Q and A of the Day: Day 8
Date: September 15, 2013 at 09:46 PM ET
Topic: Q&A of the Day


Welcome to our next Q and A of the Day post! This column will be published daily, weekly, monthly, or just based on how many questions I get emailed – but no more than one a day. Feel free to send in your questions and I will put them in the queue. Click through for Q and A of the Day: Day 8.



Q. Hi Paul. Here is another concern about The Black Series that i think is in the making. As a follow up to my Walmart [email]. I finally was able to go to the stores and got another 2 sandtroopers. One store ordered 1 box and the other 2 boxes. So i have 4 sandtroopers now. The problem is that the 6” black series line will always make it hard for collectors to get a specific figure because of the way the line is distributed. Let me explain.

The problems stems from the fact that Hasbro seems to be shipping the figures in boxes of 4 figures or a full wave. It is a great thing for everyone looking for the figures but for those who specialize in a specific figure like the sandtrooper it ends up not being such a great thing. It seems that the stores can’t pass in an order of let’s say just a batch of sandtroopers. This is not a problem with the small line since there are a good amount of copies of a particular toy in a box, well usually and the stores order more than one box of the smaller figures.

The store seem to be timid about ordering the 6” figures and will only order one box at a time. What is worse is that i can see a store not ordering anymore until the other pegwarmers are gone. So if you are in a region where some figures pegwarms like an r2-d2. You may be stuck and out of restock until it is gone. I think this is what is going to happen at my local stores since they ordered only a box which indicates that they are playing it safe and not over -ordering them.

Wave 2 will suffer the same fate. People will pick up the Bobas first and the rest will follow but if one of the figure in the wave pegwarms then you won’t get any more boxes to get as many as a specific figure as you want.

I think the stores are stuck in this purchasing pattern and this may ruin the line at the brick and mortar stores and leave a lot of people to only have the choice of ordering online at scalping prices and have to pay shipping if you are outside the USA ( amazon scheme )which does not make for a good deal in the end. I don’t feel like paying over 35$ when all said and paid for, for a figure that i can get at a local Walmart for 25$

Again this shows you how Hasbro as poorly planned things with this. In the end this strategy goes against them since the big retailers won’t be ordering as much as they should because of the pegwarmers. Hasbro should allow for custom orders or find a better way to manage the hot and pegwarmer figures situation. The only way to have plenty of figures of an army builder would be to do carry overs for future waves but i don’t think this will happen. I have not seen or read any news that indicates that the 6 inch line would have carry overs. (Bruno)

A: Forecasting and getting case assortment numbers right is not an exact science and something Hasbro will struggle with as long as they have the Star Wars license. I agree with you that there are just some characters that should be shipping two per case, or at the very least get carried forward for the next few assortments. Teh Sandtrooper, the upcomig Stormtrooper and Boba Fett are undoubtedly three obvious examples. Let's give Hasbro some time to get things properly calibrated. Even if one figure seems to disappear from the market before the others, let's hold out hope that Hasbro will adjust future assortments to accomodate the popular characters. I remember clear as day, as if it were yesterday when 2006's TSC Scorch (Rebel Commando) (SAGA 021) was IMPOSSIBLE to locate. And it took Hasbro until late Fall of that year to get out decent numbers of this figure out to meet demand. I know times have changed and Hasbro doesn't make things in the same quantity that they used to, but I believe they are invested in The Black Series 6" line and that they will be proactive in making sure it's healthy at retail and has longevity as well. They aren't making these figures to create an epic failure. They seem to be selling briskly and I hope that trend continues.

What does concern me however at the moment is that The Black Series 6" Boba Fett is COMPLETELY SOLD OUT at Amazon.com as of this posting, with all three other case mates still available to pre-order. This tells me that Boba Fett MUST get carried forward to wave 3 (and probably even wave 4 and wave 5 if they're smart). Sure, Amazon.vom (and other retailers) an order more cases to get this available again, but I wonder how many less of the other three were ordered by comparison. It may behoove Hasbro to reach out to a huge e-tailer like Amazon now about how many of the other three from wave 2 are left. They might be able to how to accurately figure out how may more times to release Boba Fett again. It's unfortunately a waiting game and we won't know how things are runnign until a few waves into this game.







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