Flipping The Hasbro Conversations
Date: June 04, 2013 at 03:18 PM ET
Topic: Hasbro


JTA reader Matt writes in with a lengthy email full of good points and some unconventional ideas for Hasbro and the Star Wars brand. While I personally don't see eye to eye with every opinion made, I understand his reasonings and why they might be good ideas, even though I am not completely sold on the ideas. I do want to hear what our other readers have to say about the topic. In a nutshell, I don't feel that 3D printing is a viable solution for Hasbro. But what do you think? Not all of us are artists and can paint them well. Plus, I am not sure Hasbro would even consider such a notion. Matt also brings up additional points of what our attitudes should be towards Hasbro, which I also agree to some extent. But not every extent. Where will you fall? Click through for more....



To personally respond to Matt:

First, thank you for the kind words about JTA.

To your points, I would say that I do very much appreciate that your son had difficulty with the super-articulation of 2008's TLC Han Solo (BD 1) figure, but you also have to keep in mind that this figure was intended for collectors. You are probably making the point that these types of figures aren't for kids, which I partially agree with, but I can give you plenty of examples proving the other side of that. Before 2012, collectors were buying both kid and collector intended items. Now collectors have been carved out of the kids' products because they are typically not interested in minimal articulation. Did you know both Saga Legends and Battle Packs were always intended to be kids' products? For years these products contained super-articulated figures and dynamic sculpts. Oh, and they sported a ton of new tooling. Still, collectors ate them up because they were freaking awesome until Hasbro got really cheap with them, they rotted on shelves and then Hasbro ultimately discontinued them. There were diminished sales on Battle Packs because Hasbro just started repackaging the same figures over and over instead of coming up with clever ideas with new things added available for the first time in the market. Something similar happened to Comic Packs (and they were strictly intended for collectors). Before you think I forgot about them, the all-new sculpted sets like the ones we received in the SW [TPM 3D] line in 2012 didn't sell as briskly as they should have because collectors weren't interested in the five points of articulation. As a result, they had to be clearanced out as well. I know there are plenty of arguments about how expensive manufacturing is today, but I don't think the direction the line is headed is the right way to go either. But yet I can't offer a better solution without suggesting going back to our roots. That is now costed completely out of the picture.

It does seem like a lot of negativity has been spewed lately, I will give you that, but it's all around. If you've followed us for years, you know that we have remained feverishly upbeat and positive and have been Hasbro's biggest cheerleaders for years. But the disasters that were 2012 and now 2013 have us aching in pain because of what the line has become. Many of our followers feel similarly. We are holding out hope that the Black Series saves us from certain doom. But the first two waves should be instilling some sort of apprehension, concern, fear and/or worry in you. We hope that the good stuff has a chance to make it out. (We have heard some amazing figures are ins store and we will pray they see the light of day and that the initial waves won't bottleneck distribution again.) While I believe Star Wars is forever and intended to be for everyone (kids AND adult collectors as well as non-collectors), a huge part of the collecting community is comprised of erratic man-children like myself who would buy up everything they've made if it were up to snuff. I am not seeing that anymore. I am however looking up and will remain positive about the Black Series (both scales). And I will continue to support Hasbro with it. But they need to do some more soul searching to get this line back in high gear. And to do that they need to "care" like they always say they really do, and fully engage the man-child collecting audience once again.

Hi, Paul!

Let me say I thoroughly enjoy viewing the news, postings and opinion pieces on Jedi Temple Archives.

Having 2 young boys and being a child of the 80s, I'd like to offer my perspective to the ongoing Hasbro conversation and perhaps start to flip the conversation around the negativity of Hasbro.

As years continue to go by, I want to bring back some childhood memories by buying (and opening) some of my favorite characters as a child -- and some of my new favorite characters as well. Hasbro happens to own the license for the most popular 3 3/4" figures series that capture my attention and imagination: Star Wars, Marvel and G.I. Joe -- with a healthy dose of Indiana Jones thrown in there from some years back. It could be that perhaps my classification is not of a "collector" but perhaps an "action figure enthusiast." And as a Dad, I'm an enabler, er, buyer of toys for my boys - currently 8 and 5.

Hasbro has been the target of my ire on many occasions because Star Wars is not the only line with its share of distribution problems. Where Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia come together, it isn't exactly toy heaven. Just about any new releases are really difficult to track down without spending more money online to pay scalpers for what should be widely available figures. And readers constantly are casting negative comments about selection of characters and their points of articulation. Again, those concerns are not unique to just Star Wars. But, as a father, there are 2 examples you need to hear from experience: Iceman and Han Solo. I bought 3 sets of Spider-man and His Amazing Friends when they came out. My son constantly kept pulling Iceman's legs off trying to pose him. We also picked up a Tatooine Escape Han Solo whose head is still missing because my son did not want the "rag" around his neck and wanted to take it off.

From Hasbro's perspective, it makes total sense that 5 points of articulation are more than enough for young kids. Cool characters with cool accessories that don't break easily and provide kids memories like we have of playing with the most awesome characters in any galaxy. If true collectors don't like that, well, it's a free country -- don't buy them.

But rather than complain openly on message boards or Facebook about the problem, here is an alternative: Let's band together and crowd source for Hasbro to take a bold new step into the future. Let's help convince Hasbro to embrace 3D printing.

Imagine if you will:
For conversation sake, let's say you could purchase a 3D printer for $500. With the printer comes raw plastic, paint, and plans to make a Stormtrooper/Clone Trooper, a Droid, a Darth Vader and a Chewbacca -- easy models to create and build for beginners. It looks like something out of Watto's Junkyard on the outside -- worn, but futuristic. Or it could look like the Clone chambers of Kamino -- clean and futuristic.

You choose the number of points of articulation in the web app and it "prints" the figure for you in pieces for you to put together. You paint it yourself. You assemble it yourself.

Online, you pay a monthly subscription to get access to premium models and parts to make your own custom figures -- even one of yourself! Imagine a subscription for G.I. Joe, one for Star Wars and one for Marvel Universe. No more scouring ebay for the Amazing Bag Man Spider-man figure. Build it yourself.
Hasbro could sell the raw materials, the paint and the card backs and blisters, but retain the blueprints for the figures all in the cloud -- and the printer would "watermark" the figures, just as they are today to protect the existing market from people who would want to re-create existing figures as knock offs.
Imagine being able to just "print" a new weapon for a loose figure you bought on ebay -- or even re-print that Han Solo head that went missing.

Later on, Hasbro could include sound chips, light-up modules or create larger printers to print playsets or vehicles.

We as a community should join together and pitch this idea -- or others like it -- to Hasbro. And should they go through with it, it would leap frog them ahead of Mattel and other toy manufacturers while preserving their current lines and distribution channels. Everybody wins: Parents still have the limited articulation toys from the store; Parents and adults who collect can build *any* figure they want; and kids can build an army of Stormtroopers or Cobra soldiers or AIM Agents.

Rather than streams of negative feedback flowing to Hasbro, let's show our support for them and the lines we love and push them with our desires for them to blow our minds with the possibilities of advanced technology. Let's flip the conversation from one overflowing with negative undertones to one with constructive possibilities to get what we want: an endless supply of really cool figures.

Thoughts?

Matt







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