I hate Phantom Menace even more than I used to.

[Werewolf]

The Walmart near me that has had the same Phantom Menace stuff for over a year has finally restocked. With guess what? That's right, more PM. To be fair they did have one each of the Return of the Jedi deleted scenes Mon Calamari Rebel Pilot and Colonel Cracken. Wheee!!! If they by some miracle had Sandstorm Leia and Lando they were already gone. So after I bought the Cracken and Calamari pilot I will now be looking at those leftover PM figures until they restock again another year from now. Which they will more than likely restock with yet more PM.

Toys R Us had a half price sale on SW figures. You know what they had? Yep, only PM. Went to a Walmart on the other side of town and guess what they had? If you said pegs full of dusty PM you are absolutely correct!!. I ended up buying a mystery bag of SW Angry Birds. Got Han Solo and Snow Trooper birds. You know, if they shoe horn the prequels into Angry birds SW I'm totally screwed. It's only classic trilogy based line on the shelves.

[Chris]

It's the same thing here in Philly. I was shocked to find one Dr. Evazon. All of my ca$h goes to the retro figures but I still enjoy looking.

[Red Hulk]

Same here in Lebanon just the figures with the 3D glasses and the Vintage Collection Phantom Menace. If you see any Original Trilogy figures best get em if you can, Even the Wal-Mart I go to in Palmyra had the same figures.

[Trappy Trek Freak]

For me right now new Toys suck,it's stories like this for me every time I go to Walmart and I always cruise the toy isle and when I get to the other side I'm disappointed. Right now I just look for pieces or parts that can be customized into Mego like the Randy Orton head. Maybe you should start hiding all the PM figures all over the store and maybe they will have to order more lol one time I hid a set of DCUC figures and they were there in my hiding spot for almost a year. It's like ultimate layaway lol.

[Figuremod73]

Its gotten to where if you wanted to collect the original trilogy figures you couldnt even do it.

Wheres the farmboy Lukes, Han Solos, and vaders? Those figures would still sell.

[palitoy]

I don't even check toy aisles here anymore.

When Lenzi was in town, I took him to a toys r us to show him our sadness. The store we visited had a sad side panel with four SW figures.

[Gorn Captain]

After the Phantom Menace disaster, regular toy stores here have had little or no figures at all.
You buy at conventions or specialist shops, or you don't get anything...

[Werewolf]

I've been listening to toy fair podcasts at some of the SW sites and things have really gotten bad. The brand managers from Hasbro were spoken to and Phantom Menace 3D did so badly and was so unpopular it actually damaged Star Wars as a brand. After years of glutting the shelves with prequel toys PM3D was the final nail in the coffin that has just about killed the SW brand. It's just been reported the entire Target chain has cancelled SW and won't be carrying it anymore.

At least when the Vintage Collection started you were guaranteed a constant trickle of classic trilogy against the unrelenting tidal wave of prequel toys and figures. But then they had to shoe horn the prequels into the vintage line even though there are NO Kenner vintage counterparts of prequel figures. The prequels ended up shoving the classic trilogy out of their own line and quickly killing the line itself.

As it turns out a lot of this was out of Hasbro's hands and the heavy focus on the prequels was a mandate from Lucas himself. But he is not calling the shots anymore and they are still making the same mistakes. The 3 3/4 inch Black line is prequel heavy left overs they've been showing us for ages. The six inch Black line has some questionable choices for a first series including yet another Darth Maul. While he is one the more popular (or less hated) prequel characters I don't think he is as popular as we are made to believe. Target had trouble getting rid of thier exclusive Darth Maul Returns pack even on heavy discount. The line I was looking forward to the most, the Kenner style 5 point of articulation Saga line, is prequel only. Filled with the exact same characters which are clogging the pegs already.

Hasbro did say the SW Angry Birds sold better than they expected and is actually selling very well. Here's a thought, SW Angry Birds is classic trilogy only. People are so desperate for classic trilogy toys they will collect them as little cartoon birds.

[palitoy]

My son is Star Wars crazy, I think the other thing hurting Hasbro is that Lego is doing a really good job.

My son, his friends, all have tons of Lego classic and clone wars stuff. If I gave him $100 at TRU, he wouldn't make it to the action figure aisle at all.

As for the black series, I hated that Darth Maul was in the initial wave. They could have done some really creative things but nope, more PM.

[jwyblejr]

You would have thought someone would have learn that back when it originally came out Phantom Menace toys didn't do so well. Nope. The 3D version comes out and they pretty much went back to square one.

[Werewolf]

They could have done some really creative things but nope, more PM.

Exactly! Their entire SW toy fair showing was uninspired and down right depressing. Even as bad as things are they still seem unable or unwilling to get out of this hole they've dug themselves into with the prequels.

The new low cost Saga line in particular could have been the rebirth of the SW brand had they just gone with the classic trilogy. Not more of the obscure blink and you miss them Jabba Palace and Cantina aliens either. They could have started from scratch and done modern updates of all of the beloved Kenner figures. Kenner released over 100 figures in the original line. More if you include variants like Blue Snaggletooth and the Droids and Ewoks cartoon. That's years worth of figures that would have lasted them right up to the new movies.

I think even SW collectors burned out by the prequels would have been hard pressed to pass up remakes of the classic Kenner figures at a $5.99 price point. But instead, we are getting MORE prequel figures. The very same characters that have been glutting the pegs for the last several years.

[palitoy]

I was more or less referring to the black 6" figures. They had my curiosity but wave one already has a prequel character in it so it's already discouraging.

It's meant to appeal to adult collectors, does the over 30 crowd give a toss about Maul?

[Red Hulk]

I totally agree even when Hasbro was still doing the StarWars Legacy figures when they had any characters from the original trilogy they were gone in no time, then it was the clone wars animated stuff that hung around.

[Werewolf]

I was more or less referring to the black 6" figures. They had my curiosity but wave one already has a prequel character in it so it's already discouraging.

It's meant to appeal to adult collectors, does the over 30 crowd give a toss about Maul?

I totally agree. They could have gone a popular but conservate route and had farmboy Luke, Leia, R2 and Chewie in the first wave or had some fun with it and thrown in someone cool and unexpected like Greedo. Starting the line with Han and Greedo would have actually been pretty darn cool. But instead we get yet another Maul. He is going be the peg warmer of the wave, for sure.

I honestly can't see this lasting more than a couple of assortments if they have to shoe horn in prequel figures every time. $20 young Obi, Qui Gon and Anakin are going to move even slower than the $10 ones glutting the pegs right now.

[Gorn Captain]

If they just put in one prequel figure per wave of the Black Series, I don't mind. I no longer "collect them all" anyway.
And I still like Darth Maul. I hope we'll see a Bionic Maul in episodes 7-9!

But true, PM damaged the franchise hard. It killed it here in Europe, as far as toys are concerned...