1. Between pre-order mania, Covid, and brick and mortar not exactly being a reliable place to find toys, it seems collecting has moved almost exclusively online. Since there really is no such thing as free shipping, how much of the recent price increases do you attribute to the way in which we source what we collect?
--Matt

Most of the price increases seem to be coming from other sources, some of which would very much surprise you, but not all of which I'm at liberty to discuss. The overall quality of products has improved with more complex paint and more articulation on most new figures, although some of the reissues at $17 or $25 do seem a little preposterous. I'm frankly unsure if $12 is a good price for a Kenner-style figure - it's cheaper than Super7 ReAction Figures, but Hasbro has made bigger figures with more gear and more articulation at lower prices for Marvel.

I don't think I'm telling tales out of school by saying Hasbro, and Funko, and Mattel, and other companies have all raised wholesale prices - in some cases more than once - on their collector products in the past few years. This is something of a departure from tradition, where sometimes we'd see a price increase, and sometimes we'd see a dramatic change to the nature of the product. Looking back at it all, it doesn't always make sense. Back in 2007, Hasbro sold $6.99 single figures, and $9.99 comic book 2-packs. In 2013 we saw new, simpler sculpts for $5.99, and 2-packs for $9.99. It absolutely is possible to make a good, cheap 3 3/4-inch figure - and you're going to see proof of that real soon - but it's up to the manufacturer to take that form of direction.

For years, the Hasbro Transformers line was rigidly set in trying to maintain most of its price points. They couldn't keep the "basic" (later "scout") toy at $4.99 or $5.99 forever, but the Deluxe price point was kept at $9.99 for a surprisingly long time before they made a decision to make it a more complex and robust collector product. Today Hasbro does still make a $9.99 kid product for value/food/drug channels, and it's a surprisingly big robot for the price - but they decided kid and collector toys should be more robust, $20 or $25 figures in most cases. Because these things kept selling, that's the way they want to do it - there's usually no reason to drop prices if people line up to buy stuff at a higher price.

Now, I don't know how long it's going to last. It could be me getting older, but I've generally always felt a $5 or $6 figure was something you could buy without giving it much of a second thought, but once you hit $15 or $20 - or $25 - you need to see an increased value proposition. Right now we're not getting much of that, which may result in a change of collector appetite over the coming year if the Marvel Legends and Pop! Vinyl figures don't scratch the right itch. Or, in the case of 3 3/4-inch figures, Hasbro could (and has) just shut down a line rather than reconsidering how to make it work better given the current economic conditions. If there's no market for a $6 single figure because the shareholders won't go for it, would a $25 4-pack work because you've increased the price of the purchase while bringing down the cost of packaging significantly? (I don't know, I'm just throwing out numbers.)

Prices continue to trickle up at some retailers and as far as I know are not planned to roll out everywhere - but that could change before this even gets published. Some price increases are a surprise, and with new executives and new demands on profits with what seems to be a decrease in variety, that could be problematic as tastes and desires change. Some items simply can't be pre-ordered, and from where I sit I'd just as soon not bother with items at all if there are segments putting up barriers between me being able to make a purchase. While I hate paying for shipping, I absolutely understand the need for it - after all, you're paying for people to have a job, to buy you a box, to put your purchase in it, and to deliver it to your door without your having to spend an hour (or more) to go get it.

One last complaint - Hasbro's Plastic-Free Packaging was not designed with shipping in mind.  Those boxes are frequently 2x-3x too big (or bigger) for the product, and that means Hasbro spends more on packaging materials.  Also Hasbro (or stores) spend more on freight to get it to the USA. Also those stores spend more on shipping and shipping materials to get it to you, because it weighs more, is  bigger, and needs a bigger box.  Demand more efficient packaging... other than retro-style 6-inch x 9-inch cardbacks.  Those are not permitted to be changed, so says me.

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2. Adam, do you ever think that Hasbro makes its Star Wars figure choices like in those Pitch Meetings on YouTube?

Exec: So, I hear you have a figure lineup for me.

Staffer: Yes, sir, I do. It's high time we put Endor Han back into the market.

Exec: You mean the one that has been released in votc, twice in TVC, and once in the black series?

Staffer: That's the one sir.

Exec: Won't that be a bit of hard sell to our increasingly jaded customers?

Staffer: Actually, it'll be super easy, barely an inconvenience. We will change the shirt color (holds up sample). See?

Exec: My votc version has yellowed, and it looks strikingly similar, so won't customers not want to buy it? Also, we can't be bothered to add the trench coat that all the other versions have had?

Staffer: I'm going to need you to get all the way off my back if I'm going to get my job done.

Exec: Got it. Oh, and will we be ever putting out the TFA Han that remains his only version never to get a TVC version?

Staffer: ...
--Derek

We had a good run. Most licensed properties (with the exception of Marvel, WWE, and seemingly Jurassic Park) tend to get shallower as time goes on. Lines with a lot of kids and young adult collectors are always going to be the most interesting. Star Wars is getting older, and it's important to remember that 1977's 4-year-old is now 51. If you didn't get a specific figure in the big media splash during the movie's launch window, with Star Wars, I doubt it's going to happen for you any time soon. Kids still love wrestling, and dinosaurs, and those kid lines are some of the most gee-whiz things running if you like that kind of stuff - if Hasbro can ever do a 3 3/4-inch kid line again, that will improve the chances of getting just about anything new or different.

A lot of product decisions are made by the licensors these days, or so whispers are telling me. Lucasfilm or Disney Consumer Products have - allegedly - a plan, and usually that plan comes from "we know Han Solo is popular so we're going to sell you a Han Solo." It's an anniversary year, the language seems to be around "fan" more than "collector," and by trying to make these lines accessible to the blandest tastes, you can see it gets a little watered down.

You're going to get Han, Luke, Leia, and Lando, even if you don't want them when a company is building a program around a classic movie. I wish the product was more interesting, but I also would love to see something like any evidence that Jabba the Hutt or his goons would have new products released, or that the Ewoks could get a little more love. But it could also be that the golden age is gone, because companies want to keep re-selling the same figures, collectors get bored and grow out of it, and then someone says "see, I told you this stuff doesn't sell anymore" and there's no 3 3/4-inch line eventually. It's no one thing - but a lot of things certainly mix together to bring us all an increasingly bland line that's more about "celebrating" things than it is actually making a living, breathing, weird, fun showcase of toys. I don't need to "celebrate" my favorite movie, I just want to buy some weird background monster that hasn't been made 2-3 times already.

Also, jaded or not, it appears people are mostly still buying. I hear of people grousing about stuff and then buying a $300 FX Lightsaber - Hasbro is still getting your money, even if you're not getting the figures you want. If you see that new Han Solo and don't want it, spend your money on something you do want. This goofy $25 Marvel Legends Retro Ghost Rider toy I got from Hasbro (in a Kenner box, of course) is a ton of fun and has proven to be a much better purchase than any of my The Black Series figures because it's actually fun to spin the wheels and see what figures can fit on it. It's possible a lot of us are picking up things we shouldn't out of habit, and out of the false notion that we can collect all of a product line that shows little sign of actually ending. There's always new Mickey Mouse stuff, and under Disney, I'm sure all of Star Wars will continue to be celebrated with new product every year because there's a crop of people who want to buy it. The glorious weird era of awesome and strange figures is not only over, it's probably been over for the better part of a decade. I'm this close to saying I never want to see another trooper figure again, just because it means seven years of repaints.

For what it's worth, I've been going through some of my older stuff - and I have a lot of stuff - and enjoying it a little more. Picking up those unusual droids and aliens from The Force Awakens actually makes me happy, those Resistance cartoon figures were actually quite cool, and because Hasbro would rather sell you $25-$33 figures you're just going to be offered more and more 6-inch stuff. I thought those Holiday figures moved from "cool toy" to "painful kitsch," even the clever ones, but you know what? What I think doesn't matter. They sold. Just like that Han Solo figure is probably going to sell really well, it seems incredibly unlikely fans in the splintered era of Star Wars fiction will ever be able to get behind a single figure and convince Hasbro to make it. I could say "I'd like the Jabba's Palace Ishi Tib" and I bet dozens of fans would be demanding Karen Traviss Mandos or KOTOR figures or yet another new version of Darth Maul, because that's who we are now - dozens of splintered little groups shouting down one another because their thing isn't on deck.

I'm not saying "quit" but definitely "vote with your dollars." And make a big fuss at Celebration and Comic-Con if there's something you do want. I've been campaigning for Vlix for over 25 years and it hasn't really gone anywhere... so gather your posse and see what you can accomplish. Because right now, you're going to get another Han Solo, and Star Wars turns 50 in a few years and I'm willing to bet you can expect a "celebration" as bland as what we got for the 40th..

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FIN

A lot of hay has been made about the biggest toy story of the week, Over $30M worth of Funkos are being dumped [NPR], which is both really funny and really sad. A common question asked is "did so and so make too much?" and the answer is, sadly, yes - collectible toys need to be made under the market demand. You can reassess and rerun, but once you make too much it's clearance time. The older of you out there may know this has happened before, the Atari video game burial was an urban legend proven true, and it marked the end of the business, but there's still significant - significant - interest in new pre-orders of Funko figures. The question is if the shareholders will right-size their inventory and keep production runs tight, so it doesn't happen again, but it can take a long time to course-correct a figure run at a big company. I know there's a lot of animosity toward the format, but they frequently may be the only figural licensee for a bunch of things. As we've seen with Hasbro, knowing the size of your market absolutely matters and in a post-Kay-Bee/Toy Liquidators/Toys R Us world, it's a lot harder to find a business big enough to absorb massive quantities of of stale product, even for cheap. (We also don't know if the $30 million is SRP, wholesale, or the landed factory cost or what. Or I don't anyway.)

The Mandalorian is back this week, with surprisingly little fanfare. The trailers for the show used a lot of the scenes from the first episode to make it look exciting and dynamic, and what we got was recapsposition. It wasn't dull, but it was a lot of putting-the-pieces-back-on-the-board which wasn't terribly fun. For season two, we got a Gamorrean gladiator fight opening tease that turned into two desert civilizations teaming up to kill a giant monster. Season one kicked off with a bar fight, Werner Herzog, Brian Posehn, and a marvelous shoot-out with a weird droid buddy. It's tough to deliver exposition and reset a series for a new season, but they certainly made it look easy before. Hopefully next week will have a bigger adventure - serializing an emotional journey is great, but it helps to have some more-or-less self-contained adventures along the way to get there.

For toy fans, this week's big reveal was a pair of Carbonized Obi-Wan Kenobi figures - a 2-pack of a Purge Trooper and NED-B for $74.99. What's funny is if I made up that as a fake April Fool's Day announcement, I'd get booed for it being too awful and not at all funny, yet here it is. I know people put considerable skill and hundreds of hours into making some amazing action figures for us, but when hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of "new product" are last year's molds with allegedly metallic paint - I honestly can't tell by looking at the pictures - it is worth reminding you to vote with your dollars. It's not just that it's a blah idea, it's terrible synergy - they couldn't even announce a The Mandalorian product this week?  I know smarter people than I have no doubt written more about this, be it more eloquently or passionately, but the way I see it I just saved $75 and will likely never buy another Credit/Carbonized/Probably Holiday figure for my own collection ever again. The "I skipped this for now" gap is growing and I see no reason to go back and buy these on clearance or at a garage sale should someone be dumping a collection in the future. This isn't to say they're without value. I think if the only thing I collected was Carbonized figures, it would be a pretty nice set right up until they got to this one, due to the closed box. I think you can make a convincing case for "shiny paint" when it comes to window box packaging, but not closed box.

From where I sit, I have no problems with straight-up reissuing older figures if the demand still exists. If the figure is above retail price on the secondary market, sure, crank out some more. Standard issue NED-B already dropped in price to below $23 - that's a big drop for a deluxe figure. What keeps me interested in the hobby right now is the new old-style Kenner stuff, mostly because The Vintage Collection and The Black Series seem to be taking turns remaking the same guys in new sizes and different paint jobs. No shame if you like that - if you're happy, I'm happy for you. But it would be nice to see new characters and ships again, instead of plodding along in a line that seems to forget vehicles exist and rarely goes beyond the main characters anymore. And that's why I need to go get the rest of the Planet of the Apes ReAction figures that I missed, those things are great.

And yes, I still buy the occasional Funko figure, but it's not like I have hundreds of the things. Or dozens. (OK maybe dozens.) The last one I got was Frank Zappa because, I suspect, literally nobody else will make a Frank Zappa figure and I'm glad Funko had the guts to give it a try.

--Adam Pawlus

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