1. To follow up with a response you had to a question in a recent Q&A; one of my favorite Youtube Channels to watch (World Class BS) loves to go to Ollies & other discount stores and show the sheer amount of Star Wars products on the shelf. The amount of Retro & Black Series, along with Vintage Deluxe figures, at times, is just astonishing. Many of these products I never saw at retail and some of the Black Series are full cases there. Is this an example of Hasbro "over-delivering" on product they thought would be a hit or is this the "pandemic-era" flushout and things finally catching up with them?
--Jeremiah

Some of what you're seeing at Ollie's are 2022 products. Hasbro and Mattel didn't really slam on the brakes yet, so Retro Kenobi and The Black Series Migs Mayfeld are from before Hasbro started pulling back. Having said that, a lot of new stuff is showing up too - I'm seeing 2024 The Acolyte Lightsabers in Ross, and that's a record-fast turnaround to the end of retail's digestive tract. The late 2023 Retro The Book of Boba Fett showing up at Ross but not Walmart or Target is another matter entirely.

16 years ago, we still had KB Toys, Kmart, and Toys R Us and their miles of shelf space. That's gone now. If the big guys don't want the toys, they eventually have to go somewhere. If you don't order stuff online, and Target or Walmrt decide to skip a wave, where will it go? GameStop only has so many inches to spare. If a wave starts to back up at a store, that store won't want more of those characters - and there aren't as many stores. Stores like Walgreens aren't big players in toys anymore either.

For whatever reason, Target and Walmart are opting to not carry a lot of main line product. If you go to Target, it's not just Star Wars - there are a lot of empty pegs and white space on action figure aisles. Walmart no longer seems to stock any toys on the action figure aisle over $50, including their own Hasbro Transformers exclusives. Maybe you can get them online - but some aren't in stock. They'll be showing up somewhere, eventually, probably for a lot less than $50. Fans are not only being trained and rewarded for waiting for the deep discounters, but in many cases there are no other options. Goodness knows I've had retail exclusive pre-orders fail to fill and I had to turn to another store to get the item at a massive discount, as that was the only option available to me. Heck, I placed the order, I checked the store shelves - if the solution is "go to Ross to get a Walmart exclusive," I'm going to go to Ross.

What's the solution? Companies may need to streamline their offering. As has been mentioned before, in the 1978-1985 Kenner era they found out that competing scales were bad for business. The 12-inch dolls large action figures didn't survive. The MicroCollection got a year before meeting the axe. If Hasbro kills one or more of its darlings, and perhaps reconsiders its pricing structure (see the next question below), this sort of problem may be less of an issue. I don't think Hasbro made a mistake in making any of these specific characters but eventually you will realize stores don't want to stock every character in every scale - shelf space is not infinite. A realignment of the Star Wars action figure scales would probably keep some of the product out of discounters, but not everything. Nobody was going to be paying $45 for Ahsoka talking wigs even if the show was a massive hit and The Black Series seems to be struggling a bit in spots.

Walmart currently has Blokees Transformers figure kits for $4.97. They're 4-inch robots with more articulation than a lot of collector figures, and they're under five bucks. They're flying off the shelves. It's astonishing to me that you can deliver this kind of product this cheap, and people seem to love it so far. I would love to see Hasbro try appealing to a lower end product offering again, especially as the same collectors aren't going to be buying this same stuff forever.

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2. I can recall back in '95 when the modern line started and basic [3 3/4-inch] figures were less than $4. Now they're around 4 times as expensive, about $17.

Put yourself in an average collector's shoes.

What do you believe would be the magical price of a basic TVC figure in which a majority of collectors say "That's it, the price is now too high. I'm out."

Would it be $20?
--Chris

I hate to start with a pricing nitpick before we compare apples to apples. In 1995, Kenner's Power of the Force figures started at $4.99 at Target, Walmart, and the like. They were $6.99 at Kay-Bee Toys. (Depending on where you shopped and when, you may have seen the odd $5.99 figure. I remember seeing some variable pricing at a few places, but never cheaper until the big markdowns and on-pack coupons started in later 1998/early 1999.) But before we delve into what things cost relative to inflation, let's tackle your question about the limit.

If you feel it's worth it, $20 isn't bad. At $16.99, R2-D2 (from a mold that was sold is a 2-pack with C-3PO at a lower price) sells poorly. Yoda sold slowly. We haven't gotten much in the way of Ewoks or Jawas - I think Hasbro knows it's a high price tag. On the other hand, a super-articulated figure with multiple accessories or an alternate hand is pretty good. If Hasbro brought back 30th Anniversary Collection-like figures - with a coin, a big sidekick (a droid for a Jawa, a Kybuck for Yoda) I don't think I would necessarily complain about a $20 figure. Imagine Max Rebo, a coin, and an organ - maybe with the big speaker this time - for $20 on a different style of package. Sounds good, right? You have to be given something that feels like it's worth it, and "Luke, again" at a higher price isn't worth it to a lot of long-haul fans.

If Hasbro can get the right figure, with the right features, at the right time? Fans will pay $20. That might mean it can't fit in a TVC cardback. Back in 2004, $10 was a lot of money for a $5 figure - but Hasbro made a C-3PO with an escape pod, or put 3 aliens together, or gave an Ewok a glider. They can't do that for Vintage - so I'm in favor of seeing what can happen when you have a different package to play with. Maybe we can get more for $17! Maybe we can get something incredible for $20. I'd love a new Max Rebo or Sy Snootles.

So, let's get down to comparing a 1995 figure to a 2024 figure. As we know, they're not the same product anymore.

A "basic" Hasbro 3 3/4-inch 2024 The Vintage Collection collector figure is indeed $17 today, and in 1995 collectors were paying $5 for each all-new figure. In 1995 we were buying figures with 6 joints priced and made for kids, and today we're buying super-articulated 20+ jointed hyper-realistic figures at collector pricing. If you compare collector stuff to collector stuff, and kid stuff to kid stuff, Hasbro's current pricing lines up pretty favorably to inflation. (I was surprised, too.)

A 1995 Kenner figure is very much like a 2024 Epic Hero Series figure. Let's go back to 1995 - $4.99 in those days, according to the US Inflation Calculator, is now $10.32. By comparison, Epic Hero Series figures started at $9.99 this year but have largely dropped to $7.99. In that regard, Hasbro nailed it. An equivalent product, 29 years later, is basically right where it should be. (It is true Epic Hero don't have a waist joint - but, they are "cheaper.")

Hasbro didn't have a super-articulated action figure in its product offering until late in 2003, but the first true comparison to The Vintage Collection were Original Trilogy Collection vintage figures in 2004. Those were $9.99, and not all were super-articulated. C-3PO had 5 joints. Lando, Leia, and Obi-Wan had swivel elbows. Everybody didn't have ankles, either. Those $9.99 Vintage-carded figures from 2004, adjusted for inflation, are now $16.67. You're getting a better figure for $16.99 today than you were in $9.99 in 2004. (No clamshell case, though.) The character selection is also similar to what we got 20 years ago, and therein lies my problem - I want to be engaged with Star Wars beyond main characters, head swaps, and easy repaints. I want fun figures. I want new toys.

If you really want to go all the way back to 1978, I'm told Walmart charged $1.97 for Kenner Star Wars figures. Adjusted for inflation in 2024, that would equal roughly $9.53. The latest 6-pack of The Acolyte figures were $59.99 for a 6-pack, or about $10.00 per figure. This means that Hasbro charges a fair price for a niche product. (If Hasbro is reading, if you make more Original Trilogy/Ewoks/Droids figures that are all-new, I'd pay $12 without blinking an eye. I hope the manufacturer is not put off by the fact that Kenner figure fanatics may be skipping characters that are not "their" Star Wars.)

So what's the solution?

If I were Hasbro, I'd ice Vintage for 2-3 years and go back to the 2006-2009 Saga/30th/Legacy format. (Good articulation, big accessories, maybe a bonus collectible, and a new packaging style just to make the aisles look less stale for a year or two. They really need a refresh visually.) At the time Hasbro sold those figures for $7-$9, with less articulation than today's $17 figures and some of the biggest accessories we've ever had in a non-deluxe figure. (Adjusted for inflation, those should be around $12 with a coin or build-a-droid.) Hasbro would probably take tremendous guff from a certain kind of fan if they went away from vintage cardbacks and mega articulation, but ask yourself - do you need it for every figure? Should R2-D2 be $17? Or would you be just as happy if Lt. Callahan had just enough articulation to squeeze in her ship and call it a day - for $5 less? I think this would be a great power move for a Big Movie Year, like 2026, given new fans, returning fans, and cheapskate fans may not buy a lot at $17. But maybe a $12 figure with a build-a-figure component could encourage more buying.

You can't keep things the same forever, and Hasbro typically refreshes its packaging every 12-18 months - or it did in most lines before COVID hit. Rotating Vintage in and out not only kept it special and kept demand high, but its replacements also kept store aisles from looking like it has has the same figures for 2-3 years. And some of the stores here still have Lando, so cycling stuff out to get a fresh start would be good for everybody.

I would also be very happy with 2 figures on a single blister card, if it made sense and could get costs down with lower pricing per figure. See also: Hasbro's Comic Packs (2007-2009) were lower than the price of two carded single figures, and you got a $3 comic thrown in. Those were great for the money, and some of those are incredibly expensive today - clearly it clicked.

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FIN

Surprising no one, Variety reports Disney Removes ‘Star Wars’ Movie From 2026 Slate, Replaced by ‘Ice Age 6’. I am once again convinced Star Wars announcements are made to convince shareholders to not short the stock. Supposedly The Mandalorian & Grogu will be out in May 2026, but at this point, I would not necessarily bet on it.

Assuming The Mandalorian & Grogu makes it out in 2026, a seven-year break between movies seems like a good idea. Lucasfilm and Hasbro have been darting around from story to story, and nothing has been able to really be fully explored - not enough episodes of a show, not enough guides to characters or props, and toy lines that all are good - but no one scale or manufacturer has an edge on "complete." Hopefully this movie will make it out with a decent slate of stuff and the next movie won't come out until 2027 or even later. (I assume we're getting something for the 50th.)

It's kind of fascinating to be on the other end of "too much of a good thing." I got to go 16 years between movies, and then another 10 years between live-action movies, and then about 12 months between movies, and I can say that less is more in terms of story. It was great to marinate between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith with games, cartoons, toys, and comics. We didn't get that luxury with the other movies that came later with prequels, sidequels, and stories that don't let your main characters go out and have more adventures. Instead, we're stuck on a cliffhanger, and then thrust upon another story with a cliffhanger, and it keeps repeating. At least Attack of the Clones got to get us some adventures on TV.

What would make things better? At this point, I feel less communication from Lucasfilm with us about the movie plans would do wonders. Maybe let us know what's up after cameras start rolling - or sell us some books about concepts for movies we'll never see. I'd shell out for that. Maybe it's just being old. In my day, we got a new movie, in May, every 3 years. (With breaks.) In my day, we got 13-26 new episodes of a show every fall. It felt like it worked - I wouldn't mind if the entertainment industry tried dialing it in a little, and maybe giving us some more episodes of one series instead of a ton of 8-episode series - it used to work. (Sure, the budgets were lower... so cut the budgets maybe.)

--Adam Pawlus

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