Bucket O' Stormtroopers revisited

[stillakid]

I'll run with the gift box idea if it will help Hasbro produce and sell characters that they are afraid won't go over too well, such as a Cantina alien gift box, or a Jabba's Palace Aliens gift box. That way they could package some of the "lesser" figures all together in a way that won't necessarily commit them to warehousing a million carded figures that might not sell.

[Obi-Don]

I really like the idea of the bucket O.It would be a great way to build a army and I don't think it would bring Star Wars to the army status.I think that allot would go crazy over these and would sell at "big Money"rate.I would buy as much as I could.

[JediTricks]

I gotta say, this "gift box" idea doesn't suit what I think would work best for this. And the idea of having even MORE vint and POTF2 stormies when there's a CTC stormie to be had is not very appealing IMO. An army-building bucket saves on packaging, saves on shelf-space (an important issue to Hasbro and retailers), and gives the most basic of army builder needs to everybody in the simplest of ways. Having multiple variations in the box would be nice, but even without, the "bucket o' stormies" works best IMO.

Stillakid, you have any idea how much Photoshop costs? (btw, around $600)

[Obi-Dan Kenobi]

Yeah, bucket of stormtroopers is the way to go. And they wouldn't have to resculpt them. A big pile of the commtech version would be perfect. That, and a bag of blasters included. This would be a perfect item for the fan club.

[stillakid]

Um, yeah, I have it, but any less expensive program like Photo Deluxe will do the same thing.

And yeah, I think that they should fill the bucket with the best versions of figures possible, ie. Commtech Stormtroopers. No need to clutter up the collection with guys nobody wants.

So, how do we start a petition for this? Or a poll?

[Neo Solo]

Sounds good to me. Just so long as each figure is sculpted differently somehow. It could be very good.

Hasbro could set up a side shop, that just produces these things. A new bucket each year. Stormtroopers one year, Biker Scouts the next. I don't know how many sculpters there are, working at Hasbro. They could each be asked to come up with 1 figure to add to the bucket. Ewoks the year after that. Even Cantina Aliens. Jabba's Palace Aliens. Droids. They could even get into EU stuff.

The possibilities are endless. It just depends on what Hasbro would want to put into it for time and effort. How many different buckets in a year and so forth.

[stillakid]

Why the different resculpts? Why only one bucket per year? Those ideas are the antithesis of the entire concept which is more of the product we want, more often, in a less expensive package.

Barring a plastic shortage, how difficult could it be to churn out another ton of guys per week/month and stick em in a bucket?

[Neo Solo]

I agree, Stillakid, why only 1 bucket per year. It would be cool if Hasbro could crank 'em out 1 a month. Bucket of the month would be good. Jawas 1 month, Tusken Raiders the next.

As for the different sculpts. I'm sorry, I just do Not want to have 40 Stormtroopers all standing the same. Articulation is the key, but so is saving money. I wouldn't mind 'em all the same if they have Comtech Stormtrooper articulation. You have to admit, 40 fully articulated Stormtroopers, now THAT would rock!!

[JediCole]

I did not intend to impugne the nature of the "Bucket" idea, I was speaking more from the standpoint of perception, especially on the part of LucasFilm. As appealing (for army builders) as a Bucket o' Stormtroopers is (and believe me it is appealing as I was tempted to become an army builder myself when I found the newest incarnation of the Stormtroopers at Toys R Us en masse at $1.99 each), from the standpoint of the Star Wars brand it is impractical. It seems unlikely that either Hasbro or especially LucasFilm would go for something like that. At its heart it is a great idea, especially for army building, something that has been little addressed by Hasbro, but the bucket approach just doesn't seem Star Wars.

[stillakid]

A wise man once said "You gotta cross the line to know where it is." If Star Wars toys had never been made, who would ever know if they would have been popular?

If by saying that Bucket's don't seem to be Star Wars, you're implying that these toys are purely for .001 - .00whatever mint in the box til death do us part collectors then okay. I don't think that is the case with most people who buy them.

The company does theoretically stand to make more money by only releasing figures on expensive cards, however I can't help believing that any perceived losses would be made up for in reduced packaging costs and shear volume of sales.

It boils down to this: if I can't find a carded CommTech Stormtrooper on the shelf, I can't buy one. That's $7 bucks that stays in my wallet and out of their hands. If however they can more easily distribute a $30 bucket of figures and make them widely available, they'll get money that wasn't going to be available to them in any other way.

If Hasbro is out to produce nothing but display trophies, kind of like the Danger Girl set of figures, then it should go ahead and do that. The product thus far isn't of that quality and doesn't appear to be headed in that direction anytime soon.