[Snowflakian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by K Dubious

We know where I stand, but Snow you act like Infinity War is going to be this major MCU event that the world will stop to recognize, and Hasbro will capitalize on that because they are in the business of making money.

You say it like Age of Ultron and Civil War were nothing and that is why Hasbro has chose to give us very little for our scale, and that we just need to be patient because that is when our payday will hit???

Where do you come up with this? I loved Age of Ultron so much that I went out and completed my Legends BAF for him because I had to have him in toy form. (Which has also led me to collect many more MCU Legends) What did we get for Ultron? 3.75" figures from the 80's. I refuse to put that gray monstrosity next to my MU figures.

I can tell that you will not back down from your decision to put Hasbro on an untouchable pedestal, but as smart as I feel like you are I don't understand why you chose to ignore the other side of the argument. I know these are all just our opinions, but asking UKMU if he read what you wrote, when it seems you blindly follow Hasbro and defend their every action despite what almost every other 3.75 collector says is baffling.

Seriously do you live in Rhode Island? Hook some of us up with Protos or something, hell we are passionate about our line even if that passion has become more hate than love recently.

I have not seen the BP/Agent 13 pack yet at TRU, but I am still looking forward to picking it up when I see it(Have seen 5 or 6 CA and IMs). I may have to eventually get that Captain with bike if I can find that for cheaper than $20. I'm expecting Gamestop to eventually clearance them out.

Because it's a two year movie cycle of back to back main team films, with a long ass drought before it which previously hasbro has done to save budgets to do something big later. In this instance with Marvel, the only big thing coming up is the 2 year team movie blockbuster cycle and the hype building for it which even retailers will notice and want merchandise for. As those 2 years will probably be extremely Marvel heavy, especially with the Russos at the helm and how well Winter Soldier did in comparison to Age of Ultron.

The same as a star wars main movie release after episode 7, will be a star wars heavy year on merchandising because of expectations from the previous.

Marketing data would suggest as such.

Also by then, Legends may hit a bigger back flow, probably take a turn for lowering main retailer orders, but they'll still want a decent supply of merchandise for this two year blockbuster cycle. Which means the 3.75'' line will get the focus instead as it's had no main draw for awhile, which means the audience and demand are fresh for it as compared to other lines that are already flooding pegs as is and not moving the desired quantities. Similar to how sales of Ironman 2 were strong enough for it to stay on shelves all the way until getting clearanced out near Ironman 3's release. It sold so well, an actual blockbuster line was sustained on shelves all the way until its sequel. A market rarity outside of star wars.

So that's where the big push for a revitalizing of the 3.75'' market would make the biggest effect for the highest sales.

It's not a pedestal, it's actually looking at data and past habits of the company for the choices they make where and when.

Let's look at transformers for example. The advent of classics to the sidelines, to movie lines, generations and now the current combiner wars and titans return.

All of this had lulls inbetween, as well as slow sales moments and later booms of new material with rebranding and parsing their time as well as spreading out the releases. Recouping costs where they could to come back later with bigger and better.

Power Core combiners to combiner wars for example is about the same comparison of the AoU line now to what the infinity war 2 year movie cycle could be. The difference being that instead of having it be side toy lines in post movie years, it's the actual blockbuster movie lines themselves.

You have to balance what can sell now, versus what'll sell in high volume later. While also still pushing what major retailers are saying they want.

I've been watching the 3.75'' marvel markets since they started. The same for the Transformers markets. And if you go over that, you see hasbro's habits. What's cut where to do bigger later to generate larger sales.

One thing that did set us back was the Avengers Assemble Shieldtech line. If the sales of that were stronger, we might still have that line doing more villains. Instead, it got canned by retailers before the 3rd wave even hit shelves, which is why the Clint Barton, Nick Fury, and The Leader figure were discount stores. To clear those out of inventory of the warehouse hasbro took a hit on sales because major retailers weren't ordering them. But that's also a cartoon line. Not a blockbuster movie line. Blockbuster movie lines if expected to sell, move high volumes of merchandise so major retailers can't ignore those. Especially on proven franchises like Marvel and Transformers that have a great track record of strong sales on blockbuster films.

Whereas something like ID4-2 doesn't because the only market data of that is from the 90s. So it's unproven entirely as a draw. DC has the opposite problem as the Green Lantern movie didn't quite move the volume expected and neither did Man of Steel, so they are trying to find new ways to bring that market back. If BVS sales were strong, that one would grow, but they seem awfully mixed, so that makes whatever we get for Justice League a who knows factor because it doesn't have the market strength for retailer demand with the lack of a proven track record.

Then you also have to factor what the retailer focuses are on right now. The current market has them focused on role play toys and video games. Physical interactive stuff for active children. This has happened previously too prior to 2009, so the turn back to figures for the market should be in a few years. Which conveniently is also when the infinity war movies hit.

So looking at this data where the market is focused and should re-focus later based on sales, the best course of action is to provide material that can be cost-efficient to bolster the budget later when the stronger sales should be present because of market trends.

We saw this dip coming back when hasbro had to talk TRU into getting the newer comic packs that had the future foundation figures among others. Comic Packs were already getting dropped by retailers around then, and the market was slowly turning away from action figure sales. The masterpiece fin fang foom was canceled because retailers didn't want to order it. Consumed too much shelf-space at too little of a profits return rate when they could put other merchandise there in higher quantities that does move.

It's not "blind faith in hasbro" or even "putting them on a pedestal." It's looking at the actual market info we have present from past and current trends and where the market should go next and how best to capitalize on that. Essentially, it's you have to think like how hasbro would do business to make the most money based on market climate, and when that climate will change and how best to use that change to market your material to bolster sales for larger revenue returns.

Hasbro is a business. Their business is to make money. We think like collectors and consumers. We want immediacy and don't look at the bigger market, hasbro has to look at the bigger market because that is their corporate portfolio. So we're thinking about it wrong in how we harass and name call them as opposed to realizing they want to make money and give the market what it wants, but it's a matter of where the best retailer support will be for that and how.

The action figure market is cutting back currently to the point even other companies see that. This is why Ben 10 hasn't been on shelves for a bit too now. Sales are low, so retailers don't want the line, and are waiting for actual demand to come back up for them to decide it warrants more merchandise. You have to look at the market as a whole. Not our narrow band fan views and demands.

Titans Returns over in Transformers seems to be doing well though while Combiner wars itself has created a backlog stop gap. It needed the rebranding to sidestep the backlog, and get back on shelves. If the sales continue to maintain strong, then the retailers will want to order more and open up more peg space for it and other transformers lines.

This is what we're seeing with marvel too. A good blockbuster movie line, which a 2 year cycle will need, will open up more peg space and stronger retailer support. So right now is creating demand for later and keeping the fans as satiated as the can where they can until they have the open room to do bigger again with having the stronger retailer support.

GOTG was unproven, as was Ant-man. Age of Ultron was balancing with those retailers unsure of the line strength because of all this talk of market over-saturation on superheroes. It was rapid fire after already some big sales years and some overstock already needing to get clearanced out. Deadpool though created a new demand thought that may carryover to Wolverine 3 in retailers wanting merchandise, but that's also an unknown because of the whole rated R thing. Which means retailers may want more X-Men based figures around that time for the comic lines. Infinity War on the other hand has got a massive amount of hype behind it as it's the culmination of all the mcu movies from start to now. They'll definitely want to support that because the sales will be there.

Like I said, market trends and consumer buying habits is what we have to look at. We're roughly 10% of the sales, if even that. But larger exposure and growth is creating more demand and broadening the support. Blockbuster films are the best junction point for large pushes then because it provides the largest amount of sales across the board.