[Trivial Psychic]

You've made a great number of points, but I'm not really buying into the belief that Hasbro believes female figures do not sell well anymore. The ML and MU offerings that were shown this past SDCC were proof of that, as there were several female figures on display, and one wave of the Avengers MLI series had as many as three female figures in the lineup. Something even more bizarre to wrap your brain around, but there wasn't a single Iron Man or Captain America featured in those waves outside of the Target Exclusive three pack. Perhaps the our constant cries (or in some cases...whining) for less of the "flagship characters" and more variety has been heard. It'll be interesting to see how it's handled in the upcoming year.

I think Hasbro knows exactly who they are marketing to in terms of Legends. I can recall something that was said during the Shartimus Prime interview with the SW Black Series development team, when they said that they created the Black Series so that adults can remember what it felt like the first time they held a smaller scale Kenner figure in their hands. We as kids grow up, and in response to that, so did the scale. They know that it's not the 5 to ten year olds fighting in the aisles over that last Nova figure on the shelf, but the 18 to 45 year olds instead.

How Hasbro will fix their distribution woes, is another story. I still find a good deal of my figures in the wild, but with so many options out there online as well, from HTS to online stores like BBTS to E(vil)bay, I purchase many of them there as well. The Marvel Universe relaunch thus far has been a disaster, and before the Infinite series, there were entire waves of Marvel Legends that to this day I have never seen in stores. People are quick to blame Hasbro, but having worked in retail in the past, I'm really not too sure it's entirely their fault. If the online retailers have no difficulty in securing cases of these figures, then how is it Hasbro's fault? All major retailers have people who place orders at some level of management, and are in charge of their replenishment. Where are they to blame? Confront a Target or Walmart employee sometime and watch how how quick they point the finger at Hasbro. While I don't know who's entirely at fault, I do know that the easiest way to divert the blame and get a pissed off, angry and impatient customer out of your face is to blame the supplier. With so many shades of grey and lines drawn, I'm really not sure there is an easy solution to the problem.

As for the SDCC thing, I have to agree that they really need to start limiting what is sold at the booths per customer. When I've seen some of the ridiculous hauls that people have come away with from this SDCC and SDCCs past...I cringe. Does someone really need 6 Thanos Imperative sets? Chances are they don't need more than two, and the rest of those are going to the secondary market, and they more than likely won't be cheap. But anyone who has held a garage sale knows, you never wanna have to repack the stuff that you brought, so I can't blame Hasbro's booths for selling them while they can.

I think NECA handled SDCC really well, as they had a plentiful and ready supply of exclusives set aside and ready to order at the beginning of SDCC online. Perhaps Hasbro could create a dedicated site (like NECA) dedicated solely to carrying and selling their a ready supply of SDCC stock online, as opposed to just selling the leftovers from the con at HTS.