william-james88 wrote:What you are describing has the potential of a retailer nightmare. You cannot predict distribution so what you will 100% end up with are stores which have 20 trailers and no Rodimus. And vice versa. We are seeing this with the Mattel line where across north America you have places that have too much of the main hero figures and no vehicles or battle cars while in other places you have the opposite. My Walmarts have about 20-30 Battlecats each that have never moved and we never got He Man. This just creates shelfwarmers that the store will have to clear at liquidation prices, losing money. And possibly leading to less orders in the future.
No prediction necessary...
It's actually quite possible that Hastak produces cases where the figure and trailer are packed in equal numbers.
Other options that would help make this work:
-As long as they avoid making these store exclusive, it would be possible to order either part online (making it easier to get what you want).
-Just like BBTS sells two different figures of the same class together, if a company wanted to, they could list both together as the only option to purchase. This would be a good option for those who know they want both, and makes sure the company doesn't get stuck with either (if they're worried about it).
-Hastak could also repack the figure separately in the following wave.
Any "shelfwarming" trailers would possibly then be bought when more figures become available.
Also, if just one of the two items gets put on sale, that would be enticing enough to get some people to end up with both.
I'm betting there's a good number of people who would snag the trailer at $20-$25 after passing on the original $30 price tag. Sure, this cuts into the profit, but a sale still isn't a 100% loss.
I just have this strong gut feeling that if this would've been an option, more separate Rodimuses would've sold than you'd think. And I mean across the board-- with kids, casual fans, collectors, etc.
There's just a major difference in spending $55-ish compared to pushing $88-$90. Especially for a toy.
No matter how passionate you are about collecting
anything, I think this is undisputable.
So again, instead of Hastak getting $53 from me (and others, and I know, Hastak doesn't get all of that money), they're getting ZERO.
A separate Rodimus means I don't end up with a huge chunk of plastic I never wanted, AND,
that saved $30-ish could be put towards Wreck-gar, or Sweeps, or any voyager, any deluxe, or a couple core class figures.
OR, just saved.
Maybe some of you spend x number of dollars on TF and don't ever think twice or look back.
But it's very myopic to think very many people share that collecting habit.
I know some still won't see this concept as a realistic option.
And it's all good. I don't even love Rodimus as a character, and don't feel that I'm missing out by passing on this release. My idea doesn't stem from frustration or bitterness.
Many of you are way more into collecting than me, and know way more about TF in general, so the main thing is that I appreciate the thoughts shared about all of this.