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Star Wars Collectible News, Photos, and Reviews

Views from the Toy Box: Exclusives Exclude

Posted by Matthew_Frey | May 13, 2012 at 11:06 AM ET

Have you ever driven clear across the Country to get that one exclusive figure being sold at a convention? Ever been out three times the amount of money you would have spent on said figure because you had to go to secondary markets just to get that complete set? I’m sure most of us have.

As a collector of various things, the majority of which are Star Wars related, I can’t tell you how much it drives me nuts when I read about an exclusive item being released at events such as San Diego Comic Con, Wizard World, or any other event/venue that is simply not plausible for me to trek out to for the sole purpose of purchasing one item.

Travel, lodging, ticket to said event, food, and then the overall item add up to hundreds of dollars for something that while it would bring that collector’s rush of joy and excitement (until the next thing is announced) isn’t what I would call money well spent. To a lot of collector’s it’s just not an option either. It’s hard enough budgeting for toys as is it is – Let alone to now be trying to find ways to plan expensive trips on top of it all just to get more toys.

For me, collecting is all in or nothing. My OCD tendencies simply won’t permit me to enjoy a partially complete set. I have to have it all, or I want nothing to do with it. Now the majority of the people reading this will think of my view on this as idiotic, arrogant, or even plain absurd. It’s also part of the reason, and a little insight to who I am, on why people consider me to have no “grey area” in my way of thinking. However, those of you out there like me know exactly what I’m talking about – For the true OCD person there is only black and white with no spectrum in between. It’s also why people who are not OCD tend to think that those of us who are have negative attitudes. But I digress. I’ve gotten off topic.

To me there is nothing that turns off my interest in something quicker then that feeling of being excluded by way of exclusives. Sure I could go on sites such as eBay or Amazon and pay some poacher an outrageous amount of money for an item they bought for the sole purpose of marking it up, but quite frankly I don’t want to. Nor should I have to.

It’s not bad enough that Hasbro can’t get their distribution issues under control, but now they’re going to give me a proverbial middle finger by telling me if I don’t travel from the East Coast to the West Coast, stretching my already tight budget even further, or go the rout e of secondary markets that I can’t have a complete collection? What an awful injustice that is to your fan base.

Products should be made available to every customer - Period. I can think of no reason good enough to justify why something “needs” to be an exclusive – Especially considering the ridiculously low amount of production count of pieces produced for said exclusives. Now I’ve got an item I can’t obtain because I can’t make it across the Country, and even if I did I have to fight a sold out convention crowd for it because there were only 500 produced? Really? This is a reasonable marketing strategy? This is how you thank your loyal fans?

A perfect example – How many of you missed out on getting Salacious Crumb and the Mouse Droid because you couldn’t get the 2011 San Diego Comic Con exclusive Revenge of the Jedi Death Star set? I’d wager a lot of you. I’d wager even more that there are some of you out there who had this happen to them and said, “Enough, I’m done!” It’s okay. Hasbro said they’d make it up to you by distributing very low quantities of every figure from the set (except those two) in the Vintage Collection line on Revenge of the Jedi cards across retail stores - Again, a nice middle finger to collectors.

Companies like Hasbro sure have an odd marketing strategy. “Let’s appease a low quantity of fans while at the same time ticking off the majority of them.” That’s great business sense there. But seriously, do you know what this really is? This is a way for companies to pad their pockets by charging you double the price for something that is guaranteed to sell out due to the low supply versus demand. It’s a scam! Hasbro knows that their low supply is never going to meet the great amount of demand, so it’s a win/win situation for them. They are guaranteed to sell out of said item, making 100% production profit.

I have a term for this - “Forced Rarity”. As much as I’d like to, I won’t go into too much detail here and now on that matter because honestly it’s the topic of a future article I’m working on. Suffice to say that companies are literally producing “rare” toys intentionally. But, I’m sure most of you know this already, and like I said, that’s a rant for another time.

In the mean time, what do you think about all of these exclusively marketed items? Are you all for it? Does it kill your desire to collect certain things? Can you easily do without them? Am I in a circle all on my own? Is this just another one of my myopic opinions? Or do you stand with me? The comment section is your voice.

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