Dear Hasbro: Case Assortments, Making Figs Cheaper, and SW TFs

[rust]

Haven't written here (Or been here) in a while... So I have a variety of things.
Dear Hasbro,
First off, I'd like to praise you for the figs we're getting this year. Many, Many, many things were off my wishlist, and I hope that this fan appreciation continues throughout your years as Star Wars figure makers.
This leads me to a few things I'd like to point out. My first being Case Assortments. Now, everyone's complained about case assortments at least once, this line is no different (Unfortunately).
I'm going to use the Geonosis and Coruscant as examples, because they contain the three most wanted clones of this year. Now, I'm looking at a few Case Assortments on EE, and I see that in some of the Good Waves (Waves containing all three clones) they come with 2 Vaders. My first no-no. Never put two or more of a fig in a case unless its an army-builder, or you suspect it is going to be scalped a lot. These are some examples of good cases:
2x Commander Scorch
1x Poggle the Lesser
1x Sun Fac
1x Sora Bulq
2x Clone Trooper (Utapau)
2x Commander Cody
1x Foul Moudama
1x Grievous
1x Anakin Skywalker
4x Commander Scorch
4x Clone Trooper (Utapau)
4x Commander Cody
12x Commander Scorch
6x Commander Scorch
6x Clone Trooper (Utapau)
Those are GOOD cases, because they provide extra Clone Troopers (For the Army Builders), Many new figures, and some main characters for the very few kids still into the line. Below is are examples of BAD assortments (With Tatooine and Endor as examples) with why they're bad in perentheses:
Moff Jerjerrodd (3 is too many, One Moff is good enough as only collectors want him)
2x Luke Skywalker [Speeder Gear]
1x Luke Skywalker [Tatooine] (3 Lukes is too many, espicially 2 different ones in the same assortment, espically when there are not that many kids into the line anymore)
1x R5-D4 (1 is not enough, a lot of people want this droid redone, Badly, and will be scalped if this is done. 2 would be better, not too much, and not too little)
1x C-3P0 (2x would be better, for kids and collectors)
2x Darth Vader (No one wants a DV anymore Hasbro, espically not 2 in a case. I saw so much DV last year, I'm sick of him)
2x Rebel Endor Soldier (This guy warmed SAGA pegs, he'll do it again, only ship 1 of this guy in few assortments)
Now, switching gears, your figs are too expensive, Hasbro! There are many ways you can still make money, and not habe to charge a lot for figures.
1. Use Smaller Bubbles! Big Bubbles suck, just make Vintage-esque bubbles and have accesories in a small plastic bag under the figure. This will save a lot of money with rising oil prices and stuff like that.
2. Recycle Materials Again, another easy thing, instead of buying ungodly amounts of sheetplastic, just offer some kind of recycling program, send in SW Bubbles, get a free figure (Shipped in a Plastic Bag, of course)
Doing those things can cut down the price of figs at least 2 dollars, maybe more.
Finally, I want to rant about SW Transformers. They Suck, to put it bluntly. They are mainly unoriginal and uninspired. Power Rangers used to do this kind of thing, you can do MUCH better. Instead of having SW Vehicles turn into SW Characters, have SW Vehicles turn into Robots (Not SW Grievous or R2-D2, actual Transformers Robots). You can have Vader's TIE turn into Megatron, and the Millennium Falcon into Optimus Prime, or even completely new robots. If you do that, then I will buy SW TFs.
Fin.

[jedi master sal]

Let's break up those case assortments so they read better:
Case 1:
2x Commander Scorch
1x Poggle the Lesser
1x Sun Fac
1x Sora Bulq
2x Clone Trooper (Utapau)
2x Commander Cody
1x Foul Moudama
1x Grievous
1x Anakin Skywalker

Case 2
4x Commander Scorch
4x Clone Trooper (Utapau)
4x Commander Cody

Case 3 (I don't think will sell though so I'd be against it, and I'm an extreme army builder)
12x Commander Scorch

Case 4 (This case is getting close to what it could be, but still to many Scorch, IMHO)
6x Commander Scorch
6x Clone Trooper (Utapau)

As for Moff Jerjerrod, I want MANY of him. I fully expecting to customize him into other Imperial officers. I think 3 to a case is good. Though no more than that.

I have to agree that we have WAY to much Vader. He may be the icon of the Saga, but we got slammed with him in the 3rd and 4th quarter of 2005. Enough for now please.

Core characters are good at 2 per case, no more. They will be bought up, but most collectors are getting sick of them and kids over teh last few years have had plenty of chance to get them too, so they aren't as apt to getting the same character again. The chance for new collectors is vastly dwindling since the movies are done. There may be a resurgence with the live action and cartoon shows, but PLEASE wait til them to hit us with some of thes core characters again. For now while it's still fresh in people's minds, you need to keep cranking out ROTS figs. I may be bias here, but Army builders from ROTS have been either overlooks or mishandled. I really don't want non-movie clones. Give me LOTS of Utapau, Kashyyyk and Anakin's troopers. Bacara's clones would be a great addition as well.

We know you want to make use of the molds, but please for the love of god, don't use the AT-TE gunner mold. Either #6 or #41 PLEASE!

Now, while I think the idea of theme based waves is neat, it also puts an unseen stress on collectors. Unknowingly we see this as a thing of "we better get it now or we won't ever find it again". That kind of thinking needs to stop. Certainly army builders need to be revisited often. Do you homework and find out what's selling. Then release them again. Look on any number of these types of websites like this one to see what people are longing for or more of.

I have to also agree with cost of figs.

I realize it's gone up due to oil prices, so like the sugeestion above, take some small steps to trim that cost. Smaller bubbles would be a god-send as they are easier to stack when we are bbuying them from a retail store. Also for those who need to temporarilty pack them away, it makes more efficient use of space.

Think of doing 2 or 3 packs on the size of a normal or slightly larger card. The card ow can eaily hold two figs. You've proved that yourself already with teh Power Droid/Treadmill droid combo.

Besides, putting two or three figs to a card will also save you on printing costs as well. We certainly don't want the big bulky boxes. Many of us are running out, or have already run out of space.

Star wars right now is as popular as it's ever going to be. The forth coming show may help. but I don't suspect there will be many newcomers to colecting Star Wars. The kids of today who have bought these toys are the collectors of tomorrow (not to say that us "old-timers" won't still be around). Anyway, those kids too want legions of army builders. There are so many to choose from, that continual rerelease of army builders will satisfy the market. Too boot you may finally deter scalping which has plagued Star Wars since Episode one came out.

Well there's plenty to chew on. I hope for once you'll see that troopers are wanted by ALL fans. Some want just one or two, but I'd venture to guess that the average fan wants more than just a couple. Then of course you have guys like me who look to get 50-100 of those troopers.

"If you make them, we WILL buy" (Just please enough of the non-movie paint scheme nonsense.)

Sincerely,
-Sal