Stumbled onto these two articles discussing troubled times for brick and mortar stores and the disappointing sales of Hasbro’s Force Friday II. Is it Star Wars Toy fatigue is it online sales?
Toys R Us Explores Possible Bankruptcy
I do believe they are tied together in some capacity. My question: “Is it due to the expanding online sales culture?”
Well, I think partially, YES! I also believe the expansion of boutique-style toy stores and conventions are also taking sales away from traditional brick and mortar chain stores by providing a more intimate shopping experience for their customers. Also they tend to have a selection of products the niche buyer is interested in purchasing while the chain stores tend to be out of stock” for months at a time.
“I’ve also noticed this Force Friday we have a plethora of “exclusives” available that I think harm the overall viability of the event. If one only collected the Black Series 6 inch line they would be met with several hundred dollars possibly up to $1000 in FFII purchases just trying to get all the 6 inch items alone. The way the series has gone the last two or three years it has been feast or famine. Either you spend the money immediately when it is available or you spend more money later on buying what essentially equates to a comic book “Back Issue” commanding a higher price than retail at release time.
But I don’t want to confine the idea of Star Wars Toy fatigue to just sales numbers, too many movies or too few places to buy. I believe at least as far as the 6-inch line, Hasbro has been too aggressive in expanding it. The Black Series, in a lot of ways, resembles the 3.75 inch lines, which are littered with hundreds of figures, many of them uninteresting and unnecessary. Some have the slightest trivial of variations such as a holstering weapon or extra points of articulation. When they launched the line in 2013 it seemed like every figure was a gem. Only a few hung around “warming the pegs” and even then they eventually dried up and became more expensive. In my opinion Hasbro’s move has been too aggressive trying to create several different characters to fill out a playable line.
I don’t believe the original intention for this line was for children to play with. Typically kids don’t care if head sculpts are good or if Han has a stormtrooper belt and interchangeable gloved hands in premium packaging.
But I don’t want to confine the idea of Star Wars Toy fatigue to just sales numbers, too many movies or too few places to buy. I believe at least as far as the 6-inch line, Hasbro has been too aggressive in expanding it. The Black Series, in a lot of ways, resembles the 3.75 inch lines, which are littered with hundreds of figures, many of them uninteresting and unnecessary. Some have the slightest trivial of variations such as a holstering weapon or extra points of articulation. When they launched the line in 2013 it seemed like every figure was a gem. Only a few hung around “warming the pegs” and even then they eventually dried up and became more expensive. In my opinion Hasbro’s move has been too aggressive trying to create several different characters to fill out a playable line.
I don’t believe the original intention for this line was for children to play with. Typically kids don’t care if head sculpts are good or if Han has a stormtrooper belt and interchangeable gloved hands in premium packaging.
At first it seemed that adult collectors were the target audience for these figures. I still believe that is the case. I think Hasbro realized they can capture both adults and children with the toy line. Their new aim seems to be the same as the 1970’s, “Collect them all and recreate the scenes from the movie.” I’m certainly not knocking that for a toy line but for this line, with premium action figure pricing at $20. Their strategy is a bit misguided. Hasbro wants to have it both ways. It doesn’t help that collecting the line is getting more expensive both in overall cost and storage space for most collectors.
I fear it won’t be long before the line collapses from the extra bloat.
Let me know your theories or whether or not you have Star Wars Toy fatigue in the comments section or on our facebook page.
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