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My letter to Hasbro...a toy rant.

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  • enyawd72
    Maker of Monsters!
    • Oct 1, 2009
    • 7904

    My letter to Hasbro...a toy rant.

    Well, the unthinkable has happened...I've officially given up on Marvel Legends. A toyline I've collected since 2002. Here's my letter to Hasbro explaining why...





    Dear Hasbro,


    I wanted to take a few moments to write your company and thank you. Due to your business practices, you will be saving me a great deal of money, as I will no longer be collecting Marvel Legends. This is something I never thought would happen. I’ve collected them since Toy Biz began producing them in 2002. My reason for stopping is the ridiculous, never-ending amount of exclusives you produce for the line. They do not make collecting the Marvel Legends line “fun” or “exciting” or “challenging” or anything of the sort. What they do accomplish is making the line an inconvenient, expensive pain-in-the-*** to collect. This hobby is supposed to be fun, and your tactics have completely sucked the joy out of it.

    As of this writing, you currently have a Toys R Us exclusive box set, an entire Toys R Us exclusive wave, a Target exclusive box set, a San Diego Comic con exclusive box set, and a Walgreens exclusive figure. I am sick and tired of wasting my time and very expensive gasoline making endless trips to various stores chasing these figures down, only to come up empty handed. I am then forced to resort to EBay where I end up paying two to three times the retail price plus shipping. Paying $70 for an already overpriced $20 figure is ridiculous, and I’m not doing it anymore. The only people who benefit from all of these exclusives are scalpers who are laughing all the way to the bank, while true collectors are screwed.

    Compounding the issue also are your ridiculously devised case ratios. Who within your company thought it was a good idea to offer an exclusive Toys R Us build-a-figure wave, and then short pack the figures that come with the torso and left arm of said build-a-figure? That doesn’t even make sense from a manufacturing standpoint. You molded, painted, and packaged twice as many right arms and heads as there are left arms and torsos to go with them. I’m no expert, but surely you see the lapse in logic here? You wasted money producing parts that cannot be used, the cost of which is then passed onto the consumer. I hope someone in your company will take note of these issues, and make an effort to change them. I know I’m not the only collector who feels this way, nor the only one who has stopped collecting because of it.


    Sincerely,

    Dwayne Pinkney
    Last edited by enyawd72; Sep 6, '14, 5:13 AM.
  • thunderbolt
    Hi Ernie!!!
    • Feb 15, 2004
    • 34211

    #2
    Heck, howabout how they totally missed the boat on GI Joe's 50th this year? Incredible.
    You must try to generate happiness within yourself. If you aren't happy in one place, chances are you won't be happy anyplace. -Ernie Banks

    Comment

    • enyawd72
      Maker of Monsters!
      • Oct 1, 2009
      • 7904

      #3
      ^The last straw for me was yesterday, when the previously announced, than canceled, now somehow released Rogue showed up on Ebay and is currently at $1400.

      Comment

      • Gorn Captain
        Invincible Ironing Man
        • Feb 28, 2008
        • 10549

        #4
        Reminds me of the 1701 Edition of the Playmates Star Trek figure line.
        That made sure that 99,9% of people collecting that line would never have a complete set.

        You know what, the only thing that accomplished (in my case) is that I now just collect very selectively and pick favorites, not complete sets. It's the company that loses my business. I now buy one figure instead of five.

        Personally, I hate exclusives. These days, I don't even look at them anymore. With all the extra costs (add international shipping and customs as well), they are out of my price range completely.
        I don't care about "rare" figures, "limited editions", I just want easy access to a factory-produced plastic toy. If they want to cater to an elite group, so be it. Maybe one day they'll find out that's a dangerous business strategy....
        .
        .
        .
        "When things are at their darkest, it's a brave man that can kick back and party."

        Comment

        • PNGwynne
          Master of Fowl Play
          • Jun 5, 2008
          • 19848

          #5
          Rant away--they don't care. Utter contempt for their consumer base.

          Fisher-Price, even FTC, is better-attuned to their customers.

          And yes, T-bolt--The lack of even one commemorative, holiday-release 12-inch 50th Anniversary GI Joe is sad, sad, sad. Hasbro shoved that off onto the GIJ Collector's Club at a steep price.
          WANTED: Dick Grayson SI trousers; gray AJ Mustang horse; vintage RC Batman (Bruce Wayne) head; minty Wolfman tights; mint Black Knight sword; minty Launcelot boots; Lion Rock (pale) Dracula & Mummy heads; Lion Rock Franky squared boots; Wayne Foundation blue furniture; Flash Gordon/Ming (10") unbroken holsters; CHiPs gloved arms; POTA T2 tan body; CTVT/vintage Friar Tuck robes, BBP TZ Burgess Meredith glasses.

          Comment

          • torgospizza
            Theocrat of Pan Tang
            • Aug 19, 2010
            • 2747

            #6
            Originally posted by thunderbolt
            Heck, howabout how they totally missed the boat on GI Joe's 50th this year? Incredible.
            No kidding. They did everything right for the 40th, but nothing at all I'm interested in now. Meijer grocery stores did more for Joe in 2004 than Hasbro's doing for the 50th.
            Last edited by torgospizza; Sep 6, '14, 9:39 AM.

            Comment

            • SeattleEd
              SynthoRes Transmigrator
              • Oct 24, 2007
              • 4351

              #7
              More power to you. Well done!

              Comment

              • Toy Timelord
                Banned
                • Aug 4, 2014
                • 680

                #8
                Character selection is ridiculous. I've waited years for certain characters they're in no hurry to produce. Characters who star in super popular books.

                Where's my Quentin Quire, Or Sam Alexander?

                Comment

                • megonaught
                  Career Member
                  • Jan 29, 2008
                  • 748

                  #9
                  Dont forget star wars.
                  Hasblow has that screwed up as well.
                  I only get the saga legends and mission series but cant even find the new ones there.
                  Not good business practice.
                  Action Jackson is his name.
                  Bold adventure is his game.

                  Comment

                  • Werewolf
                    Inhuman
                    • Jul 14, 2003
                    • 14919

                    #10
                    I totally get the frustration with Star Wars. Star Wars collecting has been rough for many years now. But it is slowly improving and will continue to get better under Disney. Also, in fairness to Hasbro, a great many of the issues the SW line has had the last several years were do to with mandates from Lucasfilm. The unrelenting focus on prequels came crashing down on SW at retail with the absolutely disastrous glut of Phantom Menace 3D merchandise. History repeated itself and Phantom Menace nearly killed SW at the mass market retail level for a second time. There should be a ban on Ric Olie figures.

                    But I see things slowly recovering from the years of prequel onslaught and fatigue. Stores like Walmart, Target and Toys R Us are restocking and enlarging SW sections. As frustrating as store exclusives are Walgreens makes sense to have an exclusive figure. It's the 5th most popular store chain in the US and will help drive awareness of the line. With the launch of Rebels this falls things should be a lot better.
                    You are a bold and courageous person, afraid of nothing. High on a hill top near your home, there stands a dilapidated old mansion. Some say the place is haunted, but you don't believe in such myths. One dark and stormy night, a light appears in the topmost window in the tower of the old house. You decide to investigate... and you never return...

                    Comment

                    • enyawd72
                      Maker of Monsters!
                      • Oct 1, 2009
                      • 7904

                      #11
                      ^Very true...and that's another thing I can't figure out. Why can't these companies ask what fans want versus what they THINK fans want?
                      Marvel Legends continues to put out endless variants of Wolverines, Iron Man's etc. and whey they do get to other characters, instead of going with their classic look, they put them in modern costumes they wore for one issue.

                      I still can't believe classic villains like Puppet Master, Baron Blood, Batroc, Super Adaptoid, Jackal, Sauron, etc. have never been made as Marvel Legends. Chameleon...for crying out loud, he was the very FIRST Spidey villain!
                      That's okay though...there's like fifty different friggin Venom figures out there.

                      Comment

                      • Bronxboykev
                        Permanent Member
                        • Mar 7, 2011
                        • 3013

                        #12
                        You speak the truth!!! I'v done more for GI Joes 50th than Hasbro and that's a damn shame

                        MEGO Joe Group.jpg

                        And its not just Hasbro even the a fore mentioned Fischer Price and FTC have their major marketing and production flaws, and try to get a video game character figure from Skylanders and now Infinity is ready to release Marvel heroes i cant wait for the disaster that that's about to become. It really does suck the fun out of collecting.

                        Comment

                        • EmergencyIan
                          Museum Paramedic
                          • Aug 31, 2005
                          • 5470

                          #13
                          This guy did a pretty good 50th Anniversary tribute:

                          Blogger is a blog publishing tool from Google for easily sharing your thoughts with the world. Blogger makes it simple to post text, photos and video onto your personal or team blog.




                          - Ian
                          Rampart, this is Squad 51. How do you read?

                          Comment

                          • Gorn Captain
                            Invincible Ironing Man
                            • Feb 28, 2008
                            • 10549

                            #14
                            Those look great!
                            The perfect mix between the two scales.
                            .
                            .
                            .
                            "When things are at their darkest, it's a brave man that can kick back and party."

                            Comment

                            • Toy Timelord
                              Banned
                              • Aug 4, 2014
                              • 680

                              #15
                              Originally posted by enyawd72
                              ^Very true...and that's another thing I can't figure out. Why can't these companies ask what fans want versus what they THINK fans want?
                              Marvel Legends continues to put out endless variants of Wolverines, Iron Man's etc. and whey they do get to other characters, instead of going with their classic look, they put them in modern costumes they wore for one issue.

                              I still can't believe classic villains like Puppet Master, Baron Blood, Batroc, Super Adaptoid, Jackal, Sauron, etc. have never been made as Marvel Legends. Chameleon...for crying out loud, he was the very FIRST Spidey villain!
                              That's okay though...there's like fifty different friggin Venom figures out there.
                              I'm sick of classic figures in Marvel Legends to be honest. Especially at the expense of characters who are popular NOW.

                              Comment

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