1. I see the Walmarts around here have Deluxe Cyborg Epic Heroes Darth Maul (FOTD 3,171) priced at $12.88 now. Do you think this was the intended price all along, and they just now realized the error? Or do you think it was all part of a plan to trick early buyers into overpaying by $6.96, boosting the companies' profit margins on this figure by perhaps a few thousand dollars? I've noticed Target's exclusives usually don't spend much time at full price, either...
--James

I have reason to believe it was an error, probably on the part of whoever set the item up. I wouldn't be surprised if someone just dragged an Excel cell and duplicated the SRP of the Bo-Katan/Gideon 2-pack and nobody bothered to change it. (It could be on either Hasbro's or Walmart's end.) I think it was an honest mistake, and I've seen a few of these over the years. For example, there was a point where Hasbro was doing Titanium Series Transformers toys. For several weeks, Target had the "deluxe" guys at $4.99 and the "basic" guys at $14.99 - the "basics" were the same size and packaging as the 3-inch Star Wars ships. Somebody goofed! But it took a while to fix it. Similarly there's a Walmart exclusive Thundertron Transformers set that should be $59.99, but is pennies under $90 due to what I assume to be an error. Walmart's web site pricing is seemingly easy to screw up with third-party sellers causing Walmart to raise its own prices.

It happens, and it can be hard to get the message up the flagpole that somebody goofed unless the right person notices and hopefully the right person agrees that it was indeed a mistake. Many of the other exclusives being 10% higher than SRP of a similar item in recent years, though, does not appear to be the fault of the stores.

If they don't sell out within a couple of months, those prices are going to come down. This will keep happening with all "collectible" toys unless the manufacturer cuts the run just a hair under actual demand. The big question there is "which is the right way to do it?" Is it better to dump a few units at a discount to make sure you sell 100% of the possible demand and make sure all customers get what they want? Or is it better to cut the market a bit, keep stores happy, keep fans anxious, and maintain the perception that these are rare gems and not mass-produced toys? I don't know that answer.

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2. Imagine that you are a Hasbro exec who is overseeing the Star Wars line in 2004:
- the OTC is doing well
- the VOTC is off to a great start
- there is hope and optimism for the upcoming ROTS line

You go to sleep, and wake up in a cold sweat having had a vision of everything that the company is gong to experience over the next 20 years, BUT you have the power to change 3 things. What would you use your 3 changes on?
--Derek

Some things I would like to change:

1. When The Black Series came around for 6-inch figures, do not use the same name for the 3 3/4-inch figures. (Hasbro did this from 2013-2017, it's bad for SEO and eBay.)

2. Never stop making theme waves. Most "theme waves" were either "these are all from the same movie/TV show" or even "this is a repaint wave." I would also accept "this is a wave of reissues," or "this is a wave of only AAA characters." Today's grab bag approach started around 2011 and it makes it incredibly hard for me to remember which figures came out alongside which other figures, especially as waves shifted to more remakes and remakes of remakes. Which wave did Stormtrooper Belt Luke come in, and who did he ship with? I can't remember, and I don't care. If he came with a Leia and a Han and maybe a new droid from the Death Star, maybe I could keep it straight.

After all, what is The Original Trilogy Collection if not the ultimate theme and repaint wave?

3. Trim the production runs of the Disney movie toys (and most subsequent items) by about 20%, cut the exclusive minimum quantities, and if the market is shorted? Good. Too much is getting marked down and fans are skipping things even on clearance. Fans still shrug if a $25 figure they don't want hits $7 on clearance. If there's no demand, the line will be unhealthy - you have to short the market. You can rerun them later. You can put 60% of the production of a figure out in January and then put the remaining 40% in a wave in June so demand can build and people will buy the "scarce" figure later - but if you put 100% of a figure on the market all at once, and fans don't want it, they're never going to come around to it. That's something I never thought I would write, but I've passed on so many $7 Credit Edition figures that aren't in my personal collection that it would make your head spin. I just can't bring myself to pick it up and wait in line to buy it even though I don't have it - it's just so boring and I don't need to own it.

I would also love to experiment with 2000s-style pricing. Back then, they had a target price point and made the best figure they could for that price. Maybe a figure couldn't always have 20 joints, but some could, and some could beep, and some had magnets, and others could slice and dice. I feel prices will never stop going up - we'll get more detail too, but it's kind of a waste for all parties when Hasbro could just say "Look, our aim is to make the best possible $10 and $15 figures money can buy and if we can't afford swappable heads, we'll just sell you a second figure with the alternate head in a playset later."

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FIN

Where to start? There was news for Toys R Us, Hasbro layoffs, a possible new movie snag, and even new toy reveals. Oh, and I've got bills to pay.

I just had to pay a bill to secure the 16bit.com domain name for the next 20 years (oof) and Galactic Hunter's comes up next year. Since the advertising here is affiliate-based (I get a cut if you buy something, and only if you buy something, after clicking a specific link) I could use a buck or two. If you'd sign up for $1 a month on the Patreon, it would indeed help with hosting and domain stuff. And the new computer I had to buy since my 10 year old iMac wasn't cutting it. It's been an expensive year.

Variety reports the Rey movie's writer is out, which is kind of amazing if you think about it. The movie was most likely not coming out before 2027, and I supposed it still could given how rushed some of the Sequels were. But I would just as easily assume it will go on the pile of abandoned projects with the Rian Johnson trilogy, the GoT Guys movie, and all the others. But it would be a sensible idea to come back to when Ms. Ridley might be an older actress to play a middle-aged Jedi Master. Sure, maybe I'll be dead then, but I hope not.

A new Toys R Us opened in Chicago. A friend of mine went Saturday and gave me lots of details - at 10,000 square feet, it's about the size of a Five Below. (A Toys R Us usually started at 30,000 feet.) While there were Funko, Hasbro, Mattel, and other familiar toy lines, there were no bikes or video games - which are pretty big deals as kids go. Also, The Black Series figures were $32.99, a significant upcharge from the typical $24.99. Funko Pop!s were $14.99. A smaller store like this could be something that is easier to open across the country, and they also had some other store exclusives like Walmart-stickered Care Bears. As far as I could tell, there wasn't much that you haven't had a chance to buy online at a lower price... but hey, let's hope they keep at it and open some more stores.

Exclusive: Hasbro Continues Organizational Changes to Fuel Growth, Innovation - I am being told the crux of this is "get product to market faster" and I don't know how that works with 100 people, but I suppose we get to find out. We know Hasbro can do it, as the first Grogu "The Child" stuff got out pretty quickly. It wouldn't be bad to plan to be spontaneous - allocate a slot for "new guy or emergency repaint" in assortments, for example. If something is a huge hit? Rush it. If not? Have a Spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn figure. My heart goes out to those who will were let go, and hopefully they can find a way back in to the biz at Hasbro or elsewhere. From the sound of things, management and design may have been impacted the hardest but there's no comprehensive list of exits.

Between MCM in London and Hasbro's 1027 event, we got a few new toy reveals. For The Black Series, it's Luminara Unduli, Shaak Ti, and Sebulba - a pretty decent trio. For The Vintage Collection, it's Lt. Callahan and Aurra Sing. Many of these items will go up for pre-order at 10:00 AM Pacific Monday and more will go up Tuesday. And more later, like The Black Series Sebulba, Shaak Ti, and Luminara Unduli. They're joined by The Vintage Collection Aurra Sing (again) and Lt. Callahan (new.) It's a big week for toy launches.

--Adam Pawlus

Got questions? Email me with Q&A in the subject line now! I'll answer your questions as soon as time (or facts) permit.

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