak]

this thread should probably get merged, as nothing new is really being said. good try, though, jedicole, i tried to start a thread a while back that was about just the points and how many people had collected, but it always got back to people complaining about the auctions rather than staying on topic. oh, and one more thing, sorry lobito, you guys from out of the states are really the only folks who get hosed in the auctions, as you don't have a chance even if you wanted one. ignoring overseas fans sucks.