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Quote:

Originally Posted by Jason Abbadon

On a large scale, I agree...but Hasbro has been awesome to collectors- making stuff that no kid would ever know about in a million years- like classic Havoc. No kid says "Mommy! I want the skinny guy with the eggbeater on his head!"
There's clearly at least an ...appreceation...for us collectors.
If nothing else, having a core of loyal fans is amazing word of mouth publicity- consider how the MU following has exploded in the past year.
Hell, just since I've been a member of this site, we've seen a ton of joinups from people searching for Marvel Universe and finding this (great) site.

The Star Wars collectors get even crazier exclusives and stuff that never even hits stores- like the white Boba Fett. If they only cared for selling the most of that, he'd be a normal release. They have kept that send away model since the 80's Kenner days, and it's paid off.

Establishing a brand loyalty is what keeps fans loyal through all those repacks and repaints- which is why they sprinkle a new figure or two in a repaint wave- if the collectors are out looking for one fig, they're more likely to also but that repainted Iron Fist (or Darth Maul repack).

Sure, there is definitely a level of appreciation for the collectors and fans, and that shows through in the way they handle reusing molds. It may be the basis for a particular costume or paint scheme, but it's not the main reason for doing it.

Even if there were no collector base or brand loyalty, Hasbro would still do redecos to offset the R&D costs of the toys. Look at all the armor variants in the IM2 line. Some are comic-inspired and "for the fans" while others are simply ways of reusing the mold and possibly getting another sale out of it.